Charles Camoin Village Street in Collioure 1912
https://twitter.com/TheStormRedux/status/1959056675177890127
Negotiating Lesson: Scott Adams mocks Canadian PM Carney for admitting Canada has the “best trade deal in the world” with the US@ScottAdamsSays “Why would we give you anything else if you just told us you had the best deal that anybody had in the whole world?” pic.twitter.com/dGmCd3XXLW
— jay plemons (@jayplemons) August 23, 2025
vdh
VD Hanson: "They raided Mar-a-Lago. They had 93 criminal indictments… They impeached him twice his first term… Two assassination attempts. And he's a Nietzschean character. It just made him stronger the more they tried to destroy him."pic.twitter.com/Uz33CIeX3v
— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) August 23, 2025
VD Hanson: "Somebody came along and beat them at their own game. And that was Trump, a master of the media… and a master of popular culture. That creates a lot of frustration on their part."pic.twitter.com/DeQqY0a5gg
— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) August 23, 2025
VD Hanson: "By and large, Trump understood that he picks issues… where he knows there's a 40-60 majority on his side. He's very clever about that… I think he is very underrated as a politician."pic.twitter.com/nHSBNkRdsX
— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) August 23, 2025
larry
The Ukraine – Russian War Was Provoked!
Larry C. Johnson veteran of the CIA and the State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism:
30 Years of Provocation by the West, 30 Years of Western Efforts to Bring Ukraine INTO NATO, 30 Years of Using, Making, Ukraine a de FACTO Member… pic.twitter.com/4qckipvM1U— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) August 24, 2025
Lawyer Sundance at the Conservative Tree House (CTH), aka The Last Refuge, had a very busy weekend. This is reflected in today’s Debt Rattle.
First, he returns to the ‘making’ of JD Vance. Did you know he had 3 other names before that one?
“Both Barry Sotero (Obama) and James Bowman (Vance) are mirror images of each other; the playbooks used to create both are identical.”
“Without Peter Thiel there is no Senator J.D. Vance.”
• “Pray For a Good Winter, but Plant Lots of Cabbages” (CTH)
Abandoned by his father to a troubled single mother; eventually raised by grandparents. He is then recruited from an Ivy league law school by shadow figures, a specific billionaire and a network of interests. He changes his name, writes a book about his life story, and with the support of the aforementioned – who eventually pays for a strategic campaign, becomes a Senator for 2 years before being quickly elevated into position in the White House. Many people reading that paragraph are familiar with the life story of Barack Hussien Obama. However, that paragraph is not describing Obama, that paragraph describes James Donald Bowman, aka J.D. Vance. On one side, we have an emotionally constructed political figure for the left. On the other side, we see an emotionally constructed political figure for the right. Each person, each emotional narrative, carrying the specific nuances to appeal to their audience; both follow the same playbook.
J.D. Vance was born James Donald Bowman in Middletown, Ohio (August 2, 1984). He then changed his name to James David Bowman. He then changed his name to James David Hamel. Eventually, in 2014, notably after Yale Law School (class of 2013, and after marrying his wife Usha, now age 30, he changed his name to write a book. It was 2014, that’s when J.D. Vance was born. Vance’s book, Hillbilly Elegy was published by Rupert Murdoch’s publishing house, Harper Collins in 2016. The book was made into a Netflix movie, [Reed Hastings] created by Imagine Entertainment and directed by Ron Howard (2020). However, the interesting background on J.D. Vance goes back to Yale, and the Obamaesque tap on the shoulder that comes from a billionaire most are familiar with, Peter Thiel (PayPal and Palantir).
Thiel first recruited Vance into his circle while Vance was still a student at Yale Law School. Shortly thereafter, Vance joined Thiel’s investment firm Mithril Capital, where he worked for two years before joining Revolution Ventures. Vance played a major role in Revolution’s “Rise of the Rest” seed fund whose major investors included Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. J.D. Vance then launched his own venture capital firm Narya Capital in 2020, using startup money from both Peter Thiel and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. From this timeline, we can see how J.D. Vance went from no money (student loans) in 2013, to big money in 2020. Everything came via Peter Thiel and Eric Schmidt, but mostly Thiel. To understand J.D. Vance as an Ohio Senator, we visit the inflection points in 2013 and the subsequent relationship with billionaire Peter Thiel (Palantir Technologies). The timeline from 2013 to now becomes important.
Billionaires Eric Schmidt and Peter Thiel are key members of the steering committee of the controversial, closed-door, and overtly globalist Bilderberg conference. Newsweek once called Schmidt and Thiel the two most influential figures at Bilderberg. Peter Thiel’s company, Palantir Tech, is the driving force of a global surveillance system using artificial intelligence (AI). Palantir has massive contract interests in U.S. military and intelligence communities. Keep in mind, Palantir is the current company creating the tech mechanisms for the U.S. government to conduct foreign and domestic surveillance. The actual technology needed by the Deep State, to advance their interests, is provided by Peter Thiel. According to the popular narrative, J.D. Vance opposes the Intelligence Community deep surveillance state, while simultaneously being the political front for the interests of Peter Thiel and Palantir Technology. This doesn’t reconcile.
Peter Thiel was the money and network behind the 2022 Ohio Senate race between J.D. Vance and Tim Ryan. It was Peter Thiel who took J.D. Vance to meet President Trump in Mar-a-Lago to get the needed endorsement to launch Vance into the U.S. Senate. Without Peter Thiel there is no Senator J.D. Vance. It is also important to remember that prior to 2018, prior to Peter Thiel becoming aligned with the FBI as a confidential human source, and prior to Vance needing the Trump endorsement, J.D. Vance was a staunch never-Trumper. J.D. Vance went from calling President Trump “a literal Hitler,” to appreciating Trump’s incredible leadership – a remarkable shift in opinion. To his strategic credit, Peter Thiel was successful in gaining both the Trump endorsement and the winning outcome of the 2022 Ohio Senate race. That success was now Senator J.D. Vance.
Within the Thiel network, you will note the aligned interests of another key financial friend and big federal contractor, Elon Musk. Together, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel form the core of a very wealthy group of modern tech political influence agents, including another Yale Law School graduate and J.D. Vance supporter, Vivek Ramaswamy. J.D. Vance named one of his three children Vivek. Suffice to say, they are close. What you have read so far is the background of how a billionaire, Peter Thiel, deeply enmeshed in the surveillance state, creates the process for the advancement of his interests. A few dozen millions are a worthy investment if the investment creates and supports the objectives of the billionaire (Palantir Technology).
As an outcome of an influence network in 2006, Senator Barack Obama was successfully installed. As an outcome of an influence network in 2022, Senator J.D. Vance was successfully installed. Both Barry Sotero (Obama) and James Bowman (Vance) are mirror images of each other; the playbooks used to create both are identical. One went through the path of community activism, the other through the military. Both paths have a target audience.
Starts with Bolton.
• Vice President JD Vance Discusses Russia-Ukraine Negotiations (CTH)
Vice President JD Vance appears on Meet the Press for an extensive interview about current events and the Russia-Ukraine negotiations. The beginning of the interview starts with questions about the FBI investigation of former National Security Advisor John Bolton.
This is what Azov wanted to hear on Ukraine’s Independence Day, yesterday And warmongers including Europeans too. Zelensky delivers.
• Zelensky Vows To Retake Crimea Despite Trump’s Peace Push (RT)
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has rejected US calls to withdraw its claim to Crimea or make any territorial concessions to Russia. In a speech marking Ukraine’s Independence Day on Sunday, Zelensky vowed to retake the peninsula, which is predominantly populated by ethnic Russians and overwhelmingly voted to join Russia after the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev. He also pledged to reclaim the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which, along with Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, joined Russia in 2022 after referendums. “Here at the zero kilometer, this is a starting point where distances to Ukrainian cities are marked – to our Donetsk, our Lugansk, our Crimea,” Zelensky said in an address filmed at Kiev’s Maidan Square, the site of the Western-backed 2014 coup.
“All of this is Ukraine… and no temporary occupation can change that. One day… we will be together again as one country. It’s only a matter of time.” While mediating peace efforts between Moscow and Kiev, US President Donald Trump has floated the idea of “land swaps,” but firmly stated that Kiev will not regain Crimea, calling that scenario “impossible.” Land issues were reportedly on the agenda at talks between Trump, Zelensky, and Kiev’s EU backers earlier this week, but Zelensky reportedly rejected proposals to cede territory. He confirmed this in his speech on Sunday, declaring: “Ukraine will never again in history be forced to bear the shame that the Russians call ‘a compromise’.” Trump has called for a one-on-one meeting between Putin and Zelensky, saying it could accelerate the peace process, but warned that the Ukrainian leader must “show flexibility,” including on territorial claims.
He congratulated Ukraine on its national holiday in a post on X, while again urging Kiev to negotiate a settlement with Moscow to “stop the senseless killing.” Putin has not ruled out meeting with Zelensky, despite questioning the Ukrainian leader’s legitimacy due to the expiration of his term, but insists that this can only happen after tangible progress in negotiations. On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Putin could meet Zelensky “when the agenda is ready for a summit,” but added that “as things stand, no meeting is planned.” Moscow has consistently maintained it will only accept a peace deal that includes Ukrainian neutrality, demilitarization, and recognition of Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye as Russian.
Lavrov has much to say. Kristen Welker is a disgrace, and embarrassing. She tries to interrupt him a thousand times -and fails-, but doesn’t listen. She’s interested only in venting her own agenda. But Lavrov is nobody’s fool.
• Russian FM Sergey Lavrov Extensive Interview On NBC’s Meet the Press (CTH)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appears on Meet the Press (NBC) to outline the Russian position on further discussions for a peace agreement with Ukraine. Lavrov notes the working group from the Russian delegation is willing to meet in Istanbul to further negotiate the parameters for any principal meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy.
“..they should pay up BIG for having the privilege of using the most valuable airwaves anywhere at anytime!”
• ABC and NBC Should Be Taken Off Air – Trump (RT)
US President Donald Trump has said news channels ABC and NBC should have their broadcasting licenses revoked. Trump has long accused major media outlets of spreading lies about him and working to undermine his presidency on behalf of the Democrats. In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump blasted ABC and NBC as “two of the absolute worst and most biased networks.” “They should lose their Licenses for their unfair coverage of Republicans and/or Conservatives, but at a minimum, they should pay up BIG for having the privilege of using the most valuable airwaves anywhere at anytime!” he wrote. He has previously labeled both networks “political pawns” of the Democrats.
In June, ABC dismissed veteran correspondent Terry Moran after he referred to senior Trump aide Stephen Miller as a “world-class hater.” In 2024, the network agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit over inaccurate comments about his sexual assault and defamation trial involving columnist E. Jean Carroll. Last month, Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, agreed to pay $16 million as part of another settlement. Trump alleged the company deceptively edited a 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who at the time was running against him in the presidential election. In July, Trump filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal’s parent company, Dow Jones, and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, over a report claiming he had sent a birthday letter to financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2000s.
..but … but… everybody keeps saying they want ALL of Ukraine…!
• Territory Is Not What Russia Is Interested In – Lavrov (RT)
Russia has no interest in seizing Ukrainian land but wants to protect ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking people from persecution by Kiev, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. In an interview with NBC on Sunday, Lavrov was asked whether halting Moscow’s military offensive was the only concession it was prepared to make. ”We don’t have any interest in territories. We have the biggest territory on Earth,” Lavrov said. “What we are concerned about… is the people who live on those lands, whose ancestors lived there for centuries.”
Lavrov said Moscow’s goal is “to remove any security threats to Russia coming from Ukrainian territory” as well as “to protect the rights of the ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking people who believe they belong to Russian culture and Russian history.” “The only way to protect them against this Nazi regime is to give them the right to express their will,” he stressed. Lavrov went on to underscore that “Ukraine has the right to exist,” but it should be ready to “let people go.” He noted, however, that Ukrainian officials have consistently sought to dehumanize and portray as “terrorists” people in its five former regions that voted to join Russia in 2014 and 2022.
Since the Western-backed armed coup in Kiev in 2014, Ukraine has moved to sever centuries-long ties with Russia and introduced restrictions on the Russian language in the media. It has also sought to phase out Russian in schools, and impose broader curbs on its use in social life. Kiev has also embarked on a campaign to eliminate cultural ties with Moscow, particularly through its controversial decommunization campaign, which involved renaming cities, streets, and landmarks that bore Soviet-era or Russian-linked names.
“They say we cannot allow the defeat of Ukraine. We cannot allow Russia to win…”
• US Seeking Diplomacy, EU Pushing War – Lavrov (RT)
Kiev’s backers in Europe want the conflict in Ukraine to continue, unlike US President Donald Trump, who seems to have genuinely embraced the path of diplomacy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. Speaking in an interview with NBC aired on Sunday, Lavrov said that the reaction of many European officials to the summit in Alaska, and also their rhetoric during follow-up talks several days later involving Vladimir Zelensky, revealed that the European NATO nations remain as bellicose as ever about the Ukraine conflict. “The reaction… of these European representatives and what they were doing… indicates that they don’t want peace. They say we cannot allow the defeat of Ukraine. We cannot allow Russia to win,” Lavrov said.
Meanwhile, the minister noted that US President Donald Trump has opted for another approach. “We respect President Trump because President Trump defends American national interests,” he said, adding that the US leader seems to respect Russian President Vladimir Putin for doing the same for his country. “What… they discuss between themselves is not a secret. We want peace in Ukraine. President Trump wants peace in Ukraine,” Lavrov stressed. He also noted that Russia and Ukraine came close to a peace agreement early in the conflict during talks in Istanbul. “We proposed several times a peaceful resolution on a diplomatic basis. And as I said, it was not us who blew up the deal… in April 2022. It was personally [then-UK Prime Minister] Boris Johnson and… several officials from the Biden administration, the French and the Germans.”
During those negotiations, Russia and Ukraine discussed a draft agreement that entailed a neutral status for Ukraine, a scaling back of Kiev’s military, and security guarantees. Moscow has accused Johnson of intervening to urge Kiev to reject the proposed deal and continue fighting, a claim the ex-UK prime minister has denied. Following the Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump held talks with Zelensky and several European leaders, which focused on potential security guarantees for Kiev. Several European governments have also floated the idea of deploying troops to Ukraine once the conflict ends, a step Russia has described as a red line.
“A game he is very good [at playing] because he wants theatrics in everything he is doing. He does not care about substance,”
• Zelensky Can’t Sign Peace Deal – Moscow (RT)
Russia is open to talks with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky given that he is the “de facto head of the regime” in Kiev, but any deals could only be signed by a legitimate representative of Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. In a rare interview with NBC aired on Sunday, Lavrov did not rule out direct talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky “provided this meeting is really going to decide something.” However, the necessary groundwork for such talks, the foreign minister stressed, has not yet been done. Lavrov acknowledged that Zelensky is the “de facto head of the regime” but said that “the issue of who is going to sign the deal on the Ukrainian side is a very serious [one],” he said. “We would need a very clear understanding by everybody that the person who is signing is legitimate.”
The Ukrainian leader’s presidential term ended more than a year ago, and he has refused to hold a new election, citing martial law. Russia has since proclaimed him “illegitimate.” Lavrov also suggested that Zelensky’s calls for a meeting with Putin are “basically a game” and a way to strengthen the Ukrainian leader’s questionable legitimacy. “A game he is very good [at playing] because he wants theatrics in everything he is doing. He does not care about substance,” he said. Moscow sees no point in talks destined to yield no results due to Kiev’s position, Lavrov said, pointing out cases where Zelensky has directly defied US President Donald Trump. “Zelensky said no to everything… He clearly stated that nobody can prohibit him from joining NATO… he publicly stated that he is not going to discuss any territories.”
Russia maintains that any settlement of the Ukraine conflict must address the root causes of the crisis. Moscow insists that Ukraine must commit to block neutrality, demilitarization, denazification, and recognition of territorial reality on the ground. Kiev has said that while Zelensky is ready to discuss Ukraine’s territorial disputes with Russia, it has no intention to recognize its losses.
“Everywhere in the Western World democracy is in crisis and collapse. Democracy has become so dysfunctional that executive authority is superseding it.”
• Revolution or a Caesar? (Paul Craig Roberts)
FBI Raids Home of Trump’s First Term National Security Adviser John Bolton. Bolton was not detained, but is expected to be charged. Generally speaking, democracies die from corruption. The United States is no exception. America has always suffered from corrupt government at every level. Liberals who put unwarranted trust in government, especially at the federal level, have long been in denial about this fact. Liberals tend to see corruption in state and local governments, especially Southern ones. They see federal government intervention as the correction. Liberals know, or once did, of the corruption of President Grant’s government. They know of President Lincoln’s disregard of the US constitution. But liberals still see the federal government as a corrective force.
The federal government is no more safe from being hijacked by interest groups than state and local governments. Essentially, governments are agencies that influential private interests use to feather their own nest at the expense of others. The reason is that the President, and the members of the House and Senate obtain office courtesy of those private interests that provide their campaign funds. Therefore, it is the monied interests that government serves. Somehow the notion of a “public interest” has survived the many decades of contrary evidence. Over the course of my life I have noticed a quantitative/qualitative change in the power of private interests. Formerly they used the law to get what they want. Today they weaponize law in order to remove those in their way.
The use of law as a weapon to control policy perhaps dates from the Nixon era. President Nixon was making arms control agreements with the Soviets and opened to China. The military/security interests did not want to lose the communist enemy that enhanced their profits, and they went to work on Nixon. Growing suspicions about the assassination of President Kennedy foreclosed the physical assassination of Nixon, so they assassinated him politically with the Watergate orchestration. The bullet that hit President Reagan did not kill him, and the official narrative was accepted. Nevertheless, the CIA was opposed to Reagan’s idea of negotiating the end of the Cold War with the Kremlin. I know, because I was on a secret presidential committee to investigate the validity of the CIA’s opposition.
Whenever its origin, weaponized law in the US has been manifested in the 21st century. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and the neoconservatives gave us 9/11 and a quarter century of war in the Middle East resulting in the destruction of 6 countries and millions of displaced persons who fled to the West and destabilized European countries and the UK. To facilitate the profits, budgets, and influence of the military/security complex, American civil liberties protected by the Constitution were erased by laws deemed necessary in order to protect us from an alleged “terrorism,” which was itself an orchestration. But all of this was foreplay. Democrat opposition to Trump’s election in 2016, and Trump’s intention to “normalize relations with Russia,” weaponized not only the Democrats and whore media against him, but also the CIA, Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the FBI.
US intelligence agencies falsified documents, lied to the FISA court and to Congress, and loaded the presstitutes with anti-Trump propaganda in order to hamstring, if not remove, a president deemed dangerous to the enormous profits that flowed from America having the Russian enemy. The “Russian Enemy” is very important to many pocketbooks. Trump is trying, or so it seems, to get rid of the Russian enemy for us, by passing the task of the Ukrainian conflict on to Europe which will purchase US weapons to continue the conflict. This way we are free of the conflict, but the profit interests of the military-security complex are not threatened, Now for John Bolton. Bolton is a neoconservative. Perhaps he just wants, as do other Americans, for the US to be the unquestioned power in the world. Perhaps he thinks that we are really threatened by the enemies we chose to make. Perhaps he takes bribes in behalf of Greater Israel and/or the military/security complex . I don’t know.
What I do know is that when a former National Security Adviser’s home and office are raided by the FBI who carry off his files, whether or not the raids are justified, the image of the United States suffers, just as eight years of false charges against Trump and the FBI raid on Trump’s home damaged the image of the United States. Once law is weaponized, the prospect is created of weaponized law becoming institutionalized. Additionally, the authority of high government positions is undermined by the positions being tainted with impropriety. If the CIA director dispenses with presidents and the FBI chief lies to Congress, trust in the agencies disappears. The Biden regime persecuted not only Trump but also his attorneys, appointees, and those who presented evidence of election theft. Trump, a former president, faced four criminal indictments in weaponized courts with weaponized charges presented by weaponized attorney generals, one of whom, a George Soros protege, currently faces indictment on the same charge she framed Trump with.
Once law is weaponized, it is a life and death matter who controls the government. A government in such turmoil can never serve the public’s interest. What goes around comes around. John Bolton brought it on himself. Bolton, Brennan, Comey, Clapper, and Merrick Garland are likely guilty of crimes, whereas Trump, his attorneys and supporters are likely not guilty. But whatever Bolton and the others suffer, so does the image of the United States. The use of high office for personal agendas separates the interests of government from the interest of the people and kills democracy. The image portrayed is one of a government serving foreign, material, and ideological interests, not the interests of the voters who elected the government. Everywhere in the Western World democracy is in crisis and collapse. Democracy has become so dysfunctional that executive authority is superseding it. When democracy fails, the choice becomes revolution or a Caesar.
More Sundance. He says there are two ‘gates’: Russiagate and ‘spygate’, where Obama et al spied on Americans for many years. According to him, ‘spygate’ is much more important -and bigger-, and Russiagate is used to divert attention away from it. Especially by people like John Solomon at Just The News.
The two ‘Outline #5’ pieces, here and below, are much longer than I can show here. Click the links.
“Beware the person who picks up the flag at the front of the parade, for they are likely steering the crowd for a reason.”
• Outline #5 – The Prequel (CTH)
If you have followed the construct of the Trump-Russia collusion story, you are likely outraged that accountability has not followed. There’s a very frustrating reason for that, and I will explain how two distinctly different issues are being conflated. Separating them is the key. The first issue is the FBI’s illegal surveillance of presidential candidates, including candidate Donald Trump. The second issue is the Clinton campaign inspired Russia-Collusion story, that led to Crossfire Hurricane, colloquially known as “Russiagate.” All investigative emphasis, including John Durham, has been on the latter which takes you into a DC silo construct where all tentacles lead to dead ends and inaction.
Russiagate was a Clinton-inspired political smear campaign that was given the patina of credibility by the FBI opening the investigation called “Crossfire Hurricane.” If you focus on that storyline, you end up with zero accountability and endless talk that goes nowhere. However, if President Trump and DNI Tulsi Gabbard reveal the first element, the FBI’s illegal surveillance of candidate Donald Trump, that path has a physical trail and documents that cannot be deflected by political obfuscation.
THE FBI SURVEILLANCE – The original agreement between Clinton and Obama, going back to 2008, was for Obama to take the nomination, the presidency and then eventually support Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election bid. Obama would be President. Obama would appoint Clinton to Secretary of State, Hillary would then use her office to build wealth for herself and her family, and then HRC would exit the Dept of State to begin her presidential run. John Podesta would enter the Obama administration as Hillary left (post Benghazi mess) in 2013. Podesta would look out for Hillary’s interests from his position inside the Obama White House. The Clintons and Obamas never fully trusted each other. Barack Obama would put all the mechanisms into place that would transition his administration into Hillary Clinton’s. That was always the plan running in the background.
In 2015, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had a check-in meeting -just touching base to firm up the goals and objectives as Hillary began her campaign launch. Podesta then left the White House to take up position inside the campaign, and Obama would maintain Clinton’s interests as planned without a monitor. All of President Obama’s appointments, in/after 2015, were essentially through the prism of assisting Hillary Clinton to win in 2016. Attorney General Loretta Lynch (tarmac meeting), Deputy AG Sally Yates, Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and FBI Director James Comey were all part of that. This is a key point missed by many. In the last two years of Obama, the cabinet and top-tier members of the administration would align their institutional interests to that of Hillary Clinton.
Technically, Hillary had eyes and ears all over the White House at the time, and with Hillary Clinton being a foregone conclusion, per the expectations of Washington DC, everyone would fall in line during the transition from Obama to Clinton. Again, this was the general plan. Obama would show up in 2016 to campaign for Hillary, and all would be seamless. The FBI was aware of the plan for transition from Obama to Clinton. Hence, the FBI role in eliminating the threat later presented by the Hillary Clinton laptop scandal, private servers and the subsequent issues of her receiving and transmitting classified information.
Remember, Clinton’s motive as Secretary of State was to sell her position for material wealth. That’s why she used a personal email, maintained her own servers, and generally controlled how her activity could be monitored and tracked. [Also, she didn’t fully trust Obama] The FBI activity was to support, defend and facilitate the Clinton effort. This is again a key to understanding “Russiagate.” After March 2016 (Super Tuesday), it became obvious Donald Trump was going to win the Republican nomination. Trump would be Clinton’s opponent.
“Stop focusing so much attention on Russiagate, it’s the shiny thing fraught with plausible deniability. Focus instead on declassifying and releasing the real story of how the NSA database has been used to conduct political surveillance for over a decade…”
• Outline #5 – The Full Spectrum Criminal Surveillance (CTH)
How this all comes together:
Fusion GPS was not hired in April 2016 simply to research Donald Trump. As shown in the evidence provided by the FISC, the Obama administration was already doing surveillance and spy operations. The Obama administration already knew everything about the Trump campaign and were monitoring everything by exploiting the FISA database. However, after the NSA alerts in/around March 9th, 2016, and particularly after the April 18th shutdown of contractor access, the Obama FBI needed Fusion GPS to create a legal albeit ex post facto justification for the pre-existing surveillance and spy operations. Fusion GPS gave them that justification in the Steele Dossier. That’s why the FBI small group, which later transitioned into the Mueller team, were so strongly committed to and defending the formation of the Steele Dossier and its dubious content.
The Steele Dossier was a tool needed to get a FISA Title-1 warrant, that became the cover and justification for a pre-existing surveillance operation. The Steele Dossier becomes the investigative virus the FBI wanted inside the system. To get the virus into official status, they used the FISA application as the delivery method and injected it into Carter Page. The FBI already knew Carter Page; essentially Carter Page was irrelevant, what they needed was the FISA warrant and the Dossier in the system. Fusion GPS was hired by Hillary Clinton to research Trump; however, the Obama administration was already doing surveillance and spy operations, using FBI contractors. The FBI needed Fusion GPS to give them something, a plausible justification for already existing surveillance and spy operations.
Fusion-GPS gave them the justification they needed for a FISA warrant with the Steele Dossier. Ultimately that’s why the Steele Dossier was so important; without it, the Obama administration was naked with their NSA database abuse. Investigating ‘Russiagate’, as dirty and unseemly as it was, takes you to a place where politics infected the DOJ/FBI and every participant carries plausible deniability. However, investigate the 2016 illegal surveillance of Donald Trump’s campaign via the NSA database and all of that activity can never be justified. nIf you understand the distinction above, then you start to realize why John Solomon is focusing on Russiagate. Beware the person who picks up the flag at the front of the parade, for they are likely steering the crowd for a reason.
If DNI Tulsi Gabbard focuses on the known FBI surveillance of the GOP candidates in 2016, by focusing on how FBI contractors exploited access to the NSA database to conduct political opposition research, then suddenly the entire story takes on a simpler to understand context. Declassify the Rosemary Collyer 99-page FISA report and outline the FBI contractors doing the surveillance. Stop focusing so much attention on Russiagate, it’s the shiny thing fraught with plausible deniability. Focus instead on declassifying and releasing the real story of how the NSA database has been used to conduct political surveillance for over a decade. Obama conducted full spectrum political surveillance and spying operations exploiting the NSA database from 2012 to 2016. All republican candidates were under surveillance.
THAT is the BIG STORY that will shake up DC.
A theme that’s gaining popularity: Putin trolling Trump. The contention is that since Putin agreed to a meeting with Zelensky, it has to take place tomorrow morning at the very latest. Any talk of preparing for the meeting is just trolling.
• Expect Putin To Pay Big-Time For Trolling Trump (NYP op-ed))
We expect Russia’s Vladimir Putin and his top minions to soon regret their decision to make a fool of President Donald Trump. At their Alaska summit, Putin gave Trump renewed hope for a peace deal on the Ukraine war — but that’s now looking like Lucy setting up Charlie Brown for another football humiliation. After initially signaling openness to a meet, Sergey Lavrov, Putin’s foreign secretary, just dumped yet more cold water on any chance for a Putin sitdown with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. Bloviating on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Lavrov announced, “There is no meeting planned,” and none will happen without advance agreement that fits Putin’s “presidential agenda.” And that agenda is “not ready at all”: Ukraine must publicly agree it will never join NATO, Zelensky must repeal laws that Lavrov claims ban “the Russian language” and concede in advance on “territorial issues” Lavrov wouldn’t specify.
Oh, and he reiterated the Russians’ believe that Zelensky isn’t Ukraine’s “legitimate” president, though “we recognize him as the de facto head of the regime.” This follows a full week of Lavrov & Co. insisting, for example, that no European troops can be deployed in Ukraine to secure the peace, and indeed demanding a veto over any post-war security guarantees for Kyiv. The Russians are also pushing hard for Ukraine to agree in advance that it will cede the half of Donbas that Putin’s been trying to conquer since 2014. All of it clearly contradicts the gist of what Vice President JD Vance says Putin agreed to in Anchorage: “They’ve recognized that they’re not going to be able to install a puppet regime in Kyiv, and importantly, they’ve acknowledged that there is going to be some security guarantee to the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Vance said on the same NBC show.
Yes, Putin from the start of his invasion has claimed he means to oust a supposed “neo-Nazi” regime in Kyiv (though Zelensky is Jewish!), and generally insists that Ukraine is really just a part of Russia that never should’ve been independent. So what? If Vlad were genuinely willing to discuss a lasting peace deal, he’d have been willing to set those delusions aside, and to order Lavrov and his fellow toadies to quit it. Instead, Putin has his minions outright trolling not just Zelensky, but Trump himself. The American president’s been slowly signaling his displeasure, posting days ago of this war that “it is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking” the invader’s country — a blatant warning that Washington might give Kyiv added ability to strike deep inside Russia.
That’s on top of the threats Trump has conspicuously so far left on the table, including secondary sanctions that would cripple Russia’s economy and so its whole war machine. Trump was beyond clear after Alaska that Putin only had another two weeks to publicly move toward a face-to-face with Zelensky as a key step in reaching a peace accord. One week’s already done, and Russia’s done nothing but signal that no sitdown is in sight unless Ukraine basically surrenders in advance on every issue up for discussion. That is, Putin’s displaying “the art of the no-deal” — and treating Trump like a sucker for believing everything he said to the contrary in Anchorage. The Russian plainly thinks he’ll get away with humiliating the leader of the Free World; it won’t be pretty when Trump finally moves to dispel that delusion.
The one thing this author has is :”During 2024-2025, the criminals embezzled about $80 000 of money allocated for purchasing of defense goods..”
If that is all you got, you shouldn’t waste people’s time by writing about this.
• Systemic Corruption Doesn’t Give A Chance For Peace In Ukraine (Antiwar)
Another huge scandal linked to embezzlement of budget funds in government procurement has broken out in Ukraine recently. On August 2, Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) exposed an organized criminal group created by “Servant of the People” party’s deputy Oleksii Kuznietsov and head of the State Administration of the Mukachevo District Serhiy Haidai. The group have been organizing purchases of overpriced FPV drones and electronic warfare systems for the National Guard of Ukraine. According to investigation data, beside Kuznietsov and Haidai, a head of one of the Military-Civil Administrations, a unit commander of the National Guard, and representatives of company manufacturing drones were also involved in the huge corruption scheme.
During 2024-2025, the criminals embezzled about $80 000 of money allocated for purchasing of defense goods. 30% from every government contract settled in their pockets. Now, all key persons of interest are taken into custody with the possibility of being out on bail. The head of the state Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the situation eloquently calling the fraud “absolutely immoral” and promised a “full and fair accountability” for the criminals. However, neither high-profile exposure of corrupt officials, nor passionate speeches of the president of the country haven’t been able to dispel the tension, that has accumulated over last several weeks, and exonerate the Kyiv authorities for Ukrainians and international public.
The reason for this is recent attempts of authorities to discredit the Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies and restrict their independence which really destroyed civilians’ faith in Zelenskyy’s and his team’s commitment to the rule of law and authorities’ interest in fighting corruption in general. I’m talking about a set of planned and well-coordinated attacks of current authorities on SAPO and NABU which preceded the exposure of the Kuznietsov-Haidai group. On June 21, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine (one month before the events the office of Prosecutor General was taken by Ruslan Kravchenko who is known for his loyalty to the Office of the President of Ukraine) and SBU conducted unauthorized searches in both agencies. As the result of the searches, several NABU detectives were taken into custody on suspicion of collaboration with Russia.
This joint operation of the secret services and the Prosecutor General’s Office (cynically called by the implementers “special operation”) literally paralyzed the work of NABU and SAPO and created a formal reason for tightening the control over anti-corruption agencies. The reason the Kyiv authorities have been looking for a very long time and not finding one, is that they created it themselves. Already on July 22, the Verkhovnaya Rada of Ukraine passed a new law which practically liquidated the independence of anti-corruption agencies and established full control over their work by the Prosecutor General’s Office. Later that night, the new law was quickly signed by the President Zelenskyy despite the will of Ukrainians.
Such an undisguised attempt to liquidate the anti-corruption agencies caused an immediate reaction from Ukrainians. Ukrainians openly stood against the culpable law: hundreds of people went to protests on the streets, and free Ukrainian media was full of critics and disapproval of Kyiv’s authorities. However, I hate to admit it, but Ukrainians wouldn’t stop the authorities’ arbitrariness by themselves without the help of Ukrainian allies. Only due to the fast interference and strong stand of European and American authorities which have made everything they could to stop Kyiv’s authorities’ treacherous actions. The process of liquidation of SAPO and NABU was reversed. As a result, on July 31, under pressure of Ukrainian and international public a new law was passed. It restored the independence of the anti-corruption agencies. Nevertheless, we shouldn’t hope that Kyiv’s authorities stop trying to destroy anti-corruption agencies.
One last Sundance -for today-:
”… the CIA seemingly operates in places like Ukraine without President Trump or Director John Ratcliffe having any power over the activity.”
• Devin Nunes Frames a Remarkable Reality (CTH)
While speaking to Lara Trump about the ongoing Russiagate review efforts, Devin Nunes notes, “The only thing that President Trump and this administration can do, is make sure that whoever can be held accountable, are held accountable, and that this doesn’t happen again; that these people are taught a lesson, so that this doesn’t happen again.” But there’s something even more revealing within the interview. Context: Devin Nunes is the chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, an alternative mechanism to review and analyze global and domestic intelligence information – with overlay against truth and reality that underpins the issue(s). Action: Accepting the intent of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, now insert the recent DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s directive to stop information sharing with allied countries as it specifically relates to President Trump’s efforts to create a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
Back to the interview: Here’s the statement that really deserves to be emphasized: “Imagine where we sit today, with all the things going on around the world, and the President has to have the DOJ, the FBI, the CIA, his own intelligence board, all making sure the intelligence is not weaponized. I mean it’s rather incredible, this is something that is unprecedented in the United States of America.” Think about that remarkable context. Essentially what Nunes is saying is that Pam Bondi, Todd Blanche, Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, John Ratcliffe, Tulsi Gabbard and Devin Nunes (et al) cannot trust the operational embeds under the agency heads within the United States Intelligence Community. Think about that, as it is said out loud. This is exactly what CTH has been trying to hammer home for years.
The modern IC system is now designed to be a rogue apparatus, disconnected from the traditional framework of executive control. The people who operate within that fourth branch of government are not constrained by the power or authority of the executive. This is exceptionally dangerous. We elect a President (Executive), we elect representatives (Legislative), the Executive and Legislative create the Judicial, who exactly is controlling the Intelligence Branch? Many, too numerous people to count, have dismissed my warnings about how this system is operating. Here we have the former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and current Chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, saying exactly the same thing.
Ratcliffe, Gabbard, Patel, Blanche, Bongino, Bondi, Rubio and all of the Nunes advisory team, are trying to keep the IC system operators from targeting President Trump via weaponized, purposefully manipulated, intelligence information. By direct and unassailable implication, this means rogue influence operations are taking place external to the ability of executive to curtail them. As Devin Nunes is noting, the Office of the President is taking active measures to work around the intelligence agencies. This rogue nature of the intelligence apparatus is an example of how the CIA seemingly operates in places like Ukraine without President Trump or Director John Ratcliffe having any power over the activity.
Only Trump defends Christian values.
• Trends in Global Christian Persecution (Salgado)
Thousands killed and millions displaced from one religious group across multiple countries. Persecution, imprisonment, and murder loom. Does the world care? No, because this much-targeted religion is Christianity. When Jews and Christians are killed, the West turns a blind eye or downplays the violence. That is especially true when the victimizers are Muslims or Communists. Christians are being massacred in multiple countries worldwide, but you wouldn’t know that from mainstream media. We here at PJ Media, however, aim to highlight this global tragedy. Don’t let the Hamas propaganda fixate all your attention on the jihad-loving Gazans. As Open Doors reveals on its website, persecution of Christians has intensified in recent years and especially in countries with strong Islamic jihad groups or Communist governments. Why are Western aid, media, and and politicians never going to persecuted Christians?
Open Doors notes that “Authoritarian control in Central Asia” have been responsible for “violence and authoritarian restrictions against Christians have risen globally during the past year, most notably in Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. No country stood out more than Kyrgyzstan, which rose sharply on the WWL, the annual ranking of the countries where it is most difficult to live as a Christian.” WWL is the World Watch List for persecution. Civil wars also cause serious danger to many Christians, who can find themselves caught in between both sides in countries torn apart by internal and violent conflict. “Civil wars in Yemen, Myanmar, and Sudan, created unstable environments, putting Christians into the crossfires,” according to Open Doors.
The current genocide in Syria is also an outgrowth of civil war, as Islamic terrorist group HTS, now in charge of the country, was for years at war with the Assad regime. Christians often suffered from both sides, but particularly now that HTS’s al-Golani — now al-Sharaa — is fully in charge and overseeing vicious mass murder against Christian and Druze minorities. The violence against Christians in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is particularly bad. In fact, Open Doors labeled that region “the most violent place in the world for Christians. Chronic government instability and civil conflict have created a vacuum, which is filled by opportunistic Islamic militants, in several nations in SSA.” Do black lives matter? Do they not matter when they are Christian? Leftists love to blather about Africa, but not about Islamic jihad in Africa.
Furthermore, Open Doors highlights the phenomenon of the “disappearing Church.” It explains: The Church is driven out or driven underground in several countries. In the Middle East especially, several Christian communities are dwindling and, in some cases, on the verge of extinction. Finally, Open Doors discusses surveillance states. “Christians in China and other autocratic states are increasingly cautious about openly expressing their faith due to advanced surveillance.” The blood of the innocent cries out from the earth.
https://twitter.com/Real_RobN/status/1959289086247862680
keto
"It activates the brain's repair systems."
Dr. Mark Hyman explains how the keto diet can cure cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, schizophrenia and more.
"It helps cognitive function at every level… from autism, to Alzheimer's, to schizophrenia, to depression."
"Sugar is really… pic.twitter.com/eEcjKx1gmO
— Wide Awake Media (@wideawake_media) August 24, 2025
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1959505163154059363
caryatid
With the help of artificial intelligence, we see the stolen Caryatid escape from the British Museum and return to her sisters at the Acropolis Museum. Let's hope it becomes a reality.pic.twitter.com/pvhHXoZuBx
— well-meaning (@FreshSummerWind) August 23, 2025
tarsier
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1959488339402518674
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