DNC Archives - The Automatic Earth

This is amazing to see

Alice Weidel of the AfD NOT BACKING DOWN

The Syrians will go home
The Afghans will go home

Remigration is coming

Europe will be savedpic.twitter.com/ejMCCf1ruS
— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) August 24, 2026

Big things are happening in Europe.

New polls show that the right-wing Marine Le Pen is continuing her lead to become the next President of France.

In Germany the AfD party are leading big in the latest polls.

In Austria, the right-wing Freedom Party is at nearly 40%, having a…
— PeterSweden (@PeterSweden7) August 25, 2026

https://twitter.com/warDaniel47/status/2091919445195186344?s=20

The power of a dead man.

• Mojtaba Khamenei Is (Still) Dead (Rick Moran)

In 1975, a brash new TV show premiered. Viewers had never seen anything like Saturday Night Live (SNL). It aired in the 11:30 p.m. time slot on NBC and featured a group of (then) unknown actors doing skits and gags geared toward a younger audience. At the same time, network news coverage had been reporting for weeks about the imminent death of “The Last Fascist,” Generalissimo Francisco Franco. The death watch was interminable. For weeks, network news reported on every minor change in Franco’s condition. If there was no news, some broadcasts concluded with “Franco is still alive.”

Franco finally died on Nov. 20, 1975. The next Saturday night during SNL, anchor Chevy Chase started saying “Franco is still dead” on the “Weekend Update” segment to mock the endless news coverage. It became one of the decade’s most popular catchphrases. I think it’s time to resurrect the gag and apply it to news about fanatical Islamist Mojtaba Khamenei and the endless speculation about whether he’s alive or dead.
Uncounted times since the Feb. 28 bombing that took out his father Ali’s fortified bunker, killing dozens of top-ranking Iranian government officials, it’s been reported that Khamenei the Younger succumbed to his injuries. The regime has admitted that Mojtaba was badly injured, but said he was well enough to speak with the new leaders of the Iranian government. His election as Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts has been questioned; he has yet to appear in public, and even top leaders in the government have not laid eyes on him since the death of his father.
An article in The Atlantic by Arash Azizi has started tongues wagging again. Azizi claims that Khamenei the Younger not only merely dead. He’s really, most sincerely dead.Funny thing: Only five individuals have seen the new Supreme Leader. And yet, there’s been a blizzard of pronouncements, edicts, and bombastic statements from him, suggesting an energetic and dynamic leader.
The Atlantic: “Almost six months since his anointment, Iran’s supreme leader has been entirely obscured from the public eye. Not a single contemporaneous picture, video, or audio recording of him has been released. Many of the country’s top political leaders admit that they haven’t seen him—among them Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister and a member of the National Security Council. IranWire, a London-based opposition outlet, reports that not a single cabinet member has met with Mojtaba since he became supreme leader.
Not even Mojtaba’s close friends and relatives have seen him. Fewer than five people have met with Mojtaba since his ascent to power, Mohammad Hossein Khoshvaght, a former official and a relative of Mojataba’s told me, “due to security precautions.”
The rationale is not implausible. Mojtaba would be a likely target for an Israeli or U.S. air strike, such as the one that killed his father. Direct communication from him could supply Iran’s enemies with clues to his whereabouts. He is also said to have sustained injuries in the February strike on his family that have made public speeches and appearances difficult. “I believe Mojtaba has either passed away or is brain-dead,” a staffer at a government institution in Tehran told Azizi. One solid reason why this might not be scuttlebutt is that the amount of communications coming from the Supreme Leader’s office has all but ceased in recent days.
“At least two other government officials told me the same,” Aziz wrote. “One said that he believed Mojtaba died or became brain-dead earlier this month.”mThe Islamic tradition of holding a “wake” 40 days after the death of a loved one was telling. A veritable who’s who of Iranian power brokers showed up at the event commemorating the death of Ali Khamenei, including several of the elder Khamenei’s sons. Missing was the host himself: Mojtaba Khamenei.
Whether Mojtaba is dead or alive is more than idle speculation. Whether Mojtaba is dead or alive, his public absence creates problems for the Iranian regime. The supreme leader holds most of the constitutional power in the Islamic Republic and has in the past served as the final arbiter among the system’s warring factions and institutions. Mojtaba appears to be sitting these conflicts out, at a moment when their outcome could be particularly consequential.
The country’s 13-person National Security Council is effectively running the country as a collective. It is chaired by Pezeshkian, a reformist who favors an end to the war with America, and includes Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the powerful parliamentary speaker who led the talks with the United States. But it also includes General Ahmad Vahidi, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and other military leaders.
General Vahidi is the real power in Iran, while President Pezeshkian concerns himself with domestic matters. Vahidi has the guns, and in Iran’s precarious state, that counts the most. It really doesn’t matter if Khamenei is alive or dead. The Iranian regime has been reborn as a military dictatorship, with the clerics cowering in their mosques. Vahidi is using Mojtaba Khamenei as a frontman, so whether the ayatollah is alive or not is immaterial until the general consolidates power.

His security detail just doubled.

• Iran Airs Video of Barron Trump, Offers $10 Million Bounty On His Head (ZH)

While it was largely Israeli media’s Ch.14 which first called attention to the “Where to kill Barron Trump” clip, the short video does appear to be a creation of Iranian state media. It is indeed authentic.It is currently featured at the Tehran-based Tebyan Cultural Institute’s official Persian-language homepage. The institute is highly visible in Iran (more here), and is affiliated with the Islamic Development Organization, which is under the Supreme Leader and is also linked to the IRGC and its media channels. The video is hosted at the official state institute here.

A MEMRI TV (Middle East Media Research Institute) translation of the video closes by featuring reference to a $10 million dollar bounty placed on the US president’s son Barron, disturbingly…

Iran’s next target: Barron Trump, President Trump’s son, with a $10 million bounty on his head.

Iran’s state television and radio network published classified information revealing the precise locations of Donald Trump’s son and the places he had visited.

Translated by MEMRI TV… pic.twitter.com/RxviWJ1atr
— ilana israelov (@izrailov94) August 24, 2026

The official Tebyan website also features English subtitles for the video. Hawks in the US are already trying to seize on this admittedly somewhat absurd AI-looking video to argue the case for renewed military action. They will try to get Trump’s ear and attention with this.

* * *
As the U.S.-Iran confrontation barrels into a new phase, Tehran’s propaganda machine has gone from Legos to death threats. A newly surfaced Iranian state media video openly fantasizes about the assassination of Barron Trump. The clip, titled “Where to kill Barron Trump,” claims without evidence to have dug up the 20-year-old’s Xbox and Discord accounts.
https://twitter.com/c14english/status/2091482886369067332?s=20
The disturbing video also claims to track the Barron’s movements and displayed depictions of dorms at New York University. The clip also claims a $10 million bounty has been placed on Barron. The video circulated through media tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Middle East outlet Al Bawaba reported, according to The New York Post. The clip was first translated by Euronews. The chilling report comes as the Trump administration is preparing to roll out a sweeping campaign to economically strangle Iran and anyone still doing business with it.
As we reported this morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that he will hold a Monday press conference to talk about exactly what we’re going to do” about an economic war against Tehran. “We are now entering the endgame. At dawn begins an economic D-Day, the single greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against an adversary,” Bessent warned in an X post on Sunday. “President Trump has dismantled Iran’s military capabilities, destroyed nearly 100 percent of its military factories, and buried its nuclear program.”

“The Islamic Republic has subsisted by dressing extortion as security guarantees. It has drawn strength from a calculus that regards Iranian retaliation as certain and American enforcement as negotiable,” the top Trump official added. “Under President Trump, that era is over. And those who fear the danger of defying Tehran ought not to discount the cost of testing Washington.”
As Bessent’s economic measures loom, the purchasing power of ordinary Iranians continues to plummet. The rial has cratered to a record low, trading around 2.02 million to the dollar on the open market, a staggering gap from the central bank’s official rate of roughly 1.5 million. Rice is up 60% in a matter of months, while beef has exploded 150%. The International Monetary Fund now projects Iran’s economy will contract by 5%.

The corrupt getting rid of the corrupt.

• Top Zelensky Staffer Led Out Of Corruption Court In Handcuffs (ZH)

This is not a sight you see everyday, but it’s one that’s becoming increasingly common in the halls of power in Kiev. Footage of the detention of (now former) deputy head of Zelensky’s office Irina Mudra, seen being led out in handcuffs after a court ordered her pretrial imprisonment on corruption charges, has emerged and is being widely shared. She was Zelensky’s number two chief of staff running the presidential office, essentially…
https://twitter.com/Panchenko_X/status/2092155359578263942?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2092155359578263942%7Ctwgr%5E4f43ae9eedb0893c223f81579842d051055f43f3%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fwatch-top-zelensky-staffer-led-out-corruption-court-handcuffs

The country’s Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office has argued for her detention pending trail at the High Anti-Corruption Court, amid proceedings which began on August 21. Starting on Aug.19, a presidential office statement had confirmed: “Iryna Mudra shall be dismissed from the post of deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.”
National media says that not only did she receive regular monthly income, but the prosecutor has alleged there is at least $4 million among other undeclared assets: During the court hearing, the prosecutor separately mentioned a conversation between Iryna Mudra and Mykytas. According to the prosecution, it concerned the transfer of nearly $4 million, expenses for Mudra’s daughter’s living costs and education in the United States, as well as assets that were not listed in her declaration.
Based on the records of the covert investigative actions, it can be concluded that Mr. Mykytas left her (Mudra – ed.) $4 million; Ms. Mudra systematically receives $20,000–$30,000 every month; she owns a Range Rover that is not included in her declaration, worth approximately 4 million hryvnias. In addition, Ms. Mudra discusses jewelry she owns from Bulgari and discusses with Mykytas her daughter’s education in the United States, for which the annual budget for living expenses and tuition is expected to amount to $250,000. – Vitalii Hrechyshkin

Iryna Mudra

Ukrainian and regional media says her properties were searched last weekend: According to information from Ukrainian parliament member Oleksiy Honcharenko, investigators searched the premises of Iryna Mudra, deputy head of the President’s Office. He gave no further details about the case. The outlet Zerkalo Nedeli reports that the NABU and SAPO operation also involves Vadym Stolar, a lawmaker from the former Opposition Platform — For Life party, and Maksym Mykytas, a former member of the Ukrainian parliament, in addition to Mudra. Officials from the Justice Ministry and representatives of Sense Bank (formerly Alfa-Bank Ukraine) also appear in the case.
The operation was code-named “Forrest Gump.” NABU released a fragment of an audio recording capturing conversations among people named in the case, in which they mention “four sacks” and the President’s Office. “Only a moron would register stolen money and tuition payments in his own children’s names,” a voice on the recording also says. The bail set by the judge this week was reportedly immense…

Irina Mudraya, ex-deputy head of Zelensky's office, says she'll pay the $450,000 bail to stay out of detention.

Prosecutors originally wanted $3.35 million.

I'm sure she can pay much more. Half a million dollars is just pocket change for her. pic.twitter.com/Hg9tA4wUhH
— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) August 25, 2026

All of this follows on a series of prior investigations by NABU and SAPO into corruption at the highest levels of government, which has taken down many officials and been an ongoing source of embarrassment for Ukraine.
These investigations tended to get spun as if ‘heroic’ Zelensky is on a mission to root out corruption and destroy the rot from within. Journalist, Mark Ames has pointed out the following trend: Every shocking Zelensky corruption scandal – and they keep getting worse – is PR’d away as “proof that Ukraine is a functioning western democracy fighting corruption”, as if it’s always one corruption scandal away from turning the corner & becoming Denmark.

“.. preparing to revoke the business and tourism visas of up to 200,000 foreigners..”

• State Department Moving Toward Mass Visa Cancellation (CTH)

Two significant media reports on the topic of immigration today. The first is an AP report showing the State Dept is planning to revoke 200,000 visas that were given after illegal entrants claimed asylum status. The second is DHS requiring $100,000 payment for each H1B visa sought by companies to bring in foreign workers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is preparing to revoke the business and tourism visas of up to 200,000 foreigners who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum status in the United States. If it happens, the move would be the largest single mass revocation of visas in U.S. history and would likely face legal challenges. Unless challenged or revised, the State Department is expected to announce in the coming weeks the revocation of so-called B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 whose holders have sought asylum or are now seeking asylum, according to State Department documents obtained by The Associated Press and two U.S. officials.
The action will be taken in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security. “We are coordinating with DHS to identify and revoke the nonimmigrant visas of foreigners who have come to the United States claiming to be short-term visitors, but then file for asylum to stay here permanently,” said State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has proposed a more than $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications for skilled foreign workers, a policy that the president introduced last year but had been blocked by a federal judge.= […] In June, a federal judge blocked Trump’s bid to impose the six-figure fee, concluding that it was an unlawful “tax” that required congressional approval. But the Department of Homeland Security revived the proposal on Monday, submitting it online in the Federal Register to be officially published on Tuesday, when a 30-day public-comment period will commence. And the administration is now proposing $103,265 for all new H-1B visa petitions.
The White House declined to comment and referred POLITICO to a statement by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a DHS department, that said the payments would support “immigration programs that otherwise must be funded by taxpayers,” according to USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler. The White House has also said the fee would help curb misuse of the H-1B program, accusing U.S. employers of undercutting American workers with lower-paid foreign labor.
According to Monday’s proposal, the fee would help generate revenue to fund immigration activities carried out by federal agencies including Customs and Border Protection and ICE. DHS said there may be “a reduction in the number of H-1B cap registrations and some employers, including small entities, may file fewer petitions as a result of this proposed rule.” But it concluded that the fee was “appropriate.” H-1B approvals are capped at 85,000 per year, with 20,000 spots for people with advanced degrees. Nearly 400,000 petitions, most of which were for renewal, were approved in fiscal year 2024. The majority of H-1B workers come from India, with the second-most common birthplace being China.
Deport all illegal aliens. The deportation goal should be 1 million/month.
Cancel all H1B visas. No renewals. They are being abused.
Cancel all J1 (temp work) Visas. They too are being abused.
Eliminate all domestic U.S. businesses that are modeled and incorporated to facilitate foreign visa assistance. Cancel the govt contracts and non-tax status for all 501(c) groups who structurally support illegal migrants.

Weaklings connect with weaklings because they think it makes them strong.

• The Background of Mark Carney Working with DNC Officials and Operatives (CTH)

This is a pretty good encapsulation of the relationship between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the DNC officials within the United States. Although Kokinda missed mentioning the meeting between Barack Obama and Mark Carney shortly before the G7 summit in France.

After Prime Minister Mark Carney abruptly pulled Canada out of U.S. trade talks and framed the dispute as a “war,” this episode argues the rupture isn’t really about tariffs but about political and financial strategy aimed at the U.S. midterm elections. Citing U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer’s account of negotiations and Canada’s unique retaliation, the script claims Carney is pursuing “geo-industrialization” and a “donut strategy” to go around the White House and influence American public opinion, aided by U.S.-connected advisers and outreach to mostly Democrats.
Kokinda also highlights comments from Iran’s foreign minister about U.S. debt and links the broader conflict to competing economic systems. The episode concludes that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is fighting a parallel battle to manage risks from the yen carry trade using tools like FIMA to prevent destabilizing Treasury selloffs.

“Mark Carney chases Canada’s businesses to the U.S., and Trump welcomes them with open arms.”

• The Illusion of Leverage in Canada-US Trade Negotiations (Christian Vezilj)

The latest failure in the trade talks between Canada and the United States has revealed a basic mismatch between political rhetoric and economic reality. Although Canadian officials, such as Prime Minister Mark Carney and the country’s trade negotiators, are still expressing confidence and maintaining that Canada has real leverage in arriving at a future agreement, the basic economic situation paints a completely different picture—one which Canadian businesses understand far better than the political leadership responsible for representing them.

The imbalance starts with a simple and inevitable fact: around 75% of Canada’s exports go directly to the United States, whereas only a small part of American exports go north. This imbalance is a fundamental characteristic of the Canadian economy. Since one country relies so heavily on access to the other’s market, the position of leverage becomes inherently unequal. Although Canada may be a worthwhile partner, it is not on an equal footing when it comes to bargaining power. The United States can endure trade tensions much more easily than Canada can, and Canadian companies know it.
Yet the Canadian government acts as if that imbalance does not exist. Political figures talk about staying firm, resisting pressure, and negotiating from a position of strength. While this approach might be acceptable within the country, it fails to account for businesses’ incentives, since they produce Canada’s economic output. The gap exists because politicians have no personal stake in the outcome. Whether trade improves or worsens, elected officials and bureaucratic negotiators do not see their income, investments, or market access suffer. The risk they face is political, not financial. At most, a wrong move could cost them the election several years in the future. For Canadian manufacturers, on the other hand, the effects are immediate, tangible, and possibly disastrous.
The gap between political posturing and economic reality is evident in the way companies are behaving. A recent report by The Globe and Mail on a survey carried out by KPMG found that almost 20% of Canadian manufacturers have already moved some of their production to the United States, and over 30% intend to do so in the coming years. Their reasons are clear: they want to avoid tariffs, gain access to a bigger and more stable consumer market, take advantage of favorable U.S. tax and regulatory conditions, and ensure their long-term competitiveness. These firms are not making ideological declarations; rather, they are reacting to incentives. They are acting rationally in a situation where the United States offers greater profits, more stability, and more opportunities than Canada does at present.
All companies that shift production south of the border decrease Canada’s manufacturing capacity, job opportunities, tax income, and its future ability to negotiate. At the same time, the United States gains jobs, investment, and control over its supply chains. The Canadian government’s continued emphasis on appearing tough has no effect on this trend; in fact, it accelerates it. If businesses think political leaders are disregarding economic realities, they will take action and move to places where incentives align with long-term survival.
Behavior, not political statements, determines leverage. Even though Canadian negotiators assert that they can set the terms, their companies are responding by moving production, limiting capital spending, and altering investment plans in ways that reveal the real balance of power. These actions prove what the market has always known: the United States has the stronger economic position, and Canada’s negotiating stance is becoming more dangerous.
It doesn’t mean Canada has no influence at all; rather, it means Canada should bargain from a basis of reality instead of relying on empty words. A mutually beneficial agreement is still possible and worthwhile, but only if Canadian leadership admits the structural dependence that shapes the relationship. Trying to impose terms on a partner that is ten times larger in size is not a sign of strength; it is damage to Canada itself. The companies moving from Canada to the United States are not disloyal to their country; they are reacting to incentives set up by a government unwilling to acknowledge the limits of its own influence.
In the end, the difference is clear: politicians can afford to have illusions, but businesses cannot. And as long as Canada’s leadership does not adjust its strategy to match the economic realities its companies already know, the country will continue to lose investment, jobs, and negotiating power—step by step, with each factory that is moved.

“.. he ended a 50-year problem that seven presidents said was existential. “

• Don’t Trust the Midterm Polls (Victor Davis Hanson)

Let’s have a periodic check on the status of the midterms that we’re now less than 80 days away from. The Democrats are riding high. They feel that historical trends, i.e., 39 out of the last 41 midterms, the in party in the White House loses seats, and there’s not very many seats Republicans can afford to lose, and they may lose the House and Senate. = They’re already, I guess you’d call it, measuring their drapes, but in the sense that they’re already explaining how they’re going to go after the Trump family, the Trump family associates, cryptocurrency concerns, any hangers-on, people going to the Middle East and investing. They’re gonna open it wide open.

These are the people, of course, who never investigated the Biden family or Hunter Biden. That’s no excuse if there’s culpability, but nonetheless, you can count on a two-year investigation of Donald Trump and a never-ending impeachment inquiry, and the end of the MAGA agenda should he lose the House and the Senate. Donald Trump is strangely confident. He now has finally hit on a strategy that he feels will work. Earlier, I called it the “Anaconda Strategy,” the idea that he is squeezing a debilitated Iran. In other words, the kinetic 40 days of bombing have left the nuclear military-industrial complex in shambles.
And this time, he’s not just blockading, he’s not just having an embargo on goods. He is not just freezing the bank accounts of Iranian grandees. He’s not just debanking the entire country. He’s going to third parties and saying, “You and China and Russia and Europe have been trading with this country even while we were bearing the burden of defanging a potential nuclear renegade nation, and we’re going to isolate you. We’re not gonna do business with you if you do business with Iran.”
And the Iranians now are crying foul. They’re saying we’re colonialists. But what I’m getting at, after all that military damage from Feb. 28 for the next 40 days, and after all the blockades, they’re not able to withstand a renewed squeezing. And so, time is actually on our side. The second part of this strategy is Donald Trump has now put the war on the back burner. He is saying that we don’t need to have ground troops. We might not even go in and bomb them again unless they egregiously attack an ally of ours or one of our carriers or ships.
We have managed it now. The strait is mostly open, and whatever the status of the nuclear stockpile or enriched uranium of the theocracy, it’s pretty clear they can’t get at it. Hamas, the Houthis, and Hezbollah don’t seem to be getting money. They don’t seem to have enough rockets to threaten the Gulf States or Israel, at least to get through their missile defenses. And so, we’re just going to concentrate, Trump thinks, on the economy.

So, what he is doing now is he and JD Vance are barnstorming the country, and they’re starting to make headway. They’re not worried about the polls that show a generic 7% Democratic advantage and betting odds and polls that say they’re gonna lose the House because they looked at the recent primaries. El-Sayed, the candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for the Democratic senatorial seat in Michigan, was polling ahead 10 points, and he scarcely won by a point and a half. Francesca Hong, the Wisconsin Democratic candidate for governor, was polling ahead 10 or 15 or 20 points. She lost and lost handily.
Mr. [Alexander] Vindman, who was running for Senate in Florida, was polling ahead. He lost to a crazy, wacky Ms. [Angie] Nixon, a democratic socialist. So, what I’m getting at is the polls are worthless. And what we need to look at is what the status is right now. The war is starting to wane. If it should end or if the Iranians crack in the next 60 to 70 days, that would be a spectacular achievement that Donald Trump—you know, we’ve tragically lost 17 Americans—but at a tolerable cost in blood and treasure, he ended a 50-year problem that seven presidents said was existential.
You could not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and the pressure that he’s put on them and the damage he’s inflicted would probably, in the next year or two, prompt a renewal of internal opposition against a theocracy that is bleeding. The second thing to remember very carefully is, as I said earlier, the redistricting, the red state redistricting and the Supreme Court prohibition on racial gerrymandering might give him an additional four or five seats. But the most important developments are money and the agenda of the new Democratic Party.
Very quickly, Donald Trump has got a war chest of about $400 million, and he’s now going to use it. He says he’s going to use it all in his political action committees to help save the Republicans in the midterms. Elon Musk said that he is going to match dollar for dollar the Democratic oligarchic class that if they start to donate in great amounts to Democratic candidates. So, the money issue probably favors also, like, the redistricting and maybe the course of the Iran war that could wane and be not an issue.
But the most important thing to conclude is the Democratic Party. No one thought that the Democratic socialists would ever try to absorb and even seem to succeed in absorbing the Democratic Party. I mean, Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, they’ve all said they have no problem with the Democratic socialists, that they …
It’s a big tent party, and they’re going to help them win their seats. But the problem is, once you have the money and the effort and the attention, and you show what the democratic socialists are, like, defunding the Pentagon, defunding the police, opening the border, mass amnesties, warring on fossil fuels, isolationist foreign policy, the transgender issue reopened with biological men now by statute free to compete in women’s sports. I could go on and on.
They even want to destroy the Senate and the Electoral College, not to mention packing the Supreme Court, ending the filibuster, and bringing in new seats in the Senate by admitting new blue states such as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. And so, what I’m getting at is, the more we learn about the democratic socialists, and the more that the Democratic Party feels they’ve already taken over the apparatus of the party and they’re going to join them, or at least they’re not going to oppose them, they’re gonna be culpable or responsible for what these people say.
And they’re saying all sorts of stuff, not just antisemitic venom, not just anti-Israel venom, but questioning the very legitimacy of the United States government, the way that our Founders created a legislative, judicial, and executive branch, the Declaration of Independence. Our entire traditions, they’re saying, are flawed at their origins. They got worse during our maturity, and now they’re god-awful right now. That’s not a winning message. So, the midterms are very much up in the air. Contrary to historical precedent, there’s still a chance that the Republicans can save both the Senate and the House.

“We’re only cooked if we accept it.” —Blaine Holt on “X”

• Cookery for All (James Howard Kunstler)

A Gift from Us for You Credulous Human Twits

They don’t call economics the dismal science for nothing. It has been noted — since Thomas Carlyle minted the term in 1849 (objecting to the emancipation of black slaves on Britain’s colonial sugar plantations as a harm to productivity) — that attempts to manage the billion-footed transactions of human beings always find a way to bite back. But how can this creature we call society not try to regulate its affairs, with evils and hazards lurking in all we do, everywhere and always?

And so, you get politics, the quarrels that arise out of those efforts to manage a polity. And then you get war, which, the Prussian Carl von Clausewitz observed, is a continuation of politics by other means. But then, long before him, and on the other side of the world, came Sun Tzu’s treatise The Art of War, which counseled that winning was best achieved with the least actual fighting.
All these ways of seeing our world converge dynamically in the current historical moment: this Fourth Turning, or Long Emergency — however you label it — in the arc of our techno-industrial order of things. A lot of these things are coming apart now, and in astounding ways, and it remains to be seen what we will do with these broken and discarded parts, and whether any of it can be put back together in a satisfactory way. Here in the USA, we act all this out these days with Trump and Trumpism and the Left with its Leftism.
Mr. Trump recognizes the brokenness and, being primarily a builder, seeks to rebuild according to first principles of the USA (Make America Great Again) — meaning, back to the Hamiltonian doctrine of an economy based on the production of things (of real value). The catch there is that it comes with baggage of Hamiltonian finance, which is the creation and use of debt with government assistance.
Now it happens that a primary feature of this Fourth Turning crisis in our techno-industrial order is excessive complexity that produces diminishing returns — that is, makes things worse rather than better. And a lot of this excessive complexity lodges itself in finance, because using operations that few people can understand serves beautifully in the engineering of frauds and swindles. Financial frauds and swindles, in turn, muddle the verity of money — in which finance is enacted — and things denominated in money — securities and so forth, all based fundamentally in debt. So, the net effect of such debauched finance leads to a great deal of insecurity and anxiety over money.
Which is where the Trumpian rebuild is dangerously vulnerable, especially as we enter the fall season, when the leaves flutter down and markets like to crash. Everybody and his uncle watching things financial predict an imminent crackup in these markets as the rackets and hallucinations that magically levitate them dissolve in foul mists of reveal. For instance, the acid trip of artificial intelligence (AI).
Never have more lavish fantasies been proffered on a new technology. Elon Musk, the demigod prophet of the latest-and-greatest new tech, promises a coming economy of super-abundance and universal leisure (good for the sale of vacation packages on Mars). Musk is a fine fellow and there’s much to admire in his intelligence and positivity. But there’s plenty of reason to suspect that AI might disappoint and become a menace to mankind.
We’ve already noticed that it’s messing up all the procedures of schooling, leaving young people shockingly stupid, devoid of real skills, stripped of creativity. Anyway, the economy AI is supposed to integrate with and enhance would quickly become one devoid of human endeavor per se, and all the transactions that come out of it. If you think it through just a little ways, you can’t help seeing a system that’s based on getting something-for-nothing — which is to say a childish fantasy that precludes human transacting based on work. . . people who do nothing, make nothing, and enact nothing around doing-and-making. . . a society without anything social in it. In short, this imagined AI economy beats a path straight to entropy, the force in this universe that you don’t want to mess with.
All that is apart from the probability that we have already crossed the line into the “singularity” territory where AI takes on a mind of its own and becomes an outright menace to the human race — who will then seek to destroy the AI monster it made (which AI will keenly apprehend and then look for ways to defend its existence). The storyline crudely harks back on the old Twilight Zone episode titled “To Serve Man” in which a posse of big-brained space aliens comes to earth acting all chummy and gifts us a handbook supposedly of its good intentions. Eventually, one savvy human gal manages to decode the aliens’ language and declares to the dopes boarding the UFO: “Don’t get on that ship. . . it’s a cookbook!”
On the other side of our national political psychodrama, the Lefty-leftists can’t even conceive of building or rebuilding anything, least of all a USA of first principles. They are simply agents of disorder and destruction, and their activities are predicated on the age-old demented idea that utopias surely grow out of smoldering ruins — so the faster everything gets ruined, the better.
Personally, I’d prefer it if the Trumpians prevail because I’m in favor of making-and-doing and the social enactments around all that. But we better beware that overgrowth of financial hazard baked into Alexander Hamilton’s old recipe book. If a correcting crash of financial markets coincides with the midterm election and sweeps away all the swindles and frauds currently operating, the lefty-leftists, so eager to serve man, will step up and sell the American people their one-way Marxist tickets to a utopia in the sky called Palookaville.

“..the excess of money held by some tragically wealthy citizens..”

• “What are You Gonna Even Do with More Money?” Abdul El-Sayed (Turley)

Abdul El-Sayed is tackling a new national crisis: the excess of money held by some tragically wealthy citizens. In his interview this week with Fox host Jesse Watters, the Michigan Democratic Senatorial candidate not only reaffirmed his call for a wealth tax, but suggested that wealthy people really do not have much use for money that is best left to the public.

El-Sayed needs money. A lot of money. He has called for massive new programs to fund Medicare-for-All, reparations, roads, and other programs promised to Michigan voters. He is only the latest Democratic leader to support a wealth tax, which would (in my opinion) be unconstitutional on the federal level and disastrous on a state level. Earlier in the week, El-Sayed expressed full support for a wealth tax, including non-billionaires. He declared on a podcast: “I also think we got to start taxing wealth for people who now have over $100 million. I mean at that point like what are gonna even do with more money?”
Figures such as Rep. Ro Khanna have also called for a wealth tax on millionaires, not just billionaires. As some of us predicted, the use of billionaires was simply a strategic and political framing. Once politicians succeed in opening up this untapped wealth to taxation, they will gradually work down the tax rolls as they acquire a windfall in new revenue.
I discuss the tax in my book “Rage and the Republic” as an example of the “eat-the-rich” politics used by demagogues from ancient Athens to the French Revolution. Politicians seek to divide a population into “haves” and “have-nots” with the promise that citizens could have it all. Much of what El-Sayed said is ripped from the pages of such figures like Huey Long and his “share our wealth” campaigns in the 1930s.
In his Fox interview, El-Sayed reaffirmed his call for a wealth tax, adding: “The question ultimately is, ‘Do you want to drive on good roads, or would you rather have a billionaire make a second billion?’ That’s what Mike Rogers wants. That’s why Donald Trump wants. Apparently, that’s what you want. I think the people in Michigan want something different.” While El-Sayed has reported $686,069 in income with his wife in 2025, they would not be subject to the wealth tax. It would currently apply to those with $100 million or more in property and other forms of wealth.
El-Sayed appears to conflate or confuse wealth taxes and income taxes in the interview. He told Hannity, “If we tax you at 7%, you’re still going to make what? A cool $30 million off your billion dollars? I think that’s okay, they’re going to be okay, Jesse.” It’s unclear what he is referencing. Even if you are talking about a billion dollars in income taxes, 7% would be $70,000,000, with $930,000,000 left after taxes. If he is talking about $100,000,000 made from a billion in wealth, that sounds like an income tax but it would not result in $30 million in remaining income.
There is a great difference between a wealth tax and an income tax. The wealthy have already paid taxes on their wealth. Indeed, they pay income taxes when the money is earned and pay taxes on any profits from that money when it is invested in stock or property. A wealth tax is an additional tax on all that you own from homes to boats to art.
At a seven percent tax on wealth for those worth $100,000,000, the wealthy would pay an additional $7,000,000 every year in Michigan beyond their income taxes. In Michigan, the state tax of 4.25% (and the corporate tax on their businesses at 6%). If the wealth tax is added to an income tax, that would be in addition to the 37% top tax rate in the federal system. Again, the wealth tax would continue to apply to what an individual owns in the form of cars, homes, and other property every year, regardless of whether income declines.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) drove this point home when she ran for president, taunting the wealthy that she was coming for “your Rembrandts, your stock portfolio, your diamonds and your yachts.” While some states allow a wealth tax, many of us view it as unconstitutional under the federal system. The federal government secured the right to tax individuals in 1913, but the 16th Amendment only approved income taxes.
This is why many of these same politicians are promising a hostile takeover of the Supreme Court by either eliminating the Court or packing it with an instant liberal majority. Once packed, the Court could greenlight a variety of unconstitutional measures. Years ago, Harvard professor Michael Klarman laid out a radical agenda to change the system to guarantee Republicans “will never win another election.” However, he warned that “the Supreme Court could strike down everything I just described.” Therefore, the court must be packed in advance to allow these changes to occur.

Jews or Muslims is a major theme in America today. It never was before.

• Hasan Piker: American Jews are Asking for Attacks on Them (Turley)

I recently wrote about Hasan Piker leading a hatefest in San Francisco with thousands mocking the death of Charlie Kirk. He is now being condemned for a livestream statement suggesting that American Jews are asking to be attacked if they continue to support Israel. On the Aug. 20 livestream, Mr. Piker declared: “If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone’s going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel — mind you — but against American Jews.”

The veiled threat was just the latest shocking statement from Piker, who has said that America deserved 9-11 and displays a picture of the attack on his wall during podcasts. As I previously noted, Piker and other hate traffickers like Jennifer Welch (who even justified Kirk‘s assassination) have commodified rage to make fortunes from their program. They inject hate directly into the veins of rage addicts. The result is predictable. In feeding a rage addiction, figures like Piker give a license to those who want to engage in violence. A certain percentage of the population is waiting for such triggers, seeking to assassinate figures like Kirk or Supreme Court justices.
This same conditioning toward violence has appeared on other sites. Members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) were on another site suggesting that the country was now ripe for a violent takeover. DSA activist and streamer Michael Beyer is shown during a panel discussion declaring: “The Democratic Party establishment that we have has to be ripped out…We can actually start to grab hold of the ship of state and steer it our direction, but it’s going to be a violent process.”
As with calls to trash the Constitution or abandon core institutions, these figures are normalizing radical actions. In the meantime, establishment figures like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are desperately trying to marshal the power of this mob in the hope that they will return him to power. When confronted with the calls of the DSA to get rid of our constitutional institutions, Schumer recently shrugged and said, “Not everyone has the same view on every single issue.” Those small disagreements not only include antisemitic rhetoric but also calls to eliminate the very institution Schumer hopes to lead again.
The DSA is not being subtle. The DSA Steering Committee member Cliff Connolly declared on one podcast that they are “famous for” “Our hatred of the United States Constitution.” From Piker to the DSA, establishment figures continue to delude themselves that they can control the mob, which will turn on their enemies while sparing themselves. History does not work that way.

“In the coming weeks, you’re going to be treated to unapologetic displays from the left ..”

• Get Ready for the Democrats’ Season of Bloodthirst (Tim O’Brien)

In order for the Democrats to take control of the culture and ultimately the government, people have to die. It’s just a fact. As much as the left likes to blame conservatives for killing people for not wearing masks, not getting vaccinated, and for ignoring the lies of climate change and transgenderism, the movement that is fully reliant on violence and death is the left, and more specifically the 2026 version of the Democrat Party.

In the coming weeks, you’re going to be treated to unapologetic displays from the left, celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and the radical Islamic attacks on America from 25 years ago on 9/11. For every sober and respectful commemoration event, it will feel like there are two or more disgusting displays from the left that can only appeal to the savage instincts of its base.] This has already started. My colleague David Manney wrote about a recent Hasan Piker event, where he sang a song in celebration of the murder of Kirk, sparking the leftist crowd in attendance to cheer.
“During a live performance of his Fear& podcast, Piker led a packed theater in a mocking rendition of ‘We Are Charlie Kirk,’ a tribute song that appeared after Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University last Sept. 10. His co-hosts laughed, the audience cheered and sang along, and Piker later posted a photo from the show with the caption, ‘Carried the flame in.’”

Here is Hasan Piker now mocking the murder of Charlie Kirk as we approach the 1 year anniversary of his assassination

The Bolsheviks will kill us all and they will laugh about it pic.twitter.com/6ic8nKdSyT
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) August 22, 2026

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat nominee for the Michigan Senate race, is trying to create some separation from one of his best political friends, allies, and operatives, Hasan Piker, on the issue of 9/11. He’s not doing it because he had a change of heart. He’s doing it because his political advisors are telling him that Americans still aren’t all that receptive to Piker’s and the left’s views on 9/11. Piker has famously said that “America deserved 9/11.” Still, in trying to distance himself from Piker’s comments, El-Sayed sent a neat and tidy dog whistle to his own base, which loves it some bloodlust.
Politico reported what El-Sayed had to say about those 9/11 comments: “’Of course it was a dumb statement and of course I think Hasan himself would say that was a dumb statement,’ El-Sayed said. ‘He disavowed it. So yes, America didn’t deserve 9/11, but you know, to sit here and play gotcha politics with a dumb thing somebody said out of context that they disavowed themselves — to say, ‘oh well, what does that mean about what you think?’”
El-Sayed’s comments are a stark difference from his interview with POLITICO earlier this year in which he declined to denounce Piker’s views in what he called a ‘gotcha game.’ ‘I’m not here to disavow people’s views,’ El-Sayed said at the time. For those of you in the back row checking your phones, the dog whistle in this case is where El-Sayed has gone on record saying, “I’m not here to disavow people’s views.”
Of course, the left is not limiting its enjoyment of bloodletting to the Kirk assassination and the 25th anniversary of 9/11. It has other more recent murderous events to celebrate, like its sickening displays of joy and satisfaction at the trial of Lindsay Clancy. You may know her as the woman who strangled all three of her children, killing them in her home’s basement. She then, apparently, tried to kill herself by cutting her wrists and jumping from the window of an upstairs bedroom. This is Charles Manson stuff. As bad as the crime is, culturally what’s worse is that a significant segment of the left and others have come out in support of Clancy, the admitted killer.

Lindsay Clancy brutally strangled her 3 kids to death

Feminists in court today: pic.twitter.com/WfFRJaRNX9
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 25, 2026

Sorry for repeated use of this word, but there is no other. You can see the bloodlust in their eyes, can’t you? These people are far more than political actors, but in the context of this political time of the year, you have to know that these are people of the left. This is the left. Then there is the case of Luigi Mangione, who has pleaded guilty to the cold-blooded assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. In committing the premeditated murder, the privileged rich kid established himself as an almost mythical hero to leftists everywhere.
CNN reported on June 5, 2025, “In the months since the fatal shooting of Thompson, Mangione has become a cult-like figure. There has been a massive outpouring of support on social media and at his court appearances from people with deep frustration and anger at the American for-profit health care system. They see the American health insurance industry as broken, overly expensive and quick to deny coverage.”The one thing the woke cable network’s article left out was that Mangione only became a “cult-like figure” to Democrats and leftists, not simply “people with deep frustration.”
If you’re wondering whether those of us on the right are working too hard to connect the dots, Hasan Piker will put those wonders to rest. As Piker goes, so goes the left, and in the process so goes the Democrat Party. This is Piker providing some continuity to the left’s now predictable support for murder as a political tactic, along with some New York Times operatives nodding in approval. In the Democrats’ world, the killer is the victim.

In a new NYT interview, Hasan Piker says that many “understand” Luigi Mangione killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson because Thompson himself was guilty of “social murder” pic.twitter.com/4f9bPdsxU5
— Pirate Wires (@PirateWires) April 22, 2026

“..the site and that much land do make sense for “[a] launch site, natural gas production, and solar power for air separators and condensers. Preferably all three.”

“.. Neither Starbase in Texas nor Cape Canaveral in Florida is ideally suited to polar orbit launches. But the Louisiana coast is. Launching nearly due south from there keeps the rocket over open water and away from population centers for long distances, unlike trying to do the same from Starbase or the Cape.

• Why Is SpaceX Buying All That Marshland in Louisiana? (Stephen Green)

I have not one but two wild — and interconnected — SpaceX items for you today. The first is that CEO and founder Elon Musk just announced an exclusive partnership with AI chip giant Nvidia for the company’s planned orbital data centers — and that SpaceX won’t waste any time getting them into orbit. “SpaceX, in partnership with Nvidia, has designed a space-optimized Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale system/platform for launch to orbit in Q4 next year, with significant scale in 2028,” Musk posted to X on Monday. If you just have to know, Vera Rubin NVL72 is Nvidia’s latest and greatest AI server, and now it’s optimized to bring that performance to space.

Musk described the servers as “significantly simpler, lower cost, denser, and lighter than a traditional rack.” And that brings us to today’s second item: the 130,000 or so acres of marshland the company reportedly bought from ExxonMobil on the Louisiana coast. Rumors began swirling last spring that SpaceX was buying up land near Pecan Island on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, and today Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to hold an event in Abbeville for a “major economic development announcement.” Some of the locals aren’t happy with whatever is going on, as detailed in this Fox8 Live local news report. But why?
Space analyst Ozan Bellik theorized back in May, when the rumors got going, that “You don’t need a logistics hub in Louisiana to transport Starships between Texas and Florida. Especially not one that’s 136,000 acres.” He added that the site and that much land do make sense for “[a] launch site, natural gas production, and solar power for air separators and condensers. Preferably all three.” A really big launch site, for reasons I’ll show you now.
According to a MarketWatch report on Monday, research firm Wood Mackenzie estimates that “a one-gigawatt orbital data center would cost $170 billion, more than triple the cost of a traditional data center. But costs are expected to come down over time as rocket launches also become cheaper.” That’s just the construction and launch costs, but there is more to it than just those two items. Being in orbit means being out of local regulatory reach, which streamlines — well, everything. Bernie Sanders (CPUSA-Vt. Oblast) can shake his fist at the sky all he wants, but that won’t stop any data center construction in Low Earth Orbit.
More importantly, data centers, as you well know, consume massive amounts of electricity, but in space, electrical power costs nothing more than the price of the solar panels. But what if there was a way to drive power costs even lower? If SpaceX were to launch its Starmind — good name, right? — into a dawn-dusk sun-synchronous orbit (day-night boundary), each satellite would receive direct sunlight almost continuously. That greatly reduces the need for expensive (and heavy!) battery capacity, while also reducing stressful thermal cycling on the satellites.
Since Wood Mackenzie’s report didn’t mention polar orbits, the firm might have overestimated Starmind’s production and launch costs. Here’s the problem: Neither Starbase in Texas nor Cape Canaveral in Florida is ideally suited to polar orbit launches. But the Louisiana coast is. Launching nearly due south from there keeps the rocket over open water and away from population centers for long distances, unlike trying to do the same from Starbase or the Cape.
If SpaceX is serious about putting 100 gigawatts of AI compute into LEO annually — and it is — the company needs a huge launch center ideally located for polar launches. The Louisiana coast fits the bill.

SpaceX has just officially announced Starbase, Louisiana, a new $100+ billion spaceport in South Louisiana near Pecan Island.

Construction starts in 2027, with the first Starship launch from the new site planned for 2029.

Starbase, Louisiana will be built to support thousands… pic.twitter.com/uacCLKg7CG
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 25, 2026

A Queen. For sure.

“I used to joke that I was the Queen of the Tabloids, but now I guess I can say I’m the Queen of Social Media AI!”

• Dolly Parton Passes Away at 80 (Chris Queen)

One of the truest legends, who was also one of the most incredible human beings of our time, has died. Dolly Parton has passed away at the age of 80. Her nephew, who also served as her head of security, announced his aunt’s passing on social media. People Magazine reports that Parton had mentioned as recently as Friday that she was still recovering from health issues:Parton shared an update on her health on Friday, Aug. 21, acknowledging her recent decline after the March 2025 death of her husband, Carl Dean.

“As I’ve shared in video messages throughout the past year, I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl. You know, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to manage something like this. Back in the early ’80s, I was down for several months with female issues, and I was struggling with my weight at the time too, so it’s not like I haven’t been through hard times with my health,” Parton told PEOPLE.
She added: “But I think because we live in a 24/7 world with social media, everything gets magnified in ways it wasn’t years ago. I used to joke that I was the Queen of the Tabloids, but now I guess I can say I’m the Queen of Social Media AI! Seriously, though, even though I’m still healin’, I’m still workin’! You know me — as I’ve often said — I’ve dreamed myself into a corner and I still have so many things I want to achieve, so I’m gonna keep on working as long as I can to see everything come to life.” Parton’s career spanned seven decades, from her work with Porter Wagoner in the ‘60s to her subsequent solo career. She had dozens of hits on the country and pop charts and starred in several movies.
Her life was a literal rags-to-riches tale. She was born into a poor family in the mountains of Tennessee as one of a dozen children. She discovered her musical talent early on and began writing songs at age seven. It didn’t take her too many years to turn her talent into a lucrative career. With hits to her credit like “9 to 5,” “I Will Always Love You,” “Jolene,” and “Here You Come Again,” Parton left a tremendous legacy across the landscape of country and pop music, and she even recorded a rock album in 2023. Parton was also an entertainment magnate with the successful Dollywood theme park in Sevierville, Tenn., and theaters in tourist-trap towns across the country.
Because of her rags-to-riches life and her Appalachian upbringing, Parton cultivated a campy image: enormous blond hair, rhinestones, bright colors, high heels, and a figure she cheerfully made the punchline of her own jokes. It was flamboyant and exaggerated, yet completely authentic to the persona she created. The image barely belied her warmth, humility, wit, and considerable business savvy.
Parton was also an incredible philanthropist, donating millions to various causes, especially in the South. Her Imagination Library put books in the hands of countless kids, and she most recently donated to help Southeasterners recover from hurricanes in 2024. She was such a positive force for simply treating people well that she was a beloved figure on the right and the left.

Pack it in, folks. A year of mourning for one of the only people we all agreed on. So sad. What a lady and what a life. https://t.co/1dz5PGzsut
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) August 25, 2026

President Donald Trump issued a statement on Truth Social: Very sad to report that Dolly Parton, one of the greatest Country singers, and far beyond, EVER, has just passed away. This is a true loss for millions of people. There has never been anyone like her, and never will. In her honor, I am lowering the American flag throughout the United States for a one week period beginning tonight at 6:00PM. Rest in Peace, Dolly! The World loves you. President DONALD J. TRUMP
Sen Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) also released a statement: Chuck and I are absolutely heartbroken and saddened to hear of the passing of our friend, Dolly Parton.mDolly’s life and career are forever woven into Tennessee’s music, culture, and history. Her extraordinary talent, generosity, and love for the Volunteer State touched hearts around the world and will continue to inspire generations to come. Tennessee will forever be grateful for Dolly. nOur prayers are with her family and the millions around the globe mourning this tremendous loss.
She was also a woman of deep, sincere Christian faith, so I have no doubt that the chorus around the throne of heaven has gotten louder and more fun. As her nephew said, Dolly Parton is “in the arms of Jesus.” We Southerners will miss her deeply, and we were privileged to share her with the rest of the world. See you in eternity, Dolly!

It doesn't look like much, but this building will produce 27,000 Optimus humanoid robots per day at full capacity. https://t.co/gB6cHumL2J pic.twitter.com/JUIbgPoV3u
— Smoke-away (@SmokeAwayyy) August 24, 2026

https://twitter.com/iam_smx/status/2091962853792133171?s=20

“The American colonies would never have been pioneered if the ships that crossed the ocean hadn’t been reusable”

Starship is going to do the same for space… give humanity the capability to cross worlds, return, go again, and eventually build entire civilizations on other… pic.twitter.com/EH9VUrfaaq
— X Freeze (@XFreeze) August 25, 2026

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Debt Rattle July 28 2026

Jul 282026

July 28, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:14 am Finance Tagged with: AI, Boasberg, CENTCOM, Chamath, Clooney, DNC, ICC, Jack Smith, Obama, Rubio, SAVE 29 Responses »

Pablo Picasso Femme 1930

• Trump Ready For ‘Strong Military Action’ If Talks Fail (ZH)

• CENTCOM Chief Believes US Strikes Around Hormuz No Longer Effective (RT)

• Iran’s Regime Builds More Scaffolds for Protesters (Salgado)

• Rubio’s Genius Move: Venezuela Quits the ICC (Anderson)

• Insider Politics is an Elite Clique (CTH)

• Democrats Keep Digging Their Hole Deeper (Amy Denton)

• The Democratic National Committee Is Imploding (Matt Margolis)

• Rick Scott Joins Push to Force SAVE Act Vote (Salgado)

• The Fair Share Myth and Other Socialist Fables (Turley)

• Jury Duty For Illegal Aliens (CTH)

• Will the “Fat Lady” Finally Sing? (James Howard Kunstler)

• Greece Refuses EU Sanctions Against Russia (TASS)

• Judge Boasberg Keeps Ruling Against POTUS, But Keeps Getting Overturned (JTN)

• Prosecuting The Prosecutor: Will Jack Smith Face Criminal Charges? (JTN)

• Chamath Warns Ban On Open-Source AI Would Tank The Market (ZH)

ELON MUSK:

“WE’RE GOING TO HAVE UNIVERSAL HIGH INCOME.

WE’LL BASICALLY JUST ISSUE MONEY TO PEOPLE.

WE’RE GOING TO HAVE DEFLATION.

AI AND ROBOTS ARE GOING TO MAKE SO MUCH STUFF THAT THEY’LL RUN OUT OF THINGS FOR HUMANS TO DO.

MONEY WILL STOP BEING RELEVANT AT SOME POINT IN… pic.twitter.com/V9tBI0GcY6
— PolyBackTest (@PolyBackTest) July 26, 2026

Yep. Everybody knows it. And millions figured it out the moment they watched this happen in real time. But they were tarred, feathered & tortured for the crime of being right – and unwilling to submit to the false narrative or the pressure. https://t.co/YwSh3PB03J
— Lara Logan (@laralogan) July 26, 2026

https://twitter.com/Tironianae/status/2081321145375014970?s=20

“Trump Cites ‘Deep Talks’ – Warns of Expanded Action; Houthis Claim Responsibility for New Aramco Attacks..”

• Trump Ready For ‘Strong Military Action’ If Talks Fail (ZH)

President Trump has told Axios on Monday that he decided to pause American military attacks on Iran in order to give negotiations another chance, despite there currently being no evidence that Tehran has been urgently requesting them. Trump warned in the comments that war could immediately return with expanded strikes if diplomacy fails.But it seems there’s at least some indirect ‘note passing’ between capitals going on, even as Saudi Aramco facilities have apparently come under drone assault from Iran-aligned militants in Yemen and Iraq. Axios writes that “The talks are being conducted mainly between Iran and Oman.

But Qatar, Pakistan, Egypt and Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are actively involved.” “We are in very deep talks with Iran. If they don’t work out, we will go back to very strong military action,” Trump said in an interview. Again, very deep talks?… The Iranian side is certainly not confirming this, but instead quite the opposite. Tehran has definitively stated its position that there are no talks currently happening. It seems it is merely the mediating powers that are most urgently trying to get the sides back to the negotiating table. Trump said he won’t give diplomacy “much time” and that it “either goes fast or not at all.”
“All of the people that deal with Iran asked me: ‘Don’t fire,'” he also said, perhaps alluding to reports like the following: The top U.S. military commander in the Middle East recommended ending the bombing campaign around the Strait of Hormuz after concluding it reached the limits of its effectiveness, a recommendation that helped shape President Donald Trump’s decision to pause strikes against Iran, Axios reported Sunday. Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, advised Pentagon leaders, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the White House last week that two weeks of sustained airstrikes had weakened Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping through the strategic waterway, multiple sources familiar with the discussions said.
As for new reported strikes on Saudi Aramco facilities (below), and particularly the sprawling Abqaiq site, the Houthis are claiming responsibility.

The last time Abqaiq (in 2019) was attacked by drones, Brent prices rose 20%.

Today, they're down 7% https://t.co/FNfEjBHQRQ
— OilPrice.com (@OilandEnergy) July 27, 2026

Previously Trump vowed to hold Iran directly responsible for any attacks carried out by its proxy groups.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY: Significant amount of **flaring** in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, including the processing facility of Abqaiq and linked facilities of the Ghawar giant oilfield.

(**Flaring doesn't mean damage. More photos below speculating about potential damage**) pic.twitter.com/5U1e9IaJkS
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) July 27, 2026

“Admiral Brad Cooper reportedly told President Donald Trump that designated bombing targets in southern Iran had largely been exhausted”

• CENTCOM Chief Believes US Strikes Around Hormuz No Longer Effective (RT)

The top US commander in the Middle East, Admiral Brad Cooper, advised President Donald Trump that striking Iranian targets around the Strait of Hormuz was no longer effective, Axios reported on Sunday, citing two people familiar with the matter. Cooper, who leads US Central Command (CENTCOM), reportedly told Trump that the designated bombing targets in the area had largely been exhausted. He added that there was no point in continuing the strikes unless the US returned to major combat operations, according to Axios.

Trump paused the strikes on Friday, abruptly ending a 13-day bombing campaign amid reports that regional mediators were rushing to broker a new ceasefire. Several US news outlets reported that Trump was also concerned about dwindling stocks of interceptors used to counter Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone attacks on American bases across the Middle East. Trump, however, denied that the US was running short of ammunition.= The Strait of Hormuz, a vital maritime chokepoint, remains closed to regular commercial shipping despite US strikes on Iran’s port infrastructure and military sites in the country’s south.
The US resumed its maritime blockade of Iran earlier this month following attacks on tankers attempting to transit the strait. Both sides have signaled that the truce, first reached in April and later expanded through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on June 17, is effectively over. The latest round of hostilities erupted over differing interpretations of the MoU, which was intended to provide more time for negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran insists it has the right to control all traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and has labeled routes designated by the US Navy as illegal.

52,000 and counting..

• Iran’s Regime Builds More Scaffolds for Protesters (Salgado)

The terrorist Iranian regime is planning to execute more political prisoners while also continuing its indiscriminate attacks on neighboring countries.

About a week ago, the murderous mullahs hanged 19-year-old Erfan Esfandiari and 23-year-old Gol Mohammad Mohammadi for participating in the freedom protests this year that culminated in the regime massacring between 40,000 and 52,000 of its own Persian people. This month, Iranian attacks on Jordanian and Iraqi targets also resulted in the deaths of four American soldiers: 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, and Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton. Of course, the death-worshipping ayatollahs see this all as a great success for them, so they want to pile up more casualties.
The Kurdish militias are potential allies if the United States wished to reach out to them; prospective ground troops should there be yet another escalation in the never-ending conflict with the Iranian regime. The ayatollahs obviously understand this, which is why they are now reportedly bombarding the Kurds, an ethnic minority that lives in parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. The Kurds face different levels and outbursts of persecution in each country where they live, including Iran, which is why they are not exactly friendly with the terrorist Tehran regime.

Despite reports from pro-Iranian/militia outlets, it’s clear that Iran is indiscriminately targeting Kurdish positions, as they always have. Tonight’s wave of strikes, however, is notable for its size and scale.
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 27, 2026

Meanwhile, the ayatollahs are also getting ready to execute up to four political protesters, triggering another wave of protests. Unfortunately for the protesters, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — the entity that organizes international terrorism and enforces domestic tyranny — is also out on the streets.

BREAKING:

Iranian regime security forces & protesters take to the streets of Isfahan as the regime prepares public executions of Amirhossein Safari, Abolfazl Sepahi & Alireza Sepahi

They were sentenced for taking part in January’s anti-regime protests pic.twitter.com/ZKa4eeoJmi
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 27, 2026

Whenever Israel has to defend itself and strikes Lebanese or Gazan jihadis, practically the whole world goes crazy with fury. There are riots in every Western country and condemnations from most governments on the killing of terrorists. But for some reason, when Hamas’s sponsors in Tehran butcher innocent civilians, the self-righteous Westerners and Muslim dictators who decried Israel fall silent or barely object.

⭕️BREAKING NEWS

The terrorist Islamic Republic is reportedly preparing to publicly execute four prisoners at Alikhani Square, opposite the hospital in Isfahan, before the dawn call to prayer.

A regime that cannot stand up to the world’s most powerful militaries has once again… pic.twitter.com/LaGMrC6UWu
— Niyak Ghorbani (نیاک) (@GhorbaniiNiyak) July 27, 2026

We cannot make lasting peace with people who believe that murdering innocents is laudable.

“..on Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, and Khan applied for arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant in May of 2024..”

• Rubio’s Genius Move: Venezuela Quits the ICC (Anderson)

On Friday, the Venezuelan regime’s current Foreign Minister Félix Plasencia announced that “interim president” Delcy Rodríguez had instructed him to express to the current UN secretary-general that Venezuela had made the “firm and irrevocable decision to denounce the Rome Statute and initiate its definitive withdrawal from the [International Criminal Court (ICC)], in accordance with Article 127.” He added:

Venezuela considers that the Court’s actions reflect a demonstrated geographical bias, which has disproportionately concentrated its work on African and Latin American countries, to the detriment of the Global South. This pattern reveals an international justice system that, far from being applied equitably, has been instrumentalized to deepen inequalities among peoples and disregard their right to self-determination and sovereignty.
This bias is not a mere procedural coincidence, but the reflection of an institution that has placed its mechanisms at the service of interests alien to justice and the peoples it claims to protect. For this reason, we reject this dimension of lawfare, which perpetuates the persecution against the Venezuelan people and exacerbates the inequalities that international justice should correct. We reiterate our commitment to a genuinely equitable justice, respectful of the sovereignty and self-determination of peoples.
The United States State Department responded almost immediately on Saturday, welcoming the move and calling on all other members to follow the South American nation’s lead. It also pointed out that the court serves no real purpose, as it had been investigating Nicolás Maduro since 2018 with “no result.” Here’s more: The United States welcomes the decision by interim President Delcy Rodriguez and Venezuela to withdraw from the ICC and the new Venezuelan government’s partnership on American-led efforts to dismantle the corrupt and worthless ICC. The so-called court has been ‘investigating’ Nicolas Maduro since 2018 with no result.
The ICC has instead wasted its resources on investigating and charging persons from countries that have competent, independent judicial systems and which never submitted to the jurisdiction of the court. This is blatant overreach, political bias and selective enforcement. The ICC is neither credible, independent, nor legitimate. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and the efforts of brave American service members, Maduro is now facing justice in a U.S. court for crimes he has committed. It is time to dismantle the ICC. The U.S. calls on all members of the ICC to withdraw from the Rome Statute.
If you’ll remember, Marco Rubio came out a couple of weeks ago and basically told the ICC where it could go and said the United States will dismantle it “brick by brick, if necessary.” Here’s something I wrote about that earlier this month: We’re starting by launching a diplomatic campaign with a simple message: ‘sovereign states over globalism.’ He added that, ‘Those who benefit from American security must not stand idly by while those who provide that security are targeted.’ And that’s only the beginning, Rubio said. We’ll use every tool at our disposal to take down the ICC with the help of every ally really to join our cause.
Of course, we also know that Rubio is largely running Venezuela, so this isn’t some big coincidence. Delcy and the rest of the regime were given their orders and followed them. It’s mutually beneficial. These criminals still overseeing the country buy themselves some insulation against future warrants, and Rubio kicks off his diplomatic campaign to encourage other countries to follow with a concrete example.
As the State Department mentioned, Venezuela is no stranger to the ICC. In 2018, several other Western Hemisphere countries — Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, and Peru — referred the regime and its security forces to the court for “crimes against humanity,” largely based on crackdowns on protests in 2014 and 2017 that led to death, violence, arbitrary detentions, and forms of torture, including severe beatings, electric shocks, asphyxiation, sexual assault, and other brutal techniques.
In 2021, under prosecutor Karim Khan, the ICC opened a case against Maduro’s regime, while also signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with it, promising cooperation and “positive complementarity” — which is basically letting Venezuela handle cases domestically if it can show genuine progress. For two years, nothing happened but a lot of talk. During this period, the regime claimed it was conducting its own investigations.
In 2023, after no progress, the ICC reopened the investigation and even set up a technical office in Caracas to work with Venezuelan authorities. However, the court shut it down, claiming it received no cooperation. There’s also the factor that Khan’s sister-in-law, Venkateswari Alagendra, is a lawyer representing Maduro’s regime. Not a conflict of interest at all. In 2025, a judge ordered Khan to recuse himself from the case, a case on which there has still been no progress made.
In 2026, the Donald Trump administration took matters into its own hands and decided that we’d prosecute Maduro on our soil, but this comes after seven plus years of the ICC dragging its feet on one of the most abusive regimes in the world. To put that in perspective, on Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, and Khan applied for arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant in May of 2024, roughly seven months later. There’s no bias going on here. Nothing to see. But this also shows us that Venezuela was already hostile toward the court. It’s also important to note the language used by the regime. It says the court has “disproportionately concentrated its work on African and Latin American countries.”

“There was always a problem for George Clooney in the political world which centered around his intelligence. Clooney is not a smart fellow, ..”

“Amal Clooney then went to work for the International Criminal Court (ICC) ..”

• Insider Politics is an Elite Clique (CTH)

The relationship between George Clooney and Barack Obama is well known and well documented. However, there are some interesting aspects that fill in a story and highlight how the constructs of U.S. political circles are always managed. The origin of Clooney’s intersection with the Chicago machine likely begins during his time as an actor playing the role of Dr. Doug Ross in the TV series ER (circa mid 1990’s). The show was based in Chicago. Fast forward a few years, and Clooney was considered an alternate fellow traveler for potential as an insurance policy during the 2012 reelection of Obama.

There was always a problem for George Clooney in the political world which centered around his intelligence. Clooney is not a smart fellow, and efforts to educate him on matters of strategic politics were doomed to failure. He was not competent as lead; the male AOC of his time. However, in 2012 those who control the mechanisms of Democrat politics were worried about the reelection of Obama when contrast with the chaos created by the Arab Spring, which he purposefully triggered.
Enter Amal Alamuddin, an international “human rights” lawyer with significant leftist bona-fides. Amal Alamuddin was Lebanese and British. In/around mid-2012, Clooney was told by his lawyer that Amal was coming to his home on the Amalfi coast of Italy; the lawyer said, “This is the woman you need to marry.” Given the frustration of Clooney’s intellectual challenges, the objective was to immerse Clooney in competency and see if it would rub off. Controlled leftism is always following a similar playbook (again, see AOC as a reference).
On June 30, 2012, the overthrow of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarek was concluded. Part of the USAID regime change operation, the part that triggered the original Islamist Spring, worked with great success to install Muslim Brotherhood member Mohammed Morsi. Morsi took power in Egypt and quickly went to work on the platform of extremist Islam. In November of 2012, President Mohammed Morsi issued a provisional constitutional declaration that granted him unrestricted authority and the authority to legislate without the need for judicial oversight or review. The objective was a new Egyptian constitution based on Islamic Law, Sharia Law.
In the background of the Obama administration, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton running the USAID operation supported by CIA Director Leon Panetta, the September 12, 2012, Benghazi crisis in neighboring Libya presented a problem. The U.S administration and the international control agents who supported the Muslim Brotherhood had their hands full. Morsi in Egypt was going fully Islamist at the same time Libya was in turmoil. Back home the Benghazi crisis was filling the headlines as the U.S. reelection loomed large. Clooney was in London and the Amal Alamuddin operation was still ongoing. That’s the context for this video clip.
Listen to George Clooney talk about asking Amal Alamuddin to come meet him and what Alamuddin was working on at the time. The video is prompted; it only takes around 30 seconds to get the point.

Amal Alamuddin was working for the Muslim Brotherhood on the Egyptian constitutional changes in support of the objectives of introducing Sharia Law on behalf of Mohammed Morsi, the hand-selected leader approved by Barack Obama. For those who are only just beginning to realize how candidates, politics and elections are controlled by global elites, you can literally see how the small group was operating through this example. Obviously, Obama won re-election; however, despite getting married to Amal Alamuddin, now Amal Clooney, George Clooney’s intellectual deficiency could never be overcome.
Although, to be fair, there are still Obama operatives at work within the DNC who don’t want to give up on the Clooney enterprise. Six months after Obama’s second inauguration, in June 2013, the Egyptian people had enough of the hardline extremism. The military led by General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, dispatched Morsi, closed the border with Libya, outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, put the remaining extremists like Mohammed al-Zawahiri (brother to al-Qaeda #2 Ayman al-Zawahiri) into jail and saved themselves from the Islamist spring.
Amal Clooney then went to work for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and was part of the legal team that assembled the war crimes charges against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that have recently been in the headlines. Clooney was working for ICC lead prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan who has also been in the headlines recently. “:
”(UK Guardian) – The prosecutor of the international criminal court, Karim Khan, has been removed from office after the court’s governing body concluded in June that he had committed serious misconduct in connection to allegations of sexual abuse. The ICC’s member states voted on Friday to oust the British prosecutor in an unprecedented move that concludes a damaging episode for the court two years after the allegations were first raised. According to sources familiar with the result, 82 of the court’s 125 member states voted in favour of removing Khan at a special meeting at the UN’s headquarters in New York. (more)”:
…And now you probably know more than you ever wanted to know about these things.

“Someone close to the disaster, who did not want to lose his or her job, spoke to the New York Post, saying, “The midterms are going to come before we know it and then we’re going to be really f****d.”

• Democrats Keep Digging Their Hole Deeper (Amy Denton)

Today’s Democrats are so far from the Democrat Party of twenty or thirty years ago that no Democrat back then would be willing to claim them now. The leaders of the Democratic Party of today do not seem to understand that the farther and farther they go to the left, the less people will be willing to donate to them. Putting aside the mess that ActBlue built with its creative fundraising, the Democratic National Committee is in serious financial trouble. Ever since Kamala Harris’ disastrous campaign burned through $1.5 billion—yes, billion with a “b”—the DNC has had the problem of what to do with the remainder of her debt.

In August 2025, the DNC agreed to pay off $20.5 million in campaign debts while Harris agreed to raise money for the DNC to “make the entity whole financially.” Where the money came from to pay that amount off is anybody’s guess. The DNC already had financial problems as of June 2025, with the main fundraising committee looking to borrow money.Wait a minute. If your fundraising committee needs to borrow money, what does that say about how capable the committee is of raising funds? Nothing good.
Because of Harris, because of ActBlue, because of whatever dumpster fire was going on, major donors were pulling back, forcing the fundraising committee to look at borrowing money simply to keep the lights on. While the Republican National Committee has more money than it knows what to do with, the DNC does not. Someone close to the disaster, who did not want to lose his or her job, spoke to the New York Post, saying, “The midterms are going to come before we know it and then we’re going to be really f****d.”
That was last year. This year, the hits keep on coming with the news that the DNC put up its building in Southeast Washington, D.C. as collateral on a $15 million line of credit last year. And yet, the DNC did not declare the building as collateral in its monthly or loan-related filings to the Federal Election Commission. Why not? Was it supposed to and just “forgot”?
The DNC has two goals this election year. First, take back the House and/or the Senate in the midterm elections. Second, win as many gubernatorial and local elections as possible. Both are nearly impossible to do without money. As of June 2026, the DNC had $16 million in its accounts and $18 million in debt. In contrast, over the same period, the RNC had $128 million in cash and no debt. Rather amazing, isn’t it? Completely ignore the electorate, advocate for illegal aliens and genital mutilations of children, and the money starts to dry up. Who would have thought?
The DNC states that using its building as collateral has been done before and was not news. A spokesman for the DNC stated that the building had been used as collateral in 2019, 2018, and 2014, among many other years. Here’s the kicker: the DNC doesn’t own the whole building, only part of it. So, what does it do? Put the part it owns up as collateral?
All of the financial problems have landed firmly on the shoulders of Ken Martin, the Democratic Party chair. Apparently, Martin has not had success in getting donors to maximize their donations, which has led to the low level of cash on hand. Nor has he handled the pressure well. According to an internal human resources inquiry, in early July, he chucked a phone at an aide in frustration after speaking with donors and political allies. The phone did not hit the aide but left other aides who witnessed the incident shaken.
The phone throwing incident on top of the lack of fundraising and the ever-growing skepticism of the Democratic faithful has only led to the deepening of the tense mood in the DNC. Add in the highly edited explanation of what really went wrong in the autopsy of the 2024 presidential election loss, and it becomes obvious why Martin has not been successful in his time as DNC chairman, even though he’s only been chairman since February 2025. In eighteen months, not only have the DNC’s fortunes not reversed, but they’ve also grown worse.
Not so according to Martin. In an op-ed on Substack, he defended the lack of cash on hand, stating that the DNC made the decision to spend more on electoral assets such as more people, earlier organizing, and stronger state parties. Stronger state parties? I don’t know about the rest of the country, but the Texas Democratic Party is a mess. While that is amusing to conservatives and Republicans, it is not helpful to the Democratic Party overall. He ends the editorial with, “A party is not a savings account. Its purpose is to build power.” Wow. If that is indeed the case, the DNC will have quite a time on its hands come November.
Another problem for the DNC is the 2028 Democratic presidential primary schedule. South Carolina is the first state to vote in the Democratic primary, with Nevada and New Hampshire coming next. Dating back to 1972, New Hampshire was the first state to vote in the Democratic primary; it’s a state law. New Hampshire lost the first-in-the-nation primary status in 2022. This year, it came in a distant third. What will happen in 2028 when the primary season begins in New Hampshire? No one really knows.
Having to mortgage the building it only partly owns seems to be the least of the DNC’s problems at the moment. Perhaps the party will find a way to right the ship; perhaps the party will simply make things worse. Considering what has already happened this year in Maine and the appalling lack of decent candidates elsewhere in the country, it doesn’t appear likely. The DNC does look like it is going to go down with the ship instead of righting it. That anonymous source who said that the DNC was f****d could well turn out to be more prophetic than intended.

“The DNC has paid more than $700,000 in interest on that $15 million line of credit, averaging over $75,000 a month, and starting in January it owes $1.66 million in principal payments every month.”

• The Democratic National Committee Is Imploding (Matt Margolis)

The Democrat Party has spent months promising a blue wave midterm election and projecting confidence, but behind closed doors, the Democratic National Committee is in turmoil. =According to a New York Times report, the Democratic National Committee can’t pay its bills and Chairman Ken Martin is paranoid and unhinged. In other words, the committee is drowning in internal chaos. This is threatening to blunt whatever momentum Democrats thought they had heading into the midterms, which are now just 100 days away.

PJ Media previously reported that the DNC put up its own DC headquarters as collateral for a $15 million line of credit last year. That was bad news on its own. But it’s gotten worse. Party leaders have now asked vendors to hold off sending invoices until after the midterms, according to three people briefed on the discussions. Ouch. And then there’s the issues with Chairman Martin. According to the report, he has become isolated, anxious about his job security, and dependent on a shrinking circle of trusted aides. More than two dozen current and former Democrats and DNC officials described his behavior to the New York Times, most speaking anonymously because nobody wants their name near this dumpster fire.
And who could blame them? Just how unhinged has Martin become? Well, in early July, Martin allegedly threw his phone at a junior aide’s desk while reprimanding him, prompting a formal HR complaint. Accounts differ on how hard he threw it, though everyone agrees it hit the desk, not the aide. Martin later met with HR about his behavior. The DNC declined to comment, and Martin declined an interview request. Martin has also made dark jokes about how long he’ll last as chairman, even though his term runs through 2029, but he still insists he’s committed to the party and hopeful about November.
The big problem for the Democrats, of course, is the money gap with Republicans. President Donald Trump controls a $400 million super PAC. The Republican National Committee reported $128.5 million in cash on hand. The DNC is $2 million in debt. Before filing its July report, the DNC even transferred $1 million out of its 2028 convention fund to prop up its main accounts.The loan hasn’t helped. The DNC has paid more than $700,000 in interest on that $15 million line of credit, averaging over $75,000 a month, and starting in January it owes $1.66 million in principal payments every month. The DNC has funneled money to its House and Senate campaign arms every cycle for more than a decade, but officials have privately told congressional leaders that won’t happen in 2026.
There isn’t any cash left to give, and a big factor in this debacle is Kamala Harris. In 2024, Kamala Harris raised a ton of money in her campaign but left behind millions in debt that the DNC spent much of last year paying down with her help. Last fall, Martin sent $3 million each to Democratic gubernatorial campaigns in Virginia and New Jersey, structuring the loan for those transfers, hoping the wins would revive DNC fundraising. The bet hasn’t paid off yet. Martin’s paranoia bled into his own team. This spring, he confronted the party’s finance director over what he believed was an effort to push him out.
In May, finance chairman Chris Korge was already talking with other officers about an emergency meeting on the party’s finances. Martin read those talks as a plot against him, and when the two finally spoke late one Tuesday night, things got ugly fast. The emergency meeting Korge wanted eventually happened in Pittsburgh in June. For the first time, party officers had to sign nondisclosure agreements just to be in the room. I wrote before that this was the sign of a huge problem. Well, there’s the proof.
Make no mistake about it, the Democratic National Committee is a dumpster fire right now. It’s deep in debt, can’t pay its vendors on time, and its chairman is a paranoid wreck who needs nondisclosure agreements to keep its own board members quiet. We’re 100 days out from the midterms, hardly enough time for things to turn around for the Democratic National Committee. This is gonna be fun to watch.

“Right now Senate Democrats enjoy all the benefits of the filibuster with none of the political cost—and without even having to work for it. Enforcing a real talking filibuster would change that dynamic overnight.”

• Rick Scott Joins Push to Force SAVE Act Vote (Salgado)

RINO and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) thought he could get to the August recess without having to vote for election integrity legislation or a budget resolution. But two Republican senators have now stepped up to force a roll call vote on the SAVE America Act.

Get-out-the-vote warrior Scott Presler triggered the upset in the Senate by begging one senator — any senator — to request a roll call vote and force senators to go on the record about the SAVE America Act before the recess. This action is in accord with Senate rules and is based on Article I, Section 5, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) responded to Presler by offering to take up the challenge, and then notified Thune, “I hereby object to any effort to put the Senate into recess in August—at least until such time as the Senate has passed the SAVE America Act—and hereby request a roll call vote.”
Then on Sunday Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) joined in the effort. “I stand with [Mike Lee]. I will vote to stay in session unless we have passed the SAVE America Act. The American people expect us to deliver. They deserve secure elections,” Scott wrote on X.
Scott subsequently reposted Presler’s enthusiastic message of gratitude. “Senator Rick Scott, On [sic] behalf of millions of Americans, thank you for being one of the very few Senators that actually care about us,” Presler exclaimed. “Thank you for working tirelessly to pass the SAVE America Act & secure our elections. We are finding illegal aliens on the voter rolls in Pennsylvania. This is a constitutional crisis.” Presler has been going through the non-juror and registered voter data in Pennsylvania.
https://twitter.com/ScottPresler/status/2080797691366240285?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2080797691366240285%7Ctwgr%5E4424297fc6ffead79f47802d5981c97d6cbc9a3c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpjmedia.com%2Fcatherinesalgado%2F2026%2F07%2F26%2Frick-scott-joins-in-forcing-save-act-vote-lee-explains-his-plan-n4955475
Thune wants Americans to believe he can’t get the SAVE America Act or any of its provisions through. But Lee has laid out a plan. Back on July 22, Lee posted on X, “We could break the Democrats’ filibuster the old-fashioned way: make them actually speak on the Senate floor, knowing we can ‘call the question’ and pass it at a simple-majority threshold the minute they stop speaking. We could add pressure by working through weekends and recess weeks as needed, with a public commitment to keep the Senate in session until the bill passes.”
He went on, “Right now Senate Democrats enjoy all the benefits of the filibuster with none of the political cost—and without even having to work for it. Enforcing a real talking filibuster would change that dynamic overnight. We could also advance key provisions of the SAVE America Act using budget reconciliation. Or we could nuke the filibuster.”
The House had actually found a workaround to thwart Democrat shenanigans, as the pre-recess House budget resolution included provisions of the SAVE America Act and vital military funding. Unfortunately, Thune, ever the backstabber, delivered a nonsensical lecture about the importance of consulting Democrats—you know, the ones who aim to defund ICE and oppose funding related to the Iran conflict, fund foreign criminals, and kill all election integrity efforts—while coming up with a “bipartisan” funding package. With Republicans like him, who needs Democrats?

“.. his promised “warmth of collectivism.”

• The Fair Share Myth and Other Socialist Fables (Turley)

New York City socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani is back in his element. After admitting that he cannot fulfill his campaign pledge to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mamdani returned to his class warfare narrative. This week, he taunted the city’s highest-earning taxpayers with a letter informing them of another special tax awaiting them in the Big Apple.As wealthy citizens flee the city, Mamdani strongly suggests that those who remain are going to get burned by his promised “warmth of collectivism.” In doing so, he repeated a socialist myth about how the wealthiest taxpayers are not paying “their fair share.”

Mamdani went on X to tell those with second homes in New York City worth more than $5 million that “you’ve got mail” and a “new pied-a-terre tax.” He gleefully declared, “The best city in the world deserves the best p arks, libraries, and schools in the world. That’s only possible when we all pay our fair share.”The fair share myth is a virtual mantra among socialist and Democratic leaders, from Mamdani to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). In my book, “Rage and the Republic,” I address the false claim that the wealthy are not “paying their fair share.” In fact, the top 10 percent already pay more taxes than the bottom 90 percent combined.
In 2023, the top 1 percent paid an estimated 38.4 percent of all federal individual income taxes. One can certainly raise the need for additional taxes to support public works, but it is simple demagoguery to claim that the wealthy do not pay their fair share when the top 10 percent pay an estimated 75 percent of federal income taxes. The U.S. income tax system is already the most progressive in the developed world, even before additional New York state and city taxes are added in.=The demonization of the wealthy is one of the oldest tactics of politicians seeking to empower themselves by harnessing mob rage.
Combined with pledges of free stuff under socialism, it creates a dangerous delusion among disgruntled citizens. Another common fable has been repeated by socialists such as Darializa Avila Chevalier, the prison abolitionist who won a recent primary for Congress in New York. This radical, who once boasted how she wiped her hands on the American flag in lieu of a napkin, was pressed on whether there has ever been a “successful model of socialism anywhere in the world outside the U.S., in terms of both human rights and widespread economic justice.”
She responded by citing Sweden and Norway, as other figures such as Sanders have done before her. Indeed, the claim of successful Scandinavian socialist systems is a sort of Marxist bedtime fairytale, told to children about a workers’ paradise in quaint Nordic fishing villages. But Sweden’s experience only shows the limits of socialism even in a relatively small nation. Decades ago, after disastrous results to its economy, Sweden turned away from the very kind of socialist theories increasingly fashionable in the U.S. today.
Norway has large public welfare systems, it is true. But there is a very specific reason for that: It has enormous direct oil revenues supporting a very small population. The Norwegian state produces about 120 barrels of oil for every man, woman and child living in the country. If the U.S. could produce that much oil per person through a state-controlled entity, it would be more oil than the entire world produces today and worth enough money to replace all federal individual and corporate income tax revenue. In truth, countries like Denmark and Sweden strongly embrace capitalist principles today.
They are listed among the most capitalist nations on Earth — in some rankings ahead of the U.S. Indeed, many of their leaders have expressed disbelief or amusement at longstanding claims by American leftists about their being socialist nations. In 2015, Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen observed, “I know that some people in the U.S. associate the Nordic model with some sort of socialism. Therefore, I would like to make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy.” Likewise, the former Swedish Social Democratic Minister of Finance Kjell Olof Feldt said, ” That whole thing with democratic socialism was absolutely impossible. It just didn’t work. “

“The Scale of Ineligible People Called for Jury Duty Starts to Highlight Number of Illegal Aliens Currently on Voter Rolls”

Do you want your court case decided by people who have no right to be in the country?

• Jury Duty For Illegal Aliens (CTH)

In most states the jury duty summons process comes from registered voter rolls. As a consequence, when a person is called for jury duty and is then disqualified as a non-citizen, we have another way to judge the scale of non-citizens on the voter rolls.

Reviewing lists of disqualified non-citizen jurors is now taking place in many counties led by citizen inquiry. The disqualification records, “non-juror” lists are public records in many states and counties. These reviews are turning up tens-of-thousands of non-citizens who are on juror lists, which means they are also on voter rolls.
(New Jersey Globe) – About 75,000 noncitizens are summoned for jury duty in New Jersey each year, based on data from three state government agencies, including the Motor Vehicle Commission — a stunning figure that widens the scope of a growing controversy over government databases that may incorrectly identify noncitizens as eligible voters and jurors.While the number is alarming, there’s no indication that noncitizens have served on a jury since the judiciary implemented additional guardrails to prevent it.
“Prospective jurors are asked about their citizenship and other qualifications when they complete the mandatory juror qualification questionnaire,” said Pete McAleer, a spokesman for the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts. “Those who advance are reminded of the eligibility requirements during jury orientation and are directly questioned about their citizenship during jury selection by the judge and, as permitted, the attorneys.” In between, potential jurors watch a training video that includes the citizenship requirement.
The revelation of noncitizens making their way into jury pools comes three days after Gov. Mikie Sherrill disclosed that an alleged software glitch at motor vehicles led to the inclusion of roughly 6,600 noncitizens on New Jersey’s voter rolls; Sherrill blamed the vendor, IDEMIA, and said less than 400 noncitizens have voted in recent elections. According to McAleer, the judiciary processes more than one million summonses annually for potential jury service and randomly selects records provided from the Division of Elections, the Division of Taxation, and the MVC. (read more)
That 75,000/yr number are just those summoned people who disqualified themselves by being truthful about their status. I firmly believe the average non-pretending American will soon to realize/admit that many non-citizens actually remained on juries and passed judgement during trial.
Illegal aliens voting in elections is happening, we all know it and even though the media is still trying to retain their lies, you can tell that stance is softening against the reality. However, illegal aliens sitting as jurors in trials, will create a big-time constitutional mess that is something the communist left and media will never admit.

“The Fauci diary is amazing. He monologues like a Scooby Doo villain.” El Gato Malo on “X”

• Will the “Fat Lady” Finally Sing? (James Howard Kunstler)

Remember Covid-19? Seems like long ago in a world that time forgot. Well, you get to revisit the whole sketchy business on Wednesday, July, 29, when Dr. Anthony Fauci is called to testify about it to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chaired by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). Though half the USA is still psychotic and unable to process reality, the other half of the country understands that Dr. Fauci has some ‘splainin’ to do.

Dr. Fauci was initially invited but declined to appear (didn’t feel like it), so the committee issued a subpoena compelling him (under penalty of up to a year in jail for failure to show). Because Dr. Fauci was given a peremptory pardon by “Joe Biden,” he cannot legally invoke the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination. He will have to answer the questions. Of course, Dr. Fauci has demonstrated in previous appearances that he is a world champeen of failing-to-recall stuff and, at age 85, one might expect him to work that angle to the max.
One big question hanging over the whole proceeding is whether Covid-19 was concocted in the Wuhan Institute of Virology or “jumped from animals to humans” as Dr. Fauci posited around the 2:14 mark (near the end) of this video from a White House press conference, April, 13, 2020:

The Intel Community now kind of leans toward the lab leak theory. Anyway, that all leads to another question as to whether Dr. Fauci directed his agency, the NIAID, to arrange funding for gain-of-function research at Wuhan on coronaviruses found in Asian bats. IOW, did they make the chimeric virus on-purpose? In past testimony, Dr. Fauci has equivocated and dissembled about that, played word games that led to raised voices between himself and Sen. Paul.
As it happened, then-Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard recently unearthed the paper trail of emails and memoranda between Dr. Fauci and his colleagues / partners in other corners of the epidemiological world that show how, at the time, they were all scrambling to cover their collective asses in the Covid-19 business. One partner in particular, Peter Daszak of the New York based EcoHealth Alliance, which had channeled many grants to Wuhan since 2014, was especially active in fabricating alibis and ruses — including a major paper in the UK’s leading medical journal, The Lancet (the article was later nullified).
Behind that smokescreen of confabulation lies the wreckage of American society by the evil Covid-19 business. It was even evident at the time (spring 2020) that President Trump suspected he was being played by the committee of “experts” that had been set up to make Covid-19 policy. His body language suggested as much in news conferences where he shifted uncomfortably from side to side, watching while others spoke at the podium, as if rehearsing his later YMCA dance. At one point, April 23, 2020, (Fauci wrote in an email) President Trump called advisor Deborah Birx (“Scarf Lady”) into the Oval Office and yelled at her: “You and Fauci have destroyed the country and the economy. I should never have listened to you. You have completely destroyed us.” (Thanks to @JeffreyTucker on “X” for citation.)
And that was only the beginning of an event that led to a more momentous string of operations against the welfare of the American people, including the mass shutdown and ruin of small businesses, the orchestrated George Floyd riots, the year-plus of no school, and the mass mail-in ballot policy that enabled widespread voting fraud, ushering-in the election of Deep State tool “Joe Biden,” with the epic fuckery his handlers later laid on the body politic — including the open border, universal DEI, transsexuals celebrated on the White House lawn, the Ukraine money-laundry, weaponization of law and intel, build-out of the USAID-NGO grift matrix to fund Democratic Party operations, and much more.

“EU may abandon current sanctions mechanism against Russia due to Greece’s position.”

The LNG ships are often Greek.

• Greece Refuses EU Sanctions Against Russia (TASS)

The European Union may revise its mechanism for imposing sanctions on Russia after Athens delayed the adoption of the latest package of measures for several weeks, securing exemptions for a Greek shipping company, the Financial Times reported.

Athens refused to support the new sanctions package until the remaining EU countries agreed to grant an exemption for the company Dynagas, according to the report. The Greek side reportedly sought to ensure that the company’s vessels could continue transporting Russian liquefied natural gas to countries outside the bloc. This marks the first instance of the EU’s collective economic sanctions regime against Russia being relaxed, the publication said. At the same time, the existing strategy allowed capitals to see that many EU member states would face the economic consequences of sanctions decisions, the newspaper said.
Now, new approaches to imposing restrictions are being discussed in Brussels, according to the FT. Officials are considering the possibility of approving sanctions individually or in small thematic batches. This approach is expected to reduce the risk of a national veto by a single country delaying the approval of other measures. Greek officials, for their part, argued that the ban on LNG transport had been agreed to by mistake, would harm the company Dynagas rather than the Russian economy, and would benefit rival shipowners from China and other non-EU countries, the publication said.

“In April 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit shut down Boasberg’s contempt inquiry, with the majority describing it as an improper “judicial intrusion into the autonomy of a coequal department.”

• Judge Boasberg Keeps Ruling Against POTUS, But Keeps Getting Overturned (JTN)

A controversial federal judge keeps ruling against President Donald Trump and then consistently gets overturned by higher courts. James “Jeb” Boasberg, the chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, has seen some of his highest-profile decisions stayed, overturned or sent to appellate courts for review. Boasberg, 62, was appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama in 2011 after serving nearly a decade on the District of Columbia Superior Court, and has decided several cases connected to the Trump administration in the areas of immigration and executive authority.

In March 2025, he temporarily blocked the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to rapidly deport alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua without traditional immigration proceedings. When deportation flights continued, Boasberg later determined that he found probable cause to pursue criminal contempt proceedings against administration officials. That contempt effort ultimately did not survive after appellate review.
Boasberg’s problem: Accepting separation of powers
In April 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit shut down Boasberg’s contempt inquiry, with the majority describing it as an improper “judicial intrusion into the autonomy of a coequal department.” Boasberg also ordered the administration to provide due-process protections for Venezuelans deported under the Alien Enemies Act. The Supreme Court vacated that order on April 7, 2025. He also directed the U.S. government to facilitate the return of more than 130 deportees so they could challenge their removals. That order is reportedly still under appellate review.
Roberts: Impeachment not the answer to activist judges
Trump called for Boasberg’s impeachment after one of his deportation rulings, which led to Chief Justice John Roberts deciding to issue a rare public statement. “Impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” he said. Attorney General Pam Bondi later directed the U.S. Justice Department to file a judicial misconduct complaint alleging Boasberg made inappropriate comments about the administration during a Judicial Conference meeting. The complaint was ultimately dismissed by another federal judge, who concluded it did not establish misconduct.

“Allegation stems from Smith’s closed-door deposition before the House Judiciary Committee on December 17, 2025.”

• Prosecuting The Prosecutor: Will Jack Smith Face Criminal Charges? (JTN)

Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith spent years investigating and prosecuting Donald Trump. Now, with Trump back in the White House as the president, Smith has become the subject of a potential criminal investigation of his own. Earlier this month, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan referred Smith to the DOJ for potential criminal prosecution, alleging he made false statements during congressional testimony. President Trump has repeatedly argued that Smith should be held accountable for what he has described as politically motivated prosecutions.

Whether Smith will indeed face criminal charges remains uncertain. Although Congress can recommend prosecution, the decision ultimately rests with the Justice Department, and any case would face significant legal and evidentiary hurdles. On July 22, Jordan, an Ohio Republican, sent a formal referral letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, asserting that there is “strong evidence” that Smith violated 18 U.S.C. § 1001, the federal statute prohibiting materially false statements to the federal government. The allegation stems from Smith’s Dec. 17, 2025, closed-door deposition before the Judiciary committee.
During the deposition, Smith testified that his office had sought only lawmakers’ “toll records” – that is metadata such as call logs – and had not sought warrants for the contents of members’ text messages. Jordan contends in his letter that Justice Department records produced this month contradict that testimony. According to the referral, Smith’s investigation ultimately obtained text messages from 44 members of Congress, with some records reportedly acquired through the National Archives rather than by subpoena. Jordan argues that Smith’s testimony created the misleading impression that investigators had never obtained the substance of lawmakers’ communications.
Smith’s attorneys, Peter Koski and Lanny Breuer, rejected the allegation, arguing that Smith answered the specific question posed to him truthfully and was under no obligation to volunteer information beyond its scope. They contend the referral itself acknowledges that Smith did not make a false statement but instead criticizes him for failing to provide additional, unrequested information.
Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the committee’s top Democrat, likewise dismissed the referral, arguing that Republicans characterized Smith’s testimony by conflating questions about subpoenas with questions about presidential records maintained by the National Archives. “This referral, if ever brought before a judge, will get laughed out of court,” Raskin said in a statement. A DOJ spokesperson confirmed receipt of the referral and said the department “will investigate all evidence of criminal conduct.”
A Long-Running Conflict
Jordan’s referral is the latest development in a years-long dispute between congressional Republicans and Smith, who in November 2022 was appointed special by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee two high-profile criminal investigations involving Trump. The Judiciary committee began investigating Smith’s office in 2023, and Smith testified publicly before the committee in January 2026. Republicans have repeatedly questioned the conduct of Smith’s investigations into Trump, while Democrats have defended his work as consistent with the rule of law.
The possibility of criminal liability was also raised during Blanche’s confirmation hearing, when Missouri GOP Sen Josh Hawley asked whether Smith could be prosecuted for false testimony. He responded only that testimony before Congress is taken “very seriously.” Trump has long characterized Smith’s investigations as politically motivated “witch hunts,” while Smith has maintained that the evidence supported criminal charges against Trump and that any investigation into Smith himself would amount to political retaliation. Smith resigned from the Justice Department shortly before Trump’s second inauguration after overseeing the federal prosecutions involving classified documents and alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Could Smith Actually Be Prosecuted?
The referral alone does not initiate criminal charges. Under federal law, Congress may recommend prosecution, but the Justice Department retains exclusive authority to decide whether to investigate and bring a case. To secure a conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, prosecutors generally must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant knowingly and willfully made a materially false statement. An answer that is incomplete, imprecise, or arguably misleading may not satisfy that standard, particularly if it is responsive to the specific question asked.
Supporters of Jordan’s referral argue that newly disclosed records contradict the overall impression Smith left during his testimony.Smith’s defenders counter that his statements were literally accurate because they addressed only the subpoenaed toll records discussed during questioning, not every method by which investigators obtained communications. As with many alleged false-statement cases, the precise wording of both the questions and the answers could become central to any prosecution.

“Tank The Market … and crater Anthropic and OpenAI ..

It would seem to me that someone stealing your AI model is inevitable.

That said, how do you know which model something is stolen from?

• Chamath Warns Ban On Open-Source AI Would Tank The Market (ZH)

Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya warned that any U.S. move to ban open-source AI would blow a hole in corporate balance sheets and drag the stock market down. “If the United States government intervenes, it will tank the stock market. Not debatable,” Palihapitiya said on the “All-In” podcast released over the weekend. “Now, you can debate which companies get tanked. For example, if they said, ‘No more open source. American companies cannot use open source.'”

Chamath: Banning Open Source AI Will Crash the Stock Market@chamath:

“If the United States government intervenes, it will tank the stock market. Not debatable.

Now, you can debate which companies get tanked. For example, if they said, ‘No more open source. American companies… pic.twitter.com/FYpnaW80RA
— The All-In Podcast (@theallinpod) July 25, 2026

“Okay, let’s take an average normal company, Coca-Cola,” Palihapitiya continued. “‘Hey, Coca-Cola, you’re trying to use AI to improve your business. You know what? You can only use these two options. And those things cost 50-100x more than your other best alternative that you may use otherwise.'” “That will eventually show up in your costs. And so this incredibly important input into your cost model is now orders of magnitude, multiples greater than your competitors that are outside the United States, simply because you’re in the United States,” he added. “You’re forced to absorb costs that aren’t rational nor market-driven. So then Coca-Cola has to get re-rated.”
Palihapitiya then turned on the labs themselves, arguing that their revenue depends on government-erected barriers rather than real market demand. “But then you look at the people who are selling those tokens, and this is where Anthropic and OpenAI need to understand, if the government comes in and actually tells you that there’s no open source, their valuation will crater,” he said. “Why? Because all of that revenue is artificially being propped up. It’s not being driven by market demand where you’re being forced to compete. It’s because of regulatory capture where you now get an artificial constraint. But it only works in one market.
“All roads lead to market chaos if anybody gets involved, so we should just not get involved.” Palihapitiya’s co-host, former AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks, went further, accusing Anthropic of running to Washington for regulatory cover.

"This is literally the most successful tech company of all time, and they're racing to the government to basically say you need to protect us against our competitors. Not just our Chinese competitors—our American competitors. Frankly, it's gross."@DavidSacks dismantles… pic.twitter.com/2J17KsTDz0
— Innovation Council (@innovationcncl) July 25, 2026

“If you say that American companies can’t use what’s in the public domain, or that somehow it’s tainted with IP theft, you are basically going to put a dagger through the heart of the entire American open source ecosystem,” he added. The fight has consumed Washington since Moonshot AI’s release of Kimi K3. The Beijing startup’s open-weight model beat Anthropic’s Fable 5 and OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol in blind front-end coding tests, according to Axios, and unlike its closed American rivals, anyone can download it.
Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta, Palantir and more than 20 other companies fired off a joint letter on Friday urging policymakers to avoid “premature restrictions” on open-weight models, warning that such limits would “stifle competition or drive innovation overseas,” CNBC reported.

For my first post, I’m sharing a letter @NVIDIA signed on why open models matter.

AI will transform every industry, power every company, and be built by every country.

Open models strengthen safety and cybersecurity, accelerate innovation and diffusion, and enable sovereignty.… pic.twitter.com/t02bi51N4C
— Jensen Huang (@JensenHuang) July 24, 2026

Anthropic did not sign.
If the letter was meant to cool things off, it didn’t. The Trump administration spent the week accusing Moonshot of stealing American technology outright. White House science chief Michael Kratsios said Wednesday that Moonshot built Kimi K3 by distilling Anthropic’s technology, and accused the startup of obtaining restricted Nvidia GB300 chips through servers in Thailand.

We have information that Moonshot AI distilled Anthropic’s Fable for the development of its K3 model.

To do this they developed a sophisticated internal platform to conduct large scale distillation against U.S. models, allowing them to quickly switch between multiple methods of…
— Director Michael Kratsios (@mkratsios47) July 22, 2026

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/2081565782534680581?s=20

Jensen is awesome https://t.co/j2PTVS2RbF
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 26, 2026

Watching Starship lift off from this close is absolutely insane

33 Raptor engines firing together, lifting a nearly 40-story rocket off the ground

The fire, sound and sheer force are almost impossible to comprehend

SpaceX is literally launching a skyscraper into space pic.twitter.com/GxP07ci6KZ
— X Freeze (@XFreeze) July 26, 2026

One of the greatest mysteries of COVID-19: Where did the flu go in 2020 and 2021? pic.twitter.com/3MhYbTunu1
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) July 26, 2026

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Debt Rattle May 22 2026

May 222026

May 22, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:25 am Finance Tagged with: autopsy, ayatollah, DNC, drills, Fetterman, mass migration, patriots, SpaceX, Starmer, Tehran, UK, Ukraine, uranium, Vance 22 Responses »

Evelyn De Morgan Night and Sleep 1878

• Iranian President: Won’t Back Down (ZH)

• Ayatollah Orders Highly-Enriched Uranium To Remain In Iran (ZH)

• Trump Posts Article Laying Out How To Crush Tehran In Three Moves (ZH)

• Elon Musk Wants a Trillion-Dollar Payday, but There’s One Little Catch (Green)

• SpaceX Files For Nasdaq IPO Under Symbol SPCX (ZH)

• Is This the Beginning of the End for John Fetterman? (Matt Margolis)

• The DNC 2024 Autopsy Is Here, and It’s a Disaster (Amy Curtis)

• What Really Happened in Virginia’s Redistricting Case (Von Spakovsky)

• Vance Urges UK Patriots To Defend Their Culture Against Starmer (MN)

• ‘Russians Ready For Conversation’ With Europe — Kremlin (TASS)

• Europe Seeks To Block Any Talks On Ukraine Settlement — Russian Diplomat (TASS)

• Russia Holds Massive Nuclear Drills On Land, Sea And Air (ZH)

• Irrelevant Europe (J.B. Shurk)

https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/2057129253444202498?s=20 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/2057337929589039126?s=20

The SpaceX team is incredible! https://t.co/eqSByVrEW0
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 21, 2026

Obama was a one-man Trojan Horse for radical Islam. He flooded America with Muslims by the millions in the dark of night and funded Iran’s efforts to build nuclear weapons. Let’s face the fact that every conspiracy theory about this traitor was true. https://t.co/3UeHPe0K6k
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) May 21, 2026

Are they imitating themselves, or Trump?

• Iranian President: Won’t Back Down (ZH)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has stated, “We will not bow our heads, our ministers and experts are working day and night, without a single day off.” He added, per state sources: “We are willing to sacrifice as much as possible for the honor and pride of Iran, and we are not afraid of martyrdom.” And just like that… Markets reversed earlier gains as Iran’s President said on state TV that they won’t back down in talks. The momentum then picked up when a “high-level source” told Al-Arabiya that the Pakistani Army Chief will not head to Tehran tonight.

The Pakistani were supposed to head to Iran only when the reach of an agreement was in sight, so this kind of denies the earlier reports of a US and Iran draft agreement. US stock indices erased more than half of earlier gains. We’ve seen the same reaction in oil, FX and bond markets but now they are consolidating. Still, Al Jazeera is reporting that “negotiators are very close to reaching a deal, and are currently working on a draft text. At the same time, another source told Al Jazeera that it is too early to judge whether a serious, final agreement is within reach.”
IRNA has cited a Pakistani official who says the talks are “moving in the right direct” – though it’s anyone’s guess at this point. The prior reported draft did not take up the nuclear issue. Trump continues to press the nuclear issue. US President Donald Trump has again pledged to seize Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium as part of any agreement over Tehran’s nuclear program.
“Look, we’re going to make sure they don’t have a nuclear weapon or we’re going to have to do something very drastic. I believe when it’s put to the people of our country, they will all agree we cannot let Iran get a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters at the White House. Asked whether Iran could retain its enriched uranium, Trump replied: “No, we will get it. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, we’ll probably destroy it after we get it. But we’re not going to let them have it.”

Russia’s the best we can do for him. If Trump agrees.

• Ayatollah Orders Highly-Enriched Uranium To Remain In Iran (ZH)

,The illusion of a grand diplomatic breakthrough in the Middle East is once again colliding with reality. The White House has been busy trying to paint a picture of a total capitulation by Tehran, which hasn’t been demonstrated given its consistent position defying Washington’s demands on the nuclear issue. According to two senior Iranian officials speaking to Reuters, Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has drawn a hard line in the sand, ordering that Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% remain strictly inside Iranian territory.

Reuters underscores that “Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s order could further frustrate U.S. President Donald Trump and complicate talks on ending the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.” “Israeli officials have told Reuters that Trump has assured Israel that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, needed to make an atomic weapon, will be sent out of Iran and that any peace deal must include a clause on this,” the report continues.The officials noted that within Tehran, there is deep suspicion that the ceasefire is in fact “a tactical deception by the US,” designed to lull Iran into a “false sense of security… before the fighting resumes.”
The fresh directive from from the supreme leader flies directly in the face of the narrative being spun by Washington and Tel Aviv, given Israeli officials maintain that President Trump explicitly promised Israel that Iran’s highly enriched stockpile would be completely removed from the country as part of any negotiated settlement. Trump has also recently proclaimed this publicly, for example in a phone interview with CBS News last month, wherein he confidently proclaimed that Iran “agreed to everything” and would cooperate fully to ship its enriched uranium out of the country.
Extraction of nuclear material would of course rely heavily on the assumption of total Iranian compliance, given Trump has also lately appeared to rule out out a hostile invasion force, stating, “No. No troops.” There seems to be widespread agreement among national security officials at this point that some kind of special forces op to covertly go in and take it would be tantamount to a ‘suicide mission’. According to more of what Trump (prematurely) proclaimed in the prior CBS interview: “Our people, together with the Iranians, are going to work together to go get it. And then we’ll take it to the United States.” The reality is all along the two sides’ positions have been very far apart, and largely unbending:
And on a potential deal: “We’ll be getting it together because by that time, we’ll have an agreement and there’s no need for fighting when there’s an agreement. Nice right? That’s better. We would have done it the other way if we had to” – he sought to explain. At the moment, Iranian officials are reportedly reviewing the latest updated US proposals for peace, having reportedly asked Pakistan for time to assess and study the American points for negotiations.”

I don’t quite get it. The date on that is May 1. What gives?

• Trump Posts Article Laying Out How To Crush Tehran In Three Moves (ZH)

President Trump on Thursday posted to Truth Social a New York Post article which was first published over two weeks ago, on May 1st, with the headline “Here’s how to crush Tehran in three moves.” Trump’s new social media post, issued without additional comment, comes just after news of Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei having drawn a hard line in the sand, ordering that Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% remain strictly inside Iranian territory. So now the world awaits what’s next at a moment the White House has renewed threats of massive military strikes if Iran doesn’t quickly come to the table and conform.

The NY Post article had straight-faced and without a hint of intended irony proclaimed: “President Trump has the upper hand.” That statement was issued on day 63 of Trump’s Iran war. Today is day 83. What did the interim look like as the world’s most powerful military force has been unable to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, amid constant threats to take new, bigger military action – but which never actually materializes (at least not yet) no matter how many times the Iranians reject Washington’s terms?
The below timeline and outline, stretching from last week into this one, basically illustrates the weekly Trump pattern that’s been on display going back many weeks at this point:
Wed: Iran wants a deal. They called us
Thu: We are looking at proposals
Fri: We might be close. Very close
Sat: Iran knows what to do
Sun: OBLITERATION. TOTAL. COMPLETE. They have 24 hrs.
Mon: The storm is coming
Tue: I’m giving it more time
This is what ‘winning’ looks like according to the NY Post, apparently. The publication also feels itself in a position to give ‘advice’ and guidance to the White House on executing a war. “His best path forward is to pursue three lines of effort in parallel,” author Richard Goldberg (of Foundation for Defense of Democracies) wrote. It must be remembered that very recently a former senior official from FDD Action, the think tank’s lobbying arm, joined Trump’s Iran negotiating team – his name is Nick Stewart.
Here are the three:
• Sustain the blockade and accompanying economic warfare to destabilize the regime’s hold on the state;
• Remake the world in America’s energy dominance image to mitigate long-term price impacts while undermining China’s global ambition to defeat the United States;
• Order the US military to forge a path through the Strait of Hormuz to restore freedom of navigation on our terms not Tehran’s.
…if only simply ordering a military “path through” was that easy!
“You might call the latter Operation Epic Passage — a combined naval and air mission of self-defense that offers escort to tankers and restores freedom of navigation, all while making clear to Tehran the devastating consequences of breaking cease-fire,” Goldberg, who openly boasts of his close ties to the Israeli government, also wrote. He further offered the mission name of “Blockade Plus”. After the opening days and weeks of Operation Epic Fury, when it became clear that the large-scale US and Israeli bombardment would not produced regime change in Iran, pundits widely questioned whether the Trump White House actually had a plan, or long-term strategic vision for the military mission.
And now, after more than 80 days in, the public gets Trump posting a NY Post article by a hawkish FDD writer, which seems more focused merely on ways to mitigate the blowback and ‘make the best’ of a failed regime change operation, in the wake of the administration’s constantly evolving stated goals.

“..more than one billion Class B shares when and if the company establishes “a permanent human colony on Mars with at least one million inhabitants,”

How long do you think it will take to get one million people living on Mars? Will Musk live to see it?

• Elon Musk Wants a Trillion-Dollar Payday, but There’s One Little Catch (Green)

The world finally got a peek at SpaceX’s closely held financials, after Elon Musk’s closely held space launch company filed for its initial public offering on Wednesday — and the details made a bigger splash than one of the company’s Starships making an uncontrolled water landing. The first shocker is that Musk’s salary last year was just $54,000. That’s about the same as a new human resources assistant or an apprentice electrician. That’s the only small figure you’ll see in the rest of this column because after this, the zeros get added on in a hurry. You know what? Forget the tease, and let’s go straight to the biggest figure.

In SpaceX’s nearly 400-page S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company projects a Total Addressable Market (TAM) of $28.5 trillion. That’s a two and an eight and a five followed by 11 zeros. TAM is business jargon for “What’s the size of our market if everybody who needed our product or service actually bought our product or service?” SpaceX’s TAM includes launch customers, Starlink users, and xAI (that’s the company’s AI division) compute services. It’s the company’s compute ambitions that account for the lion’s share of the TAM.
Of the $28.5 trillion, “only about $2 trillion is directly related to space or the company’s Starlink network,” Ars Technica reported. “The remaining $26.5 trillion is believed to come from AI, largely from enterprise applications.” I had no idea how big xAI had already gotten until the Wall Street Journal revealed Wednesday night that “SpaceX is renting out compute capacity across its two large data centers to Anthropic, for some $1.25 billion a month.” And Anthropic is a rival. It’s no small feat when your competitor pays you nine figures, 12 times a year, for the privilege of using the same data centers you use for your LLM to run theirs. Nice work if you can get it, right?
“We believe we have identified the largest TAM in human history,” the company boasted in its S-1 report. “We believe our next trillion-dollar market is AI compute, which we contemplate will leverage our rockets and satellites for massive orbital deployment.” Putting computer centers in orbit solves the power problem with unlimited solar, and also clears a lot of regulatory hurdles. By hundreds of miles. The problem, of course, is getting all those birds flying. In January, SpaceX applied to the FAA for permission to launch one million satellites into Earth’s orbit to power xAI. One million satellites might be nothing more than a dream, but Starship — aka The Most Powerful Rocket in the World and Getting More Powerful All the Time — is key to realizing just a fraction of it.
The launch window for Starship Flight Test 12 opens at 6:30 p.m. Eastern today. So what’s this about Musk’s trillion-dollar payday? Musk’s salary might not be any bigger than a typical base-level IT support specialist’s, but he also has two yuge equity packages based on stellar performance. In March, SpaceX awarded Musk more than 300 million shares. But those shares only vest when and if the company completes construction of its “non-Earth-based data centers,” including 12 market cap goals that add $6.6 trillion in shareholder value. That’s more than triple the best current estimate of SpaceX’s worth. That’s not the big payout, however.
Musk will also earn more than one billion Class B shares when and if the company establishes “a permanent human colony on Mars with at least one million inhabitants,” and another series of market cap goals that increase the company’s worth by $7.5 trillion. With this IPO, Musk will almost certainly become the world’s first trillionaire. If he completes just one of the company’s two (admittedly ambitious) payouts, he’ll instantly become the first multitrillionaire.But let’s bring all this back down to Earth for a moment. Asa Fitch noted for the WSJ that “SpaceX made $18.7 billion of revenue last year. Getting to trillions will take quite a while, if it happens at all.”
That is an awfully big if. But if investors had to bet on anybody being able to do it — and they’ll finally get their chance with this IPO — it has to be the company’s $54,000 man.

Impressive wherever you look.

• SpaceX Files For Nasdaq IPO Under Symbol SPCX (ZH)

As expected, SpaceX filed its S1. The stock is expected to list on Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas under the ticker “SPCX.” No specific share count, price range, or total offering size is finalized yet (placeholders are used). But, with expectations of a $1.5 trillion market cap, that means SPCX will trade at a 77x LTM Revenue multiple!

Mission and Overview SpaceX’s mission is to make life multiplanetary, advance scientific understanding of the universe, and extend consciousness to the stars. It positions itself as a vertically integrated builder across Space, Connectivity (Starlink), and AI (via xAI acquisition). The company has revolutionized space access with reusable rockets (Falcon family, Starship development), built the world’s largest LEO satellite constellation for broadband, and is scaling AI compute and frontier models (Grok) with real-time data from X.
Key Corporate Details
Dual-class structure: Class A (1 vote/share) and Class B (10 votes/share). Elon Musk (founder, CEO, CTO, Chairman) will retain dominant voting control post-IPO (majority of the board via Class B and overall voting power), making SpaceX a “controlled company” under Nasdaq rules. Basis of presentation: Financials include retrospective recasts for the xAI acquisition (Feb 2026) and X Holdings (via xAI, 2025), plus a 5-for-1 stock split (May 2026). Underwriters: Led by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BofA, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, and others.
Consolidated Financial Highlights (preliminary/selected):
Q1 2026: Revenue $4.69B, operating loss $1.94B, Adjusted EBITDA $1.13B. FY 2025: Revenue $18.67B, operating loss $2.59B, Adjusted EBITDA $6.58B. Heavy capex (especially AI) and Starship R&D; Starlink (Connectivity) is the current profit engine.
Business Segments (as of/through Q1 2026 and FY 2025)
Space (launches, Dragon, Starship development): Dominant global launch provider (>80% of mass-to-orbit in recent years, >99% Falcon success rate). Key vehicles: Falcon 9 (reusable, ~23t to LEO), Falcon Heavy (~64t), Dragon (cargo/crew to ISS), Starship (in testing, targeting full reusability and massive scale).Revenue: $619M (Q1 2026), $4.1B (2025). Still investing heavily in R&D/Starship.
Connectivity (Starlink):
~9,600 broadband/mobile satellites in LEO (~10.3M subscribers across 164 countries/territories as of Mar 31, 2026). High-speed, low-latency broadband (median ~225 Mbps peak for residential); expanding enterprise, government, maritime/aviation, and satellite-to-mobile (direct-to-phone, ~650 dedicated satellites, ~7.4M devices in ~30 countries). Strong growth: Revenue $3.26B (Q1 2026), $11.4B (2025, +~50% YoY); highly profitable at segment level.
AI (xAI/Grok/X integration):
Gigawatt-scale terrestrial AI training clusters (e.g., COLOSSUS); plans for orbital AI compute satellites (using solar power, starting ~2028).
Grok frontier models (truth-seeking, strong scientific reasoning benchmarks); integrated with X (~1.3B supported accounts, 550M MAUs, hundreds of millions of daily posts).
Revenue $818M (Q1 2026), $3.2B (2025), but heavy losses due to compute/infrastructure investments.
Here’s the financials visualized (xAI is represented by the green slabs)…

Free cash flow struggling under the weight of that giant green slabs…

So, xAI is the giant money suck while Starlink keeps the engine running (but despite breaking out in 2025, Starlink user growth seems to be slowing a little):

Finally, one thing that stood out was that Anthropic is paying xAI $1.25BN per month (through May 2029) to utilize ‘Colossus’ for AI compute.

Musk took to X to explain further his vision for this segment:
“As the recently expanded partnership with Anthropic demonstrates, SpaceX is offering AI compute as a service at significant scale.
We are in discussions with other companies to do the same.
Over time, especially with orbital data centers, we expect to serve AI at extremely high scale.

If you build it (in space), they will come?

As a Democrat, perhaps, yes.

• Is This the Beginning of the End for John Fetterman? (Matt Margolis)

John Fetterman’s chief of staff, Cabelle St. John, resigned on Wednesday, according to a source who spoke to Axios. She had been with the Pennsylvania Democrat since he first arrived in Washington roughly three-and-a-half years ago and was elevated to chief of staff in 2025. Her official last day is still weeks away, but the writing was on the wall long before this week. This isn’t a one-off. Fetterman experienced a staff exodus in 2025, and the pattern of turnover is a sign that his rare independent streak is just too much for his party to tolerate. Former aides have cited frustration with his unwavering support for Israel, his noticeably warmer relationship with President Donald Trump, and what they describe as a difficult working environment on a personal level.

“This is a guy who came in talking about being a champion for labor and he’s gone pretty quiet on it,” the former aide said last year. “This is a guy who, since Trump won, is, for lack of a better word, basically a useful idiot for Republicans. He’s supporting stuff, and it gives them cover to say, ‘Look it’s bipartisan, we got Fetterman.'” None of this seems to bother Fetterman. After Axios published the story, he fired off a text to the outlet dismissing the whole thing. “So much for the turnover issue. Clicks!” he wrote, attaching an image claiming other Senate offices have higher turnover rates.It sounds like he’s not exactly losing sleep over it.
In a recent appearance on Jesse Watters’ show, Fetterman cut to the heart of what separates him from the rest of his party. “Why can’t we just, you know, root for our military?” he said. “Why can’t we just say I don’t have to agree with everything the president has done or the kind of things that he says. But, you know, we should be on the side of America, and we should be on the side of civilization and the free world. And I’m on that side. And I don’t know why I’m the only Democrat that says those kinds of things at this point.”
And that’s the whole problem for his party, anyway. He’s asking a question that should have an obvious answer, and it doesn’t, because the modern Democratic Party instinctively opposes Trump on everything, including things that are just plain old stupid to oppose. They’re even whining about repairing the reflecting pool, for crying out loud.
The message from the left to Fetterman is: You’re not staying in your lane, and you have to be punished. Support the war in Iran? Support strong borders? Support Israel? Well, sorry, you’re way out of touch with the Democratic Party today. This isn’t a good sign for him. Sure, congressional staff experience turnover all the time, but how many Democratic staffers are going to want to join his staff to replace those who left? Working for Fetterman is likely to become a career-ender for those who want to work in Washington, and I can totally see Democrats using this as a means to pressure Fetterman into compliance.
The resignation of Fetterman’s chief of staff may be just the latest domino to fall, but the real question looming over Fetterman’s political future is whether this staff exodus marks the beginning of the end for a senator who refuses to play by his party’s rules. Democrats demand ideological conformity, and Fetterman’s rare independent streak will become a liability, making his office radioactive to potential staffers — staffers he needs to function.

We’ll see more about this. Funny it’s just a report, but everyone seems to call it an autopsy.

• The DNC 2024 Autopsy Is Here, and It’s a Disaster (Amy Curtis)

The DNC 2024 Autopsy Is Here, and It’s a Disaster. Last week, Kamala Harris was telling donors she wanted the DNC’s 2024 election report, probably better referred to as an autopsy, released. Now the report is coming out, and it’s bound to be a doozy. DNC Chair Ken Martin released a statement on the report, admitting it’s not up to his standards. And you’ll soon see why.

Read more about what I have to say here: https://t.co/9wochQttN5 pic.twitter.com/2REle6FPY3
— Ken Martin (@kenmartin73) May 21, 2026

Here’s what the statement says: “When I was elected DNC chair, I commissioned an after-action review of the 2024 election that I wanted to be honest and transparent, and with actionable and specific takeaways for the future of the Democratic Party. When I received the report late last year, it wasn’t ready for primetime — not even close — and because no source material was provided, it would have meant starting over. I could not in good faith put the DNC’s stamp of approval on the report that was produced.
After last November’s massive Democratic wins, I didn’t want to create a distraction, but by not putting the report out, I ended up creating an even bigger distraction. For that, I sincerely apologize. For full transparency, I am releasing the report as we received it, in its entirety, unedited and unabridged. It does not meet my standards, and it won’t meet your standards, but I am doing this because people need to be able to trust the Democratic Party and trust our word.
There’s a lot to parse in this statement. The first takeaway is that the DNC is such a mess that they looked at this report and had no way of actually fixing it. This tells us their party is just as big a disaster as this report. Second, the ‘massive Democratic wins’ Martin touts have largely been a disaster. Spanberger got smacked down by both the Virginia state Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, Democrats are losing House seats across the country, and approval of Congressional Democrats is at a new all-time low.

Hey Democrats, put down the champagne. Here are your numbers: 70% of voters DISAPPROVE of the way Democrats are handling their job. Only 21% approve. Only 41% of Democrats approve. PITIFUL. All-time LOW.
— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) June 11, 2025

Ouch.
Parts of the report are being summarized and shared online. The biggest takeaways are not surprises to those who paid attention. It turns out President Trump’s ‘they/them’ messaging was highly effective, Democrats neglected rural voters and local parties, and the Democrats failed to define themselves but relied on ‘not Trump’ messaging instead. We’re all aware that there was significant tension and backroom fighting between Kamala Harris’ campaign staff and the Biden administration. The autopsy shows the Biden team was criticized for not adequately preparing Kamala Harris.

DNC Chair Ken Martin released an incomplete 2024 election autopsy:

• Trump’s “they/them” attacks on Harris were seen as highly effective
• Biden team criticized for failing to prepare Harris
• Democrats accused of neglecting rural voters and local parties
• Report says party… pic.twitter.com/MXkcPA28ao
— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) May 21, 2026

There are also no mentions of Israel, Gaza, or Palestine.

Incredible. The DNC autopsy of 2024 is 192 pages.
*Zero* mentions of the words "Israel," "Palestine," or "Gaza."

(DNC Chair Ken Martin concedes the autopsy does not meet his standards, nor would it meet yours). https://t.co/t1202zQlCs pic.twitter.com/sNjgotf0lm
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) May 21, 2026

This is sure to tick off both sides of the aisle. The Left’s anti-Israel, antisemitic base will say the Democrats’ position on Gaza was problematic, while other voters will see their increasingly antisemitic candidates and office holders as alarming.

What's going on here? In February, Axios reported that top party officials who worked on the autopsy of 2024 concluded that Kamala Harris lost significant support because of the Biden admin's approach to Gaza.

But the newly-released autopsy…doesn't even mention Gaza or Israel? https://t.co/mj0A5Zz237
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) May 21, 2026

Law-bending.

• What Really Happened in Virginia’s Redistricting Case (Von Spakovsky)

“Shocking.” “Deflating.” “Sickening.” “It’s not good news.”

If someone heard the reactions of House Democratic lawmakers to the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision on the Commonwealth’s recent partisan gerrymandering scheme, they might be forgiven for assuming the ruling posed some kind of existential threat to the rule of law in the Commonwealth. In a letter to his party, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries referred to the decision as “egregious” and “dripping with far-right partisanship,” the result of “MAGA extremists desperate to rig the midterm elections.”
Chalk these wildly hyperbolic statements up as yet another reason to disbelieve left-wing partisan hype. In fact, Jeffries must have been looking in the mirror when he made those claims, since it was Virginia Democrats’ “egregious” misbehavior “dripping with far-left partisanship” that was the culmination of “Democratic extremists trying to rig the midterm elections” in the state.The Virginia Supreme Court’s decision in Scott v. McDougle was, in fact, a full-throated defense of the state’s constitution, the rule of law, and the people of Virginia’s right to make informed decisions on possible alterations to the Commonwealth’s constitution.
What was lost in the frenzied hysteria of Democrats and their allies in the media in the immediate aftermath of the decision was that the majority opinion, written by Justice D. Arthur Kelsey, simply upheld the process outlined in the Constitution that was required to adopt the proposed redistricting amendment. The Democrats’ hasty process violated Article XII, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution. There was no partisanship in the opinion at all, with the exception perhaps of the dissent by three justices who refused to enforce the constitutional requirements.
Article XII requires the General Assembly to vote on any proposed amendment to the Constitution twice, with a general election of members to the House of Delegates occurring between the two votes. The court’s ruling centers on that (supposedly) intervening House election, held in 2025, not the recent vote on the amendment itself. The Virginia Supreme Court found that the 2025 House election did not actually occur after the first time and before the second time the General Assembly voted on the amendment.
Early voting (Virginia law allows voting to start 45 days before Election Day) for the House of Delegates elections began on September 19, but the General Assembly didn’t vote on the proposed amendment until October 31 in a “special” session that was itself open to challenge. Accordingly, 1.3 million votes, 40% of the election total, had already been cast when the legislature approved the referendum. That was 1.3 million people who had already voted who had no way of knowing their future representative’s position on an amendment to their Constitution.
The violation of Article XII, Section 1 here is obvious—to everyone but the Virginia government, now entirely controlled by Democrats, which argued that when the state constitution said the Assembly’s vote needed to occur before the election, it meant Election Day. Justice Kelsey’s opinion masterfully dissects this argument as lacking any meaningful support from law or history.

“So we believe in making America great again. You can’t do that unless you protect your borders. I’d encourage our friends in the UK to follow the same path.”

• Vance Urges UK Patriots To Defend Their Culture Against Starmer (MN)

US Vice President JD Vance has sent a direct message of support to Britons standing up for their culture, telling attendees of the Unite the Kingdom rally to push forward despite Keir Starmer’s attempts to silence opposition to mass migration. The rally, held this past weekend in London and organised by Tommy Robinson, saw thousands of patriots turn out waving British flags. Starmer’s government had tried to sabotage the event by blocking visas for 11 foreign speakers it labelled “far-right agitators.”

The Prime Minister openly boasted about the bans on X, writing “I’ll always champion peaceful protest. But the Unite the Kingdom march organisers are peddling hatred and division. We’ve already blocked visas for far-right agitators who want to come here to spew their extremist views. They don’t speak for the decent, fair, respectful Britain I know.” He followed up: “Today the voices of division will be loud. They don’t speak for the country I know, one that belongs to all of us.” A video from the event captured a striking contrast, showing a left-wing woman in tears hugging her masked companion in fright at the sight of the national flag.
https://twitter.com/OliLondonTV/status/2056257812469018990?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2056257812469018990%7Ctwgr%5E5764f5a7abbc04d69e0037cffdd0fe954dcbc4e6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmodernity.news%2F2026%2F05%2F20%2Fwatch-vance-urges-uk-patriots-to-defend-their-culture-against-starmer-mass-migration-betrayal%2F
Vance rejected the establishment narrative that wanting secure borders equals extremism. “To everybody in the UK who rejects 3rd world migration, I’d encourage them to just KEEP ON GOING! It’s OK to want to defend your culture!” Vance stated. He added, “All over the West is this idea that the way to generate prosperity is to bring in MILLIONS and millions of unvetted people and DROP them into your neighborhoods — and we simply reject that idea!” “It’s OK to want to live in a safe neighborhood. It’s okay to want your job to go to yourself and your neighbors and not to a stranger who you don’t even know. It is reasonable for the people in Western societies to want to control who comes into their country and who doesn’t,” Vance stressed.
He added: “A lot of people, frankly, a lot of people in the media have tried to persuade all of those people that it’s somehow racist to want to protect your borders… even though very often the very people who are most affected by low wage immigration are lower income black and Hispanic Americans right here in the United States of America, and I guarantee that’s true in the UK.” Vance concluded by drawing a direct link to America First: “So we believe in making America great again. You can’t do that unless you protect your borders. I’d encourage our friends in the UK to follow the same path.”
This latest intervention builds on Vance’s repeated clashes with Starmer and European leaders. He previously called out the British Prime Minister to his face over the UK’s free speech crackdown. The US later vowed to use its “full arsenal of tools” against Starmer’s policies. Vance has also long warned about the dangers of Europe’s migration experiment, describing it as “civilisational suicide” He has cautioned that Islamist extremists could seize control of European nukes within 15 years. Vance has also triggered globalist outrage with his blunt speeches on replacement-level migration.
While Starmer brands patriotic pushback as “hatred and division,” ordinary Britons at the rally made clear they simply want what Vance described as basic common sense: safe streets, jobs for locals, and control over their borders. Vance’s words arrive as frustration with open borders boils over across the West. Working-class communities on both sides of the Atlantic are paying the price through suppressed wages, overburdened services, and rising insecurity — effects the political class routinely dismisses. By standing with those who reject cultural erasure, Vance is highlighting a fundamental truth: people of free nations have the sovereign right to preserve their identity and security.

“..If this modality in the behavior of Europeans changes in favor of dialogue, we will only welcome it..”

• ‘Russians Ready For Conversation’ With Europe — Kremlin (TASS)

Russia is hearing statements from European capitals that they will have to talk to Moscow, and it confirms its readiness for such a conversation, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked by TASS about Europe’s discussions of candidates for the role of negotiator with Russia. “Indeed, in the last 3-4 weeks we have heard statements from Mr. [Finnish President Alexander] Stubb, and we have also heard statements from Berlin that sooner or later it will be necessary to talk to the Russians directly,” he said.
“Russians are ready to engage,” Peskov noted. “We believe that talking is always better than leading to complete confrontation, which is exactly what the Europeans are doing now. If this modality in the behavior of Europeans changes in favor of dialogue, we will only welcome it,” he said. The very fact that expert discussions are underway in the EU around this topic is a good thing, Peskov said, adding that “just a few months ago, even such discussions weren’t taking place in Europe.”

According to Russian Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador-at-Large for the crimes of the Kiev regime Rodion Miroshnik, the European Union’s actions show a complete lack of willingness to follow a peaceful path

• Europe Seeks To Block Any Talks On Ukraine Settlement — Russian Diplomat (TASS)

European countries seek to sabotage any negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador-at-Large for the crimes of the Kiev regime, told TASS in an interview during a working visit to Bangkok.

“Judging by official statements from EU leaders and the so-called E3 group (the United Kingdom, Germany, and France – TASS), one can see an irreconcilable desire to derail any form of negotiations and reject a political and diplomatic path to resolving the conflict. They declare that they want talks, but at the same time they decide to issue yet another package of sanctions, allocate multi-billion-euro loans to Ukraine, and launch new programs to train Ukrainian troops and supply weapons. There is an old rule: look at what politicians do, not what they say. The European Union’s actions show a complete lack of willingness to follow a peaceful path,” he said.
“I believe it is not enough to simply say it would be good to talk to Russia, this must be backed by actions that would prove that the EU is ready to stop financing the bloodshed in Ukraine. It is no secret that if Western funding stops, the war will end. This is acknowledged both in the West and by all external observers. But for now, Western countries continue to supply weapons and finance Ukraine,” Miroshnik added.
Foreign ministers of EU countries are set to discuss candidates for a possible mediator role in talks with Russia, the Financial Times newspaper previously reported. According to sources cited by the paper, the issue will be raised at an informal meeting on May 27-28 in Cyprus. Potential candidates reportedly include former Italian and German prime ministers Mario Draghi and Angela Merkel, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and his predecessor Sauli Niinisto.
On May 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, answering journalists’ questions, said that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is the preferred candidate for possible negotiations between the EU and Russia. Moscow has never been closed to negotiations, he added.

“Drills Are Intended To Send A Signal”:

• Russia Holds Massive Nuclear Drills On Land, Sea And Air (ZH)

Trucks carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles rumbled over forest roads, atomic-powered submarines set sail from Arctic and Pacific ports, and crews scrambled into warplanes as Russia and neighboring Belarus held the final stage of their joint nuclear drills Thursday. Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the maneuvers in a video call with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. “The use of nuclear weapons is an extreme, exceptional measure for ensuring the national security of our states,” Putin said, according to AP. Lukashenko earlier inspected Russian short-range nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles at a military unit involved in the drills and declared: “I dreamed about this machine a long time ago.”

The three-day drills that began Tuesday come amid a surge in Ukrainian drone strikes. including on Moscow’s suburbs that killed three people and damaged several buildings and industrial facilities. The strikes made it harder for officials in the Kremlin to cast the conflict in Ukraine — now in its fifth year — as something so distant that it doesn’t affect the daily routines of Russian civilians.
Drills involve wide array of nuclear weapons
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the exercise involved 64,000 troops, over 200 missile launchers, more than 140 aircraft, 73 surface warships and 13 submarines, including eight armed with nuclear-tipped ICBMs. The drills focused on the “preparation and use of nuclear forces under the threat of aggression,” it said. The maneuvers also practice cooperation with Belarus, an ally that hosts Russian nuclear weapons. Russian arsenals in Belarus include its latest intermediate range nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile system.
Along with nuclear-tipped ground- and submarine-launched ICBMs, the maneuvers featured a broad assortment of short- and medium-range weapons. Unlike the intercontinental missiles that can destroy entire cities, tactical nuclear weapons intended for use against troops on the battlefield are less powerful. They include aerial bombs and warheads for short- and medium-range missiles and artillery munitions. The Defense Ministry said the Russian armed forces test-fired Yars and Sineva ICBMs, as well as medium-range sea-launched Zircon and air-launched Kinzhal missiles, noting that all missiles hit their designated practice targets. Belarusian troops test-fired a short-range Iskander ballistic missile inside Russia.
Putin has repeatedly reminded the world about Moscow’s nuclear arsenals since the war in Ukraine started in February 2022 to deter the West from ramping up support for Kyiv. In 2024, the Kremlin adopted a revised nuclear doctrine, noting that any nation’s conventional attack on Russia that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country. That threat was clearly aimed at discouraging the West from allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with longer-range weapons and appears to significantly lower the threshold for the possible use of Moscow’s nuclear arsenal.
The revised doctrine also placed Belarus under the Russian nuclear umbrella. Putin has said that Moscow will retain control of its nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus, which borders Ukraine and NATO members Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, but would allow its ally to select the targets in case of conflict. The maneuvers are held amid an increase in drone activity in the Baltic nations. On Tuesday, a NATO jet shot down a Ukrainian drone over southern Estonia. Ukraine apologized for that “unintended incident,” without specifying what had happened.
On Wednesday, an emergency announcement about a drone flying over Belarus prompted residents of the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, including top officials and lawmakers, to take shelter and led to a brief closure of its airport. Ukrainian drones targeting Russia’s Baltic ports and energy facilities have recently crossed or come down in NATO territory on several occasions. Amusingly, instead of blaming the source, Ukraine, Western officials blamed Russian electronic jamming of the drones.
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said Tuesday that Ukraine is preparing drone attacks against Russia from the territory of the Baltic countries and warned of retaliation It alleged Ukrainian military personnel had been deployed to Latvia and warned that the country’s membership in NATO wouldn’t protect it from “just retribution.” Latvian authorities said the allegation was not true. Last month, the Russian Defense Ministry published a list of factories in Europe that it said were involved in producing drones and their components for Ukraine. It warned that attacks on Russia involving drones manufactured in Europe are fraught with “unpredictable consequences.”
Some commentators interpreted the bellicose statements from Moscow and this week’s exercise featuring short- and medium-range nuclear weapons capable of reaching targets in Europe as part of Kremlin efforts to discourage Western allies from bolstering support for Ukraine. Asked what message the nuclear exercise was intended to send, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that “any drills are intended to send a signal,” but wouldn’t elaborate.

“Europe is the ‘jungle’ now. No garden left to speak of.”

• Irrelevant Europe (J.B. Shurk)

Josep Borrell is a Spanish socialist who held several high-ranking positions in the European Union. Until 2024, he was a vice-president of the European Commission and the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy. In that capacity, he ran Europe’s External Action Service, which is the diplomatic body that executes Europe’s foreign policy decisions around the world. He remains a man with a great deal of influence over European perspectives.

In 2022, Borrell created a bit of an international incident when he described Europe as a “garden” and the rest of the world as a “jungle.” “We have built a garden,” he told aspiring European diplomats in Bruges, Belgium. “Most of the rest of the world is a jungle. The jungle could invade the garden. The gardeners should take care of it.” As the head of the European Defense Agency, Borrell’s comments made strategic sense. As he said in that same speech, “The jungle has a strong growth capacity…Walls will never be high enough to protect the garden. The gardeners have to go to the jungle, Europeans have to be much more engaged with the rest of the world. Otherwise, the rest of the world will invade us, by different ways and means.”
Borrell’s speech came seven years after German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open her country’s borders to millions of Islamic immigrants. Originally touted as a humanitarian policy designed to temporarily shelter refugees from war-torn Syria, Germany’s generous welfare programs quickly became a magnet for young men across the Middle East and North Africa. When Merkel declared on August 31, 2015, “We can do this,” she initiated an all-of-society “welcome culture” that quickly produced a full-blown migrant crisis for the whole continent. Over ten years later, the influx of millions of Muslims into Europe has transformed school demographics and local politics, unleashed an explosion in sex crimes and anti-European violence, strained Europe’s hospital services and social safety nets, and exacerbated government debt.
Speaking after the “jungle” had already successfully invaded Europe’s “garden,” Borrell knew there was no way to put the genie back in the bottle. Merkel’s fateful decision to “welcome” Middle Easterners to Europe transformed cities and towns across Europe into the Middle East. Borrell also knew that the European Union’s patchwork defense agency did not have the requisite military and espionage assets to effectively protect the continent. So he tried to fashion his corps of young diplomats into a network of information and persuasion agents who could do Europe’s bidding around the world.
Borrell’s message got lost in the ensuing international kerfuffle over his “garden” / “jungle” division of the world. From Russia to Canada, Africa to Southeast Asia, every self-described “foreign policy expert” took umbrage at Borrell’s bluntness. Perpetually offended virtue-signalers hadn’t gotten so worked-up since President Trump had called Haiti a “shithole country” four years earlier. Just as Conan O’Brien felt compelled to white-knight for Haiti’s dystopian, cannibal gangland by visiting a heavily guarded resort in the Caribbean country and recklessly encouraging vacationers to join him, legions of politically correct snobs from around the planet recorded social media videos from their country estates in which they turned tsk-tsk-ing into a veritable lingua franca for the vicariously aggrieved.
All the “very best people” denounced Borrell for promoting a scarcely disguised restoration of European imperialism, colonialism, fascism, and genocide. Young international students enjoying university scholarships and living in Europe for free made sure to remind Borrell that “diversity is our strength.” Borrell’s socialist comrades beat him over the head with Europe’s prime directive: multiculturalism über alles. Mohammadbagher Forough, a random research fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies, publicly reprimanded Europe’s foreign minister thusly: “This kind of comment puts a serious dent in the enterprise of European strategic autonomy. It upsets, at the most profound level, countries in the rest of the world, because of the history of colonialism.”
In other words, Europe’s “ruling class” and auxiliary straphangers condemned Borrell for daring to defend the beneficiaries of Western civilization. He was encouraged by threat of high-culture social banishment to follow Chancellor Merkel’s example in supplicating before the migrant hordes. The message was clear: Europe’s minister of defense cannot properly “defend” Europe unless he allows non-Europeans to take over the continent. It was further proof that Europe is irreparably lost.
Since his departure from the European Union’s foreign policy perch at the end of 2024, Borrell has spent most of his time in public lambasting President Trump’s global leadership. A staunch supporter of Ukraine who once threatened to “annihilate” the Russian army, Borrell has frequently defended the honor of Volodymyr Zelenskyy by claiming that Ukraine’s holdover president is leading “the resistance” and “deserves respect.” After President Trump described Zelenskyy as a “dictator without elections,” Borrell called the “accusation” the “height of dishonesty.” When President Trump and Vice President Vance took offense to Zelenskyy’s sense of entitlement and disregard for American taxpayers who have paid the salaries and pensions of Ukraine’s government workforce, Borrell screamed on X, “Trump and Vance have put on a disgraceful show. I am ashamed of that behavior.”
In response to Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference last year during which the vice president excoriated Europe’s crackdown on free speech and political dissent, Borrell lectured his erstwhile colleagues: “This is a declaration of political war against the European Union.” Going further, Europe’s former defense minister declared, “Europe must stop pretending that Trump is not an adversary and assert its technological, security, and political sovereignty with clarity and strength.”

The hydraulic pin holding the tower arm in place did not retract.

If that can be fixed tonight, there will be another launch attempt tomorrow at 5:30 CT. https://t.co/DJAdvDYQpH
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 21, 2026

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/2057261488256303134?s=20 https://twitter.com/GuntherEagleman/status/2057605618085548082?s=20

We once considered a Cholesterol Level of 350 perfectly normal & healthy.

Then it was lowered to 300.
Then to 240.
Then to 190.

Now doctors want your levels as low as statins can force them — no matter what.

Every single time the “safe” number drops, millions more… pic.twitter.com/eqMDLuWKaB
— Valerie Anne Smith (@ValerieAnne1970) May 21, 2026

https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/2057327151964131432?s=20

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Debt Rattle March 27 2026

Mar 272026

March 27, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:28 am Finance Tagged with: Armageddon, DNC, Don’t Be Evil, economists, Elon Musk, Iran, Kevin O’Leary, Mike Flynn, Susan Kokinda, Ukraine, Zelensky 78 Responses »

John Falter The Windy City 1946

• Ukraine War Aid May Have Been Funneled to Biden Campaign, DNC (Matt Margolis)

• Ukraine Government Schemed To Funnel War Aid To Biden Campaign (ZH)

• Epic Fury Is a Favor for the World. Step Up and Deal With It (Sarah Anderson)

• Largest Fuel Price Crisis In History Is Approaching – Dmitriev (TASS)

• Trump’s Psychological Smackdown of Iran — and What Will Happen Next (Pinsker)

• Susan Kokinda Outlines the Shift in Strategic Alliances (CTH)

• Kevin O’Leary Tells Everyone to ‘Chillax’ Over Iran (Matt Margolis)

• Elon Musk Seeks To Remove Delaware Judge From His Cases (ZH)

• Are We Safe Anymore? (Ben Shapiro)

• “Don’t Be Evil”: Google’s Motto Becomes a Jury Verdict in Calfornia (Turley)

• Mike Flynn Reaches $1.25m Settlement With Feds Over Russia Collusion Hoax (JTN)

• The Economists Who Got It Right ((John Stossel)

• Armageddon, Iran War & Why Peace is Impossible (Martin Armstrong)

• Zelensky: Trump Pressuring Him To Give Up On Donbas And End War Soon

• Has Trump Let Netanyahu Destroy America? (Paul Craig Roberts)

Kevin O’Leary worked directly for Steve Jobs.

Sat across from him. Watched the process at point-blank range. Then told you there is only one person on Earth who exceeded him.

O’Leary: “The only other person that I’ve seen that has a higher ratio than that is Elon Musk. He has… pic.twitter.com/mqUmo2Z9Nr
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) March 25, 2026

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/2036815427624444336?s=20

Bill O’Reilly just returned from filming a special in San Francisco — and what he’s seeing on the ground is WORSE than anyone realizes.

He described a violent third-world, illegal alien–infested drug dystopia…and says the Democrats are FULLY covering it up.

O’REILLY: “You know… pic.twitter.com/mHQfRBL9gi
— Overton (@overton_news) March 26, 2026

The European Parliament has used the term 'Christianophobia' in a formal resolution for the first time, declaring Christianity the most persecuted religion in the world.

Over 380 million Christians live under severe persecution worldwide pic.twitter.com/eGsOxGoW6W
— Trad West (@trad_west_) March 25, 2026

https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/2037134972583371094?s=20

Important breakthrough in the European Parliament!

I was treated like a public enemy by the left-wing press for demanding exactly this. Now it has been decided at the European level: “Return Hubs” outside Europe are possible.

We must completely outsource the entire broken… pic.twitter.com/C95TZ3Iom8
— Martin Sellner (@MartinSellner_) March 26, 2026

It’s OVER for the UN Replacement Migration Scheme in Europe as Nationalists pass the largest deportation proposal in their History.

“Begin mass deportations immediately. Kick them out before Europe dies” -Afroditi Latinopoulou, Greek MP pic.twitter.com/lGYh2iQ1oL
— Liz Churchill (@liz_churchill10) March 26, 2026

“If Europeans grow accustomed to the loss of power, scarcely two generations will pass before the old West—and with it the entire world—falls into spiritual rigidity, intellectual sterility, and widespread barbarization. Only the illusion of power and the discipline of… pic.twitter.com/LPscndWTh9
— Multipolar Press / Constantin von Hoffmeister (@constantinvonh) March 25, 2026

https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/2036973911397515653?s=20

My theory (and it’s mine) goes further than Margolis: The DNC specifically started and still maintains the Ukraine war as an instrument to finance its domestic activities. The amount of money that flows there is just about endless, and Europe will pay even more than the US. Major agency: USAID. It is perfect. And to think we were focusing on the corruption on the Ukraine side.

• Ukraine War Aid May Have Been Funneled to Biden Campaign, DNC (Matt Margolis)

Have you ever wondered why Joe Biden and the Democrats were so insistent that Congress send endless billions to Ukraine? Well, new declassified intel drops a bombshell that raises some troubling questions about it, and it stinks to high heaven. In 2022, U.S. spy agencies discovered Ukrainian officials were plotting to divert hundreds of millions in American taxpayer cash meant for clean energy projects to Joe Biden’s 2024 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

“Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently learned of the intercepts and has asked the U.S. Agency for International Development officials to scour for records to see if the plot actually was carried out and whether a criminal referral should be made to the FBI,” Just the News reports. “Gabbard’s team has not found substantive evidence the intercepted allegations were thoroughly investigated during the Biden administration, and the communications are not believed to be tied to Russian disinformation efforts, officials said.” Gee, I wonder why the Biden administration didn’t investigate the funneling of millions of dollars to the Biden campaign?
“The Ukrainian Government and unspecified U.S. Government personnel, through USAID in Kyiv, reportedly developed a plan that would provide hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to fund an infrastructure project for Ukraine that would be used as a cover to send approximately 90% of funds allocated to the DNC to fund Joe Biden’s reelection campaign,” the report reads. USAID? You don’t say. Another piece of the puzzle comes into place.Remember when Democrats were freaking out about Donald Trump closing USAID last year? They claimed USAID was saving lives. I mean, sure, if by “saving lives” you mean “funneling millions in cash to Joe Biden and the Democratic Party,” sure.
“They were confident the project would be funded initially, even though at some time in the future the project would be disapproved as unnecessary,” the report continued. “At this time, the money would already be allocated and impossible to return or use for a different purpose.” The money was reportedly laundered through two American subcontractors as part of the scheme to divert the money to Democrat campaigns, making the source untraceable. “The plan included details of how subcontractors would be funded through U.S. companies so that how the funds were spent and allocated would be difficult to track.” What a system, right? Some shady contracts no one could audit, and poof — your Ukraine aid becomes Biden bucks. And the Biden administration made no effort to investigate, so it’s unclear how much money may have been diverted to Biden’s campaign or the DNC.
A lot of things are starting to make sense, aren’t they? Biden failed to stop Russia from invading Ukraine. Biden seemed unable to end the war, and, based on this new information, he had every financial incentive to let it continue. That’s why it always felt like he was demanding blank checks for Ukraine and pushing us closer to deeper involvement. Trump, however, has always had peace as his main objective and has actually been trying to negotiate an actual peace deal.

“The cover-to-transfer pipeline was engineered for maximum opacity.” [..] .. most of the U.S. funding would be diverted to Joe Biden’s election campaign without the ability to track where exactly the funds came from..”

• Ukraine Government Schemed To Funnel War Aid To Biden Campaign (ZH)

According to a newly declassified intelligence report, U.S. intelligence agencies intercepted communications from Ukrainian government officials back in 2022 discussing a scheme to siphon off hundreds of millions in American taxpayer dollars. The funds, earmarked for clean energy projects in the war-torn country, were allegedly redirected to the United States to benefit Joe Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The report, obtained by Just the News, summarizes raw intercepts gathered by U.S. spy agencies in late 2022. Officials familiar with the material say the communications are not believed to be tied to Russian disinformation efforts. The declassified summary is very specific.

“The Ukrainian Government and unspecified U.S. Government personnel, through USAID in Kyiv, reportedly developed a plan that would provide hundreds of millions of US taxpayer dollars to fund an infrastructure project for Ukraine that would be used as a cover to send approximately 90% of funds allocated to the DNC to fund Joe Biden’s reelection campaign,” the document states. sThe mechanics described are textbook money-laundering architecture. “The plan included details of how subcontractors would be funded through U.S. companies so that how the funds were spent and allocated would be difficult to track,” the report explains. Two American subcontractors were named in the raw intercepts as conduits for funneling money toward Democratic coffers, though their identities remain redacted in the declassified version.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Ukraine became by far the top recipient of U.S. foreign aid after Russia’s invasion in February 2022 — the first time a European nation held that distinction since the Marshall Plan. As of December 31, 2025, Congress had made available $188 billion in Ukraine-related spending, with $164 billion flowing from just five pieces of legislation. The last of those bills passed in April 2024 — while Biden was actively campaigning for a second term.
What makes the alleged scheme particularly audacious is the built-in exit strategy. “They were confident the project would be funded initially, even though at some time in the future the project would be disapproved as unnecessary. At this time, the money would already be allocated and impossible to return or use for a different purpose,” the report added. In other words, the design assumed the fraud would eventually be discovered – and didn’t care. By then, the money would be gone and untraceable.
The cover-to-transfer pipeline was engineered for maximum opacity. “Additionally, contracts would be executed that would be difficult to verify. In this manner, most of the U.S. funding would be diverted to Joe Biden’s election campaign without the ability to track where exactly the funds came from,” the report read.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently learned of the intercepts and directed USAID officials to search agency records for evidence that the plot was actually carried out and to evaluate whether a criminal referral to the FBI is warranted. Perhaps the most disturbing find so far is that there is no substantive evidence that anyone during the Biden years made a serious effort to investigate what U.S. intelligence had intercepted. Officials reviewing the files noted a lack of investigative curiosity about allegations of foreign election interference.
Since President Trump took office, no new legislation authorizing additional spending for Ukraine has passed Congress. But now we need to find out how much of the funds for Ukraine were diverted to Biden’s campaign or the DNC, and whether the lack of an investigation reflects willful negligence, deliberate burial, or a conspiracy.

“Like I said, very little of our energy comes through the Strait of Hormuz. It’s the world that has a great interest in that, so they should step up and deal with it..”

• Epic Fury Is a Favor for the World. Step Up and Deal With It (Sarah Anderson)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke out on Operation Epic Fury twice on Thursday, first at Donald Trump’s Cabinet meeting and again before boarding a plane to head to Paris for the G7 Foreign Affairs Ministerial, where he’ll meet with world leaders to talk about security concerns, specifically the situation in the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine War. He’s made one thing clear: Iran was not, is not, and will not be a United States-only problem. It’s a world problem. And it’s time for other countries to step up. In what many on social media are calling a “mic drop” moment, Rubio started by laying out the most important issue: Iran has been at war with the United States for 47 years, killing and attacking United States citizens.

“And other presidents had an opportunity to do something about it, and they all warned about how Iran was dangerous, but they refused to act,” he said. “And this president’s not someone that’s going to refuse to act. He’s not going to leave a danger like this in place. He’s going to address it, and that is what he is doing.” He then went on to explain that the people running Iran are “religious fanatics” and there was really no other way to stop them. “They’re attacking embassies and hotels,” he said. “Imagine what these people would do if they had a nuclear weapon. That is an unacceptable risk for the world,” he said, adding, “By the way, the president’s not just doing a favor to the United States and to our people. This is for the world. He defined very clearly on the first night of this operation what the goal was.”
Before boarding his plane on Thursday afternoon, a reporter asked him specifically if he was going to ask the G7 to help with the Strait of Hormuz. While he wouldn’t get into the specifics, Rubio again pointed out that it’s in these other countries’ best interests to get involved because many of them get more of their oil from the Strait of Hormuz than the United States does. Another reporter asked about Trump criticizing NATO earlier on Thursday, and Rubio pointed out something that’s sort of been a theme of his and Trump’s foreign policy for the past year: The U.S. is tired of having to step in and help everyone else out without getting anything in return):
I think he just made an observation, and the observation is that the United States is constantly being asked to help in a war, and we have more than any other country in the world, on a war that’s happening in another continent, in Ukraine. But when the U.S. had a need, he didn’t get positive responses. So, right now he’s just making the observation that — I think it was a couple of the leaders in Europe who said that this was not Europe’s war. Well, Ukraine is not America’s war, and yet we’ve contributed more to that fight than any other country in the world. So, it’ll be something to examine that the President will have to take into account down the road.
A reporter later asked if he was worried about the reception he might get at the G7 meeting and whether he was afraid the other world leaders might not be “happy” with him. Rubio basically laughed in the face of the press. “Well, again, I’m not there to make them happy. I get along with all of them on a personal level, and we work with those governments very carefully, but the people I’m interested in making happy are the people of the United States,” he said. “That’s who I work for. I don’t work for France or Germany or Japan. These are all good people. We’re going to have great meetings…But I work for the people of the United States.”
Finally, someone asked if he plans to ask his G7 counterparts for help with Iran. “Well, it’s not help for us. Like I said, very little of our energy comes through the Strait of Hormuz. It’s the world that has a great interest in that, so they should step up and deal with it,” he said. Boom. I don’t have much else to add — I just love hearing real leadership in action. It’s something our country has been lacking for a long, long time. We aren’t the world’s babysitters, and it’s time some of these countries, especially in Europe, step up and do their fair share in this and numerous other matters.

“Without a doubt, Russia is in the strongest position because we are a major producer not only of oil and gas, but also of fertilizers.”

• Largest Fuel Price Crisis In History Is Approaching – Dmitriev (TASS)

The most powerful crisis in fuel prices is approaching, which will lead to economic problems in the EU and the United Kingdom, presidential special representative for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev told reporters. “Discussions are now underway that it (oil — TASS) could cost $150 or even $200 per barrel. And why is this important? Because we have a number of very clear forecasts that we have also voiced regarding the European Union and the United Kingdom. They are very simple. We see that the most powerful energy crisis in the history of humanity is approaching. Neither Europe nor the UK is prepared for it at all. Moreover, they have shot themselves in the foot by abandoning Russian energy resources,” Dmitriev said.

He added that rising oil prices are positive for Russia, and Europe will beg for supplies. “Without a doubt, what is happening is generally positive for Russia, because our oil and gas reserves and our diversified supplies worldwide, including with a focus on BRICS countries, undoubtedly strengthen Russia’s position on global markets. Russia will certainly receive many requests from Europe and from the UK to obtain Russian energy resources and will decide whether to provide them or not. But our prediction is very clear — that Europe and the UK will beg for Russian energy resources, and Russia will make the appropriate decisions or choose not to,” Dmitriev said.
At the same time, Russia is in the strongest position on the global energy and fertilizer markets, Dmitriev told reporters. “Without a doubt, Russia is in the strongest position because we are a major producer not only of oil and gas, but also of fertilizers. And now a crisis is beginning in the fertilizers and agricultural sector markets. Therefore, Russia is currently in a very strong position,” Dmitriev said.

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle”

—Sun Tzu, The Art of War

• Trump’s Psychological Smackdown of Iran — and What Will Happen Next (Pinsker)

If you could distill PR and marketing to a single sentence, it’d be, “What do I gotta say so you’ll do what I want?” Meaning, it’s 100% outcome based: Theories are fun, but reality is the ultimate litmus test. Which is why, to build a PR war plan, we only need three ingredients:
• An honest, accurate assessment of where we are today.
• An honest, accurate assessment of what motivates our target audience.
• A clear picture of where we want to be tomorrow (i.e., what “victory” looks like).

That’s it. All the rest is simply a roadmap between today and tomorrow (sprinkled with tactics, measurables, and mile markers). If you know where you are and where you’d like to be, everything else falls into place. “Know the enemy and know yourself” — Sun Tzu would’ve rocked at PR. The Iraq War introduced the phrase “shock and awe” into the public lexicon, relying on the PR power of big booming bombs. Undoubtedly, the psychological impact was significant; how could it not be? Whereas the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war in Iran was surely shocking and aweing to many Iranian mullahs (especially all the dead ones), it probably pales in comparison to either Iraq war. Iran, after all, is nearly four times larger geographically, and in Iraq, more air forces were running more bombing raids.
Stands to reason that more bombs in a smaller area would be more shocking and awe-inspiring. Plus, today’s U.S. and Israeli bombs and missiles are increasingly targeted, “smart,” and ultra-precise. In the Persian Gulf War, barely 9% of our bombs were smart bombs. It’s unclear what percent of U.S. and Israeli bombs are currently “smart,” but it’s certainly a much larger number. It’s also unclear what that means: Are ultra-precise, target-specific bombs and missiles MORE psychologically devastating? Or do larger quantities of randomly-landing bombs and missiles deliver a heavier psychological blow? These are relevant questions because war is a tool — a means to an end. And the endpoint we’re trying to reach is for the Iranian regime to capitulate, stand down, and cede to President Donald Trump’s demands.
Like Carl von Clausewitz said, “War is politics by other means.” Both Bush presidencies relied purely on military hardware to crack the enemy’s resolve. Their strategy was straightforward, loud, and booming — just like the bombs themselves. But one of the things that differentiates President Trump from his predecessors is his outside-the-box thinking. More than any other president in the past 100 years, he’s willing to try new and novel ways to slice the Gordian knot. Both Bushes were creatures of the status quo, but the current president marches to his own drummer. From tariffs to Greenland to “Governor Trudeau” to the Gulf of America, he’s unusually gifted at weaponizing psychological PR tactics.
The English used to be the best at it. From intercepting and publicizing Napoleon’s love letters to their Andrew Dice Clay-esque nursery rhymes about Adolf Hitler’s unfortunate deformities, they were so good at it, Joseph Stalin said at the 1943 Tehran(!) Conference that World War II would be won with “British brains, American steel, and Soviet Blood.” That was then. Today, U.S. intelligence and Israeli ingenuity have supplanted the Brits at psychological warfare. America’s capabilities are unrivaled anywhere in the world, and Israel’s winning streak of innovative psychological victories — perhaps most notably, its “Grim Beeper” operation that decapitated Hezbollah — keeps growing.
According to some reports, it was American intelligence that learned of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s secret meeting with Iranian leaders; others credit Israel. Either way, the combination of Mossad + IDF + CIA + U.S. Armed Forces has rattled Iran to its core.In fact, the Wall Street Journal reports that the Israelis are actually chatting with high-ranking Iranians:The Journal reviewed the contents of one call between a senior Iranian police commander and an agent of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign-intelligence service. “Can you hear me?” a Mossad agent can be heard, speaking in Farsi. “We know everything about you. You are on our blacklist, and we have all the information about you.” “OK,” the commander said in the recording. “I called to warn you in advance that you should stand with your people’s side,” the Mossad agent said. “And if you will not do that, your destiny will be as your leader. Do you hear me?”
“Brother, I swear on the Quran, I’m not your enemy,” the commander said. “I’m a dead man already. Just please come help us.”

“.. the U.K., EU, and NATO are absent and increasingly irrelevant.”

• Susan Kokinda Outlines the Shift in Strategic Alliances (CTH)

The rebranded Lyndon LaRouche PAC has another good outline on the new strategic alliances assembled by President Trump as the ongoing conflict with Iran continues. Susan Kokinda reviews how the United Kingdom and Europe have been sidelined as President Trump directly negotiates with key stakeholders in the middle east and Asia. Kokinda correctly notes the messaging from Russia indicates a strategic awareness that old systems are fracturing and the potential for new strategic alliances is rising.

“Susan Kokinda argues President Trump has opened a new diplomatic space to de-escalate the Iran conflict by working through a regional roster—Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Gulf States, and back channels into Iran—while the U.K., EU, and NATO are absent and increasingly irrelevant. Citing reporting that ministers met in Riyadh and that Egypt, Turkey, and Oman carried messages, she says this “Board of Peace” architecture is isolating Iran and weakening its proxies, pointing to Lebanon’s move against Hezbollah, the Palestinian Authority’s condemnation of Iran, and Hamas considering disarmament. Kokinda links Europe’s exclusion to self-inflicted energy weakness from Green and anti-Russia policies, noting rushed LNG moves and a delayed Russian oil ban vote. She concludes Ukraine’s outlook darkens as Europe and Britain lack leverage, highlighting Zelenskyy’s scramble for support in London and Washington.”

“Donald Trump is finally eliminating the threat posed by Iran once and for all after decades of inaction from presidents from both parties..”

• Kevin O’Leary Tells Everyone to ‘Chillax’ Over Iran (Matt Margolis)

Kevin O’Leary has a message for everyone losing their minds over Operation Epic Fury and its potential economic fallout: chillax! The Shark Tank investor and business mogul appeared on Fox News to push back against the growing chorus of voices warning that U.S. military action against Iran is about to tank the economy. He began by framing the situation inside Iran in stark human terms, arguing that the status quo — for Iranians — is already unsustainable. “Everybody in the region wants to get Iran on board for peace and growth, and even the people there, they want the same thing. You’ve got 250,000 people making sixty million miserable. That’s not a long-term solution either,” O’Leary said. “That’s just in Iran. That’s why you’ve got to take the long view, and the long view here could be just sixty days.”

O’Leary wasn’t buying it — and he had the numbers to back up his claim. “Remember, to affect the US economy, you need oil. I’m talking about recession talk, or hurting the economy, or damaging small business. You need oil at over $93 for three months. We’re only one-third into it,” O’Leary said. “So, everybody, chillax and let this thing play out. There’s a really big opportunity here, a huge one, and everybody gets the upside, including all our trading partners.” That’s the core of his argument. If there’s anything that can trigger a recession, it’s high oil prices, but they haven’t hit the threshold that historically triggers real damage to the U.S. economy. Heck, prices aren’t nearly as bad as they were under Biden, so there’s not much reason to press the panic button.
In fact, the panic, in his view, is premature at best and wildly overblown at worst. One-third of the way through a potential sixty-day window, the doomsday crowd is jumping the gun. But O’Leary didn’t stop at defending the economics of the moment. He zoomed out and argued that a successful resolution could trigger a massive wave of trade deals across the Middle East and beyond. “We work this out, we’re selling stuff to Saudi Arabia, we’re selling it to the UAE, we’re selling it to Asia, we’re selling it to Japan,” he said. That’s a lot of markets. And O’Leary’s point is that critics are so focused on the short-term noise that they’re completely missing the long-term prize. For O’Leary, this whole moment needs to be looked at differently. “This is a huge opportunity,” he said. “I just see it for what it is. It’s history being made.”
History is being made. While the panickers on the left flood cable news with recession warnings, O’Leary is looking at an entirely different map that spells huge economic opportunity for us. So, don’t listen to the left. They want this to be an economic and political disaster for President Donald Trump, and they’ll never stop pretending that it is.
Kevin O’Leary sends a DIRECT message to the doomers and naysayers doubting President Trump’s strategy in Iran:

“Everybody CHILLAX and let this thing play out.”

Mr. Wonderful says people are completely missing the HISTORIC opportunity on the other side of this.

O’LEARY:… pic.twitter.com/YBATXngOHf
— Overton (@overton_news) March 24, 2026

Editor’s Note: Donald Trump is finally eliminating the threat posed by Iran once and for all after decades of inaction from presidents from both parties.

Just like Trump. The law is only what you want it to be.

• Elon Musk Seeks To Remove Delaware Judge From His Cases (ZH)

Lawyers for Elon Musk and Tesla are seeking to have a Delaware judge removed from cases involving them, arguing her neutrality could be questioned after her LinkedIn account “liked” a post about Musk losing a recent trial in California, according to Financial Times. Musk’s firm said the interaction with the “inflammatory” post created “a perception of bias against Mr. Musk in these cases, recusal is necessary and warranted”. The post referred to a federal case where a jury concluded Musk had defrauded Twitter investors, a decision that could cost him billions if it stands. A consultant who worked with the plaintiffs even took a jab at Musk and his legal team in that same thread.

Judge Kathaleen McCormick responded that she didn’t realize the post had been liked until LinkedIn alerted her. She stated: “I either did not click the ‘support’ icon at all, or I did so accidentally. I do not believe that I did it accidentally,” suggesting uncertainty about how it happened. FT writes that the situation is another chapter in Musk’s strained relationship with Delaware’s courts. McCormick has previously ruled against him, including decisions to void Tesla’s massive $56bn compensation package—though it was later reinstated on appeal despite agreement with some of her criticisms.
Musk has long expressed distrust of the state’s judiciary, even relocating Tesla’s incorporation to Texas. During a prior dispute with Twitter, he told jurors: “We were unlikely to win the case in Delaware because the judge [McCormick] was extremely biased against me.” McCormick still oversees a separate Tesla-related case tied to shareholder claims about excessive director pay. She said she will consider stepping aside and also noted that she lost access to her LinkedIn account after the incident. The controversy reflects wider concerns about judges’ activity on social media. In 2025, another Delaware judge stepped away from LinkedIn after facing backlash over his posts.

The fear of fear?

• Are We Safe Anymore? (Ben Shapiro)

It’s time to ask some serious questions. As spring travel ramps up, a record 171 million Americans are expected to take to the skies. Airports will be crowded, security lines long, and for many travelers, a fundamental question will linger: Are we safe? That question extends far beyond the airport terminal. It surfaces at the southern border, in major American cities, and in the wake of tragedies like the killing of 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman in Chicago. Gorman, a student at Loyola University, was shot and killed while walking with friends along a pier in Rogers Park. According to prosecutors, the group encountered a man hiding near a lighthouse. As they fled, he allegedly opened fire, striking Gorman in the back. Authorities say the suspect, a Venezuelan national, had previously entered the United States illegally and had prior contact with law enforcement before being released.

The case has reignited debate over immigration enforcement, sanctuary policies and public safety. Critics argue that policies limiting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities can have serious consequences. Chicago’s sanctuary status, they note, restricts such coordination. In this instance, the suspect had reportedly been arrested on suspicion of shoplifting months earlier but was not turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Supporters of stricter enforcement contend that more consistent cooperation could prevent repeat offenses. They argue that when individuals who are in the country unlawfully are released after prior arrests, the system has failed to mitigate potential risks.
Others, however, caution against drawing broad conclusions from a single case. Some local officials have emphasized the complexity of crime and the need to avoid politicizing individual tragedies. Chicago leaders have also reiterated longstanding concerns about overreliance on incarceration, arguing that deeper social issues contribute to violence. Still, the divide is stark. On one side are those who believe enforcement — whether at the border or within cities — must be strengthened to ensure public safety. On the other are those who argue that enforcement alone cannot address the root causes of crime and that policy responses must be broader in scope.
Meanwhile, the political backdrop adds another layer of tension. A funding dispute affecting the Department of Homeland Security has raised concerns about staffing and operations, including airport security. Reports of long TSA lines have only heightened public anxiety, even as federal officials work to manage the strain. Even traditionally critical voices have acknowledged that personnel shifts, including assistance from other federal agencies, have helped ease some delays. But for many Americans, the broader question remains unresolved.
Public safety — whether in neighborhoods, at the border or in transit hubs — continues to be one of the most powerful forces shaping political opinion. Incidents like the killing of Gorman bring that concern into sharp focus, forcing policymakers and the public alike to confront difficult questions about accountability, enforcement and priorities. As millions prepare to board planes in the coming weeks, those questions won’t be easily dismissed. And for voters, they may prove decisive.

“For now, it will be left to the courts, not these companies, “to do the right thing” on social media liability.”

• “Don’t Be Evil”: Google’s Motto Becomes a Jury Verdict in Calfornia (Turley)

Google once had a motto: “Don’t be evil.” In its reorganization in 2015, the motto was changed to “Do the right thing.” According to a California jury this week, neither motto stuck.In a historic verdict against both Google and Meta, a jury found that the companies maliciously designed their social media products to addict children, including the plaintiff, who was known only as Kaley or KGM. The jury heard testimony of efforts to “target” young users and feed an addiction to social media and YouTube. The jury awarded Kaley $3 million in compensatory damages divided between Meta (70%) and Google (30%). It then awarded another $3 million in punitive damages.

Those damages are nothing to companies worth billions. However, the verdict was like a dinner gong for plaintiffs lawyers. There are already thousands of cases filed against social media companies. That wave is about to become a tsunami. That is particularly the case after companies like TikTok and Snap settled before trial. In addition to this civil verdict, the New Mexico Attorney General secured a $375 million verdict the same week against Meta under the state’s consumer protection laws.But it will be a very long time before these companies cut a check. The California case is rife with compelling appellate issues that will take years to work out. Indeed, what makes this case so intriguing — and even more tempting for plaintiffs’ lawyers — is that it was actually not the strongest case.
The 17-year-old in California started using social media at age 6. Kaley had a troubled childhood with problems at home and bullying at school. She experienced depression, anxiety, and body dysmorphia that could be linked to other aspects of her life. Her use of social media was extreme: all-consuming and all-day. Meta argued that it does prohibit users under 13 from using any of its platforms. YouTube offers different platforms for children, like YouTube Kids.However, Kaley created dozens of accounts to drive her “likes” and increase her virtual interactions.The trial showed how complex such cases are in isolating what was the most substantial factor in Kaley’s harmful childhood. The case stretched the concepts of factual and legal causation to the breaking point.
I have taught torts for over 30 years and, in my view, the causation in this case is dubious. Even with tobacco, there was protracted litigation over other sources of cancer. However, that litigation was relatively straightforward in comparison to cases seeking to assign liability for depression, anxiety, or body dysmorphia. Children are bombarded with social and media imagery and messages from myriad sources. At the same time, many (like Kaley) come from homes with troubling or abusive elements.The companies have previously asserted immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934. These lawyers found a creative way to evade that immunity by claiming they are challenging the design of “the product” of social media companies, not suing over the specific content that appears on their sites.
That may prove too clever by half for some judges. Product liability law has previously been used to circumvent constitutional or legal barriers, as in the unsuccessful product liability and nuisance cases against gun manufacturers. Section 230 is designed to protect internet companies that serve as platforms for third-party postings. Here, the lawyers are arguing that you have immunity for what is posted, but your system itself is a product that is subject to a lawsuit. In finding negligence and a failure to warn, the jury clearly agreed with the complaint that the design of the sites was maliciously intended to create “a compulsion to engage with those products nonstop,” feeding “harmful and depressive content.” However, it is a difficult line between marketing and targeting.
It is not clear what warning these social media companies should offer beyond what they have previously posted. More importantly, it is unclear whether such warnings would have any impact on users.If Meta warned that social media can be addictive or harmful, would it have deterred Kaley? Her mother already tried to block her from such usage.There is no question that social media has a hold on children and adults because they like it. It allows them to create, observe, and communicate with an unprecedented range of people and sites. The question is whether this compulsive conduct reflects an intentional effort to addict minors or a product that is irresistible for many. The only certainty after these verdicts is that there will be more of them. As soon as this verdict was read, the “likes” from plaintiffs’ lawyers flooded in across social media. Those trials will continue despite great uncertainty about the very foundation of any liability.
For now, it will be left to the courts, not these companies, “to do the right thing” on social media liability.

Yeah, he feels a tad better. But it’s nothing to do with justice. Lock up those responsible! They walk free now as the state pays their fines. IT IS Insane!

• Mike Flynn Reaches $1.25m Settlement With Feds Over Russia Collusion Hoax (JTN)

Retired General Mike Flynn on Wednesday settled his lawsuit accusing the federal government of malicious prosecution during the now-discredited Russia collusion case and will receive $1.25 million in compensation. Flynn, who was forced to resign as President Donald Trump’s first national security advisor after a stellar career as a three-star general, overseeing the Defense Intelligence Agency, told Just the News he felt vindicated by the settlement after enduring what he called “the Russian Hoax FBI lawfare against me.” “Nothing can fully compensate for the hell that my family and I have endured over these many years—the relentless attacks, the destruction of reputations, the financial ruin, and the profound personal toll inflicted upon us all,” he said.

“No amount of money or formal resolution can erase the pain caused by a prosecution that should never have been brought.” “This ordeal stemmed from partisan government officials in a coordinated effort to pursue an innocent man as part of a broader campaign to undermine President Trump and his administration. It was a relentless, partisan pursuit that weaponized federal law enforcement in a brazen and unjust manner,” he said. Flynn sued the DOJ for $50 million in 2023 for malicious and politicized prosecution by Special Prosecutor Robert Muel Flynn thanked the Trump DOJ for entering into a settlement.
“Yet this settlement goes far in demonstrating that the current Department of Justice—under the leadership of President Trump, Attorney General Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Blanche, and other dedicated departmental leaders—is committed to bringing accountability for the bad acts of those partisan actors. It marks a meaningful step toward righting a profound wrong,” he said. “There should never again be such a brazen attempt to weaponize federal law enforcement against political opponents or innocent citizens. It is essential that we remain guardians of the rule of law. A huge part of that guardianship is accountability—holding those who abuse power to answer for their actions.”
Flynn’s lawyer, Jesse Binnall, said Flynn “is an American hero and he and his family should have never been put through this hell. That they had the courage to stand firm and fight back against the extremists in the Mueller investigation should be a testament to the strength of American character. “In this agreement, the Justice Department is doing more than simply cutting a check, they are admitting that General Flynn was seriously wronged,” he added.

“Hayek and Mises were right. The socialist planners are wrong.”

• The Economists Who Got It Right ((John Stossel)

Politicians say they can “make the economy work better.” I once believed they could. But years of reporting taught me that politicians’ attempts to “fix” the economy usually make things worse. Twenty years ago, Republicans and Democrats helped create the Great Recession by telling government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy more peoples’ mortgages because, as President George W. Bush put it, “Owning a home is a part of (the American) dream.” But that guarantee inspired lenders to approve dubious mortgages, given to riskier borrowers.Housing prices shot up in a government-created bubble. When many people stopped making mortgage payments and the housing bubble burst, we got the Great Recession.

It’s just one example of what Austrian economists Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises wrote about years ago. In “The Fatal Conceit,” Hayek writes, “The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.” Mises’ “Human Action” points out that all economics start with individuals making purposeful choices. That “human action” determines prices, and markets coordinate the most efficient use of resources. But the media believed the socialists. The New Republic wrote: “the major task of our civilization is … to organize our great economic organs.” On the contrary, wrote Hayek: “To follow socialist morality would destroy much of present humankind and impoverish much of the rest.”
He was right. Every socialist government, everywhere, has failed. They fail because no political leader can ever know as much as millions of individuals doing our own thing. “That’s the idea that Mises’ introduced to the world,” says Ryan McMaken of the Mises Institute. “Central planning doesn’t work because everybody has different ideas for themselves, wants to do different things with their property. If you take away their ability to do what they want, it eventually causes great impoverishment.”I assumed belief in socialism would die when the Soviet Union did — but bizarrely, it hasn’t. Recently, young people helped elect socialist mayors in Seattle and New York City. They promise rent control and government-run grocery stores.
“We don’t have to look any further than Mises to find an excellent explanation of why that doesn’t work,” says McMaken in my new video. Unfortunately, Mises and Hayek were never as popular as economists pushing central planning and government spending.”There’s a big advantage that the people who are in favor of inflation and more government regulation have. Everyone in government wants that same thing,” says McMaken. “‘Like to spend? Like to regulate the economy? Boy, have we got an economic theory for you.’ (That) of course became instantly popular with people in government.”And popular with the public. “Because the public wants government to spend on them as well!” says McMaken.
“Here was an economic theory telling them the government can give you boatloads of welfare nonstop forever and there’s no downside. … The reality is that there is a downside: recessions, unemployment, inflation and falling real wages.” We got that in the 1970s, after years of spending on President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” programs. In total, American taxpayers have spent $30 trillion in the name of reducing poverty. Politicians said government agencies would spend the money efficiently. They rarely did, and the deficit spending contributed to 15% inflation.
“People then saw, ‘Everything we’ve been told for the last 30 years about managing the economy isn’t really true,'” says McMaken. “When you start to inflate the money supply, it sows the seeds for a future economic collapse. That is the cause of everything we’ve seen over the last century. It is Mises’ work that explains why the Great Depression happened … We have to study the economic side of things because if we don’t … we can’t see the ways that the state is ripping us off.” Hayek and Mises were right. The socialist planners are wrong. Books like “The Fatal Conceit”, “The Road to Serfdom” and “Human Action,” although I couldn’t get through all of it, are well worth reading today.

Armstrong lost faith in Trump.

• Armageddon, Iran War & Why Peace is Impossible (Martin Armstrong)

The Neocons running the Trump administration, as always, are a complete failure when it comes to thinking strategically about Iran or even the Middle East in general. Emails we receive from industry colleagues often mix statements with reality, and uncertainty about the future of a conflict is causing historic supply disruptions and upending industry planning. If Trump declares victory and pulls back the U.S. military, Iran would then say that it owns the Strait and declare victory. Rumors have circulated that Iran would then impose a tax on any ship passing through the Strait, perhaps resulting in a resumption of this crisis.

The overall U.S. and Israeli strategic objectives for Iran remain questionable. What I do know is that there was a private phone call in which Netanyahu manipulated Trump, stressing that he could “make history” by toppling the Ayatollah regime and taking revenge for Iranian efforts to assassinate him, which was central in Trump’s decision to strike when he did.The classic Neocon claim that America can fight a markedly limited war, and engage in airplane targetry, has never worked even once, and it only demonstrates their dishonest lack of strategy to sell these endless wars. Claiming that naval protection of ships is absurd, for that would prove an impossible challenge and leave major vulnerabilities for the US Navy. That is no more invincible than Israel’s Iron Dome.
Trump’s threats to target Iran’s energy sector over the Strait of Hormuz would have only escalated tensions if Iran had not reopened the Strait in 48 hours. He had to back down and then claim he was in talks with Iran, which they instantly denied. I have some info that Trump has gone to Pakistan to present a 15-point peace proposal, which may sidestep Netanyahu. However, I have sources who have also said IRAN will no longer deal with Steve Witkoff, or Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, both of whom are Jewish, and clearly a very serious affront to Iran and a major appearance of a conflict of interest. They have to be the worst possible people to negotiate with Iran, given the hatred that Netanyahu has publicly made clear about Iran.
Furthermore, the claims that the United States won the war against Iran within the first hour of military action and that the conflict quickly tilted in favor of the USA were also bravado. However, President Trump also said that American forces would remain deployed until the mission was complete. This has been proven to be just boastfulness and fake news. They also claimed that they destroyed most of Iran’s missile capacity. Yet, Iran launched waves of missiles at Israel on Tuesday, a day after U.S. President Trump said there had been “very good and productive” talks aiming at halting the war unleashed and unprovoked by the U.S. and Israel.
History is not going to come down in Trump’s favor. A year ago, in late March 2025, the U.S. Intelligence Community assessed that “Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and that [Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not reauthorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.” However, in a congressional hearing about that assessment, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard also said, “Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons.” Trump instead used Netanyahu’s bogus claims. They never had a missile that could reach the United States, Europe, yes, but not the United States.
That calls into question the Neocon/Netanyahu lies to start this war, just as the Weapons of Mass Destruction never existed in Iraq. They need to lie and create an immediate threat to circumvent Congress, and the last “war” was World War II. Everything else has been an abuse of executive power instigated by the Neocons. Trump is sending in troops, and Iran replied – come closer.
The Western press propaganda shows a ballistic missile being intercepted by Israel. What they fail to explain is that an Iranian Ballistic Missile costs $300,000 or less, while the Israeli interceptors cost $2-$3 million each. Israel typically launches at least 3 interceptors per Iranian missile, and some have said up to 6 interceptors have been fired. A Sling interceptor costs about $1 million each, and an Iron Dome interceptor costs $50,000 each. Iran is bleeding the West dry, and even Taiwan has expressed concern that the US is using its entire stockpile of cruise missiles, meaning they cannot be defended.

See this in the light of the opening article. How he is financed.

• Zelensky: Trump Pressuring Him To Give Up On Donbas And End War Soon

With the Ukraine war now marching into its fifth year, and with the next weather-driven “fighting season” underway, a frustrated Ukrainian President Volydymyr Zelensky says the Trump administration is pressuring him to give up the Donbas region in exchange for US security guarantees. He also claims that Russia is offering to stop providing intelligence to Iran if the United States stops giving intel to Ukraine. Last week, we reported that trilateral talks about the Ukraine war had been suspended, thanks to the United States now having to focus on executing Trump’s war on Iran with Israel. However, in an interview with Reuters, Zelensky said that Trump is now pressuring Ukraine to cave on its biggest demand just to wipe the war off his to-do list.

In his 2024 campaign, Trump told voters that he’d have the war settled “before I even arrive at the Oval Office.” “The Middle East definitely has an impact on President Trump, and I think on his next steps. President Trump, unfortunately, in my opinion, still chooses a strategy to put more pressure on the Ukrainian side,” he told Reuters. The principal thrust of that pressure: Ukraine giving up on its demand that the eastern Donbas region be returned to Ukraine, in exchange for US security guarantees for what’s left of the Ukraine after the shooting stops. Comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, the great majority of the Donbas is already under Russian military control.

In addition to all of Luhansk and most of Donetsk, the Russian army has secured most of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts that lie to Donbas’ southwes “The Americans are prepared to finalize these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas,” Zelensky said, adding that such a move would leave Ukraine and Europe vulnerable to Russian aggression, because ceding Donbas would also cede key defensive terrain. Zelensky also bemoaned what he says is an insufficient supply of interceptor missiles for Patriot air defense systems. “We were not stopped from deliveries. I’m very grateful to President Trump, and to his team, but this supply of Patriot missiles is not as large as we need.”
That gripe comes as both US and Israeli interceptor missile supplies are being rapidly diminished in responding to wave after wave of Iranian attacks — weeks after White House boasts that Tehran’s ballistic missile capability had been “functionally destroyed.” Meanwhile, Ukraine has apparently come up with an alternative air defense tactic straight out of a video game: mZelensky also claimed that his military intelligence had acquired “irrefutable” evidence that Russia is sharing intelligence with Iran, as the country continues to defend itself in the war launched by Israel and the United States on Feb. 28. What’s more, he claimed Putin is using that as a bargaining chip to persuade Trump to acknowledge Russian sovereignty over Donbas:
“I have reports from our intelligence services showing that Russia is doing this and saying: ‘I will not pass on intelligence to Iran if America stops passing intelligence to Ukraine.’ Isn’t that blackmail? Absolutely.” This latest stirring of the pot by Zelensky comes on the heels of Russia launching the largest 24-hour aerial attack since the Feb 2022 Russian invasion. Counting both drones and cruise missiles, 979 warheads poured into Ukrainian airspace, with about half of them coming in a very rare broad-daylight blitz on Tuesday. While we can’t verify its authenticity, this video seemingly shows that Trump isn’t the only one who’s unenthusiastic about Zelensky’s pipe dream of retaking the Donbas:
https://twitter.com/Panchenko_X/status/2036810754758754336

” As the Democrat Sodom & Gomorrah Tower of Babel regime that succeeds Trump returns to office, it will be Netanyahu who destroyed America.”

What, not Hillary? Obama?

• Has Trump Let Netanyahu Destroy America? (Paul Craig Roberts)

Donald Trump’s reelection as President was a hopeful development for Americans. Obama and Biden had dismantled America with open borders and DEI. Millions of people were walking into the country claiming health, food, and housing benefits. Merit was cast aside, and a system of race and gender privileges had taken the place of merit and equality under law. White heterosexual males had become second class citizens. Trump’s win was convincing. He found himself with a majority of the Supreme Court. Republicans had the House and Senate, although by narrow margins. AI and data centers were invigorating the economy. Trump pardoned the wrongfully convicted Jan 6 “insurrectionists.” The Justice Department was pursuing the Democrat officials who had weaponized law and committed felonies. The border was being closed. It looked like America would be put back on its feet.

But before the chance at renewal could be set in stone, Netanyahu and the Zionist Lobby intervened. Trump was moved from MAGA to MIGA. Trump gave American approval to the Israeli genocide of Palestine. He fortified the genocide with American money, weapons, and diplomatic cover. He attacked Iran for Israel twice. The first time after Israel’s attempt failed to destroy Iranian uranium enrichment capability used only for peaceful purposes, not for weapons. The second Trump attack on Iran was as Netanyahu’s partner in a sneak military attack on Iran, thus initiating a major war that has not turned out to be the cake walk Trump promised.
Currently the war is going against Israeli-America. Iran has demonstrated staying power and that its missiles can penetrate Israeli-American defenses. US air and naval bases in the Persian Gulf have been badly damaged, some apparently put out of action, and oil sheikdoms that hosted the American bases have had their energy facilities destroyed. Iran has demonstrated that Israeli-America cannot protect Dimona, the site of Israel’s nuclear facilities and weapons. The Gulf of Hormuz is selectively open according to Iran’s decision. Iran has demonstrated that its missiles can hit Diego Garcia and Crete, resulting in the removal of US carriers long distances from the conflict, thus reducing the effectiveness of range-limited fighter aircraft. The insecurity that the war has brought to gas and oil facilities has raised energy prices, binging inflation in its wake. On top of it all, it appears that, confident of quick victory, Netanyahu and Trump initiated a major war unprepared and whose interceptor missiles have run out, but Iran’s attack missiles have not.
Trump does not know what to do. His ultimatum to Iran expired last Monday, but Trump extended it 5 days. There is speculation that either he is creating conditions for declaring victory and going home or is stalling for time to assemble sufficient forces for an invasion, if not of the Iranian vast land mass then of Kharg Island. In other words, Trump is weighing up his choices: to declare victory and leave or to go in deeper. There are reports that Trump has ordered US Marines and paratroops to be sent to bases in the area. If so, it remains to be seen if Iran will strike the troops in their bases before they can invade. The number of American soldiers being sent is not sufficient for a land invasion force. If the intent is to occupy Kharg Island, how do the soldiers arrive alive? If they do arrive, what are they supposed to do, and how do they get out alive?
Considering the total failure of Pentagon planning for the war, it seems we are looking at more unaddressed questions. Meanwhile, the domestic agenda has fallen apart. The prosecutions of New York Attorney General Leticia James, James Comey, and the coterie of Democrat officials who framed Trump supporters and did their best to imprison and dispossess Donald Trump has gone by the wayside. It seems that the Democrats will not be held accountable for weaponizing law, thus leaving weaponized law unchallenged for future use.
With Trump’s attention directed elsewhere by Netanyahu, Minneapolis and Minnesota were able to defeat Trump’s deportation attempt. Moreover the Democrats refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security, thus closing down TSA airport security. Lines to board flights, thanks to Democrats, became four hours long. People missed their flights and connections and confusion reigned. What did Trump do? Did he point to the Democrats? No. Trump pulled ICE off of deportations and assigned them to take the place of TSA. In other words, Trump pulled the Democrats’ bacon out of the fire for them.
It is difficult to imagine a mistake of this magnitude if Trump was not preoccupied by the war Netanyahu, “America’s Greatest Friend,” roped him into. Having been roped into Netanyahu’s war for Greater Israel, Trump is trapped between a rock and a hard place. Thinking the war would be over in three days, no planning was done and Iranian capability was dramatically underestimated. Midterm US elections are on the scene. Trump has stupidly fractured his MAGA movement. He cannot survive politically with a war defeat. How does he obtain a victory? Will nuclear weapons be his and Netanyahu’s alternative to defeat by Iran?
Trump, so determined to demonstrate his support for Israel, this time faces impeachment and conviction and subsequent prosecution if Democrats regain control of Congress. If so, Donald Trump becomes the fall guy for Netanyahu. Trump will be blamed, but it is Netanyahu and Israel’s powerful Zionist Lobby that rules America who took Trump to war. As the Democrat Sodom & Gomorrah Tower of Babel regime that succeeds Trump returns to office, it will be Netanyahu who destroyed America.

Fact. pic.twitter.com/eqk3WoUzw6
— Alexander Duncan (@AlexDuncanTX) March 25, 2026

1821-2026: Years before the revolution started, Greek fighters and monks met at this monastery to create the first symbol of their nation. Here's the story of the first Greek flag as Abbot Iosiph reveals it to Greek Reporter. https://t.co/IfCRCMuGrl pic.twitter.com/AxuOwq4Wo3
— Greek Reporter (@GreekReporter) March 25, 2026

On December 18, 1803, at Zalongo in Greece, a group of Greek Women jumped from the cliffs, holding their children. They chose death over falling into the hands of Muslims where they would face rape and enslavement. They chose death over dishonor. Islam has no place in Greece. pic.twitter.com/Hsh0xkJ8dT
— Homer Pavlos (@HomerPavlos) March 25, 2026

A research links Viagra to a dramatically lower risk of Alzheimer’s.

Recent observational research has revealed a striking association between sildenafil (the active ingredient in Viagra) and a substantially reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

In a large-scale… pic.twitter.com/lOsavuFDJz
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) March 25, 2026

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Debt Rattle August 29 2025

Aug 292025

August 29, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:50 am Finance Tagged with: Anschluss, Ashli Babbitt, Bolton, DNC, frozen assets, Germany, hypersonic, Kinzhal, trans violence 43 Responses »

Tomb of the diver, Paestum c480 BCE

• Moscow Confirms Hypersonic Missile Strikes On Ukraine (RT)

• US Outlines Stance On Frozen Russian Assets (RT)

• Hungary Sues EU Over Frozen Russian Assets Sent To Ukraine (RT)

• Ukraine Conflict Is ‘Modi’s War’ – Navarro (RT)

• EU Public Skeptical Of Sending Troops To Ukraine – WSJ (RT)

• NATO’s Anschluss (Dmitry Medvedev)

• Bolton Investigation Began During Biden Admin (CTH)

• Pulte Drops New Criminal Referral On Lisa Cook As Mortgage Scandal Widens (ZH)

• DNC Moves to Sell Crazy to an Over-Stocked Nation (Turley)

• Western Governments Only Serve Private Interests (Paul Craig Roberts)

• The Camp of the Saints (Paul Craig Roberts)

• With German Economy Shrinking, Military Expands (CTH)

• The German Leader’s Checklist To Success (RT)

• This Truth Bomb on Trans Violence Is a Must Watch (Margolis)

• Air Force Reverses Biden Admin Decision on Ashli Babbitt (TH)

• Melania Trump ‘Laughed’ At Vanity Fair Offer (Miranda Devine)

Hegseth
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1960832613830070324

CDC
https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1960828013547065657

RFK
https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1961068582277648676

48%
https://twitter.com/arianammasters/status/1960737606255214964

Flag
https://twitter.com/benonwine/status/1960721809633923503

Memory

Cognitive neuroscientist Julia Mossbridge, Ph.D, says these memories from the future could mean the notion of time might not be as linear as we imagine. pic.twitter.com/vUe3wJYlmN

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 28, 2025

Show of force or escalation, next step in the fight? Putin vetoed an attack with Oreshnik (there’d be nothing left), but okays Kinzhal.

• Moscow Confirms Hypersonic Missile Strikes On Ukraine (RT)

Russia launched long-range strikes on Ukrainian military targets using a variety of weapons, including hypersonic air-launched Kinzhal missiles, the Defense Ministry in Moscow reported Thursday. The operation hit several weapons plants and airfields, the MOS claimed, confirming earlier reports of an attack from Kiev. Ukraine’s military claimed it intercepted most of the incoming drones and missiles but acknowledged successful Russian strikes at 13 locations, as additional damage caused by debris from downed weapons. One of the attacks was apparently captured on CCTV, with footage circulating online showing two missiles hitting the same location in central Kiev. Some reports identified the site as the office of defense company Ukrspecsystems on Zhilyanskaya Street, which police cordoned off Thursday.

Founded in 2014, Ukrspecsystems manufactures unmanned aerial vehicles, including the long-range PD-2, which has reportedly been used in kamikaze drone attacks deep inside Russian territory, including Moscow. Igor Zinkevich, a Lviv city council member, claimed that Russia also hit a plant in Kiev operated by the Turkish military firm Bayraktar, adding that the attack was the fourth of its kind in six months. Last week, Ukrainian media reported the production launch of a cruise missile dubbed Flamingo, with an estimated range of 3,000 kilometers and a payload of up to 1,000 kilograms. Images of the weapon showed close resemblance to the FP-5, a system unveiled earlier this year by the British-UAE defense firm Milanion Group at an arms expo in Abu Dhabi.

Earlier in August, Russia’s Federal Security Service said it carried out an operation with the military that targeted Ukraine’s Sapsan ballistic missile program, claiming to have infiltrated the project and caused “colossal” damage through subsequent strikes. Moscow has repeatedly accused Western nations of turning Ukraine into a proxy force by supplying weapons and funds, while arguing that Kiev’s war effort is unsustainable and serves foreign rather than Ukrainian interests.

Cautious.

• US Outlines Stance On Frozen Russian Assets (RT)

The US intends to use frozen Russian assets as a bargaining chip in negotiations over Ukraine, rather than seizing them outright and handing them over to Kiev, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said. Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, Bessent explained the US stance on the more than $300 billion in Russian assets immobilized across Western financial institutions since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. The bulk of the funds is within EU jurisdiction, while the US reportedly holds around $5 billion. Moscow has repeatedly denounced the freezing as a “theft.” Bessent suggested that the frozen assets are “part of the negotiation with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” adding that “I don’t think we should seize them immediately.”

“It is a chip on the table during this big negotiating process. And we will see whether part of that goes, part or all goes to the Ukraine rebuild,” he added. There has been heated debate across the West about confiscating Russian assets and transferring them to Ukraine as fast as possible – something Kiev has insisted on. Some EU leaders and experts have cautioned against outright seizure, warning it could violate international law, undermine investor confidence, and destabilize financial markets. The EU has instead opted to transfer profits and interest generated by the assets to Ukraine, with the windfall proceeds estimated at more than $3 billion annually.

Last year, the US Congress passed legislation granting the administration legal authority to confiscate Russian sovereign assets, although Washington has not yet exercised this option, citing legal and financial risks. Instead, the US joined other G7 members in supporting a $50 billion loan to Ukraine backed by interest earnings from frozen Russian assets. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Russia will never renounce its rights to the frozen assets and will not give up defending them. He also warned of “very serious judicial and legal consequences” if the West attempts to seize the funds outright and transfer them to Ukraine.

The EU is not cautious. They will end up having to pay Russia $300 billion. Well, not the EU, but the member countries.

• Hungary Sues EU Over Frozen Russian Assets Sent To Ukraine (RT)

Hungary has sued the EU over its decision to use frozen Russian assets to fund military aid for Ukraine, a move adopted despite Budapest’s opposition. Western nations froze an estimated $300 billion in Russian assets after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 – some €200 billion of which is held by Brussels-based clearinghouse Euroclear. The funds have accrued billions in interest, and the West has explored ways to use the revenue to finance Ukraine. The lawsuit challenges the European Council’s decision last year to channel military aid to Ukraine through the European Peace Facility (EPF), which reimburses countries that send weapons to Kiev. Implemented in February, the measure directs 99.7% of interest generated from frozen Russian central bank assets to Ukraine, providing an estimated €3-5 billion ($3.5-5.8 billion) annually.

In a case first filed with the EU Court of Justice and later transferred to the General Court, Hungary is demanding to “annul the decision… on allocating funds to assistance measures for supplying military support to the Ukrainian Armed Forces” and to “order the defendants to cover the costs.” Budapest contends that the EPF acted unlawfully by bypassing its veto, arguing that Hungary is not a “contributing member state.” “As a result, the principle of equality between Member States and the principle of the democratic functioning of the European Union were infringed because a Member State was deprived, unjustifiably and without a legal basis, of its right to vote,” the filing says.

Hungary opposes the bloc’s unconditional support for Kiev and prefers peace talks to continued fighting. Budapest has repeatedly used its veto to block EU financial and military aid, including a disputed €50 billion package at the end of 2023. The standoff has pushed other EU members to seek ways to sidestep Budapest’s resistance. Moscow has denounced the asset freeze as “robbery” and a breach of international law, warning it would backfire on the West. Senior Kremlin official Maksim Oreshkin said the freeze had already undermined trust in Western finance, while Russian President Vladimir Putin cautioned that seizing the assets would accelerate a global shift toward alternative payment systems.

What a dumb thing to say. He also said Indians are too arrogant.

• Ukraine Conflict Is ‘Modi’s War’ – Navarro (RT)

A senior trade adviser to US President Donald Trump has claimed the Ukraine conflict is effectively Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “war,” alleging that New Delhi’s discounted oil purchases from Moscow are helping Russia’s armed forces. Speaking to Bloomberg TV on Wednesday, Peter Navarro said India would immediately have 50% US tariffs reduced to 25% if it stopped buying Russian oil. “I mean, it is essentially Modi’s war because the road to peace runs, in part, through New Delhi,” he said. Navarro’s remarks coincided with the implementation Trump’s 50% tariffs on Indian goods, one of the highest in global trade.

Last week, Navarro made a similar accusation that India’s discounted purchases of Russian oil are indirectly supporting Moscow’s troops, and even branded the South Asian nation a “laundromat for the Kremlin.” Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar responded that nobody is “forced” to buy oil products from his country. “Europe buys [Russian energy products], America buys, so you don’t like it, don’t buy it,” he said. New Delhi has strongly condemned the US tariffs as “unfair and unreasonable,” arguing that Western nations themselves do even more business with Moscow. India insists that its imports from Russia serve the national interest and help ensure affordable energy for its consumers.

Don’t you know they’re gonna kill, kill your sons…

• EU Public Skeptical Of Sending Troops To Ukraine – WSJ (RT)

A significant proportion of the EU population is unhappy about the prospect of sending troops to Ukraine after any ceasefire or peace deal due to the absence of firm US “security guarantees” and fears of being drawn into a conflict with Russia, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Tuesday. While some Western European leaders are contemplating the idea of dispatching thousands of soldiers to the country if the hostilities were to end, they have to “contend… with the inconvenient fact that many voters are opposed to any deployment that places troops in harm’s way,” the report says. Unnamed European officials also told the WSJ that “it is difficult to secure public support without a clear US commitment to backstop any deployment.” US President Donald Trump has ruled out sending ground troops to Ukraine, but said Washington could provide other kinds of support.

Eastern European countries are generally cautious about shifting forces from their own borders, the WSJ noted, adding that opposition to troop deployment is particularly strong in Germany and Italy, where the historical memory of World War II still shapes public opinion. In Germany, domestic opposition runs deep, spanning both right and left-wing parties; a recent Insa poll suggested that 56% there are opposed to sending troops to Ukraine. France, one of the more vocal supporters of a potential European military force, has seen public opinion hinge on conditions. A March survey by Elabe found 67% supported sending troops if a peace accord is reached, but 68% opposed a deployment without one.

Meanwhile, the British public generally supports possible deployment, but several polls have indicated that it “wouldn’t want to provoke a direct confrontation with Russia,” the report says. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also stressed the need for a US security backstop if UK forces were deployed – something Washington has not committed to. Russia has consistently opposed the idea of NATO countries sending in troops. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said the prospect of the bloc shifting its military infrastructure into Ukraine was “one of the root causes” of the conflict and has reiterated that Moscow views current discussions about deployments negatively.

The ‘original’ use of the term Anschluss goes back to the 1870s. Today, it mostly refers to March 12, 1938, when Austria joined nazi Germany. Austria had a neutral status ever since WWII ended.

• NATO’s Anschluss (Dmitry Medvedev)

The countries of the Old World are intoxicated by militaristic frenzy. Like spellbound moths, they flock to the destructive flame of the North Atlantic Alliance. Until recently, Europe still had states that understood: security could be ensured without joining military blocs. Now reason is giving way to herd instinct. Following Finland and Sweden, Austria’s establishment – egged on by bloodthirsty Brussels – is fueling public debate about abandoning its constitutionally enshrined neutrality in favor of NATO membership. Austrian society is far from enthusiastic about the idea. The New Austria liberal party, led by Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger and eager to embrace the bloc, won less than 10% of the vote in the last election. By contrast, the opposition Freedom Party of Austria, which firmly opposes blindly copying Brussels’ militaristic agenda, received support from 37% of citizens. But in today’s Europe, when has the will of the people truly stood in the way?

Efforts to erode Austria’s neutrality have been underway for quite some time. As far back as the 1990s, local revisionists began building military ties under the guise of “participation in the EU’s common security and defense policy.” Until 2009, when the Treaty of Lisbon came into force, it was mostly empty talk – about coordinating military development among EU member states, but without binding obligations. Afterward, the argument shifted: the treaty didn’t specify the scope or timing of the assistance that “united Europe” was obligated to provide in the event of an attack. And, in any case, the EU was officially regarded as an economic union. The fact that most of its members already belonged to NATO was conveniently left unsaid. At the same time, Austria was expanding its military presence beyond Europe, taking part in EU training missions – thereby raising its profile in Brussels.

And it was generously rewarded: from 2022 to 2025, the chair of the EU Military Committee was held by Austrian General Robert Brieger. The Austrians hadn’t shone so “brightly” on Europe’s military stage since World War 2 – when Wehrmacht colonel generals Lothar Rendulic and Erhard Raus, and Luftwaffe commander Alexander Löhr, “distinguished themselves.” As the EU was expanding its defense capabilities, Austria was quietly undergoing militarization and NATO-ization. Vienna participated in the Alliance’s “Partnership for Peace” while the country was already de-facto a component of the bloc’s logic. Austria, despite not actually being a NATO member, has become a key transit territory for the bloc. In 2024 alone, it was traversed by more than 3,000 NATO military vehicles, and its airspace accommodated over 5,000 NATO flights.

Against this backdrop, opinions were voiced in Vienna that a “faltering pacifist consensus” and the “Russian threat” offer a historic opportunity to break free from the “shackles of the past” – namely, to scrap neutrality. Yet neutrality is woven into the very fabric of Austria’s statehood, re-engineered by the Allied powers after World War 2. It is enshrined in the three binding 1955 documents: the Moscow Memorandum, the State Treaty for the Re-establishment of an Independent and Democratic Austria, and Austria’s own Federal Constitutional Act on Permanent Neutrality. These documents are the country’s legal foundation. Should they be removed, the entire edifice of the Austrian statehood is bound to collapse. What is there to do for Moscow, which was, in essence, one of the architects of modern Austria? The answer is to give enthusiasts of war hysteria a slap on the wrist within the framework of international law. The answers to two key questions – whether Austria has the right to unilaterally renounce its legislatively enshrined neutrality, and whether it can independently decide to join NATO – are both unequivocally negative.

Article 27 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties states explicitly that no provisions of a country’s internal law may serve as justification for violating an international treaty. Also, NATO cannot be considered a regional organization of collective defense, and therefore joining the alliance won’t grant a permanently neutral state the same benefits as its guaranteed neutrality. These provisions are recognized by respected figures deeply versed in the issue. For example, former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, now head of the G.O.R.K.I. Center at St. Petersburg State University, stresses that altering the status quo of neutrality requires the consent of all the Allied powers that signed the 1955 treaty, including Russia as the legal successor of the USSR. Moscow retains the right to veto Vienna’s move down the NATO path.

The hawkish faction of Austria’s elite must grasp the full scale of foreign-policy losses that would follow from abandoning neutrality and joining NATO. Today, Vienna is a hub for multilateral diplomacy, hosting around 20 intergovernmental organizations. This ensures its engagement in global processes and the development of legal frameworks to address emerging challenges and threats. The decision to establish offices of the UN, IAEA, OSCE and OPEC in Vienna was largely predicated on its non-aligned status, which provides an effective platform for dialogue and regional cooperation.

Replacing neutrality with a bloc mentality undermines the very “spirit of Vienna” and makes it impossible for Austria to maintain balanced relations with its diverse international partners. As a result, the country is losing its unique role as a mediator and a hub for major international institutions. This leads to an obvious conclusion: it is time to consider relocating international organizations’ headquarters to countries in the Global South and East that can provide the necessary conditions for their work. Adding to all this, Austria’s militaristic turn is shattering its peacemaker image, sharply curtailing its sovereign room for maneuver. Instead, it significantly increases the risk that Austria’s Bundesheer units may find themselves included in the Russian Armed Forces’ long-range mission plans. A package of countermeasures was adopted against Sweden and Finland after their NATO accession, and Austria should not expect any exceptions here.

“Selling information is the currency of affluence in Washington DC. That’s why the removal of security clearances is looked upon as devastating within the beltway..”

• Bolton Investigation Began During Biden Admin (CTH)

[..] the New York Times now outlines how the investigation into John Bolton began during the Biden administration and picked up speed after they received access to his email information from an “adversarial country’s spy service.” Apparently, John Bolton used an unclassified email system to send information to his friends and allies. The emails were intercepted. Bolton was discussing information that appears to have been the outcome of his access to classified information as National Security Advisor. CTH has previously outlined how John Bolton’s business model was essentially selling information and influence. This common DC business model seems to have formed the baseline for him to share sensitive, possibly classified information, of greater value. This does not come as a surprise. Selling information is the currency of affluence in Washington DC. That’s why the removal of security clearances is looked upon as devastating within the beltway. New York Times story below:

NEW YORK TIMES – The investigation into President Trump’s former national security adviser, John R. Bolton, began to pick up momentum during the Biden administration, when U.S. intelligence officials collected information that appeared to show that he had mishandled classified information, according to people familiar with the inquiry. The United States gathered data from an adversarial country’s spy service, including emails with sensitive information that Mr. Bolton, while still working in the first Trump administration, appeared to have sent to people close to him on an unclassified system, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive case that remains open.

The emails in question, according to the people, were sent by Mr. Bolton and included information that appeared to derive from classified documents he had seen while he was national security adviser. Mr. Bolton apparently sent the messages to people close to him who were helping him gather material that he would ultimately use in his 2020 memoir, “The Room Where It Happened.” In a sign of the stakes for Mr. Bolton, he is in talks to retain the high-profile criminal defense lawyer Abbe Lowell. Mr. Lowell, who has represented Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Mr. Biden’s son Hunter, is defending two other prominent perceived enemies of Mr. Trump who are now under scrutiny: the New York state attorney general, Letitia James, and Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board.

At the time of the raid, we noted the activity of Bolton mirrors that of former Senator John McCain (now dead). “An FBI investigation under the auspices of potential violations of the Espionage Act, where Bolton would have leveraged current or prior classified intelligence information as part of his influence business. Almost identically to former Senator John McCain, John Bolton was well known to intersect with the nation of Qatar as part of his operation. Qatar has deep pockets and a long-identified influence operation throughout the Middle East, sometimes playing both sides. Qatar is also the playground for the CIA. While it is yet unknown which nation and which activity Bolton was likely engaged in, the highest probability centers around the deepest pockets, which would also put Bolton on the CIA radar. Since initially writing that outline, someone noticed this video from John McCain’s funeral.

looks like he made one of those deals right here on camera at John McCain's funeral. isn't that Mouaz Moustafa, Syrian ETF handing Bolton gold bar or something wrapped in a handkerchief? pic.twitter.com/qXwtre73eL

— The Rubber Duck ™ (@TheRubberDuck79) August 25, 2025

Something is being given to John Bolton in that video. Something from Mouaz Moustafa, Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF) and Senator John McCain’s intermediary to the Muslim Brotherhood. If I had to guess, from the position of Moustafa and those behind him (Muslim Brotherhood/Qatar), John Bolton became the replacement for John McCain after the senator’s death. We wait to find out the details of the predicate for the FBI raid.

Letitia James as NY prosecutor, Ketanji Jackson at the Supreme Court, Lisa Cook at the Fed. Three black women that fit the DEI profile, but not the profiles required for their positions.

• Pulte Drops New Criminal Referral On Lisa Cook As Mortgage Scandal Widens (ZH)

On Thursday night, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte dropped a second criminal referral against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook based on evidence that she entered into a 15-year mortgage on a third property which she listed as her “Second Home.” On an ethics form signed with the government, however, Cook noted it as an “investment/rental property.” Why is this bad and not simply a ‘clerical error’? As Pulte notes, “Representing the property as a second home may have allowed Cook to secure a lower “Second Home” mortgage down payment and rates, as investment properties typically carry higher down payments and higher rates due to increased risk.”

3 strikes and you’re out.

Today, U.S. Federal Housing sent a 2nd Criminal Referral in the matter of Lisa D. Cook, related to a mortgage on a 3rd property and alleged misrepresentations about her properties to the United States Government during her time as Governor of the… pic.twitter.com/TAH68Mia23

— Pulte (@pulte) August 29, 2025

This new criminal referral follows an initial referral Pulte made after Cook listed two properties as her ‘primary residence’ in 2021 – ostensibly reaping manifold benefits on tax treatment and interest rates, which Cook hasn’t denied. [..] Earlier Thursday, Cook filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after President Donald Trump fired her on Monday ‘for cause.’ Among the excuses contained in the lawsuit for listing two properties as her primary residence was a possible clerical error. Except, Cook described herself in her 2023 nomination hearing as having “significant experience in banking and finance, as is evidenced by my service on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and of a Community Development Financial Institution in Michigan, in addition to my employment at an investment bank and a large commercial bank.”

"Clerical error" pic.twitter.com/ThnHKeRFS9

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 29, 2025

So she claims to be a banking expert, while anyone in the industry who’s done all the mandatory mind-numbing ‘continuing education’ has had these exact types of scenarios pounded into their heads ad nauseam, for years.

(Update: 1532ET): A Biden-appointed federal judge who defied a Supreme Court ruling earlier this month has been ‘randomly’ assigned to the (Biden-appointed) Lisa Cook case, after the Federal Reserve Governor filed a lawsuit challenging her Monday firing by President Trump. Her complaint doesn’t deny the underlying allegations of mortgage fraud – and instead argues that she couldn’t have been fired ‘for cause’ over something that happened before she was confirmed to the Fed. Cook also argues that claiming two houses as her ‘primary residence’ at the same time may have been a simple ‘clerical error.’

“Sell crazy someplace else. We’re all stocked up here.”

• DNC Moves to Sell Crazy to an Over-Stocked Nation (Turley)

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) appears to be doubling down on crazy in Minneapolis this week with calls to pack the Supreme Court and other extremist priorities. For voters who have repeatedly shown that they want to move to a more moderate center, you are left like Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets when his character, Melvin Udall, who declared, “Sell crazy someplace else. We’re all stocked up here.” As many know, I was raised in a politically active, liberal, Democratic family in Chicago and worked much of my life for Democratic candidates and campaigns. This week again reminded many of us how far the party has moved from its more centrist history. That includes another call to pack the Supreme Court with liberals to force or ratify sweeping political and social changes. The meeting started in a signature fashion.

Lindy Sowmick, treasurer of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) spoke to the delegates after DNC Chairman Ken Martin asked her to recite the land acknowledgment. Sowmick asked the delegates to think about her works: “As Democrats, I ask of every one of you to not allow land acknowledgments like these to simply be the checking of a box – be curious, ask questions, ensure our native neighbors are heard and work in partnership with your Indigenous communities.” Sowmick then declared: “The DNC acknowledges and honors the Dakota Oyate – the Dakota people – who are the original stewards of the lands and waters of Minneapolis. The Dakota cared for the lands, lakes and the Wakpa Tanka – the ‘Great River,’ the Mississippi River – for thousands of years before colonization. This land was not claimed, or traded – it’s a part of a history of broken treaties and promises. And, in many ways, we still live in a system built to suppress Indigenous peoples’ cultural and spiritual history.”

From there, it was a free-for-all, including a fierce fight over a resolution to condemn Israel. Martin strangely forced a divisive debate, where he and others pushed through a resolution that only called for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid, which was denounced by others. After passing the resolution, he then moved to rescind it as an act of unity. It left many wondering what the purpose of the exercise was in forcing a debate and then withdrawing the passed resolution. Delegates continued to show how out of touch the party has become, including one assuring delegates that the public really does not care about carjackings and migrant crimes despite the polls. Another insisted that today the nation is worse to live in than during the pandemic.

Laurence S. Zakson is a DNC member from California and a partner at Reich Adell & Cvitan in Beverly Hills. He and others called for Congress to act on changing the size of the Supreme Court due to the alleged partisan agenda of the majority and the failure to reach correct decisions. It is the same playbook that Democrats have used in the last two elections to pack the Court with liberals. Some on the left have even called for the Supreme Court to be “dissolved.” That rhetoric has been matched by Democratic leaders. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer previously declared in front of the Supreme Court, “I want to tell you, [Neil] Gorsuch, I want to tell you, [Brett] Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) stated that she wants to impeach all six of the conservative justices. She was immediately joined by other Democratic members. Previously, she admitted that she does not understand why we even have a Supreme Court. She asked, “How much does the current structure benefit us? And I don’t think it does.” Other members, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), have called for packing the Court with additional members to immediately secure a liberal majority to rule as she desires. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., RI) has assured voters that Vice President Kamala Harris will support the packing of the Court with a liberal majority. Polls show the public understands that such moves are madness. Some of us have discussed the expansion of the Supreme Court for years, but there is a difference between expanding and packing. This is court packing in its rawest and most dangerous form. It is one last pitch for crazy in an already over-stocked nation.

“Once upon a time in America it was understood that enough money could buy integrity, turn lies into truth, and justify evil as public good.”

• Western Governments Only Serve Private Interests (Paul Craig Roberts)

Despite Robert F. Kennedy being Secretary of Health, Pfizer still has its hold on the FDA, which reports to Kennedy. The FDA has removed emergency use authorization for Covid “vaccines,” but the death shot is still authorized for those older adults and children as young as 5 who have even one health problem that puts them at high risk from the Covid virus, essentially an unknown risk that can be declared by any doctor on Big Pharma’s payroll.

This ruling is medically nonsensical for two reasons. One is that the alleged “vaccine” is known to be ineffective in preventing Covid. In other words it is not a successful vaccine under any conditions. This has been admitted by the vaccine makers themselves and by Bill Gates, a heavy pusher of the “vaccines.” The British “vaccine” maker even pulled the vaccine off the market. The second reason is that the alleged “vaccines” have been proven unsafe. Indeed, the “vaccines” are more dangerous than Covid. Far more people have been killed and injured by the “vaccines” than by Covid. I have provided many links to scientific articles in medical journals demonstrating the extreme danger of the “vaccine.” Big Pharma has brought RFK, Jr., to heel.

Although the “vaccine” is no longer mandated, Kennedy says the Covid vaccines “are available for all patients who choose them after consulting with their doctors.” But as Kennedy knows, the majority of American doctors are nothing but the brainwashed tools of Big Pharma. Big Pharma grants to medical schools gives them influence over the curriculum taught to doctors. Big Pharma grants to medical scientists gives them control over what is published in peer-reviewed medical journals. In my website’s archive is an article reporting that the editors of the two most prestigious medical journals, The New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet, both said that they had no confidence in the articles they published because 70% of them were written with grants from the pharmaceutical industry. Big Pharma even pays “medical scientists” to write against the natural supplements that do help us.

Once upon a time in America it was understood that enough money could buy integrity, turn lies into truth, and justify evil as public good. This realization on the part of the public could not prevent money from purchasing integrity, from turning lies into truth, and from disguising evil, but it limited it so honest truthful moral life could continue, at least partially. But today all limits to the corrupting power of money have been removed. Everything can be bought. We even have the spectacle of young American women selling their pussy on the Internet. And evangelical churches sell out Christ for Israeli money and turn themselves into Zionists.

Thomas Jefferson was always in opposition to power centralized in the federal government. He knew that the power would be privatized to serve the interest of the ruling clique. When he returned from France he was astonished by the extent to which his colleagues had privatized the government. Historians speak of corruption, which is their euphemism for the privatization of government to serve private interests.

The military budgets, which President Trump insists must increase in the European Union, threats of war and preparation for war are a huge profit-maker not only for the armaments manufacturers but also from the bribes to politicians that go hand in hand with arms sales. A more polite word is commissions. For the US, President Trump has requested a 13.4% increase in military spending. The US Senate has proposed a larger increase. Why? We only have enemies of our own choosing. Russia, China, and Iran have no interest in war. The reason is that they do not have the military/security complex that President Eisenhower warned us against as long ago as 1961. This is America’s problem. So far the US military-security complex has forced Washington to violate the George H. W. Bush administration’s promise not to move NATO to the Russian border.

The US military/security complex funds neoconservatives, their think tanks, university departments, and publications and, thereby, funds their foreign policy objective of Washington’s hegemony over the world. Such a foreign policy means war and nothing but war. All of the meetings, talk, and commentary about Ukrainian peace negotiations is cover for continuing a war that Washington’s puppet state is losing. There is still the prospect of European soldiers being sent to Ukraine’s defense with US weapons purchased by Europe. The US military/security complex is salivating. The way Trump hopes to get out of the war is to turn it over to the EU with contracts to purchase American weapons. Recently Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov, who has been extremely dense until now, realized and said that Russia was at war with an empire and that it would be a long war. The long war will be the product of Putin’s blunder in not quickly taking the conflict in Ukraine to victory.

“..a lot of money will be made from bribes to purchase military weapons, money that will allow the ruling elite to escape from Britain as the country descends into its grave.”

• The Camp of the Saints (Paul Craig Roberts)

The English people have turned to Elon Musk for protection against immigrant-invader rape gangs that the UK government enables and encourages by non-enforcement to terrorize and rape English girls. The headline reads: “Musk vows to fund lawsuits against UK officials over grooming gangs.” [..] Over the decades Oxford and Cambridge have infused the “colonialist, racist” British ruling class with so much racial guilt that the UK government is incapable of defending its white citizens. Over these years, the illegal immigrant-invaders have learned that they enjoy immunity from “racist” law and have the de facto right to sexually use white English females in addition to public support from the white taxpayers. The situation has deteriorated so much that there are 85 areas in England where white women are unsafe.

England is being erased. In out of the way places there are still some picturesque villages with thatched and slate roofed cottages and a friendly local pub. There are still castles and manorial estates where descendants of an aristocratic warrior class, which formed England out of chaos and protected the English from immigrant-invaders such as the Vikings, lived a civilized life. These estates, now properties of the National Trust, are designations for bus tours that bring tourists who wander through the former residences of earls and viscounts. But the cities are lost. In 2021 only 36 percent of London’s population was white British. The percentage is lower today. Clearly, the British ruling elite made the decision to replace the ethnic British, although some say that it is a Zionist plot to rid Jews of white gentiles.

“Multiculturalism” is the tool for replacing whites with massive unhindered third world immigration. The function of the rape gangs is to use white females to breed more white replacements. The same thing is happening in Europe and North America. In England things are so unfavorable for white British that a social media post shows a video of a blond white female pub owner or manager refusing entry to a white British citizen because he has a Union Jack (British) flag. The flag might offend an immigrant-invader. The pub owner or manager is so indoctrinated that it does not occur to her to wonder why immigrant-invaders are in England if they are offended by the English flag. An Israeli flag might well offend a Muslim immigrant-invader, but if the pub’s spokeswoman refused entry to the Star of David she would be arrested for anti-semitism.

Another video shows two pre-teen white English girls warding off a gang-banger with a knife and a hatchet. The police arrested the girls for threatening violence with prohibited weapons. Nothing was done about the immigrant-invader who provoked their defense. Looking at England we see a country with a destroyed belief system leaving it unable to protect itself and its white ethnic citizens. Most certainly the British are incapable of going to war with Russia. But in the meantime a lot of money will be made from bribes to purchase military weapons, money that will allow the ruling elite to escape from Britain as the country descends into its grave.

Hide economic collapse behind the army. Sounds just like the 1930s.

• With German Economy Shrinking, Military Expands (CTH)

History rhyming is likely just a coincidence. Then again, if it were a coincidence, it wouldn’t be so predictable would it. Simultaneous with the German economy contracting and Chancellor Fredrich Merz saying the expansive entitlement programs are no longer sustainable, as if on cue the German Bundestag is now promoting conscription to make their military much bigger.The compulsory military service plan is being decided amid two options. Option #1 is compulsory service reinstated only if the Bundestag vote for it. Option #2 is mandated military service becomes automatically law if voluntary conscription targets are missed.This new military service requirement is coming on the heels of Germany pledging to lead the coalition of the willing on NATO spending. Remember, CIA operations in Ukraine are based out of Germany.

“GERMANY – […] Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a sweeping reform of military service, requiring 18-year-old men to register in a new selection system while keeping actual service voluntary.Those who choose to sign up — typically for a half-year stint, with the option to extend up to 23 months — will be offered more generous pay and training options.[…] The party aims to introduce changes when the bill comes before parliament for its first reading between Oct. 8 and 10, according to Thomas Erndl, MP and spokesperson for defense policy in Merz’s Christian Democratic bloc.“We cannot risk a situation where targets are missed and nothing happens — there has to be a mechanism that guarantees the numbers we need,” said Erndl. “That’s why the law needs to be changed.” Under the government’s draft law, agreed Wednesday, compulsory service could only be reinstated if the Bundestag voted for it. Conservatives want to go further: Their proposal would create an automatic trigger — if recruitment targets are missed, conscription would return without another parliamentary decision.”

Interesting timing.

He will spend Germany straight into a depression. 1930s.

• The German Leader’s Checklist To Success (RT)

German chancellor Friedrich Merz has made a moderate media splash and ruffled some feathers in his own ruling coalition with the Centrist Social Democrats (SPD). Using the platform of a regional party congress of his CDU Conservatives in Niedersachsen, Merz has delivered a speech that immediately attracted national attention and will be remembered for one phrase. “The social [welfare] state, as we have it today,” the chancellor declared with appropriately dour mien, “can no longer be financed by what we are achieving economically.” Put differently, severe budget cuts on social issues are coming. And since that is a policy operative since, at the latest, 2003, there really isn’t so much left to cut. Merz is promising his people more of a bad time. His people. Not, however, the ultra-corrupt political anti-elite of Ukraine.

Just before Merz’s claim that Germany cannot afford what it used to offer to Germans who pay for it, his government promised €9 billion ($10.4 bn) per year for Ukraine in 2025 and 2026, for now. That is on top of the €44 billion already sent that way. Germany is the “second-largest backer” of the Kiev regime in the world, as its obviously thoroughly detached finance minister Lars Klingbeil emphasizes with a perverse pride that must sound like a bad joke to many of his compatriots. Speaking of Klingbeil, in his Niedersachsen speech Merz also announced that he would “deliberately not make it easy” for his government colleagues from the SPD, who include, of course, Klingbeil. The SPD, of course, is well-known for being against harsh reductions in what Germans can expect from, in essence, old-age pensions, public health care, and the basic form of unemployment insurance now known as “Bürgergeld” (literally, “citizens’ money”).

There is no reason to underestimate Merz’s genuine ideological commitment. It is true that, in general, he is unusually brutal about being dishonest even for a politician: Germany’s current leader has already proven that he is capable of breathtaking flipflops, staggering electoral bad faith, and underhanded maneuvering that violates the spirit of democracy if not the letter of the constitution. In the spring, his U-turn on public debt, to finance Germany’s new militarism on – exuberant – credit, was not only a massive breach of trust regarding especially his own conservative voters. Shamelessly exploiting a legal loophole, Merz also executed this radical reversal – many in his own party called it betrayal – by relying on parliamentary majorities that had already been cancelled by an election.

Likewise, Merz’s coalition then proceeded to break promises regarding an energy tax relief as well as benefits for mothers. Germans are angry, but there is no sign that Merz and his government care. Consequently, according to a fresh poll by the reputable INSA institute, 62 percent of Germans are dissatisfied with their government. And yet, there is a hard core of authentic Merz, shaped by his own wealth, a very privileged life without material worries, and his long career as an overpaid member of the supervisory-board network nobility, at BlackRock and elsewhere: if there is one thing Germany’s leader is sincere about, it is his iron will to make the less well-off bleed more and work even harder, while making sure that those as materially comfortable and safe as himself get even richer. Call it neoliberalism with an unsmiling German face.

Merz, of course, is also a very ordinary man, incapable of much self-reflection. He cannot honestly face any of the above. Instead he misunderstands himself as a savior of the fatherland, which he sees in need of much tough love and plenty of wholesome kicks up the backside to rediscover discipline, hard work, and competitiveness. [..] What was much more interesting was Merz’s reasoning. In his own words, the central political challenge is to prove that Germany “can be governed successfully from the center.” Or to be concrete, to keep down and out of power Germany’s two “populist” insurgent parties: from the right the very successful Alternative for Germany party (AfD), which tends to lead German opinion polls now, and, from the left, the currently marginalized – probably by foul play in the manner of, say, Romania or Moldova – but still threatening Bündnis Sarah Wagenknecht (BSW).

“When someone has an illness, we should treat it instead of affirm it. We don’t celebrate schizophrenia. We don’t encourage depression.”

• This Truth Bomb on Trans Violence Is a Must Watch (Margolis)

The nation was left reeling Wednesday after a tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, where a gunman killed two young children and injured several others. Authorities later identified the shooter as a transgender-identifying male with radical left-wing views—a detail the media was quick to downplay. Sadly, this has become an all-too-familiar pattern. Just as we saw after the 2023 Covenant school massacre in Nashville, the press is once again bending over backwards to bury the shooter’s transgender identity. On his Fox News program Wednesday night, Jesse Watters blasted the media for their blatant double standard. In his monologue, Watters detailed cases of shootings, firebombings, and ideological extremism, and accused politicians of placing ideology over child safety.

Watters began with an unapologetic charge, linking a recent Catholic school shooting to a broader trend. “So a suicidal transgender who hates Trump’s Christians and Jews shoots up kids at a Catholic school, and the media wants to take away your handgun. So how are we supposed to protect ourselves from trans shooters?” he asked, before accusing the press of deliberately ignoring what he sees as an undeniable pattern. According to Watters, this is not an isolated phenomenon. “The media’s bad at pattern recognition. We aren’t. Just two years ago, another trans 20-something walked into a Christian school in Nashville with a rifle and shot three kids and three adults. They buried the manifesto and locked down the case. We’ve seen trans shootings in Colorado and in Maryland. They even shot up an ICE facility in Texas. And it seems like half of Antifa’s trans. A couple of they-thems just got popped for firebombing Teslas.”

But when Watters raised this concern, he noted that officials like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey jumped to shut it down. He played a clip of Frey at a press conference earlier in the day when he said, “Anybody who is using this … as an opportunity to villainize our trans community or any other community out there has lost their sense of common humanity…. We should not be operating out of a place of hate for anyone…. We should be operating from a place of love for our kids.” Watters pushed back again Frey’s statement. “I don’t hate anyone who thinks they’re trans. I feel sorry for them. But statistically, the trans population has been prone to violence. That’s not villainizing, that’s reality, and if you can’t recognize reality, you’re in danger.

“We love the American people, especially American children, and if they’re troubled and believe they’re somehow a girl trapped in a boy’s body, we wanna get ’em help. We don’t wanna give ’em hormones and operate on them. Society shouldn’t be trying to produce more trans kids.” Watters continued, “We shouldn’t be encouraging an emotional disorder, or whatever this is, and doctors should stop profiting from it. Great Britain ended child sex change surgeries. They said it’s barbaric, and they’re right. And politicians should stop elevating the trans issue like it’s the civil rights struggle of the 21st century.” Still, leftist leaders doubled down on proud declarations of sanctuary for the trans community. Watters dismissed such rhetoric as absurd. “So when your nine-year-old tells you he’s a horse, do you let him sleep out in the barn and eat hay? What are we doing here?

“Just a few years ago, the psychiatric community classified transgenderism as a mental illness. Then doctors went woke and removed it as a condition, and now millions of young Americans are identifying themselves as trans and getting high fives. When someone has an illness, we should treat it instead of affirm it. We don’t celebrate schizophrenia. We don’t encourage depression.” Watters then accused the Left of weaponizing children for political aims. “Teenagers are confused…. But the Left’s weaponizing trans kids and turning them into culture warriors, and they’ve been turned loose against the Church, schools, and Trump. You see it, I see it. The trans clan has a militant wing, and it’s out for blood. They’re taking lives, defiling churches, and freaking everybody out.”

Watters got it exactly right. America’s ruling class knows there’s a disturbing connection between trans ideology and violence, yet they insist on burying the evidence under hollow slogans and woke talking points. The brutal reality is that a disturbing pattern has emerged — one that the Left dares not acknowledge because it undermines their sacred narrative. Instead, the media and politicians run interference, excusing and silencing the truth, while innocent Americans — especially our children — are left exposed as potential victims of an agenda they never asked for.

https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1960858413195231453

“Ashli, age 35, was unarmed when she was fatally shot. She stood 5’3’ tall and weighed 115 pounds. Her hands were up in the air, empty…”

• Air Force Reverses Biden Admin Decision on Ashli Babbitt (TH)

The U.S. Air Force will provide full military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt, the Air Force veteran fatally shot inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by then-Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd. The development comes after Judicial Watch wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urging him to “make a new determination granting military funeral honors” for Babbitt, which had been denied by the Biden administration. Senior counsel Robert Sticht asked Hegseth to consider two recent updates related to the case.

First, on January 20, 2025, President Trump granted clemency for certain offenses relating to the events at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Presidential proclamation states, “This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation.” President Trump (a) commuted the sentences of certain individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021; (b) granted a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of [similar] offenses….

Second … on July 2, 2025, the United States of America paid a damage award of nearly five million dollars to settle a wrongful death lawsuit that Judicial Watch and I brought forward on behalf of the Estate of Ashli Babbitt and her husband Aaron Babbitt to ensure justice and accountability for the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt on January 6, 2021. Once again, Gen. Kelly’s denial of military funeral honors for Ashli’s funeral cannot be reconciled with this landmark legal settlement. Many well-documented facts now clearly show that the fatal shooting was not justified.

For example, Ashli was the only official homicide on January 6, 2021. Ashli, age 35, was unarmed when she was fatally shot. She stood 5’3’ tall and weighed 115 pounds. Her hands were up in the air, empty, and in plain view of Lt. Byrd and four armed officers behind him. Seven additional armed officers were behind Ashli, including four Containment and Emergency Response Team officers. Ashli posed no threat to the safety of any officer nor any Member of Congress who stayed after Member evacuation. Ashli was begging officers to call for backup before she was shot. Officers ignored Ashli.

The only shot fired that day was the one Lt. Byrd fired to kill Ashli. Lt. Byrd was not in uniform. Lt. Byrd did not identify himself as a police officer or otherwise make his presence known to Ashli. Lt. Byrd also did not give Ashli any warnings or commands before firing the shot that killed her. Ashli never saw Lt. Byrd because he was hidden from her view. She was ambushed and defenseless. Multiple witnesses at the scene yelled, “you just murdered her.” Lt. Byrd later told the world on NBC Nightly News that he “had no clue” about the individual he shot. “I didn’t even know it was a female until hours, way later … that night,” he said. (Judicial Watch)

Persuaded by developments since the initial request was denied in 2021 and the circumstances of her death, Under Secretary of the Air Force Matthew L. Lohmeier wrote to Babbitt’s husband and mother telling them he believe the “previous determination was incorrect.” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton praised the decision.

BREAKING: The US Air Force has RESTORED funeral honors to veteran Ashli Babbitt — reversing a vicious, political decision by the Biden regime to deny them to her and her grieving family. Thank you @RealDonaldTrump, @SecDef @PeteHegseth and @usairforce Under Sec @matthewlohmeier!… https://t.co/kdSCWkelUg

— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) August 27, 2025

“Ashli Babbitt’s family is grateful to President Trump, Secretary Hegseth and Under Secretary Lohmeier for reversing the Biden Defense Department’s cruel decision to deny Ashli funeral honors as a distinguished veteran of the Air Force,” said Fitton. “Judicial Watch’s team spent years investigating, litigating, and exposing the truth about Ashli’s homicide. Judicial Watch is proud to have done its part in bringing her family a measure of justice and accountability for Ashli’s outrageous killing. And our battle for justice will continue.”

“She’s way above doing Vanity Fair..”

• Melania Trump ‘Laughed’ At Vanity Fair Offer (Miranda Devine)

Vanity Fair staffers flipping out at the prospect of First Lady Melania Trump gracing the cover can rest easy. She’s not the slightest bit interested. A fashion source familiar with the First Lady’s thinking says she “laughed” at the Vanity Fair request in July and rejected it immediately. “She doesn’t have time to be sitting in a photo shoot. Her priorities as First Lady are far more important… These people don’t deserve her anyway.” The magazine’s new global editorial director Mark Guiducci tried to woo Mrs. Trump back in July but when his employees found out this week they threatened to quit their jobs. “’If [Guiducci] puts Melania on the cover, half of the editorial staff will walk out, I guarantee it.” a mid–level editor told the Daily Mail on Monday. “I will walk out the motherf***ing door, and half my staff will follow me… If I have to work bagging groceries at Trader Joe’s, I’ll do it… It sickens me.”

The snobbish staffer would probably make more money at Trader Joe’s than the slave wages paid by Conde Nast, an ailing publishing company which has been nothing but “Conde Nasty” to Mrs. Trump and her family since she first entered the East Wing in 2017. Haughty Anna Wintour famously snubbed the former model for the cover of Vogue while plastering less elegant First Ladies all over the magazine multiple times. But Mrs. Trump has no need for such low-rent validation. She is her own fashion-plate every day. In any case, she is busy with multiple projects, including “Fostering the Future” to support children in foster care, and her “Be Best” initiative from the first term, which aims to combat cyberbullying and opioid abuse. She also successfully championed the “Take It Down” Act, which requires social media platforms to remove non-consensual intimate images.

This week saw her take on a new role leading the Presidential Artificial Intelligence Challenge to inspire children to embrace AI technology. With her multilingual European background and geopolitical nous, she is also a valuable sounding board for her husband in foreign affairs. During recent peace talks with Russia and Ukraine, she penned a heartfelt personal letter to Vladimir Putin, which President Trump hand-delivered to the Russian leader before their summit in Alaska. Addressing him as “Dear President Putin”, she wrote: “It is time” to protect children and future generations around the globe. “In protecting the innocence of these children, you will do more than serve Russia alone — you serve humanity itself.” Meanwhile, she has been working on a documentary for Amazon, as well as writing a best-selling memoir and an accompanying AI-powered audiobook. “She’s way above doing Vanity Fair,” laughed the source.

Plimer

Geologist Prof. Ian Plimer: "Carbon dioxide in the past has been much, much higher than now. We're currently at 0.04%. For most of geological time, it was about 20%."

"And during that geological time when we had high carbon dioxide, we had three of the six great ice ages. So… pic.twitter.com/Y6RwC0tGA9

— Wide Awake Media (@wideawake_media) August 27, 2025

Autism
https://twitter.com/TheChiefNerd/status/1961029824819994756

Cooking

The greatest cooking show ever. pic.twitter.com/cMSaubYnFc

— The Figen (@TheFigen_) August 27, 2025

Sand
https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1960980678255727090

Penguin
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1960970296376045603

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Debt Rattle August 20 2024

Aug 202024

August 20, 2024 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:01 am Finance Tagged with: big boy pants, cybertruck, DNC, impeachable, Nakba, Nord Stream, Sy Hersh 44 Responses »

Charles Burchfield Bluebird and Cottonwoods (The Birches) 1917

• Let the DNC Frolics Begin (Jim Kunstler)

• The NAZIFIED EU and Democrat Party

• Musk Ridicules Claim He Gave Cybertruck To Chechen Leader (RT)

• Ukraine Must Pay Germany Back For Nord Stream Damage: Bundestag Lawmaker (ZH)

• Russia Has Never Dictated Any Narrative To Me, Unlike The West (Scott Ritter)

• Italian State TV Normalizing Nazi Symbols – Moscow (RT)

• The EU Just Declared War on Free Speech in America (Turley)

• Biden Committed ‘Impeachable Offenses’ – GOP Report (RT)

• Time for NeverTrump Republicans to Put On Their Big Boy Pants (AT)

• Manhattan DA Defers to Judge on Delaying Trump’s Sentencing Date (ET)

• RNC Asks Supreme Court to Block 41,000 Arizona Voters From Voting (ET)

• Local Officer Shot Trump Rally Shooter First, Knocking Him Down (ET)

• Zionists Dare US To Pull The Plug On Their Nakba Agenda (Alastair Crooke)

This new ad against Kamala Harris is set to run throughout the duration of the DNC. It is devastating. pic.twitter.com/8cONw9bpPw

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) August 18, 2024

Tucker electorate

This is how they plan on stealing the election! Kamala couldn’t get more than a couple million votes. pic.twitter.com/TRywd884FA

— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_The_Dr) August 19, 2024

Donahue

Then an up and coming TV reporter, Phil Donahue got a tip at a local VA about the heroism of Vietnam Green Beret Paris Davis.

I want to personally honor Donahue’s fearless reporting that paved the way for Davis’ Medal of Honor nearly six decades later. pic.twitter.com/K9uUIKGyql

— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) August 19, 2024

Trump Fred

Trump gives a heartfelt message about why he's never drank alcohol. pic.twitter.com/rjvNhImDI2

— TaraBull (@TaraBull808) August 19, 2024

DNC
https://twitter.com/i/status/1825536692733796616

Friedman

“Consumers don't produce inflation. Producers don't produce inflation. Inflation is produced only by too much government spending and too much government creation of money, and nothing else.”
— Milton Friedman

pic.twitter.com/qkfCekrAho

— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) August 17, 2024

Milei
https://twitter.com/i/status/1825299191662567920

4 days and nights of absurd theater.

• Let the DNC Frolics Begin (Jim Kunstler)

Looking a little insurrection-ish at Chicago’s United Center all of a sudden as Illinois Governor Jabba the Pritzker orders a wall built around the perimeter to protect the Democratic Party from its very own basket of deplorables — the pro-Hamas, Antifa / BLM nose-ring-for-lunch bunch — with the state’s National Guard “on standby.” The New York Post and other news sources report 100,000 anti-Israel protesters migrating there to liven-up a convention that also has the potential to go off-script inside the arena — since the script was written by a handful of party mandarins, with the gamed consent of the convened delegates, who might be a little ticked off about the deal. What the party needs most this week is a plausible aura that it is firmly in control of events, having pulled off coup-after-coup on its own rank-and-file. Most recently, Pelosi & friends passed the black spot to “Joe Biden.” (The easy way or the hard way.)

He took the hint and dropped out. But then, how exactly did Veep Kamala get plugged into his slot? Five minutes prior, they were, like, yccchhhh, her? And then, two seconds later, somebody arranged a pre-convention Zoom call “virtual vote” of the delegates — like a Las Vegas David Copperfield magic trick — followed by “certification!” (By whom? Answer: the certifiers.) Badda bing, badda bang! Their “democracy” got rolled. So, you can imagine that things might fly out of control in exact proportion to the Mandarins’ desperate need to seem legitimately in control — when they are just a clique of scared-stiff tyrants running scams on their own people — and the result looks like the Democrats’ certified metamorphosis into the Party of Chaos.

Why scared-stiff? Because of a long list of serious crimes against the American people over the past decade, various treasons committed under color-of-law, for which they fear prosecution and punishment if the wrong person gets elected. Just in the normal course of things in Chicago, local ABC-7 News reports, “At least 23 shot, 5 fatally, in weekend gun violence across city” over the pre-convention weekend. You have to wonder whether this ordinary background lawlessness will wash over into the political turmoil certain to roil the streets. Lootin’, anyone? Businesses in the downtown “Loop” district have boarded up their windows. As if a measly sheet of plywood can keep them out.

[..] This time around, the news media has been fully absorbed into the blob, doing all its bidding, like the blob’s personal Chat GPT, while the blob itself has grown to be a larger and more potent governing entity than the flimsy scaffold of elected officials who front for it. But the Democratic Party has faltered badly in its years’ long efforts to cover for the blob, mainly by lying to the American people about everything. Running “Joe Biden” in 2020 was a dishonest act of desperation that only worked with a rigged election and then prosecuting anyone who attempted to complain. The party knew that “JB” was a mental phantom four years ago, and they had the effrontery to try running him again in ’24, until ol’ “Joe” made it impossible with his demented public behavior.

They also know that Kamala Harris is an empty vessel with a drinking problem, but they’ve desperately pulled out all the stops to make her appear legitimate. Her performance the past three weeks has not exactly been reassuring. Her running mate, Governor Walz, comes off straight-up insane. Why would they now not attempt to dump them with the same bad faith they installed them? Gawd knows what mayhem might rock the streets outside the United Center. Recent years of degenerate USA life have produced a youth cohort with a staggering rate of mental illness. You’ve already seen plenty of how dark Antifa can get with its murderous trans cadres itching for action. But you’ve also got to wonder how the formal speeches by the party nabobs will go over?

Might there be any booing of the elite? How will the crowd greet Mrs. Pelosi, the party’s consiglieri who arranged things as they are now? What on earth can Hillary Clinton say about the nominee she openly loathes? Will Bill Clinton, painted as a sexual predator by the Me-Too caucus, get a love-bath or a cold-shoulder? How false will the party’s unity seem? Will surprise motions arise from the floor to change-up the pre-scripted program? There are many more ways for things to go wrong this week than the simple dynamics that were in-play fifty-six years ago in Chicago.

“You can see who is going to win this election.”

• The NAZIFIED EU and Democrat Party

What a joke Europe is. With 2,000 Southern American rednecks, I could conquer all of Europe. What European ethnic is going to fight for an anti-white European government? What do the fools in these governments think is going to happen to them if they go to war with Russia? Who thinks that All of Europe plus America has an army the equivalent of the German Wehrmacht that invaded Russia? The dumbshits who talk about attacking China must all be strung out on crack cocaine. Attack Russia and die. Attack China and die. The US and NATO are incapable of even attacking Iran unless they hurry up as the Russian S-400 air defense system is in the process of being set up in Iran. No American or Israeli missiles and aircraft are capable of penetrating it.

Mindlessness rules the Western world. This is true even of MAGA Trump supporters where one would hope awareness prevails. It doesn’t. I have previously reported that we have every indication that the 2024 election will be stolen for the Democrats just as was the 2020 and 2022 elections. The American whore media has turned Kamala from a non-candidate with zero support into a candidate that is leading Trump, especially in the swing states where the fraudulent election procedures have all been legalized and, at least in some of them, challenges to the vote has been criminalized. What are the Republicans saying about the Democrats in blue states overturning the ban on vote drop boxes standing on street corners?

What are they saying about the Democrats’ intention to punish those, including poll watchers, who report fraud? They are saying nothing. They only ask for more money. The election, Republican fundraisers say, depends on money. In other words, Republicans themselves admit that if Kamala raises more money she will win. So the Republican fundraisers contribute to the Democrats’ theft of the election. So, once again, the Republicans, wimps incapable of fighting, are walking into a stolen election. The Democrats are organized. They have a fanatical woke, anti-white, anti-Christian aganda of turning the United States into a Soddom & Gomorrah Tower of Babel. The agenda of the Republican Party is to keep control of the party from an outsider’s hands, such as Trump’s. You can see who is going to win this election.

In 2016, Nicole Foss was so under the spell of a rabid anti-Trumper named Seth Abramson that she swallowed his Orange Man bad story whole, and left the Automatic Earth for it, telling me: “..not a word you say is true”. While I was still just wondering why these people would turn on Trump to the degree they did. I knew little about him, other than his name in big golden letters, and a TV show. Why the vitriol?

Abramson is back, with the same kinds of stuff, now against Elon Musk. This time it’s some “press report” that Musk gave a Cybertruck, with a machine gun mounted on it, to Chechen leader Kadyrov. Me, all I can think is: what’s wrong with these people?

“Are you seriously so retarded that you think I donated a Cybertruck to a Russian general?”

• Musk Ridicules Claim He Gave Cybertruck To Chechen Leader (RT)

American billionaire Elon Musk has ridiculed journalist and author Seth Abramson, who claimed that the Tesla CEO should be tried for collusion with Russia. Abramson, who rose to prominence in the US during the presidency of Donald Trump when he extensively researched supposed links between Trump and Russia, targeted Musk on Saturday. He was reacting to claims by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov that the Tesla CEO gave him a Cybertruck, which he weaponized and intends to send to the Russian forces on the front lines of the Ukraine conflict. “Musk is providing vehicles ready for military use to sanctioned enemies of America? Why isn’t this the biggest story in America today?” Abramson asked on X (formerly Twitter). “Why is West Point coddling a man working openly against the US?”

“Are you seriously so retarded that you think I donated a Cybertruck to a Russian general?” Musk responded. “Yet another example of how much the legacy media lies.” Earlier in the week, Musk delivered a speech to graduating West Point cadets, which is why Abramson called out the military school. The Tesla Cybertruck is a highly-stylized electric vehicle with an extra-durable exterior, but was never designed for military use and is available on the market starting at over $200,000. Kadyrov drove the vehicle around Grozny, the capital of the southern Russian republic of Chechnya, according to a video he published on Saturday. It had a machine gun on a mount installed in the cargo bed. Kadyrov posed at the gunner position, wearing ammo belts for dramatic effect.

“Elon, thank you! Come to Grozny; I will welcome you as my dearest guest!” the Chechen leader said. The original complaint against Musk that triggered Abramson’s accusations came from former Ukrainian MP Anton Gerashchenko, who enjoys a sizeable English-speaking following on X. Musk has been targeted by Ukrainian officials and public figures since late 2022, when he began to openly question Kiev’s military strategy in the conflict with Russia and to call for concessions for the sake of peace.

Disappointing that ZeroHedge “goes there” too. It says: “..the following is now crystal clear and fully established at this point, as even mainstream media now fully admits: Yes, Ukraine did it..” Nonsense. The reason for now blaming Ukraine is to keep the US out of the picture. As for paying for the damage: Ukraine is broke. Dead end.

And it’s not that ZH doesn’t know: “..Seymour Hersh says alternative NS2 sabotage theories in NYT and German press were ‘concocted’ by CIA…. [..] Legendary US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh predicted all of this ‘official narrative manipulation’ months ago.”

• Ukraine Must Pay Germany Back For Nord Stream Damage: Bundestag Lawmaker (ZH)

We previously highlighted that the recent “bombshell” WSJ Nord Stream report is yet another major attempt by mainstream gatekeepers to radically shift the narrative over the Nord Stream sabotage, and to put official distance between President Zelensky and his supposedly ‘rogue’ top general at the time who ‘oversaw’ the covert op. Still, the following is now crystal clear and fully established at this point, as even mainstream media now fully admits: Yes, Ukraine did it. No, Russia did not do it. And yes it had the involvement or at least foreknowledge of the CIA. We further pointed out that this sudden U-turn in the narrative was meant to soften the blow from Germany’s decision to finally cut off Ukraine’s – and Zelensky’s – unprecedented grift. Already and to be expected, some German lawmakers are pissed at being so obviously used and abused by Kiev.

After all the NS2 pipeline had been a years-long, multi-billion dollar Russia to Germany natural gas vital infrastructure project which cost $11 billion to build. In the wake of the latest revelations, member of the German Bundestag, co-chair of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel has been among the loudest Berlin officials in denouncing Kiev. She is calling for Ukraine to compensate Germany for the damage caused to its economy as a result of the September 26, 2022 underwater bombings. Here’s what she posted to X on Friday in the wake of WSJ’s reporting and the latest disclosures surrounding the ‘mystery’ sabotage (according to machine translation from the German): The economic damage to our country caused by the demolition of Nordstream presumably ordered by Zelensky – and not Putin as we were led to believe – should be “billed” to Ukraine. Any “aid payments” that burden the German taxpayer should be stopped.

The firebrand and populist conservative politician is essentially telling Ukraine at this point: ‘you bombed it, you pay for it and stop taking advantage of our taxpaying citizenry.’ Or in other words, the gravy train has ended as the truth comes out. Berlin-Kiev relations have further strained as the German Prosecutor General’s Office also lately issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian citizen suspected of involvement in the pipeline sabotage plot. The suspect is also described as having at least two accomplices, identified as experienced divers who directly assisted in installing explosive devices to the pipelines. All of this is indeed having swift effect, given soon after news of the arrest warrant was made public, a Saturday report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) said that the German government will stop new military aid to Ukraine as part of the ruling coalition’s plan to reduce spending.

The report, which cited non-public documents and emails as well as discussions with unnamed sources, goes on to note that the moratorium on new assistance – which is already in effect – will affect new requests for funding, not previously approved aid. Berlin, which is Europe’s main supplier of military aid to Kyiv, had previously signaled a change in course on Ukraine last month, when the governing coalition of the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Liberals adopted a preliminary deal on a draft budget for 2025. The compromise detailed plans to slash future assistance to Ukraine by half to €4 billion to fulfill other spending priorities. And, it now appears, that even this token amount could be cut to zero.

It will also be interesting to see how much traction Alice Weidel’s enough is enough messaging and calls for getting German public funds back from Ukraine will have among the German populace. Likely it will resonate strongly after well over a year of ‘war fatigue’ and as tensions could escalate into nuclear-armed showdown between Russia and NATO. Longtime investigative journalist Seymour Hersh says alternative NS2 sabotage theories in NYT and German press were ‘concocted’ by CIA…. And likely the last shoe has still yet to drop on the still unraveling Nord Stream sabotage narrative. Legendary US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh predicted all of this ‘official narrative manipulation’ months ago.

Long explanation from Scott.

But yes, it’s clear where the propaganda resides.

• Russia Has Never Dictated Any Narrative To Me, Unlike The West (Scott Ritter)

As the US government works overtime to stigmatize any journalism possessing connectivity with Russia, the world slides dangerously down a path defined by a Russophobic US-driven agenda that leads toward the inevitability of conflict, and the probability of nuclear war. When the FBI executed a search warrant on my residence on August 7, they were singularly focused on my professional relationship (I am a self-employed journalist) with the Russian government, and in particular, RT, the widely recognized brand name of Russia Today, a media company founded by the autonomous non-profit organization TV-Novosti in April 2005. According to the FBI, the US government was concerned that my activities fell under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). The FBI has also searched the Virginia home of Dmitry Simes, a veteran Russian-American journalist who currently resides in Moscow where he helps moderate a popular political program, ‘The Big Game’, on Channel 1.

While the FBI has not publicly commented on the raid on Simes’ home, it is most likely due to similar concerns over FARA compliance. I have been an external contributor (i.e., contactor) to RT since April 2020. Since the initial contract was signed, I have written numerous articles and produced hundreds of videos for which I have been compensated financially in accordance with the terms set forth in the agreements between myself and RT. As stipulated in the signed agreements, I am solely responsible for the content of the work provided. At no time have I entered into any agreement, written or oral, or have reached any understanding, formal or informal, that I am responsive to the direction or control of either RT/TV-Novosti or the Russian government. Indeed, the agreement between myself and RT stipulates that I am responsible for determining the topics that will be covered in the content I produce, although as is the case in any editorial/producer relationship with ‘talent’, I have been asked to provide content that is responsive to breaking news.

I am a freelance journalist. This is the life of a freelance journalist. Nothing more, nothing less. This relationship is like that which I have as an outside contributor to other journalistic outlets, including TruthDig, the American Conservative, Consortium News, the Washington Spectator, and Energy Intelligence, all of which have published my work on a regular basis during the same period in which I produced content for RT. In all cases, I am solely responsible for the content I produce. There is, of course, a collaborative relationship with the editors of all these publishing outlets, some more intense/heavy than others. This is the normal reality faced by every journalist in the world. I can say without fear of contradiction that the editorial ‘touch’ of RT is the lightest of any publisher I have dealt with – there is the standard follow-up questioning on sourcing of information, and some massaging of language for clarity. On a few occasions (I can count them on one hand), RT has turned down articles I have submitted for publication.

In every instance, the topics dealt with US domestic issues, and the editors were concerned about being seen as buying into unfounded conspiracies. How utterly irresponsible of them! The specific compensation received for work published is confidential in accordance with the terms of the agreement I signed with RT (the FBI seized physical and electronic copies of this agreement, and I have in the past provided copies of the agreement to the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) or their proxies operating within the US banking system.) But I can say this – it is within the industry norm, slightly more than some publishers, and slightly less than others. And in no case can it be considered exorbitant – the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, all of whom have published my opinion pieces in the past, all pay significantly more than does RT.

The guy has apologized by now, but does that matter?

• Italian State TV Normalizing Nazi Symbols – Moscow (RT)

The Russian Foreign Ministry has accused Italian state broadcaster RAI News of “sinking to a new low,” after correspondent Ilario Piagnerelli interviewed a Ukrainian soldier who was wearing Nazi insignia. The criticism comes after the broadcaster recalled two of its reporters back to Italy, following the launch of a criminal probe by Moscow into their illegal presence in Russia’s Kursk Region. On Wednesday, RAI aired a TV report on the Ukrainian cross-border assault into the region, in which a crew of journalists embedded with Kiev’s forces drove deep into Russian territory. “Western media continue to engage in the deliberate rehabilitation of Ukrainian neo-Nazis and the revision of the Nuremberg Tribunal verdicts,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday, commenting on an interview conducted by Piagnerelli with a Ukrainian soldier who was wearing a symbol associated with an SS division.

The correspondent had already “distinguished himself with stories about Bucha and a dead neo-Nazi from Pravy Sektor [Right Sector],” she claimed, but has now “sunk to new depths after taking a video interview with an Armed Forces of Ukraine member in a cap with the insignia of the SS division ‘Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler’.” The SS organization Zakharova was referring to was convicted of war crimes by the Nuremberg Tribunal following World War II. “It is possible that next time Pianerelli will film a Ukronazi with the symbols of the SS division ‘Reichsfuhrer SS,’” Zakharova stated. The SS division killed between 770 and 1,830 civilians in the Italian town of Marzabotto in 1944, in the worst World War II massacre in Western Europe, she recalled. More than 200 of the victims were children, mostly under the age of ten.

In an extract from a report circulating online, Pianerelli can be seen talking to a man wearing a khaki cap adorned with the insignia of the ‘Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler’ SS division. The video is watermarked ‘Rai News 24’. As of Monday morning, the footage was missing from Pianerelli’s account on X (formerly Twitter). In a longer version of the interview circulating on social media, Pianerelli questions another Ukrainian serviceman who has a red-colored ‘black sun crest’ swastika on his plate carrier vest, another symbol used by the SS.

EU vs Musk: “It was a case of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object..”

• The EU Just Declared War on Free Speech in America (Turley)

One of the greatest threats to free speech today is the European Digital Services Act. The act bars speech that is viewed as “disinformation” or “incitement.” European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager celebrated its passage by declaring that it is “not a slogan anymore, that what is illegal offline should also be seen and dealt with as illegal online. Now it is a real thing. Democracy’s back.” In Europe, free speech is in free fall. Germany, France, the United Kingdom and other countries have eviscerated free speech by criminalizing speech deemed inciteful or degrading to individuals or groups. The result had made little difference to the neo-Nazi movement in countries like Germany, which is reaching record numbers. It has, however, silenced the rest of society.

According to polling, only 18 percent of Germans feel free to express their opinions in public. Fifty-nine percent of Germans do not even feel free expressing themselves in private among friends. Only 17 percent feel free to express themselves on the internet. They have silenced the wrong people, but there is now a massive censorship bureaucracy in Europe and the desire to silence opposing voices has become insatiable. Some in this country have the same taste for speech-regulation. After Elon Musk bought Twitter and dismantled most of the company’s censorship program, many on the left went bonkers. That fury only increased when Musk released the “Twitter files,” confirming the long-denied coordination and support by the government in targeting and suppressing speech.

In response, Hillary Clinton and other Democratic figures turned to Europe and called upon them to use their Digital Services Act to force censorship against Americans. The EU immediately responded by threatening Musk with confiscatory penalties against not just his company but himself. He would have to resume massive censorship or else face ruin. It was a case of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. The anti-free speech movement had finally found the one man who could not be bullied, coerced or threatened into submission. Musk’s defiance has only magnified the unrelenting attacks against him in the media, academia and government. If Musk can be broken, these figures will once again exercise effective control of over a large swath of speech globally.

This campaign recently came to a head when Musk had the audacity to interview former president Donald Trump. In anticipation of the interview, one of the most notorious anti-free speech figures in the world went ballistic. European Commissioner for Internal Markets and Services Thierry Breton issued a threatening message to Musk, “We are monitoring the potential risks in the EU associated with the dissemination of content that may incite violence, hate and racism in conjunction with major political — or societal — events around the world, including debates and interviews in the context of elections.”

While offering a passing nod to the freedom of speech, he warned Musk that “all proportionate and effective mitigation measures are put in place regarding the amplification of harmful content in connection with relevant events.” In other words, be afraid, be very afraid. Musk responded with “Bonjour!” and then suggested that Breton perform a physically challenging sexual act. To recap, the EU is now moving to force censorship upon American citizens to meet its own demands of what is false, demeaning or inciting. And that includes censorship even of our leading political candidates for the presidency.

But he’s such a nice old man..

• Biden Committed ‘Impeachable Offenses’ – GOP Report (RT)

Republican investigators have released their impeachment inquiry report on Joe Biden, accusing the US president of influence-peddling and obstruction. However, any effort to remove Biden from office is unlikely to succeed. Released on Monday by the House Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees, the report claims that Biden and his family used their family name and connections to the White House to solicit over $27 million from businessmen and political figures in China, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. Citing witness testimony and documents obtained from Biden’s son Hunter’s laptop, the report alleges that Hunter met with these foreign clients and promised them access to his father, who at the time was serving as vice president of the US. Despite denying any knowledge of his son’s business dealings, “Biden met or spoke with nearly every one of the Biden family’s foreign business associates, including those from Ukraine, China, Russia, and Kazakhstan,” the report claimed.

At the time of most of these meetings, Hunter Biden was sitting on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma. This position earned him just under $1 million per year, despite having no experience in the energy industry. The obstruction charge stems from Biden’s Justice Department supposedly “slow-walking” an investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax affairs, as well as the White House’s alleged withholding of key witnesses and documents related to the impeachment inquiry. Furthermore, the report accused the White House of obstructing a probe into Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents by refusing to turn over audio recordings of the president’s testimony to special counsel Robert Hur.

Hur declined to charge Biden over the documents case earlier this year, declaring that the president came across in the recordings as an “elderly man with a poor memory” who would be difficult to convict in a jury trial. “The Constitution’s remedy for a President’s flagrant abuse of office is clear: impeachment by the House of Representatives and removal by the Senate,” the committees wrote in Monday’s report, adding that the report would be sent to the House “for its evaluation and consideration of appropriate next steps.” However, House Speaker Mike Johnson has given no indication that he intends to hold a vote to impeach Biden, and despite the GOP holding an eight-seat majority in the House, dozens of Republicans have said they would not support an impeachment vote without more concrete proof of illegal activity by Biden.

Impeachable
https://twitter.com/i/status/1825559063993688535

“In a few months, America will either have a reset, or a quick slide into tyranny and chaos..”

• Time for NeverTrump Republicans to Put On Their Big Boy Pants (AT)

My flak jacket is on as I write this since I am sure to offend or piss off some friends, family, and colleagues who are ostensibly Republicans or conservatives but have a visceral aversion to Donald Trump. Some tell me they are Republican and miss Ronald Reagan but also admit they “couldn’t” vote for Donald Trump in either 2016 or 2020. Nothing says one is Republican like voting for a liberal Democrat. This is the NeverTrump wing of the Republican Party, emerging shortly after Trump secured the GOP nomination in 2016. Reasons for NeverTrump-ism are myriad. Some were offended by his mean tweets, name-calling, and brash Queens personality. Others disliked his confidence and determination to punch back twice as hard when attacked, particularly when the attacks were bogus (Russian collusion, fine people, grab em by the p***y, etc).

Many establishment Republicans only wanted a nominee who was part of George Carlin’s “big club,” with the last name of Bush, or endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce, The Wall Street Journal, or the Koch brothers. Still others bristled at Trump’s desires to secure America’s borders, avoid foreign wars, achieve American energy independence, and level the playing field of global trade. After all, globalists and the military-industrial complex are happy with and profit immensely from open borders, endless wars, high energy prices, and China-centric trade deals. In two and a half months, there will be a reckoning, America First versus America Last. The comparisons to four years ago are legion. Trump attempted to build a border wall, despite NeverTrump resistance from his own party. Biden opened the border to the tune of 10,000 known illegal crossings per day.

Trump nominated three Constitutional Supreme Court justices while Biden nominated one who doesn’t know what a woman is. Democrats want to stack the high court with leftists who will rewrite the U.S. Constitution to resemble Marx and Engels’s Communist Manifesto. Trump’s economy had high employment and low inflation. The Biden/Harris/Obama economy provided the opposite. Trump did not start any foreign wars during his four years in office. Harris/Obama/Biden started wars between Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Iran, and Yemen and the Western world.

[..] Cutesy time is over, as Dan Bongino would say. In a few months, America will either have a reset, or a quick slide into tyranny and chaos. Trump is Trump, his personality almost 80 years in the making. He will not suddenly become Ronald Reagan, with a smooth voice and disarming charm. But so what? Trump’s brashness is a breath of fresh air compared to career politicians who offer a word salad of platitudes and promises while actually accomplishing nothing.

When you are dying from some strange disease that no one can diagnose or treat, who do you want caring for you? You could have warm, empathetic, fatherly Dr. Marcus Welby, who doesn’t know what’s wrong with you but holds your hand as you die. Or you could have rude, abrasive, obnoxious Dr. Gregory House who, while making fun of you with zero bedside manner, makes the correct diagnosis and prescribes the proper treatment, allowing you to walk out of the hospital a week later. We are not choosing a prom date, a spouse, a roommate, or a valentine. We are choosing the leader of America and the free world. You may not like Trump’s calling his opponents mean names. But did you object when Bush was called ‘Hitler,’ Trump ‘a Nazi,’ or Paul Ryan “pushed” granny off a cliff?

The haste is gone.

• Manhattan DA Defers to Judge on Delaying Trump’s Sentencing Date (ET)

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said it will defer to a New York judge on former President Donald Trump’s request to delay his criminal case sentencing until after the presidential election this year. Bragg’s office, in a letter received by the court on Aug. 19, wrote that prosecutors will leave it up to Judge Juan Merchan to decide whether Trump’s sentencing in his New York case should be delayed beyond the current Sept. 18 hearing date. Trump’s attorneys last week asked the judge to postpone his sentencing until after the November election, where he is the leading Republican candidate for president. Prosecutors did not specifically oppose the former president’s request for a delay. Prosecutors wrote in their letter, “Given the defense’s newly-stated position, we defer to the Court on whether an adjournment is warranted to allow for orderly appellate litigation of that question, or to reduce the risk of a disruptive stay from an appellate court pending consideration of that question.”

“The People are prepared to appear for sentencing on any future date the Court sets,” the letter continued. In their request for a delay, Trump’s lawyers last week wrote to the judge that the sentencing should take place after the start of early voting for the election, saying the timing would harm the proceedings. “Sentencing is currently scheduled to occur after the commencement of early voting in the Presidential election,” attorney Todd Blanche wrote. “By adjourning the sentencing until after that election—which is of paramount importance to the entire Nation, including tens of millions of people who do not share the views of Authentic, its executives, and its clients—the Court would reduce, even if not eliminate, issues regarding the integrity of any future proceedings.” They also argued there was not enough time before the sentencing for the defense to potentially appeal Merchan’s ruling on Trump’s request to overturn the conviction due to the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on presidential immunity.

The Supreme Court’s 6–3 decision, which related to a separate criminal case Trump faces, found that presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for their official acts, and that evidence of presidents’ official actions cannot be used to help prove criminal cases involving unofficial actions. Bragg’s office responded by saying that prosecutors will also not take a position, leaving it to Merchan to decide. In their letter, prosecutors said the prospect that Trump immediately appeals the judge’s decision on immunity may mean a potential Sept. 18 sentencing would be delayed anyway after “significant public safety and logistical steps” were already taken to prepare for Trump’s court appearance. In May, a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records before Merchan set a July 11 sentencing date. The judge later postponed it to Sept. 18 and last month said he would rule on Trump’s immunity claim on Sept. 16.

During the six-week-long trial, prosecutors said that Trump criminally concealed payments to prevent an adult performer, Stephanie Clifford, from going public about an alleged affair she said occurred in 2006, which the former president has categorically denied. They further argued that the concealing of the payments was designed to impact the 2016 election with the intent to violate election laws. Trump faces criminal charges in two other jurisdictions—one in Fulton County, Georgia, and the other in Washington—for alleged election interference after the 2020 election. His classified records case was dismissed by a federal judge last month, although Jack Smith, the special counsel who brought that case and the Washington one, has vowed to appeal the judge’s decision.

The Fulton County election case, meanwhile, has been postponed as Trump and several co-defendants have appealed a Fulton County judge’s decision that allowed District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case amid allegations of impropriety. His Washington case restarted several weeks ago after the Supreme Court’s immunity decision. Trump pleaded not guilty to all the charges, repeatedly saying they’re politically motivated and designed to harm his 2024 candidacy. The May conviction was the first time in U.S. history that a current or former president was convicted of a felony crime. Earlier in August, Trump again attempted to have Merchan recuse himself from the case, which the judge denied.

Now the claim is there is no time..

• RNC Asks Supreme Court to Block 41,000 Arizona Voters From Voting (ET)

The Republican National Committee (RNC) asked the Supreme Court on Aug. 19 to prevent 41,000 registered voters from voting in the November presidential election because they allegedly did not provide proof of U.S. citizenship. Arizona is a hotly contested battleground that could help determine who wins the election. In 2020, President Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes. The new filing in RNC v. Mi Familia Vota came after the RNC filed an emergency application with the court on Aug. 8. Respondent Mi Familia Vota is a nonprofit group active in Arizona and several other states. The application is pending before Justice Elena Kagan. At issue in the case are the Arizona laws, H.B. 2492 and H.B. 2243, which the state Legislature approved in 2022. The statutes require people registering to vote in the state to present “satisfactory” proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, to provide proof of eligibility to vote.

The laws also require registrants to provide their state or country of birth and require counties to carry out citizenship verifications and purge noncitizens from the voter rolls. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton halted enforcement of the proof of citizenship mandate on May 2, citing the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), also known as the Motor Voter Law, and a prior state court order. A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed Bolton’s order by a vote of 2-1 on Aug. 1. Although Congress has made it easier for Americans to register to vote, federal rules should not be allowed to supersede “the Arizona Legislature’s sovereign authority to determine the qualifications of voters and structure participation in its elections,” the RNC said in the application it originally filed on Aug. 8.

In the Aug. 19 filing, the RNC referenced the other side’s invocation of the so-called Purcell Principle, which is a judicial doctrine that courts should not change rules close to an election because doing so creates a risk of causing confusion. But this approach is wrong because it would require “courts to make a freestanding assessment of whether enforcement or nonenforcement of state election law is more likely to cause confusion.” The respondents’ argument would impose an unfair standard because it directs federal courts to look at state enforcement policy and “find that the status quo weighs in favor of an injunction if enforcement has not been vigorous enough,” the brief says.

This refashioning of the Purcell Principle would also make federal courts “weigh Purcell in favor of an injunction if enough state election officials would prefer that result—even when other state officials would enforce state law.” This approach to Purcell would allow federal authorities to interfere with state lawmaking processes. “Allowing the Ninth Circuit’s weaponization of Purcell against state election law to stand will only encourage more last-minute injunctions by federal courts,” the brief says. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes urged the Supreme Court to reject the application in a brief filed on Aug. 16. It is already too close to the election for the Supreme Court to act in this time-sensitive case, he said.

“In just a mere 7 weeks, early voting in Arizona will begin. To be sure, at this juncture in Arizona elections, time is not only of the essence, but it is in short supply. “ “Last minute statewide policy changes like those requested in the Application, no matter how small they may seem to some, can (and Secretary Fontes believes will) drastically impact how affected votes are collected and processed.” The U.S. Department of Justice urged the Supreme Court to deny the application. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said in a brief filed Aug. 16 that because the NVRA “preempts” the Arizona laws’ requirement that voters file “documentary proof in order to vote for President or vote by mail,” the RNC was “unlikely to prevail” in the case. Federal preemption means that a state law that conflicts with federal law is invalid. It is unclear when the Supreme Court will act on the RNC’s application.

How far will Clay Higgins get?

• Local Officer Shot Trump Rally Shooter First, Knocking Him Down (ET)

The first shot to strike the man who fired at former President Donald Trump came from a local law enforcement officer, according to a preliminary report from an investigation by a U.S. congressman. Thomas Crooks fired eight shots from the rooftop of a building near where Trump was speaking in Butler County, Pennsylvania, on July 13. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) found that the next shot came from a county SWAT officer who was about 100 yards away from the building on which Crooks was positioned. When the officer from the Butler County Emergency Services Unit saw Crooks as a moving target on the rooftop, he quickly left his post and sprinted toward the man, “running to a clear shot position directly into the line of fire while Crooks was firing,” Higgins said. “He stopped Crooks and importantly, I believe the shot damaged the buffer tube on Crooks’ AR,” Higgins added, citing eyewitness testimony.

If the shot damaged the buffer tube on the rifle Crooks was using, it would have left Crooks unable to fire more shots. Crooks went down from his firing position but popped back up several seconds later, the SWAT officer said. That’s when a shot from a U.S. Secret Service counter-sniper struck Crooks, killing him, according to Higgins. The Secret Service has said one of its counter-snipers took out Crooks. Higgins, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives task force, traveled to Butler County to recreate how Crooks climbed onto the roof and assess what happened. He said he was assisted in the investigation by local officials, including the Butler County unit tactical team commander and a top official with the Butler County District Attorney’s office.

Higgins said that among the theories he probed was whether there was another shooter on top of a water tower overlooking the fairgrounds. “There are videos on the internet showing a dark figure or a shadow on the water tower on J13. If there had been someone on that tower on J13, it would have to have been some top-shelf operator way beyond anything I’ve ever actually seen,” Higgins wrote. “Regular SWAT operators or snipers would not have the skills and gear to quickly overcome the first 25 feet of no ladder and then climb the remaining 75 feet to the catwalk, and then climb the quite intimidating and precarious dome vent access ladder.”

Higgins said he did not think it was possible for a second shooter to have been on top of the tower and that he did not see any evidence supporting the theory. He also stated that all 10 shots heard that day were accounted for, with eight coming from Crooks, one from a local SWAT officer, and one from the Secret Service. Higgins said he plans on climbing to the top of the tower in the future as he continues to investigate the shooting. “As I have said, every question will be answered, every theory explored, and every doubt erased. The American people deserve the full truth on the attempted assassination of President Trump,” Higgins said in a statement. “Our investigative efforts are moving forward in good faith. The release of my preliminary investigative report is reflective of my desire to deliver transparency and reassurance to the American people.”

“Israel has never faced such a serious and immediate internal threat to its existence and future as a free society..“

• Zionists Dare US To Pull The Plug On Their Nakba Agenda (Alastair Crooke)

The U.S. Straussians began forming a political group half a century ago, in 1972. They were all members of Democratic Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson’s staff, and included Elliott Abrams, Richard Perle and David Wurmser. In 1996, this Straussians trio wrote a study for the new Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. This report (the Clean Break Strategy) advocated the elimination of Yasser Arafat; the annexation of the Palestinian territories; a war against Iraq and the transfer of Palestinians there. Netanyahu was very much a member of this circle. The Strategy was inspired not only by the political theories of Leo Strauss, but also by those of his friend, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the founder of Revisionist Zionism, to whom Netanyahu’s father served as private secretary. For the avoidance of confusion, the American Straussians – today usually called ‘neo-cons’ – are not in principle opposed to the Netanyahu government’s Nakba agenda.

It was not Gazans suffering that exercised them; rather, it was the threats by the Revisionist Zionists to launch an attack on Iran and on Lebanon. For, were this war to be launched, the Israeli army – for certain – would not be able to defeat Hezbollah on its own. And for Israel to wage war on Iran would amount to certifiable madness. Thus to save Israel, the U.S. undoubtedly would be forced to intervene. The balance of military power has shifted considerably towards both Hizbullah and Iran since the Israeli-Lebanese war of 2006 and any war now would be a fraught and risky undertaking. Yet – this was of the essence to the Israeli government’s unspoken ‘esoteric’ (inner) agenda. The only alternative for the U.S. would be to encourage a military coup in Tel Aviv. Already, some senior officers and non-commissioned Israeli officers have come together to suggest this.

In March 2024, General Benny Gantz was invited to Washington (against the wishes of the PM). He did not, however, accept the invitation to overthrow the Prime Minister. He went to make sure that he could still save Israel, and that his allies in the U.S. would not turn against the Israeli military cadre. This may seem odd. But the reality is that the IDF feels undermined, even betrayed. The agreement struck at the outset of the government between Netanyahu and Itamar Ben-Gvir (of Otzma Yehudit) – was the outlier to this anxiety. The governmental accord provided for Ben-Gvir to head an autonomous armed force in the West Bank. He was given charge not only of the national police, but also the border police, which until then, had been the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence. The accord also provided for the creation of a large-scale National Guard and a reinforced presence of reserve troops within the border police.

Ben-Gvir is a Kahanist, meaning a disciple of Rabbi Meir Kahane, who demands the expulsion of Palestinian Arab citizens from Israel and the Occupied Territories and the establishment of a theocracy, and he makes little secret of wanting to use the border police to expel the Palestinian populations, be they Muslim or Christian. Ben Gvir’s official forces represent, as Benny Gantz noted, a ‘private army’. But that is the half of it – for he separately holds the allegiance of hundreds of thousand West Bank settler-vigilantes over whom the radical Rabbi, Dov Lior and his coterie of radical Jabotinsky Rabbi influencers, have control. The regular army fears these vigilantes – as we saw at Sde Teiman military base – when Ben Gvir’s militia vigilantes stormed the base, to protect soldiers accused of raping Palestinian prisoners.

The anxiety of the Israeli military echelon at the reality of this ‘Jabotinsky army’ is evidenced by former PM Ehud Barak’s warning that: “Under cover of the war, a governmental and constitutional putsch is now taking place in Israel without a shot being fired. If this putsch isn’t stopped, it will turn Israel into a de facto dictatorship within weeks. Netanyahu and his government are assassinating democracy … The only way to prevent a dictatorship at such a late stage is by shutting down the country through large-scale, nonviolent civil disobedience, 24/7, until this government falls … Israel has never faced such a serious and immediate internal threat to its existence and future as a free society”.

The IDF élite want a ceasefire/hostage deal, primarily to ‘stop Ben-Gvir’ – not because it resolves Israel’s Palestinian issue. It doesn’t. But Netanyahu’s ultimatum is that if the Haniyeh assassination isn’t sufficient to plunge the U.S. into the Big War that will give him (Netanyahu) the Great Victory, he can always trigger a bigger provocation: Ben Gvir also controls the Temple Mount security – there is always the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa escalatory ladder available for climbing (through threatening the destruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque). America is trapped. The power-brokers are unhappy, but impotent.

Trump 2004 SNL
https://twitter.com/i/status/1825209618122858525

IT IS Weird
https://twitter.com/i/status/1825549874806575411

Handpan

This is cool…..she's playing The Godfather.

What is the name of this instrument?
What is it used for, religious ceremonies or celebrations?pic.twitter.com/wl8uVX4qAE

— Figen (@TheFigen_) August 18, 2024

Bison
https://twitter.com/i/status/1825518590952386913

Puppy ducklings
https://twitter.com/i/status/1825422252948525191

King
https://twitter.com/i/status/1825511115440193895

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Debt Rattle March 27 2024

Mar 272024

March 27, 2024 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:32 am Finance Tagged with: Assange, Baltimore, Crocus City Hall, DNC, ISIS, Militarize, Pelosi, RFK jr, Shanahan, Trump 60 Responses »

John La Farge Girls Carrying a Canoe, Vaiala in Samoa 1891

• US, UK and Ukraine Could Be Behind Moscow Terror Attack – FSB Chief (RT)

• US Backs Itself Into Corner By Blaming IS For Crocus Hall – Zakharova (TASS)

• The Evidence On The Crocus Gang Attack In Moscow (Helmer)

• Crocus City Hall Terror Attack Cast Slur Upon West (Sp.)

• EU Leaders Have Decided To Militarize, So What Now? (Drize)

• ‘Day May Come’ For EU Troops In Ukraine – Kiev (RT)

• Trump: Israel Has To Finish the War, It’s Losing a Lot of Support (Antiwar)

• ‘Serious Concerns’ Raised About NY Judge’s Trump Judgment (ET)

• Pelosi, Accused of Insider Trading, Makes Major Stock Move (Sp.)

• The DNC Moves To Block Third Party Candidates (Turley)

• RFK Jr Picks Nicole Shanahan As VP, May Seek Libertarian Nomination (ZH)

• ‘Literally Anybody Else’ Announces US Presidential Campaign (RT)

• ‘Triumph’ for Assange But Battle Far From Over (Sp.)

https://twitter.com/i/status/1772696421675774006

https://twitter.com/i/status/1772661091128004874

Macgregor

Colonel Douglas Macgregor: Redacted 3/25/2024
Putin is not an emotional actor.
He's very rational.
He's very thoughtful.
He's very deliberate.
Russians will cross the Dnieper River, to take Odessa and Kharkov.
Zelensky and his regime is the equivalent of a fatally wounded animal… pic.twitter.com/FsOhnKzlGF

— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) March 26, 2024

Simonyan

"Why do you always think that the way you live is better than the way we live?"

RT Boss smokes MI6s propaganda bureau (BBC) Correspondent.

Best part- "We're not you, and we don't like you much" pic.twitter.com/8EiFwYfwqc

— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) March 26, 2024

Shellenberger

It's All Much Worse Than I Thought

The corporate media are all-in on government censorship

Over the last three years, we have come to learn of the role that our own government officials have played in demanding censorship by social media platforms. Some of this censorship was… pic.twitter.com/rlP7F7oR2Z

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 26, 2024

“When asked whether the US, Britain and Ukraine could be behind the terrorist attack, the FSB chief responded: “We think that this is so..”

• US, UK and Ukraine Could Be Behind Moscow Terror Attack – FSB Chief (RT)

The US, UK and Ukraine may have been behind last Friday’s terrorist attack on a concert venue in a suburb of Moscow, which claimed lives of 139 people and left around 200 injured, according to the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). Aleksandr Bortnikov told reporters on Tuesday that the authorities are currently trying to establish the identity of everyone involved in the attack, both inside and outside Russia. When asked whether the US, Britain and Ukraine could be behind the terrorist attack, the FSB chief responded: “We think that this is so. In any case, we are now talking about the information that we have. This is general information, but they [investigators] also have concrete results.” Bortnikov’s statement to the media follows a meeting of the expanded board of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia. The FSB director told reporters that the intelligence service will do everything necessary to identify the direct organizers and sponsors of the terrorist attack.

On the evening of March 22, a group of men armed with assault rifles attacked the Crocus City Hall music venue in the Moscow suburb of Krasnogorsk, just before a concert by the rock band Picnic was due to start. The 7,500-capacity venue was almost full at the time of the attack. The terrorists killed guards, shot concert-goers on sight, then started a fire that quickly spread throughout the building. At least 139 people, including three children, were killed in the attack, the chair of the Russian Investigative Committee, Aleksandr Bastrykin, reported on Monday. Around 200 people were injured, according to the latest data. After the attack, Russian security services detained 11 people connected to the incident, including those believed to be the gunmen who carried out the attack. Moscow’s Basmanny Court has since arrested seven other suspects who are accused of helping organize the terrorist attack.

“It took them only a few hours to get to a microphone, turn on the lights, summon the press and draw a conclusion about who is to blame..”

• US Backs Itself Into Corner By Blaming IS For Crocus Hall – Zakharova (TASS)

The US has backed itself into a corner by jumping the gun to lay blame on the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, outlawed in Russia) for the terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall even as the incident was still in progress, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. “The very fact that within the first 24 hours [after the attack], even before the fire was put out, the Americans started screaming that it wasn’t Ukraine, I think, is a piece of incriminating evidence. I can’t classify it otherwise; it is evidence in and of itself,” the diplomat said on air during a Sputnik radio broadcast. “The second fact to note concerns the clamor by the US that this assuredly was the work of ISIS (former name of IS – TASS),” the spokeswoman pointed out.

“Of course, the speed with which they were able to [come to such forthright conclusions] is astonishing. It took them only a few hours to get to a microphone, turn on the lights, summon the press and draw a conclusion about who is to blame for this horribly bloody terrorist attack,” Zakharova said. “I think they’ve boxed themselves into a corner, because as soon as they started screaming that it was ISIS, all those people who work in international relations, who are political scientists and experts, recalled and reminded everyone else what ISIS really is,” the diplomat said. “You are behind all those ISIS-type structures, you – the United States, Great Britain – yourselves brought them into being,” she concluded.

Biden ISIS-K 2021

August 2021, Joe Biden & Mark Milley's Afghanistan disaster caused the death of American Troops. Biden & Milleys lied below Blaming ISISK. Lies on Nordstream, the biggest act of environmental terrorism in history. Boris Johnson Lied re Porton Down's view on Skirpals Novichok https://t.co/JnbjCF4HLL pic.twitter.com/CyKfBinN2z

— Planet Ponzi (@PlanetPonzi) March 26, 2024

“..the men drove due south and on the highway near Khatsun, they were about 100 kms from the Ukraine border..”

• The Evidence On The Crocus Gang Attack In Moscow (Helmer)

For the time being, the only evidence connecting the four shooters to the Ukraine is the direction they were taking when their vehicle was stopped by the security forces. In a shootout the car overturned, and three of the gunmen fled into the forest beside the road, leaving one man injured in the car. The head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Alexander Khinshtein, is the source for press reporting on the site of the interception. That was on Highway E101 about seven kilometres south of the P-120 intersection east of Bryansk city. From Bastrykin’s report, and from an award ceremony in Bryansk on Monday for the forces who made the capture – Federal Security Service (FSB), Interior Ministry, National Guard, and border forces of the Defense Ministry — the getaway was being tracked for some time before it reached the P-120 intersection.

At that point, if the four men planned to head for Belarus, they would have turned right, followed the south circular road around Bryansk, and then turned left on to the A-240 towards the Belarus border, about 100 kms to the southwest. Instead, the men drove due south and on the highway near Khatsun, they were about 100 kms from the Ukraine border. There have been reports they were expecting to make a rendezvous with accomplices they believed would guide them to safety over the Ukraine border, and to payday. Or, as Moscow sources speculate, to their execution by the Ukrainians. Speculation, however, including analysis of the cui bono, who gains type, the sequence of statements from Washington, and the history of association between the US, British and Ukrainian secret services and Tajik mercenaries, creates a balance of probabilities, but not an explanation beyond reasonable doubt.

“Of course, we must also answer the question of why the terrorists, after committing their crime, attempted to flee specifically to Ukraine,” the president said at his meeting with security officials on Monday. “Who was waiting for them there? It is clear that those supporting the Kiev regime do not wish to be implicated in acts of terrorism and be seen as sponsors of terrorism. But there are indeed numerous questions.” Public comments to reporters on Tuesday by the FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov and Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev have answered with emphasis on the Ukrainians, backed by the US and UK. Boris Rozhin (Colonel Cassad) has followed their remarks with a detailed statement of the history of the intelligence service operations before the Crocus attack, and a circumstantial detail of Ukrainian border drone operations in the area and on the night the getaway car was headed through Bryansk region.

“Joe Biden, the Biden family, the Clinton family, John McCain, Lindsey Graham and George Soros (directly or indirectly) apparently have deep, unexplained ties to oligarchs and individuals inside Ukraine..”

• Crocus City Hall Terror Attack Cast Slur Upon West (Sp.)

The Crocus City Hall, a music venue located in the Moscow region, was still burning when White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby asserted to the press that “there is no indication” that Ukraine was involved in the shooting. The US State Department doubled down on Ukraine’s supposed non-involvement on March 23, despite Russia’s investigation being far from over. A social media account allegedly belonging to ISIS* released a statement of responsibility hours after the attack. As if that were not enough, an additional statement by the group popped up later, accompanied by what appeared to be bodycam footage of the attack. The repeated statements have only triggered skepticism among netizens and international observers, especially given that the Russian Security Service (FSB) announced that four suspects with contacts in Ukraine had been arrested while en route to the Eastern European state on Saturday. New evidence suggested the case is far more complicated than Team Biden imagined.

“The Biden Administration has scant credibility left whether in official statements or in off-the-record communications, particularly when it comes to matters outside America’s nominal ‘borders’,” Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel told Sputnik. “The real question is what shadowy actors acquired the resources and training to perpetrate these vile acts and who are the ultimate paymasters, masterminds and ‘beneficiaries’.” According to Washington, the perpetrators belonged to ISIS-Khorasan, the terror group’s affiliate that is active in Afghanistan and the surrounding region. However, there are at least two reasons why international commentators reacted to Team Biden’s assertions with disbelief, according to Ortel.

“Joe Biden, the Biden family, the Clinton family, John McCain, Lindsey Graham and George Soros (directly or indirectly) apparently have deep, unexplained ties to oligarchs and individuals inside Ukraine who have funneled money into and outside Ukraine, for which there has never been an honest and rigorous accounting,” the analyst said, referring to Washington policymakers’ motif to divert any possible suspicions from Ukraine. Team Biden’s finger-pointing at Islamists does not make matters any easier for the West, the analyst continued. The attack spells reputational damage to the West given its intelligence operatives’ decades-long hand-in-glove cooperation with jihadist elements, involving using them as proxies.

They have no army. Can’t build one overnight either.

• EU Leaders Have Decided To Militarize, So What Now? (Drize)

The EU does not intend to die for the Donbass. This was stated by its foreign policy commissioner Josep Borrell last week. The leaders of the countries of the Western European bloc will discuss increasing defense spending and decide on the fate of frozen Russian assets at their next summit. Borrell urged his colleagues not to inflame the situation and frighten ordinary people for nothing. The senior official was referring to recent comments made by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has spoken of possibly sending troops into Ukraine. From the Kremlin’s standpoint, the behavior of Western leaders so far seems indecisive, but serious changes could be afoot. The next EU summit could be described as historic. The main issue is not even the fate of Russia’s frozen assets, but the fact that, perhaps for the first time, the bloc is discussing the transition to a military economy.

As European Council President Charles Michel put it, the time has come to change the paradigm of defense and security relations. The essence of this is that Western Europe was totally unprepared for war. Nobody expected it, and nobody even thought it was possible. What were their priorities? Climate – they wrote guidelines for farmers on how much carbon monoxide their cows should emit so that they don’t spoil the environment. What else? Gender neutrality, multiculturalism, gender equality – against such a happy, rosy background, they forgot about the military threat. Now they have to catch up. They will have to trade in not only their economic but also their political yardsticks so that the electorate really and seriously believes in a Russian threat. That, too, will require considerable investment.

There are no details yet, but the extreme poles have been outlined. The tone has been set by Macron. The French president has not ruled out sending troops to Ukraine. Some of his allies have expressed alarm at this and are denying the possibility in every possible way. However, the reality is that nothing can be ruled out, including this scenario, especially if the Ukrainian front line falls. To avoid all this, they need to find the means to help Kiev more actively. Incidentally, Donald Trump spoke about this when he was in office – they did not listen. But he was right. Now, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has said that the policy of increasing military spending is political suicide for her, but there is no other choice.

Imagine the protests.

• ‘Day May Come’ For EU Troops In Ukraine – Kiev (RT)

The conflict between Moscow and Kiev could reach a stage where EU countries have to deploy combat troops to Ukraine in order to counter Russian advances, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba has warned. In an interview with Politico on Monday, Kuleba complained about the decline in Western military aid for Kiev in recent months. “Give us the damn Patriots,” he said, referring to the US-made air-defense missile systems, which, he insisted, Kiev needs to target Russian jets that launch aerial guided bombs. Moscow’s increased reliance on these upgraded munitions is why “Ukrainian troops are losing positions,” the foreign minister claimed. Kuleba once again expressed regret over the resistance of Republican lawmakers to attempts by the administration of US President Joe Biden to push through another $60 billion in assistance for Ukraine.

He also dismissed a question about Germany’s reluctance to supply long-range Taurus missiles, saying he is “tired of answering this. Sorry.” However, French President Emmanuel Macron, who said last month that he “cannot exclude” the possibility of soldiers from NATO countries being sent to Ukraine, avoided Kuleba’s criticism. “We were pleased to see President Macron evolve in that direction,” the foreign minister said. The French leader’s remarks led to a wave of denials from the leaders of other NATO member states, who insisted there are no such plans to send Western troops to Ukraine. Kiev never asked for “European combat troops’ boots on the ground,” but EU leaders need to get used to the idea that “the day may come,” Kuleba stressed.

“I’m perfectly aware that Europeans are not used to the idea of war. But this is a carelessness Europeans simply cannot afford – neither for themselves nor their children,” because “if Ukraine loses, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will not stop,” he said. Putin said earlier that claims by Kiev and its foreign backers that Russia will target NATO states are “nonsense.” However, in another interview, the president stressed that Moscow will treat Western troops as “interventionists” if they are deployed to Ukraine, and would respond accordingly. The deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma, Pyotr Tolstoy, warned Macron last week against directly engaging Russia on the battlefield. “We will kill all French soldiers who set foot on Ukrainian soil. Every single one that comes,” Tolstoy said in an interview with French broadcaster BFMTV.

“It’s a very bad picture for the world. The world is seeing this…every night, I would watch buildings pour down on people..”

• Trump: Israel Has To Finish the War, It’s Losing a Lot of Support (Antiwar)

Former President Trump said in an interview with Israel Hayom over the weekend that Israel made a “big mistake” by broadcasting images and videos of the destruction in the Gaza Strip, saying it’s losing Israel “a lot of support.” Trump said he would have done the same thing as Israel in response to the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel but said it was time to “finish your war” as global opinion is turning on Israel. “You gotta get it done. And, I am sure you will do that. And we gotta get to peace, we can’t have this going on. And I will say, Israel has to be very careful, because you’re losing a lot of the world, you’re losing a lot of support, you have to finish up, you have to get the job done,” Trump said. When asked by the interviewer about how he would respond to the “wave of anti-Semitism” since October 7, Trump replied, “Well, that’s because you fought back. And I think Israel made a very big mistake. I wanted to call [Israel] and say don’t do it.

These photos and shots. I mean, moving shots of bombs being dropped into buildings in Gaza. And I said, oh, that’s a terrible portrait. It’s a very bad picture for the world. The world is seeing this…every night, I would watch buildings pour down on people,” Trump said. The interviewer then claimed that “terrorists” were hiding in the buildings. Trump replied, “Go and do what you have to do. But you don’t do that. And I think that’s one of the reasons that there has been a lot of kickback. If people didn’t see that, every single night I’ve watched every single one of those. And I think Israel wanted to show that it’s tough, but sometimes you shouldn’t be doing that.” Trump also took shots at Democrats for the growing criticism of Israel from within the party.

“Some 15 years ago, Israel had the strongest lobby. If you were a politician, you couldn’t say anything bad about Israel, that would be like the end of your political career. Today, it’s almost the opposite. I’ve never seen you have AOC plus three, these lunatics, frankly. But you have AOC plus three plus plenty of others. And all they do is talk badly about Israel, and they hate Israel, and they hate the Jewish people,” he said. Trump said the Hamas attack on Israel wouldn’t have happened if he was still president, something he has repeatedly claimed in recent interviews. “It was an attack that I blame on Biden because they [Hamas] have no respect for him. He can’t put two sentences together. He can’t talk. He’s a very dumb person,” he said.

Only SCOTUS can stop this.

• ‘Serious Concerns’ Raised About NY Judge’s Trump Judgment (ET)

After a New York court reduced former President Donald Trump’s bond to appeal his civil fraud case, several legal analysts weighed in on the decision. On Monday, a state appeals court agreed to hold off collection of the former president’s more than $454 million civil fraud judgment if he puts up $175 million within 10 days. If he does, it will stop the clock on collection and prevent the state from seizing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s assets while he appeals. Greg Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University in New York, said that President Trump may have a strong case to challenge Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling in February that he must pay $455 million in his civil fraud case. “I think the $175 million reduction … shows that the appellate division has serious concerns about the validity of Judge Engoron’s decision,” Mr. Germain told Newsweek.

While he believes the judgment was “seriously flawed,” the professor said that President Trump will have a difficult time overturning the judge’s “findings that his financial statement was grossly overstated.” “The standard for the appeals court to review factual findings is ‘clearly erroneous,’ which means that there was no evidence in the record to support the judge’s findings. Engoron was very careful to cite to the record for his factual findings, which were very solid,” Mr. Germain said. But the judge, he added, “made no attempt to determine what portion of the profit was solely due to the financial statement as opposed to other factors” before handing down his ruling. The former president “has some strong legal arguments to make on appeal,” Mr. Germain added. “Unfortunately for him, I think he’s so focused on denying that he did anything wrong that the strong legal arguments may be lost in his unwinnable arguments on the facts.”

The former president has said he did nothing wrong, adding that he actually undervalued his net worth when communicating with banks and insurers at the center of the civil fraud lawsuit. He said that the case is politically motivated, and that both the New York attorney general and Judge Engoron are biased against him. Meanwhile, a constitutional scholar said that the bond for an appeal should be been reduced to basically nothing. “The Court of Appeals may have felt that they can’t prejudge the evidence, and so to reduce the bond further would have been heavy-handed,” George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley told Fox News on Monday. “I actually think they could have reduced this bond to virtually nothing, because the amount set by [Judge Arthur] Engoron was absurd.” In a post on social media, Mr. Turley wrote that the New York appellate court may “restore a degree of objectivity and restraint missing on the trial level,” referring to the Engoron decision. “Both Engoron and [New York Attorney General Letitia] James would have gained greater credibility if they recognized the obvious unreasonableness of the original demand,” he continued.

“Her net worth is thought to be over $100 million, although her current salary as a US congresswoman is just over $220,000..”

• Pelosi, Accused of Insider Trading, Makes Major Stock Move (Sp.)

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) raised eyebrows recently with the revelation the former US House Speaker placed a big bet on a little-known San Francisco tech startup. A disclosure made last week showed the powerful Democratic Party politician purchased $5 million in stock of the privately-held company Databricks, a cloud data company. The stake is one of dozens Pelosi holds in US tech companies, some obscure and some well-known such as Tesla and Microsoft. The lawmaker has reportedly invested more than $120 million in stock purchases since entering federal government in 1987. Her net worth is thought to be over $100 million, although her current salary as a US congresswoman is just over $220,000. Pelosi has never been convicted of criminal wrongdoing in her investment activity, although her portfolio’s impressive return of 65% last year might suggest the legislator is more informed than average traders. US stock indices grew an average of 26% in 2023.

“From an ethical perspective, I believe it is extremely harmful for politicians to trade individual stocks,” said Chris Josephs, the founder of a stock trading service, to US media. “There are numerous jobs out there that don’t allow employees [to conduct] trading, yet our most powerful Americans can.” Pelosi opposed attempts to ban lawmakers from buying and selling stocks in 2021 under the claim such activity could be viewed as insider trading. “We are a free-market economy,” she said at the time. “They [Congress members] should be able to participate in that.” Former director of the US Office of Government Ethics Walter Shaub slammed the argument as “ridiculous.” “She might as well have said ‘let them eat cake,’” said Shaub, referring to famous comments by the French queen Marie Antoinette. “Sure, it’s a free-market economy. But your average schmuck doesn’t get confidential briefings from government experts chock full of nonpublic information directly related to the price of stocks.”

Late last week it was announced that an activist involved in pro-Palestine protests at the California lawmaker’s home had been arrested on felony vandalism charges. Cynthia Papermaster, 77, is reportedly being held on a $50,000 bond. “We want to see a permanent and immediate ceasefire,” said Papermaster in an interview recently. “We can’t control what the Israelis do, but we can control what our own government does, or at least that’s the aspiration.” Pelosi called for the anti-war activists to be investigated by the FBI in an appearance on US television after the incident earlier this year. Pelosi first claimed the demonstrators were being paid by China, then later clarified she believed Russia was behind the act of civil disobedience. The former House speaker joins the ranks of opponents of US civil rights with her comments; detractors frequently claimed racial justice protests in the 1960s and 70s were fomented by Russia to sow discord in the United States.

Tucker Tulsi
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772516274418880932

“That can only work reliably if there is no other choice for citizens tired of the duopoly and the political (and media) establishment..”

• The DNC Moves To Block Third Party Candidates (Turley)

The last time that the Chicago Democratic Convention was held in Chicago in 1968, the resulting riots led to one of the greatest Freudian slips in American politics. Mayor Richard Daley declared “the policeman isn’t there to create disorder; the policeman is there to preserve disorder.” The Democratic National Committee has now added its own gem: the Democratic Party is not here to preserve democracy, it is here to prevent democracy. That’s because the DNC is seeking to block third party candidates from ballots — Robert Kennedy Jr., Cornell West, and Jill Stein. All three are liberal and are considered a threat to Joe Biden. This effort will likely include any ticket put forward by the No Labels group, seeking a moderate alternative to the two parties. Mary Beth Cahill, the former interim DNC CEO, and long-time DNC staffer Ramsey Reid will lead this effort. According to media reports, former Buttigieg campaign aide Lis Smith will lead the effort with another Buttigieg alumni, Matt Corridoni.

This effort includes not just a public campaign against Kennedy and Stein as spoilers, but “legal action” to solve the problem by denying voters a choice. The media does not appear at all alarmed or critical of the effort to limit democratic choice. The Washington Post stated clinically “Democrats are taking third-party threats seriously this time.” Taking it seriously appears to mean using legal means to keep them from the ballots. It is true that the main political parties have challenged qualification signatures and paperwork in the past. However, the reports indicate a systemic effort geared toward reducing the choices for voters. What is striking is that this is coming from democratic groups and the DNC, which are raising money on the “save democracy” narrative. The contradiction is spellbinding. On the same sites promising to oppose the third party candidates, the DNC and other groups push the narrative that only the Democrats are working to protect the right to vote.

The Post reports that Democrats have studied the Hillary Clinton campaign and vowed not to allow third party candidates to drain away millions of voters as they did in 2016. Of course, the comparison is particularly telling because in both 2016 and 2024, the DNC chose the least popular Democratic candidates. Polls showed that Clinton was the worst possible candidate for the party, but the Clintons had control over the DNC and state party organizations. Of particular concern is the fact that Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan by only 67,000 votes. In just those states, Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Stein received more than half a million votes. Rather than actually pick a candidate that most citizens want, the DNC wants to replay the 2016 strategy of forcing the choice between two evils in a Biden-Trump choice. That can only work reliably if there is no other choice for citizens tired of the duopoly and the political (and media) establishment. So Kennedy, Cornell, and Stein just have to go.

Imploding?

• RFK Jr Picks Nicole Shanahan As VP, May Seek Libertarian Nomination (ZH)

The Wall Street Journal reports that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has picked Nicole Shanahan, a California-based attorney who was previously married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, as his running mate for his long-shot presidential bid, according to people familiar with the decision. Shanahan, 38, also runs a foundation focused on reproductive rights, criminal justice and the environment. Before backing Kennedy’s independent bid, Shanahan had previously been a donor to Democratic campaigns, including supporting Joe Biden’s election in 2020. Kennedy was slated to announce his choice Tuesday in Oakland, Calif., where Shanahan grew up. Shanahan, a political novice, was thrust into the spotlight over her public split with Brin amid a brief alleged affair she had with Elon Musk in 2021 that ruptured the billionaires’ long friendship, The Wall Street Journal reported. After the article published, Musk denied the allegations and Shanahan later followed suit.

It isn’t clear yet whether Shanahan plans to assist by tapping into her own wealth. Ahead of the announcement, Kennedy’s campaign manager confirmed on X that Shanahan was under consideration, along with several others including New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs. Meanwhile, lured by the promise of turnkey ballot access across the country, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr is seriously considering a run to win the Libertarian Party presidential nomination. However, his stance on the Israel-Gaza war and other issues could make his candidacy a tough sell with non-interventionist libertarians. Navigating the varied and complex patchwork of state ballot-access qualifying rules is one of the most grueling and expensive impediments to anyone seeking to challenge America’s two-party duopoly — to say nothing of the legal challenges filed by the Republican and Democratic parties along the way. So far, reports Politico, Kennedy’s backers say they’ve cleared the key hurdles in just eight states.

Meanwhile, it’s already pretty much a given that the Libertarian Party will be on the ballot in all 50. The top ticket will be selected by delegates at the party’s national convention in Washington DC over Memorial Day weekend. Selected by state conventions, those delegates are free to vote for whomever they like at the national convention. Kennedy’s flirtation with Libertarian Party members has been simmering since last year, and has included appearances on libertarian podcasts and an interview with Reason magazine. His most direct outreach came with a February appearance at the party’s California state convention, which has been credited for helping set a new California Libertarian convention attendance record. “I’ve always been aligned with libertarians on most issues,” Kennedy told Reason last summer. “I mean, there’s tweaks that I have.”

Some of those tweaks are doozies. For example, Kennedy said if Congress passed a so-called assault weapon ban, “I would sign it.” (On the other hand, he also said, “Anybody who tells you that they’re going to be able to reduce gun violence through gun control at this point, I don’t think is being realistic.”) He’s also called for a $15 national minimum wage, more free childcare, and abolishing interest on all federal student loans. However, it’s Kennedy’s statements on Israel-Palestine that seem to have caused the most damage to his prospects with staunchly non-interventionist libertarians — which is to say, most libertarians — who oppose entangling alliances, foreign aid, and US-enabled warfare. Kennedy has called for the United States to arm the “moral nation” of Israel, has expressed skepticism about a ceasefire in Gaza, and said “the Palestinian people are arguably the most pampered people by international aid organizations in the world.” Some libertarians are also put off by Kennedy’s embrace of controversial Israel advocate Shmuley Boteach.

And why not… ‘Mickey Mouse’, ‘Jesus Christ’, and ‘Batman’..

• ‘Literally Anybody Else’ Announces US Presidential Campaign (RT)

Texas voters could get the chance to cast their ballots for a man named ‘Literally Anybody Else’ this November, if his long-shot scheme to protest the US’ two-party system is successful. Math teacher and military veteran Dustin Ebey formally changed his name to ‘Literally Anybody Else’ earlier this month, and is now scrambling to gather the 113,151 signatures required to appear on Texas ballots as an independent candidate, WFAA News reported on Friday. “I’m not delusional,” Else told the outlet. “This will be very hard to do, but it’s not impossible. My hope is to have Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and then Literally Anybody Else right underneath,” he continued, explaining that “I really want there to be an outlet for folks like me who are just so fed up with this constant power grab between two parties that has no benefit for the common person.”

“This isn’t about me… more so as it is an idea,” Else told WFAA. “We can do better out of 300 million people for president.” Else is far from the only American dismayed at a Trump/Biden rematch. A NewsNation poll conducted in January found that 59% of registered voters were ‘not too enthusiastic’ or ‘not at all enthusiastic’ about seeing the pair compete for the presidency again. However, despite majorities in both parties calling for fresh faces, Trump easily defeated all of his Republican rivals during the last three months’ primaries, while Biden faced no competition from any high-profile Democrats. Else faces an uphill struggle to even enter the race. First, he has until May 13 to collect 113,151 signatures from registered voters who did not vote in either the Republican or Democratic primaries in Texas.

Having achieved this, he must replicate the feat in every other US state and territory, all of which have similar rules for independent candidates. Failing this, he could register as a write-in candidate. However, he would then have to build up a national profile and convince voters to actually write in ‘Literally Anybody Else’ on election day. No write-in candidate has ever come close to being elected president of the US, although two US senators have won office this way since the 1950s. Voters often write in undeclared candidates as a means of prank or protest, with ‘Mickey Mouse’, ‘Jesus Christ’, and ‘Batman’ all picking up a handful of votes in 2020.

“..this again gives him an opportunity to prevent spending the rest of his life in a US prison. So that is always welcome..”

• ‘Triumph’ for Assange But Battle Far From Over (Sp.)

Julian Assange will not be extradited immediately to the US, a London High Court has ruled. Likewise, Washington has been given three weeks to provide “satisfactory assurances” that the WikiLeaks founder will face a fair trial, could rely on the First Amendment, and will not be subject to the death penalty. The Tuesday ruling by the London court grants the WikiLeaks founder an opportunity to continue his fight against extradition to the US where he faces a whopping 18 charges, all bar one under the Espionage Act, Sputnik interlocutors have explained. “The court decision is a great triumph for freedom of speech and journalism conduct,” Andy Vermaut, a Belgian human rights activist and the president of the World Council for Public Diplomacy and Community Dialogue, told Sputnik. “This ruling illuminates the enduring struggle for freedom of the press and the rights of individuals to uncover truths that are in the public’s best interest.”

While the court’s ruling spells a victory for the Assange legal team, the WikiLeaks founder is being granted permission to appeal on only three of the nine grounds, remarked Taylor Hudak, an independent investigative journalist. She noted that people “do feel that this was somewhat of an injustice.” “The court has given the United States government three weeks to issue satisfactory assurances on those three grounds of appeal,” Hudak told Sputnik. “[Assange] is permitted to appeal on the First Amendment issue, that is whether or not he will be given First Amendment protections in the United States, that he is not prejudiced at trial due to his nationality, and that the death penalty not be imposed.”

“Another point to make is that he will not be immediately extradited, obviously, and this again gives him an opportunity to prevent spending the rest of his life in a US prison. So that is always welcome,” the independent journalist continued. The battle is far from over, pointed out Dr. David William Norris, a political commentator and former teaching fellow at a college in Birmingham. “The United States authorities will not relinquish their efforts to get hold of Assange and see him imprisoned for the 175 years they have promised him. It would be, as we all recognize, a death sentence,” Norris warned while speaking to Sputnik.

Stella

"If you expose the interests that are driving war, they will come after you, they will put you in prison, and they will try to kill you."

Stella Assange outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London today. pic.twitter.com/jqGVtrkVJR

— Robin Monotti (@robinmonotti) March 26, 2024

Cheese rennet

Up To 90% Of The Cheese Sold In America Is No Longer Made Naturally

“90% of the cheese sold in the U.S. does not use animal rennet and instead uses a genetically modified organism (GMO) version made by Pfizer”

They use a loophole to get around having to label all our cheese as… pic.twitter.com/EgQHQJ411o

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) March 25, 2024

China one side
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772607719716868526

Facetime
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772633886092054827

Blend in
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772538115564904585

Owl
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772613727306543352

Golf bird
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772631686552879521

Elephant

The brute force of an elephant pic.twitter.com/rBVefChOeY

— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) March 26, 2024

https://twitter.com/i/status/1772644817488531916

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Debt Rattle November 13 2022

Nov 132022

November 13, 2022 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:54 am Finance Tagged with: Alameda, BRICS, DNC, Elon Musk, fertilizer, FTX, G20, La Scala, laundering, SBF, Surovikin, UAE 50 Responses »

Salvador Dali The three pines 1919

• UK and EU To Try To Isolate Russia At G20 Summit (RT)

• The New Candidate Countries For BRICS Expansion (SRB)

• Surovikin’s Difficult Choice (Big Serge)

• Tens of Billions Transferred to Ukraine and Laundered Through FTX (GP)

• The FTX-Alameda Nexus (Coppola)

• Up To $2 Billion In Client Money Missing In Crypto Giant FTX Collapse (NYP)

• First Batch Of Blocked Russian Fertilizers Allowed To Leave EU Port (RT)

• Showdown Slow Down (Jim Kunstler)

• Crrraaaazy Wally -Street, That Is- (Denninger)

• Ports Clogged With Containers As World Trade Stumbles (ZH)

• Developing Nations Demand Rich Countries Pay For Climate Change (RT)

• US Intel Report Vilifies Key Ally UAE – WaPo (RT)

• La Scala Replies To Call To ‘Cancel’ Russian Composers (RT)

• Elon Musk In Court Over $56 Billion Tesla Bonus (Telegraaf)

Sort of amazing how every time it takes DAYS to count the votes (like never before in American history)— it’s always because the Democrats are winning.

Complete and utter bullshit.

— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) November 13, 2022

Who will be isolated? The collective west.

• UK and EU To Try To Isolate Russia At G20 Summit (RT)

The UK and the EU intend to coordinate their efforts and do “everything possible” to make the Russian delegation feel unwelcome at the upcoming G20 summit in Indonesia’s Bali, a British media outlet has claimed. The Telegraph pointed out, however, that China, and possibly several other key players, is highly unlikely to follow suit. “We try to work with partners in order to show very, very, very firmly what the international community thinks about all these crimes, atrocities, and illegal actions by Russia,” a spokesperson for the EU’s foreign affairs service told the paper. The spokesperson explained that the bloc, together with the UK, will not only shun Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and stage walkouts during addresses by Moscow’s delegation, but also try to convince other nations to do the same.

According to the anonymous official, while the “UK is not keen on coordinating with the EU on foreign policy in general,” the concerted efforts to isolate Russia have proven to be an exception, as London and Brussels “have the same objective.” The report also quoted a French government source as saying that the meeting in Bali will not be “business as usual” and will center on the Ukraine conflict. “There will be a coalition and Russia is isolated,” the official concluded. The article noted, however, that the total isolation of Russia at the event is unlikely, as the country enjoys close relations with China. One unnamed EU official told the paper that Moscow and Beijing are expected to water down any joint statement calling for de-escalation in Ukraine.

The report also suggested that the likes of India, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, which have not joined Western sanctions against Moscow, could break ranks with the EU and UK this time as well. Relations between Moscow and the West have hit an all-time low in the wake of the Russian military operation in Ukraine. However, Moscow has insisted that any attempts to isolate the country will fail. The key organizations that Russia is part of, such as BRICS, are also expanding. In fact, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa revealed following a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last month that Riyadh would like to join BRICS, which currently comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. On top of that, media reports claimed back in July that Türkiye and Egypt might also be interested. Since the start of the year three countries – Iran, Argentina, and Algeria – have officially applied to join BRICS.

I’d say the list is pretty much endless. Once you have South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Senegal, all African countries will want to join. Same in South America, Asia.

• The New Candidate Countries For BRICS Expansion (SRB)

The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov has stated that ‘over a dozen’ countries have formally applied to join the BRICS grouping following the groups decision to allow new members earlier this year. The BRICS currently includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It is not a free trade bloc, but members do coordinate on trade matters and have established a policy bank, the New Development Bank, (NDB) to coordinate infrastructure loans. That was set up in 2014 in order to provide alternative loan mechanisms from the IMF and World Bank structures, which the members had felt had become too US-centric.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was set up by China at about the same time for largely the same reasons and to offer alternative financing than that provided by the IMF and World Banks, which were felt to impose political reform policies designed to assist the United States in return for providing loans. Both the NDB and AIIB banks are Triple A rated and capitalised at US$100 billion. The NDB bank shares are held equally by each of the five members. In total, the BRICS grouping as it currently stands accounts for over 40% of the global population and nearly a quarter of the world’s GDP. The GDP figure is expected to double to 50% of global GDP by 2030. Expanding BRICS will immediately accelerate that process.

Concerning a BRICS expansion, Lavrov stated that Algeria, Argentina, and Iran had all applied, while it is already known that Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Egypt and Afghanistan are interested, along with Indonesia, which is expected to make a formal application to join at the upcoming G20 summit in Bali. Other likely contenders for membership include Kazakhstan, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Senegal, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. All had their Finance Ministers present at the BRICS Expansion dialogue meeting held in May. We can examine the basic economic data of the proposed new BRICS members as follows. GDP figures given are nominal, 2022 growth rates are based on the first 9 months of the year from data issued by the respective Central Banks.

Not fully convinced.

• Surovikin’s Difficult Choice (Big Serge)

Here is what I think Surovikin decided about Kherson. Kherson was becoming an inefficient front for Russia because of the logistical strain of supplying forces across the river with limited bridge and road capacity. Russia demonstrated that it was capable of shouldering this sustainment burden (keeping troops supplied all through Ukraine’s summer offensives), but the question becomes 1) to what purpose, and 2) for how long. Ideally, the bridgehead becomes the launching point for offensive action against Nikolayev, but launching an offensive would require strengthening the force grouping in Kherson, which correspondingly raises the logistical burden of projecting force across the river. With a very long front to play with, Kherson is clearly one of the most logistically intensive axes.

My guess is that Surovikin took charge and almost immediately decided he did not want to increase the sustainment burden by trying to push on Nikolayev. Therefore, if an offensive is not going to be launched from the Kherson position, the question becomes – why hold the position at all? Politically, it is important to defend a regional capital, but militarily the position becomes meaningless if one is not going to go on the offensive in the south. Let’s be even more explicit: unless an offensive towards Nikolayev is planned, the Kherson bridgehead is militarily counterproductive. While holding the bridgehead in Kherson, the Dnieper River becomes a negative force multiplier – increasing the sustainment and logistics burden and ever threatening to leave forces cut off if Ukraine succeeds in destroying the bridges or bursting the dam.

Projecting force across the river becomes a heavy burden with no obvious benefit. But by withdrawing to the east bank, the river becomes a positive force multiplier by serving as a defensive barrier. In the broader operational sense, Surovikin seems to be declining battle in the south while preparing in the north and in the Donbas. It is clear that he made this decision shortly after taking command of the operation – he has been hinting at it for weeks, and the speed and cleanliness of the withdrawal suggests that it was well planned , long in advance. Withdrawing across the river increases the combat effectiveness of the army significantly and decreases the logistical burden, freeing resources for other sectors. This fits the overall Russian pattern of making harsh choices about resource allocation, fighting this war under the simple framework of optimizing the loss ratios and building the perfect meatgrinder.

Money Laundering 101.
1. Foreign aid goes to Ukraine.
2. Ukraine invests in $FTX
3. $FTX donates back to the Democratic Party.

• Tens of Billions Transferred to Ukraine and Laundered Through FTX (GP)

We have information that the tens of billions of dollars going to Ukraine were actually laundered back to the US to corrupt Democrats and elites using FTX cryptocurrency. Now the money is gone and FTX is bankrupt. Earlier today we reported that the FTX cryptocurrency appeared to be used in a ponzi scheme involving the Democrats and Ukraine. As reported earlier, the FTX crypto company gave at least $40 million to Democrat candidates and causes in the midterms. Sam Bankman-Fried is Biden’s second biggest donor. In addition to this, Daily Caller lists many of the lawmakers who Sam Bankman Fried was bankrolling who oversaw the institution that was supposed to keep on eye on companies like FTX:

“Sam Bankman-Fried, prolific Democratic donor and ex-CEO of now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, funded the campaigns of members of Congress overseeing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), one of the key bodies tasked with regulating the crypto industry and the subject of Bankman-Fried’s aggressive lobbying. Bankman-Fried’s FTX is currently under investigation by the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after Bankman-Fried allegedly moved $10 billion in client assets from his crypto exchange to his trading firm Alameda Research, and a liquidity crisis at his exchange which prompted the company to file for bankruptcy. However, prior to the agency’s probe, Bankman-Fried aggressively courted the CFTC – and funded several key lawmakers charged with overseeing the agency, pouring cash into their campaign coffers.”

FTX also happens to be related to Ukraine. The far-left Washington Post reported on March 3 that Ukraine was dealing in crypto. “The Ukrainian government has gathered more than $42 million in cryptocurrency donations since Saturday, plus digital artwork including a limited edition worth roughly $200,000, according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. The challenge is how the country cashes in on these assets to fund its war needs.” Then less than a week later FTX made the news for involving itself in Ukraine: “Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman Fried has come forward to help a crypto donation project. He humbly announced that FTX will be supporting the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance and other communities in collecting crypto donations for the country. The Ukrainian government has received over $60 million in crypto donations from all over the world.”

“FTX’s CEO, Sam Bankman Fried highlighted that the war in Ukraine has been dragging on. The country is in full need of humanitarian help and access to global financial infrastructure. He also called attention to sanctions and crypto during this kind of situation. He indicated that crypto exchanges should enforce sanctions announced by the government seriously. FTX has stressed across all of its regulatory and policy efforts, active coordination and communication with regulators and policymakers is crucial to ensuring that laws and rules achieve their intended outcome, reads a letter by FTXPointing out the urgency to help the nation Sam Bankman announced that the FTX team is honored to support the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance in simplifying the donation process.”

Create you own token… “Customer assets deposited on the exchange are routinely lent to the hedge fund against collateral consisting of the exchange’s tokens.”

• The FTX-Alameda Nexus (Coppola)

The young, dynamic, ambitious owner of a crypto hedge fund – let’s call him “Joe” – sets up a crypto exchange. To start with, this just enables his hedge fund can trade without having to pay margin or exchange fees. But Joe has larger ambitions. He wants to run the biggest and best exchange in the world. And he wants to make money from it. Lots and lots of money. Trillions of dollars, in fact. Now, his hedge fund can make money by taking risky leveraged positions, but it has to raise funds, and that’s not cheap. And his exchange can make money by charging fees on transactions, but although that can be a nice slow steady income, it’s not going to make him the trillions of dollars he wants.

But Joe’s spotted an opportunity. The exchange has lots of customer assets that aren’t earning anything. If he puts those customer assets to work, he can earn far more from his exchange customers. And he’s got an obvious vehicle through which to put them to work. The hedge fund. If he transfers customer assets on the exchange to the hedge fund, it can lend or pledge them at risk to earn megabucks. Of course, there’s a risk that the hedge fund could lose some or all of the customers’ funds. And the exchange promises that customers can have their assets back on demand, which could be a trifle problematic if they are locked up in leveraged positions held by the hedge fund. But this is crypto. There’s an easy solution. The exchange can issue its own token to replace the customer assets transferred to the hedge fund.

The exchange will report customer balances in terms of the assets they have deposited, but what it will actually hold will be its own token. If customers request to withdraw their balances, the exchange will sell its own tokens to obtain the necessary assets – after all, crypto assets, like dollars, are fungible. For this to work, however, the token must reliably hold its value. So the exchange creates more of the tokens than are needed to replace customer balances, and the hedge fund actively buys and sells them on the exchange, thus creating a market in the things and pumping the price. The price rockets, inflating the balance sheets of both the hedge fund and the exchange, and making $billions in unrealised profits for Joe and his investors – of whom there are suddenly a whole lot more, including some exceedingly respectable institutional investors.

It works brilliantly. So, this becomes Joe’s business model. Customer assets deposited on the exchange are routinely lent to the hedge fund against collateral consisting of the exchange’s tokens. There’s a massive and growing mismatch between the asset balances reported to customers on the exchange and the assets the exchange actually holds. But it doesn’t matter, because the token is highly liquid and the value of the tokens pledged as collateral comfortably exceeds the value of the missing customer assets. And the exchange can easily honour all withdrawal requests by trading out its own tokens. Indeed, the tokens are doing so well that even when the hedge fund suffers serious losses in a crypto crash, the exchange is able to bail it out. It’s completely self-sustaining. That is, until the token’s value crashes.

“SBF and two FTX associates are currently being detained by authorities in the Bahamas, a source tells Cointelegraph..”

• Up To $2 Billion In Client Money Missing In Crypto Giant FTX Collapse (NYP)

At least $1 billion of customer funds — and possibly as much as $2 billion — have gone missing in the implosion of the crypto currency exchange FTX, according to reports. FTX’s flamboyant founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, known in the industry as “SBF,” secretly funneled $10 billion of customer funds into his trading company, Alameda Research, sources told two media outlets. Alameda Research is run by Bankman-Fried’s girlfriend, Caroline Ellison. Two senior FTX officials claimed they saw the evidence that the money was missing in copies of financial records Bankman-Fried shared with company executives last week, according to Reuters.

On Friday, Bankman-Fried stepped down from his CEO position as the Bahamas-based FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after scrambling to shore up an $8 billion liquidity crisis that has left investors unable to claim their funds. A bid to save FTX via a rescue deal with rival exchange Binance didn’t work out, leading to crypto’s highest-profile collapse in recent years. In text messages to Reuters, Bankman-Fried, one of the largest donors to the Democratic Party, said he “disagreed with the characterization” of the $10 billion transfer. “We didn’t secretly transfer,” he said. “We had confusing internal labeling and misread it,” he added, without elaborating. “???” was Bankman-Fried’s response, when asked about the missing cash.

“In September, he said that Russia was prepared to give these fertilizers to developing nations free of charge.”

So yeah, let’s block it for months…

• First Batch Of Blocked Russian Fertilizers Allowed To Leave EU Port (RT)

The first batch of Russian fertilizers, which have been blocked at EU ports amid Ukraine-related sanctions, has been given permission to leave next week, the UN announced on Friday. The cargo amounts to 20,000 tons and is currently stationed in the Dutch port of Rotterdam. It is destined for the African nation of Malawi under the UN World Food Program. “The UN also briefed on recently issued General Licenses and shipments of fertilizer to developing countries’ destinations and its ongoing engagement with private sector and member states. It is anticipated that the first shipment of donated fertilizers will depart for Malawi in the coming week,” the UN said in a statement released after a meeting between senior UN officials and a Russian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin on Friday.

The meeting centered on Russia’s continued dissatisfaction with UN efforts to lift Western sanctions that pose problems for Russia’s agricultural exports. The organization pledged to assist Russia in the matter back in July as part of a UN-brokered Ukrainian grain deal, which unblocked the export of food and fertilizers from several Black Sea ports. Russia said it may choose not to extend its participation in the deal, which is set to expire on November 19, if the UN does not follow through on its promises regarding Russian exports. On Friday, the Dutch government confirmed that the Russian fertilizer cargo has been given permission to leave the port on the UN’s request. “The decision to release the fertilizer was made on the understanding that the UN would ensure that it is delivered to the agreed location, Malawi, and that the Russian company and sanctioned individual will earn nothing from the transaction,” the Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

It did not disclose the name of the Russian company that owns the shipment. Earlier this month, however, TASS news agency reported that Russian fertilizer producer Uralchem-Uralkali was ready to donate 240,000 tons of its fertilizers stuck in EU warehouses for humanitarian purposes, with the first shipment destined for Malawi. Prior to this, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that a total of 300,000 tons of Russian fertilizers were stuck at EU ports due to Western sanctions. In September, he said that Russia was prepared to give these fertilizers to developing nations free of charge.

“The opponents of Progressive-Woke-Jacobinism don’t need a circus ringmaster. They need a credible leader, especially one that can manage his or her emotions at least as well as Vladimir Putin does.”

• Showdown Slow Down (Jim Kunstler)

The basic Democratic Party election strategy in recent decades has been to turn the voting public into so many millions of proverbial froggies in the pot of water set to slowly rise to boiling so that the froggies don’t notice they’re getting cooked until it’s too late to jump out of the pot. The Democrat’s Lawfare soldiers have slowly and systematically changed the methods of voting and counting the votes, especially to eliminate accountability for the massive scams and screw-ups that have occurred recently. The changes have been accepted as normal. One insidious change was shutting down the small local precinct polling places in churches and schools, where it was easy to get in, get your signature checked, and vote on-site, and where the precinct captains and workers were known and accountable to voters in the neighborhood.

Instead, Lawfare got states to consolidate all the action in huge impersonal voting centers — often sports arenas — where hundreds of election workers churned, and all sorts of frauds went unnoticed in the enormous shuffle of activity. It was also harder to get in and vote at such a giant venue on game day when thousands showed up and long lines formed — which made it easier for interested parties to justify the expansion of mail-in balloting. It’s just possible that Covid-19 was introduced in 2020 to make sure that Election Day in-person voting would look hazardous, with mail-ins becoming the dominant method. It sure helped get rid of Donald Trump.Among the conclusions of the 2005 Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by (Democratic) former president Carter and (Republican) former Secretary of State James Baker, was that mail-in voting is the easiest way to invite cheating and fraud.

Apparently, no one listened except Lawfare’s Marc Elias, who saw that as a good thing. What we got starting in 2020 and continuing today are the creative refinements of that, as fraudsters apply their zillions of dollars to new ways of stealing elections — as Mark Zuckerberg did in Wisconsin, literally switching out local election officials with Democratic Party activists. Then there are the as-yet-unresolved issues with the Dominion voting machines and their software. Are the machines enabled to hook into the internet? It seems to me that this has been proven. Why is it so hard to admit that these machines are janky and unnecessary? A thousand voices have pointed out that many other nations, France, for instance, use only paper ballots and manage to report the election results the night of.

Arizona is a whole helluva lot smaller than France, and even Florida, which thoroughly reformed its election laws under Governor DeSantis and published the midterm results the same night. Speaking of Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Trump, the ex-President has been verbally laying into the Florida governor so viciously lately that he might have made a fatal error in his quest for electoral redemption. The opponents of Progressive-Woke-Jacobinism don’t need a circus ringmaster. They need a credible leader, especially one that can manage his or her emotions at least as well as Vladimir Putin does.

“Anyone who thinks The Fed can ignore 32.6% of spending in the economy has rocks in their head..”

• Crrraaaazy Wally -Street, That Is- (Denninger)

We call it…. “crazy Ivan” – Hunt for Red October. Except this is November, and the crazy came out of the CPI report. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.4 percent in October on a seasonally adjusted basis, the same increase as in September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 7.7 percent before seasonal adjustment. The index for shelter contributed over half of the monthly all items increase, with the indexes for gasoline and food also increasing. If you were short into this there was no getting away from what went up your backside; a literal 100 handles went into the Spoos within seconds and I’m quite sure if you’d been short you would have been gapped over, so a stop would have gotten you exactly no protection.

The problem in the “better than expected” report is in that bolded line and in fact that’s a high going back all the way through April on a seasonally-adjusted basis. Food away from home also was up at the seasonally-adjusted high, where it has been for the last three months sequentially, so there’s no love there either. Note that the latter is often subject to fairly long supply lines and contracts which delay the impact of movement both ways, and thus that it is lagging is no big shock. Food at bars and restaurants has been up less than food at home over the last 12 months and thus you can expect it to continue hitting the index for quite some time yet. The 900lb Gorilla in the room this month is fuel oil, which is, as many people do not know, #2 diesel.

It was up a stunning 19.8% on the month and stands at 68.5% up from last year this time. Anyone expecting the consumer experience to improve with that record has rocks in their head, never mind those who use it for heating that are about to get a visit from the proctologist this winter. Incidentally if you are one of them and your supplier is screwing you on price go to a truck stop (or any rural fuel place that sells to farmers for off-road use) and bring jerry cans. They sell dyed fuel for use in the refer units. Its the same thing and if its cheaper to buy it there than pay whatever the guy with the truck wants to bring it to the house your decision should be obvious. Piped gas relaxed some, which is good news if you use it, but its still up 20% on the year.

A huge percentage of people use that for heat, so there you go. Oh, and guess what is used to generate electrical power? Uh huh, which is why electricity is up 14.1% on the year. If you remember me talking about “Owner’s Equivalent Rent” and how it falsely stated that there was no inflation while home prices shot the moon you can see the inverse of that right now in the OER number which is up 6.9% on the year. That which held down inflation figures for years is now going to prop them up for years, like it or not. There is no evidence that rents, on the other hand, is relaxing at all. Anyone who thinks The Fed can ignore 32.6% of spending in the economy has rocks in their head; they most-certainly will not, and that’s what shelter comprises. Annualized its up 6.9% so no, we’re not “winning” on inflation.

“Global trade is moving backwards this year..”

• Ports Clogged With Containers As World Trade Stumbles (ZH)

The latest Bloomberg Trade Tracker reveals an ominous outlook for world trade due to soaring interest rates, the war in Ukraine, a slowdown in the US economy, and zero Covid in China. A shortage of containers has entirely reversed into a glut as crashing shipping rates and canceled sails gain momentum during what is supposed to be the busiest shipping period of the year. “The world’s two biggest economies are feeling glum about the export outlook, with both the US and China gauges in contraction in October and the American one in “below-normal” range on the Tracker,” according to Bloomberg. Earlier this week, we explained that economic storm clouds are gathering worldwide as some of the largest shipping companies warn about decelerating global trade.

US shipper FedEx and Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S have been vocal about emerging signs of a global slowdown. “Global trade is moving backwards this year,” Maersk’s chief executive officer Soren Skou told Bloomberg Television at the start of November. FedEx CFO Michael Lenz told an audience Tuesday at the Robert W Baird Global Industrial Conference earlier this week that his company parked planes cut costs in response to weak demand for package delivery. The Covid boom for goods has evaporated. Consumers have switched from buying computers and television to spending whatever money they have left on experiences. We predict in May that an inventory glut, i.e., the reverse bullwhip effect, would cool the booming freight market. It’s now peak shipping season — retailers have already canceled overseas orders as freight companies reduce shipping capacity ahead of Black Friday and Christmas.

Yeah, but we’re broke…

• Developing Nations Demand Rich Countries Pay For Climate Change (RT)

Leaders from developing countries have accused wealthy nations and the energy industry of triggering climate change and demanded compensation for the damage it has inflicted on their economies. While oil and gas companies are reaping the benefits, small island states are being devastated by ocean storms caused by rising sea levels, they say. Speaking at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt on Tuesday, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne noted that “oil and gas industry continues to earn almost $3 billion daily in profits,” while “the planet is burning.” “It is about time that these companies are made to pay a global carbon tax on their profits as a source of funding for loss and damage,” Browne added.

Poor nations point at the hypocrisy of their wealthier counterparts, which are the most vocal advocates of slashing emissions while themselves being the biggest polluters following a century of fossil fuel-driven industrialization. Developing countries are now asking how they will be compensated for the floods and droughts attributed to climate change. “I’m not here to ask any of you to love the people of my country with the same passion as I do,” said the prime minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis. “I’m asking what is it worth to you to have millions of climate refugees to turn into tens of millions, putting pressure on political and economic systems around the world.”

Meanwhile, Senegalese President Macky Sall admitted that his country’s economy is unable to shift away from fossil fuels immediately but said that poorer developing countries in Africa needed increased funding from wealthy nations in order to adapt to the worsening climate. “Let’s be clear, we are in favor of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. But we Africans cannot accept that our vital interests be ignored,” he said.

Saudi, Iran, now UAE. No many US friends left.

• US Intel Report Vilifies Key Ally UAE – WaPo (RT)

The United Arab Emirates, arguably one of Washington’s most trusted Arab allies, has gamed US foreign policy by meddling in the American political system using both legal and illegal tactics, intelligence officials have reportedly claimed in a classified report. The activities in question spanned multiple US administrations and exploited “vulnerabilities” in the American system, including reliance on political contributions and lax enforcement of laws designed to protect against foreign interference, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. Some of the tactics “resemble espionage,” the newspaper added, citing three unidentified sources who have seen the classified report.

The report illustrates how the US political system is being distorted by foreign money, one Washington lawmaker told the Post, arguing that a “very clear red line needs to be established against the UAE playing in American politics. I’m not convinced we’ve ever raised this with the Emiratis at a high level.” Top US policymakers allegedly received briefings on the classified intelligence report in recent weeks. It’s an unusual advisory for US intelligence agencies to issue because it pertains to a close ally – rather than an adversary, such as Russia, China or Iran – and could be interpreted as delving into domestic politics, said Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE’s ambassador to Washington, defended the oil-rich nation’s outsized influence in the US. “It has been hard-earned and well-deserved,” he told the Post.

“It is the product of decades of close UAE-US cooperation and effective diplomacy. It reflects common interests and shared values.” The UAE has spent more than $154 million on lobbyists since 2016, according to US government records, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars that were donated to American colleges and think tanks. Many of those institutions have produced policy papers with recommendations that are favorable to UAE interests. Those investments have apparently been fruitful, as Washington has approved sales of some of the most advanced US-made weaponry, including MQ-9 Predator drones and F-35 fighter jets, to the UAE. No other Arab nation has been afforded such privileges because US leaders have sought to avoid “diminishing Israel’s qualitative military edge” in the Middle East, the Post said.

Bordering Saudi Arabia to the southwest and Oman to the east, oil-rich UAE is a member of OPEC. Around 2,000 US soldiers and airmen are stationed at Abu Dhabi’s al-Dhafra airbase, and both countries supported Saudi Arabia’s war against the Houthis in Yemen, though the Pentagon ceased supporting “offensive” operations there in 2021, and the UAE withdrew its ground troops in early 2020. In early August, Washington authorized a $2.2 billion sale of 96 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system missiles, to help Abu Dhabi repel possible ballistic missile threats in the region. However, after OPEC+ members announced their decision to cut oil production last month, multiple US lawmakers accused Washington’s allies of “siding with Russia” and proposed withdrawing troops and missile defense systems from both UAE and Saudi Arabia as a punishment.

“..discarding the works of Mussorgsky or poet and novelist Alexander Pushkin would be like discarding the works of Shakespeare or Dante..”

• La Scala Replies To Call To ‘Cancel’ Russian Composers (RT)

Italy’s famed La Scala theater in Milan has insisted that Russian culture should not be “penalized” because of the military operation against Kiev. It defended its decision to include the works of Russian composers in its newest program after a Ukrainian consul called them instruments of Moscow’s propaganda campaign. According to Italian news agency ANSA, Andrey Kartysh, Ukraine’s consul general in Milan, sent a letter to La Scala CEO Dominique Meyer, as well as Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala and the head of the Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana, asking to “review” its program for the 2022-2023 season in order to avoid “potential elements of propaganda.” The diplomat cited the “great disappointment and regret” of the Ukrainian community in Italy.

“Culture is being used by the Russian Federation to lend weight to its assertions of greatness and power,” he wrote, arguing that “the pandering to its propaganda can only fuel the image of the regime [in Moscow] and, by extension, its evil ambitions and countless crimes.” La Scala plans to kick off its newest season on December 7 with the opera ‘Boris Godunov’ by 19th-century Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. The opera is about a Russian tsar who ruled during the Time of Trouble, a period of political upheaval and turbulence in early 17th century Russia. The program also includes ‘The Nutcracker’ ballet, whose score was written by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and a recital by Russian soprano Anna Netrebko. La Scala Music Director Riccardo Chailly defended the decision to show ‘Boris Godunov’ on stage.

“To remove a masterpiece… is to penalize the culture,” he argued, as quoted by the newspaper Corriere della Sera on Saturday. “Art should not pay for the havoc of what has been happening after February 24,” Chailly said, referring to the date that Russia launched its military operation in the neighboring state. He added that discarding the works of Mussorgsky or poet and novelist Alexander Pushkin would be like discarding the works of Shakespeare or Dante. Chailly noted that the opera house expressed support for Ukraine early on in the conflict and raised €380,000 for Ukrainian refugees in April. Stage director Francesco Micheli, who sits on La Scala’s governing board, called the Ukrainian consul general’s request “reckless,” saying that he “ignores that the opera has no connection with the situation” in his home country. “I think La Scala sees the program as a way to show the unifying value of culture. That is why La Scala should be praised,” Italian Under Secretary of State for Culture Vittorio Sgarbi said.

Google translation.

Looks like the “thrash metal drummer” is being used by much bigger parties. But Musk made a lot of people a lot of money, and “the proposal has been passed by a large majority by Tesla shareholders.”

Still, lawyers are looking at large fees, so they continue.

@JordanSchachtel:”Elon is blowing things up at Twitter because it is necessary to save the company. The old Twitter was a state-sponsored propaganda operation. Twitter as a private company will not have the privilege of unlimited resources.”

• Elon Musk In Court Over $56 Billion Tesla Bonus (Telegraaf)

Elon Musk has to defend a billion-dollar bonus in a US court on Monday that was promised to him a few years ago at Tesla. That bonus could be so high that the Tesla CEO could recoup the entire $44 billion he recently invested in the Twitter acquisition. Musk was promised a package of stock options in 2018 if he could achieve certain goals with Tesla. Since then, Tesla’s stock price has increased more than tenfold and the company was briefly worth more than 1000 billion dollars. According to calculations, Musk could make up to $56 billion. The controversial package allows him to buy 1 percent of Tesla’s shares at a big discount every time certain targets are reached. Richard Tornetta, a small Tesla investor, thought the bonus was excessive and filed a lawsuit as early as 2018. At the time, there was immediately a lot of speculation that the Tesla stock price could rise to great heights.

Tornetta, who is also a thrash metal drummer and runs an audio equipment company, also finds it unfair that Musk was awarded the remuneration of a board that would actually be completely under his control. One of the directors involved was Kimbal Musk, the brother of the richest man in the world. Yet the matter is not so simple. Musk’s lawyers have pointed out that the proposal has been passed by a large majority by Tesla shareholders. Because of the bonus, Musk would have been focused on making Tesla better. And this is said to be the reason why the share price has soared, which is in the interest of all shareholders. The case is being heard in the state of Delaware by the same judge who recently dealt with the case between Twitter and Musk to force the latter to go through with its takeover plan.

Cobalt

COBALT – 72% of the cobalt for rechargeable batteries comes from the Congo.

Mining for rare minerals will destroy more environments and lives than it saves.

Your virtue seeking will not save them!

pic.twitter.com/HmWkob8n9s

— Bernie's Tweets (@BernieSpofforth) November 7, 2022

Landing
https://twitter.com/i/status/1591166676904865793

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A Rogues’ Gallery

Nov 122022

November 12, 2022 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 12:05 pm Finance Tagged with: Bankman-Fried, bankruptcy, Binance, BTC, crypto, DNC, enron, exchange, FTX, Gensler, hack, shitcoins, trading places 40 Responses »

Ivan Aivazovsky Palace rains in Venice by moonlight 1878

Me, personally, I can’t get rid of the notion that all the stablecoins and shitcoins and altcoins that have been initiated and “legalized”, are just a way of “shining” bitcoin in a light of uninvestable darkness. And for that, a bunch of “trading places” (pun intended) were called for. One of the biggest, FTX, just went from $32 billion to $0 in a single day. Not even Enron could beat that.

Dr. D., yes him again, ties together an interesting history behind it. Which in turn ties into the DNC too. And Dr. D. doesn’t even mention yet that just this morning, FDX claimed they were hacked: “FTX Possibly Hacked, $895m Drained From Customer Wallets.” Should I believe that? How do you drain $895m out of $0?

“Early Saturday morning, Mr Bankman-Fried resigned as chief executive officer and FTX commenced Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings due to a massive liquidity crunch. A rescue deal with rival exchange Binance fell through earlier this week, precipitating crypto’s highest-profile collapse in recent years. Mr Bankman-Fried’s quant trading business (aka quantitative cryptocurrency trading firm) Alameda Research has also filed for bankruptcy.”

Here’s thinking that the DNC links will sink this as a story. Bankman-Fried will be renditioned to Barbados -or Gitmo-, and we all live happily ever after. Except for those who put their money into FTX. But then, what were they thinking in the first place? Crazy thought: was Hunter Biden a investor? Or The Big Guy?

Dr. D.: We really need to keep a rogue’s gallery. It’s like Dick Tracy and Batman. Bernie Made Off. Mr. Kash-n-Karry. Sam the Bank Man, Fried. You can’t make this up.

Am I hearing this right, FTX was invented 16 days after the Biden Campaign? In a foreign nation not of his birth or residency, the Bahamas? His mother is involved with Vote Blue and other DNC money people? Then within a month or two, Sam has made so many billions he was the single largest donor to Biden? With this A-Mazing multi-billion influx that come out of nowhere? But everybody, all the “good” people instantly and telepathically KNEW they had, HAD to invest there? People like the Teacher’s Union?

And other exchanges knew they needed to invest too! Like Citi just KNEW the best investment was to buy Morgan stock, to give money, capital, to their direct competition. Really? When does it happen that Home Depot’s top investment is Lowes?

And how did “all the ‘right’ people” know to invest? Well The Bank Man was hanging out in a group house,coding away like any college kids! Financial knowledge, level = pizza. Give this man $10,000,000,000.00!!! Shut up and take my money! Why? Um, well, it seems Bank Man is related not only to DNC funding and the Biden administration, but also to Gary Gensler, the proposed and self-styled REGULATOR of all Crypto. The one who tied up Morgan, Barclays, BoA’s co-project XRP and has frozen it in the courts, unresolved, for YEARS? Who, so it would seem, would like to take down not just XRP but the entire Crypto world as a concept and going concern? A competition to his backers in Stocks and Banking?

So all the kids of all the Regulators, politicians, bankers, insiders, all HAPPEN to be involved in what may be the biggest money laundering, heist, and political funneling operation maybe ever? Where’d the Pension money of the Teacher’s Union go? Where go? It was there, an “Exchange” takes a FEE for each transaction. Your MONEY, like SIPC, is YOURS. It’s your account, your trades. They just facilitate them. It’s a money-minting machine, no need for leverage.

But like MF Global, they just took ALL the money in ALL the accounts and put it in their own? On day 1? AND all the money from “the Usual Suspects”, SoftBank, Pardigm, Sequoia? Their own co-company Alameda, and another largest insider scam ever called “Tether”? Tether being another insider-of-insiders, convicted felons, law-never-touches group like EOS (? check me?) was?

Yes. That’s not an accident, that’s not a blow up, that’s not an over leverage, that’s pre-meditated THEFT. Arranged by Gary Gensler, DNC, and other insiders. From day 1, since they haven’t been around long enough to slowly drift into danger. They were invented yesterday.

So if you wonder where the Ukraine money is going, to be back-laundered into the midterms, BY the same party GIVING Ukraine the money, here you go.

Says the Sam: “Oops. Sorry. I f—ked up. I should have done better.” Oh, in that case, well I guess no problem! We won’t look into your extensive, amazing, and some might say “unbelievable” list of insiders, contacts, and arrangers. All of whose money was stolen more or less the instant it hit your books. As one big amazing “accident.”

I’m sure the media will cover all this shortly because of the salacious names and DNC careers involved. NOT.

Okay, given this, who blew the whistle on them? This scam was going perfectly: who blew it? The GOP’s like-kind fund? But after the election, not before? Powell? Was it really organic ponzi and they just don’t care, didn’t even try to cover it? Who?

And it’s not the “Money”. They can print the money. You know what they can’t print? ETH. BTC. So when you’re an exchange and scalp coins as they fly across your books, and when you vanish, where’s the money, but more importantly, WHERE ARE THE COINS?

Why? Because you need ACTUAL coins to manipulate the market. You can get a run started, it’ll blow the stops and start a cascade collapse, but to get it started, you have to have an ACTUAL ante of ACTUAL product. That’s the cost of manipulation. And the blow up of FTX means someone, these same insiders who wish to halt and/or destroy all crypto as a concept, have the nuclear pre-charge somewhere to make a run on the markets.

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Debt Rattle May 7 2022

May 072022

May 7, 2022 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:27 am Finance Tagged with: court martial, DHS, disinformation, DNC, Elon Musk, Jan 6, Pfizer, SCOTUS, Zelensky 27 Responses »

Pablo Picasso Crucifixion 1930

• Pfizer’s New 80,000-Page Data Dump Is A Nightmare

• Biden Handing Over US Sovereignty to WHO (AOLoud)

• Army Lieutenant Convicted, Not Punished in 1st COVID Court-Martial (CHD)

• Choice Quotes from Bill Gates’s New Book (Tucker)

• Elon Musk Plans To Fire 1,000 Twitter Staff, Quintuple Revenue (DM)

• Job Interest In Twitter Up 250% Since Elon Musk Moved To Take Over (Fortune)

• Terror from Balochistan (Escobar)

• Nausea Rules (Kunstler)

• How Years of Attacks on the Court Created a “By Any Means” Mentality (Turley)

• Zelensky Critic Arrested in Spain on Orders of Ukrainian Government (SN)

• Jan. 6: 80 ‘Suspicious Actors’ and ‘Material Witnesses’ Under Scrutiny (ET)

• Ex-FBI Intel Chief: Clinton Campaign Used ‘Contrived Disinformation’ (JTN)

• Claim Russians Hacked The DNC Could Have Relied On ‘Spoofed’ Data (Fed.)

• The Whole Planet Is a Pot And We’re All Frogs (Ugo Bardi)

Disinformation Governance Board

DHS' Disinformation Governance Board pic.twitter.com/QmWkQXcABR

— Wittgenstein (@backtolife_2022) May 6, 2022

Rand Paul

This short clip from @RandPaul is the most important minute & fifteen seconds you’ll watch this year, maybe this century. If a majority understood this, we could begin to fix what’s gone horribly wrong in this country. Bravo. pic.twitter.com/Xg71VG2XS2

— Scott Morefield (@SKMorefield) May 6, 2022

“There were no human clinical trials to determine if the experimental COVID vaccines were safe for pregnant women. They were excluded from all the trials. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Instead, they tested it on 44 rats.”

• Pfizer’s New 80,000-Page Data Dump Is A Nightmare

You probably didn’t know that Pfizer dumped 80,000 pages of documents this week. That’s because the American corporate media refused to cover it — and that’s because almost all of them took money from the Biden regime to promote the experimental vaccines and kill any critical coverage of them. Anyway, it turns out that Pfizer’s COVID vaccine was not 95% effective: the data shows it has a 12% efficacy rate. Let me repeat: 12%. That’s a “1” followed by a “2.” But wait: it gets worse. There were no human clinical trials to determine if the experimental COVID vaccines were safe for pregnant women. They were excluded from all the trials. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Instead, they tested it on 44 rats.

Pfizer deliberately cut off the clinical data trial before the bad news could be collected. We already know that Pfizer vaccine’s RNA is reverse-transcribing itself into your DNA. We already know that the vaccines increased the risk of getting COVID in children, the CDC intentionally withheld clinical data from the public, and a Moderna gene sequence patented in 2017 was found in the COVID virus spike protein. Pregnant women in the U.S. military who were coerced into taking the jab have suffered horrific side effects and “congenital malformations” in their babies. There were more than 18,900 babies born with abnormalities in 2021. We know this because a few brave whistleblowers got their hands on the Deparment of Defense’s medical database.

More than 18,900 babies. Just think about that. There’s much more news to come out about the COVID vaccines — and all of it is bad. For example, doctors around the world are starting to notice an explosion in the cancer rates among the vaccinated. [..] Let me finish with this thought: perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to re-program the DNA of half the world to produce spike proteins to “fight” a virus with a 99% survival rate?

Pfizer Naomi Wolf

Alarming pic.twitter.com/ZjOwXlSzD1

— Zola (@betterworld_22) May 6, 2022

This is too insane.

• Biden Handing Over US Sovereignty to WHO (AOLoud)

On May 22-28, 2022, ultimate control over America’s healthcare system, and hence its national sovereignty, will be delivered for a vote to the World Health Organization’s governing legislative body, the World Health Assembly (WHA). This threat is contained in new amendments to WHO’s International Health Regulations, proposed by the Biden administration, that are scheduled as “Provisional agenda item 16.2” at the upcoming conference on May 22-28, 2022. These amendments will empower WHO’s Director-General to declare health emergencies or crises in any nation and to do so unilaterally and against the opposition of the target nation.

The Director-General will be able to declare these health crises based merely on his personal opinion or consideration that there is a potential or possible threat to other nations. If passed, the Biden Administration’s proposed amendments will, by their very existence and their intention, drastically compromise the independence and the sovereignty of the United States. The same threat looms over all the U.N.’s 193 member nations, all of whom belong to WHO and represent 99.44% of the world population. These regulations are a “binding instrument of international law entered into force on 15 June 2007.” U.N. members states can be required by law to obey or acquiesce to them.

On January 18, 2022, with no public awareness, officials from the Biden Administration sent the World Health Organization these extensive amendments to strengthen WHO’s ability to unilaterally intervene into the affairs of nations merely suspected of having a “health emergency” of possible concern to other nations. The U.S. amendments cross out a critical existing restriction in the regulations: “WHO shall consult with and attempt to obtain verification from the State Party in whose territory the event is allegedly occurring…” By eliminating that, and other clauses (see below), all the shackles will be removed from the Director-General of WHO, enabling him to declare health emergencies at will.

Tucker FDA

pic.twitter.com/NAT2LD1X7D

— Wittgenstein (@backtolife_2022) May 7, 2022

Not just a lieutenant: “Bashaw formerly served as the Army Public Health Center’s headquarters company commander.”

• Army Lieutenant Convicted, Not Punished in 1st COVID Court-Martial (CHD)

1st Lt. Mark Bashaw of Maryland, who in April was court-martialed for his refusal to comply with COVID-19 testing and masking requirements, was convicted but will not be punished. As previously reported by The Defender, the U.S. Army charged Bashaw, under the Article 92, Failure to Obey an Order, with: failure to take a medical test, failure to wear a mask and failure to leave the workplace for telework. Bashaw formerly served as the Army Public Health Center’s headquarters company commander. The case, United States v 1LT Mark C. Bashaw, was heard April 28-29 at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland, home of the Army Public Health Center. About 30 spectators attended the hearing, which was open to the public.

Bashaw plead not guilty to the charges (a telework work charge was dropped at the hearing). The Army recommended formal reprimand and $25,000 in forfeiture of pay. Judge Robert Cohen found Bashaw guilty of the two charges but recommended no additional punishment beyond the conviction. Judge Cohen commented on Bashaw’s exemplary 16 years of meritorious service during sentencing. “Receiving no punishment at a court-martial is not without precedent,” installation spokesperson Amburr Reese told Army Times. “While the Army does not categorize court-martial convictions as felonies or misdemeanors, many civilian jurisdictions treat a conviction in special court-martial convened by military judge alone, which this one was, as a misdemeanor.”

Because Bashaw is not facing punishment, the flag on his records will be removed and he is now eligible to be promoted to the rank of Captain, which was withheld in November 2021. Bashaw disagreed with the judge’s determination but respected the decision. Bashaw also said he understood he can appeal the ruling. He also explained his reasons for challenging what he thought to be an unlawful order, stating he relied on faith. Judge Cohen determined the Army’s orders to wear an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) mask and to take an EUA test were lawful. However, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), EUA products and tests are voluntary, based on an investigational or experimental status, and lack liability and consumer protections.

“..the only thing more dangerous to human life than governments is a naive immune system..”

• Choice Quotes from Bill Gates’s New Book (Tucker)

Imagine yourself sidled up to a bar. A talkative guy sits down on the stool next to you. He has decided that there is one thing wrong with the world. It can be literally anything. Regardless, he has the solution. It’s interesting and weird for a few minutes. But you gradually come to realize that he is actually crazy. His main point is wrong and so his solutions are wrong too. But the drinks are good, and he is buying. So you put up with it. In any case, you will forget the whole thing in the morning. In the morning, however, you realize that he is one of the world’s richest men and he is pulling the strings of many of the world’s most powerful people. Now you are alarmed. In a nutshell, that’s what it’s like to read Bill Gates’s new book How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.

The main theme is implied in the title. With enough money, intelligence, and power, along with technological know-how at the helm, the next pathogen to come along can be stopped in its tracks. Where the bug goes after that he never explains. Presumably it just disappears. Like a computer virus, it exists but doesn’t ruin your harddrive. What are the historical examples of such a thing? There are none via avoidance, testing, contract tracing, and control of the human population. This theory of virus control – the notion that muscling the population makes a prevalent virus shrink into submission and disappear – is a completely new invention, the mechanization of a primitive instinct.

Smallpox occupies a unique position among infectious diseases as the only one affecting humans that has been eradicated. There are reasons for that: a stable pathogen, a great vaccine, and a hundred years of focused public health work. This happened not due to lockdowns but from the careful and patient application of traditional public-health principles. Can that same experience be repeated in every case? It’s worth investigating and thinking about. The reason is that the attempt to crush a respiratory virus through universal avoidance could be worse than allowing endemicity to it to develop throughout the population. Eradication is not the same thing as perpetual pathogenic avoidance. The former is great but the latter is deeply dangerous: the only thing more dangerous to human life than governments is a naive immune system. Gates’s plan, even if it had a chance of working which it does not, could create exactly that. Not to understand the difference is an egregious intellectual error.

“Musk anticipates making thousands of new hires, swelling the ranks to around 11,000 employees, up from 7,500 currently.”

• Elon Musk Plans To Fire 1,000 Twitter Staff, Quintuple Revenue (DM)

Elon Musk is planning to fire 1,000 staffers at Twitter as soon as his purchase of the social media platform is complete. It’s believed he will fire many of the firm’s woke staff following the transfer of ownership which will take around six months, after which Musk is likely to wield the ax. But then within the next three years, Musk anticipates making thousands of new hires, swelling the ranks to around 11,000 employees, up from 7,500 currently. Much of the new talent is likely to be in the field of engineering. Numbers at the company would fluctuate rising to 9,225 employees this year before falling to 8,332 in 2023. Then adding a further 2,700 workers by 2025.

Most of the jobs being shelved would occur during the takeover period, according to a pitch deck Musk presented this week to investors and seen by the New York Times. On a company level, Musk has previously floated the idea of closing down the San Francisco headquarters in order to save money and that board members may also not receive a salary, shaving off another $3 million in expenses. The changes Musk makes are part of his plan to increase Twitter’s annual revenue by five times current levels to $26.4 billion by 2028, up from $5 billion last year. Advertising on the platform is set to fall to 45% of total revenue under Musk, down from about 90% in 2020.

By 2028, he plans for ads to generate $12 billion in revenue in 2028, while subscriptions are expected to pull in another $10 billion, according to the report. Musk is said to favor a subscription-based model over advertiser funding, as it would make Twitter less beholden to advertiser pressure. He has even suggested users could pay with cryptocurrency, including joke currency Dogecoin which Musk has long had an affection for. Other revenue would come from businesses such as data licensing. Musk has also tweeted about potentially monetizing tweets, although he has not provided specific details. Musk also plans to see Twitter’s cash flow rise to $3.2 billion in 2025 and $9.4 billion in 2028.

“Say what you will about Elon, he does have a large fanbase of ppl excited to work for him..”

• Job Interest In Twitter Up 250% Since Elon Musk Moved To Take Over (Fortune)

Elon Musk cast Twitter’s future into uncertainty when he made a successful $44 billion bid to acquire the company last month. He will take over as temporary CEO once the deal is complete, CNBC reported Thursday morning. While countless Musk fans, and a slight majority of Americans—59%—approve of the takeover according to recent data from The Harris Poll, some current Twitter staff worry that it will dramatically change the company’s culture, and overall direction. It’s still unclear how a Musk-run Twitter might impact the company’s ability to retain current staff and recruit new employees. The company presented the takeover as a potential threat to its staffing abilities in an SEC filing Monday.

But at least casual interest in open positions at the company has skyrocketed since the Tesla billionaire showed serious interest in taking over the company. On Thursday, Daniel Zhao, a senior economist and data scientist at the job insights platform Glassdoor, tweeted that interest in job openings at the social media giant was up 263% between April 24 and April 30. In a statement to Fortune, Zhao clarified that interest is defined by the average daily clicks on Twitter job postings on the platform, compared to the average daily job clicks in a March 2022 baseline prior to the news breaking of Musk’s plans for the company. Though clicks do not necessarily correlate to actual job applications submitted, and likely reflect current media attention, the increase shows that people appear to be interested not just in the media story, but in work available at the company.

“Say what you will about Elon, he does have a large fanbase of ppl excited to work for him,” Zhao tweeted. “He’s much more likely to capitalize on that attraction as CEO than owner.” On Friday, Musk shared some of his own thoughts about hiring at Twitter, sharing Fortune’s reporting. “If Twitter acquisition completes, company will be super focused on hardcore software engineering, design, infosec & server hardware,” he tweeted on Friday morning. “I strongly believe that all managers in a technical area must be technically excellent. Managers in software must write great software or it’s like being a cavalry captain who can’t ride a horse!” he added.

“mran Khan was a serious thorn in the side of the west because he kept impressing on Pakistanis that the Forever War in Afghanistan was militarily unwinnable.”

• Terror from Balochistan (Escobar)

The suicide bomber was a woman, Shaari Baloch, alias Bramsh, who detonated her vest just as a van carrying Institute staff members approached the entrance. The attack was claimed by the BLA’s Majeed Brigade, which stressed that this was the first time they used a female suicide bomber. Shaari Baloch was a schoolteacher with a Zoology degree, enrolled to pursue a second Master’s degree, married to a dentist and professor at Makran Medical College in her hometown of Turbat, in southern Balochistan. Her three brothers include a doctor, a deputy director at a government-funded project, and a civil servant. So Shaari Baloch was far from being a mere destitute online-indoctrinated Salafi-jihadi.

[..] A Carnegie Institute report noted how “many Baloch nationalist leaders now come from the urbanized districts of Kech, Panjgur, and Gwadar (and to a lesser extent from Quetta, Khuzdar, Turbat, Kharan, and Lasbela). They are well connected to Karachi and Gulf cities, where tribal structures are non-existent. In fact, while there is violence all over the province, the insurgency seems to concentrate mainly in these urbanized areas.” Suicide bomber Shaari Baloch came from Turbat, the province’s second largest city, where the BLA is very much active. From the point of view of the usual suspects, these are choice assets, especially after the death of important tribal leaders such as Akbar Bugti. The report duly noted how “the educated and middle-class Baloch youth are in the forefront” of the insurgency.

The anti-China instrumentalization of the BLA also ties in with the regime-change parliament operation in Islamabad that recently deposed former prime minister Imran Khan, who was always a fierce adversary of the American “Forever War” in Afghanistan. Khan resolutely denied Pakistan’s use in “over the horizon” US military ops: that was one of the key reasons for him to be ousted. Now, with a pliant, Washington-approved, new regime in town, a miracle has just happened: the Pentagon is about to clinch a formal agreement with Islamabad to use Pakistani airspace to – what else – keep interfering in Afghanistan.

Beijing, as well as other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), won’t be amused. Only weeks before the white coup, Khan had met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and once again underscored how Pakistan and China are “iron brothers.” Imran Khan was a serious thorn in the side of the west because he kept impressing on Pakistanis that the Forever War in Afghanistan was militarily unwinnable. He knew how all the proxies – including the BLA – that destabilized both Afghanistan and Pakistan for decades were, and continue to be, part of US covert operations.

“Will America cough up “Joe Biden” like a hairball to get those trucks running again?”

• Nausea Rules (Kunstler)

Europe, the old original homeland of Western Civ, isn’t just losing face, it’s blowing its head clean off going along with “Joe Biden’s” economic war. Are Germany, France, and the rest of that bunch really so dead-set on jamming Ukraine into NATO that they’re willing to go full medieval for it? By which I mean sitting in the cold and dark with empty plates. That’s a hard way to go just to prove somebody else’s point.

The war in Ukraine itself was apparently losing its sex appeal for the click-hungry news media. No matter which way The New York Times and friends tried to spin it, they failed to grok both Russia’s determination to neutralize Ukraine and its ability to get the job done, even if it takes a longer-than-expected grind to finish. That’s how important it was to Russia that Ukraine not become a forward missile base and bio-weapons lab for its adversaries. When that operation concludes, the West will be left economically crippled and humiliated — which are conditions that historically portend regime change. Will America cough up “Joe Biden” like a hairball to get those trucks running again? Might the Dems themselves resort to releasing the kraken known as Hunter’s laptop just to send the old grifter packing?

In the meantime, the leaked Roe v Wade cancellation ruling shoved the Ukraine fiasco offstage so as to provoke more useful histrionics for the dreaded midterm elections upcoming. The poorly-understood truth is that said ruling will only send the abortion question back to the individual states. But let’s get real: places like New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, and California are not going to enact any new anti-abortion laws, and that’s where most of the people having hebephrenic breakdowns over the issue live. Which is to say there’s little danger that the shrieking denizens of these Blue states will lack abortions. So, how much has the party only been pretending that Roe v Wade is its primal touchstone?

“..the court has become a tragic anachronism in our age of rage: an institution that relied on the integrity and ethics of its members and staff..”

• How Years of Attacks on the Court Created a “By Any Means” Mentality (Turley)

What is clear is that the court has become a tragic anachronism in our age of rage: an institution that relied on the integrity and ethics of its members and staff at a time when such values are treated as naive. It relied on justices and clerks alike remaining bound to the institution and to each other by a constitutional faith. But we are living in an age of constitutional atheism, so it is only surprising that it took this long. For years, politicians, pundits and academics have called for reckless political action against the court. Many Democrats in Congress have pledged to achieve political goals “by any means necessary,” including packing or gutting the court. Democratic leaders have hammered away at the court and its members, demanding that the court adhere to political demands or face institutional disaster.

The threats have grown increasingly raw and reckless as politicians sought to outdo each other in their attacks. In the age of rage, restraint is a lethal liability. The message has been repeated like a drumbeat: The ends justify the means. Recently, Roberts even went public with a warning over “inappropriate political influence” affecting the court. Yet, the day before this leak, the court itself defied critics who portrayed it as hopelessly and dysfunctionally divided with another unanimous decision. It ruled in a major case on speech that Boston could not discriminate against a religious organization that wanted to hoist a flag outside of its city hall. It spoke with one voice in defense of shared constitutional values.

Given the relentless calls from political leaders, we may have been naive to think that a staff member or clerk would not yield to the same “ends justify the means” rationale. Former Justice Louis Brandeis once warned that “Our government … teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.”

Churchill.

• Zelensky Critic Arrested in Spain on Orders of Ukrainian Government (SN)

A popular YouTuber and critic of President Zelensky was arrested in Spain at the behest of the Ukrainian government on charges of treason and faces extradition, despite publicly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Yes, really. Anatoly Shariy, who has almost 3 million YouTuber subscribers, was detained on an international arrest warrant in a joint operation by Spanish and Ukrainian police, as well as international “partners,” according to the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU). They claim that Shariy has been acting on behalf of “foreign” forces by infringing Ukraine’s national security via his media commentary on the war and engaging in “incitement of hatred.” Shariy’s arrest “is more proof that every traitor of Ukraine will sooner or later receive his well-deserved punishment. It is inevitable,” the SBU asserted.

The blogger had previously been granted asylum by the EU in 2012 after fleeing persecution by the government of Viktor Yanukovich, who was pro-Russian. Despite condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Shariy’s criticism of Zelensky’s response was apparently enough for him to be targeted by Ukrainian authorities. Having had his passport seized, Shariy is now in Barcelona under a travel ban until a decision on his extradition to Ukraine is made. President Zelensky’s representative at the Constitutional Court said Shariy will “face a Ukrainian court and will be held liable in line with Ukrainian laws.” In response to his arrest, Shariy posted a picture of his wife feeding parrots in Barcelona, commenting, “This really is a comedy.” Shariy’s arrest once again puts to bed the idea that Ukraine is some kind of beacon of democracy, when its authorities treat dissidents exactly the same way dissidents are treated in Russia.

The Whitmer case may have broad implications.

• Jan. 6: 80 ‘Suspicious Actors’ and ‘Material Witnesses’ Under Scrutiny (ET)

Defense attorneys are seeking to identify and investigate 80 suspicious actors and material witnesses, some of whom allegedly ran an entrapment operation against the Oath Keepers on January 6, 2021, and committed crimes including the removal of security fencing, breaching police lines, attacking officers, and inciting crowds to storm into the Capitol. In a motion (pdf) and supplement (pdf) filed after 11 p.m. on May 5 in federal court in Washington, attorney Brad Geyer listed 80 people, some of whom he said could be government agents or provocateurs. The people are seen on video operating in a coordinated fashion across the Capitol grounds on January 6, the attorney alleged.

Geyer’s suggestion of an entrapment scheme will resonate with dozens of January 6 defense attorneys, coming shortly after two men were acquitted of an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D). There was a hung jury on charges against two other defendants. The jury in that case was allowed to consider FBI entrapment as a defense. Geyer, who represents Oath Keepers defendant Kenneth Harrelson, is seeking a court order from U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta compelling federal prosecutors to help identify the individuals and disclose whether they were working for law enforcement or any government agency on January 6. Geyer wrote that the information is exculpatory, which compels the government to produce it. Other Oath Keepers defendants are expected to join in the motion.

The May 5 filing comes on the heels of an April 12 Oath Keepers motion that alleged at least 20 “assets” from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were embedded in the crowds on January 6. According to the new filing, video evidence the defense gained access to only recently shows that some of the 80 people attacked police, other people, and members of the Oath Keepers; entered the Capitol on the west side “with apparent permission or acquiescence of government actors”; opened the Columbus Doors on the east side of the Capitol “from the inside, possibly with even further assistance of government actors”; and deployed “sophisticated crowd-behavior techniques,” orienting themselves between protesters and police.

“This is the way disinformation is really exposed, not by some contrived government agency, but by evidence presented in court that gets at the truth of what happened,”

• Ex-FBI Intel Chief: Clinton Campaign Used ‘Contrived Disinformation’ (JTN)

As the Biden administration pushes its new Disinformation Governance Board, the FBI’s former intelligence chief says he is now convinced Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign used “contrived disinformation” to try to mislead Americans into believing Donald Trump was a Russian asset. “This is more than just political dirty tricks,” retired Assistant Director for Intelligence Kevin Brock told the “Just the News, Not Noise” television show Wednesday. “Political dirty tricks usually have some foundation in truth. But they just made stuff up.” Brock, one of the bureau’s most respected former executives, said he has been impressed with the way Special Counsel John Durham has used the prosecution of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann to expose how the false Russia collusion narrative was constructed.

Sussmann, who has pleaded innocent and faces trial at the end of the month, is charged with lying to the FBI in fall 2016 when he denied he was acting on behalf of a client in bringing the bureau what turned out to be false allegations that Trump had a secret communications channel with the Kremlin. Durham has exposed recent evidence showing the Clinton campaign’s own researchers were skeptical of the allegation, which one described as a “red herring.” The underlying data permitted no more than an “inference” at best, according to another. Last week, prosecutors unveiled an email showing a journalist had told the campaign research team weeks before it approached the FBI that one of the Trump-Russia allegations was “bullshit.”

“This is the way disinformation is really exposed, not by some contrived government agency, but by evidence presented in court that gets at the truth of what happened,” Brock said of the prosecutor’s recent evidentiary filings in court. “What Durham is methodically doing, is laying out a case that the Hillary Clinton campaign, the Democrat Party used contrived disinformation in a conspiracy, in a conspiratorial way, to deceive the American voter ahead of the election.”

True the Vote

RT if you think the election was stolen pic.twitter.com/ulYVbNN1n4

— LEE VAN KIEF (@saItysnowflakes) May 6, 2022

“Special Counsel Robert Mueller, intelligence officials and Democrats misled the public about the hack.”

• Claim Russians Hacked The DNC Could Have Relied On ‘Spoofed’ Data (Fed.)

The Georgia Tech cyber security experts ensnared in the Alfa Bank hoax conducted a retrospective analysis of the Democratic National Committee hack, according to the Department of Defense. While the results of that analysis have yet to be made public, internal documents obtained by The Federalist reveal that Georgia Tech’s computer scientists believed CrowdStrike’s approach to investigating computer intrusions relied on the use of easily “spoofed/impersonated” signals of traffic.

In June 2016, about one month before WikiLeaks released a trove of internal communiques revealing top DNC officials plotted to destroy Bernie Sanders’ presidential ambitions in favor of their preferred candidate, Hillary Clinton, the DNC publicly confirmed that its server had been hacked. In the Washington Post article breaking the story, the DNC maintained that the private security firm it had hired to investigate the hack, CrowdStrike, had concluded two Russian military intelligence groups, branded Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear, bore responsibility for the intrusions.

Given that Democrats and the media would later rely on CrowdStrike’s conclusion that Putin’s agents had hacked the DNC to support the Russia collusion hoax, those seeking to unravel Spygate paid particular attention to CrowdStrike’s initial assessment. The declassification of CrowdStrike President Shawn Henry’s December 2017 testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, that “there was no ‘concrete evidence’ that the emails were stolen electronically,” later raised more “questions about whether Special Counsel Robert Mueller, intelligence officials and Democrats misled the public” about the hack.

A comment on “The Shanghai Lockdown: A Memetic Analysis”
by “Anonymous”

• The Whole Planet Is a Pot And We’re All Frogs (Ugo Bardi)

Shanghai has always been seen as the most “civilized” city in China. Shanghai is often called Le Paris de l’Orient, it is an “international” first tier city… probably the top Chinese city in terms of openness, quality of life and access to medical care. Nobody expected to see such levels of insanity in Shanghai… in other areas of the country, yes, but not here. Looking at the conditions in the quarantine centers… Containers without doors in a field, tents set on a highway, toilets flooded with feces… open air zoo. They come take positive cases in big buses and ambulances almost daily. The police is patrolling streets at all times and we are unable to even set foot on the sidewalk. Every building that had a positive case is either: shut down with barriers OR has 1-2 men in a tent monitoring 24/7 (imagine all the manpower required.)

Currently there are 3-4 of those tents in my compound. It’s basically Martial Law. The psychological toll is quite high. The monetary one must be hard of lower classes. Some neighbors have mental breakdowns. Some people spray alcohol in the air while walking to get tested… You’d think the Plague is upon us. Some people were getting messages in group chat about “foreign spies” and “foreign media fueling anti-China conspiracies.” Good ol’ shift the blame tricks. I have been in lockdown since mid-March, got tested 35 times, and lost about 12 pounds. The local governmental commune gave us a little bit of food, but barely enough to survive.

Luckily we had some preps and were able to order some food. Now most delivery guys are not allowed to deliver to our address. We can get a bit of food, but we need to get imaginative to create new recipes (boiled/sweet and sour/spicy/fermented cabbage.) My take is: It could be a test for something much bigger (ie., war, energy crisis) or they are truly afraid of the unrest if lots of old people were to die. Chinese people tend to get emotional and the last thing the authorities want to deal with is mobs lynching doctors in the streets. Is the frog slowly boiling in the pot? I think so. Except the whole planet is pot and we’re all frogs.

Ireland

Irish Politician calls for the government to seize people's private property to support Ukranian refugees. pic.twitter.com/p8F4KC6vFr

— Wittgenstein (@backtolife_2022) May 6, 2022

Clare Daly
https://twitter.com/i/status/1522241094754443265

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