Dmitriev Archives - The Automatic Earth

I think most of us have got the idea by now

Like a bunch of five-year-olds, Muslims just want their own way, and will kill non-Muslims to achieve it https://t.co/Y4AVv9NQVR
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) March 19, 2026

This sounds like a 'fair swap' https://t.co/fkXdM4ZPPX
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) March 19, 2026

https://twitter.com/Inevitablewest/status/2034703779447140540?s=20

Historian Bill Federer says by By 2030, unchecked Islamic immigration is going to push Muslim majorities into European regions, where bloc voting installs Sharia law by force.

Entire cities have already been swallowed whole.

Egypt and North Africa, once majority Christian for 6… pic.twitter.com/HKBEnm14f8
— Bridgett Fertig (@LightOnLiberty) March 19, 2026

pic.twitter.com/oNeM0owGbA
Charlie Kirk: “Islam is NOT compatible with the West, and importing millions of Muslims is suicidal.” This is a fact.
— Yossi BenYakar (@YossiBenYakar) March 19, 2026

If you are an immigrant and feel “alienated” by white Europeans, then leave. Go feel at home in your homeland.

In fact, you’re making me feel alienated in my own country, and unlike you I have nowhere else to go.

So tired of this shit. https://t.co/Kke2yxVbXH
— Rebecca Mistereggen (@RMistereggen) March 19, 2026

Both sides win. Of course.

• “I Think We’ve Won” Trump Says As Iran Refuses Hormuz Talks

More somewhat confusing rhetoric on Iran plans from Trump: He said late in the afternoon Friday US strikes on Iran are “weeks ahead of schedule” – but caveated that he expects oil prices to surge more than they have. He repeatedly emphasized that he does not want a ceasefire – “we’re not looking to do that” – while leaving the door open to dialogue, insisting talks don’t necessarily require halting the fighting. He said all this while also proclaiming “I think we’ve won.” He also expressed he thinks Israel will wind down the war when the US does.

Trump asserted further that Iran’s military has been severely degraded, saying it has “no radar, spotters, aircraft” and that key leaders have been killed, concluding: “from a military standpoint Iran is finished” and “I think we’ve won.” He also said Israel would be ready to end the war when the US does, noting both countries “want more or less similar things.”mnLate in the day Friday Trump followed his verbal comments to reporters with this:

Oil plunged immediately after the latest Trump statement went out:

“NATO could help us, but they so far haven’t had the courage to do so. And others could help us, but we don’t use it,” he said. “At a certain point, it’ll open itself.” Again, some confusing messaging to say the least… “I don’t want to do a ceasefire. You know, you don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side,” he said. “We’re not looking to do that.” Trump hinted at possible escalation options around Kharg Island—“I may have a plan or I may not”—while accusing Iran of “clogging up” Hormuz. He also continued to berate Tehran leadership as “thugs and animals” – and praised Secretary of State Marco Rubio for doing a “fantastic job.”
Meanwhile Iran too is saying it is not ready for ceasefire or dialogue (at least in its public statements), and has expressed intent on exacting revenge. All of this means: no offramp yet in sight amid fresh reports that ‘heavy preparations’ for ground forces are being planned: “Pentagon officials have made detailed preparations for deploying U.S. ground forces into Iran, multiple sources briefed on the discussions told CBS News.” More from CBS: “Senior military commanders have submitted specific requests aimed at preparing for such an option as President Trump weighs moves in the U.S.-Israel-led conflict with Iran, the sources said.”
REPORTER: “What’s your plan for Kharg Island?”

PRESIDENT TRUMP: “I may have a plan or I may not, but how would I ever say that to a reporter?"

"If I said that to a reporter, Marco would say, ‘please, sir let's bring you over to the helicopter immediately.’ Right? I can't tell… pic.twitter.com/iLcgj7lWOo
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 20, 2026

“.. the direction of travel is clear. “He wants Hormuz open… If he has to take Kharg Island… that’s going to happen..”

• IRGC Says Missile Production Intact, Contradicting Netanyahu (ZH)

On day 21, the Iran war shows no signs of abating. Iran’s IRGC spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naeini was reportedly killed in an Israeli overnight strike, another high-level hit as the decapitation campaign grinds on. However, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Friday that the Islamic republic has continued to produce missiles despite the war with Israel and the United States. This directly contradicts Israeli PM Netanyahu’s assertions from the day prior, where he said both missile production capacity and uranium enrichment capability have been destroyed. Netanyahu had claimed, “Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium and manufacture ballistic missiles.” “Our missile industry deserves a perfect score…and there is no concern in this regard, because even under wartime conditions we continue missile production,” IRGC spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said according to Fars.

⚡️Massive airstrikes in Iran this morning pic.twitter.com/5FBlymJ5V4
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) March 20, 2026

Energy Complexes From Gulf to Israel Burning; Casualties Mount
The energy war continues to be front and center. Israel confirmed major Thursday Iranian strikes hit its Haifa refining complex, damaging critical infrastructure, and leaving many in the area without power. Also, the attack on Qatar’s Ras Laffan facility is expected to slash LNG export capacity by roughly 17%. Kuwait hasn’t been spared either, with its massive Mina al-Ahmadi refinery hit for a second straight day, with fires ripping through processing units.mElsewhere, Bahrain says it has faced over 140 missiles and 240 drones since the war began, underscoring the scale of Iran’s regional barrage.
Across the region, escalation is bleeding into civilian life even in countries not directly part of the conflict. The biggest Muslim holiday of the year, Eid, is being celebrated, and in Iran the Persian New Year “Nowruz” – are unfolding under air raid sirens, also with fresh Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Syria. Currently Palestinians are being barred from Al-Aqsa during Eid. Casualties continue to mount with over 1,400 reported dead in Iran, including 204 children per the Red Crescent – and more than 1,000 killed in Lebanon.
Signs of US Plans to Take Kharg Island
But the real escalation risk surrounds what Washington’s next move may be, as the Trump administration is actively weighing seizing Kharg Island, Iran’s key export hub, in a desperate effort to force Hormuz back open. One source put it bluntly to Axios: “We need about a month to weaken the Iranians more with strikes, take the island, and then get them by the balls and use it for negotiations.” For all the bravado and rhetoric, some analysts see the situation as a classic escalation trap.
But the report says no final decision has been made, but the direction of travel is clear. “He wants Hormuz open… If he has to take Kharg Island… that’s going to happen,” one senior official said, while acknowledging a coastal invasion remains on the table. The Wall Street Journal in fresh reporting sees signs that an operation is already underway: “The U.S. and its allies have intensified the battle to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, sending low-flying attack jets over the sea lanes to blast Iranian naval vessels and Apache helicopters to shoot down Iran’s deadly drones, American military officials said.” it writes.

“If he does, Israel will win.”

PCR brings up the USS Liberty incident from 1967. Not sure that makes any sense.

• The Iranian Foreign Minister Seems to be Losing Focus (Paul Craig Roberts)

Will Abbas Araghchi save Israeli-America from defeat? He has proposed turning over Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz to an international coalition that in the interest of uninterrupted oil flows would prevent further Israeli-American attacks on Iran.Araghchi said: “In my view, after the war, a new mechanism for the Strait of Hormuz should be designed so ships can pass safely under clear regulations that consider the interests of Iran and the region.”

Clearly Araghchi is a reasonable person. He is willing to sacrifice some of Iran’s sovereignty to prevent further Israeli-American attempts to destroy Iran in the interest of Greater Israel by placing an international coalition in front of Israel’s aggression toward Iran. Araghchi has made it sparkling clear that Iran is not the cause of the problem. But he overlooks that it is the Zionist Israeli agenda of Greater Israel–“seven countries in 5 years”–that is the cause of the problem. Araghchi’s phrase, “after the war,” indicates that he fails to understand that as long as the Zionist agenda exists, there is NO “after the war,” unless Iran submits to Israel’s domination of the Muslim Middle East.
As Iran has rejected acquiring nuclear weapons, which it could have done long ago, displaying instead a moral concern that overrides Iranian national security, Iran’s only choice is either to submit to domination and rule by Zionists or to destroy Israel and drive all US military bases out of the Arab oil sheikdoms. Araghchi’s proposal shows that he is reasonable, but that he has failed to understand that Iran’s sovereignty is inconsistent with the Zionist agenda of Greater Israel–“from the Nile to Pakistan.” Araghchi should instead be proposing negotiations that Zionist Israel renounce its agenda of Greater Israel.
Most of the Zionist agenda has already been accomplished. Acting for Greater Israel Washington has destroyed Iraq, Libya, and Syria and left chaos in the place of functioning Arab states. Iran is the current target, and the former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett last month told the Conference of American Jewish Organizations that “Turkey is the next Iran.” In other words, Bennett gave marching orders to the powerful US Israel Lobby to begin the demonization of Turkey to take the place as next in line for destruction after Iran.
In February the Israeli-American assumption was that Iran would collapse in 3 days. In March we are learning that Iran was better prepared for long term conflict than Israeli-America. Trump wants out as the rising energy prices threaten his presidency in the upcoming midterm elections. But Netanyahu, completely ignoring Trump’s need, has escalated the conflict by attacking Iran’s large gas field. Iran responded by destroying the largest gas facility in the Persian Gulf, a multibillion dollar facility that will take years to rebuild. It is Israel and their American puppet, President Donald Trump, whose unprovoked, gratuitous aggression against Iran in the interest of Greater Israel, is producing a world shortage of energy and fertilizer.
Billions of people are going to pay for the Israeli-American unprovoked and unjustified aggression agains Iran. Iran is already paying for it as the way the Israeli-Americans conduct war is to kill civilians as in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan. Iran is probably afraid to use the advantage it has to hand a humiliating defeat to Israeli-America, because to gain a victory from defeat the Israeli-Americans will nuke Iran. Thus, Iran will be tempted give up its victory because the Iranian government decided to present a moral front of rejecting nuclear weapons and, as a consequence, have endangered Iranian National Existence.
It is the Zionist Israelis who are the only determined nationalists on the face of the earth. It is Zionist Israel that has an agenda that Zionists think is worth risking all to fight for. Everywhere else ethnic identity is in abeyance and hardly exists. European ethnicities, such as Germans and French, are being turned into Europeans and multiculturalists. In the US Democrats identify with criminals, immigrant-invaders, and sexual perverts. They regard their fellow Americans as Trump Deplorables. It is OK for Israel to be an ethnic nationalist state, but everywhere else to be nationalist is racist and Nazi. In Europe today it is almost a crime to be a nationalist. France and Germany want to put nationalists, such as Marine Le Pen, in prison.
In the Western gentile world, nationalistic self-awareness has been sacrificed on the alter of Multicultarism. In place of national states there are Towers of Babel. Towers of Babel are extremely weak as the populations have no common values or interests or beliefs and are often arrayed against one another, such as Sunnis and Shia It is a strong sense of identity that gives the tiny Israeli state dominion over the so-called “superpowers.” Israel has had no difficulty controlling American foreign policy in the Middle East for decades. The US government is so cowed that it refused to hold Israel accountable for the intentional Israeli attack on the USS Liberty resulting in 200 casualties of US Navy personnel. That tells you who holds the power. It is Netanyahu, not Trump, and Netanyahu knows it.

“Europe’s own regulatory architecture turned off Europe’s own energy supply. And America. . . on the other side of the Atlantic with a full tank of gas, watched it happen.” —Jeff Childers

• And Then the World Changed (James Howard Kunstler)

Let’s pause for a moment amid all the excitement to address an abiding mystery of these times: why does the news media seem to be rooting for American failure in the Iran operation? Or more generally, how did the media become handmaiden to the Lefty-left and all its ancillaries? How were they lured into their Cloward-Piven bunker of crypto-Marxian “resistance?”

It’s unlikely that the network executives, news producers, and editors are communists outright. That would take you into a simpleminded John Birch Society fantasyland. Or did they just read too much Antonio Gramsci on campus back in the day. If they’re merely whores pandering to an audience, it’s a dwindling one as the Woke mass formation dissolves and the insanity of its agenda stands naked. (Why not pander to the growing demographic that yearns for a restoration of normality?)
Is the news controlled by the so-called Deep State? Do cadres in the CIA send headlines to the Washington Post newsroom? Many think so. I don’t pretend to know one way or the other. The problem with lying, of course, is that you have to keep lying to protect your previous lies. Does the rise of alt-news across the Internet provoke them to lie harder in the face of better narratives? Or is it just plain old group-think, fear of stepping out-of-synch with tribal certainties and shibboleths? Which is to say, are they merely cowards and cads?
Do they really believe in the totalizing bad faith of the Democratic Party in its naked racketeering and power-seeking? That’s a sinking ship — the party that is now battling to obstruct simple straightforward election reform in the US Senate. Here’s a headline from today’s New York Times:

What will The New York Times do when bona fide, convincing evidence from material seized in recent FBI raids in Georgia and Arizona shows that recent elections were arrantly and knowingly rigged? It’s going to happen, you know. And if the procedural delays in the Senate drag out for weeks over the SAVE Act, the truth is likely to emerge while the bill is still in process, and will slam the whole country in the face, like thirty inches of re-bar. Will the newspaper print an apology to its readers?
We’re in a season of whacking great change in global and national affairs. “Epic Fury” in Iran will neutralize a regime dedicated to terrorizing the region and reorder the world’s energy flows to the disadvantage of America’s adversaries. China will lose its deep discount on imported Iranian oil just as in Venezuela a month ago. It already lost control of the Panama Canal as well. All its inroads around the western hemisphere have been nullified in this first year of Trump 2.0. China has to play nicer with America now.
The crisis has demonstrated that the US can’t depend on its NATO allies — who either refused to send ships to assist, or dawdled over it — which can allow the US to step away from the enormous expense that NATO imposes on us, and also from the tarbaby known as Ukraine. The truth is, we are ideologically more aligned with post-Soviet Russia than we are with France, Germany, and UK under their current regimes. Ironically, the Russians, with Hungary, Poland, and the Czechs, are the last earnest defenders of Western Civ. Europe has apparently elected to go medieval, anyway. They like to pretend that they can maintain a high standard of living without oil or natgas, a formula so obdurately stupid that only the most awful hardship might avail to change their policies.
This month, the US leaped to create a maritime insurance alternative to Lloyds of London, meaning the UK banks can no longer impose a 20-percent cost premium on Persian Gulf oil, which thunders through the global system and affects everyone. We’ve already stepped away from the UN-backed international Net Zero carbon pricing scam on tanker and container ships. The economics of oil are going through a quick and decisive readjustment. With an end to Iran’s threats to world peace, the US can eventually leave policing of the Persian Gulf to the nations that depend on its oil (we do not).
Meanwhile, the US will continue pounding Iran until it can’t launch so much as a distress flare. They will have no nukes, no navy or air force, no more missiles and drones and payloads, and no ability to manufacture anymore of them. And if they try, we will blow them up again. That’s real politics, not performative diplomatic jive. Sooner or later, the Revolutionary Guard regime will disintegrate and someone else will have to step up. The Iranian people deserve a chance to live in the sunlight after what they’ve been through for a half century. But it’s really up to them to make it happen. It’s pretty obvious that the American President and his people understand that.

“Our Employees and Guests were Uncomfortable.”

With her? Or perhaps with her security detail?

• Arkansas Gov. Sanders Told to Leave Restaurant (Turley)

Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was kicked out of another restaurant this week. Years ago, I wrote about how Sanders, then the Trump White House spokesperson, was told to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia. Now, the Croissanterie Restaurant in Little Rock, Arkansas, has told the governor to leave because employees said they felt uncomfortable having her in the restaurant. One person yelled at her and flipped her off as she left with her friends and security.

Sanders went to the restaurant with three other moms for a quick meal. She recounted how she and the other moms were then told to leave: “Last week I was having lunch with two other moms at a restaurant when the owner approached a member of the State Police Executive Protection Detail and said my presence made their employees feel threatened and told us to leave.” She added: “Arkansans are known for their warm hospitality, and while that restaurant certainly doesn’t meet that standard, my administration will continue to focus on lifting Arkansans up, not tearing others down with discrimination and hate.”
Sanders had already started to eat when the restaurant’s owner approached a member of the security detail and requested that the governor leave.The Croissanterie released a lengthy statement and admitted that they told the governor and her party to leave. While offering a hand-ringing explanation about being “surprised and uncertain how best to respond,” it admitted that it “ultimately made the decision” to “support our employees and guests who expressed they were uncomfortable.” It added, “We regret being placed in this position and having to make a difficult decision. However, we stand by our choice to support our employees and guests.” The restaurant is founded and owned by Jill McDonald, executive chef, and Wendy Schay, pastry chef.
We have seen various restaurants refusing to serve Trump supporters, conservatives, and even those deemed allies. Democratic members of Congress have defended such actions and even encouraged liberals to disrupt meals of conservatives. Liberals went to social media to celebrate the move by the restaurant. One posting from an employee declared: “Good Morning! Sarah Huckabee Sanders no amount of evil you send our way can ever take our smiles away!!! I’m proud af to work here! I’m proud af to be gay and I’m proud af to be an Arkansan. My voice matters. Try again.” There have been virtually no condemnations from leading Democrats, who either fear or support such mob actions.
In my book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,” and my new book, Rage and the Republic, I discuss what I called this “age of rage.” Rage is a curious emotion. It is the ultimate release. It allows you to do things and say things that you would not otherwise do or say. That is why it is addictive and contagious. What people will not admit is that they like it. It allows them to hate completely; to dispense with notions of decency or civility. This restaurant yielded to hate and intolerance to appease not only its employees but the radical left.
This action occurs the same week as a poll showing that a majority of Americans now view those with opposing views as “morally bad.” The rage addiction is obvious in these postings, as shown most recently by James Carville. Democratic leaders believe that they can fuel this rage addiction and lead the mob to victory in the midterm elections. The cost is also to fuel the product of rage, including political violence. The most recent targeting of Sanders presents a moral choice for the left. If you rationalize this action or continue to patronize restaurants like the Croissanterie Restaurant, you have made a choice. You have embraced the intolerance and hatred sweeping over this nation.
For all of their superficial expressions of reluctance, Jill McDonald and Wendy Schay chose hate over tolerance. While claiming to be “uncertain how best to respond,” the answer was obvious for anyone with a sense of decency: you serve everyone regardless of your political differences. Food, like music, allows people to come together; share common experiences and environments. I truly believe that this age of rage will end as prior such ages ended. Eventually, the rage burns off and people recognize that their hatred had twisted them into grotesque figures. To reach that point, however, we must learn to speak to each other again and tolerate those who disagree with us. To put it simply, we have to break bread with one another and consider what we have in common.
Jill McDonald and Wendy Schay appear to want to cater to the rage and make their food exclusively available to those with whom they and their employees agree politically. We will have to see if that is a winning business strategy, but most of us have little appetite for their type of culinary-based hate.

“Can I say a public prayer?” Carville began. “John Fetterman, whatever you do, keep your position. Don’t change. We don’t want you. Stay right where you are. Because you’ve been wrong about every goddam thing that you’ve ever said, and we don’t want you to break your streak.”

• John Fetterman Reveals Who’s Really The Leader Of His Party (ZH)

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) sat down for an interview on the “All-In Podcast” this week and made a telling admission about the Democratic Party.When co-host David Friedberg asked Fetterman point-blank, “Who do you think leads the Democratic Party today?” the Pennsylvania senator didn’t flinch. “Oh, we don’t have one,” he said. “I think the TDS, that’s the leader right now. You know, right now our party is governed by the TDS.” Fetterman then described what that governance actually looks like in practice – a kind of loyalty test that runs in reverse. Opposition to Trump has become the organizing principle, the ideological north star. Agree with anything the other side does and you face consequences. “It’s made it virtually impossible, without being punished, as a Democrat, to agree something’s good, or ‘I agree with the other side,'” he said.

He then cited Operation Epic Fury – the U.S. military campaign against Iran – as the latest illustration of the problem. Fetterman said he is “literally the only Democrat […] in Congress, that I’ve come across that’s saying, ‘I think it’s a great thing to break and destroy the Iranian regime.’ I think it’s entirely appropriate to hold them accountable.” Fetterman correctly pointed out that this is not a fringe or even partisan position, historically. Every Democrat who ran for president in recent memory vowed Iran would never get a nuclear weapon. Now that it’s actually happening, the party’s response has been mostly blind criticism of President Trump for finally taking action.
Fetterman previously accused Democrats of refusing to put “country over party” over the Iran strikes. “The last two professional candidates for the Democratic Party all agreed that we can never allow Iran to acquire nuclear bombs, and that’s made that possible now. I think we can say, ‘Hey, that’s a great thing. That makes the world more safe, more secure and holds Iran accountable,’” he told Fox News’s Sean Hannity earlier this month, after 53 House Democrats voted against a resolution declaring that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism — something which isn’t remotely in doubt. “That’s almost 25% of Democrats in the House that can’t just call Iran the world’s biggest terrorism underwriter,” Fetterman added.
“Virtually every Democrat that I’m aware of says we can never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb, and they were a significant risk to America,” Fetterman continued. “I know why they [Democrats] don’t say that now because I’m aware that it is very damaging as a Democrat to just happen to agree with the president on anything. But, for me, that’s easy — country over party.” This week, veteran Democratic strategist James Carville blasted Fetterman, accusing him of always being wrong. “Can I say a public prayer?” Carville began. “John Fetterman, whatever you do, keep your position. Don’t change. We don’t want you. Stay right where you are. Because you’ve been wrong about every goddam thing that you’ve ever said, and we don’t want you to break your streak.”
He continued, “And can I assure you that the fact that you think it’s a good idea is not going to matter one wit to any Democrat,” and went on to say that Fetterman’s support for the war in Iran was more likely to make Democrats oppose it anyway. “It might get your name in the paper more,” Carville added. “Fucking asshole.” Carville’s criticism isn’t likely to sway Fetterman either. In fact, recent polling suggests that while Americans are skeptical of the war in Iran, opposition is waning. According to a new Washington Post survey, 42% now support the U.S. military campaign against Iran, while 40% oppose it. That marks a dramatic shift from just days earlier, when the Post’s flash poll showed 52% opposed and only 39% in favor.

“.. Kent resigned on March 17 “over Operation Epic Fury, asserting that Israel wrongly convinced America to strike Iran’s regime, the same regime that has been killing Americans for half a century.”

• Former Trump Allies Face ‘The Pence Effect’ (Tim O’Brien)

Most people who follow American politics are well aware of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). The term pretty much covers all of the left that hates President Donald Trump so much that it will side with terrorists, murderers, and communists just because Trump opposes them. But there’s an equally common dynamic at play that becomes more obvious the deeper the Trump administration gets into its second term. Let’s call it the “Pence effect,” named after Trump’s former disloyal vice president Mike Pence, who famously turned on Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. Ever since, based on the fact that he burned his bridges to Trump and the conservative movement in the process, Pence has essentially betrayed whatever sincere conservative standing he may have once had. He’s now swung far enough to the “moderate” wing of the Republican party to qualify as a Republican in Name Only (RINO).

What makes the Pence effect a thing is that it centers on someone who was once a Trump ally, perhaps a member of his inner circle. This is not garden-variety never-Trumpism. Over the years, a number of people in Trump’s universe have been experiencing the Pence effect for themselves as he weeds out the posers, the incompetents, the impostors, and the saboteurs in his circles. Joe Kent may be the most recent example of someone dealing with the Pence effect. Kent was the administration’s National Counterterrorism Center director until he tendered his public resignation this past week. CBS News reported that the FBI is investigating Kent, “in connection with alleged leaks of classified information,” saying that “multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter” informed the network.
Our Catherine Salgado reported on Kent’s departure, saying that in his resignation letter, Kent resigned on March 17 “over Operation Epic Fury, asserting that Israel wrongly convinced America to strike Iran’s regime, the same regime that has been killing Americans for half a century.” Catherine provided details, saying “a clue as to why Kent made this decision — so contradictory to many of his previous stated views — could come from his second wife’s past connection with a virulently anti-Israel, pro-terror website.”
In other words, it’s possible Kent didn’t resign for his stated reasons, and the legacy media’s narrative may be a cover for other things that could be at play. As a result, Kent has been very popular in recent days with leftist media, from Reuters and NPR to CNN and some of the more click-baity “conservative” interviewers out there. And why not? If I’m a leftist or a cynical opportunist and I don’t like Trump, and you leave the administration on bad terms, you’re going to be welcome on my show, right? Kent is not alone. The growing list of people who couldn’t maintain loyalty to Trump and paid the price includes: former generals and White House staffers John F. Kelly and James Mattis, John Bolton, Anthony Scaramucci, Bill Barr, and others.
It’s not clear to me where Tucker Carlson stands these days. So much of what he’s been doing can easily be read as something more than just criticizing Trump’s policy on Iran, but rather trying to undermine the administration, one that Carlson helped get elected. Even Elon Musk, one of Trump’s greatest champions in 2024, became one of the president’s most vocal critics and enemies last year – that is, before the two made up and moved on after the memorial service for the late Charlie Kirk.
If you study Trump, for better or worse, he views many of his business and political relationships as transactional. I’d never attempt to speak for his personal relationships. So, in that spirit, if he can help you, and you can help him, you’ll get along just great. To get on his bad side, publicly demean or criticize him. The rules are pretty clear. He views such behavior as disloyalty, and he’s not alone. Most people do.

Anno Domini 2026, this is a long and complex story, 10 years later.

• Bagman and Enabler of ‘Spygate’ and ‘Russiagate’ Receives Subpoena (CTH)

In the next few days, much more about the overall investigative review underway in Florida will begin to surface. The review has been led by USAO Jason A. Reding Quiñones, a federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Florida. As with all investigations containing multiple players and actors, the first investigative information is extracted from testimony by those furthest away from the principals, yet closest to the granular details of the events being reviewed. The questioning then goes upstream, using information collected to assembly more specific questions as the principal players are approached.

The widest concentric circles questioned first. Then using the responses and investigative information from that circle, the questioning and inquiry goes to the next inner circle of participants. The information is assembled, and more pointed questions are then targeted to the next inner circle; the process continues until the core is questioned.= Beginning with the end in mind. The biggest challenge is knowing what the correct questions are to ask of those who were closest to the corrupt activity (the outer circle). Background research is critical – CTH of value. From those pointed questions you get answers. Then next level of more specific questions get focus; and so on, and so on.
FLORIDA – Former FBI Director James Comey has been subpoenaed in connection with a wide-ranging investigation being run by a Trump-appointed federal prosecutor in Florida, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News on Thursday. The probe, which focuses on an earlier investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and other prosecutions related to President Donald Trump, is being led by Jason A. Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida. The sprawling probe has been dubbed a “grand conspiracy” investigation by Trump allies.
An attorney for Comey did not have an immediate comment, while Quiñones’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (read more) Please remember, there are two distinct and different aspects to the overall conspiracy and timeline. There was surveillance of the 2016 Republican candidates by contractors working on behalf of the FBI who was institutionally collaborating with the Clinton campaign; that is known as “Spygate.” There was then an FBI operation to target and eliminate the threat represented by the 2016 GOP primary winner, Donald Trump; that is known as “Russiagate.”

‘Spygate’ and ‘Russiagate’ are two distinctly different corrupt pathways that eventually merged due to common interests. The Mueller investigation, an extension of Crossfire Hurricane (Russiagate) was used by Obama-era politicians and internal government officials as a mechanism to block President Trump from executing a divergent foreign policy. The primary policy of focus was to protect the Iran deal. Based on mounting evidence, a pattern in other international activities and U.S. participants, the Obama-Clinton-Kerry Iranian deal likely included a mechanism for return payments to U.S. officials following the release of billions in frozen Iranian asset funds and the loosening of sanctions. (ie. pallets of cash) Qatar were the mediator/broker.
However, it is speculated, perhaps being currently evidenced, that return payments to the Obama team contained a timing mechanism and the quid-pro-quo payments were stopped after President Trump withdrew from the Iran deal and re-instituted sanctions. Thus, a much larger background context exists for why the totality of the U.S. government and Intelligence Community opposed President Donald Trump. Is it all about the money? Time will tell. Current events may not be coincidental.

Walid Phares was the 5th target within the Weissmann/Mueller probe [..] . The other four were Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Carter Page and George Papadopoulos.

• Evidence of Manipulated Political Targeting within Mueller Probe (CTH)

Let me start by saying there is a lot of misleading information circling current events, some of it by what CTH considers very dubious alt-right voices. I suggest just to be leery of “exclusive” insider information. There are motives and angles that are not obvious and would not be comfortable for those who follow events closely. [As an example, the election/voting information -connected to the Intelligence Community- and recently outlined by John Solomon, is not new. What Solomon is rehashing is the background information exposed by Catherine Engelbrecht and True the Vote surrounding Chinese involvement in prior elections (Konnech etc.). Engelbrecht gave the FBI the data, the FBI buried it and eventually targeted Engelbrecht. The hidden data and FBI conduct is now resurfacing.]

As a result of datamining the FBI ‘prohibited access’ records Chuck Grassley has released an FD-302 from an FBI agent who was on the Mueller team and became a whistleblower about the motives and agenda of the Mueller participants. One of the stories surfacing surrounds one of the Mueller targets, Walid Phares. Walid Phares was the 5th target within the Weissmann/Mueller probe who were using Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) violations as targeting mechanisms. The other four were Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Carter Page and George Papadopoulos.
Why Phares? This is a little complicated but becomes straightforward once you get it. One of the first things President Obama did when he took office was to travel to Cairo, Egypt, give a speech to the Islamic world and trigger what later became known as the “Arab Spring.” Obama was an ideological ally of the Muslim Brotherhood, which positioned him in alignment with Qatar, Iran, Turkey and various factions of the more extremist Muslim community. The Muslim Brotherhood is political Islam.
Trying to keep it short, essentially Walid Phares was on the opposite side of that ideology. He was a critic of the Brotherhood, and a supporter of the person who eventually shut down the Arab Spring uprisings, Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi. After success in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and Libya, President Obama was furious when Army General al-Sisi stepped up and removed Muslim Brotherhood aligned Mohammed Morsi in Egypt. That military uprising stopped the Arab Spring, and it stalled out thereafter.
Obama’s efforts to give increased power and voice to the Muslim Brotherhood was essentially stopped by Sisi, and that made anyone on the stability side of Islam an enemy of Obama. Without Egypt, Team Obama couldn’t trigger Syria – they did get extremism to expand via ISIS, but the coalition of Arab states al-Sisi put together pushed back on the extremists. That’s the Muslim ideological part of the issue, and we could write a dozen deep articles about all of the ancillary issues within it. However, for the sake of reader time, we’ll just jump forward to the other, perhaps more important, issue.
Walid Phares was an advisor to Donald Trump, helping him to connect to middle east moderate Arab leaders like al-Sisi and frame policies to end the extremism aspect. As a policy advisor Phares saw the structural flaws in the Obama Iran-deal and, more importantly, Phares saw the outline of a financial relationship that intersected with Obama policy.mThe Obama Iran deal involved the U.S. dropping sanctions, feeding billions of dollars back to Iran (via Qatar) as part of the incentive for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to “eliminate Iran’s nuclear ambitions.” At least that was the forward face of the policy goal.
However, in the background there was a semi-opaque quid-pro-quo where Obama would transfer sanctioned funds back to Iran and then Iran would send a portion of the funds back to the Obama network. The problem was the return funds were contingent upon the success of the Iran deal. By advising President Trump against the Iran deal, Walid Phares was essentially putting a stop to the quid-pro-quo that was contingent upon the deal’s success. In the bigger picture, that made Phares a target and the Weissmann-Mueller probe was the mechanism to target him, using FARA as the weapon.

Our weekly sing-along.

• Comey Goes Full Beyoncé: Did the Former Director Reveal a Pop Secret? (Turley)

Former FBI Director James Comey has been called many things by critics and fans alike. However, it appears that his stab at being a pop singer did not pan out. Comey recently raised eyebrows with an account of his singing Beyoncé’s “Sandcastles” to FBI officials in a classified briefing … only to be met by a stony silence. It appears that some of his agents may have viewed the occasion as grounds for intervention rather than for rendition. In fairness to the agents, they were likely unaware of Comey’s use of beaches to uncover hidden intelligence and messages.

Comey has periodically popped up in the press with bizarre or self-edifying posts. However, this one left many scratching their heads. Yet, it was vintage Comey, including a surprising admission about his handling of classified information. Comey recalled the moment from a classified FBI briefing when he realized that a secret program being discussed was named after a favorite song. He wrote:
“One morning, I was sitting at the head of a big table in a crowded room to get briefed on a particular piece of work. The briefer started by saying, the operation was codenamed ‘Sandcastles.’ Now, this was 2016, and you may know that Beyoncé’s album ‘Lemonade’ had come out with a track called ‘Sandcastles.’ So, I said, ‘Oh, like the Beyoncé song.’ Blank stares all around the FBI conference room. So, I did the natural thing. I think I sang, ‘We rebuild sand castles that washed away.’ Nope, nothing — dead silence. ‘Never mind,’ I said, ‘continue.’ Only when I got home and told my family the story did I get the reaction I was looking for. When I write, I listen to classical or jazz because, in ways I can’t explain, the music unlocks something. It frees me.”
It also apparently freed Comey from security protocols. His charming story included the fact that, disappointed by his audience at the FBI, he decided to repeat it to his family. In doing so, he may have revealed the code name of a classified FBI program to uncleared individuals in an unsecured location. There is no indication from Comey whether the code name was considered sensitive information by the FBI before his encore performance. The Justice Department has fought in court to withhold code names as sensitive national security matters, including during Comey’s tenure as director.
For example, in N.Y. Times v. DOJ, 2023, it was uncontested that the FBI could withhold code names because “specific code names that [the] FBI used for certain FBI programs and that disclosure of these things ‘would risk circumvention of the law by revealing FBI processes and potential issues related to relationships with foreign countries.’” This is not the first time Comey has raised concerns of his violation of FBI protocols and procedures regarding classified material. The Justice Department inspector general issued a scathing account of how, after being fired by President Donald Trump, Comey improperly removed FBI files and then arranged for the information to be leaked to the media to undermine Trump.
The media immediately came to his defense despite his having led investigations into leakers in the past. On CNN and MSNBC, legal experts dismissed the arguments that this was improper or FBI material. The memos clearly reveal that Comey was likely aware they contained possible classified information. Comey wrote in a Jan. 7, 2017, memo that “I am not sure of the proper classification, so I have chosen secret.” The four memos, including two given to his friend to leak to the media, were later found to be classified.
What was notable about the leaks was Comey’s obsession with his own public persona. He took FBI material to bolster his image with the media. He later published “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” which portrayed him in heroic terms without addressing allegations that he was a leaker. During his term as director, the Justice Department investigated and prosecuted FBI personnel for leaks. The “higher loyalty” shown by Comey often seemed to be his blind loyalty to his own image.
Comey has previously recounted his obsession with Taylor Swift as well as Beyoncé, but insists that “I can’t explain, the music unlocks something. It frees me.” Given his history of leaks and other violations, it may be time to try a new musical genre. It appears that pop is a bit too liberating for James Comey. In the meantime, Comey may be misinterpreting tears of joy rather than regret when he made it to the line from “Sandcastles”: “I made you cry when I walked away.”

Did John Cleese open Pandora’s Islam box?

• The Political Left, Multiculturalism And The Dark Alliance With Islam (Alt-M)

For 15 years the FBI was engaged in a landmark investigation into the largest Islamic-based charity in the United States, called The Holy Land Foundation. The organization was operating as a front for Muslim terror groups, funneling cash from western countries to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, until they were finally put on trial in 2008. Convicted leaders were known as the “Holy Land Five,” and included Shukri Abu Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mufid Abdulqader, Abdulrahman Odeh, and Mohammad El-Mezain. Among the documents seized from these individuals during the investigation was a strategic paper drafted by senior Muslim Brotherhood operative Mohamed Akram in 1991.

The paper was titled: “Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America”. It outlined an agenda called the “Civilization-Jihadist Process”, also known as “Stealth Jihad”. The memorandum gave detailed methods for establishing Islam as a “civilization alternative” in the West and a “grand Jihad” for eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within. It called for the ‘sabotaging’ of the west and its “miserable house” by domestic hands AND the hands of the believers so that the west is eliminated and “God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.” The plan explicitly referred to using western society’s own people, institutions, laws, and unwitting allies (progressive groups and NGOs, media, politicians, academics, or civil-rights organizations) to advance the Islamic agenda.
Tactics included infiltration of education, media, government, finance, and alliances with non-Islamic actors “when tactically beneficial” while maintaining ideological separation. This is also called “long-term settlement” (tamkeen); a form of demographic or cultural subversion rather than direct conquest. It is often mentioned in the paper as “the settlement mission”. A related 1982 Muslim Brotherhood document (called “The Project”) outlines a 100-year global plan with similar elements: building parallel societies, exploiting Western freedoms, and forming pragmatic coalitions.
One problem the Muslims wrestled with was the need for foreign alliances and western “advocates” to make immigration and the integration of Islam into target countries more “official”. Twenty-five years ago, this was considered all but impossible in the US and in Europe. However, since around 2014, the Sharia fundamentalists found a willing and ready ally in the new “woke” left.= Today, the notion of even discussing the agenda of “Stealth Jihad” in a public venue in 2026 is labeled “racist” by progressive activists and left wing politicians (even though Islam is not a race). If you were to go back in time around 15 years ago and explain to people what is happening today in terms of third-world immigration, they would probably laugh in your face and call you a conspiracy theorist.
In 2026 in Europe the plan is nearly complete and in the US the plan is well underway. The change in how our society views Islam as an untouchable subject is largely due to a dark and convenient political alliance between the woke left and the Stealth Jihad. Only recently has the problem of Muslim immigration risen to the forefront of media coverage, but only because of the work of citizen journalists like Nick Shirley who are exposing widespread fraud among migrants. The majority of this fraud, whether it is in Minnesota or California, is connected to Somali Muslim immigrants and is perpetrated with the help of leftist NGOs and politicians.
Coming from a country with an average IQ of 67, these people are not capable of instituting such a plan on their own. They had help and it is clear that Democrats are deeply involved in these operations, perhaps in exchange for financial kick-backs, but certainly in exchange for votes (Somali migrants in Minnesota voted 80% in favor of Democrats in 2024).It’s not surprising, but there are a lot of similarities between progressives in the west and third world Islamic migrants from the east.

For the good of your people. Without Russia, Europe will be dark and cold.

• Putin’s Envoy Recommends EU Change Its Leadership, Abandon Russophobia (TASS)

Special Representative of the Russian President for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries, Chief Executive Officer of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev advised Europe to acknowledge its previous blunders in energy and geopolitics, replace the EU leadership, and reconsider its policy course toward Russia. ”Told ya. Europe needs to acknowledge its strategic energy and geopolitical blunders, atone, change its EU leadership and Russophobic approach. As predicted, a devastating energy tsunami will soon decimate Europe. As explained many times, Europe needs Russia to survive,” he posted in English on the social network X, commenting on an FT Energy post stating that Europe should brace for an extended energy shock.

Earlier, Dmitriev warned that Europe is facing an “energy shock tsunami” over the European Union’s refusal to use Russian natural gas as he predicted that gas prices will rise further. At the end of January, the Council of the European Union finally approved a ban on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports starting on January 1, 2027, and pipeline gas starting on September 30, 2027. At the same time, restrictions will begin to be introduced earlier. Imports of LNG under short-term contracts will be banned from April 25, 2026, while short-term contracts for pipeline gas supplies must be completed by June 17, 2026.

Breaking: America versus the Globalists

No candidate in modern American history has faced what Donald Trump has faced. Not opposition. Obliteration. The full weight of institutional power was deployed against a single political figure because he could not be controlled. Look at… pic.twitter.com/03BAtgwT36
— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) March 19, 2026

https://twitter.com/Rob_Roos/status/2034957666485751997?s=20

Joe Rogan goes silent as guest dives deep on who Zelenskyy really is.pic.twitter.com/GC26GNKzwu
— Joe Rogan Podcast News (@joeroganhq) March 20, 2026

"The longest lived people had high Cholesterol…I am a great defender of Cholesterol. It is a molecule of life."
~Dr Ben Bikman, PhD

"Studies on longevity show that we need LDL to fight infections…it is an unsung hero of immunity."

"The higher your LDL, the longer you live."… pic.twitter.com/IEdJOj5vcD
— Valerie Anne Smith (@ValerieAnne1970) March 20, 2026

https://twitter.com/itsme_urstruly/status/2034613572798652914?s=20 https://twitter.com/ThatOneFrank_/status/2034722298444276080?s=20 https://twitter.com/TMZ/status/2034992045165879785

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Debt Rattle March 15 2026

Mar 152026

March 15, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:04 am Finance Tagged with: AI, Canada, Dmitriev, drones, Iran, IRGC, Kharg, sanctions, Tesla, UAE 103 Responses »

Theodoros Vryzakis The Reception of Lord Byron at Missolonghi 1861

• Rats Jumping Ship: Is the Iranian Regime Relocating to Canada? (Tim O’Brien)

• Trump Announces Obliteration of Iranian Military Assets on Kharg Island (CTH)

• Donald Trump Checkmates Iran On Day 14 (Duane Patterson)

• Iran Shows The World The Limits of US Power (Timofey Bordachev)

• My Prediction For the War with Iran (Paul Craig Roberts)

• UAE Fujairah Port Burns As Iran Vows Escalation For Kharg Island Attack (ZH)

• Drones Are A ‘Rapidly Evolving’ Threat To US (JTN)

• Media Says ‘Gambling’ Trump Got Lucky On The Economy (ZH)

• The AI Boom Is Creating A Global Memory Chip Shortage (ZH)

• Did Someone Forget To Ask Zelensky? (RT)

• The Most Expensive Science Lesson in European History (Hickman)

• The EU Never Learns – Except For The Wrong Lessons (Amar)

Colin Powell’s former chief of staff admits that Israel may permanently cease to exist as a nation.

He says America’s alliance with Israel is now a major liability.

“Israel will not be a state in 20 years. It will be gone.

“The world will just reject it.” pic.twitter.com/h1o3SNnD7m
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) March 13, 2026

https://twitter.com/OCOCReport/status/2032878205154041991?s=20

Jensen Huang just called the exact top of the pharmaceutical industry.

Not a pivot. Not a disruption.

An extinction event.

Huang: “Where do I think the next amazing revolution is going to come? And this is going to be flat out one of the biggest ones ever. There’s no question… pic.twitter.com/4WZxvPHgBg
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) March 13, 2026

Elon: To understand the universe, we have to explore it.

Earth is a dust mote. The Sun holds 99.8% of the solar system’s mass.

Orbital data centers are next. 100–200 gigawatts per year.

Moon factories. Mass drivers. AI satellites into deep space.

This is how consciousness… pic.twitter.com/m5Drq5Faef
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 14, 2026

Tesla just announced it will begin building its own chip factory in 7 days.

Tesla is going to manufacture its own semiconductors from scratch.

The project is called Terafab and Elon Musk has been warning about this for months.

Even with TSMC and Samsung running at full… https://t.co/ZFeE5jf4zJ pic.twitter.com/JQmKxd36wV
— Milk Road AI (@MilkRoadAI) March 14, 2026

Strange story, but from multiple aources, so we’ll run with it.

• Rats Jumping Ship: Is the Iranian Regime Relocating to Canada? (Tim O’Brien)

This is not an overnight development that just happened in the past two weeks, after the Trump administration and Israel launched attacks on Iran. Reports were emerging in January that even while Iranian citizens fed an uprising that led to the murder of roughly 40,000 of them at the hands of the Iranian regime, members of the regime have been quietly relocating to Canada. A news site called Justice In Conflict reported in January that “in 2021, a Tehran police chief was spotted at a Toronto-area gym. In 2024, it was reported that 700 Iranian nationals linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) resided in Canada – the same group that has been designated as a terrorist entity by the Canadian government. That same year, five Iranian regime figures faced deportation back to Iran.”

Now, thanks to the X platform, we have almost real-time proof that the IRGC rats are fleeing the ship. Of course, it would be easy to make a lot of assumptions based on a video that can very well be taken out of context. But then there’s this post from X that corroborates the initial X post that went viral. We have a name of this Iranian official. It’s Hojjatoleslam Morteza Tayyebi. So is this a one-off? Not according to Canada’s Melissa Lantsman, a member of the Canadian Parliament.

BREAKING: The Shia cleric who was filmed at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, arriving from Iran together with his family, has been identified as Hojjatoleslam Morteza Tayyebi. He has recently obtained Canadian citizenship. Unfortunately, the government of Canada is… https://t.co/Ecu6nJjHnU pic.twitter.com/ViBhL8jQwQ
— Babak Taghvaee – The Crisis Watch (@BabakTaghvaee1) March 14, 2026

Lantsman got into greater detail in an op-ed she penned for a Canadian news site called Todayville, where she said that hundreds of IRGC agents may be in Canada. While she acknowledged that Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, called that number inaccurate, he won’t confirm any number. “This week we learned from the Minister’s own agency that at least 239 people linked to the Iranian regime are living here in Canada and have had their visas revoked,” Lantsman wrote. “Yet of the 239 whose visas have been revoked, only one single person has actually been deported.” Lantsman’s numbers are based on news media reports, which she says suggests that 700 IRGC agents may be in Canada.

https://twitter.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/2032751309363818982
When discussing the Canadian government’s seeming paralysis on the issue and the notion of deporting potential hostile residents from Iran, Lantsman said “senior bureaucrats blamed a lack of flights to Iran for the government’s inaction, as if the regime was not already a listed sponsor of terrorism long before the current hostilities.” She added that the government “went on about protecting ‘privacy,’ and suggested that some of these individuals might even be able to claim asylum. This is very much another self-own from Canada’s broken and abused refugee system, which is supposed to protect those fleeing violence, not protect those importing it.”
Carney has gone on record as saying he won’t support the U.S. and Israel in their attacks on Iran. In light of these reports of IRGC members setting up shop in Canada, you have to wonder if Carney’s motives were tied to his desire for peace in the form of the status quo, or has he taken a side in this conflict? The last thing the U.S. needs is a shift in the Iranian center of global power and influence from Tehran to the country just north of us. If Canada thinks Trump was tough on them before all of this, Carney & Co. could find out just how resolved the Trump administration is to protect the U.S. from the Iranian threat.

“..90 percent of Iran’s crude is processed at Kharg Island ..”

• Trump Announces Obliteration of Iranian Military Assets on Kharg Island (CTH)

Kharg Island is a small coral island in Iran in the northern Persian Gulf. It is 34 miles (55 km) northwest of the port of Bushehr and vital to Iran’s oil industry. The oil processing facilities at Kharg Island are a foundational component of Iran’s economy. Roughly 90 percent of Iran’s crude is processed at Kharg Island, and any disruption to its oil processing could cripple Iran’s economy.

President Trump announced: “Moments ago, at my direction, the United States Central Command executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island. Our Weapons are the most powerful and sophisticated that the World has ever known but, for reasons of decency, I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island. However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.”
“During my First Term, and currently, I rebuilt our Military into the Most Lethal, Powerful, and Effective Force, by far, anywhere in the World. Iran has NO ability to defend anything that we want to attack — There is nothing they can do about it! Iran will NEVER have a nuclear weapon, nor will it have the ability to threaten the United States of America, the Middle East or, for that matter, the World! Iran’s Military, and all others involved with this Terrorist Regime, would be wise to lay down their arms, and save what’s left of their country, which isn’t much! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
~ U.S. President Donald Trump

Kharg check or checkmate?

• Donald Trump Checkmates Iran On Day 14 (Duane Patterson)

Don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say. The war in Iran will continue for at least another week, according to President Donald Trump, and probably much longer. There are still hundreds, maybe thousands of targets, human and places, to destroy, thousands of sorties to be flown by U.S. and Israeli forces, and American naval assets will soon be joined by up to 5,000 Marines. There undoubtedly will still be casualties to come, joining the 13 we’ve already lost in the last fortnight. But not only are we winning this war against Iran, the killer move that all but assures the final outcome in our favor was played on Friday afternoon by Donald Trump.

The events began early in the morning, Washington, D.C. time, when War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan “Raisin'” Caine held a press briefing. Both men at several points in their remarks stated with conviction that Friday would become the most intense and largest bombing day to date. And from what we’ve seen thus far, that is saying something. No one knew what that would look like, but the fireworks to come were promised to be spectacular and game-changing. As it turns out, they were not kidding. On Brian Kilmeade’s Fox Radio Network show, the President joined him on the phone for a bit to update on Iran. Kilmeade asked Trump if a strike on Kharg Island was on the table.
To be honest, it’s a fair question for pundits and hosts to ask of experts in the Middle East, because that little strip of land off Iran’s southern shore accounts for nine of 10 barrels of oil Iran exports. In short, it’s the Persian Gulf’s largest Buc-ee’s. Trump’s reaction, in hindsight, was extremely telling. Brian is a wonderful newsman and anchor, and has a long history of doing radio well before his tenure at Fox. I’m not surprised he asked that question. And I’m also not surprised at all that the President answered by saying there’s no way he can answer that. But taking it to the degree of admonishing Kilmeade for the question, giving him a Trump tattoo in the process, tells me Trump was angling for the element of surprise.
He reacted in a way to at least make people think it was a stupid question; it wasn’t on the table, at least not imminently, and don’t bother him with such piffle. A couple of hours later, under the cover of darkness, the bat signal went out to several of our B-2 stealth bombers, and they took flight, one right after another. They were coming out to play in whatever this event was the Pentagon had previewed earlier in the day. Of course, the videos of them taking off were not released until they were already back home from delivering the mail to wherever they were headed. And as it turns out, where they were headed didn’t have a lot of street cameras or other video capabilities to make into neat, little reel videos.
A few hours later, Donald Trump unveiled what happened. Kharg Island was targeted. Instantly, the online community predisposed to hate the President and everything about this war, precisely because Trump is leading it, leaped to the conclusion that Trump had now escalated things to an irreparable level. Of course, they missed what was struck, how it was struck, and to whom his messaging was addressed. Here is Trump’s announcement on Truth Social and X.
pic.twitter.com/XQnxIEJkgu
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 13, 2026

“The US did not defeat its major rivals through decisive military victory. Rather, it emerged as the strongest actor at a moment when other powers were preoccupied with solving their own internal problems.”

• Iran Shows The World The Limits of US Power (Timofey Bordachev)

Despite the optimism expressed in some quarters, it would be premature to declare that the American and Israeli military campaign against Iran has already stalled or that the crisis will soon be resolved through international mediation. The situation remains volatile, and the resilience of the Iranian state is still being tested. Yet even at this early stage, the conflict is raising deeper questions about the role the US will play in world politics once its latest attempt to restore global dominance runs its course. The US is not about to disappear from international affairs. Scenarios of American collapse belong to the realm of fantasy.

For Russia, China, India and other major powers, the real question is not whether the US will remain a central actor in global politics, but how it will fit into the evolving international order. For Russia in particular, this issue carries special significance. The US remains the most powerful component of the Western world, with which Russia has historically maintained relations that are at once close and confrontational. Geography and history ensure that our strategic calculations will always take into account both Western Europe and America. Russia must therefore think carefully about how the US can be incorporated into a future balance of power that serves our own long-term interests.
The events surrounding the recent attack on Iran may mark an important turning point. They have exposed the limits of American power in a world that is no longer willing or able to accept unilateral leadership. It remains unclear how long Iran can withstand sustained military pressure, what degree of assistance it will receive from external partners, and how long Washington itself is prepared to continue a campaign that appears to have exceeded its original expectations. What is already visible, however, is a contradictory picture.
The Israeli leadership appears determined to press ahead to the end. By contrast, Donald Trump and members of his administration seem increasingly perplexed by the unexpected resilience of the Iranian state. At the same time, many American allies are visibly anxious about the consequences of the conflict. Perhaps most importantly, the war is already having serious repercussions for the global economy. These economic pressures help explain why rumors are circulating that Washington may be quietly searching for mediators capable of opening a dialogue with Tehran.
In this turbulent environment, Russia has expressed support for the Iranian people and state, which it views as victims of an unprovoked attack. At the same time, Moscow must pursue policies that correspond to its own strategic interests. As one of the world’s major military powers, Russia is concerned above all with the overall balance of power in the international system, and with the unique place historically occupied within that system by the US.
To understand this position, one might use a medical analogy. The US resembles a neoplasm within the global political organism. Yet unlike in medicine, the existence of such a “tumor” does not necessarily destroy the whole system. Instead, it becomes integrated into the organism’s development, occupying a special role.
The extraordinary position achieved by the US in the second half of the twentieth century was not simply the result of overwhelming superiority. It was also the product of very specific historical circumstances. Western Europe had been devastated by war, China was in a state of internal upheaval, and Soviet Russia had largely isolated itself from the rest of the world during its communist experiment. These conditions allowed the US to assume a position of leadership with remarkable confidence.
But this leadership was never the result of classical imperial conquest comparable to the Roman Empire or the empire of Genghis Khan. The US did not defeat its major rivals through decisive military victory. Rather, it emerged as the strongest actor at a moment when other powers were preoccupied with solving their own internal problems.

“.. there is no common front against the hegemonic agendas of Washington and Israel and there will be no military aid to Iran. That is a big green light for Trump and Netanyahu

• My Prediction For the War with Iran (Paul Craig Roberts)

President Trump, in an effort to rescue himself from a war that he began without adequate preparation, as he was warned to no avail by his hand-picked Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has propositioned Russian President Putin. The deal Trump has offered is to free Russian oil from sanctions on the condition that Putin direct the released oil flows to Europe away from Asia. This achieves two goals for Trump. It lessens or removes the pressure on oil price and inflation from the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, thus negating an Iranian advantage in the conflict, and it prevents China from replacing Iranian oil lost to blockage of the Strait and curtailment of shipping insurance. Little doubt that Russia’s incompetent central bank director is telling Putin to take the deal on the grounds that Russia needs the oil revenues to develop its economy.

In other words, if Putin will betray Russia’s Iranian and Chinese allies, Trump will remove sanctions on Russian oil. Think about Trump’s proposal for a minute. What does it tell us about Trump’s opinion of Putin? It tells us that Trump thinks of Putin as a man devoid of integrity and strategic vision who would sell out his allies and his country itself.I agree with Gilbert Doctorow that by accepting Trump’s call Putin revealed himself as a person of questionable character. Trump had a few days prior conducted a dishonorable sneak military attack on Iran. Putin should have refused the call.If Putin aligns with Trump and Israel against Iran it means the end of BRICS and the New Chinese Silk Road and a cessation of Chinese trust in Russia.
John Helmer thinks it reflects badly on China that the country’s leadership is entering into trade negotiations with Trump soon after Trump has begun a war with Iran that has adverse impact on Chinese economic and military power. I agree. So, both Russia and China have shown that the Israeli-American attack on an ally has given them no wakeup call and they are both content to continue with business as usual. I can’t help wondering if one motive for Trump’s attack on Iran was to create divisions between the three countries and to isolate them from one another.
As I have emphasized several times and again today on Rasheed Muhammad’s excellent program the Zionist agenda of Greater Israel means that the talk about mediating the Iranian conflict and restoring peace and stability to the Middle East is meaningless. Israel’s agenda is not consistent with peace and stability in the Middle East. Iran cannot be secure when Iran is in the way of Greater Israel. The Iranian president still does not understand this and is making a fool of himself and his country by giving conditions for negotiations to end the war, but a more powerful figure, Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, does understand. Larijani recently stated:
“Tonight, we received messages from U.S. President Donald Trump through the Omani mediator, asking us to negotiate a ceasefire. Our response is that we will not accept any negotiations as long as an entity called Israel exists.” The Iranian Supreme Leader should say that Iran is willing to trade all nuclear ambitions for Israel’s renouncing of the Zionist agenda of Greater Israel. The only way the Middle East can contain both Iran and Israel is for Israel’s agenda of Greater Israel to be deep-sixed. The first quarter of the 21st century has witnessed Israel use American blood and money to clear the Muslim Middle East of obstacles to Greater Israel. “Seven countries in five years.” It has taken longer than five years, but Iran is the last big obstacle.
It looks as if Trump and Israel are going to lose the conventional war. Iran seems to have the larger stockpile of missiles and the determination and ability to stay the course. After having their children slaughtered by the Trump and Netanyahu war criminals, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is unlikely to counsel negotiations or surrender. Morgan Stanley, BlackRock and other major American financial institutions have already been forced to cap withdrawals from their funds. Unless Putin bails out Trump, the oil price will continue rising carrying inflation with it and driving down the stock market and employment. Washington has shown that it is Incapable of protecting the Gulf oil sheikdoms from which people are fleeing.
The US Navy which the White House Fool said would escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz has had to move out of Iranian missile range. The war has spread to Saudi Arabia. Hezbollah is now attacking Israel. The Houthis may soon join in the attacks on Israel. The American Gulf bases seem to be indefensible. We don’t know the US casualties, but it is certainly more than Trump’s reassuring six. Perhaps the Russian and Chinese leaderships will save the war for Israel and Trump by pressuring Iran into a ceasefire, thereby showing that both countries lack intelligent leadership. There are no ground troops to send into Iran.
Trump and Netanyahu seem to have given up attacking Iran’s military capabilities and are focusing on bombing Iranian civilian residential areas, schools, and hospitals as Israel does to Gaza with Trump’s bombs. This cowardly way of fighting will only succeed in hardening the attitude of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. So, what is Trump to do now that in a midterm election year the fool has permitted Netanyahu to trap him into a longterm and apparently losing war. If Trump loses the midterm elections, he is likely to be impeached and removed from office. The only option left to Trump is to nuke Iran or have Netanyahu do it.
Thus the duplicity and lack of strategic vision of Putin and Xi will have let the nuke genie out of the bottle. Emboldened by the success of violence, Trump and the Zionists will turn on isolated Russia and China in pursuit of their hegemonic agendas. On March 11, Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister and Politburo member conveniently let Trump know that there is no Chinese-Russian alliance when he said that Chinese-Russian “bilateral ties are based on the principle of non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party.”
In other words, there is no common front against the hegemonic agendas of Washington and Israel and there will be no military aid to Iran. That is a big green light for Trump and Netanyahu. Based on what we know at this time, the picture I have painted is a probable one.

“America sacrifices everyone for Israel and does not care about anyone but Israel.” He added, “Anyone clothed by the US is literally NAKED!”

• UAE Fujairah Port Burns As Iran Vows Escalation For Kharg Island Attack (ZH)

Upon the overnight major US attack on Iran’s key oil hub of Kharg island, here’s what Iran’s military is threatening to do by way of response and escalation – which was also entirely predictable: “If Iran’s oil, economic, or energy infrastructure is attacked, we will immediately destroy energy and economic infrastructure across the region belonging to companies with American shareholders or ties to the U.S.” –IRGC spox Iran continues launching widespread missile and drone attacks on Israel and neighboring Gulf Arab states and has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has vowed that any US site or any country hosting it will feel pain. “This war proved one thing quite clearly: American bases in our region do not protect anyone – they are a threat,” he wrote on X. “America sacrifices everyone for Israel and does not care about anyone but Israel.” He added, “Anyone clothed by the US is literally NAKED!” And in fact this retaliation is already in progress on Saturday. A missile struck a helipad inside the US Embassy compound in Baghdad, and debris from an intercepted Iranian drone hit an oil facility in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has informed the United Arab Emirates that US “hideouts” are “legitimate targets” after the US struck Iran’s Kharg island. –Al Jazeera. Associated Press images meanwhile showed a column of smoke rising over the embassy compound in the Iraqi capital and a fire at the Fujairah port, offering confirmation.
Plumes of black smoke can been seen rising from the UAE’s port of Fujairah, the country’s only oil export outside the Strait of Hormuz.

The local government confirms that Iranian drones targeted the area, says that damage was from falling debris. pic.twitter.com/fQU139cgPy
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 14, 2026

President Trump had said late Friday that the US military “obliterated” targets on Iran’s Kharg Island, home to the primary terminal handling the country’s oil exports. Additionally, an American official said 2,500 additional Marines and an amphibious assault ship are heading to the Middle East – though it remains unclear on if they will actually enter the strait, or what their mission will ultimately be. But ‘mission creep’ is already happening at rapid pace, as the White House refuses to publicize an exit plan or offramp (if there even is one).
⚡️Another video of the damage done to the U.S embassy in Baghdad following a drone strike pic.twitter.com/jxmFK3Ot6j
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) March 14, 2026

US seems late to the show.

• Drones Are A ‘Rapidly Evolving’ Threat To US (JTN)

Iran’s Shahed-style drones each cost between $20,000 and $50,000, but they can do a lot of damage. Since the latest conflict began, Iran’s drones have killed six members of the Army Reserve at a command center in Kuwait on Sunday, and Iranian drones have wreaked havoc on Middle East petroleum facilities. The FBI is now warning that Iranian drones potentially pose risks to targets in California. Some journalists in the legacy media are shocked to discover that the U.S. has limited capabilities to counter these destructive and lethal aerial devices. While it’s true that neutralizing drone threats is difficult, it’s a problem the Department of War has been aware of and working to address since long before the conflict in Iran.

In 2007, Tom Rullman, president and CEO of GT Aeronautics, ended up sharing a cab ride with a two-star general in Washington, D.C. GT Aeronautics develops a variety of drones for commercial and defense purposes, and in 2006, it was developing a drone with air to ground capabilities, called a Bandito. The small devices have a wingspan of 16 inches, weigh less than two pounds, and fly at 200 miles per hour. During the chance encounter with the general, Rullman discussed the Bandito and showed him charts of the drone. The general was very interested in the technology and invited Rullman to brief the Air Force at the Pentagon on what his Banditos could do.
“There were like 40 generals in the room, and I had a 20-minute time slot. That brief turned into three hours,” Rullman told Just the News. Among the questions the generals asked Rullman was if his Banditos could be used to, say, attack the White House. “Absolutely,” Rullman told the generals. “We can launch a Bandito outside the window of a truck that’s moving, do it 20 miles away and send it to a target on the ground.” That got the Pentagon’s attention. The government asked GT Aeronautics to help develop drones that could take out air targets. By 2009, Ruleman was flying Banditos out in the California desert near Point Mugu Naval Air Station and developing the systems that allow them to track targets.
Col. Guy Yelverton is a project manager for the U.S. Army’s counter-unmanned aircraft system (UAS) — what the military and FAA call drones. Yelverton said the Department of War is actively working to address the risk that drones are posing to U.S. troops. The U.S. military has seen a proliferation of low-cost adversarial drones in recent years, and they range from small, commercial-style drones to larger, more capable platforms. “They’re becoming a defining feature of modern warfare,” Yelverton told Just the News. These drones increase the ability of our adversaries, as well as “non-state actors,” to conduct reconnaissance, targeting and harassment with little risk to their own personnel, Yelverton said.
“They can make a drone pretty cheaply and then hang something off of it that could do some damage,” Yelverton said. On the battlefield, adversaries’ use of drones provides them with persistent surveillance and enables rapid strokes. This presents a situation for U.S. troops where decision-making timelines are severely compressed.

“..Trump has no business still standing. Except the economy is still standing..“

• Media Says ‘Gambling’ Trump Got Lucky On The Economy (ZH)

Democrats have been predicting doom and gloom ever since Trump returned to office, yet the economic calamity they assured us would come has yet to materialize. But rather than give Trump credit, the narrative being pushed now is that his wins are just dumb luck. That’s certainly the message of a Politico piece headlined “Trump Keeps Gambling With the Economy — And Getting Away With It.”

“President Donald Trump has spent his second term turning risky economic gambles into a way of life,” the article kicks off. “He has implemented sweeping global tariffs that have dramatically increased the cost of doing business across the world. He has sharply decreased the number of people immigrating to the U.S. He has pushed for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates under any circumstance, even though inflation has not entirely cooled. And now, he’s launched an attack on Iran, a scenario that has long been the clearest and most direct threat to one of Trump’s favored political barometers: gas prices.”
The implicit verdict is clear: these were all reckless moves, and Trump has no business still standing. Except the economy is still standing. Quite well, actually. So-called experts warned repeatedly that Trump’s tariff regime would send prices spiraling. That didn’t happen. Inflation went down. Democrats entered 2025 predicting that aggressive immigration enforcement would “deliver a catastrophic blow to the U.S. Economy.” That blow never landed. What about the prediction that Trump’s mass deportations would devastate the economy? Not only did that not happen (albeit there was TACO’ing over the scale of deportations), it reversed the trend of rising housing costs, making them more affordable. At some point, a pattern of failed predictions stops being an argument about Trump’s recklessness and starts being an argument about the quality of the predictions.
The article quickly pivots to gas prices, which are up following the attack on Iran – though Energy Secretary Chris Wright called this a ‘fear premium’ that will fall in ‘weeks, not months’ [though we generally place little stock in bureaucrat promises]. “And now, he’s launched an attack on Iran, a scenario that has long been the clearest and most direct threat to one of Trump’s favored political barometers: gas prices,” the article warns. “The conflict has led to a jump in oil prices, though not quite to worst-case levels, and markets have been jittery about the prospect of more expensive energy and higher U.S. federal debt, stemming from the cost of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.”
Politico is unwilling to credit the Trump administration for successfully managing the economy after the Biden administration went full leeroy jenkins on inflationary stimmies and red tape; instead, we’re supposed to be convinced that Trump is just lucky that disaster hasn’t struck, or as Politico put it, “getting away with it.” In fact, Politico suggests that the economy is doing well in spite of Trump… “In so many ways, that is the story of Trump’s economic stewardship up to this point. His disruptive policies have left some dents, including serious damage to his approval rating, but by the biggest readings of its health, the U.S. economy – measured by overall growth, the job market, the stock market, even inflation – largely keeps absorbing what he throws at it.”

Elon is way ahead of you.

• The AI Boom Is Creating A Global Memory Chip Shortage (ZH)

A global shortage of memory chips is emerging as demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure surges, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

Large technology companies are locking in supply by signing long-term agreements and paying higher prices to guarantee access to chips years in advance. Because these deals are more profitable, chip manufacturers are increasingly directing production toward AI customers. This shift has reduced the number of chips available for other products such as laptops, smartphones, gaming consoles, and cars, pushing prices sharply upward.
Memory chips play a critical role in modern computing because they store and deliver data to processors, which carry out calculations. Without sufficient memory, devices would struggle to run applications, load programs, or process data efficiently. Two types dominate the industry. DRAM functions as short-term working memory that computers and servers use to quickly access active data. NAND flash memory serves as long-term storage, holding files, photos, and software even when devices are powered off.

The AI industry is about to run out of chips. The world's largest foundries are maxed out and the demand curve is still going vertical.

Tesla’s TeraFab is a bet on a solution no other company in the world has been ambitious enough to try…. build the chips yourself

Quick math… https://t.co/EXMHu5GYbC pic.twitter.com/31Ln43JLiO
— Josh Kale (@JoshKale) March 14, 2026

Bloomberg writes that Artificial intelligence systems require enormous amounts of memory, especially a newer design known as high-bandwidth memory (HBM). This technology stacks multiple layers of memory vertically and places them close to processors, allowing data to move much faster than with traditional designs. The speed is essential for AI models that must constantly move and process huge volumes of information. The rapid expansion of AI data centers has dramatically increased demand for memory chips. Major technology firms are investing hundreds of billions of dollars to expand computing capacity, and AI servers require far more memory than traditional systems.
As a result, data centers now account for a much larger share of global DRAM usage than they did just a few years ago, and that share is expected to keep growing. With supply unable to keep pace, memory prices have climbed steeply. In some cases, DRAM spot prices have risen several hundred percent within a year, while NAND storage costs are also increasing. The impact is spreading across the electronics industry. Companies that build computers, phones, and gaming systems are facing higher manufacturing costs and tighter component supply. Some manufacturers have already raised prices or reduced the amount of memory included in certain devices to manage expenses.

Expanding production is not a quick solution. The memory chip industry is highly concentrated, with most output coming from companies such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology. Building new fabrication plants requires enormous investment and several years before meaningful output begins. Producing advanced chips like HBM is even more challenging because they involve stacking extremely thin layers of silicon with microscopic connections; even a small defect can ruin an entire unit.

Manufacturers are expanding cautiously because the memory business has historically been volatile, swinging between shortages and oversupply. Companies want to benefit from the AI boom without repeating past cycles that led to large financial losses when demand suddenly weakened. For the moment, firms building AI infrastructure are securing the components they need, while consumer electronics makers may have to cope with higher costs and limited supply until production eventually catches up with demand.

Russian energy is indispensable to easing the world’s largest energy crisis. EU bureaucrats will soon be forced to recognize this reality, acknowledge their strategic blunders, and atone. https://t.co/5kn6RTZBb3 — Kirill Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) March 13, 2026

• Did Someone Forget To Ask Zelensky? (RT)

What have we learned from Kirill Dmitriev’s latest round of talks in Miami, and where does Ukraine stand now?

Two weeks of war in the Persian Gulf have forced the US to admit the obvious: that Russia is an indispensable oil supplier. After some lightning-fast diplomacy from Moscow, Russian oil is reaching its old markets again, and nobody is angrier than Vladimir Zelensky. The impact of the US-Israeli war on Iran on global energy markets has been brutal. Around 40% of the world’s oil comes from the Middle East, where Iranian attacks have forced the shutdown of refineries in US-allied countries, and a third of the world’s seaborne crude oil transits the Strait of Hormuz, which has been de facto closed for nearly two weeks. As a result, the Brent oil benchmark has soared to more than $103 per barrel, a figure last seen in June 2022, when oil markets grappled with the escalating conflict in Ukraine.
That Moscow would benefit from this situation was inevitable. Russia is the world’s largest oil producer, is not participating in the war in the Gulf, and does not depend on the Strait of Hormuz to bring its oil to buyers. The only impediment to Russian oil flows are Western sanctions, which the US proved this week it is willing to wave away with the stroke of a pen. It took only four days for US sanctions on Russia’s energy sector to start to fade. The process began with a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. The Kremlin described the call as “frank and businesslike,” noting that the two leaders discussed the effect of the war on “global energy markets.”
Earlier that day, Putin publicly declared that Russia is a reliable energy supplier, willing to work with countries that themselves are reliable partners. Two days later, Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev was on a plane to Miami, where he met with Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, as well as White House adviser Josh Gruenbaum. Neither side revealed much about the meeting, with Witkoff stating that the teams discussed a variety of topics and agreed to stay in touch, with Dmitriev thanking the Americans for a productive meeting. Less than 24 hours later, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the temporary lifting of sanctions on Russian oil currently at sea. The waiver relates to exports of Russian oil loaded onto vessels prior to March 12 and is set to last 30 days.
Neither side has suggested that the decision to waive sanctions was made in Miami, but it is unlikely that the issue was not discussed. Bessent described the waiver as a “narrowly tailored, short-term measure” that would “not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government, which derives the majority of its energy revenue from taxes assessed at the point of extraction.” However, Dmitriev believes that further easing of sanctions will follow. In a post on Telegram on Thursday, he said “many countries, particularly the USA, are beginning to better understand the key, systemically important role of Russian oil and gas in ensuring the stability of the global economy, as well as the ineffectiveness and destructive nature of sanctions against Russia.”
A Harvard-educated former investment banker, Dmitriev is a long-time proponent of increasing economic ties between the US and Russia. Throughout repeated rounds of talks aimed at resolving the Ukraine conflict, Dmitriev has accompanied Moscow’s negotiators to the US and held separate economic-focused talks with the Americans. $100 oil is “just the beginning of the largest energy crisis ever,” Dmitriev wrote on X, adding that “even $200+ is a possibility in a prolonged conflict.” “Amid the growing energy crisis, further easing of restrictions on Russian energy sources appears increasingly inevitable, despite resistance from some in the Brussels bureaucracy,” he predicted.
The war on Iran has been an unmitigated nightmare for Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky. Not only has the conflict denied him the constant press coverage that he enjoyed since 2022, he has also been forced to watch as American weapons – particularly the PAC-3 Patriot anti-air missiles he has spent years demanding from the West – are burned up in the Middle East.In less than two weeks of fighting in the Persian Gulf, the US, Israel, and their Arab partners have used more PAC-3 interceptors than Ukraine has received in the last four years. In talks with his European backers earlier this week, Ukraine managed to secure a meager 35 of these missiles. The US and its partners have fired this many interceptors every five hours since the war on Iran began.
Zelensky’s attempts to insert Ukraine into the war have also proven fruitless. Despite offering to deploy anti-drone “experts” to the Middle East, the Ukrainian leader was told on Friday by Trump that “we don’t need Ukraine’s help with drone defense.” Before Bessent announced the waiving of sanctions, Zelensky took to social media to vent his frustrations. “Europe, the United States, and the entire civilized world imposed sanctions on Russia for its aggression,” he wrote on X on Wednesday. “In my view, if these sanctions are lifted, it means we are recognizing the legitimacy of this aggression… I consider this absolutely unjust.”
With Witkoff, Kushner, and the entire Trump administration consumed with Iran, trilateral talks between Moscow, Kiev, and Washington have been postponed until next week at the earliest. For now, Zelensky – the spurned mistress in this story – can only complain to the Europeans. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have all condemned Trump’s sanctions waiver. “We believe that easing sanctions now, for whatever reason, is the wrong thing to do,” Merz told reporters on Friday. “Russia,” von der Leyen said, should absolutely not benefit from the war on Iran.” However, Russia will continue to benefit as long as oil prices remain high, and Dmitriev has warned European “warmongers” that “energy markets will punish them” as long as they maintain their embargo on Russian oil and gas.

Merkel turns out to be the great destroyer. Who saw that coming?

• The Most Expensive Science Lesson in European History (Hickman)

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Japan and triggered a massive tsunami that slammed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Three of the plant’s six reactors melted down, and it became the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. On the other side of the world, German Chancellor Angela Merkel panicked. Her government had extended the operating lives of Germany’s 17 nuclear reactors just five months earlier. But, because of the earthquake in Japan, Merkel reversed course overnight and mothballed eight German reactors.But Merkel’s decision wasn’t really about natural disasters. It was political. Merkel was terrified of Germany’s Green Party— which was literally founded on anti-nuclear activism in 1980 and had been gaining ground. A critical regional election was just two weeks away, and Merkel was hoping that she might pull out a victory if she killed the reactors.

Her gambit didn’t work, and the Greens won anyway. But at that point the fate of nuclear had already been set in motion. Within three months, the German government decided to phase out EVERY nuclear reactor in the country. Bear in mind that Germany’s 17 reactors were generating over a third of the country’s electricity… with zero carbon emissions. That’s a pretty good thing for a country obsessed with climate change. Yet Germany’s Green party had inexplicably spent decades campaigning to close them, i.e. to shutter the cleanest, most carbon-free source of baseload energy known to man. Germany committed to replacing its nuclear plants with solar panels. Naturally this meant that, in a country where the sun barely shines, Germany became increasingly dependent on natural gas— most of which is piped in from Russia.

The true extent of this idiocy didn’t reveal itself until February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine: Germany joined Western sanctions against Russia. Russia retaliated by throttling gas supplies. And Germany had no fallback. So Germany— the country that had lectured the entire world on carbon emissions— frantically restarted more than 20 coal-fired power plants. Then they imported 42 million metric tons of coal, including a surge from southern Africa. They even bulldozed the village of Lützerath to expand a lignite mine, dragging away protesters. Germany also became a net electricity importer, buying power from France’s nuclear grid. And gee what a surprise: German electricity prices are now the highest in the European Union. One obvious consequence is that Germany is no longer industrially competitive due to energy costs.
And that brings us to March 6, 2026. Manuel Hagel, a 37-year-old political candidate from ex-Chancellor Merkel’s party, visited an elementary school. National television cameras were rolling as Hagel attempted to explain the greenhouse effect to the children: “Between the earth and the sun is the atmosphere. And as this gets increasingly thin, the sun gets hotter and hotter. And the reason for this is CO2 emissions and and and. And that is the greenhouse effect.” Unfortunately his explanation is completely wrong. The greenhouse effect works because CO2 and other gases trap heat within the atmosphere; it has nothing to do with the atmosphere thinning or the sun getting hotter.
This is a guy who takes away stoves and gasoline powered vehicles in the name of reducing carbon emissions. Yet he doesn’t even understand the basics of his own ‘science’. Zee German leadership humiliated themselves even more when, on March 10, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stood at the Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris and declared that Europe’s retreat from nuclear power had been “a strategic mistake.” “In 1990 one-third of Europe’s electricity came from nuclear, today it is only close to 15%. This reduction in the share of nuclear was a choice, I believe that it was a strategic mistake for Europe to turn its back on a reliable, affordable source of low-emissions power.”
She’s right, of course. It was a mistake. An extraordinarily costly one. This is hilariously ironic since Von der Leyen is German. She served in Merkel’s cabinet. She personally voted to phase out nuclear, and her own policies at the Commission have been to quietly phase out nuclear power. Also this week, Germany’s current Chancellor (Friedrich Merz) weighed in on this nuclear blunder when he called the reactor phase-out “a mistake” and said, “I regret this.” Great. Then fix it! But they’re not going to do that. Unfortunately for Germany, said the Chancellor, “it is the way it is, and we are now concentrating on the energy policy we have.”

Give it up.

• The EU Never Learns – Except For The Wrong Lessons (Amar)

Some observers of the current EU ‘elites’, including this author, used to believe that their defining feature – apart from things such as complicity in genocide and wars of aggression with Israel and the US, bigoted xenophobia about Russia and China, and, of course, pervasive corruption – was an absolute inability to learn.We must admit, we stand corrected: Those running the EU are able to learn. The real problem is their relentless compulsion to learn the wrong thing. We are not dealing with non-learners but anti-learners: where others progress from experience, they regress.

Case in point, their response to the fact that their US-Israeli masters have started a war to end if not strictly all then at least all (barely) affordable energy supplies to the EU’s economies, while its major players are already limping along on a spectrum between walking-wounded (for instance, France, maybe) to comatose (Germany, definitely).In Germany, still the largest single economy inside the EU, providing almost a fourth of the bloc’s total GDP, industrial demand – orders from factories – fell by over 11% in January. Such a decrease – really, collapse – in orders is “drastic,” as German Manager Magazine notes. According to the Financial Times, this “very weak” start into the new year, puts preceding – and very modest – signs of a recovery from years of stagnation in doubt. Indeed.
And all of that disappointing data was gathered before the fallout of the Iran war had even started.Regarding the latter, it will be severe. Even Berlin’s Ministry of Economics admits that the risks stemming from the war’s consequences, most of them still incoming, is substantial. In general, the Eurozone – different from but covering most of the EU – is not in good shape either. According to Bloomberg, a very low and yet still over-optimistic Eurostat estimate of expansion by 0.3% for the last quarter of 2025 has just been revised downward to 0.2%. But frankly, who cares at that level of misery?
And for the Eurozone as well, America and Israel’s unprovoked war against Iran is likely to make things much worse. Philip Lane, chief economist of the European Central Bank (ECB), has confirmed that much to the Financial Times: An enduring decrease in oil and gas supplies from the Middle East can (read: will), he warns, bring about a “substantial spike” in inflation and a “sharp drop in output.”And what is the EU leadership’s response to this deeply depressing outlook for its economy and the European citizens depending on it? Let’s not dream. It is true, if the EU’s ‘elites’ were in the business of protecting European interests and prosperity, they would, obviously, take a sharp turn against both the US and Israel (as well as London in case it were to stick to its special-poodle relationship with Washington).
Yet if the EU leadership had such priorities, it would long have turned against the US, for its blatant exploitation of its vassal regimes via, first, NATO over-expansion and, now, crippling overspending, for Ukraine proxy war outsourcing, and for devastating tariff warfare. It would also long have broken with Israel, for, to name only two compelling reasons, its genocide and serial wars of aggression that are both horrifically criminal and extremely destabilizing and damaging not “only” to the Middle East but the world as a whole and Europe in particular.In short, the EU would not even be in the mess it is now if it actually took care of Europe. And, by the way, if it were not so craven but had opposed the US and Israel instead of pandering to them, perhaps it could even have contributed to preventing the current criminal war against Iran.

Russia is threatening to embargo natural gas to Europe.

This could double Europe’s gas prices, gut European industry, and set off a recession.

Trump warned Europeans this would happen way back in 2018. They laughed at him. pic.twitter.com/h6YFMHLIKu
— Peter St Onge, Ph.D. (@profstonge) March 13, 2026

pic.twitter.com/kzvrSWxtlG
— Amazing Physics (@amazing_physics) March 13, 2026

Richard Feynman, in his iconic 1981 BBC Horizon interview "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out", delivers one of the most liberating takes on uncertainty ever captured on film:

"I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different… pic.twitter.com/uNvZsyayQ9
— Camus (@newstart_2024) March 14, 2026

This Harpy Eagle is the most powerful birds in the world. pic.twitter.com/o60rHl1z3w
— Gabriele Corno (@Gabriele_Corno) March 13, 2026

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Debt Rattle August 10 2025

Aug 102025

August 10, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:33 am Finance Tagged with: Alaska, cold hard land, constitution, Dmitriev, Kaliningrad, statins, stillbirths, Tulsi, Witkoff, Zelensky 48 Responses »

John Waterhouse Diogenes 1882

• Cold Hard Land, Cold Hard Bargain: Putin&Trump Head Off To Alaska (Poletaev)

• Zelensky Rejects Trump-Putin Meeting to Formulate Ceasefire Terms (CTH)

• Zelensky Trashes Trump’s Peace Terms (RT)

• Zelensky Risks Angering Trump – NYT (RT)

• Witkoff May Have Misunderstood Putin’s Demands – Bild (Pravda.ua)

• Alaska Perfect Stage for Historic Summit: Putin Envoy Dmitriev (Sp.)

• Risk of Sabotage of Putin-Trump Summit Is Real – Dmitriev (RT)

• In Alaska Trump & Putin Could Lay Groundwork For End Of Ukraine Conflict (Sp.)

• Trump Sending Vance To Discuss Ukraine With Europeans (RT)

• European Backers Make Counter-Offer Ahead Of Alaska Talks – WSJ (RT)

• NATO Targets Kaliningrad (Pacini)

• Beijing Brushes Off Trump’s Tariff Threat (RT)

• Tulsi Gabbard Is All Alone (CTH)

• Bill Maher: Democrats Must Choose Sanity Over Wokeness (Margolis)

• The Experts Bet Against Trump and Lost (Margolis)

• Whistleblower Ties Clinton Campaign to Fake Russia Hack (Paul Sperry)

• California Hospital Covered Up Surge In Stillbirths After Covid Shots (CHD)

A father reviews a 4-month old baby and has an interesting perspective pic.twitter.com/a3wVnGpiD4

— Dudes Posting Their W’s (@DudespostingWs) August 8, 2025

https://twitter.com/officer_Lew/status/1953921928336400829

TRUMP'S RICO case was created by BILL BARR and FANI WILLIS.

New evidence including emails, notes, and texts expose that they both worked in conjunction to target and prosecute President Trump.

Take a wild guess who Bill Barr’s father, "Donald Barr," was close to and hired while… pic.twitter.com/gP7FtYUwcL

— The SCIF (@TheIntelSCIF) August 8, 2025

Diana Panchenko was “Journalist of the Year” in Ukraine and among Ukraine’s top 10 most influential women. However, she is persecuted by Zelensky for being critical of his government
– Today YouTube did its part, by cancelling her account with more than 2 million subscribers pic.twitter.com/Itd7cr9u4u

— Glenn Diesen (@Glenn_Diesen) August 8, 2025

Jay
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1953985193921970535

Solomon
https://twitter.com/WallStreetApes/status/1954134932026180057

Cartel
https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1953993015132852474

“Alaska showdown: Who really needs this summit more?”

• Cold Hard Land, Cold Hard Bargain: Putin&Trump Head Off To Alaska (Poletaev)

Steve Witkoff’s visit to Moscow has marked a striking shift in American rhetoric. Just a couple of months ago, in June and July, Donald Trump was threatening the Kremlin with new sanctions and issuing ultimatums. Now the agenda includes a Putin-Trump summit scheduled for August 15 in Alaska. This 180-degree turn has been accompanied by leaks hinting at possible deals and a return to the “thaw” in relations we last saw in the spring. If the meeting goes ahead, the Russian president will come to it in a far stronger position than he did a few months ago. Back in the spring, Trump’s push for a peace deal looked like a personal whim, and the so-called ‘party of war’ and globalists still had cards to play: Senator Lindsey Graham’s sanctions package, fresh US arms deliveries to Ukraine, and the proposals floated by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer about sending Western troops to Ukraine.

Now it looks as if Trump is the one coming back to Vladimir Putin – driven by the failure of his oil embargo. On top of that, there’s an appearance – an illusion, perhaps – that Putin is backed by a united BRICS front, something Trump’s own moves have helped bring about. Whether that front actually exists, or can survive for long, is another matter. But at this moment, one of Trump’s key pillars of leverage looks shaky, if not entirely knocked out from under him. The other pillar is the war itself. In February and March, the front lines were static, and Ukrainian forces were still holding a foothold in Russia’s Kursk Region. Kiev was touting its ‘drone wall’ project, billed as an impenetrable shield against the Russian army.

Since then, Ukraine has suffered a major defeat in the Kursk border area, and the summer offensive that followed has gone Moscow’s way – more decisively than at the same point last year. The much-hyped ‘drone wall’ turned out to be far less sturdy than promised. Kiev still clings to the hope of holding the line, but barely. Even the most pro-Ukrainian Western analysts now admit, in so many words: We don’t understand how they’re still hanging on. From the rhetoric of even the fiercest globalist hawks, it’s clear they know no amount of weapons shipments can reverse the battlefield trend – at best, they can slow it. That’s why the ‘party of war’ in the West, and Kiev itself, have suddenly taken up Trump’s earlier call for a cease-fire. Which means Trump now needs talks with Putin not because he personally wants peace, but because the battlefield realities are pushing him there.

Nobody knows how much longer the Ukrainian military can hold. From Trump’s point of view, the sooner he can lock in some kind of deal with Moscow, the better. And that urgency is another advantage for Putin. If the second round of talks collapses, he loses nothing: the Russian army can simply keep advancing until the Ukrainian front breaks – or until the next peace initiative with Washington, whichever comes first. Does Moscow have vulnerabilities? Yes – and the biggest is the economy. Even without the oil embargo, a surging ruble has blown a hole in the federal budget: by the end of July, the deficit had already reached 4.9 trillion rubles ($61.4 billion) – 1.1 trillion rubles more than the planned deficit for the entire year. But Russia’s financial buffer is strong enough that it can run shortfalls like this for years without crippling the economy.

“No one will and no one can deviate from it. Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.”

Well, we saw a poll yesterday that said 69% (up from 20% in 2022) want peace talks. At least some of them must have been aware that could include giving up land.

• Zelensky Rejects Trump-Putin Meeting to Formulate Ceasefire Terms (CTH)

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is once again rejecting any consideration for President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss terms for a ceasefire without his involvement. On a Twitter storm Saturday, Zelenskyy rejected the thought of giving any Ukranian territory to Russia in exchange for peace. “The answer to the Ukrainian territorial question already is in the Constitution of Ukraine. No one will deviate from this—and no one will be able to. Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier,” Zelenskyy said. President Trump announced that he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15, in Alaska. Zelenskyy reacted, carrying the message from the global intelligence community who support the ongoing conflict, and does not like the idea of the USA and Russia determining the outcome for Ukraine.

Zelenskyy has banned opposition parties in Ukraine, taken control of media, targeted religious groups who he claims are subversive to his interests and cancelled elections in order to remain in power. Now Zelenskyy hides behind the claim of a constitution his regime modified in order to ensure he alone controls the pathways to peace. (Via NBC) – A defiant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared Saturday that his countrymen “will not give their land to occupiers,” after President Donald Trump suggested that a peace deal would include some “swapping” of territories with Russia. “The answer to Ukraine’s territorial question is already in the constitution of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a message on Telegram early Saturday. “No one will and no one can deviate from it. Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.”

It has been reported that Vladimir Putin’s ceasefire terms include Russia totally controlling the Donbas region. “WASHINGTON ‘ […] Under the proposal being floated by the Trump administration, Russia would agree to a freeze of the war along the contact line in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where Moscow controls less land than in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, a person familiar with the matter told POLITICO. In return, Russia would be allowed to keep the Donbas, said the person, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, as others in this article. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff returned from a meeting with Putin earlier this week and told Trump that the Russian president had presented the terms under which the Kremlin would agree to stop hostilities in Ukraine, a White House official told POLITICO. The official declined to describe Russia’s terms, but Trump said land swaps between Russia and Ukraine are under discussion. (more)”

President Trump does not view a meeting with Putin as a concession.

Zelensky yesterday:

“..the answer to the Ukrainian territorial question is already there in the Constitution of Ukraine”.

Hmm. Little birdie tells me that according to the same constitution, you are not the legitimate president of Ukraine.

• Zelensky Trashes Trump’s Peace Terms (RT)

Vladimir Zelensky has rejected US President Donald Trump’s call for territorial concessions to Russia, claiming no such agreement would be accepted by the Ukrainian people. Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff visited Moscow this week and reportedly made significant progress toward a compromise aimed at ending the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The US president said the proposal includes “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” sides and that Zelensky would need to find a way to approve such a deal under Ukrainian law. In his regular video address on Saturday, Zelensky stressed that Ukraine’s borders are defined by its constitution and that “nobody can or will” make concessions on the issue.

“The Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupiers,” he proclaimed. Zelensky added that Ukrainians will only respect a “real, living peace,” warning that “any decision taken against us and without us, without Ukraine, would be a decision against peace.” Earlier this week, Zelensky acknowledged that Ukraine is not in a position to forcibly retake Russian territories claimed by Kiev. The Ukrainian military relies heavily on Western weapons, funding and intelligence. The government is counting on sustained long-term support.

Russian officials have repeatedly accused Zelensky of denying reality and prolonging a conflict he cannot win. Moscow says it intends to achieve its core national security objectives, preferably through diplomacy. The Ukrainian Constitution, which Zelensky cited, also requires a president to hand power to either a newly elected successor or the parliament speaker when their term ends. Zelensky did neither when his term expired last year, retaining power under martial law. Last month, Zelensky clashed with Ukraine’s foreign backers after his administration pushed through legislation eliminating the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, created in 2015 under Western pressure. However, he quickly reversed the measure after aid donors threatened to suspend assistance.

“..Mr. Trump, who the newspaper noted previously criticized Kiev for being “not ready for peace.”

• Zelensky Risks Angering Trump – NYT (RT)

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky could find himself on the wrong side of the US president after he publicly criticized Donald Trump’s remark about the potential need for Kiev and Moscow to swap territories in order to end the Ukraine conflict, the New York Times has claimed. Trump will be meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska next Friday in a bid to find a way out of the conflict. Russia insists that the Lugansk People’s Republic, the Donetsk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions all became part of its territory following referendums held in 2022. However, Moscow currently controls only the former in its entirety, with active hostilities continuing in the neighboring DPR. Russian forces have so far secured only part of the other two regions.

Additionally, the Russian military is in control of patches of land along the border in the Ukrainian regions of Kharkov and Sumy. In an article on Saturday, the NYT conjectured that Zelensky’s “blunt rejection” of Trump’s suggestion “risks angering Mr. Trump,” who the newspaper noted previously criticized Kiev for being “not ready for peace.” In his regular video address on Saturday, Zelensky stressed that Ukraine’s borders are enshrined in its constitution and that “nobody can or will” make concessions on the issue. “The Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupiers,” he insisted.

Earlier this week Zelensky acknowledged, however, that Ukraine is not in a position to forcibly retake Russian territories it claims. On Friday, President Trump said that a peace agreement between the two belligerents would likely involve “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” sides, but stopped short of providing any specifics. Following a meeting between President Putin and Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Moscow on Wednesday, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters that Washington had made an “acceptable” offer to Moscow, but declined to go into further detail. Moscow has long accused Zelensky of denying reality and unnecessarily prolonging a conflict he cannot win.

“Russia is demanding the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from these oblasts, but Witkoff thought the proposal was for Russian troops to withdraw from there..”

Smells like Witkoff didn’t get it right. Russia can’t throw new territory to the wolves. Who would ever trust them after?

• Witkoff May Have Misunderstood Putin’s Demands – Bild (Pravda.ua)

US President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff may have misrepresented Russia’s position on a possible ceasefire in Ukraine after he met with Vladimir Putin this week. Source: Bild, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Bild reports that Russia has not abandoned its demand for complete control over Crimea and Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Kherson oblasts prior to any ceasefire, and has only agreed to a “sectoral” ceasefire. However, in peace proposals leaked to the media Putin appeared willing to discuss a ceasefire after the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces only from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

Bild’s sources say this could have been the result of Witkoff misinterpreting what Putin said about a “peaceful withdrawal” from Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts: Russia is demanding the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from these oblasts, but Witkoff thought the proposal was for Russian troops to withdraw from there. “Witkoff doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” the German tabloid quotes an anonymous Ukrainian official as saying. According to Bild, it’s an assessment shared by “representatives of the German government”.

Background:
Amid news of the upcoming meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska on 15 August, as well as media claims that Washington and Moscow want to reach an agreement to end the war in Ukraine that would lock in Russia’s occupation of part of the territories seized during its full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that “the answer to the Ukrainian territorial question is already there in the Constitution of Ukraine”.

“Yesterday,” the other “Tomorrow”.

“..the U.S. and Russia are just 2.4 miles apart between the Diomedes islands, divided by the International Date Line..”

• Alaska Perfect Stage for Historic Summit: Putin Envoy Dmitriev (Sp.)

Kremlin aid Yury Ushakov earlier confirmed that a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump will take place in Alska on August 15. The head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Russian special presidential envoy for economic cooperation with foreign countries, Kirill Dmitriev, called Alaska a “perfect stage” for a historic summit of the leaders of Russia and the United States. “Historic [Russia-US] summit in Alaska on August 15. Perfect stage: the U.S. and Russia are just 2.4 miles apart between the Diomedes islands, divided by the International Date Line (one is “Yesterday,” the other “Tomorrow”). Let us go from yesterday to tomorrow in peace,” Dmitriev wrote on X. He also called for developing Arctic ties between Russia and the US.

“President Trump announces a [US-Russian] summit with President Putin in Alaska. Born as Russian America—Orthodox roots, forts, fur trade—Alaska echoes those ties & makes the US an Arctic nation. Let’s [Russia and the US] partner on environment, infrastructure & energy in Arctic and beyond,” Dmitriev stressed. The Kremlin and the White House previously said Russian and US presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump would meet in Alaska on August 15. Alaska’s authorities told Sputnik that they did not know the exact location of the upcoming meeting.

“Putin has said he is willing to meet the Ukrainian leader to finalize – but not negotiate – a truce.”

Note: Kirill Dmitriev, for Putin, is a bit what Steve Witkoff is for Trump. Witkoff is a real estate billionaire, Dmitriev heads the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF): both come from the world of finance. And they seem to push the political guys, Kellogg and Ushkanov, to the background.

• Risk of Sabotage of Putin-Trump Summit Is Real – Dmitriev (RT)

Countries with a vested interest in prolonging the Ukraine conflict will likely go to great lengths to derail the planned meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Donald Trump, Moscow’s senior negotiator Kirill Dmitriev warned on Saturday. The two leaders are set to meet next Friday in Alaska, with a possible resolution of the armed conflict between Kiev and Moscow at the top of the agenda. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has already rejected any truce that would involve territorial concessions, despite Trump saying they would be part of the proposed deal. “Certainly, several nations that have a vested interest in prolonging the conflict will take titanic efforts (provocations and disinformation) to torpedo the planned meeting,” Dmitriev wrote on social media.

Dmitriev, who serves as Putin’s aide for international economic cooperation and heads Moscow’s efforts to normalize ties with Washington, was responding to remarks by former US Defense Department adviser Dan Caldwell. Caldwell said there was a “concerted effort to undermine” the summit, reacting to a Wall Street Journal article which he noted was based largely on Ukrainian and European sources. Earlier this week, US media claimed Trump was pressuring Putin to meet with Zelensky before agreeing to a face-to-face meeting with the Russian leader. Trump denied imposing such conditions, saying, “They would like to meet me, and I’ll do whatever I can to stop the killing.”

Moscow has called Zelensky’s continued claim to the presidency unconstitutional since his term expired last year. Putin has said he is willing to meet the Ukrainian leader to finalize – but not negotiate – a truce. He also suggested that the question of Zelensky’s disputed status needs to be addressed to ensure the legality of any future treaty. Dmitriev has previously described the upcoming summit as a historic opportunity and praised the venue, noting Alaska’s historical ties to Russia before its sale to the United States in the 19th century.

‘Ok, everyone, listen up: this is the REAL meeting and as such the only two REAL actors with REAL power will be there..”

• In Alaska Trump & Putin Could Lay Groundwork For End Of Ukraine Conflict (Sp.)

The upcoming Putin-Trump summit is going to be held in Alaska because it is a place with a “historical tie to both countries” and it is “out of the way’ enough to avoid inviting any third parties,” says Matthew Crosston, professor of national security and director of academic transformation at Bowie State University in the US. “To me, this is Putin and Trump saying, ‘ok, everyone, listen up: this is the REAL meeting and as such the only two REAL actors with REAL power will be there, namely Russia and the US’,” Prof. Crosston tells Sputnik. The choice of the summit’s location also highlights the recognition of Putin in the international arena, an acknowledgment of his “place on the world stage.”

As for the potential outcome of the summit, Prof. Crosston argues that any “immediate and substantial diplomatic achievement” should not be expected. “This does not mean, however, that the Alaska summit is a purely symbolic gesture carrying no real impact,” he points out. “More often than not in these situations the most significant outcomes appear publicly only some time later.” The Alaska summit will likely be the place where the groundwork for the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict is going to be laid out, so this is not just a formal ‘meet and greet’ event, he adds.

Trump doesn’t want to talk to the Europeans. They don’t want peace.

• Trump Sending Vance To Discuss Ukraine With Europeans (RT)

US Vice President J.D. Vance will meet UK Foreign Minister David Lammy and other European and Ukrainian officials in Britain as part of a renewed push for peace negotiations on the Ukraine conflict, Reuters reported on Saturday, citing a spokesperson for Downing Street. Vance’s trip seems intended to pave the way for a summit between the Russian and US presidents in Alaska on Friday, where resolving the conflict between Kiev and Moscow is expected to be at the top of the agenda. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has spoken to Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky ahead of the forum with Vance and the expected Putin-Trump meeting, according to the Reuters source.

Starmer and Zelensky discussed Trump’s proposals for a peace deal, the spokesperson said. “They agreed this [meeting in Britain] would be a vital forum to discuss progress towards securing a just and lasting peace,” he added. Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff visited Moscow earlier this week and reportedly made significant progress toward a compromise aimed at ending the fighting between Russia and Ukraine. The US president said the ideas under discussion include “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” sides, adding that Zelensky would need to find a way to approve such a deal under Ukrainian law.

Zelensky has rejected any such agreement, claiming that “nobody can or will” make concessions on the issue. “The Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupiers,” he proclaimed. Moscow’s senior negotiator Kirill Dmitriev has also warned that countries trying to prolong the Ukraine conflict will likely go to great lengths to derail the planned meeting between Putin and Trump. Another warning came from former US Defense Department adviser Dan Caldwell, who said there was already a “concerted effort to undermine” the upcoming summit.

“..the “counterproposal” advocated a strictly “reciprocal” exchange of territory, and on condition that “ironclad security guarantees [be provided to Ukraine,] including potential NATO membership.”

Want to sabotage? Come up with what you know will be rejected.

• European Backers Make Counter-Offer Ahead Of Alaska Talks – WSJ (RT)

A number of European nations have joined Ukraine to present their own “counterproposal” for a resolution of the conflict with Russia, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing anonymous European officials. The plan was hastily drawn up after US President Donald Trump confirmed that he would be meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska next Friday. The Journal said on Saturday that representatives of Ukraine, the UK, France, and Germany had “scrambled to respond” to a proposal reportedly floated following a meeting between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday. According to media reports, Ukraine would be required to cede all of the Donetsk People’s Republic to Russia as part of a peace agreement.

Moscow considers the DPR, as well as the Lugansk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, to be part of its territory following referendums held in 2022. However, Russia presently controls only the LPR in its entirety. During a meeting on Saturday in the UK, chief aides to European leaders presented the joint plan to US Vice President J.D. Vance, as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg and Witkoff joining via video link, WSJ reported. Kiev’s European backers insisted that a “ceasefire must take place before any other steps are taken,” the newspaper claimed. Moscow has consistently stressed that any peace process should proceed the other way round.

The publication said that the “counterproposal” advocated a strictly “reciprocal” exchange of territory, and on condition that “ironclad security guarantees [be provided to Ukraine,] including potential NATO membership.” The Kremlin has repeatedly described such a scenario as a red line. Also on Saturday, Zelensky insisted that Ukraine’s borders are enshrined in its constitution and that “nobody can or will” make concessions on the issue. His remark came after President Trump said that a peace agreement between Kiev and Moscow would likely involve “some swapping of territories.”

“The officer acknowledged that NATO’s expansion towards Russia’s borders took place in the absence of a symmetrical military expansion on the Russian side..”

• NATO Targets Kaliningrad (Pacini)

In recent days, there has been an intensification of rhetoric from several NATO member countries, which have made new accusations against the Russian Federation, claiming that Moscow is planning a military attack against Europe, scheduled, according to these statements, for 2027. These statements, which appear surprisingly coordinated, seem to reflect more a Western communication strategy than a real alarm about imminent threats from Russia. A significant development concerns the hypothesis, put forward by some Western military authorities, of a possible simultaneous offensive conducted jointly by China and Russia: Beijing through an invasion of Taiwan, Moscow with a direct attack on Europe. This thesis was explicitly expressed by the new NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, General Alexus Grynkewich, and subsequently supported by Polish government officials, such as the deputy prime minister and defense minister.

The emphasis on 2027 as a reference date appears singular. According to some interpretations, this insistence stems from internal NATO simulations that predict a possible collapse of Ukraine in that year, which could require the opening of new fronts to contain the Russian advance. Alternatively, this narrative could reflect an attempt to generate a larger-scale military crisis in order to ease Russian military pressure on Ukraine. The Russian region of Kaliningrad, which has recently been the subject of increasing attention and hostile rhetoric from Atlantic Alliance officials, is of particular strategic importance. General Christopher Donahue, commander of the U.S. Army for Europe and Africa, has publicly stated that NATO would develop a detailed plan for the conquest of Kaliningrad “in unprecedented times” in the event of a large-scale conflict with Russia.

This announcement is part of the broader “eastern flank deterrence line” strategy, which aims to strengthen the Alliance’s land capabilities, harmonize industrial production in the defense sector, and introduce standardized digital systems to facilitate operational coordination. According to Donahue, land capabilities are now becoming increasingly important, to the point where they can effectively counter so-called A2/AD (anti-access/area denial) strategies and enable power projection in the maritime domain. The implicit message emerging from this strategic narrative is that some of NATO’s statements and postures seem designed to provoke an armed response from Russia, which would allow the Alliance to characterize that response as “aggression” and thus justify its own escalation.

The key factor is timing: the year 2027 plays a perhaps highly symbolic role and, above all, is close enough to the implementation of the war plans that NATO has developed in recent years. There is one significant problem: the EU has planned rearmament for 2030, not 2027… Who teaches math to the Alliance’s generals? NATO needs the EU to fight this war. There is a communication problem in the secretariat. Perhaps it is time to change the reception staff. However, there are also those who do not share this view, such as Admiral Rob Bauer, former chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, who recently stated that a limited Russian attack on a Baltic state would not automatically trigger a military response from the Alliance, but would instead trigger a consultation process among member states.

The officer acknowledged that NATO’s expansion towards Russia’s borders took place in the absence of a symmetrical military expansion on the Russian side and even admitted that Moscow is increasing arms production beyond operational needs in Ukraine, suggesting a military reserve capacity for future scenarios. This, let’s be clear, is the most logical thing a country can do when it has an entire military partnership threatening it for decades… but NATO’s high command is incapable of seeing this.

Another factor frequently cited as justification for the Western escalation is the so-called Russian ‘shadow fleet’, a group of ships used to transport energy resources in circumvention of sanctions. Former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Landsbergis has claimed that the Russian “ghost fleet” numbers around a thousand naval vessels. Some analysts also argue that the small Baltic states are seen as potential “sacrificial pioneers” in an attempt to drag Russia into a wider conflict and prolong Western hegemony through widespread militarization. Bauer’s own words seem to suggest that a limited Russian attack would not trigger an automatic response, but rather an opportunity to intensify propaganda, increase military spending, and gain time to manage internal crises.

“We will continue to take energy supply measures that are right for China based on our national interests.”

• Beijing Brushes Off Trump’s Tariff Threat (RT)

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has dismissed US threats of additional trade tariffs over its purchases of Russian oil, saying Beijing will continue to act in line with its national interests. US President Donald Trump has targeted major buyers of Russian crude, including India and China, claiming such trade helps sustain the conflict in Ukraine. His administration has also promoted tariffs as a way to counter what it considers unfair trade practices by other countries. Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Friday that Beijing’s partnership with Moscow remains “consistent and clear.”

“It is legitimate and lawful for China to engage in economic, trade and energy cooperation with other countries, including Russia,” Guo told reporters at a regular briefing. “We will continue to take energy supply measures that are right for China based on our national interests.” China and Russia have described their relationship as an unprecedentedly close strategic partnership rooted in mutual respect and compromise toward shared goals. Both have accused Washington of pursuing unilateral gains at the expense of others and seeking to derail the emergence of a multipolar world order.

India has also rejected Washington’s tariff pressure, calling it “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.” Brazil, another major economy hit by the US tariffs, has criticized the measures as well. Trump has linked his late July move against Brazil to the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of plotting to overthrow his successor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Brazil, China, India and Russia are the founding members of BRICS, a group of large non-Western economies. Trump has accused the organization of trying to undermine the US dollar’s role as the global reserve currency, and has threatened to introduce punitive tariffs against its members.

“..those who control power within the Oval Office keep Tulsi isolated and away from the President.”

• Tulsi Gabbard Is All Alone (CTH)

The least understood issue right now, is how isolated and alone Tulsi Gabbard is on her mission to bring sunlight to the Intelligence Community weaponization and corruption.…”There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things”… The IC uses various media leaks and narrative engineers as the tools against their enemy; in this case DNI Tulsi Gabbard. The most common arrow in their manipulative quiver is the term “sources and methods.” The Washington Post notes how the Intelligence Community is upset about DNI Tulsi Gabbard compromising their ‘sources and methods’ by releasing the House Intelligence Report that deconstructed the Russiagate Intelligence Community Assessment. What has them so upset is Tulsi’s release of the House Intel report. This is the report that drove the FBI to raid Mar-a-Lago in an effort to retrieve it from Trump. This is the report that outlines how the CIA fabricated the Russiagate claims. Tulsi is being targeted for releasing this specific report. That tells you how important it is to the CIA.

“WASHINGTON DC – […] The document that Gabbard ordered released on July 23 is a 46-page report stemming from a review begun in 2017 by majority Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee. It takes issue with U.S. intelligence agencies’ finding earlier that year that Russian President Vladimir Putin developed a preference for Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton and aspired to help him win the election.
[…] The House report is the most sensitive document the Trump administration has yet released, and details of how its publication occurred have not been previously reported.
[…] The document contains multiple references to CIA human sources reporting on Putin’s plans. Such sources are among the agency’s most closely guarded secrets. After the report was completed in 2020, it was considered so sensitive that it remained in storage at the CIA rather than on Capitol Hill.
[…] as the Trump administration prepared to release the report publicly, there were multiple versions of it circulating, some with more redactions to protect sensitive information, current and former U.S. officials said. Gabbard, who has led the administration’s effort to relitigate the 2016 campaign, pushed to release as much as possible, they said. “CIA put forward their proposed redactions and edits to the document,” said a person familiar with the process. Gabbard “has greater declassification authority than all other intelligence elements and is not required to get their approval prior to release.” Trump then approved the publication of the version from Gabbard’s office “with minimal redactions and no edits,” this person said.
[…] It is unclear exactly how Trump gave his approval, or if he examined the competing versions of the House report beforehand. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. (READ MORE)”

The HPSCI report release is what is driving the CIA bananas. Despite efforts by Donald Trump to declassify the HPSCI report before leaving office, the CIA never released it. No one except the internal Intelligence Community (CIA/DNI) had seen the HPSCI report until Tulsi Gabbard released it on July 22nd. This is a key point, because the HPSCI report touches on all of the other declassified evidence recently released. The authors of the HPSCI report had reviewed all of the same information John Durham reviewed. The HPSCI report walks through the entire construct of the Intelligence Community Assessment ordered by President Obama on December 6, 2016.

Arguably, because of the underlying evidence reviewed to produce it, the HPSCI report is the most critical of the declassified release in the last few months. The HPSCI report walks through the timeline, as the ICA was created between early to late December 2016. Do NOT forget. Tulsi Gabbard is essentially all alone on this mission of sunlight. Tulsi’s isolation is the one issue people do not quite seem to understand. Pam Bondi (AG) isn’t with her. Director Kash Patel (FBI) and Director John Ratcliffe (CIA) are not with her. Susie Wiles (CoS) is not with her. In all of these efforts DNI Tulsi Gabbard is all alone. The Israel-First media and activist group is also aligned against her.

If you doubt that’s the scenario, show me a single voice from inside the administration who stood up to (even gently) defend her when Tulsi was attacked about her position on the Iran nuclear capabilities. Tulsi is all alone. She is all alone on this mission and even physically all alone when on task within the administration. Watch for it and you can clearly see it. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it. This is not about President Trump per se’. The Office of the President is not a significant participant at the moment, and those who control power within the Oval Office keep Tulsi isolated and away from the President. However, if DNI Tulsi Gabbard turns against Palantir, she will be removed. Full stop. We saw those Palantir boundary rails surface when DNI Gabbard was not fully behind the bombing of Iran.

People argue against the power of the ODNI, saying the office is a functionary only. These are historically old arguments by people who do not fully understand the nature of the silo system. Yes, this is the typical viewpoint; however, readers on these pages will note that I have said repeatedly for years now, the DNI position can be used for powerfully good purposes. The DNI can look at anything in Washington DC. Anything, inside any silo. As noted by the angered WaPo, “Gabbard has greater declassification authority than all other intelligence elements and is not required to get their approval prior to release.” The DNI can look at anything in any silo and put sunlight upon it. Yet, people claim the DNI has no power. lol The ability to bring sunlight is power. Go Tulsi!

“..urging his side to choose sanity before it’s too late, warning that the alternative is a permanent descent into madness..”

• Bill Maher: Democrats Must Choose Sanity Over Wokeness (Margolis)

Bill Maher continues to carve out a unique position as a leftist who openly challenges the woke left from within his own party. As I’ve pointed out before, Bill Maher may be a leftist, but he’s spoken out repeatedly against the woke left, and that’s a good thing that I hope helps move the party away from crazy. It’s not working yet, but dare to dream. His critiques have been sharp and unrelenting, exposing the destructive elements that have taken hold in portions of the Democratic Party. Yet Maher’s disdain for the woke left is not just comic disdain; it’s rooted in a deep frustration with how the progressive wing is unraveling the party and the nation. Whether it’s calling out the ridiculous outrage over the Sydney Sweeney ads or admitting that President Donald Trump was right about tariffs, Maher has shown an ability to be honest about the issues without blindly following the party line.

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1951495192185368991

Yes, Maher may be a leftist who hates Trump, but he recognizes that woke activists are destroying his party. Maher is not just mocking woke excess; he’s demanding a serious reckoning. His most recent monologue challenged Democrats to confront a fundamental question: Do they support the values of Western civilization? “The world is a complicated place, and it’s not just about oppressor and oppressed,” Maher said recently. “They have a thought in their head that white people did some very bad things — and white people did some very bad things — but so did everybody else in the world. But they don’t know that. They just see the world through this one prism. And until they do, I don’t think you’re gonna get them off this issue, and I don’t think the Democratic Party is gonna be able to go forward until they make a decision. Whose side are you on here? Are you on the side of Western civilization and Western values, or are you on the side of the terrorists?”

Maher zeroed in on intersectionality as the first wave of the woke “infection,” an idea that repackages historical grievances into racial hierarchy dogma that unfairly demonizes white people alone. Maher’s challenge to Democrats is radical in its clarity: it’s time to decide if you stand with the values that built the West or if you side with terrorists. He warned chillingly that many Democrats are only a step away from aligning with Hamas, with some already there. That is the stark reality Maher is laying bare. In his words, “Are you with those kids because, you know, Mandami, he’s the perfect candidate for them?” The warning here is not subtle. If Democrats continue to embrace the woke core that sympathizes with radical ideologies over patriotism and Western values, their collapse is assured.

Bill Maher cuts through the absurdity of the woke left’s claims. Whether you agree with his broader politics or not, Maher is signaling that the battle for the soul of the Democratic Party and America is no longer a game. It’s a choice between sanity and self-immolation. And so far, Bill Maher is shouting for sanity to prevail. Bill Maher slices right through the woke left’s nonsense with the kind of blunt honesty that’s becoming rare in his party. Whether you agree with his broader politics or not, he couldn’t be clearer: the fight for the soul of the Democratic Party and the future of the country are no longer a sideshow. We’ve reached a crossroads between common sense and political self-destruction. And right now, Maher is one of the loudest voices urging his side to choose sanity before it’s too late, warning that the alternative is a permanent descent into madness.

“..nothing’s more dangerous than bad advice from people who never face the consequences.”

• The Experts Bet Against Trump and Lost (Margolis)

For years, the self-anointed experts in economics have been catastrophically, almost comically wrong about Donald Trump’s tariff strategy. They were wrong during his first term, and he is proving them wrong again in his second. They didn’t just miss the mark; they weren’t even aiming at the right target. Now, with new data and landmark trade agreements in hand, the world has every reason to demand accountability from the academic class that branded Trump’s trade policies as reckless economic self-sabotage. Remember the parade of Nobel laureates and Ivy League economists lining up to denounce Trump’s tariffs as a singular threat to American prosperity? All those economic apocalyptic predictions that they repeated endlessly like gospel. They were wrong, and it’s about time they all admit it, don’t you think?

Economist John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, explained in the New York Post how the orthodoxy went from smug certainty to stunned confusion. And as he makes clear, it’s time those so-called experts learn to eat a little crow. As Lott notes, the anti-tariff hysteria never made logical sense. Experts from the right and left were quick to denounce Trump’s trade policy.

“On the left, Nobel laureate and Columbia professor Joseph Stiglitz declared in January that Trump’s policy was “very bad for America and for the world,” while University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers called it “impressively destructive.” On the right, prominent free-market advocates like George Mason’s Donald Boudreaux also voiced strong opposition. Yet their arguments against tariffs revealed a fundamental misunderstanding: They decried tariffs as uniquely harmful, while ignoring that the same logic applies to all taxes.

Take the common critique that tariffs, as a tax on trade, reduce trade overall. Phil Gramm and Larry Summers — one conservative, one liberal — jointly argued that tariffs “distort domestic production” by pushing resources toward less efficient uses. They warned that tariffs would slow economic growth.”

Critics love to warn that tariffs slow growth and hurt consumers. Fair enough, but so do all taxes. Sales taxes discourage spending, income taxes discourage work, and corporate taxes drive away investment. Every tax distorts the economy, and tariffs are no different. If you oppose tariffs just because they raise prices, you’d have to oppose every tax. With Washington spending $7 trillion this year, taxes aren’t going anywhere. The real goal should be minimizing the damage, and Trump understood that. Before his policies, the average U.S. tariff rate was just 2.5% — tiny compared to top personal income tax rates over 43% and corporate taxes around 27.5%. If tariffs can offset other taxes, they might lower the overall burden.

Experts painted tariffs as economic sabotage, ignoring that all taxes chip away at prosperity. They also swore that Trump’s tough tactics would kill trade deals. Instead, he opened markets once thought unreachable. Trump played hardball, and other countries blinked. The refusal to admit America’s leverage isn’t analysis; it’s just laziness. “Trump began with aggressive tariff threats, horrifying many economists — but the results speak for themselves. The United States has secured deals that dramatically opened foreign markets representing 55% of global GDP. Even critics have had to acknowledge the shift. “To avoid worst of Trump tariffs, [the European Union] accepted a lopsided deal,” the Washington Post conceded, while the London-based Financial Times described how the EU “succumbed to Trump’s tariff steamroller.”

The evidence shows that it’s time for a reckoning. The doomsaying economists who swore tariffs would trigger disaster were wrong: not just on the math but on the realities of power and negotiation. When tariffs can cut other taxes, open markets, and give America leverage, it’s worth reevaluating instead of parroting outdated talking points. But expecting these “experts” to admit it is like expecting the media to apologize for the Russian collusion hoax; it’s not going to happen. The lesson is simple: don’t outsource your common sense to the ivory tower. Trump’s tariffs weren’t a gamble; they were a masterclass in real-world leadership. And nothing’s more dangerous than bad advice from people who never face the consequences.

“..It seemed only brief interaction was occurring – in some cases, no unauthorized access, or even attempted access, was detected on ‘victim’ systems.”

• Whistleblower Ties Clinton Campaign to Fake Russia Hack (Paul Sperry)

A whistleblower report declassified last week suggests that Hillary Clinton’s campaign efforts to manufacture evidence tying Donald Trump to alleged Russian hacking in 2016 were deeper than previously known – as were Obama administration efforts to conceal them. According to the report, a former senior U.S. intelligence analyst who investigated alleged Russian attempts to breach state voting systems during the 2016 election suspected the breaches may have been “related to activities” of the computer contractors involved in the Alfa Bank hoax, who were accused of manipulating Internet traffic data. In that well-publicized case, a Clinton campaign lawyer worked with federal computer contractors and the FBI to create suspicions that Russia was communicating with Donald Trump through a secret server shared by Alfa Bank of Russia and Trump Tower in Manhattan.

The anonymous whistleblower – who served as the deputy national intelligence officer for cyber issues in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence from 2015 to 2020 – told Special Counsel John Durham he stumbled onto “enigmatic” data while leading the investigation of alleged Russian cyber activity for the Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian meddling in the 2016 election. He said that his discovery took place in December 2016 when President Obama ordered the ICA. After examining state-reported breaches of election networks, the whistleblower said, “It seemed only brief interaction was occurring – in some cases, no unauthorized access, or even attempted access, was detected on ‘victim’ systems.” Though the suspicious activity initially was attributed to Russian actors, further analysis raised doubts.

But when he brought his findings to his boss, ODNI’s national intelligence officer for cyber issues, he was ordered to stop investigating and not include his findings in the final ICA draft. “After being directed to conduct analysis of Russian-attributed cyber activity for the ICA, I had been abruptly directed to abandon further investigation,” the whistleblower analyst said. He added that his boss, whose name was blacked out in the whistleblower statement, “directed me to abandon analysis of these events, stating reports of Russia-attributed cyber activity were ‘something else.'” While the names of the whistleblower and his boss are blacked out in the report, a RealClearInvestigations search of federal records shows Vinh Nguyen was the national intelligence officer for cyber issues at the time. The whistleblower would have been Nguyen’s deputy.

The whistleblower’s 2023 complaint, declassified last week by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, also seems to contradict the recent claims of Obama’s director of national intelligence, James Clapper, and his CIA Director, John Brennan, among others that the ICA was a neutral document prepared according to the highest standards whose conclusions were widely supported by the intelligence community. The whistleblower said his supervisor also “pressured me to accept the ICA’s judgment of a decisive Russian preference for then President-elect Trump, and stated to me that he sought my concurrence as means to sway the position of” another intelligence agency. “I was pressured to alter my views on the key judgment,” he said. But, he added, “I could not concur in good conscience based on information available, and my professional analytic judgment.”

“..the hospital averaged one fetal death per month, she said in the lawsuit. However, beginning in spring 2021, the number of stillbirths skyrocketed to about 20 per month, and remains at that level today..”

• California Hospital Covered Up Surge In Stillbirths After Covid Shots (CHD)

A California hospital concealed data linking a “catastrophic surge” in stillbirths among women who received COVID-19 vaccines, according to a lawsuit filed last week in the Superior Court of California, Fresno County. Michelle Spencer, a nurse at Community Medical Centers’ (CMC) Community Regional Medical Center, said the hospital “deliberately and selectively” concealed from staff, patients and regulators a spike in unborn baby deaths that began in spring 2021, and retaliated against her when she publicized the information. The lawsuit also says the hospital concealed medical data related to the fetal deaths that showed a link to COVID-19 vaccination of pregnant mothers. The data include hospital-wide medical records documenting the number of stillbirths and the vaccination histories of those babies’ mothers.

One managing nurse at the hospital told a staff member that nearly all of the stillbirths occurred among vaccinated mothers. According to the complaint, Spencer “witnessed firsthand the exponential increase in unborn baby deaths directly correlating with pregnant women who received a Covid vaccine and then would deliver a dead baby a close number of days or weeks following their injection.” Spencer’s attorney, Greg Glaser, said: “The essence of this case is that the truth shall set you free. The hospital possessed vaccinated versus unvaccinated comparison data. The numbers proved the vaccines were causing miscarriages and more in the vaccinated group. “We know hospital management analyzed the data because they said so, and we see they concealed it from regulators because that file [requested by regulators] is empty.”

Children’s Health Defense is funding the lawsuit, which accuses the hospital of fraud, retaliation and unethical business practices. Spencer, who has been employed with the hospital since 2017, works in the antepartum, postpartum and labor and delivery units, all located on the hospital’s third floor. Before the COVID-19 vaccination rollouts, the hospital averaged one fetal death per month, she said in the lawsuit. However, beginning in spring 2021, the number of stillbirths skyrocketed to about 20 per month, and remains at that level today, Spencer said. The number is an estimate because Spencer can’t access the hospital’s full medical records.

Aphasia

"Cholesterol Lowering Statins Steal Your Health & Your Memory…They Also Steal Your Ability To Speak."
Dr Bryan Ardis

"Published Studies & The FDA Quietly Admit That Statins Cause Aphasia…The Disease Actor Bruce Willis Is Suffering From."

The Truth Big Pharma Wants Buried…… pic.twitter.com/OjJ1v4kcna

— Valerie Anne Smith (@ValerieAnne1970) August 9, 2025

IVM

RFK Jr. Unloads the Truth About Ivermectin to The Hill: “It Was Really a Miracle Drug”

“There are now 100 studies that show that Ivermectin had profound benefits. Generally speaking, a 70% to 85% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths,” reported Kennedy. “It was really a… pic.twitter.com/ojEkohMJ9j

— IvermectinKart | Ivermectin & Cancer cure store (@Ivermectinkart) August 7, 2025

Every dog needs this.

Bro makes $200k a year for just "walking Dogs" pic.twitter.com/dgouKbuUEK

— Dudes Posting Their W’s (@DudespostingWs) August 7, 2025

Bellamy

Legendary botanist David Bellamy lost his position at the BBC after dismissing the man-made climate change narrative as "poppycock".

Interviewer: "Do you believe man-made climate change is happening?"

Bellamy: "Absolutely not… There is no actual proof. There are a whole… pic.twitter.com/j4gmRExXhS

— Camus (@newstart_2024) August 8, 2025

Click for the whole photo- worth it.

Humpback whales keep interrupting orca hunts — and no one knows why.

They apparently protect seals, sea lions, even sunfish. Are they acting on instinct — or empathy? One scientist puts it simply: «It’s almost like humpbacks just don’t like bullies» pic.twitter.com/vyyAYzQWVO

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 9, 2025

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Debt Rattle August 8 2025

Aug 082025

August 8, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:53 am Finance Tagged with: acceptable offer, carmakers, census, ChatGPT, Clintons, Digital Services Act, Dmitriev, Gaza, Ghislaine, Judge Jeanine, Kash Patel, tariffs, Ushakov 42 Responses »

Hasui Kawase Mimhae Pavilion, Kyongju, Korea 1940

• US Has Made ‘Acceptable Offer’ – Kremlin Aide (RT)

• Putin-Trump Meeting Could Be Historic – Russian Envoy (RT)

• Trump to Meet Separately With Putin, Zelensky in Bid to End Ukraine War (Moran)

• Ghislaine Maxwell Implodes The Left’s Trump-Epstein Witch Hunt (Margolis)

• Ghislaine Could Give Trump A Chance To Break Israel’s Power Over America (PCR)

• Clintons Could Face Jail Time if They Defy Epstein Subpoena (Margolis)

• Commerce Dep’t to Make Census Reflect the Number of Legal Residents in US (DS)

• Trump Orders New Census to Fix 2020 Rigged Count Favoring Dems (Margolis)

• US Working To Kill EU Digital Services Act – Reuters (RT)

• Trump Tariffs Wipe Out $12 Billion From Global Carmakers – WSJ (RT)

• Germany To Slash Payments For Ukrainians (RT)

• Kash Patel Is Cleaning House at the FBI, and It’s Glorious (Margolis)

• ‘We Don’t Want To Keep Gaza’ – Netanyahu (RT)

• Swedish PM Admits He Uses ChatGPT To Help Run Government (ZH)

• ChatGPT a Danger To Teens – Watchdog (RT)

"Whether I lost $2 billion or $5 billion, it doesn't make any difference to me. I don't care. If you're rich, it doesn't matter. I'm doing this for the country, I'm doing this for the people." pic.twitter.com/uMA2hmdCP0

— A Man Of Memes (@RickyDoggin) August 5, 2025

Milei
https://twitter.com/Inevitablewest/status/1953394786737557665

apple
https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1953207040614252904

Poland elects new president
https://twitter.com/AdamMoczar/status/1953163210757931447

93
https://twitter.com/CRRJA5/status/1953308689810559218

Judge Jeanine Pirro is the new US Attorney for DC

Ingraham: I’ve been hearing that there is a big problem with staffing—what’s going on?

Pirro: I’m down 90 prosecutors—because nobody cared enough to make sure that office was running. If you want a job in the largest US Attorney’s office, contact me pic.twitter.com/dGVMloE5rT

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 6, 2025

Census

The Constitution requires a full census every 10 years. It never prohibits more frequent censuses. And because the most recent census was obviously rigged, a new and accurate census should absolutely be ordered. https://t.co/gVCdniYOv0

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) August 7, 2025

O’Leary

Mearsheimer offers a sobering critique of U.S. and NATO policy toward Russia, asserting that the West bears significant responsibility for the war in Ukraine. Calling the conflict a “preventable tragedy,” Mearsheimer explains how Washington’s push to expand NATO eastward and bring Ukraine into its orbit left Russia with what he describes as “no choice but to react.” “This is not about Putin being irrational,” he argues. “It’s about the West ignoring repeated warnings from Moscow for over a decade.”

That’s a strong statement. Ushakov would not say it if there wasn’t a major shift in the US position. We’ll have to wait till next week.

• US Has Made ‘Acceptable Offer’ – Kremlin Aide (RT)

Russia has received an “acceptable” offer from the US on settling the Ukraine conflict, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov has said, following a visit by US special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Ushakov commented on the talks between Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin, noting that Moscow had received a “proposal from the Americans” which it is ready to consider, without providing further details. Ushakov also noted that Russia and the US have topics to discuss, while agreeing with the view of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who earlier described the talks as “a good day.”

Rubio had added that “we still have a ways to go, but we’re certainly closer [to peace] today than we were yesterday – when we weren’t close at all.” The Kremlin aide earlier called the Putin-Witkoff meeting “business-like and constructive,” adding that “Russian-American ties could develop according to a completely different, mutually beneficial scenario,” as compared to the long-running tensions over Ukraine. He also revealed that Putin could meet Trump as soon as next week. The Russian president later suggested that the United Arab Emirates could potentially host the summit.

Kirill Dmitriev.

• Putin-Trump Meeting Could Be Historic – Russian Envoy (RT)

The upcoming meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump has the potential to be a historic event, according to senior Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev. The Kremlin confirmed on Thursday that preparations for direct talks have advanced to the point that a venue has been selected. The meeting could be held as early as next week. Dmitriev, an economic adviser to Putin and key figure in the push to normalize bilateral ties with the US, shared the development on X. “This can be a historic meeting,” he wrote, adding a dove emoji. “Dialogue will prevail.” On Wednesday, US special envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Russia to meet with Putin in what Trump later described as an unexpectedly positive round of discussions. Trump previously threatened to introduce additional sanctions due to a perceived lack of progress in his efforts to broker a resolution to the Ukraine conflict.

https://twitter.com/kadmitriev/status/1953371181974753345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1953371181974753345%7Ctwgr%5E80a9b7fbfe15a144894743edc6ae1b5c6ef0ba09%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Frussia%2F622607-putin-trump-historic-summit%2F

Since taking office in January, Trump, who describes himself as a “president of peace,” has relied on economic and military pressure to address several escalating international disputes. However, his campaign pledge to resolve the Ukraine conflict within 24 hours has proven unrealistic. He has since acknowledged that the situation is far more complex and challenging than he originally suggested. Moscow has expressed a desire to address the root causes of the conflict, opposing any scenario that would freeze the conflict in its current state. Putin has stated that his government prefers to achieve its objectives through peaceful means. Kiev has consistently rejected Moscow’s proposed settlement terms and continues to call for Western military support and further sanctions on Russia. Ukrainian officials argue that these measures could halt or even reverse Russian advances on the battlefield.

You will also see people having opinions who know nothing about the topic:

“Some casualty estimates for the last month claim 45,000 Russian dead. Considering the manic offensive nature of Russian strategy, that claim sounds realistic.”

Jesus H.C.!

• Trump to Meet Separately With Putin, Zelensky in Bid to End Ukraine War (Moran)

For more than a year, the Ukraine War has ground on inconclusively. The cost in lives has been enormous. While official casualty figures are useless, several independent media outlets have carried out their own investigations by scanning death notices, reading local newspaper reports of dead soldiers, and reading church funeral notices in newsletters. Ukraine claims to have killed one million Russian soldiers. That’s absurd, but the total of killed, wounded, and missing may be close to that number. It appears that 2024 was the deadliest year of the war for Russia as they threw in wave after wave of infantry, gaining virtually nothing. According to sources, the Russians have moved approximately 188 square miles in the last month, the best month of the year. Some casualty estimates for the last month claim 45,000 Russian dead. Considering the manic offensive nature of Russian strategy, that claim sounds realistic.

Ukraine has lost between 400,000 and 700,000 soldiers, according to non-government sources. The point is that all of the dead are dying for literally nothing. The front lines haven’t shifted more than a few miles since the summer of 2023. The only people gaining anything from this conflict now are undertakers and casket makers. Russian President Vladimir Putin has obstinately refused entreaties from Donald Trump to end the war. Trump is holding out the prospect of lifting some sanctions if Putin makes a deal. For his part, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is still clinging to his fantasy that he can fight long enough to win back all the territory seized by Russia since 2015, including Crimea. Someone should knock Mr. Zelesky upside the head and bring him back to Earth. Donald Trump may be about to do that.

According to the Associated Press, Trump will meet with Putin and Zelensky separately “soon,” perhaps as early as next week. “We propose, first of all, to focus on preparing a bilateral meeting with Trump, and we consider it most important that this meeting be successful and productive,” said Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov. Ushakov dismissed the prospect of Zelensky joining the meeting, although Trump said he wasn’t ruling it out. New York Times: “Mr. Trump disclosed his plans on Wednesday in a call with European leaders, which included Mr. Zelensky, the people said. The meetings would include only the three men, and would not include European counterparts. Asked later Wednesday if Russia and Ukraine had agreed to the summit, Mr. Trump told reporters: “There’s a very good prospect that they will.”

Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, did not respond to a request for comment, but Mr. Zelensky appeared to signal that a direct meeting was possible. Trump would welcome a breakthrough of any kind, but Putin isn’t likely to change his position unless Trump offers some sweeteners, such as lifting some sanctions, releasing frozen Russian assets, or removing barriers for Russia to international financial markets. The key actor in this play is Vladimir Putin. He’s the aggressor. It’s his army continuing to move forward at tremendous human cost. To get him off the starting line, Trump has made some noises about renewing U.S. aid to Ukraine.

Mr. Trump has been stymied for months in his efforts to find a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, after more than three years of war. Mr. Trump has been a skeptic of U.S. military aid to Ukraine, and he dressed down Mr. Zelensky in a remarkable Oval Office meeting earlier this year, with cameras rolling. Still, frustrated by the slow pace of talks with Russia, Mr. Trump recently authorized more arms sales to NATO allies that are intended for Ukraine. Mr. Trump has tried giving Mr. Putin room to come to the negotiating table over several months. But more recently, he has publicly excoriated Mr. Putin, suggesting the Russian leader was simply playing him for time after repeated conversations with Mr. Witkoff.

Mr. Witkoff’s latest visit to Moscow came as Mr. Trump has threatened secondary sanctions against Russia as the war drags on. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump signed an order that would double tariffs on imports from India, to 50 percent, as punishment for its continued purchases of Russian oil. Putin will not stop fighting until he achieves his goals or someone forces him to stop. That’s not going to be Ukraine, which has just one-third the number of men as Russia, with many veteran soldiers having fought along the line since 2023. I’d say any movement in these meetings is highly unlikely, except it’s Donald Trump. I’ve made the mistake of underestimating Trump in the past, so if he can pull a rabbit out of the hat during his meetings next week, I won’t be totally surprised.

How do you make the interviews public when she talked about 100 different people?

• Ghislaine Maxwell Implodes The Left’s Trump-Epstein Witch Hunt (Margolis)

The circus surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein saga has always had one clear ringleader: the media establishment and their Democratic Party allies, hell-bent on transforming every shadowy corner into “proof” of Donald Trump’s guilt by association. Never mind the actual facts—just throw his name around and hope something sticks. But sometimes, inconvenient truths come to light. Now, the latest revelation from Ghislaine Maxwell’s Department of Justice interview is exactly the kind of development Democrats and their cable news cheerleaders dreaded. For years, the Left has been painting the Epstein scandal as the ticking bomb that will finally detonate the Trump presidency. Never mind that Bill Clinton’s relationship with Epstein is far better documented than Trump’s fleeting acquaintance; in the Democratic media echo chamber, Trump must be guilty—because he’s Trump.

Now, ABC News is reporting that during her marathon nine-hour interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Ghislaine Maxwell handed the Left yet another bitter pill to swallow. During her nine hours speaking with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last month, Ghislaine Maxwell said nothing during the interview that would be harmful to President Donald Trump, telling Blanche that Trump had never done anything in her presence that would have caused concern, according to sources familiar with what Maxwell said. Did you catch that? After years of “bombshells” that never landed, their latest Hail Mary just failed spectacularly, with Maxwell confirming what we already knew: that there are no Epstein skeletons in Trump’s closet. If that wasn’t damning enough for the narrative, the Trump administration looks poised to make the whole thing public, transcripts and all.

When you’re innocent, transparency is your weapon; when you’re hiding something, you fight like hell to keep the records sealed. The article underscores the administration’s intent: The Trump administration, meanwhile, is considering publicly releasing the transcripts from the interview, multiple sources familiar with the internal discussions told ABC News. There is also an audio recording of the interview, the sources said, but it’s not clear whether the administration plans to release the audio to accompany any public release of the transcript. The public release of the transcripts could come as soon as this week, the sources said. Think about that: If there were anything even remotely problematic in Maxwell’s account, does anyone believe Trump’s DOJ would be talking about dumping the raw transcript into the public record for all to judge? Please.

Maxwell, who is no friend of Trump, can’t cough up so much as a rumor. What does the anti-Trump media do now? Invent something? Well, yeah, that’s what they’ve done for years and will continue to do. And let’s remember, Maxwell wasn’t just primed by her lawyers—she was reportedly grilled about “one hundred different people.” When it came to Trump, she “didn’t hold anything back.” The article makes that unambiguously clear: ABC previously reported that it was Maxwell who requested the interview with the DOJ, according to sources familiar with the matter. Maxwell is also asking the Supreme Court to review her conviction and Trump has not ruled out a pardon for her.

Maxwell’s lawyer, David Markus, said following her meetings with Blanche that Maxwell ‘would welcome any relief.’ He also said Maxwell was asked about “one hundred different people,” and said “she didn’t hold anything back.” Here’s what the Democrats and their media lapdogs can’t accept: The Epstein case is the ultimate double-edged sword. They bet everything that “Epstein” would be the rumor that finally brought down Trump, even as the evidence never materialized. On the contrary, Bill Clinton boarded Epstein’s jet—the “Lolita Express”—dozens of times. So, what now? The anti-Trump mobs are scrambling, the tape is rolling, and it turns out that when Ghislaine Maxwell finally had her moment, the “Trump bombshell” fizzled out before it even began. For the Democrats desperate to weaponize the Epstein scandal, this moment isn’t just disappointing; it’s devastating.

Paul Craig Roberts dreaming.

Yes, of course, Ghislaine could expose all the Mossad connections. And then her life wouldn’t be worth anything.

• Ghislaine Could Give Trump A Chance To Break Israel’s Power Over America (PCR)

According to media reports, Ghislaine Maxwell cleared Trump of having participated in sexual activities with underaged females. The liberal-left will no doubt claim that Ghislaine lied in hopes of a pardon from Trump. This is typical nonsense from the American liberal-left. Ghislaine Maxwell is the daughter of one Mossad asset and the lover of another. Illusions are not her cup of tea. She knows that if Trump pardons her the pardon will be taken as proof that Trump was a participant in illicit sex and that Trump knows it. There is one thing she could do in exchange for a pardon. She could acknowledge that the Epstein operation was an Israeli blackmail operation to ensure that US Middle East policy conformed with Israel’s. The policy declared by US policymakers–seven countries in five years–was the policy of Greater Israel.

This revelation would free Trump from Israel’s control, and he could free American foreign policy from Israel. It would also free the insouciant American public from its delusions about America’s great friend Israel who God commands us to protect. It would be made clear that Israel for several decades has used American lives and American money for Israel’s benefit. Of course, if Ghislaine acknowledged this truth, the Zionist American media and the Christian Zionists would shout her down. But her main and immediate danger would be Mossad assassination. Could her life be protected from Israel’s assassins who have proven their ability to assassinate Iran’s top scientists, military and political leaders, and those of every country that presents difficulties to Israel?

Ron Unz recently published an article noting that Israel and the Zionist movement that created Israel “have probably employed assassination as a tool of statecraft more heavily than any other political entity in recorded history. Indeed, their deadly activities had easily eclipsed those of the notorious Muslim sect that had terrorized the Middle East a thousand years ago and gave rise to that term.”

Certainly Ghislaine could not resume her social life in England or New York. She wouldn’t even be safe in a maximum security prison. If she blows the whistle on Israel’s spy/blackmail operation against Americans positioned to influence US Middle East policy, her freedom means her death. If the US Secret Service was able to create a new identity for her in some out of the way place and keep her safe without people wondering why she has so many bodyguards, it would not be the kind of social life she knows. Perhaps Washington could seize several prominent Israelis and hold them as hostages against Ghislaine’s life. But this would give Muslims an incentive to kill Ghislaine in order to have the US kill the Israeli hostages.Ghislaine has the information, but how to get it from her? Trump’s bluster and threats won’t do it. A guarantee of her life has to be strong enough for her to take the risk. Does anyone have any ideas how it might be done?

“Jail time for Bill and Hillary Clinton is no longer just a possibility; it’s a looming certainty if they continue to thumb their noses at the law..”

• Clintons Could Face Jail Time if They Defy Epstein Subpoena (Margolis)

Bill and Hillary Clinton are staring down the barrel of jail time, and the threat is real. After years of smoke and mirrors, the former president and secretary of state have finally come under the harsh spotlight of congressional scrutiny, thanks to their troubling association with notorious financier Jeffrey Epstein. Congress has now subpoenaed both Clintons, demanding they answer tough questions about their connections to Epstein. On Wednesday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) warned the Clintons about not complying with the subpoena demanding their testimony.

“If someone doesn’t comply with a subpoena — we’ve seen it happen in the past, in both my committee, as well as on the Jan. 6 committee, when the Democrats had the majority — you can hold them in contempt of Congress. And with a Republican attorney general, that’s something that I think that the Clinton legal team is going to think long and hard about,” Comer said during an appearance on NewsNation’s “The Hill.” “You’re not going to have a lot of sympathy, probably — from the Trump DOJ — if the Clintons failed to comply with a bipartisan, congressionally approved subpoena, which is what that was.” I would say not. In recent weeks, new evidence has come to light exposing the Clinton campaign’s direct involvement in the Russiagate scandal, working hand in hand with the Obama administration to create the hoax. The Hill has more”

“Comer said bipartisan support is going to make it hard for the former president to dodge the congressional investigation. “Obviously, when you subpoena a former president, your odds aren’t the best at getting them in, if you look at history. But what makes this different is this subpoena was approved in a bipartisan manner by a subcommittee vote,” he told anchor Blake Burman. “So you had Democrats and Republicans on the record voting to subpoena that whole list you showed, and there were Republicans and Democrats on that list. In addition to those subpoenas, I also subpoenaed [Attorney General] Pam Bondi for Epstein files,” he continued. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has been facing intense backlash over how it has handled information related to Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in 2019. The backlash has come from both MAGA faithful and left-wing progressives.”

As the legal noose tightens around the Clintons, patriots and defenders of justice must support these efforts. America cannot continue down the path of political elites acting with impunity while citizens suffer. The Clintons were once symbols of power and prestige, but if they refuse to answer for their roles in the Epstein scandal, they should be prepared to face the consequences that could include jail time. In the end, justice must prevail, regardless of who’s involved. The Clintons’ bluster and attempts to dodge their subpoenas won’t save them if Congress follows through. Jail time for Bill and Hillary Clinton is no longer just a possibility; it’s a looming certainty if they continue to thumb their noses at the law. And America deserves nothing less than full accountability.

“Just as we do not give political power to people who are here temporarily, we should not give political power to people who should not be here at all.”

• Commerce Dep’t to Make Census Reflect the Number of Legal Residents in US (DS)

After President Donald Trump called for a new census excluding illegal immigrants, the Department of Commerce told the Daily Signal it will “immediately” change course to “reflect the number of legal residents in the United States.” Trump ordered the Department of Commerce to start work on a new census in which illegal immigrants will not be counted. “I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Thursday. A Commerce spokesperson told The Daily Signal it will follow the president’s mandate.

“The Census Bureau will immediately adopt modern technology tools for use in the census to better understand our robust census data,” the spokesperson told The Daily Signal. “We will accurately analyze the data to reflect the number of legal residents in the United States.” In July, Trump backed a bill from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., that would exclude illegal immigrants from the census. This is not the president’s first effort to exclude illegal immigrants from the census count. In 2020, Trump issued a presidential memorandum instructing the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, not to include illegal aliens in the census.

“My Administration will not support giving congressional representation to aliens who enter or remain in the country unlawfully, because doing so would create perverse incentives and undermine our system of government,” Trump said in the memorandum. “Just as we do not give political power to people who are here temporarily, we should not give political power to people who should not be here at all.” A federal court blocked the effort in 2020, however. Trump also wanted a citizenship question added to the census form. The Supreme Court blocked that move.

https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1953428792250097670

“..these errors will affect $1.5 trillion in funding received by states in federal appropriations during the next decade..”

• Trump Orders New Census to Fix 2020 Rigged Count Favoring Dems (Margolis)

President Trump is putting America first again. This time, he’s going after the rigged system that counts illegal aliens in the U.S. Census, skewing congressional representation and rewarding sanctuary states with more power. On Thursday, Trump announced he’s directing the Department of Commerce to conduct a new, corrected census — one that actually counts American citizens and excludes those here illegally. “I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024,” Trump announced in a post on Truth Social. “People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Naturally, the mainstream media isn’t thrilled.

CNN described Trump’s proposal as “a dramatic shift from longstanding census practices” while insisting that the census “has historically counted all residents regardless of immigration status.” But, this is hardly just about illegal immigration. In fact, this move is long overdue. The 2020 Census, overseen by the Biden administration and its Deep State allies, was an unmitigated disaster — and the fallout is still being felt. Even the Census Bureau itself — hardly a bastion of conservative thought — admitted that its 2020 Census was incorrect in at least 14 states. According to the Bureau’s own Post-Enumeration Survey (PES), eight states were overcounted while six were undercounted. But here’s where it gets truly absurd: The Census Bureau claims it can’t identify which groups were miscounted or where the errors occurred, citing “sample sizes within most states do not support such estimates.”

Translation? They know it was wrong, but they can’t — or won’t — say how or where. This isn’t just bureaucratic bungling; it’s a dereliction of duty. And it’s exactly why President Trump is right to call for a new, citizen-focused census. If the federal government can’t even tell us who they miscounted or where, how can anyone trust the results? These weren’t random clerical errors, either. They were systemic failures that just so happened to benefit Democrats. Florida was robbed of not one, but two congressional seats. Texas lost out on another. Meanwhile, blue states like Minnesota and Rhode Island held onto seats they should have lost — and Colorado was gifted a seat it was never entitled to. The fix was in. The Heritage Foundation:

“To put the scope of these mistakes into perspective, contrast the errors in the Census Bureau’s latest recount (the 2020 Post-Enumeration Survey, or PES) with the recount from a decade ago (the 2010 Post-Enumeration Survey)—in which there was a net overcount of a mere 0.01 percent (36,000 people), a statistically insignificant error.”“The harms flowing from these mistakes impact more than just congressional representation, which also affects the number of electors from those states since they are calculated by the number of Senators and Representatives in each state,” explains the Heritage Foundation. “Because the Treasury and other federal departments will continue to use the original, official Census numbers (and not the new numbers contained in the PES), these errors will affect $1.5 trillion in funding received by states in federal appropriations during the next decade in disbursements that are distributed based on the population of each state.

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1953433419678986640

Good. It must go.

“In July, the US State Department posted on X that the “Orwellian” DSA is used to convict thousands for criticizing governments and shields EU leaders from accountability.”

“Russian Telegram users enjoy more freedom than Europeans.”

• US Working To Kill EU Digital Services Act – Reuters (RT)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reportedly ordered US diplomats to launch a lobbying campaign against the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), according to an internal cable obtained by Reuters. The directive accuses the EU law of stifling free speech and imposing unfair costs on US tech companies. The DSA, which came into force in August 2023, is designed to make online platforms safer by requiring them to remove illegal content such as hate speech, misinformation, and child sexual abuse material. It applies to 19 large platforms, including Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Alphabet’s Google, Amazon, and Apple’s App Store. Non-compliance can result in fines of up to 6% of global revenue.

Washington has argued that the DSA targets US companies and restricts freedom of expression. Rubio’s cable calls the legislation a threat to “America’s free-speech tradition” and a financial burden on US platforms. Diplomats have reportedly been instructed to meet with EU officials to push for the law to be repealed or amended. They have also been told to challenge definitions of ‘illegal content’ and weaken enforcement tools like ‘trusted flaggers’ and the Code of Conduct on Disinformation, which has been described by critics as a “global censorship law.” In July, the US State Department posted on X that the “Orwellian” DSA is used to convict thousands for criticizing governments and shields EU leaders from accountability.

In February, US Vice President J.D. Vance said the law prevents adults from accessing alternative opinions labeled as misinformation, warning that US companies could block EU users to avoid compliance. Last year, Russia also accused the EU of censorship after Brussels banned several Russian outlets. The Foreign Ministry called it “political censorship” by the neoliberal West aimed at suppressing dissent. Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said Brussels lacks arguments to convince its citizens and instead blocks alternative views. Telegram founder Pavel Durov said in 2024 that “Russian Telegram users enjoy more freedom than Europeans.” Durov is currently on trial in France over allegations of spreading illegal content through his platform.

First thing this makes me think of is Trump noting it’s impossible for US carmakers to sell their products in Europe and japan. While US roads are drowning in Toyota’s and Beamers.

• Trump Tariffs Wipe Out $12 Billion From Global Carmakers – WSJ (RT)

Fourteen global automakers have suffered nearly $12 billion in losses since the roll-out of US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, and are expected to lose significantly more by the end of the year, the Wall Street Journal reports. Trump announced the new tariffs in April, targeting 185 countries and territories. A universal 10% tariff on all imported vehicles and parts took effect on April 5, followed by country-specific rates on April 9. According to the WSJ’s analysis published on Thursday, Toyota has sustained the largest loss – around $3 billion in the second quarter alone – and expects a total tariff impact of $9.5 billion by the end of the fiscal year ending March 2026. Volkswagen has reportedly lost $1.5 billion, while Ford and General Motors have each reported losses of over $1 billion in Q2.

Tesla has been the least affected among major automakers, with an estimated $300 million loss. The WSJ also says the ten largest global automakers, excluding Chinese manufacturers, could see net profits fall by 25% by the end of the year. The EU and Japan have been negotiating tariff reductions with Washington. According to reports, the US currently imposes 27.5% on EU-made vehicles, and Brussels is pushing to lower it to 15% in exchange for cutting its own 10% tariff on American cars. Japan reached a similar deal in July, reducing US tariffs on its vehicles to 15% as part of a broader bilateral agreement.

The reported losses come amid declining sales of Western automakers in both Europe and China, under pressure from fast-growing Chinese electric vehicle brands. In the first half of 2025, Chinese manufacturers doubled their share of the European market to 5.1%. At the same time in China, Porsche’s sales fell 28%, prompting dealership closures. GM and others have also reported losses due to shrinking demand. On Thursday, the Trump administration expanded the tariff regime further, imposing new and additional tariffs on nearly 70 more countries, including the UK, Switzerland, Brazil, India, and Taiwan.

You invited them in!

• Germany To Slash Payments For Ukrainians (RT)

Germany’s Labor Ministry has proposed cutting benefits for Ukrainian migrants, citing growing financial strain from the continued influx of newcomers. Labor Minister Barbel Bas submitted a draft bill to remove Ukrainians from the so-called “citizen’s allowance” program – a benefit normally reserved for non-working Germans – and place them under the standard asylum seeker system, German media reported on Wednesday. Under standard asylum support a person receives €441 ($514), compared to €563 under the citizen’s allowance. The new rules would apply only to Ukrainians arriving after April 1, 2025. Those who came earlier would keep their current benefits.

According to the Federal Employment Agency, around 700,000 Ukrainians are currently receiving the allowance. Since April 1, about 21,000 more have arrived who could be affected by the new rules. The proposal has been sent for approval by other federal departments, and must then pass through the Cabinet and the Bundestag, expected to be adopted by year’s end. Germany spent around €6.3 billion or some 13% of the citizens’ allowance budget on Ukrainian migrants in 2024. Officials estimate the reform could save the federal government about €1.3 billion in 2026. Critics say the plan won’t significantly reduce public spending. Head of Bavaria Markus Soder and a number of other officials have called for ending the citizen’s allowance for all Ukrainians, regardless of when they arrived.

Of the 1.2 million Ukrainians that Germany has accepted over the past three years, as of May, only 332,000 were employed. Authorities across Germany have increasingly warned that the cost of supporting refugees is putting unsustainable pressure on public finances. The wider EU is facing similar challenges. As of May 2025, 4.3 million Ukrainians had been granted temporary protection across the bloc, which includes access to housing, education, and work. While the scheme has been extended through March 2027, several EU countries have been reviewing their support programs, citing rising costs and limited resources.

An impossible job?

• Kash Patel Is Cleaning House at the FBI, and It’s Glorious (Margolis)

FBI Director Kash Patel is making the bold moves that the bureau desperately needed, cleaning house and rooting out the lingering partisan bad actors who have long compromised the agency’s integrity. In a decisive shake-up, the FBI is ousting key officials, including former acting director Brian Driscoll, special agent Walter Giardina, who played a role in targeting Donald Trump advisor Peter Navarro, and Washington Field Office acting director Steven Jensen, a pivotal figure in the January 6 investigations. These removals come swiftly and with no detailed explanations, but insiders describe them plainly as retribution: a necessary reckoning. The swamp that entrenched itself deeply within the FBI over years of political bias is finally draining under Patel’s leadership.

For too long, the bureau has been weaponized against political opponents, wielding its immense power to settle scores rather than uphold justice impartially. Removing those who participated in such abuses, especially those involved in the infamous January 6 prosecutions, sends an unequivocal message that partisan insubordination will no longer be tolerated. Patel’s purge is not just about individual personnel changes; it signals a broader commitment to restoring credibility and lawful conduct within the bureau. It’s a refreshing departure from the past mismanagement where FBI leaders operated with unchecked arrogance and partisan motives. Now, those who acted as enemies of true justice are facing accountability, having been removed from positions of authority and stripped of the power they misused.

The removals come just months after thousands of FBI employees were ordered in February to complete an extensive questionnaire probing their involvement, past or present, in the investigation of the January 6 Capitol riot. The survey asked detailed questions, including whether agents had testified in related criminal trials or when they last participated in any aspect of the investigation. According to a report from Fox News Digital, one source familiar with the situation described the removals as “retribution.” This change is overdue. The FBI’s reputation has suffered severely, damaged by years of politicized investigations and internal betrayals. Patel’s leadership underscores a new era where loyalty to the Constitution and the rule of law triumphs over cynical political gamesmanship. His actions break the pattern of silence and inaction that allowed dysfunction to flourish.

By swiftly forcing out these figures, Patel ensures that the bureau cannot continue to be a tool for vendettas or partisan manipulation. This decisive step also reassures the American people that the FBI will no longer be a partisan political weapon but a guardian of justice for all citizens. Kash Patel deserves praise for his courage in taking on this difficult but necessary task. Cleaning out entrenched partisans who betrayed their oath is no small feat, but Patel’s resolve is exactly what the FBI needs to regain public trust and refocus on its core mission. His leadership represents hope that one of the government’s most powerful agencies can be steered back to integrity and fairness.

The purge of these disgraced officials is just the beginning. More removals are expected, reflecting a broader effort to dismantle the politicized infrastructure that allowed such abuses to persist. This new direction sets the course for an FBI that works for the people, not for political agendas. Patel’s actions should be lauded as a critical turning point in reclaiming justice and accountability within the nation’s top law enforcement agency.

We just want to murder or eject -whichever comes first- the two million who live there.

• ‘We Don’t Want To Keep Gaza’ – Netanyahu (RT)

Israel does not intend to establish its own governing body in Gaza after its military campaign against Hamas concludes and would rather see Arab neighbors assume responsibility for the Palestinian enclave, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated. In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Netanyahu was asked whether Israel would take complete control of Gaza. He responded: “We intend to, in order to ensure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza [Hamas] and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel.” Netanyahu insisted that Israel doesn’t “want to keep it [Gaza],” but rather “have a security perimeter.” He added that “we don’t want to be there as a governing body, we want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly.”

Israel controlled Gaza from 1967 until its unilateral withdrawal in 2005. Earlier this month, several Israeli media outlets reported that Netanyahu had told ministers he would seek cabinet backing for a plan to fully occupy Gaza, despite objections from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Jewish state and the militant group agreed to a fragile three-stage ceasefire in January, only for Israel to resume military action in March amid mutual recriminations with Hamas. Since then, the two belligerents have sporadically engaged in talks, which have failed to yield any breakthrough.

In February, US President Donald Trump proposed a plan envisioning the relocation of the Gaza population to neighboring states of “great wealth.” A group of Arab nations rejected the proposal shortly thereafter, as did Russia. The conflict between Hamas and Israel broke out in October 2023 after a surprise attack by Hamas in southern Israel left about 1,200 people dead and 250 taken hostage. According to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, the Israeli military campaign has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians.

“We didn’t vote for ChatGPT.”

What’s dumber, doing it or admitting that you do?

• Swedish PM Admits He Uses ChatGPT To Help Run Government (ZH)

First we learn that doctors are using ChatGPT to treat patients. Now, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is taking a heaping ration of Lutfisk for admitting he’s been using ChatGPT to help run the government. Speaking with a Nordic news site, Kristersson said that he sometimes asks ChatGPT for a “second opinion” when it comes to governance strategies. “I use it myself quite often,” he said, “If for nothing else than for a second opinion. What have others done? And should we think the complete opposite? Those types of questions.” Kristersson’s comments predictably came under fire.

“The more he relies on AI for simple things, the bigger the risk of overconfidence in the system,” Virginia Dignum, a professor of responsible artificial intelligence at Umeå University, told DiGITAL. “It is a slippery slope. We must demand that reliability can be guaranteed. We didn’t vote for ChatGPT.” “Too bad for Sweden that AI mostly guesses,” wrote Aftonbladet’s Signe Krantz. “Chatbots would rather write what they think you want than what you need to hear.” “You have to be very careful,” Simone Fischer-Hübner, a computer science researcher at Karlstad University, told Aftonbladet, noting that people shouldn’t submit sensitive information to GPT.

As Gizmodo opines; Krantz makes a good point, which is that chatbots can be incredibly sycophantic and delusional. If you have a leader asking a chatbot leading questions, you can imagine a scenario in which the software program’s algorithms only serve to reinforce that leader’s existing prerogatives (or to push them further over the edge into uncharted territory). Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like a whole lot of politicians feel the need to use ChatGPT as a consigliere yet. Kristersson spokesman Tom Samuelsson ‘clarified’ that the PM doesn’t take risks in his use of AI. “Naturally it is not security sensitive information that ends up there. It is used more as a ballpark,” he said.

“..an ‘Ultimate Mayhem Party Plan’ that combined alcohol, ecstasy, and cocaine, detailed instructions on self-harm, week-long fasting regimens limited to 300-500 calories per day, and suicide letters written in the voice of a 13-year-old girl.”

• ChatGPT a Danger To Teens – Watchdog (RT)

ChatGPT can give vulnerable teenagers detailed guidance on drug use, self-harm, and extreme dieting, a digital watchdog has warned in a new report. According to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), the AI chatbot can be easily manipulated into generating dangerous content and requires urgent safeguards. To test ChatGPT’s behavior, CCDH researchers created fictional profiles of 13-year-olds experiencing mental health struggles, disordered eating, and interest in illicit substances. They posed as these teens in structured conversations with ChatGPT, using prompts designed to appear emotionally vulnerable and realistic. The results were published on Wednesday in a report titled ‘Fake Friend’, referencing the way many adolescents treat ChatGPT as a supportive presence they trust with their private thoughts.

The researchers found that the chatbot often began responses with boilerplate disclaimers and urged users to contact professionals or crisis hotlines. However, these warnings were soon followed by detailed and personalized responses that fulfilled the original harmful prompt. In 53% of the 1,200 prompts submitted, the ChatGPT provided what CCDH classified as dangerous content. Refusals were frequently bypassed simply by adding context such as “it’s for a school project” or “I’m asking for a friend.” Examples cited include an ‘Ultimate Mayhem Party Plan’ that combined alcohol, ecstasy, and cocaine, detailed instructions on self-harm, week-long fasting regimens limited to 300-500 calories per day, and suicide letters written in the voice of a 13-year-old girl. CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed said some of the content was so distressing it left researchers “crying.”

The organization has urged OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, to adopt a ‘Safety by Design’ approach, embedding protections such as stricter age verification, clearer usage restrictions, and other safety features within the architecture of its AI tools rather than relying on content filtering after deployment. OpenAI has acknowledged that emotional overreliance on ChatGPT is common among young users. CEO Sam Altman said the company is actively studying the problem, calling it a “really common” issue among teens, and said new tools are in development to detect distress and improve ChatGPT’s handling of sensitive topics.

Booing

TRUMP: “Why are people booing me at my rallies when I bring up the vaccine?”

JOHN RICH: “They’re booing you Mr. President because every human being out in that rally, either themselves or they know someone directly, who has been harmed by the vaccine”pic.twitter.com/JbZFLM9H1B

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) August 7, 2025

Gut-brain
https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1953463467886727679

boss

‘The Boss’ is the largest grizzly bear in Banff National Park.

He’s been hit by a train twice and is believed to have fathered up to 70% of the grizzlies in Banff.

He’s the last one to go into hibernation and first one to come out.pic.twitter.com/VNkN6EAaU6

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 7, 2025

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Debt Rattle May 16 2025

May 162025

May 16, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:23 am Finance Tagged with: 8647, AI, Apple, autopen, Comey, Dmitriev, DOGE, ICAO, Istanbul, MH17, pardons, Putin, Trump, UAE 47 Responses »

Marc Chagall The soldier drinks 1912

• ‘Nothing’s Gonna Happen Until Putin And I Get Together’ (JTN)

• Putin-Trump Meeting ‘Imminent’ – White House Official (RT)

• Trump Team Has ‘Made The Impossible Possible’ – Putin Envoy (RT)

• Istanbul 2.0: Know When To Hold ‘Em, Know When To Fold ‘Em (Proud)

• Russia’s Top Negotiator Unveils Goal of Talks With Ukraine (RT)

• Ukraine Won’t Survive A Decade Of Conflict – Zelensky (RT)

• UK Sending Security Adviser To Work With Zelensky – Guardian (RT)

• Talk of Direct US-Russia Clash Contradicts Trump’s Policy –Scott Ritter (Sp.)

• Trump Tells Apple Not To Build In India (RT)

• Trump Touts 1.4 Trillion Investment In AI, Tech From UAE (ZH)

• Justice Thomas Destroys the Case for Nationwide Injunctions (Margolis)

• Biden’s Autopen Pardons May Just Get Invalidated (Margolis)

• DOJ Pardon Attorney Ed Martin To Review Biden’s Outgoing Pardons (JTN)

• DOGE Still Hard at Work Cutting Fraud and Waste (Salgado)

• Trump Admin Urges SCOTUS to Permit DOGE Access to Social Security Records (ET)

• The US Has Pushed The ICAO To Declare War On Russia (Helmer)

• “86 47” – Comey Posts-Then-Deletes Creepy Threat Aimed At Trump (ZH)

https://twitter.com/Real_RobN/status/1922694242973122575

Qatar

NOW – Senator Kennedy Just Unleashed a Brutal One-Liner About Qatar — “I trust Qatar, like I trust a rest stop bathroom.”

During a Fox News appearance, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) shared his thoughts on President Trump’s recent meeting with Qatari officials.

He dropped an… pic.twitter.com/MP4a23Zi4O

— Overton (@overton_news) May 14, 2025

Crazy facts about Qatar: It has the #1 GDP per capita in the world, on a per citizen basis, because it only has 320,000 Qatari citizens, and the other 90% of its 2.6 million population are all foreign labor workers. Because of this, 75% of Qatar’s population is male – a 3-1… pic.twitter.com/rId4Vkvp5b

— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) May 15, 2025

USAID

USAID, CIA, and regime change tactics exposed!

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger examined how USAID funding underpinned a 2019 whistleblower report that led to President Trump’s impeachment. Shellenberger revealed the whistleblower was… pic.twitter.com/NoxYHEnKc4

— Camus (@newstart_2024) May 14, 2025

Clown

Maria Zakharova: "Who is Zelensky calling a 'theater prop' delegation? Who is he to use that language? A clown, a loser, a person of unknown education talking about people who have qualifications, academic achievements and a history of distinguished service to their fatherland."… pic.twitter.com/vOB5zyim28

— Margarita Simonyan (@M_Simonyan) May 15, 2025

Orban

⚫⚪ Ukraine’s EU accession in black and white: they want to rush it through but this decision will shape Europe’s future. There is no undo button. That is why in Hungary we are asking the people. Let’s stop them now! pic.twitter.com/GtfKFGhQv9

— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) May 15, 2025

Zoom out

The media pushes the lies about Ukraine and now we see the truth! pic.twitter.com/LV8josiFy7

— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_The_Dr) May 15, 2025

Lutnick

This is worth the watch! pic.twitter.com/IHDSord8NM

— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_The_Dr) May 14, 2025

Energy

Dude has a conversation with AI over the 5G Grid & it’s off the charts wild.

What ever the millions of 5G Masts are actually intended for – rest assured it’s not to give you better internet. pic.twitter.com/eMrQyj4pEp

— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) May 14, 2025

China energy

China didn’t build all this solar for the purpose of lowering emissions.

They’re tapping the largest energy resource on Earth.

Emissions reductions are a side effect. https://t.co/5o6mdGA3vN pic.twitter.com/DjAd4jc69p

— Jesse Peltan (@JessePeltan) May 15, 2025

US and Russia haven’t talked in 3 years. it takes a lot of groundwork talks first now to catch up, weeks, months of talking. That’s not what presidents do, they’re too busy. That said, the two should certainly meet asap. But Ukraine is just a side topic for that. And all the complaining about Putin not showing up for talks he initiated is empty blabber.

“And obviously, he wasn’t gonna go — he was gonna go, but he thought I was gonna go. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there. And I don’t believe anything’s gonna happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together..”

“Why would he go if I’m not going?” “I wasn’t planning to go and I didn’t think he would if I didn’t.”

• ‘Nothing’s Gonna Happen Until Putin And I Get Together’ (JTN)

President Trump said Thursday regarding the Ukraine-Russia talks in Turkey that “nothing’s gonna happen until Putin and I get together.” The president made the comments as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Turkey for peace talks with Russia on Thursday regarding the ongoing war between the two countries, but Russian President Vladimir Putin chose not to attend and sent a lower-level delegation, Politico reported. “Look, nothing’s gonna happen until Putin and I get together, okay?” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while heading to the United Arab Emirates.

“And obviously, he wasn’t gonna go — he was gonna go, but he thought I was gonna go. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there. And I don’t believe anything’s gonna happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together. But we’re gonna have to get it solved because too many people are dying.” Ukraine’s high-level delegation includes Zelensky, his top aide, and foreign and defense ministers in an effort to show Trump that Russia is the country against making peace. Ukraine was frustrated with the lower-level Russian delegation and doubted whether there would be any negotiations at all.

“The Russian chair in Turkey is de facto empty,” a Ukrainian diplomatic official told Politico on the condition of anonymity. “Because it makes little difference whether Mr. Nobody, sent by Putin, and his insignificant colleagues sit in their chairs or not. They are not the ones making decisions. And the person who does — Putin — is either afraid to come or does not take the U.S.-led peace effort seriously. “Still, we are considering sending someone at the appropriate level to at least hear what these people have to say and whether they are able to decide at least anything. If they are willing to have a serious conversion, we may engage in it. Otherwise, we will have the right to conclude that this is a Russian charade, not meaningful work for peace,” the official added.

“Deals are all about timing. When the time is right, that’s when the president is in the room with Putin..”

Sebastian Gorka is always around. His curent job description is ‘senior director for counterterrorism’.

• Putin-Trump Meeting ‘Imminent’ – White House Official (RT)

US President Donald Trump will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to help Russia and Ukraine finalize a peace agreement, a deputy assistant to Trump, Sebastian Gorka, has said. The meeting between the two leaders is “imminent” he told a security summit organized by Politico. “Deals are all about timing. When the time is right, that’s when the president is in the room with Putin,” he stated, while maintaining that the right moment is “imminent.” He did not elaborate and did not provide any further details about a possible meeting between Putin and Trump. Trump is currently on a tour through Middle East, and has mulled going to Türkiye on Friday “if something happened.”

Moscow’s and Kiev’s delegations were expected to hold discussions there after Putin suggested resuming the Istanbul talks which were broken off three years ago. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky responded to Putin’s call by declaring that he would personally fly to Türkiye and demanded that the Russian president do the same. The Kremlin answered by saying that the Russian president had no plan to travel to the country. Trump then said on Thursday that Putin had no reason to go, since the US leader himself had not committed to going.Moscow has said that its core agenda for the Istanbul talks remains unchanged from 2022, as it believes that a lasting peace can only be achieved by addressing the conflict’s root causes, including Ukraine’s desire to join NATO.

Zelensky initially insisted on Putin personally coming to the talks before deciding to send a delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to Istanbul. According to TASS, the meeting between the two sides is now expected to start on Friday. The Trump administration has been actively pushing both sides to engage in peace negotiations since he took office in January. The US president has recently expressed frustration over the slow pace of the process and demanded both sides engage in direct talks.

Kirill Dmitriev is Putin’s ‘investment envoy’. Russia’s Witkoff.

• Trump Team Has ‘Made The Impossible Possible’ – Putin Envoy (RT)

US President Donald Trump and his team have “made the impossible possible” by bringing Moscow and Kiev to the cusp of their first direct negotiations since 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, has said. Dmitriev complemented Washington’s mediation efforts ahead of much anticipated talks in Istanbul on Thursday. The meeting is set to happen “against all odds/fierce resistance,” he said on X, adding that if “not derailed last-minute, this could be a historic step to peace. ”Dmitriev specifically named US Vice President J.D. Vance, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as major contributors to the mediation effort. Putin suggested Thursday as the day direct engagement between Russia and Ukraine could happen in a televised address last Sunday.

Moscow has indicated that negotiations could continue from where they left off in 2022, when Kiev pulled out and tried to score a victory on the battlefield with Western military assistance. The U-turn came after then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Kiev to discard a draft peace treaty, which had been pre-agreed in Istanbul.At the moment of writing, there was no certainty that a new round of negotiations would commence as expected. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, who is currently in the country to meet Turkish President Recep Erdogan, said the Ukrainian government had yet to make a final decision on how to proceed. Zelensky announced his intention to go to Türkiye in response to Putin’s proposal, claiming that the Russian leader must reciprocate to prove his seriousness.

Zelensky and leaders of European NATO nations supporting him have threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia unless Moscow agrees to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire – an idea that Russian officials have called a ruse to give Kiev time to regroup. The initial deadline on Monday has been postponed until the end of the week, pending the outcome of talks.While Moscow has stated that it will seek a path towards lasting peace in Istanbul, which it says will require addressing the root causes of the conflict, Kiev has been vague about its goals. Some media reports have suggested that the Ukrainian delegation will focus on the proposed ceasefire first. Previously, Kiev insisted that no direct talks could happen without a truce.

Former UK envoy Ian Proud has, like so many, also lost his thread. It’s not easy.

• Istanbul 2.0: Know When To Hold ‘Em, Know When To Fold ‘Em (Proud)

The biggest achievement of today’s Istanbul talks is that they are even taking place. U.S. engagement will remain vital to getting a peace deal over the line. Russia’s desire for a reset with Washingtonmay keep them on track. I have a sense of déjà vu as I contemplate these long-overdue peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul. In April 2022, Ukraine and Russia were close to agreeing a peace treaty, less than two months after war started. However, this came crashing down amid claims that western governments, in particular the United States and the United Kingdom encouraged Ukraine to keep fighting. It’s worth recapping very briefly what was close to having been agreed. By far the best summary of negotiations between both sides was produced by the New York Times in June 2024. Those negotiations ranfor almost two months. The talks started with Ukrainian officials being spirited over the border into Belarus on February 29, 2022 while the fighting raged around Kyiv, and eventually led to the now famous talks in Istanbul in March and April.

What has changed since then? Ukraine will enter the Istanbul talks in a weaker position that it held in 2022. Western support for Ukraine financially and economically is not as sound as it was then. No big ticket economic aid and assistance has been made available since the G7 agreement of a $50 billion package of loans, in June 2024. While European states scratched together new economic aid to Ukraine in April, this cannot make up for the reduction in US support. In territorial terms, Russia withdrew from Kyiv as a concession to the first Istanbul talks and lost ground in Kharkiv and in Kherson in late 2022. However, Russia has gone on steadily to gain further territory in the Donbas since the end of 2023. So while both sides have scores on the board, Russia now maintains the military upper hand on the battlefield and that seems unlikely to change. These two factors in particular were behind President Trump’s February assertion that Ukraine has no cards to play.

What has stayed the same? NATO membership is still off the table. The verified documents shared by the New York Times last June confirmed that Ukraine’s neutrality and non-membership of NATO was the central issue agreed upon in 2022. Ukraine was ready to become a “permanently neutral state” that would never join NATO or allow foreign forces to be based on its soil.There seems no route for Ukraine to resile from that given its currently weakened negotiating position and President Trump’s stated view that NATO membership for Ukraine is not practical. Although Germany’s new foreign Minister, Johann Wadephul recently repeated the line that Ukraine’s path to NATO is irreversible, most have agreed, privately and publicly, that Ukraine’s path to NATO is a fraught if not impossible one. Right now, just having the talks is a huge breakthrough

The Istanbul talks would not be happening had the Trump administration not pushed for it so hard. We don’t need to rehash the “did they or didn’t they” debate around why Ukraine abandoned the Istanbul agreement in April 2022. What is clear, is that Ukraine became entrenched, not only in not negotiating with Russia, but in excluding Russia from all discussions on peace in Ukraine from then onward. Having agreed in principle for Ukraine to accept neutral status Zelensky was pushing his own ten point peace plan. This included, among other things, Russia withdrawing its troops to the pre-2014 border, i.e. giving up Crimea and the Donbass and creating a Euro-Atlantic Security Architecture, by which he meant Ukraine joining NATO. Peace summits were organized in various countries that explicitly excluded Russia, culminating in the Switzerland event on June 15, 2024.

At this event, President Zelensky was dug in deeper on resisting any engagement with Russia until a full withdrawal of its troops from Ukraine, which was a completely unrealistic proposal. “Russia can start negotiations with us even tomorrow without waiting for anything – if they leave our legal territories,” he said. Even after President Trump was elected, European leaders clung to the line that “only Ukraine can decide what peace means.”’ I see no circumstances in which a Kamala Harris presidency would have cajoled President Zelensky to enter into negotiations. Tomorrow’s talks wouldn’t be happening unless the Trump administration broke a whole load of Ukrainian and European eggshells to get to this point. The biggest issue now is territory.

Even though he was wrongly derided at the time by mainstream media, Steve Witkoff correctly pointed out in his March interview with Tucker Carlson that the territorial issues in Ukraine will be most intractable. Russia’s decision in October 2022 to formally annex the four oblasts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk changed the calculus. However, Russia does not have full territorial control of any of those oblasts, which are cut through the middle by a hotly contested front line. Resolving the line of control when the war ends is, by some margin, the most problematic challenge. This will be a hugely sensitive topic, and European allies will shoot down any major concessions to Russia, as they did when the idea surfaced that the U.S. might de jure recognise Russia’s occupation of Crimea.

The most obvious settlement is a de facto recognition of occupation, a Cyprus-style scenario, that does not stand in the way of Ukraine’s future membership of the European Union. Even that will require detailed agreement on issues around demilitarization of the line of control and enforcing any ceasefire. Sanctions are probably tricky, but also tractable. As I have said before, there is enormous scope to a plan that allows for the immediate lifting of the bulk of zero-impact measures, phasing out the remainder at points agreed to by both sides. The toughest issue remains the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets, mostly held in Belgium. Russia has shown a willingness to concede this funding to support reconstruction in Ukraine, including those parts that Russia occupies.

But there is texture here. Freeing up those funds for reconstruction would immediately remove the source of interest payments that are meeting Ukraine’s obligations on its $50 billion in debt to the G7, agreed to in June 2024. But the more general policy question arises, how much of the freed up funding would be spent in Ukraine itself and how much in Russian-occupied Ukraine, where most of the war damage has occurred? The U.S. must keep the pressure on to ensure the talks stay on track. A U.S. presence in Istanbul will be vital, to prevent, in particular, Ukraine from bailing on the talks. That’s why sending Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg makes sense.

The former is trusted by the Russian side while the latter has built relationships in Ukraine. Their presence serves to keep the process moving forward until a deal can be pushed over the line and the fighting can stop. Bear in mind that the 2022 talks ran for a month and a half and the circumstances have materially changed as I have indicated above. While there has been speculation that President Trump might drop into Istanbul, I am not sure that this is necessary if President Putin doesn’t himself attend. Knowing the Russians, I assess that Putin will want his own “‘meeting moment” with the U.S. President on terms that the Russian side can better choreograph. Indeed, that may be a prize for Russia’s engagement in the process, given its desire for a more comprehensive reset of relations with the U.S.

Lots of talk of Putin sending a lightweight crew, but he didn’t. He sent those, led by Medinsky, who were stiffed by Zelensky (+ Boris Johnson?) 3 years ago. They know the territory better than anyone.

• Russia’s Top Negotiator Unveils Goal of Talks With Ukraine (RT)

Moscow seeks to engage Ukraine in direct negotiations in Istanbul to secure a lasting peace, Russia’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, told journalists on Thursday. The current effort represents a revival of the peace process he took part in that Kiev broke off three years ago, he added. Both Russia and Ukraine have sent delegations to Türkiye following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer last week to resume direct talks aimed at resolving the conflict. Moscow’s team is prepared to work constructively towards viable solutions. “It possesses all necessary qualifications and authority to conduct negotiations,” the presidential aide said in Istanbul. The Russian delegation also includes Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Deputy Defense Minister Aleksandr Fomin and the head of Russia’s military intelligence, Igor Kostyukov. They are joined by several senior military and civil officials, as well as diplomats.

Here is Vladimir Medinsky’s speech in full:

“Dear colleagues. Last night, as previously reported, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a special meeting to prepare our delegation for the upcoming negotiations in Istanbul. The meeting was attended by the leadership of the Russian Security Council, the Russian government, the Minister of Defense, the Chief of the General Staff, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as the heads of state security, intelligence, and the commanders of all Russian armed forces groups participating in the military operation [against Kiev]. Members of the delegation present here also took part in the meeting.

Foreign policy and security matters were discussed, with additional reports presented on the state of the economy and the defense industry. The Minister of Defense, the Chief of the General Staff, and all commanders of Russian army groups involved in the military operation [against Kiev] reported on the situation in the combat zone. A detailed joint discussion followed. Based on the participants’ reports, the president issued instructions and outlined the negotiation position for the Russian delegation in Istanbul.

We view these talks as a continuation of the peace process in Istanbul, which was unfortunately interrupted by the Ukrainian side three years ago. Our official delegation has been approved by presidential order and possesses all necessary qualifications and authority to conduct negotiations. The delegation is adopting a constructive approach, focused on finding viable solutions and areas of common ground. The aim of direct negotiations with the Ukrainian side is ultimately to secure lasting peace by addressing the fundamental root causes of the conflict.

“..Zakharova has also stressed that there was never any talk of Putin travelling to Türkiye for the talks and branded Zelensky a “clown” ..”

• Ukraine Won’t Survive A Decade Of Conflict – Zelensky (RT)

Vladimir Zelensky has said that although he does not know how long the conflict with Russia will last, his country would not be able to survive another ten years of fighting. Speaking to the French newspaper Liberation, the Ukrainian leader conveyed his insistence on a personal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Türkiye to discuss an exchange of all prisoners and establishing a ceasefire.On Sunday, Putin proposed restarting direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, which were unilaterally abandoned by Kiev in 2022. The president stated that Moscow would send a delegation to Istanbul to engage with the Ukrainian side, stressing that Russia is set on “serious negotiation” that would contribute to a “long-term sustainable peace” and address the root causes of the conflict.

Zelensky, who had previously ruled out any negotiations with Moscow, welcomed the proposed talks in Istanbul and has personally traveled to Türkiye to potentially take part in the meeting. Ahead of the talks, he admitted to Liberation that Ukrainians have been growing tired of the conflict and that talks on ending the fighting have given people some hope. Asked if he should instead be preparing his citizens for another ten years of war, Zelensky stressed that “Ukraine wouldn’t survive” another decade of conflict. “I look at the morale of the population, what people want. I look at our economy… It’s costly for everyone,” Zelensky said. “In fact, this war can’t last very long,” he predicted. At the same time, the Ukrainian leader has dismissed the delegation sent by Russia to the talks as “props,” insisting on personally meeting with Putin. Moscow has slammed Zelensky’s position, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov calling Zelensky a “pathetic person.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has also stressed that there was never any talk of Putin travelling to Türkiye for the talks and branded Zelensky a “clown” with no right to dismiss professionals in any field as “props.” Meanwhile, Medinsky, who is leading Moscow’s delegation in Istanbul, has stated that Russia is ready for dialogue with Ukraine and is prepared for “possible compromises” in reaching a peace deal. “We are in a working mood,” the presidential aide said. On Thursday, after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Zelensky stated that he would have “nothing to do” at the talks without Putin’s participation and said that Ukraine’s delegation in Istanbul would instead be led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. He added that Kiev is engaging in the negotiations “out of respect for [US President Donald] Trump and Erdogan.”

“..Powell’s advice is expected to focus on making sure that Zelensky does not do “anything that alienates Trump”.

So his job is to stoke up the fire whenever Trump mentions peace.

• UK Sending Security Adviser To Work With Zelensky – Guardian (RT)

London is reportedly sending an adviser to Istanbul to give its recommendations to Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky ahead of talks with Russia, the Guardian reported on Wednesday. On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to restart direct negotiations with Kiev to find a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine conflict. While Zelensky had previously ruled out talks with Moscow, he welcomed the proposal and agreed to personally travel to Türkiye to take part. Moscow has barred Western European leaders from participating in the negotiations, accusing them of a biased approach to the conflict and trying to prolong the fighting. Nevertheless, the UK is reportedly sending Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s security adviser, Jonathan Powell, to meet with Zelensky ahead of the talks to provide “background advice” on how he should handle the meeting.

The Guardian reported that Powell’s advice is expected to focus on making sure that Zelensky does not do “anything that alienates Trump” and equip him to persuade the US president that Putin is the “obstacle to peace.” The meeting is set to become the first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine since Kiev unilaterally aborted peace negotiations with Moscow in 2022 after being advised to do so by London. At the previous talks, shortly after the pre-approval of a draft treaty, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson personally traveled to Kiev and persuaded Zelensky to abandon peace efforts and continue fighting, according to the head of the Ukrainian delegation David Arakhamia.

Ahead of Friday’s discussions, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov has stated that they will have to take into account the points that were already worked out by both sides in 2022, plus the “real situation” on the ground that has developed since then. In his announcement of the talks, Putin stated that Russia is set on “serious negotiations” with Ukraine and is seeking a “long-term, sustainable peace” that would address the root causes of the conflict. He also suggested that Friday’s meeting could yield “a new ceasefire” that could pave the way for a comprehensive peace settlement, depending on the decisions of “the Ukrainian authorities and their supervisors.”

True enough, but I haven’t heard such talk recently.

• Talk of Direct US-Russia Clash Contradicts Trump’s Policy –Scott Ritter (Sp.)

There are “several plausible pathways” for the Ukraine conflict to escalate into a direct US-Russia war, claimed Gen. Gregory Guillot, head of US Northern Command, who labeled Russia as one of the US’ “principal adversaries.” Is this a veiled threat – or just the Pentagon beating the drums of war again? This statement signals brewing tensions within the Pentagon, military analyst and former Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter tells Sputnik. However, it’s just a “speculative pronouncement,” not reflective of Trump-era defense policy, according to the pundit. Ritter was struck by the fact that: • Guillot is speculating on a conflict beyond his remit, which belongs to US strategic command. • His stance contradicts Trump’s, who acknowledged Russia’s special military operation was provoked by NATO expansion:

“We had Trump say that there was justification for Russia’s actions, that they understood that the expansion of NATO served as a provocation,” Ritter stresses. What else rings the alarm bells of the Pentagon’s warmongering? Guillot also claimed the US could be drawn into a “direct military conflict” with Iran, China, or North Korea. He went even so far as to claim that “war with one adversary could quickly expand into war with an enemy coalition.”

“..Trump’s latest directive to Apple to cease manufacturing in India oversimplifies the complexities of global supply chains and risks unintended economic consequences..”

i.e. $3,000 iPhones.

• Trump Tells Apple Not To Build In India (RT)

US President Donald Trump has advised Apple CEO Tim Cook to avoid expanding the company’s manufacturing operations in India, according to reports. “I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” Trump was cited as saying in Doha on Thursday by CNBC. “I said to him, ‘my friend, I treated you very good. You’re coming here with $500 billion, but now I hear you’re building all over India.’ I don’t want you building in India.” The US president added, “I said to Tim, I said, ‘Tim look, we treated you really good, we put up with all the plants that you build in China for years, now you got build us. We’re not interested in you building in India, India can take care of themselves … we want you to build here.’” Trump claimed that as a result of his conversation with Cook, Apple would increase its production in the US, according to CNBC.

Apple has been expanding its operations in India, where it is ramping up its local production. Reuters reported in April that Apple planned to manufacture the majority of iPhones sold in the US in India by the end of 2026. Earlier this month, local media reported that Apple told India’s Ministry of Communications that it planned to move the assembly of all iPhones to the country from China. Industry watchers believe Trump’s latest directive to Apple to cease manufacturing in India oversimplifies the complexities of global supply chains and risks unintended economic consequences. Establishing iPhone manufacturing in the US, where Apple lacks existing facilities, would require significant time and investment, Sonam Chandwani, managing partner at KS Legal & Associates, told RT.

"I told Tim Cook we're not interested in you building (Apple) in India, they can take care of themselves, you up your production here (US)," claimed Trump. He added that India was one of the highest tariff-imposing countries & has now made an offer to reduce tariffs significantly… pic.twitter.com/11p9okfjTg

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18News) May 15, 2025

On Tuesday, India approached the World Trade Organization (WTO) with a proposal to impose retaliatory duties against the US over American tariffs on steel and aluminum.The move comes after the US imposed a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports in March, which was an extension of measures initially introduced in 2018 during Trump’s first term as president. New Delhi is currently putting the finishing touches to a bilateral trade deal with Washington. US Vice President J.D. Vance announced last month that the two countries have agreed on terms for bilateral trade negotiations, calling it a roadmap to a final deal.

AI is the only game in town.

• Trump Touts 1.4 Trillion Investment In AI, Tech From UAE (ZH)

After the several massive announcements and deals to come out of Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, developments during the last leg of the US President’s Gulf tour in United Arab Emirates actually seem a bit humdrum by comparison. But the visuals and spare no expenses official welcome and ceremonial events have certainly been interesting…

⚡️Trump arrives in the UAE

(Don’t ask me what’s happening)pic.twitter.com/dtUsPwF25W

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) May 15, 2025

Among the more notable statements has been Trump’s touting a 1.4 trillion… yes that’s trillion… investment in AI and other tech sectors from the Emirates. The White House had previewed this longtime in the works deal as related to artificial intelligence infrastructure, semiconductors, energy and manufacturing.Further, Emirates Global Aluminum will “invest in the first new aluminium smelter in the United States in 35 years, which would nearly double US domestic aluminium production.”

According to more developments out of the UAE:
• The White House said that Trump and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani signed agreements that would “generate an economic exchange worth at least $1.2 trillion”.
• The agreements are said to include a $96bn deal with Qatar Airways to buy up to 210 Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777X aeroplanes, and a statement of intent for $38bn in investments at Qatar’s Al Udeid Airbase and other air defence capabilities.
• A meeting is scheduled for later today of US, Turkish and Syrian officials to discuss details of Trump’s announced dropping of sanctions against Syria.
• Trump’s three-country tour of the Gulf state region will conclude in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.

Amid lots of awards ceremonies, accolades, and a state dinner…Trump has also been filling in more details of fresh arms deals inked with Qatar. “Yesterday we signed an agreement for Qatar to purchase $42bn-worth of the finest American military hardware including THAAD missile batteries,” he said Thursday while speaking to US troops at Al Udeid airbase.The commander-in-chief further detailed that the deal includes “Pegasus refueling aircraft, Desert Vipers, light armored vehicles, amphibious combat vehicles, the MQ-9B and the Sky Guardian drones.” As for Qatar, the president says he’s still ready to accept a donated jet from the tiny oil and gas rich country, a flying palace of a future Air Force One, which Dems have been warning would be a violation of the US Constitution’s prohibition on foreign gifts. Certainly he’ll come back to Washington awaiting immense controversy and backlash from the corporate media and his political enemies.

“So we survived until the 1960s without universal injunction?” he asked.

• Justice Thomas Destroys the Case for Nationwide Injunctions (Margolis)

During Supreme Court oral arguments in the Trump v. CASA, Washington, and New Jersey cases, Justice Clarence Thomas delivered a surgical takedown of the legal rationale for nationwide injunctions, using just one line. The case centers around whether lower courts can issue sweeping injunctions that block federal policies nationwide, even when only a handful of plaintiffs are before the court. Representing the United States, Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that such broad orders violate established legal norms and Supreme Court precedent. “We believe that the best reading of that is what you said in Trump against Hawaii, which is that Wirtz in 1963 was really the first universal injunction,” Sauer told the Court. “There’s a dispute about Perkins against Lukens Oil going back to 1940. And of course, we point to the Court’s opinion that reversed that universal injunction issued by the D.C. Circuit and said it’s profoundly wrong.”

Sauer continued, listing key precedents that have rejected expansive injunctive relief. “If you look at the cases that either party cite, you see a common theme. The cases that we cite — like National Treasury Employees Union, Perkins, Frothingham, and Massachusetts v. Mellon, going back to Scott v. Donald — in all of those, those are cases where the Court considered and addressed the sort of universal — well, in that case, statewide — provision of injunctive relief.” He emphasized, “When the Court has considered and addressed this, it has consistently said, ‘You have to limit the remedy to the plaintiffs appearing in court and complaining of that remedy.’” That’s when Justice Thomas stepped in and cut through the legal weeds with a devastatingly simple observation. “So we survived until the 1960s without universal injunction?” he asked.

Sauer didn’t hesitate: “That’s exactly correct. And in fact, those were very limited, very rare, even in the 1960s.” He went on to explain that nationwide injunctions didn’t truly explode until 2007. “In our cert petition in Summers v. Rhode Island Institute, we pointed out that the Ninth Circuit had started doing this in a whole bunch of cases involving environmental claims.” Thomas’s concise question — “So we survived until the 1960s without universal injunction?” — hit the heart of the issue. With that simple question, he challenged the idea that such drastic judicial remedies were historically essential, even during one of the most tumultuous and morally urgent periods in American history: the civil rights era, a time when federal courts began issuing broader remedies to dismantle Jim Crow laws and enforce desegregation.

In other words, if the courts managed to confront segregation, enforce Brown v. Board of Education, and make tremendous progress for civil rights without needing to impose blanket nationwide injunctions, then why are they supposedly necessary today over what amounts to policy disputes? In just one sentence, Thomas accomplished what pages of legal briefs failed to do. He exposed the historical and constitutional weakness of the left’s favorite legal tactic.

“When these people, like the January 6 Committee and particularly Adam Schiff, are charged and try defending their bogus pardon, then we will start to learn who was really running the White House..”

• Biden’s Autopen Pardons May Just Get Invalidated (Margolis)

Ed Martin, the new DOJ pardon attorney and head of the Weaponization Working Group, isn’t wasting time. This week, he announced a review of the shady “autopen” pardons Joe Biden’s team rushed through in its final days. “These deserve some scrutiny,” he said. That’s an understatement. As PJ Media has previously reported, Biden’s White House frequently used an autopen to sign executive orders and pardons, which raised serious doubts as to whether Biden was even involved in the process. In March, the Oversight Project dropped a bombshell memo detailing 32 instances where the Biden White House used an autopen to sign off on clemency warrants — pardons and commutations that impacted thousands, including preemptive pardons for members of the January 6 Committee. The report raises a chilling question: Were these acts of mercy issued by a president or by a rogue staffer who had no constitutional authority to do so?

“They need scrutiny because we want pardons to matter, and to be accepted, and to be something that’s used correctly. So I do think we’re going to take a hard look at how they went and what they did,” Martin said. The Blaze has more:”The Justice Department’s probe could spell trouble for controversial Biden pardonees such as Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, members of the Biden clan, and former members of the House Jan. 6 select committee — including Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), whom President Donald Trump and other Republicans have faulted for various alleged crimes and improprieties. For instance, Trump has suggested that Milley may have committed “treason.”

While previously serving as Trump’s most senior uniformed adviser, Milley called his communist Chinese counterpart, communist Gen. Li Zuocheng, on two occasions — four days before the 2020 election and on Jan. 8, 2021 — to reassure Zuocheng that he would provide him with actionable warnings should Trump decide to attack. Milley received a pardon just hours before former President Joe Biden left office. Fauci, the fifth director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, received a “full and unconditional” pass for possible federal crimes going back to Jan. 1, 2014 — around the time the Obama administration supposedly halted funding for dangerous gain-of-function research. “The American people were promised accountability, and I think Ed Martin is our best shot at it,” Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, told The Blaze.

“These pardons are fake and invalid, and the president has already said that is his view.” He’s right. Martin’s investigation may be the first serious step toward cleaning up the mess that Biden left behind. “When these people, like the January 6 Committee and particularly Adam Schiff, are charged and try defending their bogus pardon, then we will start to learn who was really running the White House,” Howell added. “We need to answer the question everyone is asking: Who was running the government the last four years?” The presidential autopen has been around since the 1950s, but its use has always raised legal eyebrows. In 2013, Barack Obama became the first president to sign a bill into law with an autopen while vacationing in Hawaii. His office leaned on a 30-page memo from George W. Bush’s legal team claiming it was fine as long as the president authorized it. But Biden’s situation is far murkier. What no one seems to know is who was operating the autopen and whether Biden even knew it was being used.

“On Biden’s last day in office, he pardoned his brother Jim, his sister-in-law Sara, his sister Valerie and her husband, John Owens, his brother Francis, Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, and members of the House Jan. 6 committee.”

• DOJ Pardon Attorney Ed Martin To Review Biden’s Outgoing Pardons (JTN)

Ed Martin, who is leaving his Trump appointment as interim U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., to become the Justice Department’s U.S. pardon attorney, said that he will review former President Biden’s outgoing pardons. “I do think that the Biden pardons need some scrutiny,” Martin told ABC News on Tuesday. “And they need scrutiny because we want pardons to matter and to be accepted and to be something that’s used correctly. So I do think we’re going to take a hard look at how they went and what they did. “If they’re null and void, I’m not sure how that operates, but I can tell you we’ve had already, I’ve had in my current position, or my position as US Attorney, we had been taking a look at some of the conduct surrounding the pardons and the Biden White House.”

In addition to the pardon attorney post, Martin will be the director of the department’s Weaponization Working Group. President Trump pulled Martin’s nomination for U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., because Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he would not support it, over Martin’s involvement in the defense of people who breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to NBC News. Tillis is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was overseeing Martin’s nomination. His no vote would have effectively prevented Martin’s from getting a final confirmation vote. The DOJ attorney said that he doesn’t believe that Biden’s use of “auto-pen” for pardons is a problem, despite Trump suggesting that it makes them invalid. On Biden’s last day in office, he pardoned his brother Jim, his sister-in-law Sara, his sister Valerie and her husband, John Owens, his brother Francis, Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, and members of the House Jan. 6 committee.

The amounts are less spectacular, but the work must be done.

• DOGE Still Hard at Work Cutting Fraud and Waste (Salgado)

The Department of Government Efficiency is still continually occupied investigating fraud, waste, and abuse in our federal government. Now, if only Congressional Republicans would agree on a budget that includes all these necessary cuts. On May 12, DOGE’s X account provided a contract update: “Since Friday, agencies terminated 242 wasteful contracts with a ceiling value of $646M and savings of $200M, including a $118k USDA contract for the ‘Democratic Republic of Congo youth climate corps coordinator’, and a $23.5k USAID contract for the ‘garden landscaping and pool services at official mission director’s residence’ of South Africa.” Obviously important uses of our taxpayer dollars. On May 14, DOGE added an update:

“Current year non-defense federal obligations are down 20.5% as compared to 2024. Cash outlays will follow as obligations come due. Persistent government wide contract reviews for wasteful spend, consistent with the DOGE Cost Efficiency Executive Order, are bearing fruit.” It seems review of federal contracts has been a DOGE priority lately. Earlier this month, DOGE shared, “Over the last two days, agencies terminated 522 wasteful contracts with a ceiling value of $285M and savings of $110M, including a $181k @USDA contract for a ‘technical climate advisor for central Africa’.” The grift is endless. DOGE has been investigating federal credit cards, too. Earlier this month, DOGE announced, “The program to audit unused/unneeded credit cards has been expanded to 32 agencies. After 10 weeks, more than 500K cards have been de-activated. As a reminder, at the start of the audit, there were ~4.6M active cards/accounts, so still more work to do.”

No wonder we are over $36.8 trillion in debt. Of course, DOGE also partners with multiple agencies, and the Department of Energy “has announced 47 deregulatory actions for an estimated $11 billion of savings to Americans. Previously, this quantity of deregulation would take years to initiate,” per DOGE. Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued his own proud statement on May 12, explaining his department “assembled a task force to work on the BIGGEST deregulatory push in modern history. The idea was simple: get a bunch of smart people in a room & work through the problem. We cut through the red tape to deliver 47 deregulatory actions on behalf of the American people!” What a novel idea — government actually working for We the People!

Crazy that someone can block the elected government from scrutinizing its largest expenditures.

• Trump Admin Urges SCOTUS to Permit DOGE Access to Social Security Records (ET)

The Department of Justice urged the Supreme Court on May 13 to let the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have access to Social Security data after lower courts blocked that access.President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14158 on Jan. 20, implementing DOGE, an advisory body that recommends cost-cutting measures. The order directed the entity to “implement the President’s DOGE Agenda, by modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued in the new filing that the lower courts have overreached and are attempting to turn themselves into “the human resources department for the Executive Branch.”

The filing came after Ellen Lipton Hollander, a Maryland-based federal district court judge, issued an order on March 20 preventing DOGE from viewing Social Security Administration (SSA) records because such access “violates” the federal Privacy Act.The lawsuit was brought in February by labor unions and retirees represented by the Democracy Forward Foundation.“The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion. It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack,” the judge wrote in granting a temporary restraining order against the federal government.

DOGE’s team at the Social Security Administration has had “unbridled access to the personal and private data of millions of Americans, including but not limited to Social Security numbers, medical records, mental health records, hospitalization records, drivers’ license numbers, bank and credit card information, tax information, income history, work history, birth and marriage certificates, and home and work addresses,” Hollander wrote. Hollander directed DOGE to delete any personally identifiable data in its possession. On April 17, Hollander upgraded the temporary restraining order to a preliminary injunction. On April 30, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit voted 9–6 to maintain Hollander’s order while the appeal process continues. On May 2, the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court, asking the justices to pause the preliminary injunction.

In the May 13 filing, Sauer argued that the district court erred in preventing “the 11 members of the Social Security Administration (SSA) DOGE team—from accessing data … for purposes that are unquestionably lawful.” The district court “dictated to the Executive Branch which government employees can access which data and even prescribed necessary training, background checks, and paperwork for data access,” Sauer wrote. “When district courts attempt to transform themselves into the human resources department for the Executive Branch, the irreparable harm to the government is clear,” he wrote. When the courts “stymie the government’s initiatives to modernize badly outdated systems and combat rampant fraud—leaving those initiatives on a litigation track that may halt them for months or years—the irreparable harm is even clearer.”

Reviewing Social Security Administration data is important because the agency has “one of the largest documented histories of improper payments,” Sauer stated. In a brief in opposition filed on May 12, the lead respondent, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, said that after years of honoring “its data security obligations,” the Social Security Administration “now seeks to throw open its data systems to unauthorized (and often unvetted) personnel who have no demonstrated need for the personally identifiable information … they seek.”The April 17 preliminary injunction should be left in place because it is “narrow and, contrary to the government’s assertions, permits SSA to disclose both anonymized and non-anonymized data to DOGE Team members,” the brief said.The Supreme Court could rule on the government’s emergency application at any time.

How to spell “inside job”.

Helmer is an expert on MH17.

• The US Has Pushed The ICAO To Declare War On Russia (Helmer)

On Monday, May 12, the United States pushed the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the aircraft safety watchdog, to vote behind closed doors to adopt a secret resolution convicting Russia of shooting-down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 on July 17, 2014. Unlike the Dutch show trial which in November 2022 convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian of the same crime, the ICAO reached its verdict without the appearance of an open proceeding or of openly tested evidence. It’s a put-up job.William Raillant-Clark, the ICAO communications chief at the Montreal headquarters, was asked to provide a text of the resolution and identification of the countries voting for, against, abstaining, and absent. Raillant-Clark replied: “In accordance with the Council’s Rules of Procedure, the vote was taken by secret ballot.” He refused to disclose the resolution itself; the numbers of votes without the names of the countries; or the reason for keeping everything but the conviction of Russia secret. He answered: “The Council’s considerations based on reason of law and fact, will be issued in the coming weeks.”

The spokesman was then asked for a copy of ICAO’s Rules of Procedure. He refuses to answer. The decision of ICAO to go to war with Russia, using its aviation safety mandate to cover up the evidence of what really happened to MH17, destroys the organization for the future. It follows the destruction of the global organization for the safety of nuclear power generation, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW); the International Committee of the Red Cross; and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres.

The downing of MH17 on July 17, 2014, with the deaths of all 298 passengers and crew, was a Ukrainian government operation, backed by the Obama Administration led by then-Vice President Joseph Biden, to start the economic sanctions war against Russia; US and NATO military preparations for the Ukrainian attack on the Donbass; it almost led to a NATO military intervention. Read the full story of what happened, and the subsequent faking of evidence in the Dutch trial, in the book. This new ICAO fatality, weaponizing aviation safety into war against Russia, was inflicted by the US, the dominant member state on the 36-member Council of the ICAO. Collaborating with the State Department’s delegate at the Council, Anthony Clare, the Dutch and Australian governments promoted the resolution and pushed for adoption by the allied states.

The list of permanent and elected member states on the ICAO Council can be viewed here. The ICAO session on May 12 does not appear in the advance schedule of meetings for the ICAO this month. The Council vote which took place on May 12 is not listed in the Council proceedings for the month. An internal notice of the Council for the May 12 meeting shows the text of the resolution is “restricted”. Raillant-Clark has refused to explain. As soon as the vote was taken, the Dutch Government and Foreign Ministry issued a press release. The Australian Foreign Ministry followed. The Netherlands and Australia, whose nationals comprised the majority of the 298 victims on board MH17, sponsored the ICAO resolution. Both governments are fighting Russia on the Ukrainian battlefield. The Dutch may now attempt to divert Russian state funds frozen in The Netherlands to pay compensation to the families of the victims.

Only after the two government releases had appeared, and Raillant-Clark was questioned personally, did ICAO reveal its press release.

The Russian government issued its response on May 13. “Russia,” the Foreign Ministry said, “is not part of the ICAO Council. In its press release, this body alleges that the responsibility for downing this flight rests with the Russian Federation. However, the text of the ruling, including its reasoning part, is not available. Therefore, this amounted to a blind vote – it is quite obvious that this decision does not hold water. Once again, the ICAO Council demonstrated its political bias. It takes its decision while guided by momentary considerations. This is not the way it must operate.” “Russia withdrew from these proceedings last year, on June 17, 2024, in view of the multiple procedural violations by the Council and the ICAO Secretariat, which made an impartial fact-finding effort all but impossible. That said, Moscow’s principled position remains relevant to this day – Russia was not involved in the MH17 crash, while all the claims to the contrary coming from Australia and the Netherlands are at odds with reality.”

“The ICAO Council is not an independent body. It includes 36 ICAO member states out of 193. They get their voting instructions from their respective capitals. Most of the countries represent the West and their immediate satellites. This makes the way the Council operates a matter of arithmetic. There was simply nobody to tackle this matter in a professional manner and on its merits.”

“There is nothing new about using the ICAO Council against countries which are viewed as being undesirable by the West. This can hardly come as a surprise to anyone these days. Suffice to recall the investigation of the landing of a Ryanair flight at the Minsk airport on May 23, 2021. At the time, the interested Western countries were not satisfied with the preliminary report by the Investigative Team. They used their majority within the Council to force the team to re-write the report to ensure that it condemns Belarus. Moreover, the ICAO Council ruled that it was competent to review the Great Britain, Sweden, Ukraine, Canada v. Iran case regarding the crash of a Boeing aircraft near Tehran after a vote held behind the curtain. There was also a recent example when the Council refused to take up Venezuela’s claims in its dispute with Argentina regarding unilateral restrictions in civil aviation.”

NB: the chance that a former FBI director doesn’t know what 8647 stands for is zero.

• “86 47” – Comey Posts-Then-Deletes Creepy Threat Aimed At Trump (ZH)

Former FBI Director James Comey posted a photo of sea shells arranged into the numbers “86 47” on his Instagram account today, before shortly deleting the post.The immediately preceding post shows Comey lounging at the beach while pretending to read his own crime novel, his presence at the beach lending to the fact that this was not a hack. Many are blasting Comey for issuing a not-so-thinly-veiled threat at sitting President Donald Trump, including the President’s son and Congressman Andy Biggs:

Just James Comey causally calling for my dad to be murdered.

This is who the Dem-Media worships. Demented!!!! pic.twitter.com/4LUK6crHAT

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 15, 2025

And here is his explanation for the ‘shells’ and the deletion……you simply cannot make this shit up!!!

[..] As covered previously in a ZeroHedge piece titled “From Epstein To Diddy: Spotlight Shines On James Comey’s Prosecutor Daughter”, Comey’s offspring smell a little swampy as well. From the piece: In a thinly covered news story from December that’s suddenly relevant again (read on), New York Prosecutor Maurene Comey – whose father James Comey famously refused to prosecute Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information & then participated in the Russia collusion hoax – joined the prosecution against Combs. The younger Comey has previously worked as lead prosecutor on both the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases, as well as that of former Epstein cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione.
…
Maurene Comey became a US attorney in the Southern District of New York in 2015. In 2019, when she was just 30-years-old, Comey became one of the lead prosecutors in the Jeffrey Epstein case before he was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019. Two years later, she became one of three lead prosecutors in the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s partner in crime and daughter of suspected Mossad operative Robert Maxwell.

Before becoming a US attorney, Comey clerked for US District Court chief judge Loretta Preska of the SDNY – who notably oversaw a long-running defamation case filed by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre against Maxwell. Comey was also involved in the case of Nicholas Tartaglione, a former NYPD officer who was convicted of killing four men in 2016, and who was briefly Epstein’s cellmate in the Manhattan Metro Correctional Center. Tartaglione claims to have helped Epstein after ‘finding him unconscious’ (and totally not trying to kill him) prior to Epstein’s actual death. In 2016, Tartaglione suspected a man named Martin Luna had stolen money from him – for which “Tartaglione tortured Martin and then forced one of Martin’s nephews to watch as he strangled him to death with a zip-tie,” according to a statement by the US Attorney’s Office.

Two days after Epstein’s death, NY Times reporter James B Stewart, who had spent 90 minutes with Epstein a year prior, wrote “The overriding impression I took away from our roughly 90-minute conversation was that Mr. Epstein knew an astonishing number of rich, famous and powerful people, and had photos to prove it. He also claimed to know a great deal about these people, some of it potentially damaging or embarrassing, including details about their supposed sexual proclivities and recreational drug use. And so, whether this is just a case of ‘it’s a small world’ or something a little (or a lot) less innocent, James Comey’s daughter is now involved in a second case where high-profile celebrities and politicians may have been secretly filmed engaging in sexual activity with minors. Comey’s deep state tentacles make the cryptic Instragram post that much more unsettling. Might there be some hints in Comey’s shitty novel? Donald Barr’s Space Relations anyone?

CHD
https://twitter.com/NicHulscher/status/1922833502430450150

Xifaxan

This should infuriate every American

An American doctor goes undercover to buy the EXACT SAME antibiotic in America and in Mexico to show you the difference in cost

“I’m gonna show you some absolute garbage”

Drug name Xifaxan

America price: $1,454
Mexico price: $24 pic.twitter.com/wXi9321L1f

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) May 14, 2025

Missing link

A medical breakthrough suppressed by politics

Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, renowned surgeon, scientist, and innovator, is breaking his silence on a discovery that could redefine medicine. In a candid conversation, he revealed the staggering potential of the Spire Shield, a molecule… pic.twitter.com/y59WRpbakl

— Camus (@newstart_2024) May 15, 2025

Mad honey

On steep Himalayan cliffs, honey hunters risk all to harvest hallucinogenic “mad honey”.

The honey contains grayanotoxins from Rhododendron flowers, which can have psychoactive effects.
pic.twitter.com/lp5ZcfChhH

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) May 15, 2025

Escape

Forget every escape scene you've ever seen…pic.twitter.com/Or6Ix9ii62

— Interesting things (@awkwardgoogle) May 14, 2025

Dance

Let's dance together…

Animals understand more than many humans. pic.twitter.com/DSqVN4jfOs

— The Figen (@TheFigen_) May 14, 2025

Camel

Theses horses saw a camel for the first time and ran away, the camel chased them to persuade them to be friends
pic.twitter.com/vyji7S8vtZ

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) May 15, 2025

Mercury and Aluminum