Deep State Archives - The Automatic Earth

President Trump just called for Barack Hussein Obama to be arrested.

Yes please now!@catturd2 pic.twitter.com/R6SLcVvHQw
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) May 12, 2026

Elon Musk just reduced American crime politics to a single question on Joe Rogan.

And answered it like it was arithmetic.

Musk: “While obviously not everyone who’s a Democrat is a criminal, almost everyone who is a criminal is a Democrat.”

That’s not a partisan attack.

That’s… pic.twitter.com/9vOHqaUGT4
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) May 12, 2026

https://twitter.com/AlecLace/status/2054011075914342417?s=20

Big party for Trump?

• Trump Ready To Raise “Core of China’s Core Interests” In Xi Summit (ZH)

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to raise the issue of increasingly costly US arms transfers to Taiwan during their bilateral summit at the end of this week, spanning Thursday through Friday. Taiwan of course remains the “core of China’s core interests” – as Beijing has in the recent past characterized the issue. While Trump officials have previewed that it will be focused on trade and investment, the White House too is reportedly placing Taiwan and regional geopolitical hot button issues on the agenda.

“I’m going to have that discussion with President Xi,” Trump told reporters at the White House, specifically on the question of weapons sales. “President Xi would like us not to, and I’ll have that discussion. That’s one of the many things I’ll be talking about.”

Also there’s the looming question of the future of the Iran war and blockaded Strait of Hormuz. Currently there’s a stalemated situation and supposed ceasefire which is barely holding. By many accounts, Trump was hopeful that the Iran ‘excursion’ would be wrapped up by now, but it now seems to be sliding into protracted quagmire – critics point out. The WSJ says that Beijing is feeling confident as it prepares to receive Trump and what’s looking to be a rather large entourage: But behind the scenes, Beijing feels more emboldened, and more insistent on defending areas it regards as vital to its long-term strategic interests.
These include resisting U.S. pressure to relax its grip over global supply chains and fundamentally rebalance trade between the two countries. They also include urging Washington to look the other way as it pressures Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own, and as it projects military power across Asia. “They feel very well about how last year played out,” said Jonathan Czin, a fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution and a former U.S. intelligence officer focused on China. “They showed they could weather the storm and the administration had to climb down from the tariffs and spend most of the past year trying to mollify China.”
As for more implications of the Iran war dragging on as Trump goes to Beijing, CNBC writes: Iran’s ambassador to China Reza Rahmani Fazli in a Tuesday post on X pressed Tehran’s case with Beijing, saying that the relationship between the two is too strong for the U.S. to overcome. The bottom line is that higher energy prices are baked in for the foreseeable future. The price of crude oil makes up about half of the cost of a gallon of gas, according to the Energy Information Administration.
And U.S. elections are less than six months away. The 2026 midterm elections will be a crucial referendum on Trump and the Republican Party as they seek to retain a lock on both chambers in Congress. Trump early Tuesday put out the following message on Truth Social, teasing that the next regime change operations could be unleashed on China’s small island-nation ally in America’s immediate backyard…

For some further big picture analysis on how the Iran gambit has raised the stakes, and made the Beijing summit more unpredictable, the below is some fresh Rabobank commentary outlining related developments to watch:
In a case of curious timing, the US just imposed fresh sanctions on individuals and firms involved in facilitating Iranian oil sales to China, and Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao yesterday released a new 30-year shipbuilding plan. That plan anticipates the acquisition of 11 nuclear-powered Trump class battleships, new underwater drones, and an ongoing review to the Ford class aircraft carrier design to increase lethality and reliability while reducing unit costs and production lead times. The planned expansion of the US fleet and shipbuilding industrial base is undoubtedly a reaction to China’s growing naval strength and substantial advantage in production capacity. The message to Xi is an unsubtle one.
The FT’s Gideon Rachman characterises Trump as arriving at Xi’s court in a state of supplication, having effectively lost the trade war vs China and the shooting war vs Iran. This perhaps overstates the weakness of Trump’s position by ignoring the fact that the US has tightened its grip on global energy supply chains and has shown that is has the power to put its foot on the hosepipe of Chinese energy imports whenever it likes. In the flurry of commentary over China’s bumper trade surplus in April, it seems to have been missed that import volumes for crude oil were down sharply, but values were higher. Yesterday’s April PPI figures for China also underscored the uncomfortable effects that the Iran war is having on the Chinese industrial economy.
Xi will be acutely aware of this, and he will also be aware that the US holds similar power to disrupt Chinese food imports if it was of a mind to do so. Seapower IS power, as the shipbuilding plan should remind us all. In this respect, Trump holds better cards than the FT is giving him credit for. Perhaps it is no coincidence that China bought more soybeans in April than it had done for months.
Some more of Trump’s latest commentary amid his hope for a ‘good’ Xi meeting:

Trump: If you have the right president, I don't think Taiwan invasion will happen. I have a very good relationship with President Xi.

We're 9,500 miles away. He's 67 miles away. But there’s a lot of support for Taiwan from Japan and countries in that area. 2X pic.twitter.com/8ipHIKy4pM
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) May 12, 2026

Iran “demands”? They don’t even want to talk about nukes. Perfectly unrealistic.

Even Saudi Arabia was bombing Iran.

• Iran Specifies 5 Demands To Restart Peace Talks With US (ZH)

Iran on Tuesday revealed its demands in a counteroffer to the United States that President Trump shot down on Sunday, which has put the whole conflict and Pakistan-mediated talks in a holding pattern and stalemate, as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively blocked. The demands hinge on war reparations, Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and an end to US sanctions – things which the White House balked at, with war reparations especially being focus of rejection by the US side, and the lack of taking up the nuclear issue, which Iran has insisted is a non-starter and would only be dealt with after the war is settled.

Trump had previously made clear on Truth Social that “I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” Al Jazeera correspondent Ali Hashem has listed the following five conditions that it sees as the basis for reentering talks:

1) Ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon
2) Lifting all sanctions
3) Releasing frozen Iranian assets
4) Compensation for war damages and losses
5) Recognition of Iran’s sovereign rights over the Strait of Hormuz
Again, all this according to Tehran must be agreed to while at the same time Iran is pushing back against nuclear negotiations. In a Monday press briefing Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei had publicly alluded to several of these, including in his words, “Demanding an end to the war, lifting the blockade and piracy, and releasing Iranian assets that have been unjustly frozen in banks due to U.S. pressure.” Also, there was mention of “Safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz and establishing security in the region and Lebanon were other demands of Iran, which are considered a generous and responsible offer for regional security” – before talks could begin in good faith.
Tehran apparently feels it can weather the tightening economic noose its under, given Tanker Trackers on Tuesday said Iran has not successfully exported any crude oil by sea over the past 28 days. To our best knowledge, Iran hasn’t successfully exported* any crude oil by sea over the past 28 days. Some refined products managed to escape because US OFAC did not slap sanctions on those tankers.
In addition, Kharg Island hasn’t loaded any tankers since 2026-05-06 as a result…
— TankerTrackers.com, Inc. (@TankerTrackers) May 12, 2026
Trump, just before his departure to China, remarked to Axios: “Iran will either do the right thing or we will finish the job… we are either gonna make a deal or they will be decimated.”

If/when they go in again, it’ll be for a long haul.

• Trump Considering Resuming Airstrikes As Talks With Iran Stall – Axios (RT)

US President Donald Trump is considering resuming the bombing campaign against Iran as peace talks remain stalled, Axios reported on Monday, citing three US officials familiar with the matter. On Sunday, Trump rejected Iran’s latest terms as “totally unacceptable” and said the ceasefire reached around a month ago was “on massive life support.” According to Axios, Trump was set to meet with his national security team on Monday to discuss next steps, including potentially resuming Project Freedom – an operation aimed at guiding ships through the Strait of Hormuz – as well as restarting airstrikes and hitting the remaining 25% of targets identified by the Pentagon but not yet struck.

The Washington Post, citing a CIA assessment, reported last week that Iran retained about 75% of its pre-war mobile launchers and roughly 70% of its missiles, and could withstand a US naval blockade for at least three to four months. Trump suspended Project Freedom within 24 hours of announcing it last week, following a request from Pakistan, which has acted as a mediator in the conflict. NBC later reported that the president shelved the initiative after Saudi Arabia refused to allow the US to use its bases and airspace to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Sunday that the US had “no alternative” but to accept Tehran’s terms. “The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it,” he wrote on X. Iranian state media described Trump’s demand to shut down the country’s nuclear sites as “a non-starter that Iran has rejected for decades.” According to Press TV, Iran’s conditions include the lifting of sanctions, reparations, and a new framework governing the Strait of Hormuz that would recognize “Iran’s sovereign control over this vital waterway.”

You can accuse everyone in Kiev of corruption. Can’t go wrong.

• Zelensky Chief of Staff Yermak Charged with Corruption, Money Laundering (CTH)

Andrey Yermak is not just some random high-level government official in Ukraine. Andrey Yermak was President Zelenskyy’s right hand, chief of staff, organizer of the functions of Ukrainian government and the guy who controlled the systems that keep all other government officials working on the agenda of the President. If you took Susie Wiles and Marco Rubio’s responsibilities and combined them into one job function, that would be the scale of importance and influence that Andrey Yermak controlled inside the Ukrainian government and the office of President Zelenskyy.

Today, following an explosive criminal corruption charge that surfaced less than 36 hours ago, Andrey Yermak appears in court to face charges of corruption, theft and money laundering. Yermak was under investigation for his role in theft through the energy sector and now stands accused of using construction projects near Kiev as a tool to launder money to himself and other high-level government officials.
There are three facets to this I find very interesting. First, is the timing. Second, is the often-overlooked admission by National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) about them working closely with FBI investigators in Europe and American intelligence units. Third, is the way they caught him: “The anti-corruption bureau shared part of a wiretapped conversation as part of its case and said six more people had been identified as suspects.”
(Via BBC) – “[…] For years he was a close friend of Zelensky, and led Ukraine’s talks with the US until an anti-corruption raid on his flat last November prompted his resignation. Ukraine’s Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office (Sapo) said it was asking the Kyiv court to either place him in preventive detention or give him bail of about $4m (£3m). The head of the National anti-corruption bureau (Nabu) stressed that Zelensky himself was not part of the pre-trial investigation.
Yermak had been the president’s closest adviser throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion, until he became caught up in a broader inquiry by Sapo and Nabu into an alleged $100m (£74m) embezzlement scheme in Ukraine’s nuclear energy sector. As part of Operation Midas, ex-Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov was charged with abuse of office, while businessman Timur Mindich reportedly fled the country after he was flagged as a suspect and ex-Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko was detained while trying to leave. Like Yermak, Mindich was once part of Zelensky’s inner circle and co-owned the president’s former TV studio Kvartal95, before sanctions were imposed on him. Mindich denies wrongdoing.
The latest claims center on an elite housing project called “Dynasty” in a village outside Kyiv where millions in construction funds were allegedly laundered. The anti-corruption bureau shared part of a wiretapped conversation as part of its case and said six more people had been identified as suspects. On November 17, 2025, reports surfaced indicating that Yermak, then head of Zelensky’s office, might have been recorded by NABU. Subsequently, Yermak’s residence was searched on November 28, and by evening, Zelensky had dismissed him from his position.
Since late April, Ukrainian media outlets and parliament members have continued to publish new excerpts from the recordings. These reveal Mindich discussing with Rustem Umerov, the current Secretary of the Security Council and former Defense Minister, details of embezzlement from multimillion-dollar contracts, funding for drone manufacturing through a company affiliated with Mindich, and potential candidates for the Ukrainian ambassadorship to the United States. Keep in mind, Rustem Umerov is the current lead negotiator and point of contact for U.S. peace efforts.
Russia Federation President Vladimir Putin suggested last weekend that the war in Ukraine was “coming to an end.”
Interesting timing.

What do you use 40 biolabs for? Do we need to pay more attention?

• Tulsi Gabbard Probes 120 Foreign Biolabs Funded by US – 40 in Ukraine (CTH)

According to a report within the New York Post, Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, is now investigating 120 foreign biolabs that are funded by the U.S. government – potentially involved in ‘gain of function’ or weaponized virus research. More than 40 of the labs are identified operating in Ukraine. Keep in mind, DNI Gabbard recently took control of the CIA development of Artificial Intelligence systems pulling In-Q-Tel, the CIA-backed venture firm, under management of ODNI. Through a series of what seems like well-coordinated moves by Secretary Rubio, CIA Director Ratcliffe and DNI Gabbard, a significant amount of the CIA’s operations is no longer in the dark network. https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/status/2053944250870489500?s=20

USAID has been dissolved (Rubio/Ratcliffe); the Directorate of Analysis taken out of CIA and into ODNI (Ratcliffe/Gabbard); the President’s Daily Brief now assembled by the ODNI (Ratcliffe/Gabbard); Artificial Intelligence systems, In-Q-Tel under ODNI management (Ratcliffe/Gabbard), and now Intelligence Community (CIA) biolabs being identified, investigated and potentially removed from operation. The biolab issue is a current concern given the discoveries of former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director, Anthony Fauci, lying to congress and the American people about funding gain of function research in Wuhan, China. However, given recent events we might even file this under proactive election integrity measures.
WASHINGTON — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is investigating more than 120 biological laboratories abroad that were funded by US taxpayer dollars for decades, as part of an effort to end potentially risky experiments with viruses pursuant to President Trump’s executive order on so-called “gain-of-function” research.Gabbard told The Post Monday in a statement that her team is going “to identify where these labs are, what pathogens they contain and what ‘research’ is being conducted to end dangerous gain-of-function research that threatens the health and wellbeing of the American people and the world.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the catastrophic global impact research on dangerous pathogens in biolabs can have,” the spy chief also said. “Yet despite these obvious dangers, politicians, so-called health professionals, like Dr. Fauci, and entities within the Biden administration’s national security team lied to the American people about the existence of these US-funded and supported biolabs and threatened those who attempted to expose the truth.” Under new guidance from Gabbard, the US Intelligence Community will review research at all US-funded biolabs, which would include facilities engaged in gain-of-function experiments that could increase the transmissibility of viruses, as well as work for defensive purposes against dangerous pathogens.
Office of the Director of National Intelligence officials noted that the foreign labs extend into more than 30 countries, and several had received funding in the past through a Department of Defense program that sought to dispose of weapons of mass destruction after the end of the Cold War. More than 40 of the biolabs under review are located in Ukraine — and could “be at risk of compromise” due to Russia’s war, ODNI officials noted. (read more)

“Euroskeptic FPO leader Christian Hafenecker has called on Vienna’s money laundering watchdog to investigate..”

• Nearly $22 Billion Secretly Shipped To Ukraine – Austrian Politician (RT)

A right-wing Austrian politician has demanded that the country’s Finance Ministry explain how nearly $22 billion in cash and gold was shipped to Ukraine from Austria since 2022 without triggering concerns about money laundering or regulatory oversight. In a statement published on Sunday, Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) Secretary General Christian Hafenecker called out what he described as Vienna’s “two-class justice system” for overlooking massive payments to Kiev, while keeping a tight hold on taxpayers’ purse strings.

“We’re not talking about play money here: 1,030 registered cash and gold shipments, around €12 billion ($14 billion) plus $7.75 billion, physically transported over 1,300 kilometers into the war zone,” Hafenecker said. “And the responsible finance minister simply tells me… ‘We know nothing, we’re not investigating anything, we haven’t collected any information.’ That’s not an answer, that’s dereliction of duty,” he added. By comparison, Austrian money laundering rules require a private citizen withdrawing as little as €12,000 from an inherited account to prove the origin of the funds, and any person crossing the EU’s external border with more than €10,000 in cash must declare it, Hafenecker said. “This is a two-class justice system in finance.”
The politician demanded full disclosure on all cash shipments from Austria to Ukraine since the escalation of the conflict, a full audit by the country’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority, and a report by the Austrian Money Laundering Reporting Office in parliament. Earlier this year, the Euroskeptic FPO party demanded that Vienna cut all financial aid to Ukraine, denouncing the country as a corrupt “bottomless pit,” following a wave of high-level embezzlement scandals in Kiev.
Major probes by Ukraine’s Western-backed anti-graft agencies have implicated senior officials in Vladimir Zelensky’s government since last year. Two ministers and the Ukrainian leader’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, stepped down following the massive scandal. Russian President Vladimir Putin has slammed the current leadership in Kiev, calling it a “criminal gang” sitting on “golden potties,” and interested far more in personal enrichment than in the fate of ordinary Ukrainians.

Obama, Clinton, Brennan, Clapper. You can fill a phonebook. “FBI Director Kash Patel has removed about ten percent of the problem in his agency.”

• John Brennan: Still “Legions” of His Allies at DOJ, FBI and CIA (CTH)

Appearing on MSNBC to talk to Lawfare ally Nicole Wallace, wife of New York Times narrative engineer Michael Schmidt – the guy who received leaks from FBI Director James Comey via Daniel Richman, former CIA Director John Brennan notes there are “legions” of operatives still embedded within the DOJ, FBI and CIA who are working against President Donald Trump. This is not a surprise as we have noted the Trump administration continues to take apart the tentacles of Lawfare and Intelligence operatives in Main Justice, various U.S. Attorney offices, FBI Headquarters, FBI field offices and various Intelligence Community silos.

Marco Rubio has been working to clean up the National Security Council as well as the State Department operations, including USAID. Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe have been working on the NSA and CIA collaboratively, and Todd Blanche has been working through the Dept of Justice. FBI Director Kash Patel has removed about ten percent of the problem in his agency.

Unbelievable. Former CIA Director John Brennan just said the quiet part out LOUD, that there are still a "legion" of bureaucrats within the intel and justice communities who are actively sabotaging the executive authority of President Trump:

"There's still a legion of… pic.twitter.com/XhBLzhy7s2
— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) May 11, 2026

The core problem goes back to what we outlined on these pages {GO DEEP} and is not limited to those operatives who remain from the Obama/Biden era. Some of the problems surface as a result of ‘republican’ voices recommending “sleeper cell” staff and sketchy personnel for positions in the administration. [I’ll put an example below] One way to tell if the agency head or leader understands the challenge is by paying attention to how they talk about the agency’s mission objective. Leaders like Marco Rubio and Tulsi Gabbard have openly acknowledged the problem and are actively tackling corruption within their ranks. Even John Ratcliffe has admitted his agency was politically weaponized and has taken steps to address it. There’s still a lot of work ahead, but their actions show visible progress.
People like Pam Bondi and Kash Patel have praised the institutional embeds without drawing attention to the corruption beneath them. Thankfully, Acting AG Todd Blanche seems to be taking a more confrontational approach internally, so maybe Kash Patel will follow suit. This isn’t about style—it’s about results, and there’s an urgent need for action. To give an example of “sketchy” recommendations and predictable outcomes, I would draw attention to the lesser visible appointment of Morgan Ortagus. Do you remember this very weirdly worded announcement, two weeks prior to the inauguration?

I have no idea who “them” is referencing in the announcement.
[…] “I’m not doing this for me, I doing it for them”
There were always three options for “them”: (1) the strong republican support people; or (2) people in the Middle East who would be dealing with her; or (3) Stephen Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Regardless, of who “them” was, it was obvious President Trump was not thrilled by “their” request. Mrs. Morgan Ortagus is a long time Deep State operative with roots in the U.S. intelligence community and USAID {citation}. It was very predictable that she would undermine the goals of President Trump and she only lasted six months in the job. Ortagus was quietly dispatched from her position in June 2025.
CTH predicted Mrs. Ortagus would be a big mistake because she was, quite frankly, one of the “legion” insiders referenced by former CIA Director John Brennan. Ortagus’s entire career profile was/is textbook intelligence operative, likely legacy CIA. Not coincidentally, former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz was removed from his position only a month before Ortagus lost hers. On the day he was announced CTH said National Security Advisor Mike Waltz would be the first administration member to get the boot, because in the non-pretending world Waltz was a horrible choice just like Ortagus. Mike Waltz was removed as National Security Advisor in May 2025, Ortagus was removed as Middle East envoy in June.
If the goal was to eliminate the Deep State, President Trump couldn’t take on a deeply corrupt Intelligence Community while also appointing its allies. Their close ties to the Intelligence Community made the failures of both Waltz and Ortagus predictable. That said, behind the veneer of John Brennan’s statement on MSNBC is a guy who realizes the Trump administration has changed the dynamic and the agency systems Brennan is talking about no longer exist; at least they no longer have the same capabilities. The need for control is a reaction to fear, and Brennan’s fear is both visible and very well founded.
The DOJ and FBI operate under the influence of the Intelligence Community, which ultimately holds the reins. The key figures leading the IC have made changes to the institutions that have significantly reduced the impact of bad actors within the DOJ and FBI. The key positions are the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Marco Rubio, Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe are the people to watch, and we can tell by the counsel(s) they have put into place that each of them has clear eyes and a steady hand on those critical institutions. Since mid-year 2025, around the same time Waltz and Ortagus were dispatched, you will note significant changes began surfacing in the National Security Council, the State Dept, the DNI and importantly the CIA. Some of the changes make headlines, many do not; however, each is important and builds on a larger goal of dismantling a highly weaponized and political intelligence apparatus.
Internationally, what we see in the reaction of allied -or oppositional- governments and their intelligence agencies, is in large part a geopolitical reaction to the consequential changes being made by Rubio, Gabbard and Ratcliffe. Each building upon a system that fundamentally changes U.S. policy to be in alignment with President Trump. Each of them should be commended. Domestically, the accountability developments involving James Comey, John Brennan, John Bolton, Michael Atkinson, Eric Ciaramella and others yet to emerge, stem from the transparency brought by the same trio working upstream from Main Justice and the FBI. The combined intelligence apparatus of the U.S. can cut through the chaff and countermeasures of Lawfare operatives, and I feel optimistic watching them in action.
Again, it’s not just the silo heads that are making a positive impact, it is the personnel decisions they are surrounding themselves with. The amount of sunlight now coming over the horizon is toxic to the interests of those who organized shadow operations. As long as Rubio, Ratcliffe and especially Gabbard, keep pushing the truth to the surface; as long as they keep exposing all the corruption that was used to manipulate and weaponize our government; as long as they keep strategizing on ways to declassify evidence former officials buried under false pretenses; then the DOJ, FBI and more importantly We The People, will have information we can use to make decisions.
Ultimately, it is the truth which makes evil enterprise retreat.

Excursion??

His name is not on every list ,but Nvidia’s Jensen Huang is very much part of the group. As Trump himself confirmed.

• Here Are The People Accompanying Trump On His China Excursion This Week (JTN)

President Donald Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in China this week and is taking a notable cohort with him to the Asian powerhouse. Trump arrives in Beijing on Wednesday for a two-day summit, which will include talks about sanctions on Iranian oil and the conflict in the Middle East at large. The group of powerful American CEOs and billionaires include Trump ally Elon Musk and Apple CEO Tim Cook, according to CBS News. Here is the rest of the notable American executives expected to go on the two-day excursion:

BlackRock’s Larry Fink
Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman
Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg
Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon
Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick
Micron’s Sanjay Mehrotra
Qualcomm’s Christiano Amon
Illumina’s Jacob Thaysen
Mastercard’s Michael Miebach
Visa’s Ryan McInerney
Cargill’s Brian Sikes
Citi’s Jane Fraser
Cisco’s Chuck Robbins
Coherent’s Jim Anderson
GE Aerospace’s H. Lawrence Culp.
The trip comes after the president postponed the original trip because of the conflict in the Middle East. The summit will take place May 14-15, with the president arriving May 13.

“We have been absolutely ignored by a sitting member of Congress.”

• Minnesota Democrats Block Ilhan Omar Subpoena (JTN)

Minnesota House Republicans want help from U.S. congressional oversight leaders after Democrats on a state committee blocked an effort to subpoena U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar over communications tied to the Feeding Our Future fraud investigation. Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove and chair of the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Oversight Committee, announced Friday she has asked congressional leaders to assist in securing the records.

Robbins sent letters to U.S. Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights. The move comes days after Democrats on the state committee voted against authorizing a subpoena for Omar’s communications connected to the Feeding Our Future investigation. All five Republican committee members supported the motion, while three DFL members opposed it, leaving Republicans just short of the six votes required.
“Minnesota House Democrats chose to protect Rep. Omar rather than support our effort to get the truth,” Robbins said in a statement Friday. “Without at least one Democrat vote in support of the motion to subpoena these communications, we cannot get the two-thirds majority required to compel Rep. Omar produce the documents.” Republicans on the committee have repeatedly sought testimony and records from Omar related to trial exhibits introduced in the federal criminal case U.S. v. Bock. Robbins said Omar’s office has not responded to multiple requests, including an April 22 letter requesting records by May 5. “We have been ghosted,” Robbins said during Tuesday’s hearing. “We have been absolutely ignored by a sitting member of Congress.”
The committee’s Republican members have focused heavily on Omar’s sponsorship of the federal MEALS Act in 2020, legislation they argue loosened oversight requirements in federal child nutrition programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Rep. Omar had some role, whether inadvertent or not,” Robbins said Tuesday. “She passed the MEALS Act in March of 2020, and that took the guardrails off the federal school nutrition program, which created the conditions for Feeding Our Future.”
Federal prosecutors have described the Feeding Our Future case as one of the largest pandemic-era fraud schemes in the country, alleging more than $250 million intended for child nutrition programs was fraudulently claimed through fake meal reimbursements. Robbins said the committee became interested in Omar’s involvement after learning of communications between her office and individuals later convicted in the scheme. She also pointed to a 2020 video in which Omar promoted meal distribution efforts at Safari Restaurant, a Minneapolis site prosecutors later identified as a major participant in the fraud.
Democrats on the committee pushed back against the effort. Rep. Dave Pinto, DFL-St. Paul, questioned the timing of the subpoena. “We know the president and federal administration have got no hesitation going after political enemies and investigating them in all sorts of ways,” Pinto said. “If there’s any sort of wrongdoing by Congresswoman Omar—and if there’s no wrongdoing by Congresswoman Omar – I have no doubt the Trump Administration will do all it can with all the resources it has.” Rep. Isaac Schultz, R-Elmdale Township, argued the subpoena effort was part of a broader push to understand fraud in Minnesota government programs.
“Feeding Our Future is one part of the picture as it relates to what we know is to come in the fraud we’ve seen in Medicaid,” Schultz said. “Now, we have this opportunity to use our tools here in the House of Representatives to issue this subpoena to gain a greater understanding.” Robbins said Friday she hopes action from the congressional oversight committees will help Republicans obtain the records. “I hope the federal oversight committees will be able to help us get the facts about Representative Omar’s involvement in the case,” Robbins said. “If she has nothing to hide, she should testify before our committee and produce the trial exhibits.”

“There is every reason to think the justices will leave this one where it belongs: in Virginia, under Virginia law, after Virginia Democrats tried to rig the map and got caught.”

• Scott Jennings Nukes the Democrats’ Gerrymander Hail Mary (Margolis)

Virginia Democrats lost big time in the redistricting wars and have considered all kinds of ways to respond — including trying to force the retirement of all of the justices on the Virginia Supreme Court. That scheme isn’t likely to happen, but they are hoping to drag the U.S. Supreme Court into this. The whole saga is a perfect example of how a party can overplay its hand and then act stunned when the cards fall flat. The Virginia Supreme Court struck down the Democrats’ map, saying the process violated the state constitution and nullified the referendum vote. That map would have shifted Virginia from a 6-5 split to a 10-1 advantage for Democrats, which is exactly why they wanted it so badly.

And they’re trying to drag the Supreme Court into this? It’s a Hail Mary for sure and not a very good one. Does anyone actually believe that this will succeed, that the Supreme Court will even take the case? It makes no sense. There’s really no jurisdiction for the U.S. Supreme Court to get involved. The only thing this emergency appeal does is make them look more desperate.And Scott Jennings called them out on it. CNN’s The Arena, he mocked the idea that the U.S. Supreme Court would wade into this fight. “There’s a better chance of me sprouting wings and flying out of that window over there than the United States Supreme Court dealing with this in any way, because this is a state Supreme Court ruling on a state constitution.”
He added, “The U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t deal with these kinds of things, number one. Number two, the freakout in Virginia has been so extreme. You even have Democrats over there who are saying they want to effectively, politically decapitate the entire Virginia Supreme Court by putting an age limit of 54 so they can get rid of every existing justice and install people who will promise to rule a certain way on a certain case. “ “You know, they went from, ‘Oh, this is just a temporary map thing’ to ‘Let’s burn down the entire Virginia Supreme Court’ in about two seconds over there in Virginia, which tells you all you need to know about just how power hungry and corrupt the Democrats are in Virginia.”
That is the real story here. This was sold as a temporary map fix and morphed into a power grab so aggressive that even the state’s own courts slammed the brakes. “This is not going to work at the U.S. Supreme Court,” Jennings declared. “And this whole project of maximum warfare by Hakeem Jeffries is completely blown up in their face.”

.@ScottJenningsKY on Democrats going DEFCON-1 since losing their Virginia gerrymander…

“There's a better chance of me sprouting wings and flying out of that window over there than the United States Supreme Court dealing with this in any way, because this is a state Supreme… pic.twitter.com/psPQNUUig1
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 11, 2026

The Supreme Court is set to decide on May 14 whether it will take the emergency appeal. There is every reason to think the justices will leave this one where it belongs: in Virginia, under Virginia law, after Virginia Democrats tried to rig the map and got caught.

“Virginia’s General Assembly adopted a new map in February that would have favored Democrats in 10 of the state’s 11 seats in the US House ..”

• Virginia Democrats Ask US Supreme Court to Reinstate Congressional Map (Hyde)

Virginia Democrats, along with their state Attorney General, have asked the US Supreme Court to override the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision last week that struck down a partisan redistricting plan. ABC News reports Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones wrote in the emergency application filed on Monday that the Virginia Supreme Court was “deeply mistaken” when it invalidated a ballot measure to amend the state constitution that would have netted Democrats as many as four new congressional seats.

The state Supreme Court had ruled last Friday, in a 4–3 decision, that Democrats had violated the state Constitution, by failing to follow proper procedures, while racing to get the measure on the ballot before the midterm elections. According to SCOTUSblog, Virginia’s General Assembly adopted a new map in February that would have favored Democrats in 10 of the state’s 11 seats in the US House—a potential increase of four seats from the current balance between Democrats and Republicans in Virginia.
The new map hinged on obtaining approval for an amendment to the Virginia constitution that would give the state legislature the power to draw a new congressional map outside of the normal cycle following the decennial census. In a referendum held in April, Virginia voters approved that amendment by a margin of three percentage points. The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the referendum was not valid because the General Assembly had not followed proper procedures when it put the new amendment on the ballot.
In Monday’s 24-page filing, Jones argued: “The irreparable harm resulting from the Supreme Court of Virginia’s decision is profound and immediate. By forcing the Commonwealth to conduct its congressional elections using districts different from those adopted by the General Assembly pursuant to a constitutional amendment the people just ratified, the Supreme Court of Virginia has deprived voters, candidates, and the Commonwealth of their right to the lawfully enacted congressional districts.” Legal experts told ABC News last week that they believe Democrats have little chance of a successful appeal at the US Supreme Court because the state Supreme Court would be the highest authority dealing with state constitutional issues and no federal issues are at stake.
According to former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, “The Virginia Supreme Court is the final authority on Virginia constitutional questions. This is the end, folks. You will have the same map in 2026 that existed in 2024. That is now unchangeable and immutable.” Politico reports that Chief Justice John Roberts, who oversees emergency appeals arising from Virginia, instructed the Republicans who challenged the Virginia referendum to respond to Jones’ appeal by Thursday at 5 p.m.

“Blanche, on Tuesday, indicated that the DOJ probe would use compulsory authority to bring in witnesses, including from the press.”

• Acting AG Blanche Warns Reporters To Expect Subpoenas In Leaks Probe (JTN)

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday indicated that the Department of Justice would subpoena reporters as part of its probe into leaks of classified materials. The FBI, this month, opened a probe into Senate Democrats over the possible leak of classified materials related to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation hearings. At issue was the leak of an intercept from the National Security Agency (NSA) concerning Gabbard. More recently, Trump has reportedly complained of rampant leaks related to the ongoing Iran war, The Hill reported.

Blanche, on Tuesday, indicated that the DOJ probe would use compulsory authority to bring in witnesses, including from the press. “Prosecuting leakers who share our nation’s secrets with reporters, in turn risking our national security and the lives of our soldiers, is a priority for this administration,” he said. “Any witness, whether a reporter or otherwise, who has information about these criminals should not be surprised if they receive a subpoena about the illegal leaking of classified material.”
The Trump administration has long maintained a strained relationship with the press, dating back to his first term, which saw pervasive leaks to the media, especially from the Department of Homeland Security over immigration enforcement efforts.

“..the Supreme Court basically supported one vote, one person guaranteed in perpetuity, and the rest is just map wars..”

• The Language Got a Little Salty on CNN Monday Night (Matt Margolis)

If Bakari Sellers thought he could trot out an emotional guilt trip and quietly justify racist gerrymandering on live TV, Kevin O’Leary wasn’t about to let that slide. He didn’t just push back—he pulled the curtain back on the whole performance, forcing a raw, uncomfortable showdown between the U.S. Constitution and Sellers’ political theater. And Sellers let loose with some salty language in the process. The exchange began with host Abby Phillip laying out the stakes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling that racial gerrymandering is unconstitutional. She noted that states may soon try to redraw maps in ways that could leave the minority party with no meaningful representation, which isn’t true, of course.

I could get into all the states that have had conservative representation gerrymandered into oblivion, but I’ll do that another time. O’Leary jumped in with a blunt take, saying the Supreme Court had effectively settled the matter. “I think everybody should take confidence in the fact the Supreme Court basically supported one vote, one person guaranteed in perpetuity, and the rest is just map wars,” he said. “And I think we should get used to it. And I think it’s, as you said, a state-based situation. Add this to the mix. At the end of the day, the state decides at the state level. It’s in the Constitution. Get over it.” That, apparently, set Sellers off.
“The problem with that sentiment is that you were born in 1954,” Sellers shot back, immediately turning the argument into a generational and moral rebuke. O’Leary, never one to miss a chance to needle someone, replied, “Yes,” when Sellers noted his age, then joked, “By the way, I’m a vampire.” Sellers clearly wasn’t in the mood and just pressed on with patronizing O’Leary. According to Sellers, O’Leary had lived through the entire post-Brown era and should understand what that history means. “During your lifetime, we’ve actually had Brown v. Board of Education,” Sellers said. O’Leary interjected, “I remember.” “Yes, Brown v. Board of Education, I don’t know how you remember it. I think you were like two months old.”
The temperature kept rising as Sellers tried to ground his point in personal history. “My mother was born in 1951. She desegregated schools. My father was shot in the Civil Rights Movement,” he said. “Those people—” Before he could finish, Phillip stepped in to let him continue. Sellers accused O’Leary of being “utterly disrespectful.” Then came the line that guaranteed the clip would travel fast. “So, I’m going to finish this comment. So, what I’m telling you is that there are people in this country who fought, died, and bled for the right to vote. Don’t be a d**k, just understand. Just understand.”
O’Leary didn’t care for that and pushed back immediately, insisting he was simply defending the Constitution. “I’m not a d**k. I’m pointing something out to you. The Constitution’s being upheld. You have a problem with that? You have a problem with the Constitution of the United States of America?” he asked.

WILD MELTDOWN: Bakari Sellers YELLS at Mr. Wonderful: “DON’T BE A DICK” on CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip during a heated discussion about the Democrats’ gerrymandering efforts.

Sellers: “There are people in this country who fought, died, and bled for the right to vote. Don’t… pic.twitter.com/Gv5UN44D4O
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) May 12, 2026

Phillip tried to restore order, scolding Sellers, “I just want everybody to reset with a modicum of respect at this table.” But Sellers didn’t care, “I want you to understand that there’s a price that was paid for this right. There is a price that we uphold. And whether or not you value that—” O’Leary cut in again, clearly not caring about Seller’s belittling tone. “Where are you going with this?” Sellers answered by making the point even more directly. “Whether or not you value that or not, there are people who bled, sweat, and died, and were in prison for access to the ballot box.”

No kings, no billionaires!

• Socialist Storytime: AOC Spins Anti-Capitalist Fable About the Founders (Turley)

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is fast becoming the greatest fabulist since Aesop. Recently, Ocasio-Cortez insisted that true billionaires are a capitalist myth since “you can’t earn a billion dollars.” However, her greatest work of fiction may be her insistence that the Framers fought against billionaires and would have joined her and other socialists in seeking to eradicate them today. Bertrand Russell once noted that “there is something feeble and a little contemptible” about those “who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths.”

The American left has long peddled such “comfortable myths” as the wealthy “not paying their fair share” of taxes. (The top one percent of income earners pay over 40% of federal taxes, and that percentage goes up to 70% for the top ten percent). However, Ocasio-Cortez has become a liberal Homer for her reputation for spinning collectivist tales. What is impressive is her myth-within-a-myth signature style: “You can’t earn that, right? And so you have to create a myth… you have to create a myth of earning it.” In a discussion at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, Ocasio-Cortez gave her revisionist account of the Founders as, surprise, budding anti-capitalists:
“I want to talk about how this is in the heritage of our country, because America was founded… you look at Thomas Jefferson writing to Madison in revolt of British aristocracy. The American Revolution was against the billionaires of their time. And we are declaring independence from such an extreme marriage of wealth and power and the state that the voices of everyday people did not exist.”In my recent book, “Rage and the Republic,” I discuss the economic philosophy of the Founders in exploring the history and future of this unique Republic.
While Ocasio-Cortez references our 250th anniversary, she ignores that it is also the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. Smith’s free-market theory was an instant hit with the founding generation. These men had just created the first major Enlightenment Revolution based on a belief in natural rights that came from God, not governments. Yet, they knew that true individual liberty could not be achieved without economic freedom. Smith’s economic theory was the perfect companion for their political theory.
The combination of American democratic theories and free market theories produced the world’s most successful and oldest democracy in history. In Rage and the Republic, I discuss the threats to this Republic, including from figures like Ocasio-Cortez, in spreading socialist myths. The book calls for a recommitment to what I call a “liberty-enhancing economy.” That is why this particular myth told by Ocasio-Cortez was so jarring. The Founders were great believers in capitalism and the free market. They were not fighting “the billionaires of their time” over their wealth. Many of the Founders were themselves quite wealthy, including banker Robert Morris Jr., who was known as the “Financier of the Revolution.”Adjusting for inflation and current rates, Morris would be a billionaire today.
The Founders believed in unleashing everyone’s ability to become a Morris. They fought against the taking or occupation of property by the government. Aat the very top of their stated purpose for the American Revolution was “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The phrase was virtually ripped from the page of John Locke’s “life, liberty, and property.” Locke believed that there was a natural right to property created by what God left “in common” for humanity. Preceding any government, it was a right that belonged to human beings by divine grant. Hardly a roaring endorsement of socialist ideals or, as Zohran Mamdani put it, the “warmth of collectivism.”
George Mason relied on Locke for his draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which Jefferson relied on heavily. Mason wrote of “the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” bOf course, the property reference was changed to happiness in the Declaration, which reflected the more transcendent values of these Enlightenment devotees. While reduced to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,” the original language appeared in the Fifth Amendment and, later in the Fourteenth Amendment, protecting citizens from being “deprived of life, liberty, or property.”
In his 1792 essay “Property,” Madison echoed Lockean values in declaring that good government “secures to every man whatever is his own.” Other early figures, like Chief Justice John Marshall, wrote, “The power to tax is the power to destroy.” The new myth-making on the left is meant to revive what I previously described as “economic factionalism,” seeking political power with this type of “eat-the-rich” rhetoric. It is working (as it has in history). In California, many are pushing a “billionaire’s tax,” while far-left figures like Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are pushing for a federal variation. In states from Washington state to Virginia, Democrats are virtually chasing wealthy taxpayers out of blue states with planned millionaire taxes.
To achieve such radical change, you must first destroy the values upon which this Republic was born, convincing people that their fundamental ties to capitalism are as ephemeral as true billionaires. The greatest irony is that Ocasio-Cortez personifies what the Founders truly wanted to combat. They feared mobocracy and the tyranny of the majority, the arbitrary power that can come from majoritarian abuse. Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders, and others are truly not new or particularly interesting additions to the political dialogue. They are the same voices of democratic despotism that Madison and others sought to quell.

A trial balloon?

• Media Spreads Hantavirus Hysteria In Attempt To Save Disgraced WHO (ZH)

The establishment media has been drumming up fear after a recent outbreak of Hantavirus on a cruise liner traveling from Argentina to West Africa. The Guardian has used the opportunity to assert that the US is currently ill equipped to deal with future pandemic threats, largely because of Donald Trump (of course) and the dramatic US exit from the now disgraced World Health Organization. Is Hantavirus a serious danger to the world, or, is it another hyped up virus like Covid being used to trigger public hysteria? And if it is being hyped, who (or WHO) stands to benefit?

For decades the WHO constructed its image as a global angel of benevolence; the primary line of defense against what they said was the inevitable invasion of a population rending plague. However, when the time finally came in the form of a mutated Coronavirus (Covid), they dropped the ball, and evidence suggests they may have done it deliberately.During the initial outbreak in China, the WHO echoed CCP propaganda suggesting that human-to-human contact was unlikely and, knowingly or unknowingly, aided China in hiding details behind the outbreak.
Details surrounding the involvement of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the largest dangerous disease lab in Asia, were actively dismissed (or suppressed). Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus even praised China’s “transparency”. The WHO then set up a joint task force to determine the origins of Covid, only to let the Chinese dominate the investigation and lead it away from the activities at the Level 4 lab in Wuhan. The Chinese wanted to push the theory of animal-to-animal mutation instead of the gain of function research that was ongoing at the lab (partially funded by US interests in the Obama Administration).
Today, evidence overwhelmingly suggests that Covid originated in the Wuhan Lab. In January 2025, the CIA assessed that a lab-related origin is more likely than natural spillover. This determination matched with similar FBI assessments. In 2025, German Intelligence also reported their findings, indicating a 90% likelihood that Covid was engineered and originated at the Wuhan Lab in China. Of course, anyone who made this claim online during the pandemic response was called a dangerous “conspiracy theorist” and was deplatformed (much like Zero Hedge).
The WHO would go on to exaggerate the death rate of the virus, claiming an initial Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 3.4%. This data was based on studies which ignored mild cases as well as asymptomatic cases, thus artificially pumping up the death rate. Dozens of studies as early as May 2020 showed that the median Infection Fatality Rate (a more accurate number) was only 0.27% (later adjusted to 0.23%). The WHO continued to spread disinformation and hysteria surrounding covid while ignoring the true IFR data. That is to say, all the lockdowns, the mandates, the social media censorship, the arrests, the push for vaccine passports, etc. – all of it was over a virus that 99.8% of the population would easily survive.
The WHO has been exposed as a perpetrator of pandemic disinformation and is no longer trusted by the public. The US under the Trump Administration has exited the organization on these grounds, and as a result the WHO has lost at least 20% of its total funding. It is now facing dire financial conditions. In response, the UN and the establishment media have been running a spin campaign to present the WHO as indispensable. It is therefore not surprising that the WHO and the media are suddenly jumping on the cruise line Hantavirus story as if it is significant, while at the same time arguing that Trump is putting the public at risk by not participating in the WHO’s antics. They need the money badly, and so they’ve decided to remind the public why we should be afraid.
For those who are unaware, Hantavirus is a common virus around the world and in the US. Estimates show around 100,000 cases of the disease occur annually. In 2023, there were 40 cases in the US. The virus is most often contracted when humans are exposed to dried rodent feces and urine, floating as particulates in the air which are then inhaled into the lungs. The spread from human to human is rare and only occurs with the South American strain. Contraction is difficult, with the virus passing from one person to another through “prolonged contact with bodily fluids”. It makes you wonder what kind of pleasure cruise these people were on when the most recent outbreak started? The point is, the story is being inflated from a normal event into a crisis event.
This is probably why the Spanish Government set up an elaborate bus transfer of supposedly highly infectious cruise passengers, only to drop off a psychiatrist with the Ministry of Health down the road without protective gear like he’s going home after school. The bottom line? Hantavirus is all over the world and it’s not a threat to the vast majority of people. The artificial media panic and the opportunism of the WHO may be an effort to test the waters for another fraudulent pandemic scare, but the majority of the propaganda seems to be aimed at restoring the WHO’s reputation and saving it from financial ruin.

The North African nation poses the biggest problem for the bloc in terms of arrivals, Thanos Plevris has said

• Over 500,000 Waiting To Cross Into Europe From Libya – Greek Minister (RT)

The EU might be on the verge of a new migrant crisis, with more than half a million people waiting in Libya alone to cross into Europe, Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris has said. The bloc was first inundated by asylum seekers from the Middle East and Northern Africa during the 2015 refugee crisis, when a million migrants entered Europe, straining welfare systems and prompting tens of millions of European voters to turn to far-right political parties. Greece remains one of the bloc’s main entry points, registering 48,771 arrivals in 2025, according to UNHCR data. According to the UN refugee agency, 7,589 migrants and asylum seekers have arrived in the Mediterranean country this year as of May 3, including 5,615 by sea.

Athens has introduced a number of tough policy measures in a bid to stem the flow over the past years, including detention for those denied asylum. Commenting on the situation on Sunday, Plevris said that Greece was “the first country to criminalize illegal residence” and would not allow those denied protection to just roam free. “Those who are not entitled to asylum will be detained,” the minister told a local broadcaster, adding that Athens would “operate within the law but will go to its limits to protect the borders.” He also described the situation in Libya as the biggest problem faced by his country and the EU. According to Plevris, around 550,000 people have gathered there and are now seeking to enter Europe.
In February, Plevris also announced that it was working together with Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Denmark to create “return hubs” for rejected asylum seekers outside of the EU’s borders, with Africa being the preferred destination. Libya became a key transit point for human trafficking and migration to Europe via the Mediterranean following a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 that led to the overthrow and assassination of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi. The EU has struggled to manage the migration crisis since 2015, with Greece, Italy, and Spain receiving the highest number of arrivals across the Mediterranean.

This could soon be the world’s leadership:

Patriots who secure borders, put citizens FIRST, and put their own country above all.

The next 5 years will bring a full world revolution.

The globalist agenda is fast crumbling. pic.twitter.com/91fihWv5UZ
— The British Patriot (@TheBritLad) May 11, 2026

Congratulations, Giga Berlin Team! https://t.co/0bfWV5ilfn
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2026

Professor Jiang states that greek civilisation flourished because it was based on two values, Arete and Eudaimonia, both coming out of Homer's epic poems Iliad and Odyssey. pic.twitter.com/aSyg1OvMRN
— well-meaning (@FreshSummerWind) May 12, 2026

We have a virus ‘scare’ every 6 years – you have to be either a coincidence theorist or a conspiracy theorist.
Which one are you?
In the comments please pic.twitter.com/NEoaNqtini
— Andrew Bridgen (@ABridgen) May 11, 2026

Invented by Franky Zapata, the Flyboard Air can outfly drones, outpace cars, and climb higher than helicopters.

[📹 supercarblondie]pic.twitter.com/y1ylWUyLJu
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) May 11, 2026

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

Debt Rattle April 30 2026

Apr 302026

April 30, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:53 am Finance Tagged with: Dan Bongino, Deep State, extended blockade, Iran, Nord Stream, OPEC, Social Well-Being Index, Trump, UAE, US envoy 35 Responses »

Joaquin Sorolla Passeggiata sulla spiaggia (Walk on the beach) 1909

• Trump Tells Aides US Preparing For Extended Blockade: WSJ (ZH)

• Iran Is in a ‘Death Spiral’ and Time Is Running Out (Matt Margolis)

• UAE Announces Departure from OPEC Effective May 1st (CTH)

• More Countries ‘Very Likely’ To Leave OPEC: Ex-UAE Diplomat (RT)

• Glory Days of OPEC Long Over – Afshin Rattansi (RT)

• UN Makes Iran Vice President of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Conference (Salgado)

• Shell Speech: Why the Second Comey Indictment is Likely to Fail (Turley)

• US Envoy To Ukraine To Resign Over Dwindling Aid To Kiev – FT (RT)

• Who This Democrat Blames for the Latest Trump Assassination Attempt (Margolis)

• US to Issue Limited Passports With Trump’s Image for 250th Anniversary (ET)

• The Way Bongino Flushed Out Deep State Leakers Was Pure GENIUS (Margolis)

• RFK Jr.’s New Autism Committee Issues First Proposals (ET)

• German Tabloid Publishes Nudes of Alleged Nord Stream Saboteur (RT)

• Experts Comment on RT’s Social Well-Being Index (RT)

I was wondering when immortality would enter the conversation.

Elon Musk just described the extinction of death.

Not in a white paper. Not in a press release. Dropped mid-summit like it was a footnote.

Musk: “You’ll have kind of a whole brain interface that is perhaps a form of immortality. Your brain state is essentially stored. You’re… pic.twitter.com/nv69Nh3kIl
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) April 29, 2026

Elon Musk just described a future where money does not exist.

Not reformed. Not redistributed.

Gone.

Musk: “I think things will just be free in the future. If you’ve got an AI robotics economy that is anywhere close to a million times the size of the current Earth economy,… pic.twitter.com/BmIvhL7vsr
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) April 29, 2026

“Elon is different”

Eric Weinstein says Grok can read the trash.

What if the answers aren’t in the libraries? If everyone is wrong you have to look into what’s been discarded. pic.twitter.com/5Dj2aGLHde
— The Frontier – By Jungle Inc (@jungleincfin) April 29, 2026

Elon Musk is 100% right to take OpenAI to court.

He co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit specifically to develop AGI for the benefit of all humanity — not to enrich any individual or corporation. He came up with the name, recruited the team, taught them what he knew, and put… pic.twitter.com/SeGELa8Hgn
— Captain Eli (@TheCaptainEli) April 29, 2026

TREASON

The FBI investigated the Clinton Foundation for BRIBERY, money laundering AND pay-to-play…

Senator Grassley just released the buried 2016 files.

They knew.
They covered it up.
The Clintons sold out America.

PROSECUTE THEM ALL pic.twitter.com/xFl7p1ZaHg
— Liz Churchill (@liz_churchill10) April 28, 2026

https://twitter.com/warDaniel47/status/2049041162401366114?s=20 https://twitter.com/GOP_is_Gutless/status/2049200842176073804?s=20

Elon Musk drops a major bombshell on Joe Rogan about the suspicious “suicide” of an OpenAI whistleblower — and doesn’t hold back on Sam Altman.
Joe Rogan: “Sam Altman’s reaction to being accused of murder is bizarre!”
Elon Musk: “Yeah, I don’t know if he’s guilty, but it’s not… pic.twitter.com/dz83RayRo9
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) April 27, 2026

https://twitter.com/RodDMartin/status/2049496886751412225?s=20

I don’t think so. The message was meant for IGRC ears. Trump doesn’t want a long siege. And he won’t need it.

• Trump Tells Aides US Preparing For Extended Blockade: WSJ (ZH)

If confirmed, this constitutes another huge gamble by Trump – on both the economic and political fronts, and with the lingering potential for escalation (towards some kind of ground action as well). According to the WSJ Tuesday evening, the president has told aides and his staff that he’s prepared to implement an extended blockade: President Trump has instructed aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran, U.S. officials said, targeting the regime’s coffers in a high-risk bid to compel a nuclear capitulation Tehran has long refused. https://twitter.com/MichaelARothman/status/2049076256919171240?s=20

In recent meetings, including a Monday discussion in the Situation Room, Trump opted to continue squeezing Iran’s economy and oil exports by preventing shipping to and from its ports. He assessed that his other options—resume bombing or walk away from the conflict—carried more risk than maintaining the blockade, officials said. Yet continuing the blockade also prolongs a conflict that has driven up gas prices, hurt Trump’s poll numbers and further darkened Republicans’ prospects in the midterm elections. It has also caused the lowest number of transits through the Strait of Hormuz since the war began.
However, it remains that this could also be some classic Trump signaling of a ‘maximalist’ position, in order to get Iran to capitulate at the negotiating table. Just as the WSJ report hit, there was this headline over the news wires based on fresh comments: TRUMP SAID IRAN WANTS THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ REOPENED AND MAY ACCEPT AN INTERIM DEAL TO END THE US NAVAL BLOCKADE WHILE BROADER WAR-END NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE. The new threat of prolonged military action was accompanied late Tuesday by this from the Treasury Secretary:
The Treasury Department, through Economic Fury, has targeted Iran’s international shadow banking infrastructure, access to crypto, shadow fleet, weapons procurement networks, funding for terrorist proxies in the region, and independent Chinese “teapot” refineries that support…
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) April 29, 2026

And per Bloomberg latest: In recent meetings, including a Monday discussion in the Situation Room, Trump opted to continue squeezing Iran’s economy and oil exports by preventing shipping to and from its ports. He assessed that his other options—resume bombing or walk away from the conflict—carried more risk than maintaining the blockade, officials said.

“It is an authoritarian regime, and it can claim that resisting economic pressure is a question of national pride..”

• Iran Is in a ‘Death Spiral’ and Time Is Running Out (Matt Margolis)

Something huge is happening inside Iran right now — and the regime’s leadership knows it. Six weeks of war with the United States and Israel, combined with a crippling naval blockade, have accelerated an economic collapse that was already years in the making. The Iranian rial hit an all-time low of roughly 1,810,000 to one U.S. dollar this week, even as a fragile ceasefire technically holds. According to the Wall Street Journal, Iran is in a “death spiral.” The paper quoted Mahdi Ghodsi of the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, summing it up with brutal clarity: “Living is not affordable anymore,” he said. “Iran is at its weakest point.”

He’s not wrong. Over a million Iranians have lost their jobs since the conflict escalated. Businesses are shuttering across the country — manufacturers, retailers, anyone dependent on steel or imported raw materials. Electronics are scarce and unaffordable. Food and medicine, priced against the dollar exchange rate, are slipping out of reach for ordinary families. Residents describe hardship not seen in decades. The regime’s response? Wage hikes, subsidies, and cash handouts. Buying time with money it’s rapidly running out of. Basically, socialism — and we know how that works out.
“It is an authoritarian regime, and it can claim that resisting economic pressure is a question of national pride,” Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow and Iran expert at the Middle East Institute, explained. At the same time, “as the money dries up because of the blockade, we may find that more and more folks have no choice but to mobilize politically.” Now, to be clear, this economic death spiral didn’t begin with the war. Years of U.S. sanctions had already hollowed out Iran’s financial foundations before a single shot was fired. But the blockade turbo-charged the damage.
The regime is fracturing too. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of the war. His wounded son, Mojtaba Khamenei, formally holds the supreme leader position now, but he’s been MIA for weeks. Why does this matter? Without a genuine clerical authority at the top arbitrating key decisions, rivalries among IRGC commanders could intensify. And as the perception grows that Mojtaba is a figurehead, the regime’s internal legitimacy erodes further — both among elites who see an opening and among ordinary Iranians who have watched their purchasing power evaporate in real time.
The regime certainly knows how to mobilize security forces, but repeated massacres deepen public resentment rather than extinguish it. At some point, the IRGC’s willingness to shoot its own people may not be enough to hold the line. And Washington is betting on exactly that breaking point. U.S. officials believe that while talks have stalled, Iran will eventually crack under the economic strain. The question isn’t whether Iran is approaching a tipping point; it’s how much longer the regime can pretend it isn’t. It is essentially a high-stakes waiting game, and Iran’s clock is running out faster than its leadership wants to admit.

What part of this is Trump?

• UAE Announces Departure from OPEC Effective May 1st (CTH)

Big things are happening quickly as President Trump continues to disrupt historic global structures of control and influenceThe United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced they are leaving OPEC in order to manifest their own sovereign economic destiny and increase domestic oil production without the limits and rules of the OPEC cartel. This is a significant alignment with President Donald Trump who has actively argued against the OPEC assembly and the oil price controls they have historically imposed.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates said Tuesday it will leave OPEC effective May 1, stripping the oil cartel of one of its largest producers and further weakening its leverage over global oil supplies and prices. The UAE’s decision had been rumored as a possibility for some time, as it pushed back in recent years against OPEC production quotas it felt had been too low — meaning it wasn’t able to sell as much oil to the world as it had wanted. “Having invested heavily in expanding energy production capacity in recent years, the bigger picture is that the UAE has been itching to pump more oil,” Capital Economics wrote in an analysis.
“The ties binding OPEC members together have loosened,” it said, particularly after Qatar withdrew from the cartel in 2019. (read more)As noted by CNBC, “The UAE has played an influential role in OPEC’s decisions over nearly six decades. It was the group’s third-largest oil producer in February behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The Gulf state joined OPEC in 1967, seven years after the organization was founded.” This is where things get really interesting…. Because the UAE can effectively eliminate the Hormuz chokepoint, and Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent previously outlined something very important to the UAE:

LAST WEEK:
WASHINGTON – US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that a number of allies in the Gulf region and in Asia have requested currency swap lines from the United States to help deal with energy shocks and other fallout from the Middle East war. Bessent told US senators that both the US and the United Arab Emirates would benefit from a proposed swap line that President Donald Trump said he was considering on Tuesday. Bessent did not name the countries making such requests, but told a US Senate Appropriations subcommittee budget hearing that such facilities would help stabilize financial markets amid turmoil from the Iran war.
“And swap lines, whether it’s from the Federal Reserve or the Treasury, are to maintain order in the dollar funding markets and to prevent the sale of the US assets in a disorderly way,” Bessent said. “So, the swap line would benefit both the UAE and the US, and as I said, numerous other countries, including some of our Asian allies, have also requested them.” The US Treasury last October provided Argentina with a $20 billion currency swap to help stabilize the country’s peso during a tumultuous election period that helped strengthen the position of President Javier Milei’s party.
That swap line, backed by the Treasury’s $219 billion Exchange Stabilization Fund, provided Argentina with a safety net of dollars that the central bank could use to help prop up the value of the peso and prevent a devaluation ahead of the vote. It has since been repaid.
REQUESTS FOR RUSSIAN OIL
Bessent also said that he extended sanctions relief on Russian seaborne oil for another 30 days after requests from a number of countries that are most vulnerable to oil shortages from the closed Strait of Hormuz. The requests came during last week’s International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings, he said. The action reversed his comments last week that he would not renew expiring sanctions waivers. A separate waiver to allow countries to buy Iranian oil stranded at sea lapsed on April 19. (more)
The UAE can bypass the Hormuz chokepoint, and Saudi Arabia can pump oil to the Red Sea via their east/west pipeline. If Trump keeps the blockade against Iranian oil shipments in place, the UAE and Saudi Arabia can fill the global oil void; however, they need to get outside the OPEC restrictions to do it. Thus, the UAE exiting OPEC makes strategic sense both now and in the geopolitical longer term. However, in the short run the UAE needs financial stability as the switch is done. Enter Scott Bessent with the currency swap lines for the UAE.
Brilliant planning.
Iran just lost all their leverage.

“The UAE’s decision to withdraw from the cartel had been “a long time coming,” Obaid Ahmed Al-Zaabi believes ..”

• More Countries ‘Very Likely’ To Leave OPEC: Ex-UAE Diplomat (RT)

More countries are “very likely” to withdraw from OPEC following the United Arab Emirates’ decision to leave the group, former UAE diplomat to the UN and World Trade Organization, Obaid Ahmed Al-Zaabi, told RT. The Gulf nation announced its intent to leave the cartel and broader OPEC+, which brings together OPEC members and other key oil-producing countries, on Tuesday. The withdrawal is set to come into force on May 1. The UAE’s decision has been a “long time coming,” Al-Zaabi has said, arguing that the country has been “substantially” restricting its production while many other members of the groups have been limited by their output capacities.

“The UAE is no longer entirely dependent on oil and hydrocarbons, and our economy is highly invested all over the world. The organization OPEC acted as a tax on global productivity, and it’s now in our interest to see the world as productive as possible. Also, it costs the UAE the most to impose OPEC,” the ex-diplomat argued. At the same time, Al-Zaabi suggested that the withdrawal was driven more by “other geopolitical realities” rather than oil itself, pinning the blame on Iran’s retaliatory actions against its Gulf neighbors in the wake of the US-Israeli attack.
“It hardly seems in the UAE’s interest to collude with Iran on the oil price when we’re being directly struck by them,” he argued. More countries are “very likely” to follow suit and leave the cartel, the ex-diplomat suggested. “The truth is very likely, because the more people that defect, the more costly it is to maintain the volume restriction. So if the UAE is serious and they no longer respect the limits, then there’s going to be no incentive for Kuwait and other countries to reduce their production,” he said.

Qatar left OPEC in 2019..

• Glory Days of OPEC Long Over – Afshin Rattansi (RT)

The decision by the United Arab Emirates to leave OPEC will further weaken the cartel of oil producers, whose power has been eroding over the years, Afshin Rattansi, host of Going Underground, has told RT. The Emirati government announced the departure on Tuesday, citing plans to focus on “national interests” and the Gulf state’s “long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile.” The move comes amid uncertainty over the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway crucial to global oil trade, which has remained largely closed to shipping since February due to the US-Israeli war with Iran.

Speaking to RT, Rattansi noted that the UAE’s departure is not unprecedented, as another oil-rich Arab monarchy, Qatar, left the organization in 2019. The journalist argued that the cartel can no longer wield power comparable to what it had in 1973, when Arab countries declared an embargo on the US and other states supporting Israel.
“One has to realize that OPEC’s power has diminished. The glory days of (Saudi oil minister Ahmed Zaki) Yamani and 1973, when the Saudis and OPEC could exert geopolitical pressure, are long over,” Rattansi said. “Russia and the United States are the top oil suppliers in the world,” Rattansi added. He suggested that the UAE could align itself more closely with regional blocs such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as the Gulf monarchy has sought to maintain independence while under Western pressure to cut ties with Russia.

Trump will not take this lying down.

• UN Makes Iran Vice President of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Conference (Salgado)

The United Nations (UN) is determined to reject all blame for electing representatives of the genocidal Iranian regime to its Human Rights Council and other completely inappropriate positions. Now, it has also given an Iranian representative a key role in reviewing nuclear non-proliferation policy. It’s like putting Adolf Hitler on a committee against antisemitism.

Only a couple weeks ago, the American delegation had to leave Pakistan without any deal made with the Iranian delegation after the latter refused to agree to the basic requirement that Iran not pursue nuclear weapons development. “But the simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” U.S. Vice President JD Vance explained. And yet the UN is pretending that Iran can be helpful in preventing nuclear proliferation. Watchdog group UN Watch posted the following:
https://twitter.com/UNWatch/status/2048898062832058535
Christopher Yeaw, U.S. assistant secretary for arms control and nonproliferation, protested to the UN delegates, “Rather than choosing to use this review conference to defend the integrity of the NPT [non-proliferation treaty] and call Iran to account, we instead elect Iran a vice president. It is beyond shameful and an embarrassment to the credibility of this conference.”
But the UN has made a series of disgusting moves to reward the Iranian regime this year, all of them after that same regime massacred over 40,000 of its own people, a slaughter that continues with executions of Persian freedom protesters. The other most recent UN nomination happened after the Iranian regime had been indiscriminately bombing civilian targets in multiple nations, particularly Israel. UN Watch posted furiously on April 10, “SHAME: The Islamic Republic of Iran has just been nominated to the U.N. Committee for Program and Coordination, which meets soon to shape policy on women’s rights, human rights, disarmament, and terrorism prevention.”
Besides that despicable display, the UN recently welcomed an Iranian regime representative to chair a forum for the Human Rights Council. The Iranian regime is the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world; it supports murderous jihadis, including Hamas, Hezbollah (which has helped Iran kill civilians in this conflict), the Houthis, and the Muslim Brotherhood. Then again, the UN also employs Hamas jihadis.

Comey can threaten Trump then flip him the bird. US law is great, but not in this case.

Everrybody knows what he means. If he himself didn’t, he would never have been FBI director. His career says he’s guilty.

• Shell Speech: Why the Second Comey Indictment is Likely to Fail (Turley)

Below is my column on Fox.com on the second indictment of former FBI director James Comey. Despite being one of Comey’s longest critics, the indictment raises troubling free speech issues. In the end, it must be the Constitution, not Comey, that drives the analysis and this indictment is unlikely to withstand constitutional scrutiny. If it did, it would allow the government to criminalize a huge swath of political speech in the United States. Here is the column:

In the last year, coverage of former FBI Director James Comey appears to be reverting to the level of a high school yearbook. Last March, we were discussing how Comey channeled Beyoncé in a classified meeting and then may have revealed a code name in an encore performance for family. Now we are back to discussing Comey’s beach shell art on social media. The latter controversy is now at the heart of a second criminal indictment of Comey. In November, a court dismissed the first indictment for false statements after a challenge to the status of the acting U.S. attorney. However, this indictment is being brought in North Carolina, the location of the beach where the offending shells were found. Comey will now likely create a new category of protected shell speech.
The problem with this indictment will be the merits. The indictment concerns an image that was later removed by Comey showing “86 47” in shells on a beach. Comey has a rather odd history of drawing inspiration from shells. This message, however, had a lethal twist since many interpreted the message as essentially calling for the killing or “86-ing” of Trump. Comey insists that he did not make the shell art and that he only posted it to his more than 1 million followers on X. He was merely the captive of his shell muses. For over a decade, I have been one of Comey’s most vocal and consistent critics. I have dozens of columns criticizing his excesses and the damage that he has done to our system.
For that reason, I would prefer to crawl into one of Comey’s conversant shells than write a column supporting him. However, here we are. The fact is that I believe that this indictment is facially unconstitutional absent some unknown new facts. To convict Comey, the Justice Department will have to show that his adolescent picture was a “true threat” under 18 U.S.C. § 871 and § 875(c). It is not.mThe First Amendment is designed to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech rarely needs protection. It also protects bad and hateful speech. It even protects lies so long as those lies are not used for the purpose of fraud or other criminal conspiracies.
In 1969, the Supreme Court declared a more direct threat protected under the First Amendment. In Watts v. United States, an 18-year-old anti-war protester exclaimed, “If they ever make me carry a rifle the first man I want to get in my sights is L. B. J.” While the court did rule that “the statute [criminalizing presidential threats] is constitutional on its face,” it emphasized that “what is a threat must be distinguished from what is constitutionally protected speech.” The court ruled that the expression of wanting to kill a president is “a kind of very crude offensive method of stating a political opposition to the President.” Saying the same thing in shell is only further removed from criminal speech. Citizens are allowed to denounce and even wish a president ill. I have written about what I called this “age of rage.”
It is not our first. This nation was founded in rage. The Boston Tea Party was rage. In forming this more perfect union, we created the world’s greatest protection of free speech in history. It is arguably the most American contribution to our Bill of Rights. Great Britain did not — and still does not — protect free speech as we do. It comes at a cost. Perhaps Comey is that cost. However, he has a right to write out any hateful thoughts that come to him on his walks on the beach. A true threat requires “statements where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals.” Virginia v. Black, 538 U.S. 343, 359 (2003).
It is certainly true that the threat can be implied. However, “The ‘true’ in that term distinguishes what is at issue from jests, ‘hyperbole,’ or other statements that when taken in context do not convey a real possibility that violence will follow.” Counterman v. Colorado, 600 U.S. 66, 74 (2023). At the time, Comey quickly deleted the post and said that it never occurred to him that it would be interpreted as being violent. In a subsequent Instagram post, Comey said he assumed the shells that he saw on a beach walk were “a political message” and that he “did not realize some folks associate those numbers with violence.”
We will have to wait to see if the administration has a “smoking shell” allegation that makes Comey’s shell speech more menacing as a willful and knowing threat. I cannot imagine what that would be beyond a sleeper surfer hit squad waiting for a shell signal. Absent such new evidence, it appears to be yet another Comey posting that makes his Beyoncé renditions seem professional in comparison. Ironically, the indictment is unlikely to survive a challenge, but it is likely to fulfill Comey’s narrative about the administration. It will undermine the legitimate objections to the lawfare waged under Comey. Comey’s shell speech should not be celebrated, but it should be protected.

The Kiev mob wants more money.

• US Envoy To Ukraine To Resign Over Dwindling Aid To Kiev – FT (RT)

Acting US Ambassador to Ukraine Julie Davis will leave her post over disagreements with President Donald Trump regarding his waning support for the country, the Financial Times has reported, citing three people familiar with the matter. The State Department has confirmed Davis’ departure but denied that she was leaving because of differences with the president. “Ambassador Davis has been a steadfast proponent of the Trump administration’s efforts to bring about a durable peace between Russia and Ukraine,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement on Tuesday. He added that Davis will depart Kiev in June.

Davis has served as chargé d’affaires in Ukraine since May 2025, following the resignation of her predecessor, former Ambassador Bridget Brink, who accused Trump of “appeasement” toward Russia. “Unfortunately, the policy since the beginning of the Trump administration has been to put pressure on the victim, Ukraine, rather than on the aggressor, Russia,” Brink wrote in an op-ed in the Detroit Free Press shortly after resigning.
Trump has angered many in Kiev and the EU by suggesting that Ukraine may have to make concessions to Russia, including potentially ceding territory. He also criticized Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, whom he once branded “a dictator” for refusing to hold elections. The US mediated several rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine throughout 2025, although they did not result in any breakthroughs. Trump also broke with the diplomatic boycott of Russia by hosting President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August 2025.

They blame Trump. That way they’re not to blame. Same as: he organizes the attacks himself. Because he’s so impopular. Their media says it’s so.

• Who This Democrat Blames for the Latest Trump Assassination Attempt (Margolis)

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) didn’t waste any time pointing the finger after Saturday’s assassination attempt on President Donald Trump — and he aimed it squarely at Trump himself. The anti-Trump stalwart appeared on CNN’s Laura Coates Live following the arrest of a man identified as carrying a pump-action shotgun, a semi-automatic handgun, and at least three knives to Washington, D.C. after traveling from California. The suspect emailed his family just before the attack, laying out his grievances against the Trump administration, and a manifesto left little ambiguity about his targets. More charges are expected to follow.

Coates played a clip of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who called out what she described as years of escalating demonization of the president. “This political violence stems from a systemic demonization of him and his supporters by commentators, yes, by elected members of the Democrat Party, and even some in the media,” she said. “This hateful and constant and violent rhetoric directed at President Trump day after day after day for 11 years has helped to legitimize this violence and bring us to this dark moment.”
Goldman, who sits on the House Judiciary and Homeland Security committees and is a former federal prosecutor, of course, doesn’t blame his party for the shooting. When asked about the White House’s response, Goldman didn’t even pause. “I mean, it’s pretty rich given that Donald Trump’s rhetoric led to January 6,” he said. “And we know what Donald Trump’s rhetoric leads to because we know many times over how his followers use violence in — when they follow him.”

Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman attempts to blame President Trump for the assassination attempt on his life:

GOLDMAN: "We know what Donald Trump's rhetoric leads to." pic.twitter.com/WCw6TSptQw
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 28, 2026

Yes, he literally blamed President Trump for the assassination attempt against him. Let’s recap what happened. A man traveled across the country armed to the teeth, wrote a manifesto targeting Trump administration officials, and Goldman’s primary takeaway is that Trump’s rhetoric is the real problem here. The suspect’s own words, apparently, are less relevant than invoking January 6. And speaking of January 6, how exactly can we trust Democrats when it comes to assessing the rhetoric of Trump or anyone, when they claim that Trump telling his supporters to march “to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard” was inciting a riot.
But I digress. After blaming Trump for the assassination attempt, Goldman had the audacity to play the “both sides” card. “Now, that does not excuse rhetoric that would otherwise call for violence by anybody,” he continued. “The point is that we do need to dial it down on all sides.” As we’ve pointed out before, this is what Democrats do every time there’s left-wing violence. They try to downplay their own culpability by claiming the problem exists on “both sides.” They can never own up to the fact that they’ve been calling Trump a Nazi, a dictator, an existential threat to democracy, etc., etc., for years, and that the people carrying out all the violence we’re seeing are echoing that rhetoric, are clearly radicalized by it, and feeling morally obligated to do something about it.

That’s his mugshot. In your passport. How can you not love that?

• US to Issue Limited Passports With Trump’s Image for 250th Anniversary (ET)

The U.S. State Department announced on April 28 that it will release limited-edition passports featuring a picture of President Donald Trump to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary of independence. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement to multiple news outlets that the department would release “a limited number of specially designed U.S. passports to commemorate this historic occasion” in July, but did not specify how many would be issued.

“These passports will feature customized artwork and enhanced imagery while maintaining the same security features that make the U.S. passport the most secure documents in the world,” Pigott said.= The White House posted a mockup of the limited-edition passport on social media, which shows the interior page featuring an image of Trump and his signature in gold, while the back cover displays the “Declaration of Independence” painting by John Trumbull. “Patriot passport unlocked. Limited edition. Stamped for America 250,” the White House said in the X post. > The only presidents featured in current U.S. passports are in a double-page depiction of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Other depictions include the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and scenes of the Great Plains, mountains, and islands. Current passports also contain quotations from Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Dwight Eisenhower.
Last year, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the department would issue new commemorative park passes this year to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary, with the annual passes featuring images of George Washington and Trump, and military passes showing a photo of Trump saluting troops.
In addition, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts last month approved a final design for a commemorative coin featuring Trump’s image to mark the nation’s anniversary. “As we approach our 250th birthday, we are thrilled to prepare coins that represent the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, and there is no profile more emblematic for the front of such coins than that of our serving President, Donald J. Trump,” Treasurer Brandon Beach said in a statement on March 20.
The Treasury Department also announced on March 26 that Trump’s signature would appear alongside that of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on future U.S. paper currency in honor of the 250th anniversary. “There is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S dollar bills bearing his name, and it is only appropriate that this historic currency be issued at the Semiquincentennial,” Bessent said.

Don’t get lost in hyperbole. It was alright.

• The Way Bongino Flushed Out Deep State Leakers Was Pure GENIUS (Margolis)

If you’ve ever wondered just how deep the dysfunction runs inside the FBI, just gave a peek behind the curtain—and it’s worse than you think. In a revealing conversation on the “Hang Out with Sean Hannity” podcast released Tuesday, Bongino described a bureau split into what he bluntly called “two FBIs.” One side, he said, is filled with agents doing the hard, honorable work Americans expect. The other? A nest of internal saboteurs leaking to the press and undermining the mission from within.

“There were two FBIs trying to help you solve the A, B and C problems, and that’s FBI one and FBI two,” Bongino said. Bongino, who served as deputy director from March 2025 to January of this year, didn’t hold back in describing the divide. He praised agents working violent crime and child exploitation cases, saying he felt “honored” to serve alongside them. These are the people actually protecting Americans. The ones doing the job the FBI was created to do.
But then there’s what he called “this other FBI,” which he said was “populated with, to say, unfortunately, ‘snakes’ is being nice.” And here’s where it gets even more troubling. Bongino said he and FBI Director Kash Patel couldn’t easily tell who was who. Loyalty wasn’t obvious. “You’re trying to figure this out, and you’re asking someone for advice, you’ve only been there a couple weeks, and you don’t know if that person is part of the good FBI or the bad FBI,” Bongino explained.
Think about that. Senior leadership inside the FBI, tasked with restoring integrity, couldn’t even rely on internal guidance without wondering if they were being set up. It gets worse. Bongino said he was repeatedly assured certain individuals were trustworthy, only to suspect them of leaking shortly afterward. “It happened a couple times where they’d say, ‘Oh, you can trust John Smith.’ And you trust John Smith, and then a week later you see a leak in the media and you’d be like, ‘I’m pretty sure that came from John Smith,’” he said. At that point, most bureaucrats would shrug and complain. Bongino did something smarter.
He set a trap. To flush out leakers, Bongino began planting harmless, fake details—like an “innocuous” schedule item—and sharing them selectively with specific individuals. Then he watched. If that exact detail showed up in the press, he had his answer. “It was like we would play this little game,” he said. Call it a game if you want. It was actually a classic counterintelligence tactic, and it worked. When the planted information surfaced publicly, Bongino confronted the source directly. No guesswork. No plausible deniability. Done.
When you think about it, what Bongino describes isn’t just bureaucratic infighting, it’s a battle over what the FBI even is. Is it a law enforcement agency serving the public, or a politicized institution where leaks and agendas shape outcomes behind the scenes? Apparently, there are enough of the latter to be a serious problem. And if rooting out “snakes” requires undercover tricks from the deputy director himself, that tells you everything you need to know about how entrenched the problem has become.

The numbers are scary as all hell.

• RFK Jr.’s New Autism Committee Issues First Proposals (ET)

A federal committee remade by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recommended on April 28 that health agencies revamp guidance for diagnosing and treating people with autism spectrum disorder. The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee voted to advise the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make clear to doctors that they should be prepared to recognize and treat new issues that crop up in autistic people, such as seizures and difficulty sleeping; develop standardized clinical steps when encountering conditions such as developmental regression and allergic disease when screening, diagnosing, and treating children with autism; and formally define profound autism as having little or no ability to speak and require continuous supervision.

The committee also said the government should take steps to enhance a warning system for missing and endangered people so that when autistic people wander away, alerts are issued. The HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The meeting was the first since Kennedy removed existing committee members and selected new ones in January, including some who said vaccines can cause autism. None of the recommendations involve vaccines, although some public speakers and panel members said they either think vaccines can cause autism or that research should be conducted into the possibility.
One recommendation is that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an HHS component, should clarify that when screening, diagnosing, and treating children with autism, doctors should seriously evaluate conditions such as developmental regression and allergic disease.“When such triggers are present, further evaluation should be pursued or arranged as clinically indicated,” the committee said, adding that the evaluation “should not permit these signals to be dismissed solely on the basis of an autism diagnosis.”
The committee said that there is much clinical evidence describing medical conditions that occur among autistic people, but “this evidence is not consistently integrated into clinical assessment, resulting in gaps in recognition, evaluation, and follow-through, especially when these conditions present atypically.”It added later: “The result has been delayed identification, fragmented care, and preventable morbidity—reflecting a translational gap rather than an absence of evidence.”
Another is that the Health Resources and Services Administration, which is also part of the department, should develop training for doctors to identify and address gastrointestinal changes and sleep disturbances, among other problems, in autistic people.The committee said that despite evidence showing new symptoms require treatment, “clinical care remains inconsistent and fragmented across settings.” The symptoms “can be overlooked, deferred, treated as secondary to behavior, or not systematically elicited at all,” it said.
Among the specific recommended changes is treating observations from caregivers of autistic people who are unable to speak, or speak well, as medically relevant information, rather than anecdotal context. Dr. Sylvia Fogel, a psychiatry instructor at Harvard Medical School and the committee’s chair, said during the meeting that focusing on treating autistic individuals is imperative, because many continue to suffer from undiagnosed psychiatric and pain-causing conditions.“It is unacceptable,” said Fogel, who said her son has what she described as profound autism. The committee also recommended that officials adopt the term profound autism as a reference for autistic people “with the highest and most persistent support needs.”

They keep on trying to make you think it wasn’t the Americans. But you have Seymour Hersh. What comes after nudes?

• German Tabloid Publishes Nudes of Alleged Nord Stream Saboteur (RT)

German tabloid Bild has published nude images of a Ukrainian woman allegedly linked to the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. According to media reports, the woman was part of a group of Ukrainian nationals suspected by German investigators of renting the yacht Andromeda to carry out the sophisticated underwater operation. Claims about the woman’s past as an erotic model – identified under the alias ‘Freya’ – were first reported by Wall Street Journal chief European political correspondent Bojan Pancevski in his book on the Nord Stream attack. His account is partly based on interviews with individuals allegedly connected to the case.

The photos released by Bild include fully naked images said to show Freya, whose real name was previously reported as Valeria Chernyshova. One image shows her featured on a 2004 erotic magazine cover; another shows her on a sofa. Her face was obscured in both photos. Russian officials have expressed skepticism about Western media narratives surrounding the investigation, suggesting that these reports attempt to attribute responsibility to rogue Ukrainian actors for what Moscow regards as an act of terrorism backed or potentially carried out by NATO.

‘A breath of fresh air’:

• Experts Comment on RT’s Social Well-Being Index (RT)

Built around six indicators – total fertility rate, life expectancy, infant mortality, number of homicides, income inequality and education levels – the Social Well-Being Index, or SWI, is intended as an alternative to familiar measures such as GDP rankings and the UN’s Human Development Index. Its creators argue that while older frameworks are useful for assessing individual development or economic output, they often fail to show whether a nation is cohesive, secure and sustainable over the long term.

Former British MP George Galloway offered the strongest endorsement, arguing that existing measures can badly misrepresent a country’s true condition. “The pre-existing indexes are completely inadequate,” he said, adding that they “tell not just an incomplete story, but a story that is false.” That criticism goes to the heart of the new index’s appeal. Traditional measures such as GDP and even broader composite indicators like the HDI can reward wealth, consumption and personal attainment without asking whether the surrounding society is healthy. In Galloway’s view, that is a major blind spot.
“The current indexes don’t tell you that story,” he said, describing how someone may appear prosperous on paper while living amid “potential violence, and mass unhappiness and misery.” The SWI tries to correct for that by focusing less on isolated individual outcomes and more on the overall environment in which people live. Homicides, inequality and demographic sustainability are treated as core indicators of whether a society is stable and likely to reproduce itself over time.
Matthew Ehret, director of the Rising Tide Foundation, called this approach “a breath of fresh air” after what he described as decades of narrow Western economic thinking. The problem with ranking countries by GDP, Ehret argued, is not just that it is incomplete, but that it often confuses harmful activity with real progress. “GDP generally fails to address what is real value and what is fake value,” he said, pointing to criminal, speculative or socially corrosive activity that can still inflate national output figures. The SWI goes further by explicitly measuring social conditions that economic aggregates often obscure. A country may generate large volumes of output, but if it is aging rapidly, suffering from low fertility, burdened by deep inequality, or marked by lethal social breakdown, its long-term trajectory may be weaker than headline growth numbers imply.
Economist Santosh Mehrotra, a visiting professor, of the Centre for Development at the UK’s University of Bath, knows the Human Development Index well, having previously worked closely with such metrics. He describes the SWI as “definitely an improvement upon GDP or GDP per capita.” He also noted that the index does share some DNA with older composite measures. Life expectancy and education, for example, overlap with HDI-style thinking, and the index uses a familiar min-max method to combine its components.
But Mehrotra says one particularly notable innovation is the attempt to capture social cohesion through violence. “What is sort of most striking is the use of the homicide rate as an indicator of social well-being,” he said. “I like that.” The number of homicides is more than a crime statistic. It can serve as a blunt but revealing measure of whether people trust institutions, whether daily life is secure, and whether social conflict has become normalized. In that sense, the SWI’s inclusion of homicide moves it closer to questions ordinary citizens often care about most: Can families raise children safely? Do communities function? Does the future feel livable?
The fertility component is likewise central to the index’s philosophy. Unlike measures that treat population change as secondary, the SWI interprets demographic sustainability as a sign of national confidence and continuity. Supporters say that makes the ranking especially relevant in an era when many advanced economies face aging populations and shrinking birth rates. Matthew Ehret welcomed that emphasis directly, saying the index challenges the assumption that population growth is inherently negative. “I appreciate that you don’t believe that,” he said, referring to the idea that demographic growth can reflect social confidence, productive capacity and belief in the future.
Professor Mehrotra, while more measured, agreed that demographic sustainability is “of course very important,” especially for countries facing rapid aging, including parts of Europe and East Asia. That theme was echoed in reflections on China shared by John Gong, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), and a China Forum expert. He described the country as a place of enormous gains but also sharp internal contrasts, warning that broad national averages can hide important divides. “GDP doesn’t say it all,” he said. “It’s a nuanced picture here.” .

https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/2049298607807902131?s=20 https://twitter.com/JackDangerLIVE/status/2049195712504643755?s=20

Today’s indictment of Crooked Comey isn’t about seashells, folks. It’s the thread that, when pulled, will reveal the entire tapestry of treason engineered by this traitor. pic.twitter.com/Hiq4YhNug6
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) April 28, 2026

Sweden & UK: “Let’s import large numbers from cultures with sky-high sexual violence rates.”

Poland: “Let's just… not do that.”

Result: 90-120 rapes vs. 2 per 100k

Data isn’t “racist.” Reality is.@visegrad24 pic.twitter.com/5bJisEblso
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 28, 2026

https://twitter.com/IntCyberDigest/status/2049228870260596823?s=20

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Debt Rattle February 22 2026

Feb 222026

February 22, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:36 am Finance Tagged with: Bessent, CIA, Clarence Thomas, Deep State, Mamdani, Steve Bannon, Supreme Court, Susan RIce, tariffs, Trump 52 Responses »

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Dance at Bougival 1883

• Trump Responds to Supreme Court’s Decision on Tariffs (Sarah Anderson)

• Trump Winds Down IEEPA tariffs, Imposes 10% Global Tariff To Last 150 Days (JTN)

• Supreme Court Rule 6-3 Against President Trump’s IEEPA Tariff Authority (CTH)

• Clarence Thomas Unloads on the Supreme Court Over Tariff Ruling

• Will We See a Supreme Court Vacancy (or Two) This Summer? (Josh Hammer)

• Virtually All Countries Support Voter Photo ID – So Why the Filibuster? (RCW)

• Washington Post Editorial Board Brutally Mocks Mamdani (ZH)

• President Donald Trump Stands Victim of His Own Success (David Manney)

• Biased Spies: John Ratcliffe Cleans House at the CIA (Manney)

• The Shattered Dreams of Steve Bannon (Scott Pinsker)

• When Does Accountability For The Deep State Begin? (Dornik)

• Susan Rice Warns Of ‘Accountability Agenda’ When Democrats Return To Power (JTN)

• Deporting Censorship: US Targets UK Government Ally Over Free Speech (Thaccker)

Gulf

Gary Brecka just made a jaw-dropping prediction on Piers Morgan: “If you’re alive five years from today, it will be your choice whether or not you want to live to 120 or 140.”

He says the combo of early detection + AI + big data is about to explode life extension — and we’re… pic.twitter.com/5p2u9Klqqh
— Camus (@newstart_2024) February 20, 2026

Tariffs

President Trump tells the media he’s now going to have to go in a different direction on tariffs — “the direction that I should have gone the first time.”

He then read aloud Justice Kavanaugh’s dissent for all of the press to hear.

TRUMP: “But now I’m going to go in a different… pic.twitter.com/bPaCirCvEw
— Overton (@overton_news) February 20, 2026

ROASTED: Jesse Watters just obliterated the entirety of Trump's opposition to tariffs, and reminded everyone of just how bad Democrats FAFO'd:

"The president's just gonna pick a different law, and put the tariffs back on. That's what happened today."

He hit the Democrats where… pic.twitter.com/0svoU4d5xz
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) February 21, 2026

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2025002058999288215?s=20

Ask Grok in X Chat https://t.co/BhTfDG4EFi
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 21, 2026

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/2024927551760859293?s=20

Elon Musk explains the wild idea behind the Cybertruck design

"I wanted to do something that looked unique. And the Cybertruck looks unique and has unique functionality
And there were three things where I was like, let’s make it bulletproof, let’s make it faster than a Porsche… pic.twitter.com/dXIIkzJFEB
— X Freeze (@XFreeze) February 21, 2026

“..”Foreign countries that have been ripping us off for years are ecstatic. They’re so happy,” he said. “And they’re dancing in the streets, but they won’t be dancing for long — that I can assure you.”

• Trump Responds to Supreme Court’s Decision on Tariffs (Sarah Anderson)

President Donald Trump came out to speak to the press from the White House on Friday to express his feelings on the Supreme Court’s Decision to rule against his broad tariffs, which he imposed through a series of executive orders last year, under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). He began by saying the ruling was “deeply disappointing,” and that he was “ashamed of certain members of the court — absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country.” The president also thanked Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito for “their strength and wisdom and love of our country.”

Trump claims that when you read their dissenting opinions, there’s no way anyone can argue against them. “Foreign countries that have been ripping us off for years are ecstatic. They’re so happy,” he said. “And they’re dancing in the streets, but they won’t be dancing for long — that I can assure you. Trump said that he knew the Democrats on the court were an automatic “no,” just like the Democrat members of Congress, no matter how great the case. “They’re against anything that makes America strong, healthy, and great again,” he said. He also called them a “disgrace to our nation.”
He said the others, presumably Justices John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett, are being “politically correct,” which happens far too often, and he called them “fools and lap dogs for the RINOs and the radical left Democrats.” “They’re very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution. It’s my opinion that the court has been swayed by foreign interests, and a political movement that is far smaller people would ever thing,” he said, adding, “I won by millions of votes — we won in a landslide, with all the cheating that went on, and there was a lot of it.” He claimed that “certain justices” are “afraid” of the loud, obnoxious, and ignorant minority.
“This was an important case to me, more as a symbol of economic national security and also, I would say just for our country itself — so important because we’re doing so well as a country,” he said. “The good news is that there are methods, practices, statutes, and authorities, as recognized by the entire court in this terrible decision, and also as recognized by Congress, which they refer to, that are even stronger than the IEEPA tariffs available to me as president of the United States.”
Trump claimed he was actually modest in what he asked of other countries because he was trying to be “well-behaved,” and wanted to be a “good boy” because he knows how the Supreme Court works and knows they’re easily swayed. He also touted some economic wins, like recent stock market records and the decline of fentanyl coming into our country, and how tariffs helped him settle eight wars. The president said it’s ridiculous that the law allows him to “destroy” foreign countries, tell them they can’t do business in the United States, or even embargo them, but he can’t charge them a cent.
“It’s okay because we have other ways — numerous other way,” he added. “Therefore, effective immediately, all national security tariffs, under Section 232 and existing Section 301 tariffs… remain fully in place and in full force and effect. Today, I will sign an order to impose a 10% global tariff, under Section 122, over and above our normal tariffs already being charged.” He said he’s also initiating other investigations to “protect our country from unfair trading practices of other countries and companies.”

Bumped it up to 15%.

• Trump Winds Down IEEPA Tariffs, Imposes 10% Global Tariff To Last 150 Days (JTN)

President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order that formally ends a range of tariffs that the Supreme Court shot down earlier in the day, and imposed a new 10% global tariff that will be in effect for 150 days. The Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 split that Trump could not impose massive tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, however the majority opinion did not weigh in on other means to impose the tariffs. Trump said the new 10% global tariff is being enacted under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, which comes as tariffs imposed under Section 232 and Section 301 remain in place
.
“It is my Great Honor to have just signed, from the Oval Office, a Global 10% Tariff on all Countries, which will be effective almost immediately,” Trump said in a series of posts on Truth Social. “Those members of the Supreme Court who voted against our very acceptable and proper method of tariffs should be ashamed of themselves. “Their decision was ridiculous, but now the adjustment process begins, and we will do everything possible to take in even more money than we were taking in before,” he added. The new tariff will take effect just after midnight on Tuesday, Feb. 24.

You can’t do it under IEEPA, but we have plenty other laws…

“,,the Court’s decision is not likely to greatly restrict Presidential tariff authority going forward. (pg, 63 dissent).

• Supreme Court Rule 6-3 Against President Trump’s IEEPA Tariff Authority (CTH)

Economic security is national security, and the hollowing out of our ability to independently sustain our national economic system posed a real and substantive threat to our nation. The court never evaluated the ‘urgency’ behind the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) as used by President Donald Trump.Instead, the court began their legal analysis by seeking to define the word “regulate” as it applies to IEEPA. Part II–B, concluding: (a) IEEPA authorizes the President to “investigate, block during the pendency of an investigation, regulate, direct and compel, nullify, void, prevent or prohibit . . . importation or exportation.” §1702(a)(1)(B) under the Act.

The majority of the court decided presidential ability to levy countervailing duties is not part of the ability to “regulate” importation. In the opinion of the court, the President can block imports, nullify imports and prohibit imports, but the president cannot “regulate” imports through the use of tariffs. This is the representative logic of a John Roberts court, the voice of Bush Inc.
It is what it is – and many of us saw this nonsense as a likely outcome, but it is still frustrating to see such a detached parseltongue approach to legal opinions when the national security of our nation is at stake. These are the judicial minds who will watch the nation burn to the ground, just so they can remain in power ruling over the ashes. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch joined the court’s three liberals in the majority. Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.
(Via Politico) – […] “The President asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope. In light of the breadth, history, and constitutional context of that asserted authority, he must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it,” Roberts wrote, declaring that the 1977 law Trump cited to justify the import duties “falls short” of the Congressional approval that would be needed. The ruling wipes out the 10 percent tariff Trump imposed on nearly every country in the world, as well as specific, higher tariffs on some of the top U.S. trading partners, including Canada, Mexico, China, the European Union, Japan and South Korea.
Several of those countries have entered trade agreements with the U.S. — and before the ruling indicated that they would continue to honor those agreements. That is because the victory for the 12 Democratic-run states and small businesses that challenged Trump’s tariffs is expected to be short lived. The White House has signaled it will attempt to use other authorities to keep similar duties in place. “We’ve been thinking about this plan for five years or longer,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told POLITICO in December. “You can be sure that when we came to the president the beginning of the term, we had a lot of different options” “My message is tariffs are going to be a part of the policy landscape going forward,” Greer said. (read more)”
Justice Thomas agrees with CTH prior position on the issue. IEEPA grants the president the authority to regulate imports, and tariffs are a tool for regulation.

Despite this decision the tariffs will remain in place, perhaps using various authorities which have not been challenged as noted in the Kavanaugh dissent:
“That said, with respect to tariffs in particular, the Court’s decision might not prevent Presidents from imposing most if not all of these same sorts of tariffs under other statutory authorities. For example, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 permits the President to impose a “temporary import surcharge” to “deal with large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits.” 19 U. S. C. §2132(a). Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 provides that, if the International Trade Commission determines an article is being imported in such quantities that it is “a substantial cause of serious injury, or the threat thereof, to the domestic industry producing an article like or directly competitive with the imported article,” the President may take “appropriate and feasible action,” including imposing a “duty.”
§§2251(a), 2253(a)(3)(A). Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 authorizes the President through a subordinate officer to “impose duties” if he determines that “an act, policy, or practice of a foreign country” is “unjustifiable and burdens or restricts United States commerce.” §§2411(a)(c). Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 permits the President to impose tariffs when he finds that “any foreign country places any burden or disadvantage upon the commerce of the United States.” §1338(d). And Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 authorizes the President to, after receiving a report from the Secretary of Commerce, “adjust the imports of [an] article and its derivatives so that such imports will not threaten to impair the national security.” §1862(c)(1)(a).
So the Court’s decision is not likely to greatly restrict Presidential tariff authority going forward. (pg, 63 dissent).

“If foreign trade regulation isn’t a core legislative function, then delegating it to the executive doesn’t violate separation of powers at all.”

• Clarence Thomas Unloads on the Supreme Court Over Tariff Ruling

The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a significant defeat on tariffs Friday morning, and the sharpest voice in the room wasn’t in the majority. It was Clarence Thomas, writing in dissent, methodically dismantling the majority’s reasoning for stripping the president of broad tariff authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The ruling blocks Trump from using IEEPA as the legal foundation for his reciprocal tariff policy. For what it’s worth, the court didn’t wipe out his tariffs entirely — other statutes still provide Trump with opportunities to impose tariffs — but the majority made clear that sweeping executive tariff power requires explicit congressional guardrails.

What made the decision especially striking was the coalition that produced it. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, joined by Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch, alongside the court’s three liberal justices. Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh dissented. His dissent goes straight to the constitutional text and history. “I write separately to explain why the statute at issue here is consistent with the separation of powers as an original matter,” he wrote. His argument is grounded in the Founding era’s actual understanding of foreign commerce — not a modern reinterpretation of it.
Thomas draws a hard line between domestic legislative power and foreign trade authority. Congress holds the taxing power and the power to set domestic rules governing life, liberty, and property. Foreign commerce is a different animal entirely. “Power over foreign commerce was not within the core legislative power, and engaging in foreign commerce was regarded as a privilege rather than a right,” he explained. If foreign trade regulation isn’t a core legislative function, then delegating it to the executive doesn’t violate separation of powers at all. In fact, that would mean it’s actually consistent with how the Founders understood the relationship between the branches.
Thomas backed this up with history. From the Founding forward, Congress routinely handed trade regulation, including the power to impose import duties, to the executive branch. Courts upheld that arrangement every time it was challenged. “The power to impose duties on imports can be delegated,” Thomas wrote. He concluded, “Congress’s delegation here was constitutional.” That framing treats unlimited tariff authority the same way the Court treats other major questions — skeptically, demanding Congress speak clearly before the executive acts broadly.Thomas thinks that’s the wrong test applied to the wrong power. His reading of the original Constitution puts the executive branch in charge of foreign commerce. He argues the majority conflated two distinct constitutional functions and punished the president for Congress’s longstanding practice of handing him the wheel on trade.
In his own dissent, Justice Kavanaugh argued that the majority’s decision would lead to chaos. “The United States may be required to refund billions of dollars to importers who paid the IEEPA tariffs, even though some importers may have already passed on costs to consumers or others,” he wrote. Kavanaugh also noted that Trump used tariffs as leverage while making trading deals worth trillions of dollars, and that the court’s ruling “could generate uncertainty regarding those trade arrangements,” he wrote.

“.. Thomas, who is the perhaps the single greatest living American ..”

• Will We See a Supreme Court Vacancy (or Two) This Summer? (Josh Hammer)

Few things in Washington, D.C., generate as much as excitement and intrigue as a Supreme Court confirmation showdown. For decades, since the eponymous “borking” of then-Supreme Court nominee Bob Bork in 1987, political battles surrounding the membership of the nation’s high court have been among the most contentious and raucous of Beltway affairs. Which is why it’s rather curious that very few outside the most fervid of court-watchers seem to be discussing the distinct possibility that there could be one or two Supreme Court vacancies after the current term ends this summer.

Justice Samuel Alito is 75 years old — and will be 76 by the end of this term. Justice Clarence Thomas is 77 years old — and will be 78 by term’s end. Alito just celebrated 20 years of service on the high court, and Thomas would mark 35 years of service this October — nice round numbers. Alito has a forthcoming book set for release this October, around the start of the next Supreme Court term. That isn’t anywhere near dispositive — Justice Amy Coney Barrett published a book last September, and Justice Neil Gorsuch has released two books since he was confirmed to the court in 2017 — but it has certainly fed speculation.
Thomas and Alito are, by some order of magnitude, the two most principled conservative justices currently sitting on the high court. It stands to reason that they would like to be replaced by ideological fellow travelers — something that likely requires a likeminded president and a likeminded U.S. Senate majority. As the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who was very much an ideological fellow traveler, told Chris Wallace in a 2012 interview, “I would not like to be replaced by someone who immediately sets about undoing what I’ve tried to do for 25-26 years. I mean, I shouldn’t have to tell you that, unless you think I’m a fool.”
If there is one thing we can say with certainty about Thomas, who is the perhaps the single greatest living American, and Alito, who is perhaps the most authentic Burkean conservative on the high court, it is that they are decidedly not fools.
Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate. What’s more, they face a remarkably favorable map this November: The GOP is defending very few (if any) swing-state Senate seats, and it will have enticing Senate pickup opportunities in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota and New Hampshire. But to paraphrase the old quip from former Israeli diplomat Abba Eban, Republicans oftentimes never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Accordingly, the increasingly voluble scuttlebutt out of Washington is that there is a chance Democrats retake not merely the nearly evenly divided House, but the Senate as well. Those odds are below 50% — the online exchange Polymarket, for instance, currently places the GOP’s odds of retaining the Senate around 60% — but there is certainly a chance it happens.
That wouldn’t just spell doom for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s second term. It would be potentially calamitous for the future of the Supreme Court as well. Does anyone think that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and his Democratic caucus are not prepared to stall and refuse to confirm any prospective Trump nominee to the high court? (SET ITAL)Of course(END ITAL) they are prepared to do that. If Republicans lose the Senate this November and Thomas and Alito stick around through the 2028 presidential election, they will in essence be wagering on Republicans maintaining the White House and winning back the Senate.
Is that a risk worth taking? In fairness, it might be. Republicans have historically botched few things more than they have Supreme Court nominations — from Justices William Brennan (brought to us by President Dwight Eisenhower), Harry Blackmun (President Richard Nixon), and David Souter (President George H.W. Bush), to some of the more milquetoast Trump selections such as Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh. The track record is not exactly inspiring. And because Thomas and Alito are the two finest conservative jurists on the high court, there is little to no room for improvement, from a constitutionalist perspective — there can only be regression.
Nonetheless, in spite of the GOP’s woeful judicial nominations track record, there are plenty of outstanding potential justices-in-waiting. My former boss Judge James C. Ho of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, a former Thomas clerk, is likely the single most principled originalist of all current lower-court federal judges. His 5th Circuit colleague Andrew Oldham, a fellow stalwart, happens to have the corresponding symbolism of being a former Alito clerk. D. John Sauer, the outstanding current U.S. solicitor general, is a former Scalia clerk and a rapidly emerging dark horse contender. There are other possible rock-solid nominees as well.

“..Democrats argue that requiring free voter photo IDs – even when the ID itself costs nothing – harms eligible voters by creating practical barriers to casting a ballot.

• Virtually All Countries Support Voter Photo ID – So Why the Filibuster? (RCW)

“The bottom line is this: voter ID is not controversial in this country,” Harry Enten, the chief data analyst for CNN, recently reported. Nor is it controversial in virtually any other country in the world. Yet despite massive support among both Democrats (71%) and Republicans (95%), only one Democratic member of the House and one in the Senate are supporting the SAVE Act. Unless seven more of the 47 Senate Democrats step forward, their filibuster will kill the bill. Democrats argue that requiring free voter photo IDs – even when the ID itself costs nothing – harms eligible voters by creating practical barriers to casting a ballot. They contend that blacks would be especially hard hit. Interestingly, every country in Africa requires government-issued identification to vote.

They also argue that such requirements would disenfranchise Hispanic voters. Yet Mexico, all twelve South American countries, and Spain require government-issued photo IDs to vote. All of these countries have lower per-capita incomes than the United States. If citizens in those nations can obtain the necessary identification to vote, why would American Hispanics and blacks be unable to do the same? While 83% of American adults support requiring government-issued photo identification to vote, support is also strong among the very groups Democrats claim would be harmed: 82% of Hispanics and 76% of black Americans favor the requirement. Those figures suggest that most black and Hispanic Americans do not view obtaining a photo ID as the obstacle Democrats describe. Ten U.S. states have similarly strong photo ID requirements.
Democrats claim that women are disproportionately disenfranchised by voter IDs, but women are also strongly supportive of IDs and have exactly the same level of support as men.Democrats argue that voter ID requirements disproportionately disenfranchise people with the least education and lowest incomes. Yet, ironically, survey results show that voters who did not graduate from high school were 27 percentage points more likely to support photo voter ID laws than those who attended graduate school. Similarly, individuals earning less than $30,000 per year were seven percentage points more likely to support photo ID requirements than those earning over $200,000 annually.
The well-educated and higher-income individuals thus express more concern about the impact of ID laws on the less educated and lower-income groups than those groups express themselves.But it isn’t just South American countries and all of Africa that require voter IDs to vote. Both of our neighbors, Canada and Mexico, require them, with Mexico also requiring a thumbprint. All 47 European countries, except parts of the United Kingdom, require a government-issued photo ID .
After widespread vote fraud, Mexico enacted major voting reforms in 1991. The government mandated voter photo IDs with biometric information, banned absentee ballots, and required in-person voter registration. Even though these changes made registration more difficult and eliminated absentee voting, turnout increased after the reforms took effect. In the three presidential elections following the 1991 changes, an average of 68% of eligible citizens voted, compared with 59% in the three elections before the reforms. As confidence in the electoral process grew, more citizens chose to participate. Many countries in Europe and beyond have learned the hard way that fraud can result from looser voting regimes – and they have instituted stricter voting measures in direct response to it. In Northern Ireland, where a bitter sectarian conflict fuels hardball electoral tactics, parties on all sides have engaged in what observers describe as “widespread and systemic“ voter fraud. Both Conservative and Labour governments enacted reforms to curb it. In 1985, under the conservative Margaret Thatcher, the U.K. began requiring voters to show identification before receiving a ballot, but that measure did not solve the problem.
In 1998, a Select Committee on Northern Ireland reported that people could “easily forge” medical cards – accepted as ID under the 1985 law – or obtain them fraudulently, enabling non-existent individuals to cast votes. By 2002, the Labour government strengthened voter identification cards to make them far harder to forge and used the more secure IDs, along with additional rules, to stop people from registering multiple times. These anti-fraud measures immediately reduced total registrations by 11%, suggesting to Labour how extensive earlier fraud had been.

“.. Even the state government of Florida (population 23 million) spends less than New York City’…,”

• Washington Post Editorial Board Brutally Mocks Mamdani (ZH)

Margaret Thatcher once said, “The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money,” and New York City’s new socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is learning just how right she was, and New Yorkers are going to pay a hefty price for it. On Tuesday, a mere two months after declaring he would “replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” Mamdani announced a $127 billion preliminary budget for fiscal year 2027, a $5 billion increase from the prior year, while simultaneously warning residents of “painful” tax hikes if state officials refused to bail him out to cover his socialist policies.

“That’s a city budget bigger than the state budgets of 47 states. Even the state government of Florida (population 23 million) spends less than New York City’s,” explains The Washington Post editorial board. “And the state still managed to attract hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers in recent years.” “The reality is that Americans may like the idea of ‘free’ stuff — it’s how socialists win elections — but they are less excited about having to pay for it” they continued. “They’re even less excited when they live in a state that ranks at the very bottom of the Tax Foundation’s State Tax Competitiveness Index.”
During a press conference earlier this week, Mamdani called on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to raise income taxes on the “ultra-wealthy” help fund his budget for New York City. “The onus for resolving this crisis should not be placed on the backs of working and middle-class New Yorkers,” Mamdani said. “If we do not fix this structural imbalance and do not heed the calls of New Yorkers to raise taxes on the wealthy, this crisis will not disappear. It will simply return, year after year, forcing harder and harsher choices each time. And if we do not go down the first path, the city will be forced down a second, more harmful path. Faced with no other choice, the city would have to exercise the only revenue lever fully within our own control. We would have to raise property taxes.”

Mamdani says if Hochul doesn't allow NYC to raise taxes on corporations and highest earners, he will raise property taxes on New York City homeowners. pic.twitter.com/Bm07LxS9OH
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 17, 2026

Hochul rejected the tax hike demand without hesitation, telling Mamdani to expand his “ridiculously low” proposed spending cuts instead. Mamdani has claimed his administration identified $1.7 billion in cuts. The Post’s editorial board was not impressed, calling it a “laughable number.” “The reality is that Mamdani is trying to expand a city government that already does way too much,” they argued. “ The city should provide basic services, such as law and order, but instead it pours billions into social spending like housing and health care.” They even cited California as a cautionary tale, warning that in the Golden State, “a slew of billionaires are fleeing at the mere possibility of a wealth tax. They’ll avoid the wealth tax — and California will miss out on the billions that these individuals otherwise would have contributed before a wealth tax was even imposed.”
More experienced Democrats in New York understand this. Gov. Kathy Hochul, no one’s idea of a fiscal hawk, nevertheless instigated Mamdani’s tantrum by refusing to go along with more tax hikes. The city council speaker and comptroller also have sway and are skeptical of new taxes. This week, it was revealed that acclaimed director and filmmaker Steven Spielberg officially became a New York resident on January 1, effectively avoiding the billionaire tax—though a representative for Spielberg and his wife Cate Capshaw claimed the move was to be closer to family.
Mamdani’s pre-election promises — free buses, expanded child care, cash assistance, rental aid, and smaller class sizes for teachers’ unions — were crowd-pleasers that earned him “tax the rich” chants at campaign rallies. The problem is that governing a city with a structural deficit requires something more than slogans. His preliminary budget now acknowledges a $5.4 billion shortfall for the current fiscal year, with projections that worsen over time. “No one in New York is ambitious enough to dramatically reshape city government, and residents either vote for class warfare or vote with their feet. A reckoning will have to come eventually. The question is how bad it gets before reality sets in,” the board concluded.
Ouch.

“.. Trump fixed the border, lowered crime, and now demands the same common-sense security at the ballot box..”

• President Donald Trump Stands Victim of His Own Success (David Manney)

In the early days of the NBA, George Mikan was so dominant in the paint that the league had to redraw the court. Defenders couldn’t stop him, and coaches couldn’t scheme around him, so the league widened the lane to push him further from the basket. They changed the rules because one man kept winning under the old ones. That’s where we find President Donald Trump today. He clamped down on the southern border, ending the chaos so fast that the crisis faded from daily debate. He renewed the economy and strengthened national security. He slashed narcotics imports while driving the murder rates across the country.

Instead of arguing policy, opponents now look for ways to redraw the political court around him. They protest enforcement agencies, stage walkouts, and shift attention to anything except measurable results. When outcomes favor one side so decisively, critics often stop debating the scoreboard and start questioning the game itself. Migrant encounters fell to the lowest level in more than 50 years; Customs and Border Protection recorded just 237,538 encounters for all of fiscal year 2025. January 2026 brought only 6,070 southwest border apprehensions and marked the ninth straight month with zero releases into the interior. Nationwide encounters dropped 84% in January 2025, while seizures of fentanyl dropped sharply, too.
Violent crime falls to record lows
Nationwide, murder rates fell through the floor, as major cities saw homicides drop 19% to 21% in 2025 alone. The murder rate hit its lowest point since at least 1900, marking the largest one-year decline ever recorded. Robberies fell about 20%, aggravated assaults fell nearly 10%, and overdose deaths shrank as narcotics imports dried up.
National Guard restores order in the capital
In Washington, D.C., Trump declared a crime emergency in August 2025, launching the Make DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force and bringing in federal agents, local police, and National Guard troops. Since then, authorities made more than 10,000 arrests and taken more than 1,000 illegal guns off the streets. Once real help arrived, homicides dropped extremely fast. In 2017, Forlesia Cook lost her grandson to gun violence in Washington. She stood up at the White House Black History Month reception on Feb. 18 and looked critics straight in the eye. The room erupted in applause, and Trump urged her to run for office.
Save America Act highlights the deeper divide
The SAVE America Act requires documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and a photo ID to cast a ballot: Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) introduced the bill. President Trump pushes hard for its passage because nothing matters more than clean elections. The House passed it on Feb. 11. Polling shows roughly 75% to 84% of registered voters favor voter ID and proof of citizenship. Support cuts across Democrats, independents, black, and Hispanic Americans. Yet far-left politicians fight it tooth and nail; Senate Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), vow to block it in the Senate, warning about voter suppression and arguing it harms women who changed their names (I-9 Forms for their jobs, anyone?) or low-income voters who lack
The deeper fear shines through: Secure elections could cut off loose votes some candidates rely on to stay in power. The loudest defenders of democracy often resist clear rules that strengthen it. It’s a familiar enough-looking pattern. Open-border policies under the previous administration flooded the country with millions of people and left voter rolls vulnerable. Record border crossings from 2022 through 2024 raised real questions about who votes. Officials looked the other way while colleges, courts, and much of the legacy media repeated the same, tired story. Trump fixed the border, lowered crime, and now demands the same common-sense security at the ballot box, reaching Americans directly through streaming platforms and rallies because old gatekeepers refuse to carry the message.
Democrats protest the very agents who deliver results
Democrats and the left (pardon the redundancy) limit every argument to that old chestnut: Calling Trump evil, while demanding that he suffer defeat and humiliation. They protest ICE agents who carry out the exact policies voters chose, ignoring the sealed border, safer streets, and stronger economy. Their big idea? Stage-side rallies or boycotts for the upcoming State of the Union Address set for Tuesday, Feb. 24. How convenient. ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith, definitely not a Republican, spoke plainly, saying Democrats show zero sense of decorum. He said they put raw politics ahead of their own constituents by planning to skip or disrupt the president’s upcoming speech.
Trump’s ready to talk with anybody; he spends the time, shows the patience, and treats people with respect. The other side offers only venom because that’s all they have left, their old arguments collapsed years ago.

“There is absolutely no room for bias in any kind of the CIA’s work..”

• Biased Spies: John Ratcliffe Cleans House at the CIA (Manney)

A rare correction at Langley
CIA Director John Ratcliffe rescinded or revised 19 intelligence reports after determining they contained political bias and violated basic tradecraft standards. The President’s Intelligence Advisory Board reviewed around 300 reports from the past decade and flagged serious problems: 17 were permanently deleted, two were pulled, revised, and reissued. A senior CIA official told Just The News that the reports were initially flagged during a review by the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, then reviewed by career agency officials before being retracted, recalled, or revised. “There is absolutely no room for bias in any kind of the CIA’s work,” the official said. “So when we find instances where our tradecraft did not reach that high bar of impartiality, we must correct the record. And that’s why we’re taking steps to reinforce analytic integrity by ordering the public release, substantive revision, or retraction of these products that do not meet CIA’s tradecraft standards.” The action stands out because a sweeping internal correction like this rarely occurs; intelligence agencies revise their analyses over time, but mass rescissions tied to political bias seldom occur in public.

Reports that read like activism
One report warned that women embracing traditional motherhood could drift toward violent extremism, with analysts describing motherhood as a white supremacist objective, suggesting that women sharing cooking videos or family values content could aid recruitment networks. The product relied heavily on open-source material rather than on classified intelligence collection. One was an Oct. 6, 2021, assessment titled “Women Advancing White Racially and Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremist Radicalization and Recruitment” that waded into “foreign political debates about gender roles rather discussing any actual threats of political violence,” the senior CIA official said.
It had labeled the far-right Canadian YouTuber Lauren Southern as a white racially and ethnically motivated violent extremist and spoke of the dangers such figures pose to societies — in addition to women pursuing traditional roles as mothers. A July 8, 2020 a CIA report also centered on family planning and the disruptions of condom supply chains worldwide using “unobjective sources of information such as Planned Parenthood,” the official noted. Another assessment from 2020 warned that birth control shortages during the pandemic would damage economic growth in Egypt, Nigeria, and Pakistan, using sources such as Planned Parenthood, the Guttmacher Institute, and Marie Stopes International. Another report from 2015 promoted LGBT academic programs in North Africa and the Middle East while criticizing conservative governments.Intelligence Community Directive 203 requires objectivity, independence, and avoidance of any political slant. Ratcliffe said the flawed reports fell short of the high standards the agency must uphold, stressing there’s no room for bias in intelligence analysis.
Directors and oversight
The January 2015 report was issued during the tenure of CIA Director John Brennan; the July 2020 report landed on the desk of CIA Director Gina Haspel; and the October 2021 motherhood report circulated while William Burns served as CIA Director. Each director presided over an agency required to enforce Directive 203’s standards of impartiality. None of the prior directors rescinded large batches of reports over bias concerns. Past intelligence controversies drew scrutiny; the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, produced under George Tenet, later proved deeply flawed.

“There’s a reason why Trump nicknamed him “Sloppy Steve.”

• The Shattered Dreams of Steve Bannon (Scott Pinsker)

Until the impossible became possible — and Donald Trump engineered the political upset of his generation, toppling Hillary Clinton in 2016 — most Americans had no idea who Steve Bannon was. Visually, he wasn’t much to look at. Bannon wasn’t a workout wonder like RFK Jr., with six-pack abs, nor was he blessed with movie star good looks. Some guys were born with oodles of charisma — the kind of raw, undeniable magnetism that leaps off the screen. Bannon, alas, wasn’t one of those people. There’s a reason why Trump nicknamed him “Sloppy Steve.”

But after Trump was elected, the media hunted for an explanation. Surely a bumble-headed dunce like Trump couldn’t get elected president on his own! That’s impossible! So they searched high and low for the behind-the-scenes maestro who pulled all the strings — the shrewd strategist who orchestrated the single greatest political upset since ~~Dewey Defeats Truman~~ Truman Defeats Dewey. At which point, Steve Bannon leapt out of the shadows: Yup, I’m the genius. It was me all along! The media, quite naturally, ate it up:

TIME’s new cover: How Steve Bannon became the second most powerful man in the world https://t.co/EJpO6Qqg9K pic.twitter.com/BdpY4Hw9Xb
— TIME (@TIME) February 2, 2017

And not without reason. As far as personal bios go, Bannon was an odd duck with a helluva story. He had military experience as a Navy officer. He was financially savvy enough to work at Goldman Sachs. He was clever enough to acquire a financial stake in Seinfeld (Bannon still receives residuals for Seinfeld reruns). He knew enough about conservative media to run Breitbart — a platform that had long championed Trump’s candidacy. And then he assumed command of Trump’s campaign in August of 2016, just in time to claim credit for the victory?Maybe he really was the maestro of it all!
Bannon, for very obvious reasons, worked feverishly to advance the narrative of “Steve Bannon, Political Genius.” Within the Trump White House, his media leaks became increasingly self-serving. Instead of leveraging media relations to elevate his boss or the MAGA mission, he sought to mythologize himself. It all culminated with Bannon losing his job in the White House and getting fired from Breitbart after he leaked negative information about Trump’s children to the fierce Trump critic, journalist Michael Wolff. Among the delightful headlines Bannon helped produce was Business Insider’s Jan. 3, 2018, story, “Steve Bannon Says Ivanka Trump Is ‘Dumb as a Brick’.” Trump responded in typically Trumpian fashion:
“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency,” Trump said. “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.” […] “Steve doesn’t represent my base — he’s only in it for himself,” Trump said. “Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was. It is the only thing he does well. Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.”

Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad! https://t.co/mEeUhk5ZV9
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018

Today, of course, we know the truth: Steve Bannon didn’t control Trump — because NOBODY controls Trump. The very premise is preposterous. For better or worse, Donald J. Trump is his own man. He’s like a wild stallion — uncontrollable. Then in 2024, with Steve Bannon sidelined, Trump proved his point by winning the presidency once again — this time by an even greater margin. Turns out that Bannon was less the leader and more the luggage, because Trump did more to carry him than the other way around. That’s not to say Bannon is a dim bulb. Clearly, he’s an exceptionally bright man. Some of his political calculations are off-the-charts prescient, i.e. his April 2025 prediction that Cardinal Prevost would become the first American-born pope:
https://twitter.com/PiersUncensored/status/1917308154427367583
He’s also a man brimming with ambition. Just 40 days ago, Axios reported that Bannon was planning to run for president in 2028: “Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon is laying the groundwork for a 2028 run for president, two people familiar with his thinking tell Axios.” […] Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who has appeared on Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, said: “The Bannon campaign will merge the foreign policy of Rand Paul with the tax policy of Elizabeth Warren.” (Not sure if the MAGA base is clamoring for a Warren-Paul themed agenda, but whatever. Not my monkey, not my circus.) Either way, it’s a deeply damaging PR look. Setting up your own presidential bid barely a year into Trump’s term seems awfully arrogant and self-indulgent. That’s a poor plan for winning GOP hearts and minds.
[..] He’s a conspiracy peddler who denies conspiracies — while participating in conspiracies! No matter. The Epstein revelations were a deathblow to Bannon’s presidential ambitions. There’s ZERO demand in Republican circles for a 75-year-old Epstein-whisperer to replace Vance, Rubio, or anyone else as MAGA’s heir apparent. Because, the more we learned about Epstein, the more we realized that Steve Bannon isn’t a political savant, a super-genius, or a 4-D chess mastermind. He’s a lying, duplicitous, self-serving hypocrite who can’t be trusted. And that’s not a “coincidence” either. It’s causation.

It looks easier from the outside.

• When Does Accountability For The Deep State Begin? (Dornik)

We were told this time would be different. We were told that a second Trump administration would not repeat the mistakes of the first, that hard lessons had been learned, and that the Deep State would finally be confronted rather than tolerated. One year into President Trump’s second term, it is both fair and necessary to ask whether those assurances are being honored—not from hostility but from a sincere desire to see the America First agenda succeed, endure, and become irreversible.

President Trump’s first term, Congress squandered its moment. The first two years were consumed by infighting, hesitation, and internal paralysis, even with Republican control. Then came the midterms, control was lost, and meaningful legislative progress effectively ended. What followed were impeachment spectacles and relentless political warfare, while entrenched corruption inside the federal government remained untouched. Now, just past the first year of President Trump’s second term, the pattern feels disturbingly familiar. The urgency voters demanded is not being matched by the actions of those entrusted to deliver it.
The question that must be asked plainly is this: when is the Trump administration actually going to root out the Deep State?
Executive Orders are being signed at a rapid pace, but Executive Orders are not reform. They are temporary directives that can be erased with a single signature the moment someone like Gavin Newsom takes office. Without legislation, without prosecutions, and without accountability, nothing is secured. Power is being exercised, but it is not being anchored, and lasting change is never achieved that way.
Kash Patel built his credibility by telling the truth about corruption in Washington. His book and documentary, Government Gangsters, documented in detail how entrenched bureaucrats and intelligence officials worked against President Trump from within the federal government. He even came on my show and spoke openly about this corruption, and he stated repeatedly across multiple platforms that the FBI, particularly at its highest levels, was deeply compromised and required fundamental reform. He did not argue that the Bureau should be abandoned, but that it could not be trusted without aggressive leadership, restructuring, and accountability for the Deep State operatives within the bureau. He warned that the Deep State would never reform itself and would have to be confronted directly. He also told Glenn Beck that the head of the FBI possessed Jeffrey Epstein’s client list. These were not casual remarks. They were core assertions made publicly and repeatedly.
Now Kash Patel is the head of the FBI, and the public posture has shifted dramatically. The same institution he once described as captured is now treated as credible and restrained. The Epstein client list, once discussed as a known reality, is now dismissed as conspiracy, even as new Epstein-related documents continue to be released to the public over the protest of the Trump administration. Each document release raises more questions, not fewer, and every delay from federal law enforcement deepens public distrust rather than restoring confidence. A reversal this significant demands explanation. Trust is not rebuilt through silence, and credibility is not preserved by pretending prior statements were never made.
These questions extend far beyond the FBI and land squarely on the Department of Justice, where accountability appears to collapse the moment it threatens entrenched power. The removal of Ed Martin from his role inside the DOJ is not just a minor personnel decision; it appears to be a clear signal that real investigations into weaponization and lawfare are not being tolerated. Ed Martin was positioned to expose how the Biden Department of Justice targeted Americans, abused prosecutorial authority, and used federal power as a political weapon. According to Emerald Robinson, whose reporting has repeatedly exposed corruption others refuse to confront, Martin was removed from his position by the same people who refer to parents as terrorists: “Vance Day, senior counsel for Todd Blanche, refers to parents targeted by Biden DOJ as ‘terrorists’ in recent meeting with one parent asking for accountability. Blanche’s office also removed Ed Martin from his role at the DOJ.” That disclosure alone should alarm every American paying attention.
Parents who were targeted and persecuted by the Biden Department of Justice are now being labeled terrorists by senior DOJ leadership, while the man tasked with investigating that persecution is sidelined. Whether this is described as a firing or a demotion is irrelevant, because the outcome is the same. Another one of the good guys has been removed from doing the work voters were promised would finally drain the swamp. This is not an isolated incident or a misunderstanding but a pattern that repeats with disturbing consistency. Every time someone begins making real progress against the Deep State, authority is stripped, investigations are stalled, and momentum is deliberately crushed before accountability can be delivered.
So the questions must be asked: Where are the arrests? Where are the prosecutions? Why has Attorney General Pam Bondi not brought cases against members of the January 6 Committee despite documented misconduct and destroyed records? Why has the Department of Justice taken no action against Anthony Fauci even after Sen. Rand Paul issued criminal referrals? Why is the DOJ actively fighting to shut down Brook Jackson’s case against Pfizer instead of allowing it to proceed and standing with a whistleblower who exposed documented fraud? Why do Epstein-related documents continue to surface while no meaningful accountability follows? What happened to transparency, and what happened to equal justice under the law?

Serious threats.

• Susan Rice Warns Of ‘Accountability Agenda’ When Democrats Return To Power (JTN)

Former Democratic Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice warned corporations Thursday who have “taken a knee” to President Donald Trump and his administration that there would be repercussions when her party returns to power. The comment comes after The Late Show host Stephen Colbert accused CBS News this week of bowing to Trump by allegedly blocking the host from airing an interview with Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat who is running for the U.S. Senate. CBS has denied blocking the interview, which was posted to YouTube instead.

Rice insisted an “accountability agenda” was coming for the people and corporations who worked with the Trump administration if Democrats win back the majority in the House or Senate this November. “If these corporations think that the Democrats, when they come back in power, are going to play by the old rules, and, you know, say, ‘Oh, never mind. We’ll forgive you for all the people you fired, all the policies and principles you’ve violated, all, you know, the laws you’ve skirted.’ I think they’ve got another think coming,” she told former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
Rice, who worked in the Obama and Biden administrations, claimed the corporations and other entities like universities acted in a “very short-term self-interest” when deciding to work with the administration in certain capacities. “Companies are already starting to hear they better preserve their documents,” she said. “They better be ready for subpoenas. If they’ve done something wrong, they’ll be held accountable, and if they haven’t broken the law, good for them. “This is not going to be an instance of, you know, forgive and forget,” she continued. “The damage that these people are doing is too severe to the American people and to our national interest.”

”.. Rubio noted that documents leaked from inside the group outline ambitious plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter” and “trigger EU and UK regulatory action.”

• Deporting Censorship: US Targets UK Government Ally Over Free Speech (Thaccker)

As ICE sweeps in Minneapolis have drawn wide attention, a little-noticed immigration case playing out in a New York federal court has significant implications for America’s relationship with Britain and the ongoing debate over global censorship.

In late December, the State Department announced its intention to revoke the visas of five foreign individuals who have allegedly censored Americans. The most consequential member of this group is Imran Ahmed, a British Labour Party political operative now living in the U.S., who is the CEO of an influential nonprofit, the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
In documents released Feb. 6 in federal court, the State Department claims Ahmed and the Center have been key players in efforts to censor Americans. A memo written by State Department Undersecretary Sarah Rogers asserts that “Ahmed was a key collaborator with the Biden administration on weaponizing the national security bureaucracy to censor U.S. citizens and pressure U.S. companies into censoring, and his group advocates for foreign regulatory action that extraterritorially impacts American citizens and companies.”
In a follow-up memo, Secretary Marco Rubio wrote that Ahmed had led efforts to censor Americans and harm U.S. media outlets, including ZeroHedge and The Federalist. “I have determined that Ahmed’s activities and presence in the United States have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences and comprise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.” Rubio asserted. While the Center casts itself as a disinterested nonprofit trying to stop online hate, Rubio noted that documents leaked from inside the group outline ambitious plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter” and “trigger EU and UK regulatory action.”
Ahmed has a small army of lawyers working to halt his deportation proceedings, which are now being litigated. Ahmed’s lead attorney is Roberta Kaplan – a former advisor to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo – who sued President Trump on behalf of his niece, Mary Trump. Ahmed is also represented by Norm Eisen, a Democratic Party fundraiser and former advisor to Obama. Last Thursday, they filed an updated court complaint against the U.S. government to keep Ahmed in the United States.
International Implications
. The effort to deport Ahmed has broader political implications because of the close ties he and his associates have to the highest reaches of the British government. Morgan McSweeney, who co-founded the Center with Ahmed, is widely seen as the architect of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party victory in 2024. McSweeney served as Starmer’s chief of staff until earlier this month, when he resigned because of a separate scandal connected to Jeffrey Epstein.
U.K. government documents reviewed by RCI show that the organization’s influence extends throughout Starmer’s government. The Trump administration’s pushback on Ahmed’s weaponization of speech against U.S. citizens and companies suggests a deep concern about foreign intervention and censorship stemming from one of America’s closest allies.In a recent interview with Undersecretary Rogers, RCI noted that the State Department appeared to be “knocking on the door of the Prime Minister’s office.” Rogers demurred, declining to detail her discussion with Starmer officials. “We have a very special relationship with the British government,” she responded. “The issue has been communicated.”
Senior Labour Minister Chi Onwurah accused the Trump administration of attacking free speech after Rubio announced shortly before Christmas that the administration was seeking Ahmed’s deportation. “Banning people because you disagree with what they say undermines the free speech the administration claims to seek,” Onwurah said, adding that Ahmed was an articulate advocate for greater regulation of online speech. However, internal British government documents show that Onwurah is one of Starmer’s many advisors who have been working with Ahmed on activities many consider censorship..

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2024934679493677217?s=20

Scott Jennings takes a moment to remind the CNN panel of the one thing the Supreme Court ruling proved today.

It completely SHATTERED a multi-year Democrat narrative.@ScottJenningsKY: “And I’ll tell you one more thing.”

“For every Democrat and every media person that has gone… pic.twitter.com/k6Bonbcpw2
— Overton (@overton_news) February 21, 2026

https://twitter.com/BryceMLipscomb/status/2024838259751186906?s=20

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Debt Rattle August 31 2025

Aug 312025

August 31, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:45 am Finance Tagged with: Bhattacharya, Deep State, Gabbard, Gerasimov, Ratcliffe, tariffs, trans, trilateral, war economy 28 Responses »

Edward Hopper Dawn before Gettysburg 1934

• Europe On Path To War Economy (Kolbe)

• Brussels Preparing For A ‘Long War, Not Peace’ – Hunngary (RT)

• US Believes EU Blocking Ukraine Peace With ‘Unreasonable‘ Demands – Axios (RT)

• Assassinated Ukrainian MP ‘Directly Ordered’ Shelling Of Donbass Civilians (RT)

• Deep State in US and EU Criticize Trump Admin for Not Attacking Russia (CTH)

• Donald Trump Still Doesn’t Understand Russia’s Position Regarding Ukraine (LJ)

• Ukraine Operation Will Continue – Russia’s Top General (RT)

• Trump Promises Trilateral Meeting With Putin and Zelensky (RT)

• Could Russia Have Joined NATO? (Ryumshin)

• NATO Should Have Dissolved in 1990 – Jeffrey Sachs (Sp.)

• Can Russia, India, and China Rewrite The Global Rules? (Vaid)

• The War On Reality is Over (James Howard Kunstler)

• Jay Bhattacharya On Fauci, Bioweapons, And Free Speech In Science (ZH)

• To the Parents of Trans Kids: Enabling Isn’t Compassion (C.A. Skeet)

• Tariffs ‘Still in Effect’: Trump Bashes Partisan Court Ruling (Salgado)

• Tensions in US Intelligence Community Rise After CIA Agent Uncovered (Sp.)

https://twitter.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1961958655626235998

RFK

Robert F Kennedy Jr announced US Taxpayers are spending $72,900,000 PER DAY for soda and candy for people on EBT Food Stamps

That’s $26,608,500,000 per year just on CANDY AND SODA

RFK Jr “We spend $405 million a day on food stamps. That's what the taxpayer is spending. 10% is… pic.twitter.com/H5Xj3RjtvU

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) August 30, 2025

Makary
https://twitter.com/TheChiefNerd/status/1961754604560904407

Trump is slowly waking up to the fact that his ‘allies’ in Brussels and Kiev want war, while he wants peace. And that they will do anything to organize a false flag to drag him into their war. Beware.

• Europe On Path To War Economy (Kolbe)

In Unterlüß, Lower Saxony, Europe’s largest ammunition factory began production yesterday. What started clandestinely is now being publicly scaled with full firepower: the European Union is building its own war economy.In the good old days in Germany, recessions were typically masked by state-funded infrastructure programs. The concept worked as long as the state did not overgrow, overregulate, or force the private sector into a destructive ideological agenda, as is the case with the green transformation. In other words: the economy was always able to clear away the debris left behind by the state.In Southern Europe, where the state’s role has traditionally been high, monetary policy generous, and handling of public funds notoriously lax, this policy left nothing but infrastructure ruins and industrial wastelands. Local economies were never able to productively absorb the artificial credit distributed by Brussels.

The fatal consequences of this pseudo-boom still shape the landscape today.For economic historians, present-day Europe has long been a fascinating study object. Crisis followed crisis, with the public sector intervening each time with increasing volume. The attempt to install the Green Deal, a Keynesian pseudo-economy, must be understood in this context. That Germany’s defense company Rheinmetall yesterday launched Europe’s largest ammunition plant in Unterlüß fits into this narrative.The company invested half a billion euros to provide an annual capacity of up to 350,000 rounds by 2027. 500 new jobs are to be created, celebrated by politicians as a turning point and the beginning of a pan-European defense architecture.Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger expressed satisfaction:

“It was not easy for us to invest half a billion without orders. I am very grateful to you”—the words were directed at Defense Minister Pistorius—“for keeping your handshake agreements. You are a man of word and deed.” A heavy dose of pathos and self-congratulation is evident here—politics and the defense industry are long intertwined.Of course, this is only half the truth. Beyond the usual behind-the-scenes deals, politics has made it clear that it is ready to mobilize all means to build a German defense industry and provide sector companies with guarantees and subsidies where necessary. Big business, no risk.After the collapse of the green economy, politics is now betting everything on the next pseudo-economy. The aim is to loosen dependence on America while exploiting the media spin that stylized Vladimir Putin’s Russia over years as a potential European invader.

Whether this fear campaign will work in the long term remains to be seen.Given the deep economic depression in which Germany and large parts of the EU are stuck, the general war fatigue, and social fractures in core EU states like Germany and France, it is clear that despite the reinstatement of conscription, most citizens will rigorously reject military engagement.A glance at EU public finances alone is enough to recognize that a war against Russia is political madness. France, with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 115%, is days away from a confidence vote on the new austerity budget. Bond markets are already punishing these bankrupt states. The signs point to savings, not bellicose adventures.It is absurd in this situation—where Germany has almost fully spent the so-called Bundeswehr special fund of €100 billion and now switches to borrowing mode—to accelerate this path.

Yet Brussels, Berlin, Paris, and London are serious. In fall 2026, Rheinmetall plans to launch its next plant in Weeze, producing fuselage components for the F-35 fighter jet. Cost: €200 million, this time directly publicly funded.Defense factories will mushroom in the coming months and years, producing far beyond civilian demand. Germany plans to raise its defense budget to up to 5% of GDP, which will worsen the impoverishment of its population as the private sector already shrinks by 4–5%. A disaster unseen in Europe since the end of the war.A hot conflict with Russia is economically highly unlikely. Yet a new Cold War, a state of continuous armament like before 1990, seems to be Europe’s goal. They are trapped in an absurd economic theory of central planning and command economy. A new power base is forming: a corporatism between the defense industry and the political complex in Brussels.

Germany has clearly been chosen to finance this economic disaster. The country, previously with one of the lowest debt ratios in the EU at 64%, will double its annual defense budget to €162 billion by 2029. By 2027, the special fund will be exhausted, after which loans up to €400 billion will be required. Germany will become an active player in bond markets, where interest rates are already rising. The European Central Bank will have plenty of work to keep the rapidly growing debt pile liquid. The EU will also participate with new funds, EDIP and ASAP (a term bordering on infantilism in this context), contributing €50–70 billion annually to joint defense projects.

Hungary has been spot on from day one.

• Brussels Preparing For A ‘Long War, Not Peace’ – Hunngary (RT)

The EU is “preparing for a long war” rather than seeking peace in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said. The European Commission has effectively acted as the “Ukrainian Commission,” prioritizing Kiev’s interests over those of its own member states, he said on X after a meeting of the bloc’s top diplomats in Denmark on Saturday. “At today’s EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Copenhagen it became clear that Brussels and most member states are preparing for a long war, not peace. They want to send tens of billions of euros to Ukraine for soldiers’ salaries, drones, weapons, and the operation of the Ukrainian state,” Szijjarto said. “There was huge pressure for the fast-tracked EU accession of Ukraine, new sanctions on Russian energy,” as well as to provide €6 billion ($7 billion) more to arm Ukraine, he added.

The EU Commission once again acted as a Ukrainian Commission, serving Kiev’s interests over those of member states.The European Commission entirely ignores “Hungarians in Transcarpathia and our energy security, still refusing to answer the joint letter we sent with Slovakia on Ukraine endangering our supply route,” Szijjarto said. Already strained ties between Kiev and Budapest recently deteriorated further after multiple Ukrainian attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline, a key conduit that carries Russian and Kazakh crude to Slovakia and Hungary. Budapest has also accused Kiev of violating the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region.

Hungary has refused to send weapons to Kiev and has criticized Brussels for imposing sanctions on Moscow. It has also opposed Ukraine’s membership in both NATO and the EU.Meanwhile, the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, promised to further arm Ukraine and “increase pressure on Russia,” in remarks made after Saturday’s foreign ministers’ meeting. Moscow has long condemned Western military support of Kiev in the conflict, which it views as a NATO proxy war. Russia has also criticized the EU’s growing militarization and increasingly bellicose rhetoric. Western European leaders “are once again trying to prepare Europe for war – not some hybrid war, but a real war against Russia,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in July.

Awareness can be a slow process.

• US Believes EU Blocking Ukraine Peace With ‘Unreasonable‘ Demands – Axios (RT)

The White House believes certain European governments are quietly obstructing efforts to end the Ukraine conflict by encouraging Kiev to push for unrealistic demands, despite publicly endorsing President Donald Trump’s peace initiative, Axios has reported. Trump administration officials are increasingly frustrated with what they describe as the EU’s “maximalist” position and its expectations for Washington to shoulder the burden while contributing little themselves, the publication wrote on Saturday. “The Europeans don’t get to prolong this war and backdoor unreasonable expectations, while also expecting America to bear the cost,” an anonymous top US official said. “If Europe wants to escalate this war, that will be up to them. But they will be hopelessly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.”

“Some of the Europeans continue to operate in a fairy-tale land that ignores the fact it takes two to tango,” another unnamed source said. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska this month and later hosted Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky in Washington. He pushed for a lasting peace rather than a ceasefire. He also threatened to impose tariffs and sanctions on both Ukraine and Russia if they failed to make meaningful progress in talks. Trump’s frustration with both Kiev and EU allies has also grown in recent days, according to The Atlantic, which reported that the president now sees Ukraine and its European backers as standing in the way of a negotiated settlement. During private conversations,

Trump has reportedly voiced dissatisfaction over Zelensky’s unwillingness to consider concessions and the EU’s refusal to support what the White House considers a “realistic” outcome. “He just wants this over. It almost doesn’t matter how,” a senior official told The Atlantic, adding that Trump has urged Ukraine to “show some flexibility.” Moscow has long insisted on a peace agreement that eradicates the underlying causes of the conflict. It has demanded that Ukraine maintain neutrality, stay out of NATO and other military blocs, demilitarize and denazify, and accept the new territorial reality – including the status of Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye as part of Russia – territories that voted to join the country in referendums in 2014 and 2022.

“Parubiy and his team were “working directly with the Jamestown Foundation, a former CIA central think tank in Washington, DC…”

• Assassinated Ukrainian MP ‘Directly Ordered’ Shelling Of Donbass Civilians (RT)

Andrey Parubiy, a far-right Ukrainian politician who was shot dead in Lviv on Saturday, directly ordered attacks on Donbass and provoked a “civil war” with eastern Ukraine after the Maidan coup, ex-Ukrainian diplomat Andrey Telizhenko has told RT. Parubiy, an MP and former speaker of the Ukrainian Rada, played an active role in the Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014, as well as in the nationalist government it brought to power. He had deep and long-running ties to Ukraine’s neo-Nazi movement, co-founding the far-right Social-National Party of Ukraine. “During the cabinet of ministers meetings, [at] which I was present, Parubiy directly ordered the mass shellings of the people of Donbass,” Telizhenko told RT on Saturday.

“He said, ‘We do not care who those people are. Russians, they’re Moscali [a Ukrainian slur for Russians], we should kill them,’” the former diplomat, who was an adviser to Ukraine’s prosecutor general at the time, said. That’s a direct citation from Parubiy during the cabinet of ministers meeting, in which he pushed to provoke the civil war in eastern Ukraine, which has now led to a big massive conflict. Parubiy and his team were “working directly with the Jamestown Foundation, a former CIA central think tank in Washington, DC,” Telizhenko claimed. This is not just a collaborator with the West. He’s a Nazi. He was directly supporting the Nazi movement in Ukraine. According to Telizhenko, Parubiy directly coordinated the shootings during the Maidan coup.

“He was coordinating the radicals on Maidan, when to shoot, who to shoot and how to shoot, even who to shoot [among] their own” and “provoking insurgents within the coup itself,” he said. “His team was responsible for blocking the anti-sniper unit [from] coming to Maidan.” Parubiy “also covered up the shootings” in the subsequent investigation, as well as blocking the probe into the 2014 Odessa massacre, Telizhenko said. “He was responsible for closing down the case and destroying the evidence [of] his involvement in the coordination of that terrorist attack,” he said. The far-right MP was reportedly responsible for organizing, arming, and transporting the militants which burned 42 anti-Maidan activists to death in the Odessa Trade Unions House.

https://twitter.com/Karmabash/status/1961755950551073019

In case anyone has forgotten, the former chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy, who was assassinated in Lvov today, was the one who led the snipers that shot civilians on Maidan square. pic.twitter.com/qda1pw07RE

— Olga Bazova (@OlgaBazova) August 30, 2025

“Maybe we make peace, and maybe we don’t. If we do, it will be because Steve Witkoff and the President of the United States worked their tails off, in the face of outright lies from the mainstream press.”

• Deep State in US and EU Criticize Trump Admin for Not Attacking Russia (CTH)

Like pathetic children who demand that Daddy Trump step into the chaos and punch Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin in the face, the EU leaders admit to media they coordinated and collaborated on using social media to decry the latest missile attacks from Russia. According to their staff, who reported to Politico, the intent of the EU social media firestorm was to influence President Donald Trump. Think about how pathetic that is in substance. The Presidents, Prime Ministers and Commissars of the EU collective couldn’t pick up the phone to call President Trump and discuss their position. No, instead their best approach, as organized by the group, was to take to social media and protest. These are not serious people.

“A second European official confirmed that the morning messages were an effort to influence Trump’s thinking, although the person was not optimistic that the attacks would lead Trump to ratchet up the economic pressure on Putin.” The discussion of conflict that began as ‘World War Reddit’, has now devolved even further and becomes a messaging war on teh Twitter. Yeah, these are not serious people. I am reminded of how the White House initially responded to the beginning of the conflict in February 2022: I said at the time, “Singh’s remarks outlining the view of the ‘West’ toward defeating Russia are eloquent yet batshit crazy in their ideological context. Daleep Singh sounds like the senior head of a Google Human Resources operation telling the department heads how they need to convey their feelings in order to hire the talent for continued growth in the industry.”

Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh boils down geopolitical power to a cultural issue of social likeability. Pro Tip: Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t care if EU leaders like him. The leadership of the Western NATO alliance and the European Union are reduced to shouting on Twitter, ‘Help us Trump, help us’. Meanwhile, these same leaders wonder why Vladimir Putin doesn’t take them seriously. You just cannot make this stuff up. Germany can mechanize their military and start rolling tanks to the front lines of Ukraine tonight. France can muster 100,000 troops and enter the battlefield by morning. The U.K. can put their fighter jets on the runways in Ukraine by nightfall, and the EU can force the collective nations to send troops into the meatgrinder by the end of the weekend.

Will they? Of course not. Not without President Trump and the full weight of the U.S. military as the skirt they can hide behind. The ‘coalition of the willing’ has limits, and apparently those limits end with strongly clutched Twitter messages. Meanwhile, back in the USA, the professional administrative state is hitting out at President Trump’s Envoy Steve Witkoff for failing to end the conflict or seemingly permit the U.S. Senate to take control of the nuclear weapons. Again, Politico: […] “The thing is, Witkoff isn’t consistently engaged. He will pop in for a visit to Vladimir Putin, say a bunch of stuff, not tell anyone what really happened and then just fuck off to his life again. Meanwhile, the Russians are talking to you about how ‘Witkoff says…’ and you don’t know whether they’re right or not, but you can’t get a readout from the Russians,” the U.S. official said.”

Thankfully, Vice President J.D. Vance and the entire Trump administration hit back: “This story from Politico is journalistic malpractice. But it’s more than that: it’s a foreign influence operation meant to hurt the administration and one of our most effective members.” Notice how all of the people attacking Steve are on background? That means it’s two or three deep staters who are angry that Witkoff has succeeded where they’ve failed. You know what this “reporter” left out to make room for anonymous quotes? The full quote from the sitting vice president, on the record.A quote from the secretary of the state, on the record. A quote from Jared Kushner, on the record. The full quote from the UK’s Jonathan Powell, one of the most respected national security people in the Western World, who defended Steve vigorously from these malicious smears.

The person who wrote this garbage is [@felschwartz]. Aside from the failure to include on the record information directly contradicting her reporting, I wonder if she ever asked herself why these anonymous sources came to her at this moment with this particular story. They have an agenda to blow up the president’s efforts to make peace, and they saw her as a useful vessel to launder garbage into the conversation, truth be damned. There are two possible explanations: Felicia is just not very smart and allowed herself to be used by deep state con men. Or she’s in on it and used her position to willingly participate in a literal foreign influence operation. Either way, it’s disgraceful.

To set the record straight: Steve Witkoff is an invaluable member of our team. He did not mislead anyone on what the Russians told him and what the Russians conceded. (Trust me, I’ve seen the intel.) The fruits of his negotiations are that we have narrowed the list of open issues in the Russia-Ukraine war to a set of clearly defined issues–specifically, security guarantees and territorial concessions. Maybe we make peace, and maybe we don’t. If we do, it will be because Steve Witkoff and the President of the United States worked their tails off, in the face of outright lies from the mainstream press. You know what is driving the Administrative State and the EU collective bananas?

Says Larry Johnson. Me, I think he’s catching up fast.

• Donald Trump Still Doesn’t Understand Russia’s Position Regarding Ukraine (LJ)

I continue to believe that it is more important to watch what Donald Trump does rather than focus on what he says. However, his remarks during the meeting of his cabinet earlier this week regarding negotiations to end the war in Ukraine are alarming and merit attention. When asked about Sergei Lavrov’s comment that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not legitimate, Donald Trump dismissed the statement, saying: It doesn’t matter what they say. Everybody’s posturing. It’s all bullshit, okay. Everybody’s posturing. He characterized Lavrov’s remarks – and the broader Kremlin rhetoric on Zelensky’s legitimacy – as meaningless showmanship, emphasizing that such claims should not obstruct peace efforts. Trump did not directly defend Zelensky, but instead focused on downplaying the significance of Russia’s statements and suggested that “everyone is just putting on a show” in ongoing negotiations.

I believe that Trump genuinely believes this, and he is dangerously mistaken. President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov are not posturing when they try to explain to clueless westerners that they do not believe that Zelensky is the legitimate President of Ukraine. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not explicitly “cancel” the presidential election, as Ukrainian law prohibits holding elections during martial law, which has been in effect since Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, the reality from the Russian perspective is that a negotiated agreement with Zelensky could easily be overturned or rejected once Ukraine holds the required election.

The scheduled presidential election, expected in March or April 2024, was automatically postponed due to this legal restriction under Article 19 of Ukraine’s “On the Legal Regime of Martial Law,” which bans presidential, parliamentary, and local elections during martial law. Martial law has been extended in 90-day intervals by the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s parliament), with the latest extension as of July 2025 lasting until November 5, 2025. Based on Zelensky’s multiple public remarks since his last meeting with Trump at the White House, it is clear that he is completely disinterested in reaching a peace agreement with Russia. Stephen Bryen has just published a new piece on his Substack, and it provides an explanation for Zelensky’s recalcitrance… NATO is going to attack Russia. Steve writes:

“While Putin has flown off to meet with his two buddies, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un, in China on an unprecedented four day jaunt, NATO, with full US backing, is stepping up its effort to hand the Russian army a major defeat and, following that, introducing NATO troops to “stabilize” Ukraine. What is the evidence? First and very noticeable is the US decision to ship 3,350 missiles to Ukraine, ostensibly to be paid for (someday?) by the Europeans (which ones is not defined). These are known as Extended Range Attack Munitions (ERAM), a type of air launched cruise missile missile. The Aviationist reports that “Ukrainian Air Force’s F-16s, Mirage 2000s and its fleet of Russian-origin MiG-29s, Su-25s and Su-27s would be able to operate it. This new weapon would be an addition to the AASM Hammer and GBU-39 SDB already employed by Ukrainian fighters.”

According to open source intelligence, ERAMs have a range of 250 miles. However, that is the range once launched by an aircraft. Washington says it opposes Ukrainian missile attacks on Russian territory, and while it is restricting the use of long range HIMARS, it is not restricting the use of ERAM. Reportedly ERAM carried a 500 lb. warhead, far larger than any Ukrainian UAV and more than double any of the different HIMARS missiles (M31 Utility Warhead, ATACMS warhead). It may be that ERAMs can be fielded with cluster munitions, although much about the ERAM is uncertain.”

Ignore what Trump says, watch what he does. Deploying ERAMs is not a gesture of peace or de-escalation. While it is possible that this action was taken without Trump’s knowledge, now that the information is public he has not countermanded the order. Steve goes on in his article (I encourage you to read it in its entirety) to highlight the faulty assumptions that NATO planners and leaders are making:

“NATO has understood Russia’s use of North Korean troops as an admission that Russia faces manpower shortages and instability in the Russian army, and that Russia is taking heavy casualties in the Ukraine war. NATO may be reading Putin’s statements that he has no intention of attacking Europe now or in future as an admission that he cannot attack Europe with an army that is too small and one that has been broken by the Ukraine war. Part of the pushback can be found in the Saratoga Foundation report, “A Systems View of Russia’s Early Failure in Ukraine.”

Now Russian sources are reporting two developments that indicate that a new offensive will soon materialize, heavily supported by NATO, and aimed at Crimea. Those sources say that the US and its NATO partners have significantly increased overhead intelligence gathering preparing for the coming attack.” Once again we have Western leaders – both military and political – wrongly interpreting Russia’s execution of a special military operation as a sign of weakness. The belief that Russia is suffering “manpower shortages and instability” is beyond ridiculous. During the course of the last 42 months, Russia has doubled the size of its army and is now conducting multiple offensive operations in Zaporhyzhia, Dniepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Sumy. Even if we accept as true the false Western claims about Russia suffering massive casualties, the fact remains that even with such losses Russia has 1.3 million men in uniform and carrying arms.

Instead of being “broken,” the Russian army has enhanced its capabilities and developed new techniques, especially with the use of drones, that far exceed anything NATO is capable of doing. Besides conducting the ground war, Russia continues to enjoy a lopsided advantage in the use of missiles and drones. It has carried out massive strikes on missile production facilities and other key logistic nodes in the past week, and shows no sign of weakness on that front. A NATO-backed attack on Crimea will put increased pressure on President Putin to shift from the Special Military Operation to full war footing. NATO’s inability to supply Ukraine with something as simple as artillery shells is just one indicator of NATO’s impotence if it decides to up the ante with Russia.

No hurry.

• Ukraine Operation Will Continue – Russia’s Top General (RT)

Russian forces will push their advantage and continue their offensive against Ukrainian troops, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov has said. Russia’s Joint Group of Forces is pushing its “non-stop offensive” on almost all sections of the front line, he said at a Russian Defense Ministry briefing on Saturday. “An analysis of the state of Ukrainian troops shows that in the spring and summer, the enemy concentrated all its efforts on slowing down our offensive, while suffering heavy losses,” he said. “As a result, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are forced to transfer the most combat-ready units from one crisis direction to another to ‘plug holes’. Today, the strategic initiative is entirely with the Russian troops,” he added.

The offensive is accompanied by regular “massive” strikes on Ukrainian arms manufacturing facilities, Gerasimov added. “During the spring-summer period, such strikes were carried out against 76 important facilities,” he said. Targeted massive fire strikes continue exclusively against military facilities and military-industrial complex facilities in Ukraine. Gerasimov also stressed that the advances on the battlefield would not have been possible without “the timely supply” of “high-precision weapons, missiles, ammunition, weapons and military equipment,” by Russian industry.

https://twitter.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1961783669271756895

Eventually…

• Trump Promises Trilateral Meeting With Putin and Zelensky (RT)

US President Donald Trump has stated that he believes a trilateral meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky will happen. Following his recent summit with Putin in Alaska, Trump pushed for a one-on-one between the Russian president and Zelensky ahead of any trilateral gathering. The Kremlin has not ruled out a bilateral meeting, but stressed it should serve as the final stage of talks once tangible progress has been made in the peace process. In an interview with the Daily Caller on Friday, Trump was asked whether a trilateral meeting is still planned. “A tri would happen. A bi, I don’t know about, but a tri will happen,” the US president said. “But, you know, sometimes people aren’t ready for it.”

According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, while Russia is still interested in direct talks with Ukraine, preparation for such a meeting is not “very active.” “All our positions have been communicated,” and Ukraine has submitted its own provisions, he said on Friday. “Further discussion is necessary.” Moscow has already agreed to “show some flexibility” on a number of points that Putin and Trump discussed in Alaska, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told NBC News last week. The US president later presented his proposals at a follow-up meeting with the Ukrainian leader and his European NATO backers, but “Zelensky said no to everything,” Lavrov said.

The reaction of Kiev’s Western sponsors at the talks “indicates that they don’t want peace,” the top diplomat said. European NATO leaders have increasingly pushed for “security guarantees” for Ukraine in the form of Western “peacekeepers” or “reassurance forces” – something Moscow has stressed it would never accept, warning of potential uncontrolled escalation. Moscow has condemned the EU’s recent militarization and longstanding military support for Ukraine. It has consistently described the Ukraine conflict as a proxy war waged by the West and maintained that any settlement must address Russia’s security concerns and the root causes of the crisis, including NATO’s continued eastward expansion.

NATO needs an enemy. China doesn’t fit the job description.

• Could Russia Have Joined NATO? (Ryumshin)

The idea of Russia one day joining NATO has become an international meme. To many it seems so absurd that it reads like a parody. Yet the notion continues to resurface in political debate, like a ghost that refuses to leave the stage. The latest revival came in 2022, when Russia and the West entered their most dangerous standoff in decades. Commentators wondered aloud how relations had sunk so low and whether a different path had ever been possible. More recently, former US congressman and Trump ally Matt Gaetz suggested that Russia should be accepted into NATO as a way to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Even Der Spiegel added fuel, publishing documents showing that under Bill Clinton the US did not entirely reject the idea of Russian membership.

It was Germany and others in Western Europe, the magazine reported, who feared that opening NATO’s doors to Moscow would mean the alliance’s slow dissolution. So who exactly blocked the path? The closest Russia ever came to joining NATO was in the early 1990s, just after the Soviet Union’s collapse. Boris Yeltsin’s government openly declared NATO membership a long-term goal. There were serious conversations at the highest level. But they didn’t lead anywhere. Part of the reason lay in Washington itself. A powerful bloc of the American elite was against any Russian presence in NATO’s inner circle. From its inception, NATO had been designed as a US project, structured around American leadership.

Russia, even weakened, retained military parity, global influence, and a sphere of interests that could not be subordinated. Unlike Poland or Hungary, it was not a junior partner to be absorbed. There cannot be two heads in one alliance. The other part of the reason was philosophical. NATO’s first secretary general, Lord Ismay, famously defined its purpose in 1949: “to keep the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down.” By the 1990s, the German question had been solved by reunification. But if NATO also gave up the “Russian threat,” it risked losing its reason for existing altogether. With the Soviet Union gone, the alliance drifted into an identity crisis. Accepting Russia would have hastened what many in Berlin and elsewhere already feared – the death of NATO itself.

What if Russia had joined? Let us imagine the alternate universe where Russia did sign up. Would it have resolved tensions with the West, as Gaetz suggests? Or would the quarrels have simply moved inside the tent?To answer, one can look at the example of Türkiye. Ankara has been part of NATO since 1952 but remains the odd man out. Turkish geography, culture, and ambitions often clash with those of its European and North American allies. Russia, had it joined, would likely have occupied a similar outsider role – but on a far grander scale, with nuclear weapons and a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. There is, however, a crucial difference. Türkiye has been tolerated because it controls the Bosphorus and Dardanelles and does not challenge NATO’s overall dominance. Russia never viewed itself as a regional player but as a European power in its own right.

Europe has always been Moscow’s primary sphere of influence – just as it is Washington’s. To coexist peacefully, one side would have had to step aside. Neither ever intended to.Instead of membership, the West offered Russia a “special partnership”: permanent dialogue, joint councils, limited cooperation. But this fell apart quickly. Moscow demanded equality. Washington, triumphant after the Cold War, refused to treat Russia as anything other than a defeated state. Pride collided with pride. The dialogue reached a dead end.Even if full membership had been offered, the story would have ended the same way. Russia and the United States would inevitably have clashed over the balance of power inside the alliance. At best, this would have produced a messy divorce. At worst, Russia might have split NATO by drawing away countries that were themselves uneasy with US dominance.In truth, Russia has always been “too big to join.” The alliance could absorb small and medium states – even awkward partners like Türkiye or Hungary. But not a country capable of rivaling America itself.

“.. Europe has been at war with itself for 1,000 years.”

And counting.

• NATO Should Have Dissolved in 1990 – Jeffrey Sachs (Sp.)

NATO should have been dissolved back in 1990 as the alliance had fulfilled its mission of confronting the Soviet Union, renowned US economist and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University Jeffrey Sachs said.The interview was conducted ahead of the Eastern Economic Forum, which will take place in Vladivostok from September 3–6. The economist is going to participate in a session “UN Development Agenda Beyond 2030.””First of all, NATO should have ended in 1990 when President Gorbachev ended the Warsaw Pact, the Western countries should have said yes, and we end NATO,” Jeffrey Sachs said. “It became, instead, a mechanism of US power expansion, which is not what NATO should be. This eastward movement of NATO since 1990 has been wholly unjustified and contrary to Western promises.”

Sachs expressed skepticism about Europe’s ability to establish an independent security framework to replace NATO.”The problem with Europe is, as everybody knows, there isn’t really a Europe. There are so many countries squabbling with each other,” Sachs noted, highlighting that Europe has been at war with itself for 1,000 years. In February 2024, Putin said in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson that Russia could become a NATO member in the early 2000s if the US showed sincere interest. Clinton, however, “was cold” to this idea, according to Putin. In recent years, Russia has highlighted NATO’s unprecedented military activity near its western borders. Ukraine’s plans to join the bloc were among the reasons why Russia says it launched its special military operation in February 2022.

Inevitable. 3 billion people.

• Can Russia, India, and China Rewrite The Global Rules? (Vaid)

In the wake of the Putin-Trump Alaska summit, Russia once again demonstrated that it remains an indispensable actor in global diplomacy. The very fact that Washington and Moscow returned to the table underscored that neither side can afford to exclude the other in discussions on international security. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Delhi a few days later included rounds of strategic discussions. He co-chaired the boundary talks alongside NSA Ajit Doval, held bilateral consultations with India’s Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, and met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, underscoring India’s continued openness to managing contentious issues through established dialogue channels. Coming ahead of India’s participation at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin on Sunday, the visit reflected an important step in rebalancing India–China ties at a time of heightened global trade uncertainty.

Against this backdrop, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s call to revive the Russia-India-China (RIC) format has sparked renewed debate over how trilateral diplomacy could help stabilize Asia. The Alaska summit may not have delivered immediate breakthroughs on conflict resolution, but it was nonetheless a watershed moment. Commentators noted that the meeting underscored Moscow’s role as a decisive actor whose influence cannot be erased by sanctions or diplomatic pressure. Yet for India, the significance of Alaska lies not just in Russia’s return to global high tables, but in what it signals for the larger multipolar landscape. A Russia more confident of its role in global negotiations is also a Russia that seeks to extend its engagement into Asia, creating opportunities for India to reinforce its own regional diplomacy.

Lavrov’s call for reviving RIC is part of this broader trend. By placing India alongside Russia and China, the format reopens a space where Asian powers can coordinate on selective issues. For Beijing, under pressure from escalating US tariffs, RIC provides a forum for coordination beyond the constraints of bilateral tensions. For Moscow, it illustrates that Asian partnerships are increasingly important to balancing global shifts. And for New Delhi, it creates diplomatic space to advance interests without committing to any single bloc. For New Delhi, Lavrov’s RIC revival call resonates but does not automatically translate into endorsement. India has consistently championed strategic autonomy, balancing partnerships such as the Quad and frameworks like the SCO and BRICS+. In this matrix, RIC is one among many platforms New Delhi engages with, neither the sole driver of its Asia policy nor an option to be dismissed.

“. . . this time the story has escaped the narrative guardrails and some real reckoning looms.” —Jeff Childers

• The War On Reality is Over (James Howard Kunstler)

Unwittingly, that New York Times headline is a wondrous case of the self-solving mystery. You come here to understand the many social and political mysteries of the day. I will attempt to unravel this hairball. Most obviously, the suspect, now dead, in Wednesday’s Minneapolis school shooting was not a “her.” He was a him, a 23-year-old male, Robert Westman, who had been pretending to be a female for some years since undergoing puberty, with the encouragement of his parents and the cultural leaders of his city, including Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey, backed by the expressed principles of the national Democratic Party. The essence of all that was a gigantic game of pretend, a broad and deliberate dissociation from reality for the purpose of maintaining a political racketeering operation, which is what the Democratic Party had become.

Pretend that men can become women. Pretend that Covid vaccinations are safe and effective. Pretend that national borders don’t matter. Pretend that crime is not a social problem. Pretend that riots are mostly peaceful. Pretend that our elections are free and fair. Pretend that “Joe Biden” is president. Pretend that Ukraine is fighting for democracy. And so on. All pretend. Since the Democratic Party has zero useful ideas for improving the lives of this country’s citizens, all it has is pretend theater, which is public performative psychopathology, otherwise known as acting-out. Mass murders of school-children by so-called trans people are the most garish and horrific actings-out, the most offensive to society, a slaughter of innocents. Such an act grabs everybody’s attention.

The New York Times pretends that all this is “a mystery” because to tell the truth would inculpate them in the ongoing criminal racketeering operation of their patron, the Democratic Party. They all know what the truth is in this matter: that Robert Westman became insane, at least in his time of puberty, possibly earlier, and that his parents resorted to persuading their child that he was born in the wrong body — as the trendy theory goes — to remedy his psychological distress. He was thereafter influenced to play-act as a female. Possibly, he was induced to go through some stage of medical “treatment” to supposedly advance his transition to the opposite sex — for instance, a hormone regimen. This has not yet been reported. (Has it even been investigated by police or the news media?)

Of course, “gender-affirming medical care” is a vicious fraud, as is the preposterous idea of “sexual assignment at birth” (as if it is some kind of error-ridden clerical function). Males cannot be changed into females no matter how much their hormones are altered or how much surgery they endure. It is all just costuming and makeup, to an extreme degree, to enhance the game of pretend. It is also bound to be nightmarishly disappointing to the person undergoing such malign rigors.

A good man to have on your side.

• Jay Bhattacharya On Fauci, Bioweapons, And Free Speech In Science (ZH)

Director of the National Institute of Health, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, sat down for an extended interview with ZeroHedge. Bhattacharya, long known as one of the fiercest critics of lockdown orthodoxy, has gone from blacklisted dissenter to running the world’s largest biomedical research agency. He carries into his new post a distrust of entrenched power, a skepticism of politicized science, and an insistence that free inquiry—not censorship—must guide American health policy. What follows is a candid conversation, in Bhattacharya’s own words, on censorship, woke politics in research, the threat of bioweapons, and why he believes science cannot exist without free speech. Bhattacharya did not hesitate to call out what he experienced during the pandemic years:

“It wasn’t just ZeroHedge that got subject to this censorship. I did too. I was on the Twitter blacklist. It was all true information that was just found inconvenient. That’s what you guys were sharing. That’s what I was sharing. And it was a gross violation of the American First Amendment.” The Stanford professor—blacklisted for co-authoring the Great Barrington Declaration—was among those exposed in the Twitter Files as a target of covert suppression. He says the NIH under his leadership will chart a different course: “We’re no longer in the misinformation detection business. We’re no longer in the censorship business.” ZeroHedge itself was deplatformed during that same period for reporting inconvenient facts on the origins of COVID.

As documented thoroughly in RFK Jr’s book “The Wuhan Coverup”, Anthony Fauci played a pivotal role in ballooning the U.S. biowarfare budget following the post-9/11 anthrax scare, an event still riddled with open questions Kennedy himself addresses in the book. While our previous overlords would espouse morally virtuous stances against “bioweaponry” and lecture us about the importance of “biodefense”, Bhattacharya sees through the sleight of hand and dismisses the entire concept as suicidal. His full answer below which we find incredibly important:

“I think that bioweapons are useless to national security and incredibly dangerous for human populations. The Biological Weapons Convention in 1973 is a tremendously important convention. And I think that the United States adheres to it. But we have to make sure that we adhere to it not just on the letter, but in the spirit. That includes, for instance, research for biodefense. Biodefense sounds good, but often there’s very little line between bioweapons and bio-defense… this line of research is fundamentally useless to protect this country from anything and potentially places the whole world at risk.” The warning is timely. President Trump recently signed an executive order banning gain-of-function research—which some read as only applying to foreign nations but Bhattacharya assured us is indeed a universal ban.

Bhattacharya doesn’t see DEI as harmless bureaucracy—he sees it as poison to science. The problem, he argues, isn’t the stated goal of improving minority health, but the way the system forces scientists to pledge allegiance to political dogma instead of data. “Many universities, before they would hire some people as professors in scientific disciplines, would require DEI statements. It’s essentially like loyalty oaths.” He says this ritual signals to scientists that advancement isn’t about competence or discovery—it’s about parroting the right ideology. That corrodes the incentive to produce results that actually improve health. At NIH, he saw the same rot: tax dollars poured into programs that branded themselves as equity-driven but failed to move the needle.

“There was some chunk of our portfolio that was really huge during the Biden administration of DEI grants… The problem is that this DEI work—I don’t see any evidence that it actually improves minority health. It just politicized the agency.” Bhattacharya’s stance is simple: real health equity will come from rigorous science applied to concrete problems—diabetes, cancer, infant mortality—not from “loyalty oaths” or politically branded grant programs. In his words, most scientists would gladly jump at the chance to “just do your excellent science” if freed from ideological policing. For Bhattacharya, the single thread tying all of this together is free inquiry: “If you were a scientist in the Soviet Union during the time of Stalin, you’d have this guy named Trofim Lysenko who fundamentally believed that Mendelian genetics was false—in fact, that it was a capitalist plot.

You were only allowed to agree with his theories. And so he used his position to suppress the speech of all the Mendelian geneticists around him. Many of them went to the gulag. As a result, science on agriculture basically froze and people were always starving as a consequence of this.” That lesson, he argues, applies directly to America today. “You can’t have science unless you’re allowed to criticize the predominant ideas. And if you have scientific power married to political power in a way that suppresses the ability for lots and lots of other scientists to say, ‘Look, you’re wrong, here’s this experiment to prove it’—you don’t have science. You have something else.”

I still don’t understand how the trans issue ever became what it did, in no time at all. Not organic, that’s for sure.

• To the Parents of Trans Kids: Enabling Isn’t Compassion (C.A. Skeet)

In a California high school, a male athlete is playing on a female volleyball team. This cheating was allowed by the school district to occur despite on ongoing lawsuit against the state of California for their clear Title IX violations. In other breaking news, the sun rose in the east this morning. The male player, AB Hernandez, has been in the headlines before. Last spring, he competed on the Jurupa Valley High School girls’ track team, stealing two state titles in long jump and triple jump that should have gone to females. Increasingly, high school girls are finding themselves the only adults in the building, and it has fallen upon their shoulders to make a stand for their rights. Rather than play against a school which openly allows cheating, at least two high school volleyball teams have forfeited their scheduled matches. Good for them.

And for the girls – the actual girls – on the Jurupa team who just want to play volleyball and want nothing to do enabling AB Hernandez’s untreated mental illness? Mere pawns to be used by district officials to virtue signal. What a shame you sacrificed years of your fun evenings and free time to practice. If only America weren’t the transphobic, fascist hellhole that it is, those other teams wouldn’t have forfeited.As the controversy rages, AB Hernandez’s mother Nereyda has a message for all us detractors. And the message is this:

I understand the discomfort some may feel, because I was once there, too. The difference is, I chose to learn, to grow, and to open my heart. Believe me, I know some people genuinely don’t understand what it means to be transgender. I’m still learning too, right alongside my child. That is why I choose not to respond with anger or disrespect. Instead, I choose empathy, because learning takes time, and compassion makes all the difference. My baby is petite, what sets her apart is not her size or strength, but her skill and the way she plays the game… This is a child, and I can assure you that she sees your daughters as peers, as teammates, as friends, not through a lens of anything inappropriate. I know it may be hard to understand, but she is just another girl who wants to play. Finally, I leave you with this: My child is so innocent, she didn’t even realize the forfeited games were because of her.

At a school board meeting, she berated a board member for appearing on Fox News, and added, “My daughter is not the problem. The problem is coordinated external efforts often led by individuals that travel from district to district… to spread fear and put parents against each other using religion as a shield for discrimination. This has nothing to do with fairness in sports and everything to do with erasing transgender children.”

Oh boy.

It was always going to be SCOTUS.

• Tariffs ‘Still in Effect’: Trump Bashes Partisan Court Ruling (Salgado)

After a federal appeals court ruled that Donald Trump does not have the authority to impose many of his tariffs, the president doubled down on his tariff policy and stated that especially ahead of Labor Day, American workers should be in support of that policy. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit asserted that most of Trump’s tariffs are outside of his power to impose under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, but did delay the impact of the ruling till mid-October, allowing time for appeal to the Supreme Court. Legal expert Mark Levin, cited by Trump, argued that Trump not only has the power to impose tariffs under the act, but also under the Constitution’s Article II, whereas the court did not have the jurisdiction to so rule.

Besides sharing Levin’s argument, Trump added his own commentary on Friday afternoon, posting on Truth Social, “ALL TARIFFS ARE STILL IN EFFECT! Today a Highly Partisan Appeals Court incorrectly said that our Tariffs should be removed, but they know the United States of America will win in the end. If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country. It would make us financially weak, and we have to be strong.” In July, tariff revenues reached a record level of $113 billion, representing a significant financial boost and hitting a new high for the year. That trend continued into August. Considering how the U.S. federal government is constantly overspending and usually looks to American citizens to pay the price, it is refreshing to have a president who wants to bring in revenues from foreign countries instead, especially countries that are hostile to us. In fact, in the case of virulently anti-USA countries such as China, it would be great to see higher tariffs.

On Truth Social, Trump continued, “The U.S.A. will no longer tolerate enormous Trade Deficits and unfair Tariffs and Non Tariff Trade Barriers imposed by other Countries, friend or foe, that undermine our Manufacturers, Farmers, and everyone else.” He angrily argued of the new ruling, “If allowed to stand, this Decision would literally destroy the United States of America. At the start of this Labor Day weekend, we should all remember that TARIFFS are the best tool to help our Workers, and support Companies that produce great MADE IN AMERICA products.” Democrats prefer products made using abusive and slave labor in China and other African and Asian countries. Patriots prefer made in America without slave labor.

While other countries imposed very high tariffs on American goods for decades, America was not imposing reciprocal tariffs, until the new Trump administration took over. Trump added, “For many years, Tariffs were allowed to be used against us by our uncaring and unwise Politicians. Now, with the help of the United States Supreme Court, we will use them to the benefit of our Nation, and Make America Rich, Strong, and Powerful Again! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

“..growing tension and misunderstanding between Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe..”

They’ll be alright.

• Tensions in US Intelligence Community Rise After CIA Agent Uncovered (Sp.)

Tensions in the US intelligence community, in particular between US National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe, have risen after the scandal over a CIA agent being uncovered, NBC reports citing sources.US National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard had revealed an undercover CIA officer working on Russia-related issues, publishing a list of those denied access to classified information, the Wall Street Journal earlier reported citing sources. The move has rattled agency employees and is the latest example of growing tension and misunderstanding between Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, the publication said, citing intelligence sources. According to former officials, Gabbard is likely seeking to curry favor with US President Donald Trump by redoubling her efforts to identify his political enemies, including within the CIA.

Earlier, Gabbard announced that she had stripped 37 current and former employees of their access to classified information for US intelligence agencies. They, according to the head of US national intelligence, abused the public trust by distorting intelligence and unauthorizedly disclosing classified information. According to the newspaper’s sources, Gabbard’s office did not meaningfully consult with the CIA before publishing the list and did not request information from the CIA when compiling it. According to the Wall Street Journal, disclosing the identity of an undercover employee or intelligence agent is a criminal offense, although it is unclear whether the law would apply to government disclosures or whether placing an employee on a list would be considered a disclosure.

In a small town in County Cork, Ireland, a monument stands in appreciation to the American Choctaw Indian Tribe.

Although impoverished, shortly after being forced to walk the Trail of Tears, the tribe somehow gathered $170 to send to Ireland for famine relief in 1847. pic.twitter.com/rHWaiN7Mv9

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 31, 2025

https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1962022538382368984

Owls

A family of Blakiston's fish owls living in the forest. The mother bird is nestled in a tree hollow, holding and protecting two chicks.
pic.twitter.com/G5RDCDN0uO

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) August 30, 2025

Kili
https://twitter.com/WildfriendsUG/status/1961683763793961115

https://twitter.com/Protect_Wldlife/status/1961726970762314091

A perfect world… pic.twitter.com/PQdGd38eL3

— Anirudh Laxmipathy (@anirudh123) August 30, 2025

Fun fact.

Magnetic North is now drifting faster than 30 miles per year.

It has already moved back past geological north, a place it has not been for thousands of years. pic.twitter.com/raYYTJmtsH

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 30, 2025

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Debt Rattle August 24 2025

Aug 242025

August 24, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:00 am Finance Tagged with: Belarus, Bolton, Canada, CBO, Chicago, Deep State, espionage, intel, Letitia, Pentagon, Smithsonian, trophy fishing, Uganda 46 Responses »

Henri Matisse Olive trees at Collioure 1906

• John Bolton Under Investigation for Violations of the Espionage Act (CTH)

• Why Would Putin Want To Meet With Zelensky? (Ryumshin)

• Trump Wants To ‘Coax’ Russia But ‘Pressure’ Ukraine Into Talks – Politico (RT)

• “Or Do We Do Nothing, and Say It’s Your Fight” (CTH)

• Pentagon Has Restricted Ukraine From Striking Russian Territory – WSJ (RT)

• Ukraine Issues Military Warning To Belarus (RT)

• : Even After Trump Humiliation, Europe Insists That Peace Is War (Escobar)

• The CBO Just Dropped a $4 Trillion Truth Bomb (Margolis)

• Canada Announces End to All Retaliatory Tariffs – Trump Gives Nothing (CTH)

• The One That Got Away: Letitia James and the Perils of Trophy Fishing (Turley)

• The Media Flips Out Over Trump Claim—But Once Again, He Was Right (Margolis)

• Trump’s Smithsonian Review Is Long Overdue (Mike Gonzalez)

• Multi-Front Effort to Protect Clintons While Framing Trump (Bruner)

• Deep State Entrenched In US Intel Community – Gabbard (RT)

• Trump Says ‘Dangerous’ Chicago Next After Addressing Crime In DC (JTN)

• Judge Releases Alleged Gang Member Kilmar Abrego Garcia From Jail (Margolis)

• President Trump Announces US Govt Takes 10% Stake in INTEL (CTH)

https://twitter.com/PrometheanActn/status/1959324424122896435

Deep breath
https://twitter.com/ThePatriotOasis/status/1959056669838909859

Shell
https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1959057789021823001

Prime time
https://twitter.com/Chicago1Ray/status/1959002765637619980

FIFA
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1958946393864675608

CO2

Best-seller author and scientist Gregg Braden: "Climate change is a fact… It's also a fact that humans are not causing it."

"Is there more CO₂ in the atmosphere now than there was 10 years, 20, 50, 100 years ago? The answer is absolutely yes. Is it a bad thing?
The answer is… pic.twitter.com/nRVCcmqaRK

— Wide Awake Media (@wideawake_media) August 23, 2025

Espionage is a few grades up from classified files in a closet.

• John Bolton Under Investigation for Violations of the Espionage Act (CTH)

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton is a well-documented neocon, who operates inside the business model of selling U.S. foreign policy influence for personal gain. His activity mirrors that of former Senator John McCain in many regards. John Bolton sold his access, contacts and ability to influence policy to the highest bidder. In DC parlance they call that a “consultant.” When the consulting is contracted for a specific national interest, the title shifts to “lobbyist.” That was his job, and all of Washington DC knows it. Washington DC operates on this business model; the entire system will be soft to criticize Bolton and many will likely defend him. The FBI raid on his residence and office has led to a considerable amount of speculation.

However, as some background details start to come out, it appears CIA Director John Ratcliffe provided FBI Director Kash Patel with specifics on the international travels and efforts of Bolton. That CIA referral has led to an FBI investigation under the auspices of potential violations of the espionage act, where Bolton would have leveraged current or prior classified intelligence information as part of his influence business. Almost identically to former Senator John McCain, John Bolton was well known to intersect with the nation of Qatar as part of his operation. Qatar has deep pockets and a long-identified influence operation throughout the middle east, sometimes playing both sides. Qatar is also the playground for the CIA. While it is yet unknown which nation and which activity Bolton was likely engaged in, the highest probability centers around the deepest pockets, which would also put Bolton on the CIA radar. With President Trump in the White House, there is a big market for the services of people like John Bolton who operate a specific militaristic mindset against the Trump administration.

NEW YORK TIMES – “The information that provided the basis for the warrant to search John Bolton’s home on Friday was based on intelligence collected overseas by the C.I.A., according to people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing criminal investigation. John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, provided Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, with limited access to the intelligence. It involved the mishandling of classified material by Mr. Bolton, the people said. The search of the home and office of Mr. Bolton, who was national security adviser during President Trump’s first term, was a major escalation of a long-running inquiry into whether he collected or leaked sensitive national security information, law enforcement officials said. The nature of the intelligence collected overseas is not known. The F.B.I. obtained the search warrant after presenting evidence to a federal judge. Mr. Bolton’s office declined to comment. The C.I.A. and F.B.I. regularly cooperate on counterterrorism investigations. It is unusual for the C.I.A. to so prominently provide information for a high-profile investigation of a former U.S. official.”

Also from The New York Times: “[…] The investigation into Mr. Bolton seeks to determine whether he illegally shared or possessed classified information, according to people familiar with the case who requested anonymity to describe details of a continuing investigation. The key criminal statute involved in those potential crimes is part of the Espionage Act. Another potential criminal statute in the investigation is one that bars the unauthorized removal of classified documents or material. The information that provided the basis for the warrant to search Mr. Bolton’s home was based on intelligence collected overseas by the C.I.A., according to people briefed on the matter. John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, provided limited access to the intelligence to Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director. The intelligence involved the possible mishandling of classified material by Mr. Bolton, the people said.”

• Did John Bolton have access to classified information about national security policy, yes.
• Would John Bolton leverage that knowledge for personal material gain, again yes.
• Did Bolton operate in the same industry as almost all DC influence agents, yup.
• Does this investigation of Bolton create an increased sense of anxiety amid all those who operate on the same system, oh heck yes.
• What does the investigation of Bolton mean to the larger network of corrupt influence peddling in DC, we don’t know yet.

“…a Putin-Zelensky summit may still happen. Not because it will resolve the war, but because it serves the broader game of diplomacy. The real audience is not Zelensky at all. It is Trump…”

• Why Would Putin Want To Meet With Zelensky? (Ryumshin)

There were no surprises in the latest round of Ukraine diplomacy. After his much-publicised meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, US President Donald Trump followed up with talks in Washington with Vladimir Zelensky and his European backers. The result was predictable: the peace process derailed once again. The conditions set out by Russia in Anchorage are already forgotten. Instead, the West is now obsessing over the prospect of a direct Putin-Zelensky encounter. The Americans have already mapped out not one but two meetings: a bilateral summit between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, and a trilateral session that would include Trump. According to reports, Hungary has been floated as the preferred venue. Western media even claim that Putin himself requested a meeting with Zelensky, supposedly in Moscow. The Trump administration insists that Russia has agreed to everything.

A game for Trump’s benefit
Yet the Kremlin remains silent, issuing only vague references to “raising the level of delegations.” This studied ambiguity recalls the build-up to the Putin-Trump summit and suggests that the idea cannot be dismissed outright. The truth is simple: such a meeting is not required by “objective realities” or common sense. It is dictated instead by the dynamics of a process that has turned into a performance designed to hold Trump’s attention.n Putin’s meeting with Trump on 15 August was not about reaching a breakthrough. It was a political gesture to demonstrate Russia’s openness and to shift responsibility onto Ukraine and the European Union. The West is now trying to turn the same tactic against Moscow: framing Russia as the obstacle to peace and forcing Putin into a face-to-face encounter with Zelensky.

Kiev and Western European capitals are pushing Russia to accept “security guarantees” for Ukraine, something Moscow has been proposing since 2022. But the way these guarantees are now being drafted makes them deliberately unacceptable for Russia. EU leaks suggest demands that amount to little more than NATO membership in disguise: permanent Western troops on Ukrainian soil, binding guarantees from the alliance, and no recognition of territorial realities. The Kremlin cannot simply reject such proposals outright. Doing so would allow Trump to walk away from the process and pin the blame on Moscow. For that reason, Russia may ultimately have to go through the motions of agreeing to a summit. What would such a meeting achieve? Little of substance. Russia and Ukraine remain far apart on every meaningful issue. Moscow hopes its military superiority will translate into concessions, but Kiev shows no willingness to compromise.

Ukraine refuses to recognise territorial changes, rejects the idea of troop reductions or exchanges, and continues to demand reparations. Even the tentative agreement to keep NATO membership off the table has been undermined by Zelensky’s insistence on NATO-style guarantees. The only factors that might soften Ukraine’s stance – the collapse of its front lines, a breakdown of EU support, or the United States walking away from the conflict – are nowhere in sight. As long as Zelensky stays unyielding, any summit would have the same outcome as the earlier Medinsky-Umerov talks: limited progress on humanitarian issues, no peace deal. Yet the point of such a meeting is not to make peace with Zelensky. It is to keep Trump engaged and maintain strategic uncertainty. For that reason alone, Moscow has good reason to appear open to the idea of a summit.

If the Kremlin does agree, the key will be to control the format. Ideally, the talks should be trilateral, with Trump at the table. This would prevent Kiev from spinning the outcome as a diplomatic victory and would ensure that Washington remains responsible for the process. The choice of venue is also critical. Hungary, with its friendlier stance toward Moscow, would be an acceptable host. Predictably, Ukraine and the Western Europeans will resist such a move. But Zelensky’s preferences are ultimately secondary. If Trump can be persuaded to attend, the Ukrainian president will have little choice but to follow. In this sense, the goal is not to negotiate with Zelensky but to shape the atmosphere around him. A carefully staged summit could place pressure on the Ukrainian leader, making him appear weak and pushing him toward concessions he might otherwise resist. His visit to Washington earlier this year already showed how vulnerable he is to Trump’s personal style and political leverage.

None of this should be confused with a real peace process. Russia does not expect to sign a final settlement with Zelensky, nor is Ukraine prepared to compromise. But appearances matter. By showing openness, Moscow avoids being cast as the spoiler while placing the burden of intransigence on Kiev. That is why, paradoxically, a Putin-Zelensky summit may still happen. Not because it will resolve the war, but because it serves the broader game of diplomacy. The real audience is not Zelensky at all. It is Trump.

“Moscow should be ‘coaxed’ into peace talks with Ukraine, whereas Kiev can be ‘pressured’ due to its dependence on Western aid…”

• Trump Wants To ‘Coax’ Russia But ‘Pressure’ Ukraine Into Talks – Politico (RT)

US President Donald Trump believes Moscow should be ‘coaxed’ into peace talks with Ukraine, whereas Kiev can be ‘pressured’ due to its dependence on Western aid, Politico reported on Friday, citing sources. The sources claimed that Trump sees Russia as holding “the upper hand” in the conflict. The report follows speculation over a potential summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. The idea emerged after Trump met Putin in Alaska – their first face-to-face encounter since 2019 – then held talks with Zelensky and EU leaders. Trump later said he had “begun the arrangements” for a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, which he believes could accelerate peace efforts. He described his talks with Putin as “very productive,” but said Zelensky “has to show some flexibility” ahead of any summit.

“[Trump] has long believed that Russia has the upper hand in the war itself and needs to be coaxed into peace talks,” one former US official told Politico. “Ukraine, on the other hand, relies heavily on the US for weapons and intelligence. So there are more pressure points to get them to accept a deal.” Putin has not ruled out meeting Zelensky but insists it must follow real progress in negotiations. Moscow has also questioned Zelensky’s legitimacy, pointing to the fact that his presidential term has expired. Zelensky claimed this week he was ready to meet, but only in a “neutral” part of Europe and with the participation of his EU backers.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told NBC on Friday that Moscow had agreed to “show flexibility” on several issues that Trump raised during the Alaska summit. However, he said Zelensky “said no to everything” that Trump later proposed to him, including neutrality for Ukraine and territorial concessions. “Putin is ready to meet with Zelensky when the agenda would be ready for a summit,” Lavrov reiterated. “But as things stand, there is no meeting planned.” Sources told Politico that while some officials worry the Russia-Ukraine talks are stuck in a “grind,” the US president remains optimistic. Trump said on Friday that he will announce a “very important decision” on Ukraine within two weeks, the nature of which will depend on how the positions of Moscow and Kiev shape up.

“For the first time President Trump indicates he’s willing to take a full retreat position from the effort…”

• “Or Do We Do Nothing, and Say It’s Your Fight” (CTH)

A very interesting response from President Trump against the U.S. President stepping back and awaiting Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to organize their teams and schedule a bilateral discussion. President Trump has said he expects the diplomatic teams of Zelenskyy and Putin to coordinate a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy in the next two weeks. As noted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sometimes it just takes putting the principals into the same room to break the logjam. However, both regimes have entrenched ideologues who are positioning for maximum leverage. President Trump is asked what he will do if Zelenskyy and Putin cannot or do not organize a meeting.

For the first time President Trump indicates he’s willing to take a full retreat position from the effort, “or do we do nothing, and say it’s your fight.” Doing nothing seems to indicate the U.S. withdraws all support and lets them fight to the point of defeat or surrender. Doing nothing is actually doing something quite remarkable. In the background of all of this, DNI Tulsi Gabbard has issued a directive telling all of the intelligence agencies all information regarding the Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations is not to be shared with U.S.-allied intelligence partners. […] “The memo, dated July 20 and signed by Gabbard, directed agencies to not share information with the so-called Five Eyes, the post-World War II intelligence alliance comprising the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, multiple U.S. intelligence officials told CBS News.”

Still…reports of many drone attacks inside Russia this morning.

• Pentagon Has Restricted Ukraine From Striking Russian Territory – WSJ (RT)

The Pentagon has blocked Ukraine from striking deep inside Russia with American-supplied missiles, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing US officials. According to the paper, the Department of Defense has been preventing Kiev from firing long-range ATACMS missiles since late spring. On at least one occasion, Washington reportedly turned down a Ukrainian request to hit a target on Russia’s internationally recognized territory. The WSJ linked the policy shift to President Donald Trump’s effort to “entice” Moscow during peace talks. Last week, Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since 2019 in Alaska, and several days later held talks with the leaders of Ukraine, NATO, the EU, and several European states in Washington.

Although Trump urged Moscow and Kiev to reach a peace deal as soon as possible, he said on Thursday that Ukraine has “no chance of winning” without striking Russia. Trump has also criticized the previous administration for providing unconditional military aid to Ukraine and in February accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of “gambling with World War III.” Russia has warned that by supplying Ukraine with weapons, Western countries are de facto directly participating in the conflict. Moscow has listed an end to foreign military aid as one of its conditions for a lasting ceasefire.

“The agreement commits both countries to defend each other’s sovereignty with all available means.”

• Ukraine Issues Military Warning To Belarus (RT)

Ukraine has told Minsk to stay away from its borders during upcoming joint military exercises with Russia to be held in Belarus. The warning came ahead of the ‘Zapad-2025’ military drill, scheduled for September 12–16. Belarus allowed Russian forces to use its territory when the conflict with Ukraine escalated in February 2022. Since then, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has repeatedly said that Minsk has no intention of attacking Kiev and will only resort to military action if his country is attacked In a statement on Friday, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry accused Belarus of aiding Moscow and issued a caution.

“We warn Minsk against reckless provocations and urge it to remain prudent, refrain from approaching the borders, and avoid provoking Ukraine’s Defense Forces,” Kiev’s Foreign Ministry has said. This year’s military exercises, which include counter-sabotage operations, drone warfare, electronic interference scenarios, and assaults, will also feature the Russian Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic missile, according to Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin. First battle-tested in November 2024 in a strike on Ukraine’s Yuzhmash facility in Dnepr, Russian officials have compared its conventional destructive power to that of a low-yield nuclear strike.

“This is an important element for our strategic deterrence – as the head of state demands, we must be prepared for anything,” Khrenin told the state news agency Belta. He warned that NATO is using Zapad-2025 as a pretext for its own drills, citing Poland’s deployment of 30,000 troops near Belarus as the main concern. Belarus, a close ally of Russia, signed a bilateral security treaty with Moscow in December 2024. The agreement commits both countries to defend each other’s sovereignty with all available means. In 2023, Russia deployed tactical nuclear weapons and short-range ballistic missiles on Belarusian territory, citing tensions with the West. Lukashenko has also called for the accelerated delivery of Oreshnik systems, which could be stationed in Belarus before the end of 2025.

“..the future borders between a re-weaponized Europe and a Russia that will inevitably inflict on it a massive strategic defeat.”

• : Even After Trump Humiliation, Europe Insists That Peace Is War (Escobar)

It took just one pic to imprint on posterity the utter humiliation of the EUrotrash political elites in Year 2025: the Coalition of the Twats, in the Oval Office, lining up like a bunch of frightened schoolkids, severely reprimanded by His Master’s Voice – the Headmaster cum Circus Ringmaster. That was also neatly described as Trump breaks Europe over his knee. Of course, President Putin had already predicted it, over six months before the fact: “I assure you, Trump, with his character and persistence, will restore order quite quickly. And all of them, you’ll see, soon all of them will stand at the master’s feet and gently wag their tails.” The White House humiliation sealed the deal, and reconfirmed an obsession: for the EUrotrash “leadership”, at all levels when it comes to relations with Russia, Peace is War.

Brandishing their warped logic, they cannot possibly understand that if Ukraine is instrumentalized – actually since before Maidan in 2014 – to harass and destabilize Russia in its western borders, Russia will forcefully counter-attack. That’s at the heart of the Russian concept of “underlying causes” of the Ukraine tragedy, which must be thoroughly addressed if there is any real shot at Trumpian or not Trumpian “peace”. In the Big Picture, that translates as the Empire of Chaos and Russia sitting down to set up a new “indivisibility of security” arrangement – just like Moscow proposed in December 2021: then, it was met by a non-response response. EUrotrash Inc.’s new delirium is to attribute to itself the design of the future borders between a re-weaponized Europe and a Russia that will inevitably inflict on it a massive strategic defeat.

It’s a very long shot to imagine that Trump is capable, by himself, of imposing a new strategic reality on the warmongering yet penniless Coalition of the Twats. Whatever happens to rump Ukraine, Trump, based on his own twist and turn vociferations, actually wants Europe to “contain” Russia from now on, using an arsenal of ridiculous expensive American weapons. So what changes is the character of this particular chapter of the Forever Wars: it will be fought by the Coalition of the Twats, and not by Americans. In the short term, that also unveils the only strategy available for the EUrotrash/Kiev combo: outlast Trump until the 2026 mid-terms, destroy the remainder of his presidency, and be secure with the return of the mega-Russophobe gang in 2028.

Which Dead Hand will prevail?
An old school Deep State hand, who had privileged access to all Cold War era honchos, sums up the pitfalls ahead for Russia: “Russia is taking too long to neutralize Ukraine, allowing time for NATO to reignite diversions. While the snail offensive in Ukraine does save lives, NATO seeks to weaken Russia’s strategic position in the Balkans and elsewhere that can cost far more lives in the future. If the Slavs in the Balkans are crushed that can strategically weaken Russia’s overall position, and that is far more costly than a major lightning offensive a la Stalin in Russian Ukraine. Russia must finish this war now and turn to its southern problems in the Balkans and the intrigues in Baku.”

Trump of course is oblivious to these Big Picture niceties. At best he admits, to Fox News, that “Ukraine will not regain Crimea” and “Ukraine will not join NATO.” But he does not seem to mind that “France, Germany and the UK want to deploy troops in Ukraine” as part of the new kabuki: “security guarantees”. That is an inter-galactic red line for Moscow. In parallel, it’s wishful thinking to believe that Putin is now finally ready to negotiate “peace”. This is not about peace; it’s always about coming up with incontrovertible facts on the battle field, because Moscow knows this war will only be won in the battle field.

Russian forces have reached the final Ukraine defensive line in Donbass: Slavyansk-Kramatorsk. And is fast encircling key strongholds near Pokrovsk and Konstantinovka. Talk about a strategic/psychological turning point. From there, the – steppe – sky is the limit. Compound it with the combined hacking of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine – which revealed that Kiev’s losses, in terms of dead and missing, amount to a staggering 1.7 million. All of the above means that we are fast approaching the fateful moment when the victor dictates the full terms of the enemy’s capitulation. No need to march to Bankova in Kiev and plant the Russian flag.

“..the changes in tariffs will reduce total deficits by $4.0 trillion altogether.”

• The CBO Just Dropped a $4 Trillion Truth Bomb (Margolis)

Ever since Trump’s first term, the political and media establishment told us that his trade policies were reckless, destructive, and doomed to wreck the U.S. economy. Every so-called expert on cable TV preached that they would crush American consumers, tank the stock market, and send our economy into a spiral. We’re still waiting for that to happen. Here we are in Aug. 2025, and the Congressional Budget Office just dropped a bombshell that completely shatters the left’s narrative against Trump’s tariff strategy.

“As of August 19, we estimate that the effective tariff rate for goods imported into the United States has increased by about 18 percentage points when measured against 2024 trade flows. We project that increases in tariffs implemented during the period from January 6, 2025, to August 19 will decrease primary deficits (which exclude net outlays for interest) by $3.3 trillion if the higher tariffs persist for the 2025-2035 period. By reducing the need for federal borrowing, those tariff collections will also reduce federal outlays for interest by an additional $0.7 trillion. As a result, the changes in tariffs will reduce total deficits by $4.0 trillion altogether.” That’s no rounding error. The numbers are simply eye-popping, and they tell the story that the media doesn’t want you to know.

Let’s put that in perspective. Back in June, the CBO had already stunned critics by predicting Trump’s tariffs would shrink the deficit by $3 trillion. That was based only on trade actions taken through May 13. Trump, naturally, celebrated the news on Truth Social. “I am pleased to announce that the Radical Left Representatives working at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) have now admitted how incredible my Tariff strategy has been, saying that, ‘Trump’s Tariffs reduce the deficit by $4 Trillion Dollars,’” he wrote. “When I began my Tariff policy suggestions, they refused to acknowledge the potential SUCCESS that would be derived. Deficits are DOWN, Taxes are DOWN, Energy is DOWN, Prices generally are DOWN, the only things that are UP are, Take Home Pay, the Stock Market, and our Country, which is the ‘HOTTEST’ anywhere in the World. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Of course, the CBO is cautious to note its projections assume these trade policies remain in place indefinitely. It also didn’t factor in several adjustments announced just this past week: new EU tariff arrangements on August 21, a 25% tariff hike on imports from India starting Aug. 27, and the suspension of duty-free shipments under $800 coming Aug. 29. In other words, the real revenue picture could easily turn out even stronger than the current forecast. Here’s the bigger point no one in the mainstream press will admit: tariffs, when wielded strategically, can be a double win. They level the playing field for American producers, whom foreign governments have undercut for decades by gaming the system, and they generate revenue that actually reduces the insane borrowing spree Washington politicians tried to normalize.

“If that recap sounds bad for Canada, trust me – it’s way worse. Really bad, horrible – terrible even. So far beyond bad, the light from where horrible starts could not reach the Canadian terrible place for a year. Not good.”

• Canada Announces End to All Retaliatory Tariffs – Trump Gives Nothing (CTH)

The Canadian govt led by Prime Minister Mark Carney has completely capitulated to the power and influence of President Trump. While explaining how the United States has fundamentally changed the entire landscape of global trade, the leader of the Snow Mexicans announces he is dropping all countervailing and retaliatory tariffs against the USA and getting nothing in return. Total and complete surrender by Canada; there is ZERO upside for Canada – NADA, Zippo, Zilch. Prime Minister Mark Carney made the announcement, then faced the ire of the assembled media who were furious about the details within the statement. The Canadian people had been promised an “elbows up” fight to the end. Instead, today they got down on their knees and begged Trump to retain the USMCA.

Complete and utter capitulation by Canada. No digital services taxes. No countervailing duty tariffs. No reciprocity tariffs on Steel and Aluminum. No retaliatory tariffs (reciprocal/baseline). Meanwhile, the USA keeps 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum against Canada, and Canada only gets 25% tariffs against U.S. steel/aluminum. In addition, Canada has pledged to continue gaslighting their citizens, while wasting time, effort and resources on a hope to retain the USMCA, while refusing to admit to themselves that President Trump intends to dissolve it. If that recap sounds bad for Canada, trust me – it’s way worse. Really bad, horrible – terrible even. So far beyond bad, the light from where horrible starts could not reach the Canadian terrible place for a year. Not good.

“Plainly, her ultimate goal was not ‘market hygiene’ . . . but political hygiene, ending with the derailment of President Trump’s political career and the destruction of his real estate business.”

• The One That Got Away: Letitia James and the Perils of Trophy Fishing (Turley)

New York Attorney General Letitia James is going to need a bigger fish or a smaller trophy wall. For months, James has paraded her victory over President Donald Trump in her civil judgment of half a trillion dollars. It did not matter that many of us denounced the judgment as grotesque and raw lawfare. Now, however, the appellate court has replaced that mounted Marlin with a mere minnow. It threw out the financial penalty as unconstitutional and unwarranted. Even that downsized catch may have to be pulled down, since Trump can appeal the decision to leave the injunctive relief — including limits on doing business in New York — in place. The problem is that this over-stuffed guppy has cost the people of New York tens of millions of dollars in staff, security and other costs.

It was all just the cost of doing business with James, who ran on the pledge to bag Trump on something — anything! — if elected. For James, it was worth it. For her base, the case was never about the merits or the law. James offered lawfare against political opponents, and New York Democrats elected her with a gleeful malice. They were thrilled as James suggested that she was going to seize Trump buildings after the judgment and sought a massive bond. Notably, even the judges who sided with James on her ability to bring this case were critical of her ethics or judgment in running on bagging an individual on unnamed crimes or civil actions. They simply chose not to do anything about it. It was Judge David Friedman, who, on the appeal, offered an unblinking account of how James abused the legal system.

“Plainly, her ultimate goal was not ‘market hygiene’ . . . but political hygiene, ending with the derailment of President Trump’s political career and the destruction of his real estate business. The voters have obviously rendered a verdict on his political career. This bench today unanimously derails the effort to destroy his business.” The five appeals court judges fractured on the rationale for their opinions. Two of the judges — Dianne T. Renwick and Peter H. Moulton — correctly found that “the court’s disgorgement order, which directs that defendants pay nearly half a billion dollars to the State of New York, is an excessive fine that violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.” The rest of the judges found other reasons to negate the damages while preserving the fraud judgment.

In the end, James could not get a single vote on appeal to support Judge Arthur Engoron’s ridiculous fine. Engoron, like James, will continue to enjoy the status of a folk hero in New York. But he will go down in history as a judge who yielded to the demands of the mob rather than the law. Yet nothing will change. With the exception of Judge Friedman, the mild rebukes of the appellate court of James show how Trump remains persona non grata, a disfavored figure who is entitled to no consideration, let alone sympathy, in New York. The most courage that Judge Moulton could summon was to say, “One can reasonably question whether a candidate running for the top law enforcement position in statewide government should make such pointed statements.” I suppose one could also reasonably question whether a judge faced with blatant, open targeting of a political opponent should do more than a judicial shrug.

“..the president ensures laws are enforced, but he doesn’t personally enforce them..”

• The Media Flips Out Over Trump Claim—But Once Again, He Was Right (Margolis)

FBI agents raided the Maryland home of President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton on Friday, as part of a “high-profile national security probe” involving classified documents. Ironically, the same people who cheered Joe Biden for weaponizing the Justice Department against Trump are claiming that the raid on Bolton’s home was politically motivated. Trump, for his part, denied having advance knowledge of the raid, stressing that while he has the authority to direct such actions, he prefers to stay out of them. “I don’t want — I tell [Attorney General Pam Bondi], and I tell the group, I don’t want to know,” he said. “You have to do what you have to do. I don’t want to know about it. It’s not necessary. I could know about it. I could be the one starting it. I’m actually the chief law enforcement officer — but I feel that it’s better this way.”

And the media, being the media, absolutely flipped out about that last statement where Trump claimed he’s the chief law enforcement officer. “President Donald Trump has bizarrely claimed he is the chief law enforcement officer of America while insisting he knew nothing about the FBI raid on John Bolton’s home,” opined The Daily Beast. “The comment was contentious not only because the Justice Department has traditionally operated at arm’s length from the White House, but because its own guidelines state that the U.S. Attorney General is the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.” And, of course, CNN also jumped in. On Friday’s edition of “The Situation Room,” CNN’s Crime and Justice Correspondent Katelyn Polantz was also triggered by Trump’s claim.

“What Trump said that really jumped out at me is that he said that he hasn’t been briefed by the Justice Department yet, he expects that later in the day, but he said, ‘I could know about it. I could be the one starting it. I’m actually the chief law enforcement officer.’ But then he said he’s telling the attorney general, Pam Bondi, ‘you have to do what you have to do.’ And right now, he doesn’t know anything. I looked, the Justice Department on its own website says the attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government, not the president.” According to Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution, the president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.”

In other words, the president ensures laws are enforced, but he doesn’t personally enforce them. That responsibility falls to subordinates like agency heads and the Department of Justice. That’s why, under the Constitution, it’s entirely fair to describe the president as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. It may not be a formal job title, but it is a functional reality. The bottom line is simple: Trump is right, and the media has once again made fools of themselves by putting attacks on Trump ahead of the facts. They twist themselves into knots over semantics just to attack Trump, even when the Constitution clearly spells out his authority.

“In other words, a full lube job.”

• Trump’s Smithsonian Review Is Long Overdue (Mike Gonzalez)

The White House last week informed Lonnie Bunch, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, that it’s putting the museums under review—in other words, adult supervision. The news came in a letter that amounted to a major front in the Trump administration’s war to retake the culture. As I wrote in an X post quoted by The New York Times, “Given the Smithsonian’s behavior in the past few years—how it cataloged everything woke, how it gave the communist leader Angela Davis plenty of space, but not Justice Clarence Thomas, how it portrayed America in a poor light—this White House review is not a minute too soon.” The letter announcing the “comprehensive review” came from three top individuals engaged in this cultural Reconquista: Lindsey Halligan, the president’s special assistant; Vince Haley, director of the Domestic Policy Council; and Russ Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget.

The Times called it a “more direct shot across the bow” than an audit announced in June, which the Smithsonian Board asked Bunch to conduct. This time, it will be the administration itself that will take action. Of course, the forces that have spent the past two or three decades capturing the cultural institutions wasted no time in screeching at the very notion that the administration would conduct a thorough review of the institution’s museums. “Only historians and trained museum professionals are qualified to conduct such a review, which is intended to ensure historical accuracy,” Sarah Weicksel, the executive director of the American Historical Association, fumed to the Times. “To suggest otherwise is an affront to the professional integrity of curators, historians, educators, and everyone involved in the creation of solid, evidence-based content.”

What a laughable assertion. There probably isn’t a single conservative among these “curators, historians, educators, and everyone involved.” Somebody should inform Weicksel that the administration is liberating the culture from the curators, directors, historians, and everyone else involved in the arts management profession at this point. In 2016, when Donald Trump first ran for office and the country was actually less polarized, Verdant Labs conducted a study based on campaign contribution data from the Federal Election Commission. It is contained in an interactive graph which breaks down the political affiliation of these professionals:

Museum Directors: 89 Democrats for every 11 Republicans
Museum Curators: 94 Democrats for every 6 Republicans
Art Conservators: 100% Democrats
Art Historians: 96 Democrats for every four Republicans
Art Administrators: 96 Democrats for every four Republicans
Art Advisors: 91 Democrats for every nine Republicans
Archaeologists: 94 Democrats for every six Republicans
Historians: 88 Democrats for every 12 Republicans

This is what complete ideological capture by the Left looks like. Harvard did not get a professoriat that is nearly 80% “liberal” or “very liberal,” and less than 3% “conservative” or “very conservative” among its Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences faculty out of nothing. Obviously, the Left burrows in and hires only among its own kind. As Elizabeth Merritt wrote in a blog for the American Alliance of Museums days after Trump was elected in 2016, “We don’t necessarily create a very friendly work environment for people who don’t share a liberal, Democratic world view.” This is how ideological capture is achieved.

The numbers are not this lopsided because only progressives are smart or interested in the visual arts, literature, music, philosophy, theater, or any of the other components that roughly go under the heading of “culture” (though, yes, this is what the Left thinks). Hillsdale College, the nation’s top conservative institution of higher education, cares deeply about these arts. Recently, it considered whether to open a Museum Studies program, but decided against it out of concern that its students may not get positions at museums because leftist administrators would not hire conservatives. As to why ideological conformity is sought, the woke curators, directors, and conservators seek to use museums to disseminate their gender and race theories. As curator and former Director Olga Viso wrote in The New York Times in 2018, “Now is the time to be open to radical change. The next wave of decolonizing America’s art museums must succeed.”

The three Trump officials told Bunch that the administration wants to “assess tone, historical framing, and alignment with American ideals.” The review will focus on:
• Public-facing Content: A review of exhibition text, wall didactics, websites, educational materials, and digital and social media content.
• Curatorial Process: A series of interviews with curators and senior staff to better understand the selection process.
• Exhibition Planning: A review of current and future exhibitions, with particular attention to those planned for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
• Collection Use: Evaluation of how existing materials and collections are being used or could be used to highlight American achievement and progress.
• Narrative Standards: The development of consistent curatorial guidelines.

Accordingly, the administration wants the Smithsonian to cough up the following materials: exhibition plans and draft concepts on the 250th Anniversary Programming; catalog and programs on current exhibition content; full index of scheduled traveling exhibitions; curatorial materials; indexes of all permanent collections; teacher guidance for educational materials; copies of grants, and more. In other words, a full lube job. I still don’t believe that what is needed can be accomplished with Bunch at the helm—and there is the matter of the Smithsonian’s as yet unbuilt Latino Museum, which the administration wants to defund, but weak Republican appropriators in the House of Representatives just voted to continue to fund—but this review does indeed come not a minute too soon.

“While the Clinton probes were throttled, the FBI raced to open a full investigation into Trump’s campaign on the flimsiest of tips — a conversation in a London wine bar —..”

• Multi-Front Effort to Protect Clintons While Framing Trump (Bruner)

Newly unearthed documents show deep state government actors once again circling the wagons to protect Bill and Hillary Clinton — and suppressing evidence that implicated them. Last week, it was the FBI; this week, it is the IRS. In 2019, the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal investigations division quietly launched a probe into the Clinton Foundation’s tax practices, working closely with whistleblowers John Moynihan and Larry Doyle, financial experts who had compiled thousands of pages of evidence. According to internal agency memos reported by Just the News, IRS agents reviewed the evidence and at least one agent concluded it meant that the “entire [Clinton Foundation] enterprise is a fraud.” Agents then moved to treat the whistleblowers as cooperating witnesses and even set up secure computer servers to hold the material they had collected.

Then, without warning, the lights went out. “Can’t talk about the CF,” agents told the whistleblowers. By the summer of 2019, their inquiry was dead. Moynihan and Doyle are now battling the agency in Tax Court over the apparent shutdown of the investigation. The IRS’s abrupt reversal follows an earlier, more infamous pattern. In 2016, FBI field offices in New York, Washington, and Little Rock all opened probes into the Bill and Hillary Clinton Foundation, partly on the strength of Peter Schweizer’s 2015 bestselling book, Clinton Cash, which exposed numerous examples of the Clintons using the foundation while she was Secretary of State under President Barack Obama as a pay-to-play scheme for business and foreign government interests seeking political influence.

The book told the story of Uranium One, a US mining company that was sold to Russia’s state-owned nuclear agency after investors pledged more than $100 million to the Clinton foundation. That story was confirmed in a front-page story by the New York Times when the book was published and based on its material. The FBI field office investigations were proceeding until they were ordered by higher-ups to stop. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates ordered prosecutors to “shut it down.” Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe required his personal approval for every investigative step — effectively choking the cases.

The fallout from Clinton Cash was real. Clinton’s campaign staffers scrounged for advance copies of the book, while Hillary’s own pollsters flagged the Uranium One deal as her campaign’s biggest vulnerability in the early primary states. By January 2016, the FBI was looking into the book’s allegations — until the brakes were pulled. Appearing on an OANN program this week, Schweizer told host Matt Gaetz that the government’s double standard is unmistakable. “At the same time that they were killing an organic investigation into Clinton corruption… they were also creating a completely fictional investigation tying [Donald] Trump to Russia,” he said. Five FBI field offices had been involved before being shut down, including a satellite office in Africa. Schweizer called the saga proof of a new kind of corruption — “offshored, globalized corruption,” complete with political dynasties selling access and foreign oligarchs buying influence.

The contrast between the scuttled investigation of the Clinton foundation and the “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into the Trump campaign’s purported ties to Russia is glaring. While the Clinton probes were throttled, the FBI raced to open a full investigation into Trump’s campaign on the flimsiest of tips — a conversation in a London wine bar — green-lighting that investigation within three days. Clinton’s Russia vulnerabilities were turned into Trump’s burden, projected onto his campaign in a haze of innuendo. Put together, the picture is damning: the IRS dropped the ball in 2019, and the FBI and DOJ throttled their own field offices in 2016. The whistleblowers are still pressing their case, six years later. But the old memos are now re-surfacing, and the “deep state” will perhaps face a reckoning from what might be the largest political scandal of modern times.

”These are dangerous people because they believe their views and opinions supersede the US constitution that they all swear an oath to uphold..”

• Deep State Entrenched In US Intel Community – Gabbard (RT)

The US intelligence community has been infiltrated by deep state actors, busy with “inserting their own partisan political opinions and views” into intel products and effectively working against the American people, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has said. The DNI chief, who has repeatedly pledged to root out rogue actors from the US intel community, made the remarks on Thursday while speaking to FOX Business, stating that the deep state has created entire “pockets” within America’s intelligence agencies.“There were a lot of pockets where the Deep State actors were very entrenched and were politicizing their centers or their positions, either against the American people… [or] creating intelligence products and inserting their own partisan political opinions and views,” she told the network.

”These are dangerous people because they believe their views and opinions supersede the US constitution that they all swear an oath to uphold, to support and defend, and… those who are elected by the American people, specifically the president of the United States,” Gabbard added. The intelligence community has grown extremely politicized over the years and steered away from its intended goals and original mandate, Gabbard added. “It’s very simple. The mandate the intelligence community has is to find the truth and to tell the truth,” she stressed, adding that only sufficient transparency could ensure “actual accountability” for the intel community and produce a “real change.”

Earlier this week, Gabbard stripped security clearances from 37 current and former intelligence officials, accusing them of manipulating and politicizing intelligence. The move has become “the first step to aggressively get after our core national security mission, root out those deep state actors,” according to Gabbard. The list includes multiple prominent intel figures, including former NSA deputy director Richard Ledgett, former assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research Brett Holmgren, and former principal deputy director of DNI Stephanie O’Sullivan.

“Please come here first, because you know what, we’re going to help you..”

• Trump Says ‘Dangerous’ Chicago Next After Addressing Crime In DC (JTN)

President Donald Trump says Chicago is next on his list of cities to focus on cleaning up crime. In December, after Trump was elected to a second non-consecutive term, Danielle Carter-Walters used public comments at a Chicago City Council meeting to call for the Trump administration to come to Chicago and make an example out of city officials. “Please come here first, because you know what, we’re going to help you,” Carter-Watlers said. On Friday, Trump said he’s cleaning up Washington D.C. and plans to address crime in Chicago next. “Chicago’s a mess,” Trump said from the Oval Office.

“You have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent. And we’ll straighten that one out. Probably next. That will be our next one after this. And it won’t even be tough. And the people in Chicago, Mr. Vice President, are screaming for us to come now wearing red hats.” The president said he hasn’t talked with city officials like Mayor Brandon Johnson. “I haven’t spoken, he’s grossly incompetent. I haven’t spoken to them,” Trump said. “You know, when we’re ready, we’ll go in and we’ll straighten out Chicago just like we did D.C.. Chicago’s very dangerous. Great place I built. Great stuff there. I have a, I have the most beautiful building in Chicago, I think. But I hate to see what’s happened to Chicago.”

Johnson’s administration didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Asked about other possible federal enforcement earlier in the day Friday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the Trump administration is plotting against political opponents. “I’m not daring them to do anything, I’m just saying they don’t have a right,” Pritzker said Friday at an unrelated event. “Federal law and state law, separate endeavors and they don’t have a right to do the things that they are threatening to do.” While city wide murder is down 50% over the past four years, burglary, felony theft, misdemeanor theft and motor vehicle theft are all up a total of 40%.

Uganda next?

• Judge Releases Alleged Gang Member Kilmar Abrego Garcia From Jail (Margolis)

It’s hard to imagine that we live in a country where an illegal immigrant, accused of human trafficking, linked by law enforcement to MS-13, and once deported to El Salvador’s infamous maximum-security gang prison, could get to be free on U.S. soil, thanks to the kindness of a federal judge. Sadly, that’s apparently where we are. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant who should never have been here in the first place, is now heading back to Maryland to be with his wife and children as he awaits trial for human trafficking. “Today, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is free,” Abrego Garcia’s attorney, Sean Hecker, said in a statement. “He is presently en route to his family in Maryland, after being unlawfully arrested and deported, and then imprisoned, all because of the government’s vindictive attack on a man who had the courage to fight back against the administration’s continuing assault on the rule of law. He is grateful that his access to American courts has provided meaningful due process.”

U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, an Obama appointee, granted him release last month, though that release was delayed 30 days. According to Crenshaw, federal prosecutors and ICE had not sufficiently proven that he’s dangerous enough to be detained. If that doesn’t make your head spin, nothing will. Abrego’s immigration history is as messy as it gets. He entered illegally, won withholding of removal under an asylum loophole, and remained in Maryland with his wife and kids while ICE allowed him to do yearly check-ins.

In 2019, police in Maryland identified him in official documents as affiliated with MS-13, one of the most violent street gangs in the world. Judges later said that the evidence wasn’t conclusive, which is how the Left likes it; it demands airtight proof of gang membership before acting, as though credible law enforcement identification somehow means nothing. The Trump administration, recognizing the danger, labeled him an MS-13 member. Democrats and sympathetic judges later treated that “label” as though it were the real crime.

In 2022, during a Tennessee traffic stop, police caught Abrego Garcia driving a vehicle with nine passengers. At the time, he escaped charges. But earlier this year, federal prosecutors indicted him on smuggling-related counts. He pleaded not guilty and now calls it “vindictive.” Of course he does. In today’s climate, criminals are the victims and Americans are the afterthought. When the U.S. deported him, El Salvador sent Abrego to CECOT, a prison for cartel operatives and terrorists, where inmates rarely last long. He complained his life was at risk because rival gang members were intentionally mixed in. What’s ignored is that Abrego never should have been here in the first place. Yet the narrative paints him as a blameless victim of “lawless” Trump-era deportation policy.

If a suspected MS-13 member accused of trafficking who has already been deported once isn’t dangerous, then who is? DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin nailed it when she blasted the system last month: “The facts remain, this MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and illegal alien will never walk America’s streets again.” The catch, of course, is that ICE could still swoop in and detain him. Options are under discussion: whether to deport him back to El Salvador, Mexico, or even South Sudan. But the fact remains: right this very moment, Abrego Garcia is out.

Intel does poorly. Trump doesn’t want to lose any more chips. Makes sense. Not “socialism”.

• President Trump Announces US Govt Takes 10% Stake in INTEL (CTH)

After concerns were raised by congress that Intel’s current CEO Lip-Bu Tan was a venture capitalist investing in Chinese companies, a concern shared by President Trump, apparently things have changed considerably. Mr. Lip-Bu Tan came to the White House to address concerns about protecting U.S. national security interests. President Trump announces the U.S. government now has a 10% stake in the tech firm.

President Trump (Truth Social) – “It is my Great Honor to report that the United States of America now fully owns and controls 10% of INTEL, a Great American Company that has an even more incredible future. I negotiated this Deal with Lip-Bu Tan, the Highly Respected Chief Executive Officer of the Company. The United States paid nothing for these Shares, and the Shares are now valued at approximately $11 Billion Dollars. This is a great Deal for America and, also, a great Deal for INTEL. Building leading edge Semiconductors and Chips, which is what INTEL does, is fundamental to the future of our Nation. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Intel has been struggling for the past several years, and President Trump has been focused on getting Semiconductor and Chip manufacturing established in the USA, a big national security issue. The Trump administration has been negotiating a 10% stake in Intel by converting grants the company was awarded under former President Joe Biden. Obviously, I’m not a big fan of government collaboration with private corporations, but this approach aligns with a very specific national security issue. This sounds like something Commerce Secretary Lutnick and President Trump would structure as a win/win. Intel Public Statement Here: “The government’s investment in Intel will be a passive ownership, with no Board representation or other governance or information rights. The government also agrees to vote with the Company’s Board of Directors on matters requiring shareholder approval, with limited exceptions.”

Sun
https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1959080653200163020
https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1959087009412391292

Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman tells Bill Maher a simple method to fall back asleep after waking up at night: "I can't promise, but I'm willing to wager… that within five minutes or so, you'll be back to sleep."pic.twitter.com/gF7p6qzaoE

— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) August 23, 2025

Sea dog
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1959251780774342700

Waterdog

Beloved Friends

1. A toddler reassures his friend that there's no need to fear the sprinkler..

'It's safe, buddy… let me show you… see.'pic.twitter.com/4cqW5qbrau

— Wolf of X (@tradingMaxiSL) August 22, 2025

IVM

After a year of intensive research, Dr. William Makis presents the most critical graph of his career: the ivermectin dosing schedule for cancer.

According to Dr. Makis, for most cancers – including breast, colon, lung, pancreatic, renal, gastric, and leukemias – a starting dose… pic.twitter.com/X4FiacpGB6

— Camus (@newstart_2024) August 22, 2025

3 little birds
https://twitter.com/KarluskaP/status/1959035597525262347

Chickadee

This only happens to you once pic.twitter.com/6vUSUe7ZSV

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 23, 2025

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Debt Rattle July 15 2025

Jul 152025

July 15, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:08 am Finance Tagged with: autopen, conscription, Deep State, Kristi Noem, MAGA base, neocons, Nvidia, Putin, weaponization, Yaccarino 47 Responses »

Pablo Picasso Female bust 1943

• World War III Has Already Begun (Dmitry Trenin)

• Trump Issues Threats To Russia Over Ukraine Conflict (RT)

• Trump’s Patriot Pledge is Just Political Theater: Scott Ritter (Sp.)

• If Trump Folds to Neocons on Ukraine, MAGA Base Will Bury Him as Biden 2.0 (Sp.)

• Bannon Warns of Electoral Catastrophe For Republicans (RT)

• Trump Could Send Long-range Missiles To Ukraine – Media (RT)

• Interest Groups Are Stronger Than President Trump (Paul Craig Roberts)

• Trump Was Saved to Save Our Country (Margolis)

• German President Calls For Universal Military Conscription (RT)

• Nvidia CEO Says China’s Army Won’t Rely On US AI Chips (ZH)

• Kristi Noem Turns NBC’s Ambush Into a Masterclass in Command (Margolis)

• FBI Opens ‘Grand Conspiracy’ Probe On Weaponization (JTN)

• X Marks The Spat (Zilber)

• Biden Defends Controversial Autopen Use For Mass Clemency Decisions (NYP)

Alex

President Trump now claims the Epstein list is real, but the Democrats have doctored it.

This is the mother of all scandals… pic.twitter.com/st1wywxzIO

— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) July 13, 2025

Tariffs

tariffs continue to be deflationary https://t.co/aSCBCmwsSi

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 14, 2025

NEC Director Kevin Hassett on the Federal Reserve's palace-like office renovation: "This is the most expensive project in D.C. history — $2.5 billion, with a $700 million cost overrun … The Fed has a lot to answer for." pic.twitter.com/vIamGAkrEl

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 13, 2025

MIlley

FLASHBACK: Gen Mark Milley said he would give China a heads up if the US was planning to attack, and had secret calls with China behind Trump’s back.

Treason.

NYT just confirmed his preemptive pardon was approved by a WH assistant and signed by autopen.

IT’S VOID

Charge him. pic.twitter.com/xkNBlYq2Gr

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 14, 2025

As the MAGA base is still talking about Epstein, Trump is picking a fight with Putin, risking WWiiI. They may forgive him for Epstein, but not that.

• World War III Has Already Begun (Dmitry Trenin)

Many now speak of humanity’s drift towards World War III, imagining events similar to those of the 20th century. But war evolves. It will not begin with a June 1941 Barbarossa-style invasion or a Cuban Missile Crisis-style nuclear standoff. In fact, the new world war is already underway – it’s just that not everyone has recognized it yet. For Russia, the pre-war period ended in 2014. For China, it was 2017. For Iran, 2023. Since then, war – in its modern, diffuse form – has intensified. This is not a new Cold War. Since 2022, the West’s campaign against Russia has grown more decisive. The risk of direct nuclear confrontation with NATO over the Ukraine conflict is rising. Donald Trump’s return to the White House created a temporary window in which such a clash could be avoided, but by mid-2025, hawks in the US and Western Europe had pushed us dangerously close again.

This war involves the world’s leading powers: the United States and its allies on one side, China and Russia on the other. It is global, not because of its scale, but because of the stakes: the future balance of power. The West sees the rise of China and the resurgence of Russia as existential threats. Its counteroffensive, economic and ideological, is meant to put a halt to that shift. It is a war of survival for the West, not just geopolitically but ideologically. Western globalism – whether economic, political, or cultural – cannot tolerate alternative civilizational models. Post-national elites in the US and Western Europe are committed to preserving their dominance. A diversity of worldviews, civilizational autonomy, and national sovereignty are seen not as options, but as threats.

This explains the severity of the West’s response. When Joe Biden told Brazil’s President Lula that he wanted to “destroy” Russia, he revealed the truth behind euphemisms like “strategic defeat.” Western-backed Israel has shown how total this doctrine is – first in Gaza, then Lebanon, and finally Iran. In early June, a similar strategy was used in attacks on Russian airfields. Reports suggest US and British involvement in both cases. To Western planners, Russia, Iran, China and North Korea are part of a single axis. That belief shapes military planning. Compromise is no longer part of the game. What we’re seeing are not temporary crises but rolling conflicts. Eastern Europe and the Middle East are the two current flashpoints. A third has long been identified: East Asia, particularly Taiwan. Russia is directly engaged in Ukraine, holds stakes in the Middle East, and may become involved in the Pacific.

The war is no longer about occupation, but destabilization. The new strategy focuses on sowing internal disorder: economic sabotage, social unrest, and psychological attrition. The West’s plan for Russia is not defeat on the battlefield, but gradual internal collapse. Its tactics are all-encompassing. Drone strikes target infrastructure and nuclear facilities. Political assassinations are no longer off-limits. Journalists, negotiators, scientists, and even their families are being hunted. Residential neighborhoods, schools, and hospitals are not collateral damage – they are targets. This is total war.

“The Russian stock market soared on Trump’s remarks, with the main index jumping nearly 3%,,,”

• Trump Issues Threats To Russia Over Ukraine Conflict (RT)

US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose “severe” tariffs of up to 100% on Russia’s trading partners unless a deal is reached to end the Ukraine conflict within 50 days. Trump issued the warning on Monday during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office. “We’re very, very unhappy – I am – with [Russia], and we’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in about 50 days,” he stated. Trump blamed his predecessor Joe Biden for dragging Washington into the conflict, saying the US had spent approximately $350 billion on aid for Ukraine. The US president also mentioned a congressional bill that would impose tougher sanctions on Russia, saying, “I’m not sure we need it, but it’s good they’re doing it… could be very useful.” A Senate vote is expected next week.

He noted that, if there was no progress on Ukraine, slapping Russia with secondary US tariffs would not require congressional approval. Secondary tariffs are sometimes introduced on countries that do business with a sanctioned country. Trump also announced that the US will send weapons to Ukraine through NATO, which would handle both payment and distribution. “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them,” he said. Russia has repeatedly denounced the West for supplying Ukraine with weapons, warning that this only serves to prolong the conflict and makes no impact on its outcome. The Russian stock market soared on Trump’s remarks, with the main index jumping nearly 3%, according to data from the Moscow Exchange.

“..while Trump’s tariff and sanctions threat may be “designed to weaken the Russian will…all it’s going to do is collapse the American economy, and it will be the United States that pulls back and withdraws and shows weakness, not Russia and not Russia’s allies,”

• Trump’s Patriot Pledge is Just Political Theater: Scott Ritter (Sp.)

Donald Trump’s pledge to source “up to 17” Patriot batteries for Ukraine leaves an array of questions unanswered, like whether US allies will be willing to pony up, whether Ukraine has the personnel required to operate them, and whether the systems would even survive transit to their destination in conditions of near-total Russian air superiority in the skies over Ukraine, Ritter says. “Russia right now enjoys relative freedom of activity over Ukraine in terms of drone operations, missile operations. They apparently have very good intelligence coverage of Ukraine. So as Patriot batteries are transferred to Ukraine there’s an increased likelihood that they will be detected by the Russians and destroyed by the Russians before they’re ever installed,” Ritter told Sputnik.

Delivering the air defense systems to Ukraine would be “a massive waste of money” that “won’t help Ukraine,” but hurt it, needlessly prolonging the conflict, in which time “thousands” more people will be killed, Ritter said. “This is a political gesture being made by President Trump because he’s embarrassed that he hasn’t been able to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into bending the knee to American demands on how to bring this war to an end,” the analyst emphasized. The CIA being tasked with procuring the Patriots opens the door to even more questions, according to Ritter. “This is a non-standard transaction. It’s not the byproduct of extensive diplomacy and the defense departments of both nations getting together and talking about things.

“This is a CIA covert operation that has its roots, the political drive of a president who needs to be seen as doing something. So there’s a lot of intent in here, but it’s not backed up with a guaranteed outcome. We don’t know if all of the systems that the CIA thinks can be made available are in fact available,” the observer explained. “Germany has 12 Patriot systems…Are the Germans going to relinquish all of their Patriot batteries? How many of those is the United States counting on? The United States may say, ‘give us them all, we’ll back you up’. But are the Germans really going to give up all 12 batteries?” Ritter asked. “The same thing with Spain. Spain is said to be a potential source of Patriot batteries, but Spain has very few Patriot batteries that they’ve procured. And is Spain willing to give up all of its Patriot capability, knowing that the American backfill is dependent upon a production bottleneck that isn’t going to change anytime soon?”

“Then we also have to remember, a Patriot battery is not a Patriot battery,” Ritter said. “There’s old Patriot batteries, there’s less old, there’s new Patriot batteries. If you’re giving away old Patriot batteries with old systems, first of all, many of these missiles may have already gone through a life extension program and are not suitable for continuing to be made operational. They may not function. And if they do function, they’re not designed to do the kind of high-speed maneuvering and target acquisition that’s affiliated with the modern Patriot. So even if you get numbers, the capabilities, they might as well not have a Patriot system,” the observer stressed. Beside the Patriot announcement is Trump’s threat of 100% secondary sanctions on countries cooperating with Russia. Making good on these threats would be “foolhardy” to say the least, according to Ritter.

“Trump just recently unraveled the disaster he made by putting sanctions on China back in April. China’s retaliation on rare earth minerals destroyed the American automobile industry. And only recently did Donald Trump get a new arrangement with China where the pipeline for these magnetic materials and rare earth minerals will once again be opened. But production has already been disrupted. And now if you’re talking about putting on another 100%. First of all, even before that 100% goes on, who’s going to sign contracts today, believing that in 50 days, the entire thing will unravel because of sanctions. This is disruptive in the extreme.”

Secondly, “do you think China is just going to sit there and go ‘okay, yeah, give us that 100%. We’ll do nothing’? No, they’ll retaliate again. It’s ridiculous. India isn’t going to put up with this. And Brazil has already indicated that if the United States wants to play tariff games, then Brazil will just cut off all trade with the United States,” the analyst stressed. In other words, while Trump’s tariff and sanctions threat may be “designed to weaken the Russian will…all it’s going to do is collapse the American economy, and it will be the United States that pulls back and withdraws and shows weakness, not Russia and not Russia’s allies,” Ritter summed up.

“Putin said the US and its allies have disregarded Russia’s interests since the collapse of the Soviet Union.”

• Trump Could Send Long-range Missiles To Ukraine – Media (RT)

US President Donald Trump is weighing whether to authorize the delivery to Ukraine of long-range missiles capable of striking targets deep within Russia, Axios reported on Sunday. The outlet cited two sources with knowledge of the plans for weapons deliveries. Trump is expected to make an announcement regarding Ukraine on Monday, which “is going to be very aggressive,” according to comments to Axios by Senator Lindsey Graham, who supports ramping up the sanctions on Russia. Trump previously said he could send Patriots to Ukraine – without specifying whether he means the missiles or the complete air defense systems – and expressed frustration over Russia’s unwillingness to agree to an unconditional ceasefire.

Moscow considers the ceasefire proposal to be a stalling tactic to allow Ukraine to regroup. Trump has hinted at new weapons deliveries, saying the US will send “various pieces of very sophisticated military” equipment. He added that other nations “are gonna pay us 100%” for the weapons, describing it as good business. He indicated that the EU would cover the costs. During the latest direct peace talks in Istanbul, Moscow offered a conditional ceasefire, saying it would agree to a truce if Kiev takes meaningful steps to deescalate, including suspending deliveries of Western military aid. This proposal was rejected, and Kiev appears unwilling to resume the negotiations.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Kislitsa said last week that “this format has practically exhausted itself,” unless Russian President Vladimir Putin grants his delegation the authority to offer terms suitable for Ukraine. Kislitsa said Kiev’s goal in Istanbul is to push for a summit between Putin and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. The Russian president previously said he would meet with Zelensky if Kiev first accepts the terms of a viable peace deal – adding, however, that he does not believe Zelensky has the authority to sign international treaties, as his term as president expired last year and he refused to step down, citing martial law. In a separate interview last week, Putin said the US and its allies have disregarded Russia’s interests since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“Trump would effectively become a second Biden, thus committing political suicide.”

• If Trump Folds to Neocons on Ukraine, MAGA Base Will Bury Him as Biden 2.0 (Sp.)

President Trump has pulled a 180 on his Russia/Ukraine peace push, including an “aggressive” new arms aid plan, and 100% “secondary tariff” threats against Moscow. Sputnik asked a leading Russian foreign and defense policy expert to weigh in. The US president’s escalatory rhetoric vis-à-vis Russia is the result of the realization that he cannot “force” Russia to make the concessions he needs to declare a peace in Ukraine which doesn’t address the conflict’s root causes, Russian Council on Foreign & Defense Policy Dmitry Suslov has told Sputnik. Succumbing to the “hypocritical flattery” of the neocon wing of the GOP, plus hawkish European allies, Trump is being lobbied to believe that acting “tough” works. At the same time, his intuition is telling him to try to avoid being dragged into a long confrontation with Russia, and thus “become a second Biden.”

The president’s problem is that he’s trying to “maneuver” between neocons and MAGA Republicans who don’t want any more wars on US taxpayers’ dime. “Trump wants to somehow demonstrate toughness to put pressure on Russia, but doesn’t want to ‘privatize’ the Ukraine war,” Suslov argues. If he uses the leftover $4B from Biden’s budget for Ukraine, he can continue to make the argument that this is ‘not his war’. But “if he asks Congress for a new budget to support Ukraine, it will mean that Biden’s war has turned into Trump’s war,” Suslov stresses.

“This would be a political disaster, a political defeat for Trump, because he would antagonize his MAGA base even further,” the observer noted. “Trump would effectively become a second Biden, thus committing political suicide.” As for arms deliveries vs. dialog, everything comes down to the “risks of escalation,” according to Suslov. If Trump approves the use of ATACMS missiles for deep strikes into Russia, this would increase the risks of a direct Russia-NATO clash. If his efforts are limited to freezing the rapprochement and new sanctions, the impact wouldn’t be nearly as serious, the analyst argues. Whatever comes next, Russia will “continue its special military operation, and continue to intensify offensive operations and strikes against military and MIC targets in Ukraine, regardless of what the US does or does not do,” Suslov summed up.

“Trump’s party could lose up to 40 US House seats and the presidency over the backlash to the Epstein files debacle, the former strategist has said..”

• Bannon Warns of Electoral Catastrophe For Republicans (RT)

Republicans could lose 40 US House seats and the presidency if the backlash over the Jeffrey Epstein case continues to divide the MAGA base, President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, has warned. On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly promised to declassify files related to the case of late financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi said that a list of Epstein’s clients was “sitting on my desk.” Last week, however, the Justice Department released a memo claiming that no client list exists, and that no evidence has been found to justify the investigation of uncharged third parties.

The memo has triggered outrage among Trump supporters, with accusations that the administration has failed to deliver transparency. Bannon warned during a podcast last week that the fallout could erode 10% of MAGA’s support. “If we lose 10% of the MAGA movement right now, we’re going to lose 40 seats in ‘26, we’re going to lose the presidency,” he said. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has also cautioned that the Epstein issue “is not going away” and will hinder Trump’s efforts on other national challenges. According to CNN, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino has not reported to work since the memo’s release and is considering resigning.

Epstein, a financier with ties to influential figures, was arrested in 2019 for sex trafficking and died in jail before trial. His death was ruled a suicide, but many have demanded the release of alleged client names rumored to include Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Bill Gates, and others. Some suspect Trump may also be implicated. Trump has dismissed the controversy, saying, “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?” and claiming on Truth Social that the Democrats fabricated the client list. “We’re on one Team, MAGA,” he wrote, blaming “selfish people” for fueling internal divisions.

“It has only taken the Ruling Establishment six months to cancel the domestic agenda of the Trump administration. The Reagan administration lasted longer before it was neutralized..”

• Interest Groups Are Stronger Than President Trump (Paul Craig Roberts)

We are six months into Donald Trump’s presidency, really his first presidency as his previous four years he was staffed by the ruling establishment with his opponents. Washington taught Trump a lesson, and this time he is staffed with people who share the values he expressed in his campaign. Nevertheless, the Trump administration is now at odds within itself and with a significant percentage of its MAGA supporters, if news reports can be believed. The issue splitting the Trump forces is the Epstein dossier. I wrote yesterday about the Epstein Saga. Clearly there are problems. But the nature of the problem is being misrepresented. Attorney General Bondi did not decide on her own that the Epstein file was empty. She was not protecting Trump.

The decision was imposed on the Trump administration by the American Establishment, the Ruling Elite, the Deep State, the Globalists–whatever you want to call those whose money and economic interests rule the governments in the Western World. The issue our rulers put to President Trump was: Are you prepared to discredit in the eyes of the American People the ruling establishment and the government of the United States? If the people lose confidence in their government, how can you accomplish anything? Netanyahu was there with Trump to back them up. If you release the Epstein Files it will be revealed that he was a Mossad agent blackmailing your leaders. We, Israel, will release the names, and your country will be ruined. But it is not only Bondi having difficulties. It is also Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Secretary of Health and Human services, and Trump himself.

Robert Kennedy has found that despite being a cabinet secretary in the US government, he cannot decide based on hard evidence that the Covid “vaccine” is harmful to everyone. All RFK could do was to cease the government’s recommendation of the deadly Covid vax for healthy children and pregnant women. The Secretary of Health and Human Services is powerless to stop the vaccination of the vast majority of the American population with a “vaccine” that kills and destroys the immune system. Big Pharma is more powerful than the US Secretary for Health. Kennedy despite his promise was also unable to ban the deadly glyphosate weed killer that has poisoned food, soil, and water. Kennedy announced that this toxic substance was too important to agri-business to be denied them. Agri-business is more powerful than Secretary Kennedy, and its profits are more important than Americans’ health.

President Trump cannot even impose tariffs or deport immigrant-invaders. Globalism makes countries dependent on imports. Manufacturers are harmed by tariffs, and agri-business is harmed by deportations of illegals. These powerful economic interests are opposed to tariffs and deportations. Trump’s tariffs are used to lower foreign tariffs against the US or to force concessions from foreign governments. But as it turned out the tariffs raise the cost of the remaining American manufacturers and hurt their profits.. They confronted Trump and were granted exemptions from tariffs for their input needs. Essentially, the tariff list was naked. Nothing on it that wasn’t exempted. The same for deportations. According to news reports, there are to be no deportations of restaurant workers, farm workers, and workers in the chicken slaughter houses. The deportations seem mainly to be limited to criminal gangs.

It has only taken the Ruling Establishment six months to cancel the domestic agenda of the Trump administration. The Reagan administration lasted longer before it was neutralized. Trump’s peace agenda has also gone by the wayside. He has bombed Iran for Netanyahu and continues to support Israeli aggression and Israel’s genocide of Palestine. Trump is yet to meet with Putin, instead handing the “peace negotiations” over to Zelensky and Putin. As the war is really between the US and Russia, Zelensky cannot settle it. The military/security complex needs war or the threat of war for its profits and power. Peace does not serve their interests. Americans have a false belief in the power of a president. As long as private money determines politics, money, not the people, rules.

“..fighting with a clarity and conviction that only comes from knowing just how far the enemy is willing to go..”

• Trump Was Saved to Save Our Country (Margolis)

One year ago in Butler, Pennsylvania, America came within inches of catastrophe. A bullet meant for Donald Trump whizzed past his head, grazing his ear thanks to a sudden turn of his head, in a near-miss that could have changed history. That bullet didn’t miss by accident. Trump was spared for a reason. The attempt wasn’t just a physical attack—it was a political one. At the time, Joe Biden was collapsing in the polls. Hispanic and black voters were shifting toward Trump. Democrats and their allies in the legacy media were in a frenzy, comparing him to Hitler, accusing him of being a dictator, and trying to put him in prison. The rhetoric was poisonous—and it was only a matter of time before someone acted on it.

But instead of silencing Trump, the assassin did the opposite. He ignited something far more powerful. The shot missed, and in that moment, Donald Trump emerged not just as a survivor—but as a man on a mission. A president with unfinished business and a renewed sense of purpose. That brush with death didn’t shake him—it emboldened him. Everything we’ve seen in Trump’s second term flows from that moment. He came back stronger, more focused, more unapologetically committed to saving the country from the radical left. There’s no more playing nice, no more deference to broken institutions or phony decorum. The Trump we see today is a man who knows exactly how high the stakes are—and he’s governing like it. Whether it’s securing the border, dismantling the administrative state, or taking on the corrupt DOJ, this is a president unchained.

The media refused to acknowledge that this was a politically motivated attempt to erase Trump from the national stage. But the American people saw it for what it was—and they responded. They rallied around him, not out of sympathy, but out of shared conviction. They saw the left for what it had become: a movement willing to destroy anyone who stands in its way. When lawfare failed, violence was the next option. The miracle in Butler lit a fire that hasn’t gone out. It changed the tone of his presidency and the trajectory of the movement behind him. When Americans voted in November, they didn’t just elect a president—they sent a message. That they were done being bullied by a regime that trades in fear. That they chose secure borders over chaos, defending police over defunding them, protecting children instead of butchering them, and truth over the manufactured lies of the press.

Trump’s survival wasn’t the end of a chapter—it was the beginning of something much bigger. A sharpened presidency. A hardened resolve. A movement that refuses to back down. He was saved to finish the job. And one year later, he’s doing exactly that—fighting with a clarity and conviction that only comes from knowing just how far the enemy is willing to go. The bullet missed, but the message hit its mark: Trump is still here, and he’s more dangerous to the left than ever. America was given another chance that day. And with Trump back in charge, this time we’re not wasting it.

Russia: “Germany becoming dangerous again..”

• German President Calls For Universal Military Conscription (RT)

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has urged a nationwide debate about reinstating military conscription, stressing that Berlin needs to strengthen its armed forces amid what he described as escalating security threats in Europe. Compulsory military service was suspended in Germany in 2011. Although inactive, the legal framework for a draft remains intact and can be reactivated by a simple parliamentary majority. A full-scale return, including women, however, would require changes to the constitution. Speaking to ZDF on Sunday, Steinmeier said Germany must prepare for the possibility that voluntary enlistment will fall short of staffing requirements for the army.

“I am an advocate of conscription because I believe that with the changing security situation in Europe, with the fact that a war is taking place, and with the conclusions we have drawn from it to better protect ourselves, the personnel equipment of the Bundeswehr also needs to be adapted,” he said. He expressed support for Defense Minister Boris Pistorius’ proposal to expand troop numbers and create a backup draft system. The plan aims for around 5,000 volunteer recruits annually, rising to 30,000 by 2029. Legislation which is being prepared for cabinet review in August with possible enactment by early 2026 includes provisions to automatically reintroduce conscription if volunteer numbers fall short.

“We need this debate now, preferably with a positive outcome, so that if there are not enough volunteers, we will probably return to a different form of conscription than the one we have already abolished,” Steinmeier said. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Germany has been working to strengthen its military, citing what it sees as a security threat from Russia. Moscow has rejected claims that it plans to attack NATO nations, dismissing them as “nonsense” and accusing Western leaders of intentionally alarming their citizens to justify increased defense budgets.

“We want the American tech stack to be the global standard … in order for us to do that, we have to be in search of all the AI developers in the world..”

• Nvidia CEO Says China’s Army Won’t Rely On US AI Chips (ZH)

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang argued that, just as the internet was designed and built by American technology, so too should artificial intelligence be shaped by it globally. He emphasized the need to reopen markets where Nvidia’s advanced chips are currently banned, such as China. Zakaria asked Huang: “But what if, in doing that, you are also providing the Chinese military and Chinese intelligence with the capacity to supercharge, turbocharge their weapons with the very best American chips?” Huang replied, “We don’t have to worry about that, because the Chinese military, no different than the US military, won’t seek each other’s technology out to build critical systems.”

“It could be limited at any time; not to mention, there’s plenty of computing capacity in China already,” he said, adding, “They don’t need Nvidia’s chips, certainly, or American tech stacks in order to build their military.” Huang’s remarks follow years of bipartisan U.S. policy imposing trade restrictions on Nvidia’s advanced AI chips to China. He argued that these export controls have been counterproductive, accelerating China’s own AI chip ambitions. Huang contended that U.S. tech leadership means ensuring global AI systems are built on the American tech stack, rather than Chinese technology…

“We want the American tech stack to be the global standard … in order for us to do that, we have to be in search of all the AI developers in the world,” Huang said, noting that about half of the world’s AI developers are based in China. Huang’s CNN interview comes just days after he met with President Trump at the White House late last week, and plans a scheduled trip to Beijing to meet with senior Chinese officials and attend the International Supply Chain Expo. Huang has been vocal in recent months about the combined impact of the Biden-Harris regime and the Trump-Vance administration’s export restrictions on advanced AI chips to China. In May, he told investors, “The $50 billion China market is effectively closed to U.S. industry.”

However, the Trump team cancelled a planned rule by former President Joe Biden called the “AI diffusion rule,” promising fewer restrictions later this year on which countries could receive Nvidia’s advanced AI chips. “The world is right now hungry, anxious to engage AI,” Huang previously said, adding, “Let us get the American AI out in front of everybody right now.” Last week, Nvidia became the first company to close a trading day with a market cap over $4 trillion… This was a symbolic milestone for capital markets and the current bull cycle. Huang is walking a very fine line between Washington and Beijing as he seeks to preserve Nvidia’s global market access. The real question is whether China hawks in the White House will ever allow Beijing unrestricted access to Nvidia’s AI chips—something that seems increasingly unlikely.

“Within just an hour or two after the flooding, we had resources from Homeland Security on the ground. The Coast Guard was deployed immediately and rescued countless Texans. Border Patrol tactical teams were there. FEMA arrived within hours. Call centers were fully staffed. This was the fastest FEMA deployment in years—maybe decades.”

• Kristi Noem Turns NBC’s Ambush Into a Masterclass in Command (Margolis)

Kristi Noem’s appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this Sunday was a textbook example of how to dismantle media bias with poise and facts. Faced with a predictably hostile Kristen Welker, Noem didn’t just hold her ground—she flipped the script. In a setting designed to put Trump administration officials on the defensive, Noem calmly exposed the hollowness of NBC’s narrative and reminded viewers what real leadership looks like under pressure. The interview focused on the Trump administration’s rapid response to the devastating Texas floods and recent high-profile immigration enforcement actions. True to form, NBC leaned on anonymous sources to push a tired smear—this time suggesting Noem had personally delayed FEMA aid by requiring her approval for contracts over $100,000. But Noem dismantled that narrative without breaking a sweat.

“Those claims are absolutely false,” she said. “Within just an hour or two after the flooding, we had resources from Homeland Security on the ground. The Coast Guard was deployed immediately and rescued countless Texans. Border Patrol tactical teams were there. FEMA arrived within hours. Call centers were fully staffed. This was the fastest FEMA deployment in years—maybe decades.” That’s the reality: while the left hides behind nameless leaks and secondhand gossip, Americans saw a swift, coordinated federal response. Contrary to the media’s implication that federal agencies run on autopilot, it takes leadership to move that quickly. Noem and her team cut through red tape and got it done.

"Within just an hour or two after the flooding, we had resources from @DHSgov there helping those individuals in Texas," says @Sec_Noem.

"This is the fastest, I believe, in years, maybe decades, that FEMA has been deployed to help individuals in this type of a situation." pic.twitter.com/H97L2QdzRW

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 13, 2025

When Welker pivoted to immigration enforcement—specifically a major bust at a California marijuana grow operation—the media’s playbook was once again on display. She tried to push the false claim that Border Czar Tom Homan was advocating racial profiling during an appearance on CNN, but Noem didn’t take the bait. She laid out the facts: over 300 arrests, 14 unaccompanied minors rescued from likely trafficking or exploitation, and criminals among the detained with records including rape, child pornography, and murder. These weren’t random detentions—they were targeted law enforcement actions aimed at dismantling illegal grow operations that often serve as fronts for organized crime.

"This week, we've got murderers off the street, rapists, child pedophiles," says @Sec_Noem.

"If you look at that marijuana grow facility that we recently just did an operation on, over 319 individuals were brought into custody — and 14 unaccompanied children." pic.twitter.com/BHrqcGxEqL

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 13, 2025

Of course, the legacy media doesn’t want to talk about that. They’d rather peddle innuendo than acknowledge that the Trump administration is actually enforcing the law—and doing it effectively.This is what voters signed up for: strong, competent leadership that doesn’t cave to media pressure or waste time chasing elite approval. Noem didn’t just survive the interview—she turned it into a moment of clarity for anyone still wondering whether the Trump administration is serious about restoring law and order. While NBC and its allies keep spinning excuses for the failures of the Biden years, Americans are seeing a stark contrast in real time. The chaos at the border, the paralyzed disaster responses, and the endless bureaucratic dithering that defined the last administration are over. Under Trump, we’re witnessing what happens when leaders actually take the job seriously.

Someone suggested Bondi could be the special prosecutor, making way for Matt Gaetz to be AG, as Trump originally intended.

• FBI Opens ‘Grand Conspiracy’ Probe On Weaponization (JTN)

The FBI has quietly launched an investigation into a decade of Democratic party and deep-state antics from Russia collusion to Jack Smith, opening the door for the appointment of a special prosecutor to examine whether the well-documented episodes amount to a criminal conspiracy to meddle in three U.S. elections to the benefit of Democrats and the detriment of President Donald Trump, Just the News has learned. The “grand conspiracy” case was opened several weeks ago after new FBI Director Kash Patel took over, and it could get a significant boost if Trump were to declassify two secret tranches of evidence that identify a potential ignition point to the alleged conspiracy in the summer of 2016, according to several people directly familiar with the inquiry, who spoke to Just the News on a condition of anonymity.

The first piece of evidence is a classified annex to a years-old inspector general probe of Hillary Clinton’s improper email server sought by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley. That annex is believed to show that credible information about possible wrongdoing was intentionally ignored by the FBI. The second tranche of evidence was identified by former Russiagate Special Counsel John Durham in his final report. The evidence was dubbed in the report as the “Clinton plan intelligence,” and it was also placed in a classified annex kept from the American public and even many members of Congress. Excerpts from the publicly-available and unclassified Durham report show that U.S. spy agencies were aware that Clinton’s 2016 campaign was concocting a bogus Russia collusion narrative to harm Trump’s election chances before the FBI opened its now-discredited Crossfire Hurricane probe, in part using evidence created by the Clinton campaign or offered by Clinton associates.

[,,] CIA Director John Ratcliffe earlier this month released a scathing review of the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment of Russian influence in the 2016 election, criticizing then-CIA Director John Brennan for joining the FBI in pushing to include disgraced British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s baseless anti-Trump dossier. In particular, Ratcliffe concluded that then-CIA Director John Brennan “showed a preference for narrative consistency over analytical soundness.” Ratcliffe later posted on social media about his report, calling the smear campaign against Trump an “atypical & corrupt process under the politically charged environments of former Dir. Brennan & former FBI Dir. Comey.”

If Trump declassifies the Grassley and Durham documents, prosecutors could submit them to a grand jury in an effort to try to show a distinct pattern of the FBI and spy agencies willfully ignoring intelligence or evidence damaging to Democrats while relentlessly pursuing Trump with evidence that was often flawed. Trump administration officials have weighed naming a special prosecutor to probe the recent bombshell revelations reported by Just the News that the FBI received human source intelligence – and some corroborating evidence – that China was engaged in a scheme to create fake mail-in ballots in 2020 to help Joe Biden win. The FBI failed to investigate the matter, and even recalled the intelligence and asked fellow spy agencies to destroy it. But the five-year statute of limitations on that inquiry is only weeks away from expiring since the evidence arrived in August 2020, leaving the potential for criminal charges or other accountability on an almost impossibly tight timetable.

The overarching conspiracy case opened by Patel’s FBI offers a more expansive approach that would allow a special prosecutor time to tie alleged criminal events currently covered by statutes of limitations to older events by treating them as part of an ongoing conspiracy or even a racketeering operation. The “grand conspiracy” probe also would open the door to empanel a grand jury outside of Washington D.C. where juries have been reluctant to convict actors who pursued Trump. If voting patterns are any indicator, the Capitol City is the most hostile venue to Trump. The district has never supported a GOP presidential candidate. CNN reported that only one Republican presidential candidate has ever won more than 20% of DC’s vote — Richard Nixon in 1972, with 21.56%, and in the last election, a whopping 92.1% of the vote went against Trump.

“She tried to ride the tiger but was thrown off.”

• X Marks The Spat (Zilber)

Linda Yaccarino’s resignation from X as chief executive marked the end of a high-pressure — and at times emotional — two-year stint that insiders described as riddled with stress, conflict and power struggles, according to a report. At times, Yaccarino was reportedly tearful in the office, worn down by the overwhelming demands of working under Elon Musk and the increasing pressure surrounding her role, the Financial Times reported over the weekend. Yaccarino had claimed in an interview just three weeks before stepping down that “I’m the CEO of X and my boss remains the same.” But last Wednesday she announced her departure, citing X’s merger with Musk’s AI venture xAI as a turning point and calling it a “new chapter” for the company.

Their contrasting styles — Yaccarino’s polished advertising world background versus Musk’s unfiltered, hands-on leadership — clashed repeatedly. “Elon calls all the shots,” an advertising executive who knows both Yaccarino and Musk told FT. “She tried to ride the tiger but was thrown off.” A breaking point reportedly came early last year, when Yaccarino helped secure a content deal with former CNN anchor Don Lemon. The arrangement backfired after Lemon conducted a contentious interview with Musk, asking if he used drugs. Musk canceled the deal, and Lemon is now suing for breach of contract. The internal tension and lack of authority reportedly took an emotional toll. Multiple people who worked with Yaccarino said she was “at times being tearful in the office.”

One former colleague told FT: “She lasted two years in a job that would have crushed most people in two weeks.” Though she managed to lure back some major advertisers like Apple, Google and Verizon, many in the industry questioned the sustainability and strategy behind the return.“To her credit, she did get advertisers back to X,” one longtime executive told FT. “She did it with a gun, but they came back.” Another added, “They did not return voluntarily or happily.” Others criticized the platform’s underperformance. “Many clients don’t advertise on X, not because of the content, but because it does not perform very well,” one executive told FT. Sensor Tower reported some renewed ad strength, and Emarketer projected a revenue increase to $2.3 billion in 2025 — still far below the $4.1 billion in global sales before Musk’s takeover.

[..] Yaccarino’s priorities sometimes diverged from Musk’s, particularly around child safety — a concern she reportedly believed Musk was not focused on enough, according to FT. She ultimately informed a small circle ahead of time about her resignation, which happened to coincide with xAI’s chatbot Grok publishing antisemitic content, FT reported. X staff said the two events were unrelated. Yaccarino’s challenges began as soon as she took the job in 2023, leaving NBCUniversal to help repair the damage Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the platform had inflicted on advertiser relations. Brands had fled the platform, citing Musk’s volatile behavior and tolerance of toxic content. She was known as the “Velvet Hammer” in the industry, with a reputation for toughness and a powerful Rolodex of brand contacts.

She scored some victories, securing deals with creators and sports leagues, upgrading X’s video features and laying the groundwork for a digital wallet called X Money. She also aggressively pursued advertisers — at one point suing their trade group and companies like Shell and Pinterest, accusing them of an “illegal boycott.” But despite her efforts, she never gained full control of the company. Musk retained ultimate authority, even in areas core to her role like advertising, the FT reported. He began making unilateral decisions — banning hashtags in ads, charging brands based on vertical ad size — and hired product chief Nikita Bier without her input, according to FT. Musk’s growing relationship with President Donald Trump created further complications. His focus on politics temporarily drew attention away from X, offering Yaccarino some breathing room.

“What saved her was the election and Elon diving deep into the administration,” one person who worked with both told FT. But once Musk returned to business and pushed the $45 billion acquisition of X by xAI, her position became increasingly tenuous, it was reported. Financial control was another battleground. Musk brought in Mahmoud Reza Banki as CFO, who reported directly to Musk and bypassed Yaccarino. Their relationship grew strained, especially when Banki redirected funds away from creator and ad-tech investments — areas Yaccarino viewed as crucial, according to FT. Publicly, Yaccarino remained loyal to Musk, but insiders suggested her style never resonated with him. Her deep ties to Trump, however, remain intact, according to the FT.

She is reportedly close to Ivanka Trump, HUD Secretary Scott Turner and Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. One confidante said she still supports Trump despite his falling-out with Musk. Her next move remains unclear. Some speculate she may join the Trump administration or assume a public-facing role around free speech.

“Zients wrote in an email at 10:31 p.m.: “I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all of the following pardons.”

• Biden Defends Controversial Autopen Use For Mass Clemency Decisions (NYP)

Former President Joe Biden has acknowledged in a stunning new interview that he didn’t agree to the name of every person who received one of the 46th president’s sweeping pardons — with emails indicating that then-White House chief of staff Jeff Zients approved the use of the notorious White House autopen. The 46th president insisted in a phone interview with the New York Times last week that “I made every decision” about clemencies issued during his term before admitting that he had his staff replicate his signature because “we’re talking about a lot of people.” Biden’s team used an autopen on 25 warrants for pardons and commutations in December and January of last year, but two of those warrants granted clemency to thousands of people.

HOLY SHLIT

NYT confirms Fauci’s pardon was signed by autopen at the direction of an assistant pic.twitter.com/xOIXh1rLct

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 14, 2025

On Dec. 12, Biden commuted roughly 1,500 sentences and outright pardoned 39 more. Three days before he left office, the then-president commuted the sentence of nearly 2,500 federal inmates convicted of crack cocaine offenses. According to the Times, Biden approved what standards would be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a pardon or commutation, while his underlings sorted out the specifics. In cases where changes were made to the list of inmates, staffers waited until a final version of the clemency roster was produced, then ran it through the autopen rather than ask Biden to keep signing successive versions. President Trump has cast doubt on the legitimacy of the documents Biden signed via autopen—— which has been used since at least the Trump administration to reproduce the president’s signature.

“I understand why Trump would think that,” the former president told the Times,” because obviously, I guess, he doesn’t focus much. Anyway, so — yes, I made every decision.” Emails from a meeting held on the final night of Biden’s presidency, Jan. 19, indicate that the then-president decided to issue pre-emptive pardons to members of his family — including controversial first brother James Biden — with mere hours to go in his term. After messages summarizing the meeting circulated among top Biden advisers, Zients wrote in an email at 10:31 p.m.: “I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all of the following pardons.” The autopen was managed by former staff secretary Stefanie Feldman, who put documents through the device. Feldman would receive “blurbs” or written accounts confirming that Biden supposedly gave the order to use the autopen, per the outlet.

But most of the time, the assistants who drafted those “blurbs” weren’t actually in the room to hear Biden give the orders, according to the New York Times. Still, Biden was adamant that he approved every high-profile pardon with aides, specifically noting Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We know how vindictive Trump is, and I’ve no doubt they would have gone after Mark for no good reason,” Biden said. “The general, you know. So they may read off his name — what’d I want? I told them I wanted to make sure he had a pardon because I knew exactly what Trump would do — without any merit, I might add.” Biden, too, accused Republicans of lying about speculation that his subordinates abused the technology to try and hide his mental states.

“They’re liars. They know it. They know, for certain. I mean, this is — look, what they, they’ve had a pretty good thing going here. They’ve done so badly. They’ve lied so consistently about almost everything they’re doing,” he griped. “The best thing they can do is try to change the focus and focus on something else. And this is a — I think that’s what this is about.” Trump, for his part, recently claimed that Biden’s aides had committed “crimes” by using the autopen to “do anything they wanted.” “That’s a crime to do that to the country,” Trump said on The Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast hosted by Miranda Devine. “Well, number one, I really believe it was a crime because I don’t think he knew he was doing it. I think that people took over the autopen. They got things signed that shouldn’t have been signed.”

“It was people that surrounded that desk that operated the autopen. They surrounded the beautiful Resolute Desk,” Trump continued. “They are criminals, and what they did to our country should never be forgotten. And hopefully, as criminals, they’ll pay a price for what they do.” The Justice Department launched an investigation into the autopen controversy last month to probe whether any White House aides “abused the power of Presidential signatures.” The White House has also confirmed that Ed Martin, the head of an anti-weaponization working group, is probing whether Biden “was competent and whether others were taking advantage of him through use of AutoPen or other means.”

Meanwhile, House Republicans — led by Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) — have started a separate inquiry into allegations of a White House cover-up involving aides who hid the president’s diminishing mental acuity from the public. Trump’s White House only allows two top aides — staff secretary Will Scharf and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles — to use the autopen “for all matters,” according to an internal memo previously reported by The Post.

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1944605889962332374

Toxic

Japan's most senior oncologist, Professor Fukushima, continues to slam the mRNA genetic vaccines.

"Until now, vaccines were proteins, and when injected here, they didn’t go elsewhere so easily. But the moment they were put into nanoparticles, they enter the bloodstream and go… pic.twitter.com/Kdn5Lh7o5J

— Camus (@newstart_2024) July 14, 2025

IVM

During COVID, the FDA mocked ivermectin as “horse paste”…
Yet at the same time, refugees entering America were required to take it.

Hydroxychloroquine? Safe in pregnancy, breastfeeding, elderly—used for decades.

The hypocrisy was never about science. It was about control.… pic.twitter.com/eqCdJouReS

— Dr. Simone Gold (@drsimonegold) July 14, 2025

Dragonfly

This farmer explains what he does to protect his cattle from flies pic.twitter.com/dHIyBzUL2c

— Dudes Posting Their W’s (@DudespostingWs) July 14, 2025

Cats

pic.twitter.com/pOMpZnmZ3y

— smyrna (@rosacavalii) July 13, 2025

Emanuel
https://twitter.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/status/1944402600255795268

Rube

This guy made a spectacular rube Goldberg style project

Wait for it
pic.twitter.com/kZ2yG7zoWz

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) July 14, 2025

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

Debt Rattle Quatorze Juillet 2025

Jul 142025

July 14, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:09 am Finance Tagged with: accountability, Bondi, Butler, Deep State, Istanbul, legacy, obsolete weapons, Secret Service, sledgehammer 52 Responses »

Salvador Dali Back the girl 1926

• Trump Admin Is About to Make a HUGE Move Against the Deep State (Margolis)

• Read the Base, Trump: Voters Want Epstein Accountability (Salgado)

• President Trump Reveals What He Really Wants His Legacy To Be (NYP)

• Trump To Wield ‘Sledgehammer’ Against Russia – Lindsey Graham (RT)

• Zelensky Threatens ‘Long-Range Strikes’ In Russia (RT)

• Ukraine Should Ask US For Obsolete Weapons – Zaluzhny (RT)

• Trump Terrified By BRICS Strategic Threat (Pepe Escobar)

• Secret Service Had Threat Intel 10 Days Before Butler (JTN)

• US Secret Service Agents Promoted, Not Punished, After Butler (Sp.)

• Tariffs and Threats Betray Real US Fear Of Collapse (SCF)

• Russia-West Clash Not About Ideology – Putin (RT)

• Istanbul Talks Format ‘Exhausted Itself’ – Kiev (RT)

• Russian Companies Losing Interest In Foreign Currency – Central Bank (RT)

• Bondi Drops Case Against Doctor Accused Of Destroying COVID Vaccine Doses (JTN)

https://twitter.com/TheGabriel72/status/1944356477755342989

Lacalle

Why markets shrug off tariff announcements:

– By now, most exporter nations are OK with tariffs because they want to keep their own trade barriers.
– Inflation expectations are declining, and markets understand that complex supply chains absorb the tariffs.… pic.twitter.com/Jx0PEMbUNA

— Daniel Lacalle (@dlacalle_IA) July 13, 2025

Interestingly, the EU rejects lifting its own trade barriers and wants to increase taxes that hurt businesses, consumers and patients today. https://t.co/1ShH61KDoG

— Daniel Lacalle (@dlacalle_IA) July 13, 2025

France had a good run. https://t.co/G5YXU7OCOs

— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) July 13, 2025

Tulsi

I’m a big fan of @DNIGabbard because she is fearless and knows well her strengths and weaknesses and works to firm up the former and strengthen the latter.

I must say, Tulsi’s remarks here should frighten every American by the mere fact that here is the Director of National… https://t.co/GwCsm37Qeu

— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) July 13, 2025

Gold and Silver imports from Mexico and the EU to be tariffed at 30% starting August 1?

That puts imported Silver prices at $50/oz and Gold near $4,400/oz: pic.twitter.com/KYAiLTgOLT

— Peter Spina ⚒ GoldSeek | SilverSeek (@goldseek) July 12, 2025

Moses
https://twitter.com/GigaBasedDad/status/1943832680191103113

Sounds promising, but let’s see it in action.

“Solomon explained how conspiracy charges work. “You can charge a series of events into a larger conspiracy and go back beyond the window of time that the normal statute of limitations for any single crime occurred..”

• Trump Admin Is About to Make a HUGE Move Against the Deep State (Margolis)

In a bombshell revelation, investigative journalist John Solomon confirmed to Steve Bannon on Real America’s Voice that the Department of Justice and the FBI have been quietly building a major criminal conspiracy case targeting the Deep State’s decade-long effort to derail Donald Trump. According to Solomon, the scope of the investigation could finally deliver the accountability that many in the MAGA movement have long demanded.“I think next week, over the next 10 days… the base, who’s been wondering, ‘Where is all that accountability?’—they’re gonna get some big surprises,” Solomon said. He claimed the case reaches back to the summer of 2016, before Crossfire Hurricane was launched, and extends all the way through to 2024, encompassing “a large series of events” aimed at stopping Trump from winning the presidency.

Solomon said the massive case has been built largely out of the public eye, obscured by media theatrics and political infighting. “It’s been masked by a lot of this infighting and drama and soap opera stuff,” he said. “But the truth of the matter is, MAGA base Americans are gonna be happy when they see where this is all heading.” I hope so! Bannon pressed Solomon to clarify whether this was, in fact, a formal investigation by federal authorities. Solomon didn’t hesitate. “There is a conspiracy case that was opened that looks at this window as a very large window,” he confirmed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a special prosecutor named by Pam Bondi in the next week or two.”

This is the most interesting part of the revelation to me, especially in light of the blowback Bondi has received over the whole Epstein client list debacle that has FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino threatening to resign unless she is removed. Could Bondi be reassigned to be special prosecutor to keep Bongino and Patel at the FBI? The significance of appointing a special prosecutor, according to Solomon, would be to bypass the hyper-partisan D.C. courts. “You don’t have to necessarily then bring the grand jury or the indictment in Washington, D.C., where the 90% Democrat jury pool probably won’t convict even if they had a murder,” he said. He explained that an overt act of the conspiracy, such as the Mar-a-Lago raid, could allow the case to be brought in Florida instead. “Maybe several overt acts of the conspiracy occurred there.”

Solomon indicated that work has already been done on a scope memo, which would lay out the parameters for a special prosecutor’s authority. “There is an enormous opportunity for those of us who’ve been calling for accountability to see a path to it for the first time,” he said. “A legitimate path. Not smoke, not mirrors. A legitimate path to accountability.”One of the potential focal points of the case, Solomon said, is the infamous meeting between then-CIA Director John Brennan and President Barack Obama in mid-July 2016. “That’s when Brennan walks into President Obama and says, ‘Hey, we have this intercepted information that Hillary Clinton has authorized a program to make it look like Donald Trump’s a Russian spy,’” Solomon recalled. “President Obama and Brennan knew before the FBI opened up on that information that this was a dirty trick by Hillary Clinton.”

From there, Solomon suggested, the conspiracy spanned multiple events, including the Trump-Russia hoax, the Ukraine impeachment, and even the FBI’s refusal to act on intelligence regarding Chinese interference in the 2020 election. “They didn’t want to help Donald Trump, so they ignored a potential counterintelligence threat,” he said. “It allows for a very large series of events to be wrapped into a single conspiracy.”When asked whether this approach could overcome the statute of limitations for certain crimes, Solomon explained how conspiracy charges work. “You can charge a series of events into a larger conspiracy and go back beyond the window of time that the normal statute of limitations for any single crime occurred,” he said. He also noted that prosecutors could argue the statute was tolled if crimes were hidden from the public.

Bannon summed it up as a potential game-changer: “That means… we can go back in time 10 years and still get Brennan and still get all these guys for more serious charges of conspiracy to—of a coup d’état?” “That’s how conspiracy cases can work,” Solomon replied. If Solomon’s reporting proves correct, this could mark the most consequential legal development yet in Deep State’s war against Trump—and the first serious attempt by federal law enforcement to hold the anti-Trump operation accountable.

“..apparently Epstein’s guilty plea to child prostitution and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell’s 20-year prison sentence for conspiring with him to abuse minors were accidents..”

• Read the Base, Trump: Voters Want Epstein Accountability (Salgado)

One of Donald Trump’s popular campaign promises was to work on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files, so we could see how many people still in power were clients of the infamous child trafficker. In a new mystifying message, Trump not only supported his attorney general in not releasing the files; he bashed his own base. Voters love Trump for defying the Deep State, for promising to drain the swamp, for vowing to track down criminals — especially child abusers. He was elected on promises of enforcing the law against criminals. Now Attorney General Pam Bondi is claiming that the Epstein files are just a myth, even though she had previously claimed they were sitting on her desk (apparently Epstein’s guilty plea to child prostitution and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell’s 20-year prison sentence for conspiring with him to abuse minors were accidents).

The truly shocking part is that Trump is backing Bondi. We saw this sort of debacle play out with Richard Nixon. Trump should not make the same mistake. Furious MAGA voters expected Trump to ask Bondi to resign, or at least to rebuke her and remind her of his campaign promise—one that many voters were enthused about—because child exploitation by elites is a topic that riles most Americans, especially since many of the victims and elites in this case are still alive. Instead of reading the room, figuratively speaking, and sitting Bondi down for a talk, Trump posted a message on Truth Social that contradicts his former comments and has already garnered backlash, with both X and Truth Social exploding as Trump voters decried the message.

As someone who truly hopes to see the Trump administration succeed at renewing this country, this is a terrible move for credibility that signals to elite criminals they can escape accountability. If Trump is going to be the law-and-order president, he cannot afford to break this promise on the Epstein files. There are victims seeking justice, and powerful business and government leaders looking to escape exposure. We were promised a transparent Justice Department accountable to We the People. Trump needs to stand with the victims, not the victimizers.

Below is Trump’s rambling, controversial message in full, and you can read the many dozens of angry responses on Truth Social:

What’s going on with my “boys” and, in some cases, “gals?” They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening. We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and “selfish people” are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein. For years, it’s Epstein, over and over again. Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration, who conned the World with the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, 51 “Intelligence” Agents, “THE LAPTOP FROM HELL,” and more? They created the Epstein Files, just like they created the FAKE Hillary Clinton/Christopher Steele Dossier that they used on me, and now my so-called “friends” are playing right into their hands.

Why didn’t these Radical Left Lunatics release the Epstein Files? If there was ANYTHING in there that could have hurt the MAGA Movement, why didn’t they use it? They haven’t even given up on the John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King, Jr. files. No matter how much success we have had, securing the Border, deporting Criminals, fixing the Economy, Energy Dominance, a Safer World where Iran will not have Nuclear Weapons, it’s never enough for some people. We are about to achieve more in 6 months than any other Administration has achieved in over 100 years, and we have so much more to do. We are saving our Country and, MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, which will continue to be our complete PRIORITY.

The Left is imploding! Kash Patel, and the FBI, must be focused on investigating Voter Fraud, Political Corruption, ActBlue, The Rigged and Stolen Election of 2020, and arresting Thugs and Criminals, instead of spending month after month looking at nothing but the same old, Radical Left inspired Documents on Jeffrey Epstein. LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB — SHE’S GREAT! The 2020 Election was Rigged and Stolen, and they tried to do the same thing in 2024 — That’s what she is looking into as AG, and much more. One year ago our Country was DEAD, now it’s the “HOTTEST” Country anywhere in the World. Let’s keep it that way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

“..I really would like to be known as the man that saved our country.”

• President Trump Reveals What He Really Wants His Legacy To Be (NYP)

President Trump has revealed what he wants history books to remember him for after he leaves office. “A good person, but a person that saved our country,” the president told his daughter-in-law during an interview on “Fox News’ “My View With Lara Trump.” “I really believed our country was going down for the fall.” He added: “I don’t know if it ever could’ve come back. It was very close to the edge — and I really would like to be known as the man that saved our country.” Throughout his 2024 campaign and early days back in the White House, Trump has painted a bleak picture of the country’s state of affairs before he returned to power.

This includes his public concerns about the border crisis, inflation and foreign policy posture under the Biden administration — all of which have been key priorities during his second term. “When people see the horror show that we had for four years,” Trump said, “it was almost like they tried to kill our country — and the beautiful thing is, now we have the hottest country in the world.” Trump crowed that his first term was “phenomenal” and mused that “now, we’re doing things that are even on a different level.” One reason he feels that way is because of the team he has in place this time around. “We have really good people this time and they get along with each other. They love each other, they love the country, and it’s smoother,” the president said.

Lara Trump’s interview with her father-in-law dropped a day before the one-year anniversary of his brush with death after an assassin’s bullet came within a quarter inch of taking his life during a rally in Butler, Pa. The president opened up about the chilling assassination attempt, which marked the closest a gunman came to killing a US president since 1981. “Well, it was unforgettable,” he reflected. “I didn’t know exactly what was going on. I got whacked. There’s no question about that. And fortunately, I got down quickly. People were screaming, and I got down quickly, fortunately, because I think they shot eight bullets.”

Despite the scare, Trump insisted that “I have great confidence in these people.” “They should have had somebody in the building [Thomas Matthew Crooks shot from], that was a mistake,” he said. “They should have had communications with the local police, they weren’t tied in, and they should have been tied in. So there were mistakes made … But I was satisfied in terms of the bigger plot, the larger plot.” “And I have great confidence in these people. I know the people. And they’re very talented, very capable. But they had a bad day. And I think they’ll admit that. They had a rough day.”

Warmongers in the US and Europe think they can get Trump to start a war on Russia. “500% tariffs on nations that continue trading with Russia..”

• Trump To Wield ‘Sledgehammer’ Against Russia – Lindsey Graham (RT)

The sanctions bill currently in the Senate would give US President Donald Trump a “sledgehammer” to use against Russia and its trading partners, hawkish Senator Lindsey Graham has said. Trump previously said he may impose additional sanctions on Moscow if Russian-Ukrainian negotiations fail to produce a ceasefire. He also accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of stalling the talks. In an interview with CBS News aired on Sunday, Graham, who co-authored the legislation with Democrat Richard Blumenthal, said Trump had “left the door open regarding Russia,” despite taking a hard line on other nations. “That door is about to close,” he warned.

“Dick and I have got 85 co-sponsors in the United States Senate for congressional sanctions with a sledgehammer available to President Trump to go after Putin’s economy, and all those countries who prop up the Putin war machine,” Graham said. The legislation would authorize Trump to impose up to 500% tariffs on nations that continue trading with Russia, with Graham singling out China, India, and Brazil. He emphasized that Trump would have “maximum flexibility” in enforcing the measures. Graham also claimed the administration is preparing to ramp up arms deliveries to Kiev “at a record level,” and signaled a forthcoming plan to redirect frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.

“I expect, in the coming days, that there will be tariffs and sanctions available to President Trump he has never had before,” he said. Moscow has condemned the sanctions as illegal and argued that the West is using the Ukraine conflict to try to contain Russia’s development. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said the proposed secondary tariffs “will not radically change the situation,” and that Russia will continue on its “independent, sovereign and sustained path.” Putin has argued the sanctions have backfired, making Russia more self-sufficient and less dependent on foreign markets.

At some point, Russia will have to return the fire.

• Zelensky Threatens ‘Long-Range Strikes’ In Russia (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has threatened new strikes deep inside Russia, days after the US pledged to resume military aid to Kiev. Zelensky made the remarks after a meeting with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Aleksandr Syrsky, and Chief of the General Staff Andrey Gnatov on Sunday. “Our units will continue to destroy the occupiers and do everything possible to bring the war onto Russian territory. We are preparing our new long-range strikes,” Zelensky wrote on X.

He added that Ukraine is preparing for a visit by US presidential envoy Keith Kellogg and will “work with partners on arms deliveries and scaling up joint production of essential defense assets.” Among its recent attacks far from the front line, Ukraine targeted military airfields housing strategic bombers in several Russian regions last month. Ukrainian drones and missiles also repeatedly struck apartment blocks and other civilian infrastructure. According to Moscow, Ukraine was responsible for the passenger train derailment on March 31, which left seven people dead. The EU has allocated hundreds of billions of euros in recent months to expand its military-industrial complex and support Ukraine’s domestic armament production.

Berlin will provide Ukraine its first batch of long-range missiles financed by Germany in the coming weeks, Major General Christian Freuding, who oversees the coordination of the country’s military support for Kiev, has said. US President Donald Trump said earlier this week that the Pentagon will resume deliveries to Kiev, following weeks of suspension, and reportedly considers approving a first new aid package since returning to office. Russia has said that it views the use of foreign-supplied missiles as direct participation by Western states in the conflict and claimed that Ukrainian troops cannot operate sophisticated weapons systems on their own.

Anything.

• Ukraine Should Ask US For Obsolete Weapons – Zaluzhny (RT)

Ukraine should formally request outdated US weapons to bolster its fight against Russia and help America save money on arms disposal, Valery Zaluzhny, the country’s former top military commander, has said. In an op-ed for the newspaper Ukrainskaya Pravda on Friday, Zaluzhny, who now serves as Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK and is widely regarded as a dangerous political rival to Vladimir Zelensky, arguing that surplus US missiles nearing retirement could be delivered to Ukraine at little cost to Washington. “The United States today has significant reserves of obsolete or ready-to-be-disused missiles, the transfer of which to Ukraine could be an effective solution,” Zaluzhny wrote. He added these arms “do not require additional budget expenditures for disposal, and [are] vital for Ukraine.”

Zaluzhny pointed to the example of Hellfire missiles, noting that by the end of 2023, the US had produced more than 170,000 of various types. Much of that inventory is now approaching the typical 20–25-year lifespan, after which the weapons face decommissioning or destruction, he pointed out. As the Pentagon shifts to the new JAGM system, Zaluzhny argued Ukraine could submit formal requests to secure these soon-to-be-obsolete stocks. “Ukraine can take advantage of this chance by systematically sending official requests within the framework of various programs,” he wrote, saying it would both strengthen Ukraine’s defenses and help the US “rationally manage stocks.”

While the US has provided Ukraine with more than $66 billion in military assistance, much of the weaponry has not been top-notch. For instance, multiple media reports indicated that the 31 M1 Abrams tanks sent to Kiev in 2023 had been downgraded and lacked the secret depleted uranium armor mix. At least 20 US-supplied Abrams have reportedly since been destroyed. Throughout the conflict, Ukraine has also scoured global markets for Soviet-era hardware, often acquiring outdated systems purely to cannibalize them for spare parts for its existing fleet. Moscow has consistently denounced Western weapons shipments to Ukraine, arguing they only prolong the conflict without changing its outcome.

Pepe still has his anti-Trump hat on.

• Trump Terrified By BRICS Strategic Threat (Pepe Escobar)

This is it. The ruling classes of the Empire of Chaos, plus the current, clownish Circus Ringmaster have finally realized that BRICS is a serious strategic threat – and existential challenge – to their unilateral domination of the current system of international relations. They didn’t come to this conclusion by carefully scrutinizing the BRICS annual summit in Rio – or last year’s ground-breaking summit in Kazan for that matter: they are lousy at doing basic homework. It’s more like they were awakened from their torpor by feeling in their skins which way the – global – wind is blowing, in terms of all sorts of models being tested to bypass the U.S. dollar and the iron-clad control of the Bretton Woods institutions. The conclusion was inescapable: BRICS have crossed the ultimate red line. No more Mr. Nice Guy talk shop.

The 130-plus point Rio declaration, released at the first day of the summit, spells it out, politely but decisively: this is what we are, a systemic alternative; and we’re going to write the rules of the new system our way. BRICS 2025 in Rio was a stunning surprise. Expectations initially were low – when comparing the meek Brazilian presidency with the extraordinary amount of work put out by Russia in 2024 leading to Kazan. Yet in the end Rio coalesced what Kazan had annonced: the new, rising system will be all about sovereignty, equality, and fairness – with emphasis on continental-wide economic integration; trade in national currencies; an expanded role for new global financial institutions such as the NDB (the BRICS bank); and myriad platforms for sustainable development.

A Geopolitics of Sovereignty has to be structurally constructed: the iron and cement for the new system will come from a new interconnection of trade in national currencies, independent payment/settlement systems, and new investment platforms. Geo-economically, BRICS is already on a roll. A quick glance of a map of Eurasia, and Afro-Eurasia, will suffice to convey the existing and emerging interconnection of connectivity, logistics and supply chain corridors. Across BRICS lands, those tie up energy sources, rare earth deposits, and a wealth of agricultural commodities. To quote the Godfather of Soul James Bown, Papa’s got a brand new (BRICS) bag. Hence it’s no wonder that a tawdry incarnation of the White Man’s Burden, the Circus Ringmaster, has unleashed Full War on BRICS and its partners – from threats to tariffs, complete with a previous death certificate (at the time he was even more clueless on what BRICS is all about).

The serial Trump Tariff Temper Tantrum (TTT) is of course another manifestation of Divide and Rule, trying to blow up BRICS from the inside. And now we’re up several notches, with a trademark childish letter threatening 50% tariffs on all Made in Brazil products exported to the U.S. – plus extra “sectoral” tariffs. And yet this has nothing to do with trade. Over the past 15 years, the U.S. trade surplus with Brazil is over a hefty $400 billion. Some Trump 2.0 underling should have whispered that number into his boss’s ear. But even if they did, that’s irrelevant. Because the latest gimmick actually constitutes a crass foreign interference in another nation’s domestic politics and upcomig presidential race, illegal and predictably once again making a mockery of international law.

The Circus Ringmaster started by hollering in his posts that the Lula government – and the independent Brazilian judicial system – had been involved in a witch hunt against his buddy, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is being legally prosecuted under charges of staging a coup to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election and prevent Lula from taking power. It was up to not so smooth operator Steve Bannon to give the whole tawdry game away: if you ditch the prosecution of Bolsonaro, we ditch the 50% tariffs. President Lula’s response has been measured, but firm: “Brazil’s trade with the U.S. makes up just 1.7% of our GDP. You can’t call these figures vital (…) We will look for other partners“. Of course it will be very tough. A 50% tariff is like a deadly hurricane.

Example: Brazil is the largest global exporter of orange juice. 95% of indigenous production is exported, nearly half to the U.S. It will take some time and lot of hard work to find “other partners”. The solution may lie across BRICS lands. In time, there should be plenty of candidates for top Brazilian exports such as oil, steel, iron, planes and parts, coffee, timber, meat and soy. In parallel, the top two BRICS actors, China and Russia – both already under zillions of sanctions (Russia) and trade tariffs (China) – see the Trump TTT as a spectacular opportuniy ahead for undermining even faster the unilateral U.S. grip on trade and currency systems. The war on BRICS has gone up to the next level, now that Russia, China, Iran and Brazil are all confirmed – illegitimate – targets. It’s up to this Sri Lanka viewpoint to delightfully summarize the stakes:

“Trump has effectively unionized every exporter in the world against American importers.” It comes down to a quite simple equation: “If you tariff one person, more power to you. But it you tariff everyone, more power to us.” “More power to us” translates into BRICS and the wider Global South perfectly aware there’s no way out except full steam ahead for the BRICS project, culminating in full de-dollarization. From Kazan to Rio and beyond, it’s now also clear that out of control TTT will target any nation or partner that aligns with “anti-American” BRICS. You want war? Bring it on.

“..due to the Secret Service’s siloed practice for sharing classified threat information, Secret Service and local law enforcement personnel central to developing site security plans for the rally were unaware of the threat.”

• Secret Service Had Threat Intel 10 Days Before Butler (JTN)

A new report shows Secret Service had threat intelligence 10 days before the assassination attempt on President Trump last year and a separate Senate report recommends stronger disciplinary action for the failures on and before the day of the incident. “Prior to the July 13 rally, senior-level Secret Service officials became aware of a threat to then-former President Trump,” read the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report requested by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “This information was not specific to the July 13 rally or gunman. Nonetheless, due to the Secret Service’s siloed practice for sharing classified threat information, Secret Service and local law enforcement personnel central to developing site security plans for the rally were unaware of the threat.”

The report, released on Saturday, confirmed that the Secret Service “had no process to share classified threat information with partners when the information was not considered an imminent threat to life.” A new Senate Homeland Security Committee report concluded that the assassination attempt at the outdoor rally in Butler was not the result of a single error. “It was a cascade of preventable failures that nearly cost President Trump his life,” read the report, released on Sunday. “The American people deserve better.”

The final report chided the federal government for “insufficient accountability” after the attack occurred. “Not a single person has been fired,” it said. “The Committee believes more than six individuals should have received disciplinary action as a result of their action (or inaction) on July 13. 2024. Those who were disciplined received penalties far too weak to match the severity of the failures.”

They were suspended for 10-42 months, if I remember correctly. But Trump now has nominated his own Secret Service chief.

• US Secret Service Agents Promoted, Not Punished, After Butler (Sp.)

US Secret Service agents were barely punished after assassination attempt on US President Donald Trump in July 2024 in Pennsylvania, some were even promoted, media reported, citing unnamed law enforcement officials. Earlier, ABC reported, citing an unnamed US official, that the US Secret Service had suspended six of its agents due to violations in their work, which resulted in assassination attempt on Trump in July 2024, when he was running for a second term. According to CNN, “a dozen” current and former federal law enforcement officials and lawmakers described a general lack of accountability, particularly from senior Secret Service officials and the agents assigned to Trump at the Butler rally in July.

“None of those operational people have been held accountable, some were even promoted,” the broadcaster quotes an unnamed former senior Secret Service official as saying. Other unnamed sources told CNN that the majority of the disciplinary action had been taken against agents in the Secret Service’s Pittsburgh office, which many said left the department feeling singled out as a scapegoat for the failures of departments “higher up.” Outside the Pittsburgh office, only one low-level member of Trump’s security detail and one sniper who were deployed that day have been suspended, the broadcaster said.

CNN reported that at least two of the six Secret Service agents suspended over the assassination attempt on Trump had filed appeals to challenge the agency’s decision. An unnamed source told the channel that no Secret Service employee had yet completed any disciplinary action. According to sources, a number of high-ranking officials have left the Secret Service in the wake of the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania in July, fueling concerns about a potential “brain drain” within the agency. The assassination attempt on Trump took place on July 13, 2024, during his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was shot in the ear, one member of the audience was killed, and two others were injured.

The Secret Service reported that it had killed the suspect, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who had fired several shots toward the stage. He was hiding on the roof of an industrial building some 100 meters from the stage, outside the area where the event was being held. US Secret Service chief Kimberly Cheatle was forced to resign amid criticism of the agency’s failure. An independent commission investigating the July assassination attempt found multiple failures at the Secret Service that led to the attack not being thwarted. After taking office in January, Trump appointed a new Secret Service chief, Sean Curran, an agent who had protected him during the Butler assassination attempt.

“As former Trump aide Steve Bannon candidly admitted: “You can tell the president is pissed every time he looks at the BRICS de-dollarization effort.”

• Tariffs and Threats Betray Real US Fear Of Collapse (SCF)

Sixteen years after its creation, the international forum known as the BRICS held its annual summit in Brazil this week. Tellingly, the view from Washington was one of alarm despite the bravado. With its commitment to multilateral partnership in trade and finance, the organization is widely welcomed around the world as an exciting prospect for international development, and with that, a more peaceful and secure planet. Who could have a problem with that? US President Donald Trump reacted aggressively as the BRICS convened in Rio De Janeiro. He threatened to slap trade tariffs on member nations and other countries planning to join the BRICS. In a barrage of angry messages and statements, Trump accused the multilateral forum of being “anti-American” and attacking the global status of the US dollar as the primary reserve currency.

This wasn’t the first time Trump had exploded with ire against BRICS. Last November, as president-elect, he threatened to impose 100 per cent tariffs on its members. This week, Trump could not contain his anger. He warned Brazil that he was going to hit the South American nation with 50 per cent trade levies. The US president claimed that his threatened action was partly in support of former Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing prosecution for allegedly trying to overturn the 2022 election won by Lula da Silva. To paraphrase Shakespeare, the sound and fury emanating from the White House signifies a lot. As former Trump aide Steve Bannon candidly admitted: “You can tell the president is pissed every time he looks at the BRICS de-dollarization effort.”

Since its founding in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining the following year, the trade bloc has grown to 10 members, including Iran, Indonesia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates. Several other nations have memberships pending, such as Algeria, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, among others. BRICS represents about a third of global economic output and is growing. Its evolution is gradual and not so much a process of sudden breakthrough. A New Development Bank, founded in 2015, has yet to reach its full potential. A common BRICS international currency still seems a long way off. However, each year brings new members and a coalescing of practical mechanisms to bolster multilateral trade and investment.

With its emphasis on sovereign partnership between the emerging nations of the Global South, there is no doubt that the BRICS is providing an alternative to the Western-dominated G7 forum and financial institutions like the World Bank. The BRICS nations aspire to fulfill the vision of a multipolar, genuinely democratic world. That is why it is viewed by the United States and its Western partners as an existential threat. The contradiction betrays the hypocrisy and duplicity of self-declared Western democracy. The Western-led order, dominated by the US, is an arrangement for global hegemony that benefits a minority of nations. It’s a Neo-colonialist construct that perpetuates exploitation and privilege over genuine international development. That construct is the source of inequality, poverty, and seemingly never-ending wars and militarism.

A key element for continuing US-led hegemony is the dominance of the dollar. But that dominance is based on abuse of power. It is an arbitrary, politically imposed privilege that is no longer viable or justifiable. The irony is that Trump and Western imperial arrogance are the cause of the dollar’s demise. The BRICS offer a vision of nations trading freely in an ethos of partnership and cooperation. A vital mechanism is to settle trade with the currencies of the partner nations. The imposed reliance on the US dollar is a fetter on development that only benefits Washington. Trump’s fears about BRICS are shared by the US establishment and its vassals among the European elites. If the dollar were to be replaced, then a key pillar of US hegemony would collapse. The dollar-affiliated euro currency would also crash.

It is every nation’s right to determine the mechanism for trade and finance. This is not “anti-American” per se. It is the democratic right of all nations as stipulated by the Charter of the United Nations. Trump’s fury towards the BRICS for “attacking the dollar” betrays the arrogance of a hegemonic empire. Nonetheless, the anxiety in Washington is well-founded. The emergence of BRICS and other multipolar organizations with an emphasis on Global South solidarity is a mortal threat to imperialist privilege. Trump’s illegal aggression against Iran, the ongoing proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, and the US military build-up in Asia-Pacific against China are all part of the wider geopolitical conflict to prop up US hegemony.

BRICS nations this week condemned US aggression against Iran and the illegal unilateral imposition of trade tariffs and sanctions. The American emperor has no clothes. The bullying and bluster cannot disguise the reality that the US-led Western order is a failing empire whose only claim to power is criminal war and empty threats. It’s an ugly sight. But fortunately, one that will shrivel and expire like so many other past empires. The BRICS herald a brighter future for humanity.

“It has become clear that, unless Russia positions itself as an independent sovereign nation… we will not be reckoned with…”

• Russia-West Clash Not About Ideology – Putin (RT)

Western nations’ hegemonic aspirations and dismissal of Russia’s security concerns have led to the ongoing standoff between Moscow and the West, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview released on Sunday. Ideological differences are only a pretext to advance the West’s geopolitical interests, he claimed. Putin added that he expected the collapse of the USSR to alleviate tensions between Russia and the West. “I also thought that key disagreements [between us] were ideological in nature,” he stated. “Yet, when the Soviet Union was gone… the dismissive approach to Russia’s strategic interests persisted.”

The president went on to say that his attempts to raise Russia’s concerns with Western leaders were in vain. “The West decided… they do not need to follow the rules when it comes to Russia, which does not have the same power as the USSR.” All of Moscow’s proposals regarding mutual security, strengthening international stability, and reaching agreements on offensive weapons and missile defense were rejected, Putin said. “It was not just negligence. It was based on a clear desire to reach some geopolitical goals.” “It has become clear that, unless Russia positions itself as an independent sovereign nation… we will not be reckoned with,” he added.

The Russian president has accused Western nations of betraying Russia and not fulfilling their promises. Last month, he said Moscow was “blatantly lied to” about NATO expansion for decades as the US-led military bloc approached Russia’s borders. “Everything was good as long as it was against Russia,” he said at the time, adding that Western nations have supported separatism and even terrorism directed against the country. Moscow has listed Kiev’s NATO ambitions and Western military assistance to Ukraine key reasons behind the Ukraine conflict. Prior to the escalation in early 2022, Russia sought to address its security concerns by seeking guarantees from US and NATO, as well as non-aligned status for Ukraine, which were rejected by the West.

“..practically exhausted itself” due to Russia’s “maximalist” demands..”

• Istanbul Talks Format ‘Exhausted Itself’ – Kiev (RT)

The format of direct peace negotiations between Moscow and Kiev in Istanbul has “practically exhausted itself” due to Russia’s “maximalist” demands, Ukrainian First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Kislitsa has claimed. Russia and Ukraine have met for two rounds of direct negotiations in Türkiye this year, restarting talks that Kiev unilaterally abandoned in 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s goal for the ongoing US-backed talks is to demand Kiev’s surrender in the conflict, Kislitsa said in an interview with the Kiev Independent published on Friday. “Putin’s mandate is to force capitulation. Their logic is the opposite of ours,” he said, arguing that the Russian position was worse than “maximalist.”

“Our mandate had three points: first, ceasefire,” Kislitsa said. The second was to “create the conditions” for a meeting between Putin and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, and the third included “confidence-building measures” such as humanitarian issues such as prisoner swaps, he added. Putin has not refused such a meeting, but has argued that currently any final peace agreements signed by Zelensky would be illegitimate given that his presidential term expired in May 2024. Kislitsa insisted that a direct meeting between the leaders is necessary due to the “complexity” and “depth” of the conflict. He also argued that Moscow aims to “bureaucratize” the talks. “We saw this before in the endless Minsk process groups,” the diplomat claimed. “Endless meetings – but there were no results.”

The failed Western-backed 2014-2015 Minsk Agreements were ostensibly meant to freeze the conflict between Ukraine and the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Both former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Francois Hollande later admitted that the accords were a mechanism to stall for time and allow Kiev to rearm. Moscow has refused Ukrainian demands for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, arguing that such a truce would be a repeat of the Minsk Agreements. Russia has maintained that any settlement needs to be permanent, legally foolproof, and it must address the core causes of the conflict. The Kremlin has also condemned French and British initiatives to deploy peacekeeping troops and fighter jets to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, blasting them as “militaristic.”

Ironically, it’s the sanctions that have made foreign currencies impractical for Russia.

• Russian Companies Losing Interest In Foreign Currency – Central Bank (RT)

Demand for foreign currency among Russian companies has sharply declined, with corporate purchases in June falling to the lowest level in nearly a year, according to a report from the Bank of Russia. The central bank attributed the drop to the continued strength of the ruble. The ruble has been on a steady upward trajectory, strengthening for seven consecutive months against the US dollar. According to the central bank, the currency’s appreciation began in December 2024, marking a sustained rally amid tighter monetary conditions. On Thursday, it briefly surged to a two-year high, trading below 75 to the dollar, before pulling back to 77.89 as of Friday.

The regulator credited the ruble’s resilience to its tight monetary policy – particularly the elevated key interest rate, which continues to boost the appeal of Russian assets for both businesses and individuals. It also noted that currency market volatility has been declining, despite the tense geopolitical backdrop.In June, corporate clients purchased 1.6 trillion rubles’ worth of foreign currency ($20.5 billion), according to the Bank of Russia’s Financial Market Risk Review. This is around half the average monthly volume recorded in 2024 and marks the lowest level since July of that year. The June figure is also slightly lower than in May.

“The decline in demand is occurring against the backdrop of the Bank of Russia’s tight monetary policy,” the central bank stated. Household demand for foreign currency has also slowed. According to the regulator, net purchases by individuals across both exchange and over-the-counter markets dropped by 32% in June, totaling 77.9 billion rubles ($1 billion), down from 111.0 billion rubles in May. The central bank attributed the decline in retail demand to seasonal factors, noting that purchases during the same period fell by 33% in 2024 and by 58% in 2023. Since the beginning of the year, individuals have made net purchases of foreign currency totaling 464 billion rubles ($5.95 billion) – nearly half the amount recorded during the same period in 2024.

“Dr. Moore gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so..”

• Bondi Drops Case Against Doctor Accused Of Destroying COVID Vaccine Doses (JTN)

Attorney General Pam Bondi on Saturday ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to drop the case against Utah Dr. Kirk Moore who was accused of throwing away more than $28,000 of COVID-19 vaccine doses and distributing at least 1,937 fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination record cards. His trial formally began on Monday. He was initially charged under the Biden administration. “Dr. Moore gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so,” Bondi wrote on social media. “He did not deserve the years in prison he was facing. It ends today.” A federal grand jury had indicted him about two years ago and he faced up to 35 years in prison. Moore and three co-defendants were accused of defrauding the government and destroying government property.

BREAKING: Dr. Kirk Moore—the Utah physician accused of giving saline instead of the COVID-19 shot—has had all federal charges dropped by AG Pam Bondi.

Dr. Moore honored his Hippocratic Oath and protected his patients at great personal sacrifice.

This is a victory for informed… https://t.co/sqeoe9owUa

— Dr. Simone Gold (@drsimonegold) July 12, 2025

https://twitter.com/its_The_Dr/status/1943889080518922671

Bill Gates—the billionaire philanthropist turned global vaccine czar—is now facing fresh legal scrutiny as three new plaintiffs seek to join a Dutch lawsuit accusing him, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, and 15 other defendants of misleading the public about the safety of COVID-19 mRNA… pic.twitter.com/mNk6S6twaa

— Camus (@newstart_2024) July 12, 2025

https://twitter.com/JimFergusonUK/status/1943985224808824911

Three new Covid “vaccine” injury victims have just joined a bombshell Dutch lawsuit targeting Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, and 15 other top-level defendants, accusing them of “unprecedented crime… and even murder.”

The defendants stand accused of… pic.twitter.com/9OEy3AQus1

— Camus (@newstart_2024) July 13, 2025

10X

Is the C0VID shot changing DNA?
What I am seeing is a big problem. pic.twitter.com/5v1WbuzsaD

— Mary Talley Bowden MD (@MdBreathe) July 12, 2025

Roseanne
https://twitter.com/SaiKate108/status/1943973052435640688

Aspartame

Shocking… pic.twitter.com/tEVwuj2jD7

— Camus (@newstart_2024) July 13, 2025

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Debt Rattle April 1 2025

Apr 012025

April 1, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:59 am Finance Tagged with: Deep State, democracy, embezzlement, EU, gold, lawfare, Le Pen, Marine Le Pen, NPR, RN, tariffs, Trump, vaccines 52 Responses »

Pablo Picasso The sculptor and his statue 1933

• Paris Court Finds Le Pen Guilty of Embezzlement of EU Funds (Sp.)

• France’s Le Pen Sentenced To Four Years In Jail (RT)

• Le Pen Conviction ‘A Very Big Deal’ – Trump (RT)

• Le Pen Sentence a ‘Declaration of War by Brussels’ – Salvini (RT)

• Putin Will ‘Follow Through’ On Ukraine Deal – Trump (RT)

• Kiev Looking To Further Delay Elections – Ukrainian Official (RT)

• Convergence Calling (James Howard Kunstler)

• Current Status: FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino (CTH)

• Transactional Weakness Tips The Balance of Power (Alastair Crooke)

• Deep State Uses NY Times to Announce Its Withdrawal from Ukraine (PCR)

• Trump’s Auto Tariffs Just Got a Huge Endorsement (Margolis)

• Trump Says ‘Couldn’t Care Less’ If Foreign Auto Makers Raise Prices (ET)

• Musk Demolishes Media’s Trump-Dictator Fantasy (Margolis)

• Gold in Hyperdrive in Hyper-Levered House of Cards – Bill Holter (USAW)

• NPR’s CEO Just Made the Best Case Yet for Defunding NPR (Turley)

• Vaccine Stocks Tank, Moderna Craters As FDA Top Regulator Steps Down (ZH)

• Repeat COVID Vaccines Provoke Two Kinds Of Inferior Antibodies (JTN)

The prosecutions of every Populist Leader proves that Democracy is an illusion. pic.twitter.com/WmAAHH3aQy

— Liz Churchill (@liz_churchill10) March 31, 2025

The risk Elon Musk and the DOGE team are taking by auditing USAID, the DoD, the CIA etc can not be overstated

Mike Benz tells Shawn Ryan that stuff Elon Musk is going through are things people have been threatened to be killed over

“This was the sort of thing that even the… pic.twitter.com/ebG6O94i4S

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) March 30, 2025

Elon NGOs

Elon Musk believes that YES, prominent Democrats like Maxine Waters, Adam Schiff and Chuck Schumer have received USAID money funneled through NGOs

“There is a massive amount of corruption — So they'll send the money overseas to one NGO, then it'll go through a bunch of them, and… pic.twitter.com/mB1kR4aCjJ

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) March 31, 2025

Elon votes

Elon Musk speaks on Democrats “I think it's the biggest voter fraud thing in history, by far”

The number of millions of illegals put on Social Security was “DOUBLING EACH YEAR”

Elon Musk explains how Democrat operatives “farm votes”

“This is why we need Voter ID — The social… pic.twitter.com/TrGvzLe7WP

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) March 31, 2025

Clients
https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1906541616632082890

Jennings
https://twitter.com/PapiTrumpo/status/1906437104785097141

RFK

MAHA: RFK Jr announced he is doubling HHS layoffs from 10,000 to 20,000 consolidating 28 divisions to 15 and renaming the agency the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA). pic.twitter.com/Nmhj27nwvJ

— @amuse (@amuse) March 31, 2025

NYT

Just so everyone is clear, the New York Times is confirming: (1) that U.S. military boots are on the ground in Ukraine. (2) the U.S. military targeted the Russian strikes. (3) the CIA operated in Ukraine, and targeted strikes into Russian mainland.

Just so we are clear! https://t.co/XGfJGMbm6a

— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) March 31, 2025

It’s taking a lot of reading to get an even halfway satisfactory idea of what goes on with Marine Le Pen, who was sentenced to 4 years in jail for embezzlemennt of EU funds yesterday. 2 of the four years are probation, 2 are house arrest. And she can’t run for office for 5 years, with presidential elections coming in 2027.

The penalties cover the period from 2004-2016, when her National Rally (Rassemblement National – RN) had representatives seated in the Euopean Parliament. Which pays parties in that position to cover salaries etc. for assistants. Now a French court determines they did not handle these EU funds properly, 20-odd years ago, they need to pay it back with fines, and she must go to jail.

But RN doesn’t appear to be the only party with similar issues, not even the only French one. So why is this happening, and why now? Every answer provides 5 new questions.

There are strong similarities with Donald Trump’s case in the US (including judges grasping political power), and of course Le Pen is not the only EU politician who is declared ineligible for an election.

We get to choose from pre-selected candidates. That’s not democracy.

She will appeal the decision. That can take a year or more, so a bunch of judges will decide if she will be in time to run, even if she wins the appeal.

• Paris Court Finds Le Pen Guilty of Embezzlement of EU Funds (Sp.)

A court in Paris found Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Rally faction in the French parliament, guilty of embezzlement of European Parliament funds by hiring fictitious assistants to party members, the judge announced on Monday. “Madame Le Pen has been found guilty of embezzlement of public funds,” the judge said. Another eight other party lawmakers were found guilty, while some 12 party members were found guilty of “hiding information.” According to the court, the damage to the European Parliament is estimated at 2.9 million euros ($3.1 million). The court sentenced Le Pen to four years in prison, including two years on probation.

“The court decided to impose a 4-year prison sentence against Madame Le Pen, two of which are on probation, and two can be commuted. She will also not be able to be elected to public authorities for a term of five years,” the judge said. Le Pen will not go to prison, and will serve her sentence with an electronic bracelet at home, the judge said. Le Pen was also ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 euros ($108,200).

Le Pen and 24 of her party members are accused of allegedly laundering the funds of the European Parliament by allegedly fictitiously hiring assistants to lawmakers. The politicians are accused of “misuse of public funds” of the European Union in the period from 2004 to 2016, and Le Pen is accused of creating a “centralized system” of laundering European Parliament’s money. According to the prosecution, the European Parliament allocated funds to pay for the work of parliamentary assistants to European Parliament lawmakers from Le Pen’s party, although in fact the assistants worked only for the National Rally faction.

Unreal. They took out the opposition. Marine Le Pen, who is currently leading in opinion polls for the 2027 election in France, has been sentenced to 4 years in prison and banned from running in the next election. pic.twitter.com/BcDgfvmnol

— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) March 31, 2025

“.. she has accused the EU of mishandling illegal immigration and has criticized its support for Ukraine in the conflict with Russia..”

• France’s Le Pen Sentenced To Four Years In Jail (RT)

A Paris court has sentenced French right-wing politician Marine Le Pen to a four-year jail term, half of which is without parole, in a case involving the embezzlement of EU funds for her National Rally (RN) party. Le Pen has also been barred from running for president in 2027. The verdict on Monday is the culmination of an extended case, in which RN and several of its senior figures were accused of diverting money meant for the offices of European Parliament members towards the national party structure. Le Pen and eight MEPs were found guilty of running the scheme between 2004 and 2016. The five-year ban on participating in elections, which was requested by the prosecution, comes into effect immediately regardless of any appeal process.

The top French constitutional court ruled last week in an unrelated case that such a punishment was legal under the basic law. The court has reportedly allowed Le Pen to serve half of her jail time under home arrest monitored by an ankle bracelet. Others found guilty in the case on Monday were sentenced to serve time in prison, with punishments varying between 12 months and three years. RN president Jordan Bardella denounced the sentence on his X account, calling it “unjust” and amounting to an execution of French democracy. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has expressed support for Le Pen, posting “I am Marine” in French and tagging her account on X.

Le Pen stepped down from the RN party leadership in favor of Bardella in 2022, but remains the head of its faction in the National Assembly. Described as “far-right” by her detractors, she has accused the EU of mishandling illegal immigration and has criticized its support for Ukraine in the conflict with Russia, among other policies. As part of the court’s decision, RN was sentenced to seizure of already-confiscated funds and a fine totalling €2 million ($2.2mn).

https://twitter.com/CilComLFC/status/1906793471802835057

“..the prosecution of Le Pen was “particularly concerning, given the aggressive and corrupt lawfare waged against President Trump here in the United States.”

• Le Pen Conviction ‘A Very Big Deal’ – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump has said that the criminal prosecution of French opposition leader Marine Le Pen reminds him of his own legal battles under the Biden administration. On Monday, Le Pen, the ex-leader of the conservative National Rally (RN) party, was sentenced to four years in prison, two of which will be suspended, and was barred from holding public office for five years. The embezzlement conviction effectively bars her from the 2027 presidential race. When asked by reporters in the Oval Office about the verdict, Trump replied, “That’s a very big deal.” “I know all about it, and a lot of people thought she wasn’t going to be convicted of anything,” Trump said.

“But she was banned [from] running for five years, and she’s the leading candidate. That sounds very much like this country,” he added. Trump has often claimed that the court cases and investigations into his activities were part of a politically motivated “witch hunt” led by the Biden administration and the Democrats. US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said earlier that the prosecution of Le Pen was “particularly concerning, given the aggressive and corrupt lawfare waged against President Trump here in the United States.”

According to the prosecutors, Le Pen siphoned off the EU funds intended for covering her staff’s work in the European Parliament to fund the activities of her party in France. She had denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the verdict as “a fatal day for our democracy.” Le Pen’s party holds the highest number of seats in the National Assembly. According to the Ifop poll published in Le Journal du Dimanche on Sunday, between 34% and 37% of those surveyed said they planned to vote for Le Pen in 2027, which is more than 10 points ahead of her nearest rival, former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. Le Pen ran for president three times, placing second in 2017 and 2022.

https://twitter.com/CilComLFC/status/1906857560306495699

“Le Pen has been a prominent critic of NATO’s policies in Eastern Europe and has opposed Ukraine’s accession to the military bloc. She has also advocated against the EU’s anti-Russia policies.”

• Le Pen Sentence a ‘Declaration of War by Brussels’ – Salvini (RT)

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has condemned the verdict against French presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen as “a declaration of war by Brussels.” Le Pen has been sentenced to four years in prison on embezzlement charges and barred from running for public office for five years, including an upcoming presidential election in 2027.In a post on X on Monday, Salvini compared the outcome of the trial in Paris to the recent barring of independent candidate Calin Georgescu in Romania.”Those who fear the judgment of the voters often find reassurance in the judgment of the courts,” Salvini said. “A bad film that we are also seeing in other countries such as Romania.”

Georgescu, a critic of NATO, the EU, and aid to Ukraine, won an unexpected first-round victory in last year’s election. The results were promptly annulled by Romania’s Constitutional Court, citing funding irregularities. Georgescu was subsequently barred from running in the election rerun scheduled for May 2025.Salvini called the ruling against Le Pen “a declaration of war by Brussels, at a time when the warlike impulses of Von der Leyen and Macron are frightening.” He was apparently referring to the push by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to militarize the EU and proposals by French President Emmanuel Macron to deploy troops to Ukraine. Le Pen, the leader of the National Rally party (RN), was convicted of embezzling over €4 million from the European Parliament from 2004 to 2016. She received a four-year prison sentence, with two years suspended, and a five-year ban from holding public office, effectively disqualifying her from the 2027 presidential election.

Le Pen has been a prominent critic of NATO’s policies in Eastern Europe and has opposed Ukraine’s accession to the military bloc. She has also advocated against the EU’s anti-Russia policies. In the 2022 presidential election, she advanced to a runoff against Macron, securing around 41.5% of the vote. Earlier this year, polls suggested that Le Pen would secure 61% of the vote against her main rival in the upcoming presidential election. The conviction of Le Pen and the disqualification of Georgescu occur amid an emergence of political movements across the EU opposed to the bloc’s policies. A number of French and foreign politicians have condemned the court’s ruling as undemocratic.

Got to get a deal first.

• Putin Will ‘Follow Through’ On Ukraine Deal – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump has said his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, would honor his part of a potential peace agreement on the Ukraine conflict. At the same time, Trump warned Kiev against backing out of a rare-earth minerals deal with the US. Speaking to reporters on Monday, the US leader repeated that he aims to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as soon as possible, adding that he “want[s] to make sure that he [Putin] follows through” on any peace deal. “I think he will. I don’t want to go secondary tariffs on his oil, but I think it’s something I would do if I thought he wasn’t doing the job,” Trump stated. He expressed hope that Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky would also uphold his end of the bargain, but rebuked him for apparent attempts to renegotiate the rare-earths deal which would grant the US access to Ukraine’s mineral deposits.

While Trump has portrayed the deal as a way for Ukraine to pay back past US assistance, Zelensky has insisted that Kiev owes Washington nothing. “We made a deal for rare earths. It was all done. They’re now saying, ‘Well, I’ll only do that deal if we get into NATO or something to that effect,’” Trump said. He insisted that NATO membership for Ukraine was “never… discussed,” suggesting that the issue was the likely reason for the escalation of hostilities between Moscow and Kiev in 2022.Trump earlier threatened Zelensky with “big problems” if he rejects the rare-earths deal. The Ukrainian leader, however, has said that “the framework [of the agreement] has been changed” from what he was willing to sign during a meeting with Trump in late February.

On that occasion, the pair’s White House meeting turned into a heated clash, with Trump accusing Zelensky of ingratitude and “playing with World War III” over what he perceived as reluctance to make a deal with Russia. At the same time, Trump said on Sunday that he was “very angry” with Putin’s proposal to place Ukraine under a temporary UN-led administration to organize new elections. Russia has long insisted that Zelensky is an “illegitimate” leader, given that his presidential term expired in May 2024. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Moscow and Washington are exploring several ideas aimed at resolving the Ukraine conflict, adding that Putin is open to any contact with Trump. Russia maintains that the conflict could be settled if Ukraine commits to bloc neutrality and demilitarization, and recognizes the territorial reality on the ground.

“Ukraine needs changes to legislation governing election procedures before it can choose its next president and parliament..”

• Kiev Looking To Further Delay Elections – Ukrainian Official (RT)

Ukraine needs changes to legislation governing election procedures before it can choose its next president and parliament, Central Election Commission Chair Oleg Didenko has said. In an interview with the news outlet Ukrainskaya Pravda published on Monday, Didenko argued that it would be impossible to hold elections immediately after martial law is lifted, despite constitutional requirements. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s presidential term expired in May 2024, yet he has remained in office and refused to hold elections, citing the martial law introduced in 2022 due to the conflict with Russia. Parliamentary elections, also due last year, have been indefinitely postponed for the same reason. Under current legislation, voting must be announced within a month of martial law ending, with parliamentary elections held within 60 days and presidential elections within 90.

“Is this [time] enough to prepare for the elections? If we are talking about voting that will be democratic and will meet the standards, then probably not… We need much more time to prepare for the post-war elections,” Didenko argued. “We need to adopt a law on the specifics of holding post-war elections,” he stated. Didenko declined to give a timeline, citing multiple challenges: the state of the budget, territorial realities, voter registration for millions displaced or living abroad, election sequencing, and infrastructure. The official noted that the CEC plans to propose an additional voting day and more polling stations abroad. He also floated the idea of electronic or mail voting but said both face cybersecurity risks.

The CEC is drafting a proposal for post-war election legislation to present to parliament, Didenko stated. He did not give a timeframe but said any new voting mechanism must first be approved by lawmakers. Kiev’s delay in holding elections has drawn criticism from both Moscow and Washington. US President Donald Trump last month called Zelensky “a dictator without elections.” Moscow considers the absence of elections in Ukraine a barrier to peace talks, as there is no clear way to sign any agreements, including a potential peace deal to end the conflict, with Kiev, because its current leadership lacks legitimacy. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently proposed that the UN establish a temporary external administration in Ukraine to facilitate elections and enable legitimate negotiations.

“The current conflict between Europe and America is not reducible towards contrasting approaches towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.” —Frank Furedi on Substack

• Convergence Calling (James Howard Kunstler)

You’re going to see what a truly consequential span of weeks, looks like, as Western Civ goes into full churn on April’s doorstep. Remember, TS Eliot called it the “cruelest month.” Too many uncomfortable things are converging, too many ongoing operations are unwinding, too many tensions are breaking. The conclusion of “Joe Biden’s” Ukraine War fiasco looms. You can tell because The New York Times published a gigantic piece Sunday detailing how the Pentagon and the CIA actually ran all of Ukraine’s tactical operations out of a base in Wiesbaden, Germany — after building a colossal Ukraine war machine post our 2014 color revolution in Kiev. Since the very start of the hot war in 2022, we did all the targeting for the weapons we gave them and planned their every move. What a surprise! (Not.)

The motive behind all that, as conceived by US neo-cons and NATO neo-morons, was to “weaken” Russia, bust it up, and seize its resources. All the sanctions piled on only induced Russia into an import-replacement campaign that actually strengthened its economy, while the war led to a revolution in Russian war-fighting tactics and advanced weaponry. Now, the whole thing is ending in Ukraine’s defeat and the West’s humiliation. The Times could have published this in 2023-24, but it would have been a major embarrassment for “Joe Biden” and his shadow managers moving into the election. They put it out just now because the jig is up and the paper desperately needs to pretend that it’s ahead of events to preserve the last shreds of its credibility. Mr. Trump, the uber-realist, knows that the Russians are going to roll up in Ukraine this spring and there is increasingly not much that can be done about that, except to try to put the best face on it — which is, that it wasn’t his war.

As long as the coke freak Zelensky remains in charge, Ukraine will be negotiation-unworthy, as the Russian phrase goes. So, US-Russia peace talks were largely diplomatic showbiz. Both Putin and Mr. Trump were painfully aware of this, and hence, Mr. Trump’s latest performative bluster about “more sanctions” will probably not amount to anything. And also hence, the synchronized idiocy on display in France, Germany, and the UK. They were all-in on the neo-con scheme that is now falling apart and its failure has driven them plumb crazy. As the US drops out of the stupid proxy war, they declare their intention to take it from here and go beat-up Russia. Their war-drums are teaspoons beating on so many quiches.

Soon-to-be chancellor Friedrich Merz proposes an 800-billion-Euro debt spree to finance the re-arming of Germany, which, just now, is utterly incapable of war. He is insane. German industry is collapsing from a lack of affordable natural gas (as arranged by “Joe Biden” blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines, danke schön). Turning Volkswagen factories to missile production will not help the German people one bit. It probably will remind them about the Weimar hyper-inflation, though. Mr. Trump, the uber-realist, knows that the Russians are going to roll up in Ukraine this spring and there is increasingly not much that can be done about that, except to try to put the best face on it — which is, that it wasn’t his war. As long as the coke freak Zelensky remains in charge, Ukraine will be negotiation-unworthy, as the Russian phrase goes.

So, US-Russia peace talks were largely diplomatic showbiz. Both Putin and Mr. Trump were painfully aware of this, and hence, Mr. Trump’s latest performative bluster about “more sanctions” will probably not amount to anything. And also hence, the synchronized idiocy on display in France, Germany, and the UK. They were all-in on the neo-con scheme that is now falling apart and its failure has driven them plumb crazy. As the US drops out of the stupid proxy war, they declare their intention to take it from here and go beat-up Russia. Their war-drums are teaspoons beating on so many quiches.

Soon-to-be chancellor Friedrich Merz proposes an 800-billion-Euro debt spree to finance the re-arming of Germany, which, just now, is utterly incapable of war. He is insane. German industry is collapsing from a lack of affordable natural gas (as arranged by “Joe Biden” blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines, danke schön). Turning Volkswagen factories to missile production will not help the German people one bit. It probably will remind them about the Weimar hyper-inflation, though. Macron pledges to put French boots on the ground in Ukraine. Ain’t gonna happen. Today, his stooge judiciary found political rival Marine LePen guilty of a Mickey Mouse offense in order to bar her from running against him in the next election. Ain’t gonna work. He will provoke the biggest national uprising since the Bastille.

His government will be too busy putting down French Revolution 2.0 to play war games in history’s graveyard of armies. Maybe he’ll try nukes. I’m sure that’ll work — if you’re eager to see Russian hypersonic “hazelnuts” rain down on the Île-de-France. And then, there is the amazing idiot PM Keir Starmer in the UK, calling on his “coalition of the willing” to step up and intervene in the lost cause that is Ukraine. How many hands went up on that call? For practical purposes, the Brits have no war-fighting capacity whatsoever, and no resources for generating such capacity. And, anyway, they are facing some dreadful combo of a civil war / internal jihad against their own indigenous population, plus an economic collapse cherry-on-top.

Lawyer “sundance” doesn’t think Patel and Bongino have what it takes.

• Current Status: FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino (CTH)

Kash Patel and Dan Bongino both fail to understand the severity of the compromise underneath them. Hence the “95% honorable” quote by Patel recently. The core issue is that institutional corruption is the status of the FBI. That is challenging to deal with and simply cannot be addressed (in any reasonable timeframe, or effect) from the top of the leadership pyramid. The various downstream field offices of the same institution (there are hundreds) will keep Patel/Bongino flush with busy work and positive investigative outcomes for them to announce on television. [see VA recently] That approach purposefully satiates a reviewing audience yet leaves the process under them without oversight.

Corrupt FBI officials continue operations as needed (influence selling, evidence burying, pay-to-play investigative outcomes, DC monitoring, money laundering, trafficking, drugs and generally willful blindness to their outside group partners) and simultaneously push specific attention-grabbing info up the ladder toward leadership offices in DC. [As decades of top-down corruption took over, it slowly permeated the field offices. Most of the really good FBI officials; those who did not want to follow a path paved with the need to join the internal corruption; took up FBI positions in foreign countries. The good guys, the SMEs are overseas now, having long left the domestic rank and vile behind them.] Kash Patel and Dan Bongino would likely make excellent FBI special operation compliance officers and internal auditors. That’s where the real impact can be delivered [think Elliot Ness approach].

However, as leaders of the institution, the function of their role – as outwardly prestigious as it might seem, essentially isolates them with busy work. They must assign the role of compliance and audit review below them, to the same internal silo operators who have previously been identified as working within a corrupted institution. You might note that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noticed this need very quickly, because he was/is a subject matter expert in large institutional leadership. Bessent has experience, Patel and Bongino do not. Secretary Bessent hired/promoted/moved the IRS whistleblowers into strategic position; to become the heads of an internal compliance and audit team, reporting almost exclusively to Bessent himself. Bongino and Patel would have been good in similar roles within the FBI organization. However, as heads of the agency they can affect very little operational change.

Yes, they can steer the ship, but it is the chief engineer who determines the speed of the vessel. The mechanics within the FBI will simply control the speed and wait out the leadership. Kash and Dan will then play a long game of whac-a-mole, removing each identified agent stalling as they are discovered. This will take more years than they have. Contrast that FBI approach (Patel, saying everyone is awesome) with Treasury (Bessent, saying there’s an institutional problem here), and you will understand the visible absence of accountability. So far, the duo has not publicly admitted the severity of the corruption they sit atop; let alone announce a plan to deal with it. Ergo the intellectually honest person who understand the silo operations, only expect soundbites and pretenses.

Or, think of the problem like President Trump and Elon Musk (DOGE) to the total executive branch. President Trump is the tip-top of the silo. Elon Musk and DOGE are the compliance/audit officers, reviewing each agency – taking action and reporting back to the principal, President Trump. Both President Trump and Elon Musk are familiar leading massive organizations (high competence, high motivation). However, even with their incredible large institutional skillset, both Trump and Musk need to break down the responsibilities using DOGE. Musk hires highly competent highly motivated DOGE members to do the actual compliance and audits. Again, Kash Patel and Dan Bongino do not possess the same executive leadership skills (they are low competence, high motivation). The pair of FBI directors need high-direction and high-support to overcome their competency challenge.

If the institutional corruption within the FBI was being addressed, we would not need to be told the institutional corruption within the FBI was being addressed. We would be able to visibly see it. Ex. If Treasury was saying 95% of IRS employees were honorable and good, Secretary Bessent would not be removing tens-of-thousands of IRS agents. The FBI reportedly has around 48,000 agents/employees. Step one begins as President Trump, Elon Musk and Scott Bessent each noted. First, admitting there’s an institutional problem. Patel and Bongino are denying they have an institutional problem. I/We want to see Kash Patel and Dan Bongino succeed. However, it takes large system executive leadership skills to execute any effective reform strategy. Patel and Bongino would be excellent compliance officers, unfortunately that’s not the role they have been assigned to. That’s the problem.

“Hold to no illusions: There is nothing beyond this reality …”.

““Sanctions are neither temporary nor targeted measures; they constitute a mechanism of systemic, strategic pressure against our nation.”

• Transactional Weakness Tips The Balance of Power (Alastair Crooke)

The post-WWII geo-political outcome effectively determined the post-war global economic structure. Both are now undergoing huge change. What remains stuck fast however, is the general (Western) weltanschauung that everything must ‘change’ only for it to stay the same. Things financial will continue as before; do not disturb the slumber. The assumption is that the oligarch/donor class will see to it that things remain the same. However, the power distribution of the post-war era was unique. There is nothing ‘forever’ about it; nothing inherently permanent. At a recent conference of Russian industrialists and entrepreneurs, President Putin highlighted both the global fracture, and set out an alternate vision which is likely to be adopted by BRICS and many beyond. His address was, metaphorically speaking, the financial counterpart to his 2007 Munich Security Forum speech, at which he accepted the military défie posed by ‘collective NATO’.

Putin is now hinting that Russia has accepted the challenge posed by the post-war financial order. Russia has persevered against the financial war, and is prevailing in that too. Putin’s address last week was, in one sense, nothing really new: It reflected the classic doctrine of the former premier, Yevgeny Primakov. No romantic about the West, Primakov understood its hegemonic world order would always treat Russia as a subordinate. So he proposed a different model – the multipolar order – where Moscow balances power blocs, but does not join them. At its heart, the Primakov Doctrine was the avoidance of binary alignments; the preservation of sovereignty; the cultivation of ties with other great powers, and the rejection of ideology in favour of a Russian nationalist vision.

Today’s negotiations with Washington (now narrowly centred on Ukraine) reflect this logic. Russia isn’t begging for sanctions relief or threatening anything specific. It is conducting strategic procrastination: waiting out electoral cycles, testing Western unity, and keeping all doors ajar. Yet Putin is not adverse either to exerting a little pressure of his own – the window for accepting Russian sovereignty of the four eastern oblasts is not forever: “This point can also move”, he said. It is not Russia racing ahead with the negotiations; quite the reverse – it is Trump who is racing ahead. Why? It appears to hark back to the American attachment to Kissinger-esque triangulation strategy: Subordinate Russia; peel away Iran; and then peel Russia from China. Offer carrots and threaten to ‘stick’ to Russia, and once subordinated in this way, Russia might then be detached from Iran – thus removing any Russian impediments to an Israel-Washington Axis attack on Iran.

Primakov, were he here, likely would be warning that Trump’s ‘Big Strategy’ is to tie Russia into subordinate status quickly, so that Trump can continue the Israel normalisation of the entire Middle East. Witkoff has made Trump’s strategy very plain: “The next thing is: we need to deal with Iran … they’re a benefactor of proxy armies … but if we can get these terrorist organisations eliminated as risks … Then we’ll normalise everywhere. I think Lebanon could normalise with Israel …That’s really possible … Syria, too: So maybe Jolani in Syria [now] is a different guy. They’ve driven Iran out … ImagineImagine if Lebanon … Syria … and the Saudis sign a normalisation treaty with Israel … I mean that would be epic!” U.S. officials say the deadline for an Iran ‘decision’ is in the spring … And with Russia reduced to supplicant status and Iran dealt with (in such fantastical thinking), Team Trump can turn to the main adversary – China.

Putin, of course, understands this well, and duly debunked all such illusions: “Set illusions aside”, he told delegates last week: “Sanctions and restrictions are today’s reality – together with a new spiral of economic rivalry already unleashed …”. “Hold to no illusions: There is nothing beyond this reality …”. “Sanctions are neither temporary nor targeted measures; they constitute a mechanism of systemic, strategic pressure against our nation. Regardless of global developments or shifts in the international order, our competitors will perpetually seek to constrain Russia and diminish its economic and technological capacities …”. “You should not hope for complete freedom of trade, payments and capital transfers. You should not count on Western mechanisms to protect the rights of investors and entrepreneurs … I’m not talking about any legal systems – they just don’t exist! They exist there only for themselves! That’s the trick. Do you understand?!”.

“Trump can end the conflict by ceasing to participate. There is no reason for bureaucrats and emissaries to hold endless negotiations.”

• Deep State Uses NY Times to Announce Its Withdrawal from Ukraine (PCR)

Last Saturday the New York Times completely abandoned the official narrative of the Ukraine Conflict, thus overturning the apple cart full of lies. Jeff Childers gives us the gist of the New York Times abandonment of the ruling lie. https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/narrative-whiplash-sunday-march-30. What is the explanation? My guess is that the Deep State has decided to abandon the conflict and is most likely the author of the Times’ article. The purpose of the article is to set up Zelensky as the scapegoat who caused the war to be lost and to get rid of him so that the conflict can be brought to an end.

These paragraphs show the purpose: It was going according to plan, the Times sadly said, “until it wasn’t.” The problem wasn’t the Russians, the Americans, or even the slowly draining numbers of trained Ukrainian military forces. No, the problem was one spotlight-hogging Vladimir Zelenskyy. With two y’s, for you’ve got to be kidding me, squared. “Zelensky was hoping to attend the United Nations General Assembly,” the Times reported. “A showing of progress on the battlefield would bolster his case for additional military support. So the Ukrainians upended the plan at the last minute — a preview of a fundamental disconnect that would increasingly shape the arc of the war.”

Childers’ translation: Zelensky started making his own decisions —ones not approved by the Americans— and the war began unraveling. A few of us have known from day one that the Ukraine conflict was Washington’s war run out of Wiesbaden. The questions are: Why didn’t Putin know, and if he did know why didn’t he do anything? Now that the New York Times has admitted that the conflict in Ukraine was America’s war with Russia disguised as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a war that, as I have often said, Trump has no stake in, Trump can end the conflict by ceasing to participate. There is no reason for bureaucrats and emissaries to hold endless negotiations. Trump simply declares the war is over. Let’s hope Trump and Putin have the wits to see this.

United Auto Workers (UAW).

• Trump’s Auto Tariffs Just Got a Huge Endorsement (Margolis)

United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain, who backed Kamala Harris in last year’s election, just delivered the most significant endorsement yet of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign-made automobiles. Defying the left’s narrative, Fain called the tariffs a necessary tool to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. Speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Fain agreed with Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro’s assessment that American auto plants are operating at only 60% capacity, which leaves plenty of room to ramp up production domestically. “He’s spot on,” Fain said, citing the example of Stellantis, which recently laid off 2,000 workers in Warren, Mich., after shifting Ram truck production to Mexico. “They could shift that work back in very short order and be producing Ram trucks right back there and put those people back to work.”

Fain also pointed to Volkswagen, which he called “the biggest violator of all” for its reliance on Mexican production. “Seventy-five percent of their production for the North American market is made in Mexico, so they can shift product there overnight,” he said, emphasizing that American plants can absorb that production. Recalling World War II, Fain argued that America has successfully repurposed its manufacturing base before. “The way that we formed the Arsenal of Democracy that won the war was, they took the excess capacity of all the automotive manufacturing plants in the country and produced tanks and planes and bombs and engines and all those things,” he said. “And it’s no different right now.”

“And Shawn, for people who are listening to you, how do tariffs make that happen?’ asked Major Garrett. “What is the relationship between a 20 or 25% tariff and getting that capacity back up to where you’d like to see it?” When asked how tariffs would help restore domestic auto production, Fain said they would serve as a deterrent against offshoring. “Well, because, like everything, the companies abuse the process,” he said. “They’re in the pursuit of driving a race to the bottom.” He referenced Ross Perot’s warning in 1992 about the “giant sucking sound” of jobs leaving under NAFTA, adding, “He was spot on.”

Fain noted that 90,000 manufacturing plants have closed in the past 30 years, including 65 facilities belonging to the Big Three automakers. He cited ongoing threats to move production from Wisconsin’s John Deere plant and Pennsylvania’s Mack Truck facility to Mexico. “Tariffs are a tool in the toolbox,” Fain said. “They’re not the end-all solution. We have to fix the broken trade system. But the way tariffs work, I mean, it’s a motivator, because there’s going to be a penalty for everything the companies ship in here, and I’ve had companies tell us, point blank, that they’re going to have to bring product back here if those tariffs are implemented.”

“..I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are going to buy American-made cars. We have plenty.”

• Trump Says ‘Couldn’t Care Less’ If Foreign Auto Makers Raise Prices (ET)

President Donald Trump said on March 29 that he did not ask automotive CEOs to avoid raising prices in response to sweeping tariffs and that he “couldn’t care less” if they do so on foreign-made cars. The Trump administration is poised to levy 25 percent tariffs on all foreign-made automobiles and components on April 2, with temporary exceptions given to companies that import vehicles or parts under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) until the government creates a process for applying those duties, according to the White House. Trump made the comments in a Saturday phone interview with NBC News. He was asked about his recent message to automotive industry executives and whether he warned them against raising prices. “The message is congratulations, if you make your car in the United States, you’re going to make a lot of money. If you don’t, you’re going to have to probably come to the United States, because if you make your car in the United States, there is no tariff,” Trump said, adding that he never told them not to raise prices.

“No, I never said that. I couldn’t care less if they raise prices, because people are going to start buying American-made cars,” he said. “I couldn’t care less. I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are going to buy American-made cars. We have plenty.” The president emphasized that he wasn’t concerned about car prices increasing. “No, I couldn’t care less, because if the prices on foreign cars go up, they’re going to buy American cars,” Trump said. Following the interview, one of the president’s aides clarified to NBC that Trump was specifically talking about an increase in foreign car prices. The Epoch Times has requested a full transcript of the call from NBC. Trump also said the 25 percent tariffs on foreign cars and components would be permanent.

“Absolutely, they’re permanent, sure. The world has been ripping off the United States for the last 40 years and more. And all we’re doing is being fair, and frankly, I’m being very generous,” he said. Set to take effect on April 2, which he has referred to as “Liberation Day,” the tariffs will also hit a variety of other consumer goods. Trump said on Saturday that he prefers to not further delay the implementation of those tariffs, but he would consider negotiations “only if people are willing to give us something of great value. Because countries have things of great value, otherwise, there’s no room for negotiation.” The Trump administration has said its goal with the tariffs is to promote American manufacturing and equalize the nation’s trade deficit worldwide.

“Maybe we need to add some more history lessons back in schools,” Musk said. “Do they know what Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin did? It seems they don’t.”

• Musk Demolishes Media’s Trump-Dictator Fantasy (Margolis)

Elon Musk headlined a town hall in Green Bay, Wisc., on Sunday evening, just days before Wisconsin voters decide a pivotal state Supreme Court race. During the event, Musk underscored his opposition to activist judges by signing two $1 million checks to supporters of an online petition against judicial overreach. Wearing a Wisconsin cheesehead, which he later autographed and tossed into the crowd, Musk used the event to highlight the stakes in the election between conservative candidate Brad Schimel and Democrat-backed Susan Crawford. During his speech, he also sharply criticized the media’s treatment of President Trump, calling out the absurdity of comparisons between Trump and some of history’s most notorious dictators. Musk argued that such hyperbole reveals both a political agenda and a fundamental failure in historical education.

“They’ve called President Trump every name in the book,” Musk said. “I think there was one article that called the president worse than Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin combined.” Musk dismissed such comparisons as not only ridiculous but also factually indefensible. “Uh, actually, President Trump has not killed anyone,” he said. “In fact, he’s very good at stopping wars — not starting them.” Musk’s comments reflect a growing frustration with the left-wing media’s efforts to demonize Trump, often with exaggerated and unfounded claims. The idea that leftists could equate Trump with mass-murdering dictators, Musk suggested, exposes a serious lack of historical knowledge among those making these arguments. “Maybe we need to add some more history lessons back in schools,” Musk said. “Do they know what Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin did? It seems they don’t.”

Musk argued that this ignorance is not accidental but rather a consequence of a broken education system that fails to properly teach history. He placed much of the blame on the Department of Education and accused it of pushing a politicized curriculum that leaves students with a skewed understanding of world events. “It’s just indicative of the poor quality of education pushed by the National Department of Education,” Musk said. He went on to call for a return to state control over education, arguing that bureaucrats in Washington have hijacked the system to promote ideological agendas rather than genuine learning. “That’s why we want to restore freedom to the states — let the states decide on the educational agenda and not have something pushed by a bunch of neo-Marxists in D.C.,” Musk said.

Conservatives have long sought to decentralize education and empower parents and local governments to have a greater say in what children are taught. Trump signed an executive order earlier this month to begin dismantling the Department of Education. “After 45 years, the United States spends more money on education by far than any other country and spends, likewise, by far, more money per pupil than any country,” Trump said. “And it’s not even close. But yet we rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success.”Trump added, “Seventy percent of eighth graders are not proficient in either reading or in math.” Even more troubling, “Forty percent of fourth graders lack even basic reading skills, can’t read.” He noted that public school students today perform worse in reading than when the Department of Education was created.

“DOGE is basically exposing that the United States is corrupt and a shitty place to do business.”

• Gold in Hyperdrive in Hyper-Levered House of Cards – Bill Holter (USAW)

Precious metals expert and financial writer Bill Holter has long said there is a long list of financial trouble coming to America. DOGE (Department of Government Accountability)has put the financial reckoning for massive debt and fraud into hyperdrive. Gold smells big trouble with another new record high just last week. Gold is in hyperdrive in an economic hyper-levered house of cards. Holter explains, “Gold is now considered a Tier 1 asset, but more importantly, gold cannot bankrupt. I think big money is looking at the financial system and understanding that it is a hyper-levered house of cards or Ponzi scheme. Sovereign Treasuries from across the world can and, highly likely, will default in some cases.

Gold and silver cannot default. Gold and silver are money. This fiat experiment started off with dollars, European currencies, the yen, etcetera. They were derivatives of gold. . . . They have had several suppression schemes to keep the price down, and they desperately have to keep the price of silver down because if silver runs, gold is going to follow. High and rising gold process are basically a vote of no confidence by the international community.” Don’t underestimate how disruptive DOGE cutting fraud and waste will be on the economy. Holter points out, “The last time we interviewed, we talked about DOGE and all of this slush money being paid out. Look at the 14 magic money machines that Elon Musk has found. All this money being spewed into the economy registers as GDP.

So, if you shut those spigots off, you are shutting off the money, and the real economy slows down. There is less cash flow from that. The real danger, and I am not so sure it is by accident, is this Trump’s idea of pulling the plug? I have to believe he understands that by cutting the spending or cutting the capital that is going into the system, with the system as leveraged as it is right now, it’s going to take everything down. What you are doing is cutting off new money to the Ponzi scheme, and no Ponzi scheme can survive without continually getting new money coming into it.” Holter also says, “The United States was considered for years and years the safe haven because of its pristine rule of law. When you pull the curtain back and everything is rotten, confidence breaks.

You are not going to have money moving into the US for safe haven status. You are going to have money leaving the United States. It’s not just the money that is not going to hit the streets because of DOGE, but mentally because of the corruption they are exposing. DOGE is basically exposing that the United States is corrupt and a shitty place to do business.” In closing, Holter says, “DOGE revealing that they just pay money out of thin air is a huge problem. You can’t do the math if you don’t have good numbers. . . . If we can glean that they are going to cut $500 billion or $1 trillion or $2 trillion and we can figure out that is a problem for the real economy and the financial markets, don’t you think the people running the show know that? That tells me they are purposely pulling the rug out from under the system. It’s game over.”

“Ironically, Fox News is more diverse than NPR and has more Democratic viewers than CNN or MSNBC..”

• NPR’s CEO Just Made the Best Case Yet for Defunding NPR (Turley)

“This is NPR.” Unfortunately for National Public Radio, that proved all too true this week. In one of the most cringeworthy appearances in Congress, Katherine Maher imploded in a House hearing on the public funding of the liberal radio outlet. By the end of her series of contradictions and admissions, Maher had made the definitive case for ending public funding for NPR and state-subsidized media. Many of us have written for years about the biased reporting at NPR. Not all of this criticism was made out of hostility toward the outlet — many honestly wanted NPR to reverse course and adopt more balanced coverage. That is why, when NPR was searching for a new CEO, I encouraged the board to hire a moderate figure without a history of political advocacy or controversy.

Instead, the board selected Katherine Maher, a former Wikipedia CEO widely criticized for her highly partisan and controversial public statements. She was the personification of advocacy journalism, even declaring that the First Amendment is the “number one challenge” that makes it “tricky” to censor or “modify” content as she would like. Maher has supported “deplatforming” anyone she deems to be “facsists” and even suggested that she might support “punching Nazis.” She also declared that “our reverence for the truth might be a distraction [in] getting things done.” As expected, the bias at NPR only got worse. The leadership even changed a longstanding rule barring journalists from joining political protests.

One editor had had enough. Uri Berliner had watched NPR become an echo chamber for the far left with a virtual purging of all conservatives and Republicans from the newsroom. Berliner noted that NPR’s Washington headquarters has 87 registered Democrats among its editors and zero Republicans. Maher and NPR remained dismissive of such complaints. Maher attacked the award-winning Berliner for causing an “affront to the individual journalists who work incredibly hard.” She called his criticism “profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning.” Berliner resigned, after noting how Maher’s “divisive views confirm the very problems at NPR” that he had been pointing out. For years, NPR continued along this path, but then came an election in which Republicans won both houses of Congress and the White House. The bill came due this week.

Much of NPR’s time to testify was exhausted with Maher’s struggle to deny or defend her own past comments. When asked about her past public statements that Trump is a “deranged, racist sociopath,” she said that she would not post such views today. She similarly brushed off her statements that America is “addicted to White supremacy” and her view that the use of the words “boy and girl” constitute “erasing language” for non-binary people. When asked about her past assertion that the U.S. was founded on “black plunder and white democracy,” Maher said she no longer believed what she had said. When asked about her support for the book “The Case for Reparations,” Maher denied any memory of ever having read the book. She was then read back her own public statements about how she took a day to read the book in a virtue-signaling post.

She then denied calling for reparations, but was read back her own declaration: “Yes, the North, yes all of us, yes America. Yes, our original collective sin and unpaid debt. Yes, reparations. Yes, on this day.” She then bizarrely claimed she had not meant giving Black people actual money, or “fiscal reparations.” When given statistics on the bias in NPR’s hiring and coverage, Maher seemed to shrug as she said she finds such facts “concerning.” The one moment of clarity came when Maher was asked about NPR’s refusal to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story. When first disclosed, with evidence of millions in alleged influence-peddling by the Biden family, NPR’s then-managing editor Terence Samuels made a strident and even mocking statement: “We don’t want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don’t want to waste the listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions.”

Now Maher wants Congress to know that “NPR acknowledges we were mistaken in failing to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story more aggressively and sooner.” All it took was the threat of a complete cutoff of federal funding. In the end, NPR’s bias and contempt for the public over the years is well-documented. But this should not be the reason for cutting off such funding. Rather, the cutoff should be based on the principle that democracies do not selectively subsidize media outlets. We have long rejected the model of state media, and it is time we reaffirmed that principle. (I also believe there is ample reason to terminate funding for Voice of America, although that is a different conversation.) Many defenders of NPR would be apoplectic if the government were to fund such competitors as Fox News. Indeed, Democratic members previously sought to pressure cable carriers to drop Fox, the most popular cable news channel. (For full disclosure, I am a Fox News legal analyst.)

Ironically, Fox News is more diverse than NPR and has more Democratic viewers than CNN or MSNBC. Berliner revealed that according to NPR’s demographic research, only 6 percent of its audience is Black and only 7 percent Hispanic. According to Berliner, only 11 percent of NPR listeners describe themselves as very or somewhat conservative. He further stated that NPR’s audience is mostly liberal white Democrats in coastal cities and college towns. NPR’s audience declined from 60 million weekly listeners in 2020 to just 42 million in 2024 — a drop of nearly 33 percent. This means Democrats are fighting to force taxpayers to support a biased left-wing news outlet with a declining audience of mainly affluent white liberal listeners.

Compounding this issue is the fact that this country is now $36.22 trillion in debt, and core federal programs are now being cut back. To ask citizens (including the half of voters who just voted for Trump) to continue to subsidize one liberal news outlet is embarrassing. It is time for NPR to compete equally in the media market without the help of federal subsidies. If there was any doubt about that conclusion, it was surely dispatched by Maher’s appearance. After years of objections over its biases, the NPR board hired a CEO notorious for her activism and far-left viewpoints. Now, Maher is the face of NPR as it tries to convince the public that it can be trusted to reform itself. Her denials and deflections convinced no one. Indeed, Maher may have been the worst possible figure to offer such assurances. That is the price of hubris and “this is NPR.”

“Peter Marks—a top FDA regulator and pro-vaxxer..”

• Vaccine Stocks Tank, Moderna Craters As FDA Top Regulator Steps Down (ZH)

Vaccine stocks tumbled in the early U.S. cash session after Peter Marks—a top FDA regulator and pro-vaxxer—abruptly resigned on Friday. Wall Street analysts view Marks’ departure as a bearish signal for vaccine stocks, such as Moderna, Novavax, BioNTech, and others, which already face mounting headwinds, including a wave of layoffs expected at the Department of Health and Human Services. Moderna puked at the open, down 12% in early trading, while the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF sank 2%. Other makers of vaccine stocks plunged, including Novavax -10% and BioNTech -5.8%. Moderna shares are also down 95% from peak Covid highs.

Bloomberg provided color on Marks’ role and how his departure is bearish for the industry: As the leader of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Marks was a key figure in the quick approvals of Covid vaccines during the pandemic. Along with shots, he was responsible for the agency’s evaluation of cutting-edge treatments such as cell and gene therapies. In his resignation letter, Marks cited friction with the views of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine critic. “I was willing to work to address the Secretary’s concerns regarding vaccine safety and transparency,” he said. “However it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”

Analysts—including BMO Capital Markets’ Evan David Seigerman—view the departure as a “significant negative” for the biotech and biopharma sectors. “It’s no secret that Biotech has been under immense pressure recently given broader macro issues, this unfortunate update does nothing to reassure investors or provide relief,” Seigerman told clients, adding that gene and cell therapy companies are under pressure given Marks’ relationship with many of them. Here’s further analyst insight into the change of guard at the FDA in the era of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. running the Department of Health and Human Services (courtesy of Bloomberg):

William Blair, Matt Larew: “Expects in the space could weaken further given that Marks “was a cheerleader for innovation in biotech and strong supporter of new modalities”. Says Marks’s departure and the recently announced HHS cuts stack on top of “an unsettlingly large pile of news flow in the space year-to-date that creates uncertainty for funding, regulatory and approval processes, and supply chains”. Adds that the steady stream of negative news flow “has simply been too much for stocks in the space to overcome

RBC Capital Markets, Brian Abrahams: Says the news is not good for the biotech industry even beyond vaccines, as Marks had been a key advocate for more flexible, efficient approval processes for drugs particularly those for orphan diseases such as gene therapies. “We expect some weakness for biotech as uncertainty continues to be perpetuated”. Truist, Joon Lee: Says news of the resignation could put some pressure on companies whose drugs are currently, or planned to be, under review by the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Researc Last week, Bloomberg reported that leaked documents reveal the Trump administration plans to slash $28 billion in global health initiatives—including funding cuts to Bill Gates’ vaccine alliance, Gavi.

https://twitter.com/liz_churchill10/status/1906368113592893525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1906368113592893525%7Ctwgr%5E312b7553902375ec8d728fda6389ba2d59746f7b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Fvaccine-stocks-tank-after-fda-biologics-head-abruptly-steps-down-era-rfk-jr

We could have known this years ago.

• Repeat COVID Vaccines Provoke Two Kinds Of Inferior Antibodies (JTN)

As the Trump administration winds down the National Institutes of Health’s devotion to increasing COVID-19 vaccine uptake, expanding mRNA technology and policing purported wrongthink, its incoming director – dubbed a “fringe epidemiologist” by a predecessor – will have no shortage of supportive research to call upon. Spanish scientists documented a second so-called class switch in people with “repeated” mRNA COVID jabs, meaning their bodies start churning out two kinds of antibodies that learn to live with infection rather than destroy it, not just the IgG4 antibodies observed in prior studies. “IgG4 is primarily involved in regulatory functions, and is associated with immune tolerance and chronic antigen exposure,” while IgG2 targets “polysaccharide antigens” and “has received less attention” in the context of weakening immune response to COVID, they wrote this month in the British Infection Association’s Journal of Infection.

“Here, we show that higher levels of IgG4 and IgG2, as well as higher proportions of non-cytophilic [nonbinding] to cytophilic antibodies, following booster vaccination, are associated with a heightened risk of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infection.” IgG1 and IgG3 antibodies, by contrast, are better at activating immune system reactions to neutralize COVID, though the researchers caution that IgG2 and IgG4 “may also help prevent severe COVID-19 by mitigating inflammation-driven pathology.” German scientists also took a glass-is-half-full approach in a study published earlier this week in the European Molecular Biology Organization’s Molecular Systems Biology. The University of Cologne researchers found that at least two consecutive mRNA jabs “induce a highly dynamic and persistent training of innate immune cells enabling a sustained pro-inflammatory [neutralizing] immune response,” but cautioned it’s unknown whether they lead to “long-term alterations of innate immune cells with corresponding epigenetic alterations.”

Even before Stanford medical professor Jay Bhattacharya’s Senate confirmation as director this week, NIH’s attitude toward mRNA technology had reportedly turned. Unnamed researchers told Kaiser Family Foundation Health News mid-month that NIH officials were urging them to remove mRNA references from grant applications.

A National Cancer Institute senior official said acting Director Matthew Memoli asked staff to report mRNA grants, contracts or collaborations to the White House and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s office – the same thing Memoli did before NIH canceled vaccine hesitancy studies, KFF Health News said. The morning Bhattacharya was confirmed – he hadn’t been sworn in as of late Friday – NIH told staff in an email titled “URGENT” to compile grants and contracts related to “fighting misinformation or disinformation … any form of censorship at all or directing people to believe one idea over another related to health outcomes,” STAT News reported. The email, which asked for responses by noon Wednesday, gave examples such as contracts to promote vaccine uptake and public health messages about the “dangers of Covid or not wearing masks,” STAT said, though the medical news organization falsely claimed it was Bhattacharya’s “first day” until investigative journalist Paul Thacker fact-checked it.

The Kennedy-founded Children’s Health Defense said Thursday its Freedom of Information Act requests revealed which grants and contracts were likely on the chopping block, some of which concerned pushing HPV vaccines on adolescents with resistant parents. Prompted by NewsNation host Chris Cuomo, Kennedy said Thursday that NIH would continue a Biden administration-created division “devoted to studying long COVID,” but also that HHS was “incorporating an agency within” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “that is going to specialize in vaccine injuries,” which is Kennedy’s long-term concern. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is meeting in mid-April to review data and vote on recommendations, following an unexplained February postponement. The agency recently added a page to its website on advisers’ conflicts of interest.

Soon Shiong – Clear the virus

Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong says spike vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna) don’t clear the virus. Persistent spike + new infections may cause replication, inflammation, and immunosuppression—cancer hallmarks. This, with toxins like PFAS, may explain rising cancer in the young. pic.twitter.com/9X9iNnigEr

— Camus (@newstart_2024) March 30, 2025

Dive

Nothing special to see, just an army of piglets queuing up to dive.pic.twitter.com/GJJ85j9VF7

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) March 31, 2025

Reunite

Two loving swans are reunited and their joy is absolutely infectious. pic.twitter.com/uWp0nkh8v0

— The Figen (@TheFigen_) March 30, 2025

Rain

Beautiful https://t.co/NUygSurDXu

— Dr. Urso (@richardursomd) March 31, 2025

Donkey
https://twitter.com/Yoda4ever/status/1906408751479107639

Owl
https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1906575964160602318

Their pumpkin orange eyes and feathery ear tufts make Eurasian Eagle-owls one of the most striking birds in the world.

Even as newborn.pic.twitter.com/q7L7GXvFT8

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) April 1, 2025

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Debt Rattle March 11 2025

Mar 112025

March 11, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:26 am Finance Tagged with: Deep State, Elon Musk, Georgescu, government shutdown, mother lode, nukes, peace, security clearance, Trump 50 Responses »

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.

Elon Musk

"The President is the elected representative of the people. If the President cannot get things implemented as a reflection of the will of the people, then what we have is not a Democracy, we have a Bureaucracy. Rule of the bureau, not rule of the people.” pic.twitter.com/OkZBAN0Roz

— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) March 11, 2025

https://twitter.com/cb_doge/status/1899204618669949109

OH SHIT‼️

Elon Musk confirms Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, and Reid Hoffman as Epstein Clients

“Epstein clients, who are obviously extremely powerful politically and very wealthy… Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, and Reid Hoffman, and some others too.”

• Rogan expresses displeasure… pic.twitter.com/EmyEHrcuzw

— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) March 1, 2025

TUCKER: “Someone was being discussed for a job in the intel world. A member of the Senate Intel Committee … said you cannot hire this person because this person will … push for the release of the JFK files”

CUOMO: “So why don't you expose that person?”

TUCKER: “Tom Cotton” pic.twitter.com/cgxHTuwMeB

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) March 11, 2025

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.

• 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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

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.

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.

“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.

“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.”

“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.

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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

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.”

“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?

It’s so beautiful pic.twitter.com/H29C13Gbxj

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 10, 2025

Raw power. pic.twitter.com/ZcrUTlsJta

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) March 9, 2025

https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1899164823176319434

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Debt Rattle January 23 2025

Jan 232025

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

Wassily Kandinsky Succession 1935

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

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

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

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

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

• The Second Era of Trump Begins (Wegmann)

• Trump Begins Deep State Purge At DOJ (ZH)

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

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

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

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

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

• The Age of Interplanetary Exceptionalism (Pepe Escobar)

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

• Birthright Citizenship Isn’t Real (Ryan McMaken)

• The Final Corruption of Joe Biden (Turley)

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

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

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

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

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

Nixon

The CIA murders JFK.

The Warren Commission absolves the CIA.

Nixon knows the CIA murdered JFK.

4 of the 5 Watergate burglars work for the CIA.

The CIA frames Nixon for Watergate.

Ford is chosen as Nixon's replacement.

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

— Bridgett Fertig (@LightOnLiberty) January 22, 2025

Bondi

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

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

— @amuse (@amuse) January 21, 2025

Dimon

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

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

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

— ELON CLIPS (@ElonClipsX) January 22, 2025

Boeing

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

— Tryb Media (@xTRYB_Media) January 22, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Nothing is written that moral courage cannot overcome.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• The Second Era of Trump Begins (Wegmann)

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Trump Begins Deep State Purge At DOJ (ZH)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pure insanity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• The Age of Interplanetary Exceptionalism (Pepe Escobar)

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

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

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

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

Yeah, people really want more mRNA.

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

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

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

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

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

Solid explanation.

• Birthright Citizenship Isn’t Real (Ryan McMaken)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• The Final Corruption of Joe Biden (Turley)

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

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

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

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

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

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

WHO

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

Dr. Peter McCullough

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

— DrRay (@DrNoMask) January 22, 2025

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

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

Awesome

Awesome
pic.twitter.com/yLbrsm25x3

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) January 22, 2025

Moose

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

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

Nureyev

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

It resembles his favorite oriental kilim rug.

pic.twitter.com/hYZOhKGF8u

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) January 22, 2025

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