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Debt Rattle April 19 2025

Apr 192025
 
 April 19, 2025  Posted by at 9:30 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,  39 Responses »


Claude Monet Impression, sunrise 1872

 

• West Lost Proxy War To Russia – Orban (RT)
• US Proposes Leaving Former Ukrainian Territories Under Russian Control (RT)
• Trump Ready To Recognize Crimea As Russian After Warning He May Walk Away (ZH)
• Ukraine Ceasefire ‘Unrealistic’ For Now – Moscow (RT)
• Europe, You Can’t Sit on the Sidelines Anymore (Victor Davis Hanson)
• Trump Takes ‘Art Of The Deal’ To World Stage (Stepman)
• Tulsi Exposes a Terrifying Biden-Era Program Meant To Be Secret (Margolis)
• NATO To Abandon ‘Woke Language’ – Politico (RT)
• Kilmar for President! (James Howard Kunstler)
• IRS Hunter Biden Whistleblower Gary Shapley Ousted As Acting Commissioner (NYP)
• Indian PM Modi Dials Musk Ahead of Vance’s Visit (RT)
• Soros-Funded Groups Go To War Against DOGE (Tyler O’Neil)
• Trump Axes A Stricken World Order (Alastair Crooke)
• Trump’s Counterrevolution: Flood the Zone, Drain the Swamp (Victor Davis Hanson)
• There’s Real Evidence for Easter (Joecks)

 

 

 

 

MacGregor

Tucker

Meloni
https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1912952813023297538

NGOs

Miiller

Bondi

VDH

Dowd
Basel III full implementation — June 30, 2025
Gold is being hardwired into global banking.

 

 

 

 

Much today about Trump leaving the ceasefire talks. Orban is the only voice who’s both right and willing to say it.

“..the West has lost but “European leaders are hesitant to admit” failure. He argued that this outcome will have a big impact on the entire West, as “losing a war is a serious thing.”

“..Trump “saved the US from a serious defeat.”

• West Lost Proxy War To Russia – Orban (RT)

The West has waged a “proxy war” against Russia via Ukraine and lost it, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said. Hungary, a member of the EU, has repeatedly criticized the bloc’s policies on the Ukraine conflict, particularly its sanctions on Moscow and weapons deliveries to Kiev. In an interview with OT YouTube channel published on Thursday, Orban said the whole “Western world” has thrown its weight behind Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, which he described as a “proxy war.” His assessment echoed that of Moscow, which has long characterized the hostilities as a de facto conflict with the West. According to the Hungarian prime minister, the West has lost but “European leaders are hesitant to admit” failure. He argued that this outcome will have a big impact on the entire West, as “losing a war is a serious thing.”

Orban went on to say that European leaders are “offering Ukraine to continue the war and in return receive European Union membership.” He argued that this would be problematic as Ukraine is no longer sovereign and cannot support itself. Regarding the US, the Hungarian prime minister said Washington is in a better position thanks to President Donald Trump’s approach, having broken with the Ukraine policies pursued by his predecessor, Joe Biden. According to Orban, Trump “saved the US from a serious defeat.” Speaking to Hungary’s Kossuth Radio last month, Orban described the EU’s policies on Ukraine as “rudderless.” He warned that Brussels, with its hardline position, risks becoming irrelevant as Trump actively works toward securing a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Earlier in March, Orban told the YouTube channel Patriota that the EU was feeding Kiev “empty promises” as it “doesn’t have a single penny left… [to] continue arming Ukraine, maintaining the Ukrainian army, and funding the functioning of the Ukrainian state.” His comments came after Budapest refused to endorse a joint EU communique calling for an increase in military aid to Kiev.

Read more …

A start to the only viable solution. Which EU and Kiev will fight as long as you let them.

• US Proposes Leaving Former Ukrainian Territories Under Russian Control (RT)

The US has presented its allies with the details of its peace plan to bring the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to an end, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing European officials familiar with the matter. The contours of the plan were outlined during a meeting in Paris on Thursday. The proposal reportedly includes easing sanctions on Russia, as well as terminating Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO. The roadmap would effectively freeze the war, with the formerly Ukrainian territories held by Russia remaining under Moscow’s control, the sources suggested. One of the officials told Bloomberg that the proposal still had to be discussed with Kiev, adding that the plan would not actually amount to a definitive settlement of the conflict. Moreover, Kiev’s European backers would not recognize the territories as Russian, the source suggested.

The Paris meetings involved senior officials from several countries. The US delegation was led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House special envoy Steve Witkoff. They met with French President Emmanuel Macron and also held discussions with top officials and negotiators from France, Germany, the UK, and Ukraine. Earlier on Friday, Rubio signaled Washington was ready to “move on” if a way to end the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev could not be found shortly. “We need to figure out here now, within a matter of days, whether this is doable in the short term. Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” Rubio told reporters before departing from France.

Moscow has signaled a full ceasefire with Ukraine was highly unlikely, citing Kiev’s violations of previous deals. Speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters on Thursday, Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia said there are “big issues with the comprehensive ceasefire,” recalling the fate of the now-defunct Minsk agreements, which were “misused and abused to prepare Ukraine for the confrontation.” The diplomat also cited repeated Ukrainian violations of a US-brokered 30-day moratorium on energy infrastructure strikes, implemented on March 18. “How close we are to the ceasefire is a big question to me personally, because, as I said, we had an attempt at a limited ceasefire on energy infrastructure, which was not observed by the Ukrainian side. So, in these circumstances, to speak about a ceasefire is simply unrealistic at this stage,” Nebenzia said.

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“The war in Ukraine “has no military solution to it” as “neither side has some strategic capability to end this war quickly”, Rubio said.”

He’s wrong.

• Trump Ready To Recognize Crimea As Russian After Warning He May Walk Away (ZH)

President Trump warned he could walk way from efforts to end the war in Ukraine if a deal can’t be found soon, as Russia said a one-month pause on targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure had ended. “If for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say, you’re foolish,” Trump told reporters Friday in the Oval Office. “You’re fools, you’re horrible people, and we’re going to just take a pass. But hopefully we won’t have to do that.” While Trump did not say he has a “specific number of days” in mind by which he wanted to see an agreement before walking away, he needed to see quick progress. “I know when people are playing us, and I know when they’re not,” Trump said. “And I have to see an enthusiasm to want to end it. And I think I see that enthusiasm. I think I see it from both sides.”

His comments followed a meeting of US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff, with representatives from France, Germany and the UK in Paris on Thursday, where the US indicated its aim was to secure a full ceasefire in Ukraine within weeks, according to people familiar. Following the meeting, Rubio said the US needed to see in “a matter of days” whether a deal was “doable in the short term…. because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” Rubio told reporters at Le Bourget airport outside of Paris on Friday morning, according to a transcript provided by the State Department. Rubio also said the European nations could help “move the ball” to get a resolution and that their ideas had been “very helpful and constructive.” “We had a good meeting yesterday,” he added. “But this isn’t going to go on forever.” The war in Ukraine “has no military solution to it” as “neither side has some strategic capability to end this war quickly”, Rubio said.

Trump, who predicted on the campaign trail that he could quickly secure a ceasefire, hits the 100-day mark of his second stint in the White House on April 30. Trump “has dedicated a lot of time and energy to this, and there are a lot of things going on in the world right now that we need to be focused on,” Rubio told reporters. “There are a lot of other really important things going on that deserve just as much if not more attention.” Bloomberg reports that Thursday’s talks in Paris also included a meeting between Witkoff and French president Emmanuel Macron and were attended by Ukrainian officials. US officials indicated they expected to make significant progress soon, and the participants agreed to work toward that. National security advisers and negotiators from Germany, France, the US and the UK plan to gather again in London next week to follow up on their discussions.

More importantly, Bloomberg also reported that the US presented its allies with details of its peace plan to bring the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to an end. The proposal, outlined during a meeting in Paris on Thursday, includes easing sanctions on Russia, as well as terminating Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO. The roadmap would effectively freeze the conflict and leave former Ukrainian territories that are part of Russia under Moscow’s control. An official told Bloomberg that the proposal still had to be discussed with Kiev, which will certainly balk, adding that the plan would not actually amount to a definitive conflict settlement as Kiev’s European backers would not recognize the territories as Russian.

The meetings came almost a week after Witkoff traveled to St. Petersburg, where he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for almost five hours. He described the conversation as “compelling,” saying they discussed steps that could end the war and perhaps lead to business opportunities for Russia as well, including dropping sanctions. The US has presented its allies with details of its peace plan to bring the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to an end, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing European officials familiar with the matter. The proposal, outlined during a meeting in Paris on Thursday, reportedly includes easing sanctions on Russia, as well as terminating Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO. The roadmap would effectively freeze the conflict and leave former Ukrainian territories that are part of Russia under Moscow’s control, the sources suggested.

European officials have attempted to influence the outcome of peace efforts kicked off by the Trump administration, especially after being sidelined during recent bilateral talks between Russia and the US. So far they are failing: a follow up report from Bloomberg on Friday afternoon confirmed that the US is prepared to recognize Russian control of the Ukrainian region of Crimea as part of a broader peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv. The concession is the latest signal that Trump is eager to rush through a ceasefire deal, and comes as he and Marco Rubio suggested on Friday that the administration is prepared to move on from its peace-brokering efforts unless progress is made quickly.

Read more …

“We need to determine very quickly now, and I’m talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable,” Rubio said..”

• Ukraine Ceasefire ‘Unrealistic’ For Now – Moscow (RT)

Russia and Ukraine are highly unlikely to agree to a full ceasefire at present, Vassily Nebenzia, Moscow’s envoy to the United Nations, has said. He cited Ukrainian violations of a US-brokered truce on energy infrastructure strikes as among the reasons. Speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters on Thursday, Nebenzia addressed comments by US President Donald Trump, who said he expects a response from Russia on a ceasefire proposal as early as “this week.” “How close we are to the ceasefire is a big question to me personally, because, as I said, we had an attempt on a limited ceasefire on energy infrastructure, which was not observed by the Ukrainian side. So, in these circumstances, to speak about a ceasefire is simply unrealistic at this stage,” Nebenzia said.

Moscow and Kiev agreed a 30-day moratorium on strikes on energy facilities following a phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin last month. Russia, however, has accused Ukraine of repeatedly violating the ceasefire. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the moratorium had expired, but that Putin had not yet announced a decision on further steps. Nebenzia noted that there are “big issues with the comprehensive ceasefire,” recalling the fate of the now-defunct Minsk agreements, which were designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. According to Nebenzia, the deal was “misused and abused to prepare Ukraine for the confrontation [with Russia].” The envoy added that another concern is the feasibility of monitoring any potential ceasefire, as it is unclear who could take on this task.

His comments come amid diplomatic efforts between the US and Russia to resolve the Ukraine conflict. Earlier this month, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in St. Petersburg, stating after the talks that a potential peace deal hinges on “these so-called five territories,” referring to former Ukrainian regions which overwhelmingly voted to join Russia. However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has indicated that Washington could withdraw from peace negotiations if no progress is made soon. “We need to determine very quickly now, and I’m talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable,” Rubio said on Friday.

Read more …

It’s the only place where it can stay alive.

• Europe, You Can’t Sit on the Sidelines Anymore (Victor Davis Hanson)

Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. I’d like to talk today about the role of China, the United States, and the European Union, or just Europe in general, in the context of these tariffs and the so-called trade wars. Right now, President Donald Trump has given a 90-day reprieve from high tariffs. I think that 10% tariffs are still in existence. And they are negotiating with a number of European countries and particularly, Asian dynamic economies, such as South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. In addition to that, they are targeting China with tit-for-tat tariffs. And we are maybe on the brink—nobody wants it, but we might be on the brink of a trade war, which we’ve addressed in earlier videos.

But here’s my point. What is the attitude of Europe? Roughly, China has a $1 trillion deficit with the world. We have about a $1 trillion deficit in trade with the world. But here’s the ratios. About a third of our deficit is with China, which makes up a third of their surplus. In addition to that, Europe makes up about a third of their surplus. So, China has called on Europe to join forces with it to prevent all of the retaliatory tariffs that the United States has threatened Europe, which has a $200 billion surplus with us, and China, which has a nearly high $300 billion, maybe even $400 billion, who knows? It’s kind of crazy, isn’t it, that these illiberal apparatchiks in China would think that a Western democracy would want to join them against the United States? I don’t think that’s gonna happen. But the European Left is very angry at the Trump administration.

So, Choice One might be, “Well, we don’t like the Chinese and we are an ally of the Americans, who subsidize our defense, but we detest the Trump administration. So maybe, (wink and nod) we’ll either be quiet or hope China wins that trade war and the United States, under the Trump administration, backs off all tariffs.” That would be a big mistake given their vulnerabilities they have with the United States vis-a-vis security. The second attitude might be the Europeans will just say, “We’ll lay low. We won’t say much at all. We’ll kind of drag out our tariff negotiations with the Trump administration. And we’ll let the Chinese and the United States battle it out. And if Trump should win and he lowers the amount of trade with China, maybe that will be an opening for us to replace China as the United States chief importer.” That is something that I don’t think will happen.

The third scenario is what I would suggest for the Europeans. They should say the following: “Despite our disagreements with the Trump administration, the United States is an ally. And we know that we have been as victimized by Chinese mercantilism, high tariffs, cheating on patents, copyrights, dumping, financial money manipulation—all the things the United States complains about, we do too. In fact, we as Europeans in a whole have about the same deficit with China as the United States does. So, we are kindred spirits. So, what we will do is, even though we have disagreements on our surplus with the United States and their efforts to reduce it, we will ally with the United States.” And that would represent about two-thirds of China’s total trade action or monetary value. And especially, if Japan and our allies in South Korea, Taiwan would join, then China would find out that about 85% of its trade is in a block. That is, they are united. And they have common complaints against China.

And China would not be able to say to the United States, “We’re going to cut deals with Vietnam and Japan and Taiwan and South Korea and the EU and leave you out in the cold.” Instead, the Europeans and, to a lesser extent, the Asian powerhouses would join the United States and say, “You know what? We’ve been quiet. We’re afraid of China. They’re bullies. But now that you’ve stood up, we’re embolden ourselves to air the same complaints as you are and hope that you win. And maybe a byproduct of reduced trade with China from the United States will open a door. So, even though we might have to lower our tariffs, there will be more opportunity in the American market with a less prominent Chinese trade profile that we can then be welcomed in as a kindred ally.” So, Europe has two or three choices in this proposed Chinese-American trade standoff. Nobody wants a trade war with anybody. No one wants it with China. But this is long overdue. And Europe has to decide what course they’re going to take. And for everybody’s sake, let’s hope they choose wisely.

Read more …

“Start with a big ask, create a sense of urgency, use leverage, don’t back down, make things happen. That’s how Trump is getting this all done.”

• Trump Takes ‘Art Of The Deal’ To World Stage (Stepman)

President Donald Trump, like one of his heroes Andrew Jackson, was born for a storm. Trump is disrupting national and international systems that no longer work for the American people. In the domestic realm, he’s launched a political counterrevolution on a scale of change not seen since the New Deal. But it isn’t just on the home front that Trump is making the greatest pivot.He’s dramatically shifting the global chess board. Instead of coasting on the “postwar order” that long ago morphed into the failing and incoherent post-Cold War order, Trump is using America’s still-considerable position in the world to reorient the focus of our national security. He’s doing this by using the skill that he long ago became famous for and that so many of his critics misunderstand. Start with a big ask, create a sense of urgency, use leverage, don’t back down, make things happen. That’s how Trump is getting this all done.

It’s the art of the deal, and it’s funny that so many commentators miss this given that Trump wrote a famous book about it and has been pulling off deals in the public eye for decades. What the 47th president is doing is renegotiating America’s position vis-à-vis both our international rivals and our allies. Whether it be on tariffs, or acquiring Greenland, or securing the Panama Canal, or peace with Russia and Iran, Trump is clearly aiming to reset America’s international situation. He’s doing this, I believe, to ensure that the United States and not Communist China will remain the most dominant country globally going forward. Let’s take the Greenland issue for instance. Greenland may seem irrelevant, but its position on the globe and considerable natural resources vital to a modern economy make it extremely important for U.S. security. Acquiring it would send a message to Americans that we are thinking big once again and a message to Russia and China that the U.S. means to prevent them from dominating the Arctic and threatening the U.S. mainland.

The U.S. has sought to acquire the massive Arctic island since at least the 1860s. When William H. Seward bought Alaska, he really wanted Greenland too. The U.S. became close to buying Greenland a few other times, but ultimately Denmark held onto it. Trump’s aggressive words may have unsettled U.S. relations with Denmark in the short term, but maybe that’s what’s needed to create pressure and a sense of urgency to get a deal done. Trump knows that the U.S. can offer Greenland more than any other nation, he can make the territory rich and provide long-term defense. It’s now more likely than ever that Greenland will go independent and fall under U.S. sway in one way or another. Now consider Panama. The Panama Canal has long been critical for American national security. Perhaps we should have never given it to Panama after building it in the first place, but here we are.

It’s clear that China has made major inroads into subtly influencing Panama. A Hong Kong-based company controls ports on both sides of the canal. What would happen if they even just delayed U.S. ships during a sudden military conflict in the Pacific? Not good. Trump’s strong rhetoric about retaking the canal and putting immediate pressure on the country has forced them to act. The Hong Kong company sold those ports (and over 40 others around the globe) to an American-led group of companies. China has blocked the sale, but there is a good chance that a deal will go through at some point. Panama has abandoned China’s Belt and Road investments and even recently agreed to allow some U.S. troops to be stationed in the country. The Panamanian government would clearly rather remain in the good graces of the U.S. rather than kowtow to China. The Monroe Doctrine is back and it should have never gone away.

Now consider Panama. The Panama Canal has long been critical for American national security. Perhaps we should have never given it to Panama after building it in the first place, but here we are. It’s clear that China has made major inroads into subtly influencing Panama. A Hong Kong-based company controls ports on both sides of the canal. What would happen if they even just delayed U.S. ships during a sudden military conflict in the Pacific? Not good. Trump’s strong rhetoric about retaking the canal and putting immediate pressure on the country has forced them to act. The Hong Kong company sold those ports (and over 40 others around the globe) to an American-led group of companies. China has blocked the sale, but there is a good chance that a deal will go through at some point.

Panama has abandoned China’s Belt and Road investments and even recently agreed to allow some U.S. troops to be stationed in the country. The Panamanian government would clearly rather remain in the good graces of the U.S. rather than kowtow to China. The Monroe Doctrine is back and it should have never gone away. Of course, where Trump has operated most dramatically and has taken the greatest risk is on trade. Trump threatened to put significant tariffs on virtually every nation on earth. This sent markets and countless political commentators into a panic. But at seemingly the last minute, Trump adjusted and froze the highest tariffs. He kept an enormous 145% tariff on China.

The turbulent tariff talk has resulted in China being economically singled out. U.S. trade partners around the globe are offering to reduce their tariffs on U.S. goods out of concern about losing access to the American domestic market. Countries are now being pushed into the position of doing business with China or America. And they can’t go back to being pass-throughs for Chinese goods.

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“While Biden was preaching “unity” from his teleprompter, his administration was quietly crafting plans to turn Big Tech into their personal censorship machine.”

• Tulsi Exposes a Terrifying Biden-Era Program Meant To Be Secret (Margolis)

They thought they could keep it hidden forever. Buried under layers of classification and bureaucratic doublespeak, the Biden administration’s masterplan for undermining American liberty was supposed to stay safely locked away from public scrutiny. But they didn’t count on Tulsi Gabbard. In a stunning move that has the DC establishment scrambling, Director of National Intelligence Gabbard just declassified what might be the most disturbing government document of the Biden era: their deceptively-named “Strategic Implementation Plan for Countering Domestic Terrorism.” Let’s cut through the bureaucratic noise and call this what it really is: a systematic blueprint for targeting and silencing conservative Americans. While Biden was preaching “unity” from his teleprompter, his administration was quietly crafting plans to turn Big Tech into their personal censorship machine.

The scheme reads like a progressive wish list: monitoring “suspicious” online speech (translation: conservative viewpoints), expanding federal watchlists to include Americans with the “wrong” political beliefs, and – you guessed it – finding new ways to chip away at Second Amendment rights. Don’t be fooled by their carefully crafted language about “protecting democracy.” The Government Accountability Office has confirmed these weren’t just ideas on paper—they were actively being implemented. How many Americans have already been labeled “suspicious” for nothing more than expressing conservative views? Heck, Tulsi Gabbard ended up on the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) terrorist watchlist under Joe Biden. Enough said.

The plan’s centerpiece? A comprehensive strategy to leverage federal power for pushing red flag laws and restricting access to firearms, all under the guise of preventing “lethal means.” Because apparently, in Biden’s America, exercising your Constitutional rights made you a potential threat under the guise of combating domestic terrorism. The strategic implementation plan (SIP) pushed agencies to crack down on what it labels “DT (domestic terrorism)-related content” online, encouraging collaboration with Big Tech to monitor, report, and censor speech—raising serious First Amendment concerns about free speech and assembly. You may remember that this practice was exposed after Elon Musk acquired Twitter, when the Twitter Files showed “extensive government efforts to silence dissenting views” on everything from COVID-19 to elections.

The report further reveals that agencies were told to “Share with relevant technology and other private-industry companies… relevant information on DT-related and associated transnational terrorist online content.” This wasn’t just government overreach, it was a calculated assault on the fundamental rights that make America exceptional. While the left was hyperventilating about “threats to democracy,” they were building the infrastructure for genuine governmental tyranny. Thanks to Gabbard’s courage in bringing this to light, we can finally see what Biden’s “moderate” administration was really planning behind closed doors. The question now isn’t just who approved this un-American scheme—it’s how many other similar programs are still hiding in classified files, waiting to be exposed.

The founding fathers would be rolling in their graves. But perhaps this revelation is exactly what America needs right now – a wake-up call about what happens when we let power-hungry bureaucrats operate in the shadows, far from public scrutiny and accountability. Remember this the next time you hear Democrats pontificating about “defending democracy.” They’ve shown us exactly what they mean by “democracy,” and it looks nothing like the Constitutional Republic our founders envisioned.

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”Everyone sees on the news where the Trump admin stands; you don’t want to do anything that shoots yourself in the foot..”

• NATO To Abandon ‘Woke Language’ – Politico (RT)

NATO staff are softening language related to climate, gender, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to avoid a potential backlash from the administration of US President Donald Trump, Politico has reported, citing sources familiar with the situation. Phrases concerning climate, as well as gender diversity and security, have been reworded in new NATO legislation drafted by its committees and working groups, using language deemed more palatable to Washington, the outlet said on Thursday. The Trump administration took sweeping action aimed at dismantling gender and DEI programs shortly after Trump assumed office in January. The new administration is working to cut funding for universities and dismantle federal programs that include DEI practices. It is also carrying out a purge within the Pentagon to eliminate these programs.

”Everyone sees on the news where the Trump admin stands; you don’t want to do anything that shoots yourself in the foot,” one NATO official told Politico. ”Green technologies” have reportedly been replaced with “innovative technologies,” while “climate” has been described as an “operational environment,” another official said. NATO officials are steering clear of any language referencing “gender” or “women, peace, and security” in an effort to secure approval from all 32 member countries, including the US, the outlet said. ”Everyone knows that the worst thing you can do is present it as a diversity issue,” one of the officials said. “It’s not a woke agenda, it’s part of a military agenda, and now more people are pricking up their ears to make sure it is spoken about in military terms.” The fight against “woke policies,” such as the promotion of gender reassignment treatment among minors, was a key part of Trump’s presidential campaign. He has signed multiple executive orders rolling back DEI initiatives since taking office.

Trump has also consistently criticized NATO countries, accusing them of “freeloading” on US military support. He has pushed for members to increase their defense spending target from the current 2% of GDP to 5%. On Tuesday, the Trump administration unveiled a plan to slash the State Department’s budget by nearly 50%, a reduction that would deeply affect contributions to NATO’s internal operations, the UN, and roughly 20 other international bodies. The proposal, put forward by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, seeks to reduce combined funding for the State Department and USAID from $54.4 billion to $28.4 billion for the next fiscal year. Among the most significant changes is the proposed elimination of financial support for nearly all international organizations, including the UN and NATO headquarters.

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“Autistic people contribute every day to our nation’s greatness.” —Senator Elizabeth Warren

• Kilmar for President! (James Howard Kunstler)

So, you wonder why Democrats are so anxious to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the USA. Is it to lead the national ticket in 2028? Who else have they got? Pete Buttigieg doesn’t have half of Kilmar’s charisma. AOC is just pretending to be Sandy-from-the-block — and everybody knows it. Who else best represents the party’s newest constituency: the undocumented (people unfairly deprived of documents by a cruel and careless bureaucracy)? Who best represents the Democratic Party’s number one policy goal: diversity fosterization! Kilmar, of course! Viva Kilmar!

It’s also pretty obvious by his recent actions, that Judge “Jeb” Boasberg is angling to be Kilmar’s running mate in ‘28. Perfect! He could fulfil the traditional role of vice-president by doing nothing for four years, which is exactly what people of non-color should do in the Democratic Party’s new national order. (Haven’t they already done enough?) Boasberg could set an example for the rest of America’s dwindling color-deficient population: quit hogging all the action, stop collecting all those dividends and annuities, step aside and give the other a chance at the American Dream!

Did you happen to notice how enterprising Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been since he boldly breached the border in 2011, fleeing persecution from the vicious gangs of his native El Salvador? Running a one-man jobs program, he crossed the country countless times indefatigably from Maryland to California in his mobile office — the legendary KAG SUV — seeking employment opportunities for young women of color otherwise condemned to clean hotel rooms and labor in senior care facilities filled with abusive people of non-color clinging pointlessly to life only to oppress their caretakers with never-ending demands for medication and extra portions of Jello.

Kilmar’s gritty organization, Mara Salvatrucha-13, has been among the Democratic Party’s most effective NGOs in a greater galaxy of justice-seeking ventures marshaled under the USAID umbrella — recently vandalized by Elon Musk’s DOGE band of pillaging oligarchs. MS-13, for short, was beloved among the undocumented for its fund-raising abilities, its networking expertise, and its relentless search for the missing documents the undocumented have been looking high-and-low for lo these many decades — rumored to be concealed in a vast underground complex in the Catoctin Mountains of Frederick County, MD. (More white peoples’ mischief!)

Thus, it came to pass that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Maryland Dad-of-the-Year, was cruelly snatched from an MS-13 board meeting last month and transported without benefit of due process to the Salvadorean hell-hole known as CECOT (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo). And so, his Senator, Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) traveled this week to Central America on his one-man rescue mission. The Senator claimed he was detained miles from the gate of CECOT, and yet we have this photograph of Mr. Van Hollen meeting with Kilmar (and an unidentified aide) over Margaritas and pupusas at a cantina in the nearby town of Tecoluca. Asked to comment on the photo, El Savador’s Presidente, Nayib Bukele, declared: “Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camp’ & ‘torture!’ Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody,” Mr. Bukele added.

Oh, so you say Señor Presidente! But not if “Jeb” Boasberg can help it. The dauntless super-judge has ordered Kilmar to be returned the USA pronto expressimo, or else he, the judge, is laying criminal contempt charges on the entire West Wing staff of Donald Trump’s White House. They will go to jail just like Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, two capos regime of Trump’s MAGA gang, did last year for the insolence of refusing to testify in Congress. Only, they will get life-without-parole! Lessons to be learned, ye miserable color-deficient, oppressors!

Alas, the DC federal district court is a bit short of enforcement officers, so Judge “Jeb” has enlisted the Harvard rowing crew to bring Kilmar back home. Kilmar will take the coxswain’s place in the racing shell as the crew rows up the Pacific Coast to their planned landing spot at Las Olas, CA, just south of San Diego. Joy will reign in Wokeville.

Having displayed such pluck at diplomacy, unnamed sources say Senator Van Hollen is under consideration for Secretary of State when Kilmar wins the 2028 election. Up until now, we’d been hoping for Senator Adam Schiff to fill that spot, but he has his hands full fighting the influence of the Soviet Union on the Trump cabinet. Looking forward, though, to the bold prosecutor, New York AG Letitia ‘Tish” James, moving into the top spot at DOJ, if her term for mortgage fraud ends before Jan-20, 2029. The Democratic Party — such bright prospects! Forward together, with Kilmar and company! Documents for all, at long last!

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That was fast! Trouble in the ranks?!

• IRS Hunter Biden Whistleblower Gary Shapley Ousted As Acting Commissioner (NYP)

Gary Shapley, who became a folk hero to conservatives when he revealed the Justice Department played favorites in its investigation of former first son Hunter Biden, was ousted from his role as acting IRS commissioner just days after being elevated to the position, sources familiar with the shake-up told The Post Friday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has replaced Shapley with deputy treasury secretary Michael Faulkender following a power struggle with key Trump adviser Elon Musk over the appointment. The reorganization was first reported by the New York Times. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had pressed the White House for Shapley to take over the IRS. But Bessent felt left out of the decision-making — and asked President Trump if he could install Faulkender instead.

The acting commissioner will only be in place until former GOP congressman Billy Long can be vetted and confirmed by the Senate to lead the tax collection agency. “It’s no secret President Trump has put together a team of people who are incredibly passionate about the issues impacting our country,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “Disagreements are a normal part of any healthy policy process, and ultimately everyone knows they serve at the pleasure of President Trump.” Shapley, who last month was tapped as a senior adviser to Bessent, was named acting IRS head after the departure of Melanie Krause, who resigned due to disagreements with the treasury secretary over the sharing of tax information on illegal immigrants with the Department of Homeland Security. While Krause left the IRS on Tuesday, Shapley remains in a senior position in the commissioner’s office despite being removed from the top interim role.

Musk had been lashing out at Bessent publicly before Shapley’s apparent demotion. On Thursday evening, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO posted on X in response to right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer that Bessent’s meetings with a purported “Trump hater” earlier this month were “troubling.” The line of attack came after Loomer had a White House meeting that precipitated the mass firing of several National Security Council staffers due to a lack of perceived loyalty to the president’s agenda. Musk had backed current Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for the Treasury role, criticizing Bessent as a “business-as-usual choice.” Lutnick, by contrast, would “actually enact change,” Musk wrote on X before Bessent’s nomination.

Shapley and fellow IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler had testified before Congress in July 2023 that former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department had slow-walked a criminal probe of his son Hunter and blocked their tax team from taking certain investigatory steps. Among the damning claims were that Biden-appointed US attorneys based in Washington DC and Los Angeles had declined to bring charges against the then-first son, while then-Assistant Delaware US Attorney Lesley Wolf discouraged investigators from pursuing lines of questioning related to Joe Biden, saying at one point that there was “no specific criminality.”

Read more …

“Following the February meeting between Modi and Musk in Washington, the company started hiring in India..”

• Indian PM Modi Dials Musk Ahead of Vance’s Visit (RT)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that he has had a phone call with Elon Musk during which they discussed several issues, including collaboration on technology and innovation. The call comes ahead of a visit to New Delhi next week by US Vice President J.D. Vance as the two nations aim to resolve trade issues. “India remains committed to advancing our partnerships with the US in these domains,” Modi said on X. During a two-day visit to the US in February, Modi met with Musk, whose business empire includes Tesla and SpaceX. India’s Ministry of External Affairs stated at the time that Modi and Musk discussed enhancing collaboration between Indian and US entities in areas such as innovation, space exploration, artificial intelligence, and sustainable development. They also explored opportunities for increased cooperation in emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, and good governance, the ministry said.

Musk’s SpaceX has already signed agreements with the top two telecom operators in India – Reliance Jio and Airtel to start Starlink internet services to India. Tesla has also made a move toward entering the Indian market. Following the February meeting between Modi and Musk in Washington, the company started hiring in India, advertising 13 job openings on LinkedIn for various positions, including back-end and customer-facing roles, according to local media reports. Meanwhile, India is one of the first countries to have initiated formal discussions with Washington on a trade deal that would allow it to avoid being charged a higher reciprocal tariff. The two countries have agreed on a deadline for completing an agreement, according to a government official cited by Reuters.

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They should use their money and clout for something positive.

• Soros-Funded Groups Go To War Against DOGE (Tyler O’Neil)

The far-left groups that staffed and advised the Biden administration—a network that I call the Woketopus—are going to war against DOGE’s efforts to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. Activist groups like the Center for American Progress and the ACLU are working alongside unions like the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers to block DOGE through lawsuits or public campaigns. My book, “The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government,” exposes how these activist groups—bankrolled through the Left’s dark money network by big donors like Hungarian American billionaire George Soros and his son, Alex—used the administrative state to force their woke agendas on the American people. The Trump administration is rooting woke ideology out of the federal government, so the Woketopus’ opposition comes as no surprise. Yet the campaign against DOGE seems particularly noteworthy, since DOGE represents an effort to tighten the government’s belt and make it more accountable to the people.

The Dark Money Playbook
A little-known and once secretive nonprofit called Governing for Impact appears to have orchestrated the Left’s campaigns against DOGE. As I document in the book, Governing for Impact began as a project of New Venture Fund, one of the nonprofit entities created by the for-profit company Arabella Advisors. Governing for Impact’s website did not even appear on Google in 2022, but the nonprofit bragged about hosting a “listening tour” that involved some of the most influential regulators in the Biden administration. The Open Society Foundations, which George Soros founded and which his son Alex now runs, funneled $9.98 million into Governing for Impact through New Venture Fund between 2019 and 2021. Rachel Klarman, Governing for Impact’s executive director, previously worked as a legal policy analyst at Democracy Forward, identifying and developing litigation challenging the first Trump administration’s actions on health care, labor, and education.

Perhaps it should be no surprise, then, that Governing for Impact published a series of memos laying out legal strategies to sue the second Trump administration, particularly on DOGE. The memo titled “Challenging DOGE,” published in February, lays out a strategy to claim that DOGE “lacks lawful authority to act as an agency.” “One potential legal claim would assert that DOGE, as embodied in [the U.S. Digital Service, the department Trump re-tasked to house DOGE], lacks any statutory authority,” since Congress did not pass a law explicitly creating DOGE. The memo admits that Trump has an alternate explanation for DOGE’s involvement, but it insists that the effort is unlawful. It goes on to state that since DOGE “lacks lawful authority to act as an agency,” it “cannot enter Economy Act agreements.” The Economy Act, signed in 1932, allows federal agencies to share resources.

The AFL-CIO, America’s largest union, filed a lawsuit against DOGE that same month, arguing that DOGE lacks the authority to place orders with other federal agencies under the Economy Act, The Washington Examiner reported. Not only did the AFL-CIO—one of the unions with influence in the Biden administration—bring this lawsuit, but its legal representation comes from none other than the Democracy Forward Foundation, Klarman’s former employer. Democratic lawyer Marc Elias, who recently challenged the U.S. Senate election results in Pennsylvania and who helped orchestrate the Trump-Russia hoax, chairs Democracy Forward’s board. Democracy Forward is representing many of the lawsuits against the Trump administration.

Other Woketopus Lawsuits Against DOGE
The American Federation of Government Employees—the largest public-sector union in the federal government and a member of the AFL-CIO—has filed multiple lawsuits against DOGE. In the first anti-DOGE lawsuit filed on Trump’s first day in office, AFGE joined Public Citizen and State Democracy Defenders Fund (a group led by Democratic lawyer Norm Eisen) in suing to make sure DOGE complies with the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. AFGE teamed up with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees to sue Acting DOGE Administrator Charles Ezell to block the Trump administration’s offer for federal employees to resign in a buyout.

Read more …

“The ‘tariff solution’ had been pre-prepared by his team over recent years, and formed an integral part to a more complex framework..”

• Trump Axes A Stricken World Order (Alastair Crooke)

The Trump ‘shock’ – his ‘de-centring’ of America from serving as pivot to the post-war ‘order’ via the dollar – has triggered a deep cleavage between those who gained huge benefit from the status quo, on the one hand; and on the other, the MAGA faction who have come to regard the status quo as inimical – even an existential threat – to U.S. interests. The sides have descended into bitter, accusatory polarisation. It is one of the ironies of the moment that President Trump and right-wing Republicans have insisted on decrying – as a “resource curse” – the benefits of the Reserve Currency status that precisely brought the U.S. the wave of inward global savings that has permitted the U.S. to enjoy the unique privilege of printing money, without adverse consequence: Until now that is! Debt levels finally matter, it seems, even for the Leviathan.

Vice-President Vance now likens the Reserve Currency to a “parasite” that has eaten away the substance of its ‘host’ – the U.S. economy – by forcing an overvalued dollar. Just to be clear, President Trump believed there was no choice: Either he could upend the existing paradigm, at the cost of considerable pain for many of those dependent on the financialised system, or he could allow events to wend their way towards an inevitable U.S. economic collapse. Even those who understood the dilemma the U.S. faces, nonetheless have been somewhat shocked by the self-serving brazenness of him simply ‘tariffing the world’. Trump’s actions, (as many claim), were neither ‘spur of the moment’, nor whimsical. The ‘tariff solution’ had been pre-prepared by his team over recent years, and formed an integral part to a more complex framework – one that complemented the debt-reduction and revenue effects of tariffs, by a programme to coerce the repatriation of vanished manufacturing industry back to America.

Trump’s is a gamble that may, or may not, succeed: It risks a bigger financial crisis, as financial markets are over-leveraged and fragile. But what is clear is that the de-centring of America that will follow from his crude threats and humiliation of world leaders ultimately will cause a counter-reaction both for relations with the U.S., and also in global willingness to continue to hold U.S. assets (such as U.S. Treasuries). China’s defiance of Trump will set a ‘tone’, even for those who lack China’s ‘heft’. Why then should Trump take such a risk? Because, behind Trump’s boldfaced actions, notes Simplicius, lies a harsh reality facing many MAGA supporters:

“it remains inarguable that the American workforce has been gutted by the triple threat of mass migration; general worker anomie as consequence of cultural decay – and in particular, by the mass alienation and disenfranchisement of conservatively-minded men. These have been strongly contributing factors to the current crisis of doubt about the ability of ‘American manufacturing’ to ever return to a semblance of its previous glory, no matter how big an axe Trump takes to the stricken ‘World Order’”. Trump is mounting a Revolution in order to invert this reality – an end to the American anomie – by (Trump hopes) bringing back U.S. industry.

There is a current of western public opinion – “by no means limited to intellectuals”, nor to Americans alone – that despairs of their own country’s ‘lack of will’, or its inability to do what needs to be done – its fecklessness and its ‘crisis of competence’. These people hanker for a leadership believed to be tougher and more decisive – a longing for unconstrained power and ruthlessness.

One highly-placed Trump supporter puts it quite brutally: “We are now at a very important inflection point. If we are going to face ‘The Big Ugly’ with China, we cannot afford divided loyalties … It’s time to get mean, brutally, harshly mean. Delicate sensibilities must be dispatched like a feather in a hurricane”. It is no surprise that, against the general context of western nihilism, a mindset that admires power and ruthless technocratic solutions – almost ruthlessness for its own sake – could take hold. Take note – we are all in for a turbulent future.

Read more …

“..then the Left will say, “Well, how can we appeal to the public and get them all angry and frenzy and hysterical when some of our major celebrities, our political figures are in Mar-a-Lago?”

• Trump’s Counterrevolution: Flood the Zone, Drain the Swamp (Victor Davis Hanson)

We’re about—getting close to 90 days and even coming up close, in a week, 10 days, to the first 100 days of the Trump administration and this counterrevolution that he’s waging. I thought it might be wise just to see where we are as far as the political landscape and the dynamics of the progress of this counterrevolution. What is President Donald Trump trying to do? I think I would sum it up as flooding the zone. And that is, he’s going to try to propose and enact so many radical corrections or revolutions or reforms or recalibrations that his opposition doesn’t know where to start. So, abroad, he is looking at the Iran deal and he got rid of it. He put sanctions. He’s got maximum pressure. And now, the Iranian economy is about defunct. And they want to negotiate about this nuclear weapon. I don’t think they’re going to negotiate it away, but we’ll see.

And then, he’s dealing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin and trying to get a ceasefire. He’s basically dealt with the Houthis.On the domestic front, there is no more illegal immigration. He’s basically stopped it. Now, the task is what to do with the 12 million illegal aliens that came under former President Joe Biden. And what do you do with the 20 million-plus, maybe 30 million that were here already illegally but for a longer period of time? At the same time, he’s had a blanket mandate that in every Cabinet they will eliminate diversity, equity, inclusion and, by association, things like transsexual, biological males competing in women’s sports. Women—lowering the physical standards so women could compete and pass these very rigorous endurance physical tests so that they would be in combat units on an equal level. No problem that they can’t. But they have to have the same physical requirements as men.

I could go on, but you see what he is doing. He’s doing so many radical corrections in a way that a Romney or a McCain or the Bushes, even Ronald Reagan would not have dreamed of that he feels the opposition will say, “Well, what do we do? Should we reply here? Do we put our interest here? Should we do this?” And so, what is the strategy that the Left is using? They’re flooding the zone, too. But they’re doing it not with counterproposals. They don’t say, “This is what’s wrong with closing the border and we wanna reopen it. This is what’s wrong with the Houthis policy. This is what’s wrong with the trade deficit. This is what’s wrong”—no specific proposal. They’re just flooding it with hysteria, the Spartacus talk, late-night comedy trashing him, another person arrested saying that he wants to kill Donald Trump, keying Teslas, firebombing Tesla agencies, outrageous things from Hollywood stars, videos from Congress. All of a sudden—we didn’t even know who Rep. Jasmine Crockett was. She’s filled that void.

But what I’m saying is they want to be so rambunctious, so crazy, so 360 degrees unhinged that they’ll create an image or a malu—where everybody wants to get almost in a fetal position: “Please, please make it all go away. I don’t know what Trump is doing but it’s so disturbing. Everybody’s so angry.” That is their strategy. Now, what is Trump’s counterstrategy? His counterstrategy is to actually get people on the other side of the aisle in Congress or in the country at large or in the popular culture and try to at least be friendly to them so then they can say, “I don’t agree with Trump but what he’s doing might be needed.” So, we have Bill Maher going to Mar-a-Lago and actually saying very nice things about Donald Trump.

On the one hand, we have Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fighting with a bulwark of the Left at one time, fighting with left-wing people who were calling him all sorts of names and saying that he is illiberal. We had Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan. She was in the White House. Can you believe it? She was so embarrassed about a photo-op. She had to almost cover her face.But you can see what Trump is doing. He’s trying to get people from all sides of the Democratic and liberal progressive movement and not compromise them, but get in the picture, so then the Left will say, “Well, how can we appeal to the public and get them all angry and frenzy and hysterical when some of our major celebrities, our political figures are in Mar-a-Lago?”

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‘Tis the season.

• There’s Real Evidence for Easter (Joecks)

If you think politicians make outlandish claims, consider what Christians celebrate at Easter. They believe a man named Jesus was brutally tortured, murdered, and buried for three days before rising from the dead. Furthermore, they assert this man was also fully God and that your belief or lack of belief in him determines your eternal destiny. Christians have no video evidence or DNA tests to prove this. That’s understandable since Christians say the event Easter celebrates took place almost 2,000 years ago. Americans can’t even agree on things that happened two weeks ago. Isn’t Easter an ancient example of “fake news,” a myth propagated by people putting faith over historical realities? It’s a valid question. The answer starts with looking at the books of the New Testament. How can you determine if what you read today is what the author wrote 2,000 years ago?

That question isn’t unique to the Bible. There are no original copies of any ancient work. Historians use a twofold test to determine how accurately copyists transmitted a manuscript throughout the ages. Scholars look at how many copies exist and the number of years between the original and the earliest surviving copy. For example, Julius Caesar fought and won a series of battles against the Gauls from 58 to 50 B.C. He chronicled his conquests in “On the Gallic War.” Historians have 251 manuscripts of this book, and the earliest is from the ninth century, a gap of over 850 years. Plato was one of the most important ancient philosophers. He wrote a series of dialogues before he died in 348/347 B.C. Scholars have 210 manuscripts of those writings. The oldest is from 895 A.D., a gap of over 1,200 years.

Aside from the Bible, the ancient work with the greatest number of copies is Homer’s “Iliad,” created around 800 B.C. There are over 1,800 copies of it, and the earliest is from around 400 B.C., a gap of just 400 years. The books of the New Testament were written between 50 and 100 A.D. There are over 5,800 New Testament manuscripts in Greek and over 18,500 New Testament manuscripts in other languages. The time gap between authorship and the earliest manuscript is just 50 years. All statistics are from a 2014 review by Josh McDowell and Clay Jones. Try telling a history professor that there isn’t enough historical evidence to confirm Julius Caesar conquered the Gaels or that Plato wrote philosophy. Yet there is a much greater track record for the accurate transmittal of the books depicting the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

An accurate transmission doesn’t mean what is written is true. “The Iliad” is, after all, a work of fiction. A key group, however, did believe the events recorded in the writings that became the New Testament—its authors. Some even explicitly emphasized that their writings were trustworthy and accurate recordings. It wasn’t just idle talk. Their actions changed too.Jesus’ disciples abandoned him when he was arrested. Within weeks, however, those cowards became bold preachers of a gospel message that would transform the world. They didn’t preach to get rich. Rather their preaching led to imprisonments and executions. Faith doesn’t have to mean turning off your brain. Rather, having faith can be the step one takes based on the evidence, including the historical documentation of an empty tomb.

Happy Easter.

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Vax

 

 

Makary
https://twitter.com/TheChiefNerd/status/1912947217473626610

 

 

Solari
https://twitter.com/ChildrensHD/status/1913019646862643353

 

 

Stem cells
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1913200483205800187

 

 

Pelican
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1913080045389697360

 

 

Aeroponic
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1913149496256614820

 

 

Retriever
https://twitter.com/catshealdeprsn/status/1912891302414287214

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle April 4 2025

Apr 042025
 
 April 4, 2025  Posted by at 9:14 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , ,  57 Responses »


Pablo Picasso Portrait of woman in wheelchair 1936

 

• This Is Good. Very, Very Good. (CTH)
• Beijing Slams Trump’s “Unilateral Bullying” Tariffs, Signals Retaliation (ZH)
• President Trump Ends Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment for All Chinese Goods (CTH)
• World Leaders React To Trump’s Tariff Onslaught (RT)
• Here’s Why Trump Will Win the Tariff Standoff (Margolis)
• Kevin O’Leary Slams Canada’s ‘Sheer Stupidity’ in Trade Standoff With Trump (Margolis)
• How Could Trump Tackle Trap Set Up by Europe? (Sp.)
• Trump Teases Bombshell DOGE Finding: ‘What They Found Is Incredible’ (ZH)
• Trump Tariffs Breach NATO Rules – Norway (RT)
• Putin, Zelensky Ready To Make A Deal – Trump (RT)
• Putin Envoy Visits Washington (RT)
• Third Parties Attempting To Derail US-Russia Talks – Putin Envoy (RT)
• House Panels Press Probe of ActBlue Campaign Fundraising Operations (Adams)
• Dr. Oz Will Save Medicare, Strengthen Medicaid, Secure a Healthier America (DS)
• War With Iran ‘Almost Inevitable’ – France (RT)
• Hungary to Abandon ICC Over Concerns of Political Bias – Orban (Sp.)

 

 

 

 

WH tariffs

Batya Ungar-Sargon
https://twitter.com/DC_Draino/status/1907606593509769654

Lutnick

https://twitter.com/TONYxTWO/status/1907779787730378838

BeckBoasberg

KUHN

Vance

Bernie
https://twitter.com/mazemoore/status/1907883583228051964

Beck

 

 

 

 

What Marine Le Pen and Trump’s tariffs have in common is they are both anti-globalist. The world is changing and everyone will have to adapt.

Here is “sundance” the lawyer:

• This Is Good. Very, Very Good. (CTH)

If it was weak, I would tell you it was weak. If it was a construct that contained dangerous consequences, I would warn you of them. If this trade/tariff regime was going to be harmful to the economy I would say so. This global trade reset (as outlined) doesn’t create doom – not even close, it creates discipline. What we’re seeing isn’t a reckless trade war. It’s a strategic recalibration targeting the structural imbalances that hollowed out American industry. The tariffs are reciprocal, calculated based on actual trade deficits. That’s not random or punitive—it’s mathematically fair. And they’re targeted: this isn’t a broad tax on everything. The focus is on finished goods, not the raw materials and components we need to build here. That protects domestic production and supply chains—not disrupts them.

Some worry this will destabilize capital markets. But this plan doesn’t touch interest rates, credit channels, or core financial plumbing. It doesn’t burden U.S. manufacturers or trigger input price spirals. Quite the opposite—it creates revenue and predictability; two things capital markets thrive on. It also closes loopholes like de minimis, reins in corporate arbitrage, and forces trading partners to play fair. If that creates discomfort for companies built on outsourcing and imbalance, that’s not doom. That’s a long-overdue correction. This isn’t the collapse of global trade. It’s the end of surrender and the beginning of mutual accountability.

This is good. Very, Very good.

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China had it good for a few decades. So of course they’re not rejoicing today.

“The era of Asia’s export manufacturing-led development has come to an end, and the region will need to develop markets closer to home.”

• Beijing Slams Trump’s “Unilateral Bullying” Tariffs, Signals Retaliation (ZH)

President Trump’s late afternoon announcement on Wednesday—”Liberation Day”—unveiled a far more aggressive tariff policy than top Wall Street analysts had anticipated, prompting panic dumping in global equities and futures markets overnight. Of particular concern is Trump’s stance toward China. The total effective tariff rate on Chinese imports surged to 54%, a dramatic increase of 34% from the previously imposed 20% in additional levies tied to fentanyl and earlier duties. Trump’s Liberation Day has drawn swift condemnation from Beijing, which has described the escalating tariff war as “unilateral bullying.” Nikkei Asia quoted China’s Ministry of Commerce, warning that it “firmly opposes” Trump’s tariffs and “will resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests.”

The Commerce Ministry noted that the US “ignored” the benefits of a global trading system, adding, “The so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs,’ which are based on subjective and unilateral assessments by the United States, are not in line with the rules of international trade, seriously jeopardize the legitimate rights and interests of the parties concerned, and are typical of unilateral bullying.” The ministry did not discuss specifics on the countermeasures. A ministry spokesperson told reporters that Beijing hopes to “resolve various issues through equal consultation.” In other words, it’s just a matter of time before Beijing mounts a countermeasure against the US, whether that’s targeted tariffs, export controls, or other measures (such as targeting US Big Tech). Or as we’ve recently seen: Beijing Derailing Panama Port Deal.

Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sang the same tune: China “firmly opposes” Trump’s trade war escalation, which “seriously undermines” the rules-based global trading system. He urged Washington to resolve trade differences through talks. However, President Trump tried that with the Chinese Communist Party in his first term with the so-called “Phase One” agreement. Beijing committed to purchasing $200 billion of additional US exports. Yet, the phase one deal with the CCP was derailed by Covid disruptions. The Trump administration’s goal with reciprocal tariffs against literally the entire world, including some cases of near triple-digit reciprocal tariffs that will lead to a historic emerging markets shock, is to reverse a half-century or more of de-industrialization policies in the US that have hollowed out the nation’s core and produced a national security threat as the world fractures into a bipolar state.

In financial markets, the People’s Bank of China set the daily reference rate for the yuan at 7.1889 per dollar, weakening the currency. This allows the yuan to depreciate and support export competitiveness. A move like this will only draw accusations of currency manipulation from Trump. “We maintain our view that the PBOC will not allow a sharp [yuan] depreciation given capital outflow risks and the government’s objective to restore confidence in the Chinese economy,” HK Mizuho Securities analyst Ken Cheung wrote in a note earlier. Goldman analysts Andrew Tilton and others told clients:

“On April 2, President Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs on trading partners with exclusion of products that are subject to sectoral tariffs, resulting in what we estimate to be an increase of 26pp in the average effective US tariff rate on China, which would bring the total effective tariff rate on Chinese goods to 58%. This is much higher than we and the market had expected. Similar to the experience when the previous two 10% tariff increases were imposed on China earlier this year, we think the Chinese government is likely to retaliate with some targeted tariffs on US products as well as non-tariff measures like export controls.

We expect policymakers to continue to resist significant CNY depreciation. We believe the government will step up easing measures to offset the additional growth drag from higher tariffs. We are not changing our 2025 full-year GDP growth forecast of 4.5% at this time due to better-than-expected Q1 data and increased policy easing expectations, as well as remaining uncertainties regarding whether some of the tariffs could be negotiated down in the coming months. That said, we acknowledge downside risk from slowing global growth after the large, across-the board US tariff increases.”

S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Ming Tan warned that Trump’s tariffs could exacerbate China’s weak economy: “The drag on China’s economy from higher tariffs will transmit to banks. We expect problem loans will rise over the next few years and could leap as high as 6.4% of total loans in a downside scenario.” Fred Neumann, chief Asia economist at HSBC, had a big-picture view for clients: “The era of Asia’s export manufacturing-led development has come to an end, and the region will need to develop markets closer to home.”

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No paper work for cheap trinkets picked up on a holiday. Makes sense. But when it becomes anything under $800, that sense changes profoundly. Now we’re talking laptops.

• President Trump Ends Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment for All Chinese Goods (CTH)

The de minimis loophole comes from back in the 1930s. The idea back then was, say you went on a vacation to Paris, you shouldn’t have to file customs paperwork or pay taxes if you decided to ship some little Eiffel Tower statues to your friends back home. Congress in 2015 then raised the de minimis threshold from $200 to $800. However, the e-commerce world exploded, and Chinese companies began using the de minimis loophole to ship cheap goods (ex. Temu and Shein) into the USA direct to consumers without paying any customs duty. Yesterday as part of the global trade reset and tariff structure, President Trump revoked authorization for Chinese goods to transfer to the USA using the de minimis rule.

The de minimis exemption has been cancelled for all products coming out of China. The rule change only targets China and Chinese shippers. No one else. The minimum duty is $25, and the tariff rate is 30% for all products mailed from China into the USA that previously qualified under the de minimis rule. Beyond tariffs or sector specific countervailing duties, the removal of China to use the $800 de minimis exemption will destroy their economy. There is no way for manufacturers in China, marketed into the USA, to be able to survive if they are forced to collect and organize the requirements for U.S. custom and import duties. They will simply dissolve.

FACT SHEET – […] “Following the Secretary of Commerce’s notification that adequate systems are in place to collect tariff revenue, President Trump is ending duty-free de minimis treatment for covered goods from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Hong Kong starting May 2, 2025 at 12:01 a.m. EDT. Imported goods sent through means other than the international postal network that are valued at or under $800 and that would otherwise qualify for the de minimis exemption will be subject to all applicable duties, which shall be paid in accordance with applicable entry and payment procedures. All relevant postal items containing goods that are sent through the international postal network that are valued at or under $800 and that would otherwise qualify for the de minimis exemption are subject to a duty rate of either 30% of their value or $25 per item (increasing to $50 per item after June 1, 2025).

This is in lieu of any other duties, including those imposed by prior Orders. Carriers transporting these postal items must report shipment details to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), maintain an international carrier bond to ensure duty payment, and remit duties to CBP on a set schedule. CBP may require formal entry for any postal package instead of the specified duties. The Secretary of Commerce will submit a report within 90 days assessing the Order’s impact and considering whether to extend these rules to packages from Macau.”

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They can all make the deal to abolish their own tariffs.

• World Leaders React To Trump’s Tariff Onslaught (RT)

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday rolled out a sweeping new wave of “reciprocal tariffs” as part of his so-called “Liberation Day” plan, sparking concerns over a potential global trade war. Trump announced that Washington would impose tariffs ranging from 10% to 49% on all countries based on the principle of reciprocity, declaring it a day of economic independence for the United States. Trump said the tariffs would be used to boost US manufacturing and that the measure would “make America wealthy again.” Many countries have reacted with dismay and have pledged retaliation. While a 10% base tariff was applied to all imports, many of the top US trading partners were hit with much steeper duties.

China China – branded one of the “worst offenders” by Trump – was hit with a new 34% tariff on its goods, in addition to an existing 20% levy, raising total duties to at least 54%. The US decision ignores the balance of interests established through years of multilateral trade negotiations and overlooks the fact that it has long reaped significant benefits from global trade, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. “China firmly opposes this and will take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests,” the ministry said. “There are no winners in trade wars, and there is no way out for protectionism. China urges the US to immediately lift unilateral tariffs and properly resolve differences with its trading partners through dialogue on an equal footing,” the ministry added.

Canada Canada, already subject to US tariffs, was spared the additional 10% baseline tariffs applied to many other countries due to its membership in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). It’s unclear how much last week’s “extremely productive” call between Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney influenced the decision to grant Canada a reprieve. Last month, Trump imposed a 25% tariff on Canadian goods and 10% on energy products, citing concerns over drugs and migrants crossing the border. Exceptions were made for importers who can prove their products comply with USMCA. Carney stated that while Trump had preserved key aspects of the commercial relationship between Canada and the US, the tariffs on steel, aluminum, and automobiles were still coming into effect. “We are going to fight these tariffs with countermeasures, we are going to protect our workers, and we are going to build the strongest economy in the G7,” Carney said.

Mexico Another major US trade partner, Mexico, also avoided Trump’s global tariff. The US president had earlier slapped 25% tariffs on its southern neighbor, citing failures to address migration and fentanyl trafficking, but later carved out exemptions for USMCA-compliant goods. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the country has no plans to impose retaliatory tariffs on the US and will “announce a comprehensive program, not a tit-for-tat on tariffs.” “Let’s see what announcement they make, but we have a plan to strengthen the economy under any circumstance,” Sheinbaum added.

EU European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the universal duties as a “major blow to the global economy.” She claimed that a new 20% US tariff on the EU would see “uncertainty spiral,” causing “dire” consequences “for millions of people around the globe.” The move will “trigger the rise of further protectionism,” von der Leyen argued, warning that the bloc is prepared to respond. “If you take on one of us, you take on all of us,” she stated. Echoing her remarks, European Council President Antonio Costa said a trade war between the EU and the US would “affect everyone,” and called Trump’s decision a “major economic mistake.” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a close ally of Trump, criticized the decision as “wrong” but expressed her commitment to negotiating a deal with the US to “prevent a trade war.”

In Germany, the EU’s major economic powerhouse, which has been grappling with a downturn over the past two years, Economy Minister Robert Habeck slammed the US “obsession” with tariffs, warning that it “could put a spiral in motion that can tear countries into recession.” In France, President Emmanuel Macron is set to convene representatives from all business sectors affected by the import tariffs as producers are already counting future losses. Sales of French wine and spirits are expected to drop by at least 20% in the US, spirits exporters group FEVS told Reuters.

“We are indeed going to see an adverse effect on production,” French government spokeswoman Sophie Primas told broadcaster RTL. Trump “thinks he is the master of the world” but the EU is “ready for this trade war” and has a “whole range of tools,” she insisted. The sweeping tariffs will put jobs at risk on both sides of the Atlantic, according to Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheal Martin, who believes there is “no justification for this.” Goods from Ireland will be hit with a 20% tariff as part of measures Trump has imposed on the EU. “More than €4.2 billion worth of goods and services are traded between the EU and the US daily. Tariffs drive inflation, hurt people on both sides of the Atlantic, and put jobs at risk,” Martin said.

UK Britain was hit less hard than most other countries with a 10% duty imposed on its exports. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “nobody wins in a trade war” and vowed to “fight for the best deal for Britain.” He argued that there’s a “range of levers at our disposal” stressing, however, that the UK’s “intention remains to secure a deal” with the US. ‘Reciprocal’ duties, action against ‘pathetic’ EU: Key points from Trump’s global tariff announcementREAD MORE: ‘Reciprocal’ duties, action against ‘pathetic’ EU: Key points from Trump’s global tariff announcement

Japan Japan has “serious concerns” about the consistency of Trump’s tariffs with the WTO agreement and the Japan-US trade deal, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said in a statement. Japanese Trade Minister Yoji Muto described the measures as “extremely regrettable” and stated that all options were under consideration. When asked whether Japan would retaliate against the 24% tariff imposed by the US, he said: “We need to decide what is best for Japan, and most effective, in a careful but bold and speedy manner.”

Israel Economic officials in Israel, a key US ally, were reportedly in “complete shock” over the 17% tariff imposed by Trump, according to local media. The country had eliminated all tariffs on American imports ahead of the announcement to ensure that Israel was exempt from new levies. “We are working to understand the motivation behind this move,” Ron Tomer, president of the Manufacturers Association of Israel, said on Wednesday.

Ukraine The new 10% tariff announced by Trump on Ukrainian imports is “economic cynicism,” said Daniil Getmantsev, head of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Finance Committee. According to Getmantsev, the levy is unlikely to have a major negative impact on Ukraine, given the relatively small exports to the US. “But imposing such tariffs when our trade balance with the US shows a $2.6 billion deficit is, frankly, economic cynicism of the highest order,” he added.

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“Well, I would say they’ve been doing it to us for a long time. And, if they don’t like tariffs, then why do they have them?”

• Here’s Why Trump Will Win the Tariff Standoff (Margolis)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made it clear in an interview with CNN that the era of trade imbalances is over, and under President Trump, the U.S. will no longer tolerate unfair treatment. During a discussion with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Bessent confidently explained the administration’s position on tariffs and trade policy, signaling that Trump’s economic strategy is deliberate and well thought out. When pressed on how the administration’s policies could impact the auto industry, particularly regarding vehicles made with foreign parts, Bessent was blunt. “If half the cars coming into the United States are foreign-made, that’s hard to turn around overnight, as you know,” Collins said. “So what would you say to people in the auto industry who are worried about that timeline and how quickly that could shift?”

“Buy American,” Bessent said bluntly. He also clarified that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) exempts certain vehicles and parts from the new tariffs. Collins attempted to raise concerns from U.S. allies, questioning what the administration would say to countries like South Korea and Japan, which are now facing increased tariffs. Bessent’s response was direct: “Well, I would say they’ve been doing it to us for a long time. And, if they don’t like tariffs, then why do they have them?” His answer underscored the administration’s stance that America has been on the losing end of trade deals for too long.

As for whether the tariffs should be considered permanent, Bessent took a wait-and-see approach. “I think we’re gonna wait and see how this plays out,” he explained, suggesting that adjustments could be made based on how the policy unfolds. Collins also asked about the possibility of retaliation from other countries. Some foreign leaders have hinted at potential countermeasures, while others have opted to observe before making a move. Bessent urged patience. “One of the messages that I’d like to get out tonight is everybody sit back, take a deep breath, don’t immediately retaliate, let’s see where this goes. Because if you retaliate, that’s how we get escalation.”

When Collins pressed him on whether such escalation could turn into a full-fledged trade war, Bessent dismissed the idea. “Not a trade war. Depends on the country,” he said, before explaining that history favors the United States in such disputes. “Remember that the history of trade is, we are the deficit country. The deficit country has an advantage,” he explained. “[The others] are the surplus countries. The surplus countries traditionally always lose any kind of a trade escalation.”

His message to foreign governments was clear: Acting hastily would be a mistake.“ As a student of economic history or a professor of economic history, I’d advise against it,” he said. When Collins sought further clarification, he reinforced the point: “I would say that doing anything rash would be unwise.” Bessent’s remarks leave no doubt that Trump’s trade policies are rooted in historical precedent and strategic calculation. While globalists may panic, the Trump administration remains confident that America is in a stronger position than its trade partners. And history is on our side. Bessent’s message is clear: Trump knows exactly what he’s doing.

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Carney has elections coming. And his party polls great on anti-Trump thetoric. But he’ll still have to walk it back.

• Kevin O’Leary Slams Canada’s ‘Sheer Stupidity’ in Trade Standoff With Trump (Margolis)

Famed entrepreneur and “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary eviscerated Canada’s leadership for its defiant stance against U.S. trade policies, calling the rhetoric from Interim Prime Minister Mark Carney “sheer stupidity” and warning that the country is in no position to win a trade war with President Trump. Speaking on CNN, O’Leary, who is himself Canadian, reacted to Carney’s inflammatory remarks. The prime minister declared, “We are cutting off all ties to the United States. There’s no cooperation anymore.” O’Leary dismissed the statement as political posturing with no basis in economic reality. “That, of course, is sheer stupidity,” he said. “Seventy-five percent of the output of the Canadian market for over a hundred years has been sold to the U.S., and 17 states in the U.S. call Canada their number one trading partner.”

O’Leary pointed out that despite Carney’s tough talk, Canada is economically dependent on the United States and cannot afford to play a game of brinkmanship with its largest trading partner. He argued that Carney’s remarks were more about political theatrics than sound economic policy. “If you wanna be tough and you wanna sound important and you’re trying to get elected and you’re the only person that can save every Canadian from the evil Trump, that’s exactly what you say,” O’Leary said, accusing Carney of exploiting anti-Trump sentiment to bolster his own political image. He likened Carney’s rhetoric to that of Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro, who has declared that U.S. tariffs would remain in place indefinitely. O’Leary was equally dismissive of such claims, calling them nothing more than political noise meant to rally supporters rather than provide real solutions.

“Navarro’s saying the same thing. ‘These tariffs are in perpetuity. We will fix this. We will push back the world’. All of this rhetoric and noise, it’s not the signal.” O’Leary argued that the best path forward would be a trade framework in which tariffs are removed entirely. “It’s all noise. And in the end, I think everybody’s better off if we get to reciprocal tariffs of zero,” he said. I think we all know that this is Trump’s goal, too. He wants free trade to actually be free trade. O’Leary emphasized that serious investors like himself look at the long-term picture rather than get caught up in the short-term panic created by political leaders. “So the countries you care about, that you wanna do business with, you end up with zero tariffs and you support a free trade mandate. It’s very hard to see that outcome in the cloud we’re in right now and all the rhetoric and jawboning, but if you’re an investor like I am, you think long term.”

While some have expressed concerns about rising inflation and housing prices, O’Leary cautioned that such economic shifts take time to unfold. “Not two weeks, not two months,” he said, pushing back against the notion that immediate catastrophe was looming. O’Leary noted that similar political grandstanding is happening in other countries as well. “Britain’s doing the same thing right now,” he pointed out. “You should hear the rhetoric in London today.” Ultimately, O’Leary was confident that the current wave of economic fearmongering would subside. “It too will pass,” he concluded, reinforcing his belief that Canada’s leadership needs to drop the empty threats and focus on practical solutions.

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“..the US’s Cold War era-based foreign policy perfectly suits European elites, who want Trump back into “the fold of the historical West..”

• How Could Trump Tackle Trap Set Up by Europe? (Sp.)

The US president earlier said that “from the standpoint of America, the EU treats us very, very unfairly, very badly. The US’s European allies set up a trap for the Trump administration to contain its “drastic” foreign policy shift, Alexander Yakovenko, Deputy Head of Rossiya Segodnya International Media Group, told Sputnik. Trump could get out of the trap if he “masters enough political will” and doesn’t “put up with the US foreign policy strategy of the Cold War era”, Yakovenko, who is also head of the Russian Security Council’s Expert Advisory Committee on global problems and international security, stressed. The expert noted that the US’s Cold War era-based foreign policy perfectly suits European elites, who want Trump back into “the fold of the historical West, as we have known it over the past 80 years.” The European elites are unwilling to change “their mentality and their worldview, they’d rather live in the world of their own, which I think doesn’t exist any longer,” Yakovenko emphasized.

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“President Trump had the courage to allow us to go across databases. He signed an executive order. It’s never been done before, where agencies could talk to each other and databases could talk with each other.”

• Trump Teases Bombshell DOGE Finding: ‘What They Found Is Incredible’ (ZH)

President Donald Trump teased another explosive revelation from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), as Democrats and legacy media escalate their ongoing campaign against the cost-cutting initiative and its leader, Tesla CEO Elon Musk. While speaking with the press aboard Air Force One en route to South Florida for the weekend, Trump said: “They found something today that’s horrible,” adding. “You’ll find out very soon. What they found is incredible.” Trump also gave Musk credit for his leadership at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has so far achieved an estimated savings of $140 billion, amounting to roughly $869.57 per taxpayer.

“Elon is fantastic,” the president said. “He’s a patriot. He found millions of dollars of fraud.” “He loves the country that’s why he does it,” he added. Addressing speculation about Musk’s future, Trump responded to reporters, “I want him to stay as long as possible.” The president also commented on the recent wave of violent attacks targeting Tesla vehicles and dealerships, incidents he has previously labeled as “terrorism.” “It’s a shame what they are doing with his car company,” he said. “It’s a great car, great product.” According to a since debunked Politico report citing unnamed sources, Trump has privately indicated to close associates that Musk plans to scale back his involvement as an advisor in the near future. While Musk and the White House denied the report, Trump told reporters on AF1 that “Elon is fantastic,” but he has “a number of companies to run.”

“I want him to stay as long as possible,” said Trump. “There’s going to be a point where he’s going to have to leave.” Over the weekend, at a Wisconsin rally aimed at boosting voter turnout, Musk and DOGE volunteer Antonio Gracias disclosed that millions of noncitizens were granted Social Security numbers under former President Joe Biden’s administration. They presented a chart illustrating a consistent annual rise, peaking at over 2 million in FY 2024, which concluded on September 30. In both FY23 and FY25—the latter starting in October and running through September of this year—approximately 1 million noncitizens received Social Security numbers.

“None of this would have happened without President Trump,” Gracias told Fox News. “President Trump had the courage to allow us to go across databases. He signed an executive order. It’s never been done before, where agencies could talk to each other and databases could talk with each other.” “That allowed us to connect all this data, to find these people across the system, across the benefit system, all the way to the voting records. It really took a lot of courage,” he added. Now the question is; what’s this ‘horrible’ thing DOGE found? And is it just a ‘LOOK, SQUIRREL!’ to distract from all the ‘fun’ we’re having in response to new tariffs?

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US must make Norway rich because they’re both in Nato?!

• Trump Tariffs Breach NATO Rules – Norway (RT)

Recently imposed US tariffs could breach NATO’s founding principles by undermining economic cooperation among allies, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide has said. He raised the issue during the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Thursday, public broadcaster NRK has reported. The official reportedly pointed to Article 2 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which commits members to strengthen economic ties to foster peace and stability within the alliance. “If you want a strong NATO, you should ensure that there is as much economic growth as possible in the NATO countries,” NKR quoted him as saying. “That was the insight of those who established NATO, that economic cooperation would be good for the entire alliance,” the diplomat added.

According to the outlet, Eide raised the matter directly with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the meeting, saying “We must be clear that protectionist measures between allies are a serious problem.” On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariff increases on numerous trading partners, including NATO countries. Norway is among those affected, facing a 15% duty on selected exports to the United States. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store told NKR on Thursday that Oslo would seek to negotiate with the US over the tariffs.

“This is bad news, it is very serious,” Store said. “There is an opening for negotiations here, the Americans say, and we will use that in every possible way that we can,” he added. Trump’s announcement has sparked concern across the EU, with several NATO allies voicing fears that the tariffs could harm both trade and alliance unity. French President Emmanuel Macron has called the tariffs “brutal and unfounded,” and warned that retaliation could include a digital tax on American tech companies.

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“Europe has not been successful in dealing with President Putin, but I think I will be successful.” Well, to be honest, Europe is not trying.

• Putin, Zelensky Ready To Make A Deal – Trump (RT)

The leaders of Russia and Ukraine are ready to make a peace deal, US President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday. He has been trying to broker a ceasefire between the two neighbors since February. A reporter asked Trump on Air Force One about his communication with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. “I think he’s ready to make a deal. And I think that President [Vladimir] Putin is ready to make a deal,” Trump said. He declined to go into specifics but added that the US was having “a lot of good conversations about Ukraine and Russia.” “We like to see [the conflict] stopped as soon as possible because thousands of people have been killed in a week,” Trump said. “Europe has not been successful in dealing with President Putin, but I think I will be successful.”

Trump made his comments as Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, traveled to Washington, where he reportedly met with America’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff. The sides mostly continued discussing steps to normalize bilateral relations frozen by the Biden administration in 2022, Dmitriev told reporters on Thursday evening. He noted the “positive dynamic” of the talks, adding that more meetings need to take place to resolve the differences. Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, told Fox Business on Wednesday that Trump has been “frustrated” with both Putin and Zelensky. He remained optimistic about the negotiations, saying that the sides were “on the precipice” of a comprehensive ceasefire.

Moscow has accused Kiev of multiple violations of the energy truce brokered by Trump last month. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian troops struck fuel depots, gas facilities, and the electrical grid, despite promising to respect a 30-day pause on such attacks. Kiev, for its part, claimed that Russia was breaching the same agreement. Russia has maintained that any long-term settlement would be viable only if the US and Ukraine address the “root causes” of the conflict. Moscow demands that Kiev abandon its plans to join NATO and recognize Crimea and four other former Ukrainian regions as Russian territory.

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Note that Putin didn’t send his political envoy, but his business man.

• Putin Envoy Visits Washington (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, visited Washington on Thursday. He is the highest Russian official who traveled to the US since diplomatic contacts were suspended in 2022. Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, previously participated in the Russian-US talks in Riyadh on February 18, where both sides agreed to start gradually normalizing the ties severed by the Biden administration. Speaking to reporters on Thursday evening, Dmitriev noted that President Donald Trump and his team have a better understanding of Russia’s terms than his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. “We are seeing absolutely clearly that, unlike President Biden, the Trump administration is determined to resolve the whole spectrum of bilateral issues,” the diplomat said.

“They are very respectful. They are listening to Russia’s position, and are understanding Russia’s concerns. They are asking a lot of questions and finding compromises,” he added. “Naturally, there are differences. But there is dialogue, which we believe will help to overcome these differences,” Dmitriev said. The envoy said that he had discussions about restoring trade and normal business relations between the states. “Many American companies would like to replace European companies that have left Russia,” he said. Dmitriev stressed that Moscow is ready to work on business projects that would be beneficial to both countries. He added that the sides talked about potential cooperation in the Arctic and the development of rare-earth minerals. “We are actively working on the resumption of direct flights” between Russia and the US, he said. Dmitriev said that more rounds of talks will be needed to hammer out the deal.

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“We are seeing a coordinated campaign in the media, attempts by various politicians to undermine the relations between Russia and the US, and attempts to distort the statements made by Russia,” the diplomat said. “It happens on a daily basis.”

• Third Parties Attempting To Derail US-Russia Talks – Putin Envoy (RT)

Certain countries want to throw a wrench into the normalization of Russian-American relations, President Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, has said. He made his comment during a rare trip to Washington, where he met with top US officials. “Different countries are trying to derail this dialogue, derail the restoration of the Russian-American relations,” Dmitriev told reporters on Thursday evening. He noted that the negotiations have been accompanied by “a lot of rumors, incorrect quotes, and incorrect interpretations.” “A lot of people are interested in preventing the development of our relations. We are seeing a coordinated campaign in the media, attempts by various politicians to undermine the relations between Russia and the US, and attempts to distort the statements made by Russia,” the diplomat said. “It happens on a daily basis.”

“The best way to overcome disinformation is direct dialogue,” he stressed. Dmitriev reportedly met with Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who has been one of the key US negotiators on Ukraine. According to NBC News, the Russian diplomat also met with Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Markwayne Mullin. According to Dmitriev, the sides mostly discussed steps to gradually amend the cooperation severed by the Biden administration in 2022. The agenda included possible partnership in the Arctic, the development of rare-earth minerals, and the resumption of direct flights between the countries, he said.

Some EU and Ukrainian politicians have attempted to dissuade Trump from restarting negotiations with Moscow. The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, claimed last month that “Russia cannot really be trusted.” Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky suggested in February that Trump was trapped in a “disinformation bubble.” Trump has blamed Zelensky for the conflict, while his Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, argued that the EU should be sidelined during negotiations.

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Cue DOGE.

• House Panels Press Probe of ActBlue Campaign Fundraising Operations (Adams)

Top Republican House leaders have formally requested that ActBlue, one of the Democratic Party’s largest political action committees, turn over documents related to its governance and operations. In a letter dated April 2 to ActBlue President and Chief Executive Officer Regina Wallace-Jones, the chairmen of the House committees on the Judiciary, Oversight and Government Reform, and Administration requested documents and testimony from two employees of the organization. The names of the employees whose testimony was requested were redacted in the version of the letter that was made public. A source familiar with the investigation told The Daily Signal, “We expect ActBlue employees to participate in the transcribed interviews and submit the required documents.” The source explained, “If they fail to comply, all options are on the table.”

An ActBlue spokesperson told The Daily Signal, “As we have historically done, ActBlue will continue to respond to requests from the House committees.” In their letter, the committee chairs said that they were seeking “to investigate ActBlue’s fraud-prevention policies and practices, which may allow bad actors to make fraudulent political donations, including from foreign sources.” ActBlue is one of the largest fundraisers for the Democratic Party, and claims to have raised more than $16.7 billion for Democrats since it was founded in 2004. Prior to the recent turmoil in leadership, it was a widely trusted source for liberal giving. ActBlue has come under increasing scrutiny since it announced a wave of departures of top staff in February. The resignations included the organization’s highest-ranking legal officer, the chief revenue officer, and the assistant research director.

ActBlue has received donations from some of the Democratic Party’s most important fundraisers, including thousands of dollars from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. The Daily Signal has previously reported that the group may have received millions of dollars through fraudulent donations, according to testimony from some elderly Americans. One such individual, a retired Yale University professor, testified in a signed affidavit that he believed the donations in his name did not reflect his actual donation frequency or dollar amount. ActBlue charges a 3.95% processing fee on donations to it.

The organization also reportedly locked out Zain Ahmad, the last remaining member of the group’s general counsel’s office as of Feb. 26, from his email and other internal platforms. The letter from the House chairmen highlighted the organization’s actions toward Ahmad, who has been put on leave, and noted that ActBlue’s union reportedly told the group’s board that “those of us who work with our legal team in our day-to-day do not have clear direction on how to proceed with our work in their absence.” The House letter noted that fraudulent political donations “could amount to interstate criminal conduct,” citing a legal case that resulted in a Chinese national’s criminal conviction for improper donations.

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By Senator Roger Marshall. The idea is that Oz will execute RFK’s MAHA vision.

• Dr. Oz Will Save Medicare, Strengthen Medicaid, Secure a Healthier America (DS)

Medicaid and Medicare are on a path that should concern all Americans, but with the right leadership, we can turn their trajectory around. On its current course, Medicare, the government-run health insurance program for seniors, will fall off a financial cliff in as little as a decade—maybe even sooner. Meanwhile, Medicaid, the program that pays for health care for the poor, now covers more people than Medicare, placing an enormous strain on both state and federal budgets. As a nation, we face a chronic disease epidemic, and along with it, a crisis of unsustainable rising costs, high demand, and worsening patient outcomes. Over the past five years, Medicaid spending has surged by some 50%—another unsustainable trend that diverts funds from schools, roads, bridges, and high-speed internet.

Together, Medicare and Medicaid will each spend roughly a trillion dollars this year. That’s why we urgently need a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator who can rescue Medicare and fortify Medicaid. As both programs fall under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, we need a leader with a fresh perspective—one who prioritizes patient care while ensuring financial stability. This role demands someone who has experienced these programs at the grassroots level, where patients, doctors, and hospitals intersect. This person must be an exceptional communicator, capable of managing a $2 trillion budget and transforming an organization of 6,000 employees who oversee the health needs of 140 million Americans. This budget accounts for nearly a quarter of federal spending in a system that already overspends by $2 trillion annually.

Above all, we need someone who can help us in our mission to Make America Healthy Again. Thankfully, we have just the person for the job: Dr. Mehmet Oz. To America, he’s Dr. Oz: a world-renowned heart surgeon and the trusted star of a hit TV show. Some may also recognize him as an innovative inventor of lifesaving heart devices, holding both an M.D. and an MBA. But to me, Dr. Oz is a fellow physician and a good friend. He’s a devoted father of four and grandfather of four. He’s a person who cares deeply about finding solutions—a problem-solver ready to tackle the challenges of Medicaid and Medicare head-on, focusing on the health and safety of every American and ensuring those who rely on these programs continue to receive the care they deserve.

Dr. Oz is uniquely equipped to modernize health care. He will harness cutting-edge technology and responsibly integrate artificial intelligence to meet patients’ needs. He’ll champion transparency and prioritize quality outcomes over mere quantity of care or coverage. By empowering patients and providers with choices, he’ll drive higher-quality care. He’ll strengthen telehealth and address the distinct challenges of rural communities, along with those of the inner city. Thinking outside the box, he’ll uncover innovative solutions to our health care woes with full transparency.

Put simply, Dr. Oz is the right leader at the right time to execute President Donald Trump’s and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy’s vision to Make America Healthy Again. With his expertise, compassion, and bold leadership, he will transform the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services into a beacon of fiscal responsibility and patient-centered care. There’s no one better suited to save Medicare, strengthen Medicaid, and secure a healthier future for all Americans. I look forward to his swift confirmation and the work he will do to address our health crisis. With Dr. Oz, Secretary Kennedy, and President Trump at the helm, the best is truly yet to come for our health care system and its patients.

https://twitter.com/Holden_Culotta/status/1907927964131668210

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Only Israel wants it.

• War With Iran ‘Almost Inevitable’ – France (RT)

A military conflict with Iran would be highly likely if attempts to renegotiate a new nuclear deal fail, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has warned. US President Donald Trump has threatened Tehran with a bombing campaign if it does not concede on its nuclear program, which Washington alleges is aimed at developing atomic weapons. The Iranian government, which vehemently denies the claims, has vowed to retaliate against any attack. Addressing French MPs on Wednesday after an Iran-focused government meeting led by President Emmanuel Macron, Barrot stated that without a new agreement, “a military confrontation would appear almost inevitable,” warning that such a scenario could further destabilize the Middle East.

In 2015, Iran and major world powers signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) accord which restricted Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. However, in 2017 Trump unilaterally withdrew from the arrangement, which he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu labeled “the worst deal ever,” opting instead for a campaign of “maximum pressure” through sanctions. The EU sought to provide Iran with means to bypass American pressure to preserve the JCPOA, but negotiations have since stalled. The standoff has bolstered a hardline foreign policy approach in Tehran, which refused to uphold its commitments in retaliation for Western failure to deliver on its part of the nuclear pact .

Since beginning his second presidential term in January, Trump has repeatedly issued threats of military action unless Tehran agrees to a new nuclear deal. In a recent interview, he stated, “If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing. And it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.” Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defiantly responded to Trump on Monday, warning that the US and Israel “will definitely receive a strong, reciprocal blow” if they attack Iran. Amid the escalating tensions, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday it had deployed additional assets to the Middle East. According to Reuters sources, four B-2 bombers have been relocated to a base on Diego Garcia Island, positioning them for potential missions against Iran.

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“..the ICC is becoming a political entity rather than an impartial court upholding the rule of law..”

• Hungary to Abandon ICC Over Concerns of Political Bias – Orban (Sp.)

Hungary has decided to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), as it believes the institution has shifted from an independent judicial body to a politically motivated one in recent years, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced on Thursday. “We are convinced that the ICC is becoming a political entity rather than an impartial court upholding the rule of law. This has been particularly evident in its recent decision regarding Israel,” Orban stated at a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to Orban, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto will present a bill to parliament on Thursday, officially initiating Hungary’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute.

Earlier in the day, Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, confirmed that the Hungarian government had made the decision to leave the ICC, with the formal withdrawal process set to begin later on Thursday. The ICC’s disregard for the immunities of heads of state from countries that are not parties to the Rome Statute violates international law and thus undermines the court’s own legitimacy as an independent party in disputes. Moreover, its actions destabilize global security, making it difficult to view the ICC as a body acting on behalf of the international community.

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CO2

 

 

Calley Means
https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1907512164933320833

 

 

Bowden
https://twitter.com/McCulloughFund/status/1907511535078936726

 

 

autism

 

 

Canaia

 

 

Pi
https://twitter.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/status/1907831288691614116

 

 

Car

 

 

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Debt Rattle March 25 2025

Mar 252025
 
 March 25, 2025  Posted by at 10:59 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  65 Responses »


Caravaggio Conversion on the way to Damascus 1600-01

 

• “A New World Order With European Values” (Turley)
• ‘Nazis’ In Ukraine ‘Nurtured’ By Europeans – Lavrov (RT)
• Kiev Wants Trump Envoy Witkoff Sacked (RT)
• Ukraine Doesn’t Want Peace – Moscow (RT)
• US and Russia Engaging In ‘Creative’ Talks – Moscow (RT)
• Rubio Accuses ‘Other Countries’ Of Blocking Peace In Ukraine (RT)
• DOGE Reveals Mind Shocking Fraud Propping Up Economy – Ed Dowd (USAW)
• The Pentagon’s War on Wasted Dollars (RCD)
• Mike Davis Cooks Judge Screwing Around With Trump’s Deportation Flights (Vespa)
• Anti-Trump Judge Makes Another Outrageous Ruling (Margolis)
• New Dirt on Judge Boasberg Raises More Questions (Margolis)
• The Last Resort (James Howard Kunstler)
• Pentagon Chief Hegseth Comments On ‘Yemen War Plans’ Leak (RT)
• Trump Team Unwittingly Sends Yemen Strike Plans to Editor of The Atlantic (Sp.)
• Trump Names Alina Habba To Be Interim US Attorney For New Jersey (NYP)
• The ‘Real’ Epstein Files Are Coming. Here’s What to Know. (Margolis)
• “Tread Carefully”: Pam Bondi Issues Warning Over Musk “Takedown” (ZH)
• Elon Musk Disguises IRS Building As Tesla Dealership (BBee)

 

 

Carpe
https://twitter.com/CarpeDonktum/status/1904173446759625176

RFK

2.924

Taxes
https://twitter.com/TONYxTWO/status/1904206868269945336

Gingrich

Zeldin
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1904209863128814043

 

 

 

 

“The problem is that this vision for a new Holy Roman Empire lacks a Charlamagne. More importantly, it lacks public support.”

• “A New World Order With European Values” (Turley)

“A New World Order With European Values.” Emblazoned across banners and signs, those words met the participants at this week’s meeting of the World Forum in Berlin. Each year, leaders, executives, journalists and academics gather to address the greatest threats facing humanity. This year, there was little doubt about what they view as the current threat: the resurgence of populism and free speech. In fairness to the Forum, “a New World Order” likely sounds more ominous for some civil libertarians than intended. While the European Union is a transnational government stretching across 27 nations, the organizers were referring to a shift of values away from the United States to Europe. As one of the few speakers at the forum who was calling for greater protections for free speech, I found it an unnerving message.

Even putting aside the implications of the New World Order, the idea of building a world on today’s European values is alarming for free speech. Free speech is in a free fall in Europe, with ever-expanding speech regulations and criminal prosecutions — including for having “toxic ideologies.” The World Forum has a powerful sense of fraternity, even an intimacy, among leaders who see each other as a global elite — a cadre of enlightened minds protecting citizens from their own poor choices and habits. There has long been a push for transnational governing systems, and European figures see an opportunity created by the conflict with President Trump. The European Union is the model for such a Pax Europaea or “European peace.” The problem is that this vision for a new Holy Roman Empire lacks a Charlamagne. More importantly, it lacks public support.

The very notion of a “New World Order” is chilling to many who oppose the rise of a globalist class with the rise of transnational governance in the European Union and beyond. This year, there is a sense of panic among Europe’s elite over the victory of Trump and the Republicans in the U.S., as well as nationalist and populist European movements. For globalists, the late Tip O’Neill’s rule that “all politics is local” is anathema. The European Union is intended to transcend national identities and priorities in favor of an inspired transnational government managed by an expert elite. The message was clear. The new world order would be based on European, not American, values. To rally the faithful to the cause, the organizers called upon two of the patron saints of the global elite: Bill and Hillary Clinton. President Clinton was even given an award as “leader of the century.”

Read more …

“..the West’s approach to public messaging that “portrays itself as infallible and suffers from an exceptionalism complex.”

• ‘Nazis’ In Ukraine ‘Nurtured’ By Europeans – Lavrov (RT)

European NATO members are willfully ignoring the “Nazi” character of the Ukrainian government, which they have empowered as an anti-Russian instrument, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has asserted.On Monday, the senior diplomat expressed concern over the “demons of neo-Nazism, Russophobia, and other hateful ideologies” spreading across multiple EU nations. Member states are deliberately overlooking Kiev’s misconduct, even as it persecutes ethnic Russians and violates human rights, he stressed. “Ukraine – ‘that’s different.’ Those Nazis have been nurtured for the latest attempt to unite all of Europe under racist, Nazi banners for a war against the Russian Federation,” Lavrov stated.

The minister was speaking in his capacity as a trustee of the Gorchakov Fund, a Russian NGO aimed at enhancing public diplomacy. He emphasized the organization’s mission of presenting an authentic view of Russia and contrasted it sharply with the West’s approach to public messaging that “portrays itself as infallible and suffers from an exceptionalism complex.” The EU is pursuing a multibillion-dollar rearmament plan, justified by what Brussels labels a growing Russian threat. European officials have warned that a direct NATO confrontation with Moscow may break out within the next few years. Russia, however, denies any hostile intentions toward the US-led military bloc.

Tensions between European NATO members and Washington resurfaced after President Donald Trump assumed office in January. The new US administration has sought a swift resolution to the Ukraine conflict and intends to shift security responsibilities onto Europe once a truce is achieved. Moscow’s goal of ‘denazification’ remains central to its stance on the Ukraine conflict. Russian officials have denounced the Ukrainian government as a “neo-Nazi regime” due to its discriminatory domestic policies, alleged war crimes against Russian citizens, and veneration of historical nationalist figures who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II.

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“..this person needs to be removed from this delegation, he should not be a representative of the [US] president. Since he’s either completely unprofessional or simply repeats Putin’s narratives..”

• Kiev Wants Trump Envoy Witkoff Sacked (RT)

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who has played a central role in opening negotiations on resolving the Ukraine conflict, is “spreading Russian propaganda” and should be sacked, according to a senior Ukrainian lawmaker. The head of the Kiev’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Aleksandr Merezhko, made the remark in response to Witkoff’s interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, during which the envoy spoke about the status of former Ukrainian territories that have joined Russia, describing the issue as “an elephant in the room” that “no one wants to talk about.” “They’re Russian-speaking. There have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule,” Witkoff said.

“The Russians are de facto in control of these territories. The question is: Will the world acknowledge that those are Russian territories? Can [Vladimir] Zelensky survive politically if he acknowledges this? This is the central issue in the conflict,” he added. Merezhko strongly condemned the “disgraceful, shocking statements,” accusing Witkoff of acting as an envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin rather than of Trump. “We are talking about a representative of the president who should have professional expertise in this matter and know some basic things. obvious things. And he doesn’t know this. He spreads Russian propaganda,” the lawmaker insisted in a televised interview.

Merezhko said that [he] wasn’t sure if “ignorance, naivety, or unprofessionalism” was behind Witkoff’s statements and called for the US official to be booted from his role. “We clearly can’t dictate to American friends who should represent them. But this person needs to be removed from this delegation, he should not be a representative of the [US] president. Since he’s either completely unprofessional or simply repeats Putin’s narratives,” Merezhko added.

Moscow and Kiev have taken bipolar positions on the former-Ukrainian Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions and the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, all of which officially joined Russia in autumn 2022 following a series of referendums. Kiev also formally claims Russia’s Crimea, which seceded from Ukraine in the aftermath of a violent Western-backed coup in Kiev and joined Russia in 2014, as its own. Moscow has repeatedly signaled that its sovereignty over the territories is not negotiable, while Kiev has repeatedly pledged to seize back control of all the territories it claims as its own. The Ukrainian leadership has seemingly softened its rhetoric as of late, now insisting it will never recognize “occupation” of the territories and Russian sovereignty over them in any form.

Read more …

The US should simply leave.

• Ukraine Doesn’t Want Peace – Moscow (RT)

Ukraine continues to attack Russian civilian infrastructure, proving that Kiev does not actually want peace, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. Last week, following a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, Moscow and Kiev agreed to a partial ceasefire and pledged to suspend strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure for 30 days. However, the Russian Defense Ministry has since reported multiple Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy facilities such as oil and gas pipelines. The latest attack reportedly took place at 2 a.m. on Monday on the Kropotkinskaya oil pumping station in Russia’s Krasnodar Region. The station is operated by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which works with US energy giants such as Mobil and Chevron.

Russian air defense systems intercepted a Ukrainian attack UAV some 7km from the facility, with fragments falling in the area of a railway station, according to the Defense Ministry. In an update on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Ukraine had also launched drone strikes on the Glebovskoye gas condensate field in Crimea on March 23 and on a gas distribution center in Belgorod Region on March 22. Commenting on the recent attacks, Zakharova claimed it is typical of Kiev’s behavior, particularly ahead of international events such as this week’s Russia-US talks in Saudi Arabia.

”Every time it’s the same story. Before any contacts, including during visits to Moscow by foreign delegations, the Kiev regime commits terrorist acts, attacks on civilian infrastructure, on civilian objects, extremist acts, and so on… They don’t need peace. They have stated this repeatedly,” Zakharova told reporters. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stressed that despite Kiev’s repeated violations, Moscow continues to uphold the energy strike truce and that President Putin has not issued any new commands to the country’s armed forces. However, Zakharova warned over the weekend that Russia reserves its right to respond to Ukraine’s attacks, including “symmetrically,” if Kiev continues its “destructive course.”

Read more …

The talks will intensify.

• US and Russia Engaging In ‘Creative’ Talks – Moscow (RT)

The US-Russian talks held in Saudi Arabia are a “creative” endeavor, though they may not yield a diplomatic breakthrough on Monday, a Russian lawmaker who is part of Moscow’s delegation told journalists. Grigory Karasin, chairman of the International Relations Committee in Russia’s upper chamber of parliament, provided the media an update during a break in the talks in Riyadh. The discussions, which he described as “technical,” focus on maritime security in the Black Sea and the possibility of reviving the Black Sea Initiative, which was originally mediated by the UN and Türkiye. Russia withdrew from the deal in July 2023, citing the West’s failure to provide sanctions relief for its grain exports, as the conditions of the arrangement required.

“Not every negotiation yields a high-profile document or agreement,” Karasin remarked before returning to the closed-door meetings. “What matters is maintaining communication and understanding each other’s positions. In this regard, we are succeeding.” Alongside Karasin, Russia’s delegation includes Sergey Beseda, an adviser to the director of the Federal Security Service. Their American counterparts, as identified by Reuters, are Andrew Peek, a senior director at the White House National Security Council, and Michael Anton, a senior State Department official. When asked about possible outcomes, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov remarked earlier in the day that they “primarily concern the safety of maritime traffic. However, if you recall [the original version] of the deal, there were significant obligations made to our side that were never fulfilled. This remains part of the agenda.”

US President Donald Trump has suggested revisiting the grain deal as part of his efforts to mediate a broader truce between Russia and Ukraine, Peskov added. Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to Trump’s proposal to suspend attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, while Ukraine committed to reciprocate. However, Kiev has violated the partial ceasefire multiple times, including on Monday morning, according to Russia. Moscow has warned that it reserves the right to withdraw from the arrangement should Ukraine fail to meet its commitments. A Ukrainian delegation is also present at the same luxury hotel in Riyadh where the US-Russian talks are taking place, but they have no direct contact with the Russian team. The Ukrainians had their own talks with the US delegation the previous day.

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There are 27 of them in the EU.

• Rubio Accuses ‘Other Countries’ Of Blocking Peace In Ukraine (RT)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that unnamed foreign governments are obstructing efforts to end the Ukraine conflict, crediting President Donald Trump with leading negotiations to mediate peace between Moscow and Kiev. Senior Russian and US officials held marathon 12-hour talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Monday, focused on resolving the Ukraine conflict and ensuring maritime security in the Black Sea. However, the two sides have yet to release details or announce the outcome of the discussions. Speaking during a cabinet meeting at the White House before the talks concluded, Rubio stressed that the conflict “needs to be brought to an end” through negotiations, not military means, and praised Trump as “the only one leader in the world that’s capable of bringing two sides to a table.”

According to Rubio, Trump’s diplomatic initiative has faced resistance from other governments, although he did not name any specific countries. “You’ve done it despite impediments from other countries and others who maybe have different opinions about how this should go,” Rubio said, addressing Trump directly. “Ultimately, I think that the only chance we have for peace is through the President’s leadership.” Following a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart last week, Moscow and Kiev agreed to a partial ceasefire and pledged to suspend strikes on energy infrastructure for 30 days.

However, the Russian Defense Ministry has since reported multiple Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stressed that despite Kiev’s violations, Moscow will continue to uphold the energy strike truce. In an interview on Sunday, Peskov also remarked that instead of seeking peace and addressing the root causes of the conflict, EU member states are now discussing the deployment of NATO contingents to Ukrainian territory. “This rampant militarist policy of Europe – there is no other way to describe it – is hard to comprehend,” he said.

Tensions between Washington and European NATO members resurfaced after Trump assumed office in January. The new administration has pushed for a swift resolution to the Ukraine conflict and plans to shift security responsibilities to Europe once a truce is in place. Following an emergency summit in London earlier this month, the UK and France signaled that they are open to sending Western “peacekeepers” to Ukraine once a ceasefire is reached. Moscow has rejected the proposal, stating that it makes no difference under what pretext NATO troops enter the country. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that this could lead to a direct war between the military bloc and Moscow.

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DOGE vs the NGOs.

“Martin Armstrong says all the gold movement coming to the US is because of a coming war..”

• DOGE Reveals Mind Shocking Fraud Propping Up Economy – Ed Dowd (USAW)

Former Wall Street money manager and financial analyst Ed Dowd of PhinanceTechnologies.com is back with an update of a report on “Danger of Deep Worldwide Recession in 2025.” It was not just heavy government spending on illegal immigration, but “mind shocking” fraud that has been revealed with DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). Investigators have uncovered $115 billion so far with many hundreds of billions more to be exposed. Dowd says, “Both sides of the aisle are probably going to have problems. The DOGE revelations are mind shocking. The clear way in which the government was spending money through NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and people taking kickbacks and profits along the way is going to come out. There may have been theft along the way. What business does Stacy Abrams have getting $2 billion for an NGO? This doesn’t make any sense.

It’s going to be shocking, even shocking to me. I knew there was rot in the system, but the mind blowing way the NGOs were used to facilitate the illegal immigration just blows my mind. The 10 million plus illegals that came in over the last four years, you just don’t wake up one day in Central America and say I am going to the Darien Gap, and go to the Mexican border and then meander my way into the interior of the US without a tremendous amount of aid along the way. NGOs facilitated that and probably took their cut. What was the all-in economic cost of the goodies they got once they got here? Plus, the NGOs spent and what the government spent themselves to facilitate this, it’s not hard to imagine $50,000 to $100,000 all-in cost per illegal. . . . This is the all-in cost up and down the entire economic food chain. . . . It was anywhere between $500 billion to $1.5 trillion depending on the illegals. It was an illegal project funded purposely, and it was very logistical. It was not something that just happened overnight.”

The result, says Dowd, was the US economy was propped up when it should have already tanked. Now, all this spending on this illegal invasion is going away. Dowd says, “When we wrote our report, we were surprised on how fast DOGE would get to work. . . . This is why our thesis is playing out a little quicker than we thought. . . . The housing market was on fragile ground the last year or so. It was held up by illegal immigrants supporting rent prices. So, as that unwinds, we think there will be a mini 2008–2009 housing issue. Housing prices are going to come down, and that is a big driver of consumption in the economy. That needs to happen because home affordability is off the charts.”

Dowd also see a recession coming as the government downsizes, illegal alien funding gets cut and illegals continue to self-deport. Dowd says, “Consumer confidence has taken a nosedive recently, and you can see why. There are 10 million to 15 million illegal immigrants worried about their gravy train coming to an end. So, they may be holding back on their spending. There are millions of government employees worried about their jobs. Then, you have the NGO networks that employ about 6 million people. So, you have about 20 million to 25 million people that are in the workforce . . . worried about where their money is going to come from, and that can cause consumer spending to slow down.”

There is good news with the spending cuts, according to Dowd, and that will come in the form of lower interest rates in the bond market. Dowd still likes gold as a core asset and does not see Trump tariffs as inflationary. Dowd says the problems with tariffs are “overblown” and are a negotiation tool to get fair trade for America around the world. Dowd sees “deflation” and possibly a short but “deep recession” coming before inflation. A possible black swan event is an intensified war in Ukraine and no peace deal along with the EU getting deeply involved in a war with Russia. This could be a plus for the US if it stays out of the conflict. Dowd says, “There seems to be war drums beating in Europe, and capital will flee to the US. Martin Armstrong says all the gold movement coming to the US is because of a coming war, and of all the theories on this, that makes the most sense to me. I am not predicting war, but that is a geopolitical risk out there. That is one of those ‘black swan’ events. Another ‘black swan’ event is a Bank of Japan currency crisis and, also, something going on with Iran and the Middle East. . . . Black swan events add to the risk, and those are hard to predict.”

Read more …

“America cannot afford inefficiency..”

• The Pentagon’s War on Wasted Dollars (RCD)

So far, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has swept through government agencies like the United States Agency for International Development, brushing off cobwebs and uncovering skeletons as it goes. Now, DOGE is set to enter a much bigger agency whose shortfalls demand reform: the Department of Defense. Long criticized for its budget woes, the DOD has recently faced accusations of overspending, underspending, and even simple misspending—criticisms which are all well founded. In fact, the DOD consistently mismanages its budget, a fact that’s led it to fail all of its last seven audits.To address these issues, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently announced that he would work with DOGE to conduct a DOD-wide budget review.

Already, this initiative has revealed $80 million in wasteful spending, including $1.9 million in “DEI transformation and training” and $3.5 million in “Defense HR Support for DEI.” While the Pentagon is notoriously resistant to change, additional pressure from DOGE and the administration could finally force the reforms needed to modernize the American military, refocus on warfighting capabilities, and rid the Pentagon of absurd budget line items. But DOGE’s mission isn’t just to slash budgets: it’s also to restore efficiency. Specifically, DOGE’s role is to ensure the federal government makes the most effective use possible of American taxpayer dollars.

Fundamentally, the DOD exists to ensure America’s warfighting capability—a task DOGE has no intention of obstructing. And even as the DOD’s mission grows more and more urgent, Pentagon dollars continue to be misused, a flaw that cries for immediate correction. Hegseth recently announced he’d be implementing a DOD budget “cut” of 8%, or about $50 billion. Rather than simply imposing strict cuts, this plan seeks to “refocus … and reinvest … existing funds” to build a more lethal fighting force, restore “warrior ethos,” and reestablish global deterrence. This shift is essential at a time when our arsenal is severely depleted and outdated and we lack the ships and planes to deter China from launching an attack in the Indo-Pacific.

To fix this, Hegseth should prioritize reinvesting funding cuts into procurement and, specifically, into the construction of new ships, planes, and munitions. Hegseth should also divert dollars from personnel—a category that accounts for almost a quarter of the DOD’s budget. Already, he and Musk have announced plans to reduce the civilian workforce by between 5% to 8%, a cut that will save the DOD between $9 and $14.5 billion. So far, he’s implemented this plan via a hiring freeze and the firing of probational employees and recent hires.

Many have sought to villainize the Pentagon’s budget purge. Yet those in national security should recognize the need to cut defense budget waste, especially given recent developments on the international stage. There, China continues to rapidly modernize its military to challenge U.S. dominance, while Russia persists in its aggression in Eastern Europe. North Korea still pursues its ever-growing nuclear ambitions (and strengthens its support for Russia), while Iran maintains its destabilizing influence in the Middle East.

These various actors all share one common feature: a vicious antipathy toward the United States. The burden falls on the Pentagon and the DOD to protect the American people. DOGE represents a historic opportunity for the DOD to further this mission by rethinking how it organizes, supports, and employs its people. The goal isn’t to cut corners—it’s to reinvest in the capacity and capability of America’s warfighting force. In a world of rising global threats, America cannot afford inefficiency. The Pentagon must embrace DOGE’s mission to break free from outdated bureaucracy and inefficient spending. Only then will the DOD be able to enhance American warfighting capability and ensure our security and prosperity.

Read more …

“He publicly exposed an ongoing U.S. military, intelligence, and law-enforcement operation with an American ally dealing with the most vicious terrorists (Tren de Aragua) and international gang member (MS13) in the Western Hemisphere. That public exposure put American and allied lives in grave danger.”

• Mike Davis Cooks Judge Screwing Around With Trump’s Deportation Flights (Vespa)

Well, Attorney General Pam Bondi isn’t going to discuss further the details regarding the deportation flights of Tren de Aragua members, a Venezuelan gang that the Trump administration has designated a foreign terror group. Judge James Boasberg, however, wanted to know the classified details regarding this operation. No, sir. This will not happen, as the Justice Department informed the courts that they’re invoking the State Secrets Act. Move on, little man.

It still doesn’t negate the days of judicial overreach and insanity from Boasberg, who thought he was the executive, or at least in charge of deportation policy. He is not,andd never will be. He dabbled in the Russian collusion hoax, ran legal interference for those caught fabricating evidence to secure illegal FISA warrants. This man is a disgrace to the bench. Before Ms. Bondi invokes the state secrets provision, Boasberg insisted that those marked for deportation should be afforded court dates. Mike Davis, a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, took a hatchet to little Boasberg, arguing that it’s time to impeach for his serial incidents of judicial overreach: Here is the fatal flaw with DC Obama Judge Jeb Boasberg’s order:

“Even if these designated foreign terrorists are entitled to individual court review before their deportation, which is disputed, the DC court is not the proper court. Judge Boasberg did not, and does not, have the power to do what he is purporting to do. For this reason alone, everything he is doing is lawless. But it is much worse; it is also dangerous. Judge Boasberg ran to his courtroom to hold a Saturday hearing, even though he was not even serving as the emergency judge that weekend. (How did he get this case?) He publicly exposed an ongoing U.S. military, intelligence, and law-enforcement operation with an American ally dealing with the most vicious terrorists (Tren de Aragua) and international gang member (MS13) in the Western Hemisphere. That public exposure put American and allied lives in grave danger.

Stunningly, Judge Boasberg even ordered the President to turn around planes full of terrorists over the Gulf of America, without knowing the fuel levels, the security footprint back in America, or other crucial operational details. We saw the enormous security footprint in El Salvador. Why would we have had that same footprint in America, as who could have ever imagined an activist DC judge could or would order the President to return planes full of terrorists? And not completing the mission would have humiliated and politically damaged El Salvador’s president, who had hundreds of military, law-enforcement, and other officials awaiting–and who took a significant political and personal risk by agreeing to take these terrorists. Judge Boasberg’s Saturday hearing and order crossed the red line. But Judge Boasberg is doubling down by demanding details about the military operation, to which he is not entitled.

Judge Boasberg says he has a security clearance, but he definitely does not have the need to know. And allowing judges to meddle in military operations like this is dangerous and unacceptable. Foreign leaders are less likely to work with the President, if they fear an activist American judge may disclose their secrets. This harms the President’s ability to conduct foreign policy and his constitutional duty to keep us safe. The President has a constitutional duty, as the chief executive officer and commander-in-chief, to conduct international affairs, repeal foreign invasion, and protect American lives. The President has a constitutional duty to ignore any clearly unlawful court order that imminently endangers American lives, like Judge Boasberg’s orders. Judge Boasberg is refusing to back down. So the House must move forward with impeachment proceedings for his lawless and dangerous sabotage of the President’s core Article II powers.

Read more …

“He dragged us into court on a Saturday without any notice. And then he’s continuing these hearings. He’s trying to ask us about national security information, which he is absolutely not entitled to.”

• Anti-Trump Judge Makes Another Outrageous Ruling (Margolis)

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg is at it again. In a mind-boggling 37-page decision, he has blocked the Trump administration from swiftly deporting members of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang. The judge’s ruling reads like a progressive wish list, demanding “individualized hearings” before any deportations can proceed. Because apparently, we need to roll out the red carpet and due process for criminal aliens who shouldn’t be here in the first place. Even more outrageous, the government must now prove these individuals are actually gang members — as if their presence alone isn’t a violation enough of our immigration laws. Boasberg previously ordered a deportation flight for these illegal alien gang members to turn around back to the United States; however, since he made the ruling while the plane was over international waters, he had no jurisdiction, and the deportations continued as planned.

Boasberg’s memorandum opinion, which accompanied the order, maintains that these individuals must have “the opportunity to challenge their designation as alien enemies.” In other words, we’re giving suspected gang members a chance to argue that they’re actually upstanding citizens who deserve to stay in our country. Now he has the audacity to say that the court “need not resolve the thorny question of whether the judiciary has the authority to assess this claim in the first place.” This is an obvious reaction to the Trump administration’s position that district court judges don’t have the authority to micromanage the president of the United States or the executive branch. Boasberg’s opinion continues:

“That is because Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on another equally fundamental theory: before they may be deported, they are entitled to individualized hearings to determine whether the Act applies to them at all. As the Government itself concedes, the awesome power granted by the Act may be brought to bear only on those who are, in fact, “alien enemies.” And the Supreme Court and this Circuit have long maintained that federal courts are equipped to adjudicate that question when individuals threatened with detention and removal challenge their designation as such. Because the named Plaintiffs dispute that they are members of Tren de Aragua, they may not be deported until a court has been able to decide the merits of their challenge. Nor may any members of the provisionally certified class be removed until they have been given the opportunity to challenge their designations as well. The Motion to Vacate will thus be denied.”

This isn’t just judicial overreach; it’s judicial insanity. “This is an out-of-control judge, a federal judge trying to control our entire foreign policy, and he cannot do it,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. “He dragged us into court on a Saturday without any notice. And then he’s continuing these hearings. He’s trying to ask us about national security information, which he is absolutely not entitled to.” The plaintiffs now have until Wednesday to request converting the temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction. If granted, this would further cement this dangerous precedent and extend protection for these gang members from deportation. Because obviously, what America needs right now is more legal shields for criminal aliens. This ruling sets a dangerous precedent that undermines our immigration enforcement capabilities and makes a mockery of our national sovereignty.

Read more …

They’re organized.

• New Dirt on Judge Boasberg Raises More Questions (Margolis)

The district court judge who recently blocked President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport illegal alien gang members attended a suspiciously partisan legal conference just months before his ruling, according to a judicial ethics report. Judge James Boasberg, who serves on the D.C. District Court, participated in what appears to be nothing more than a Democrat strategy session masquerading as a legal conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. The conference’s agenda items, “Judges in a Democracy” and “State of Democracy,” sound eerily similar to the Democrats’ tiresome 2024 campaign rhetoric about “saving democracy” — which, of course, has become the justification for their using the courts to obstruct Trump’s agenda.

“Called a ‘Privately Funded Seminar Disclosure Report,” the document discloses that Boasberg was in attendance but offers no details of whether Boasberg was paid for his attendance or travel, or what the remuneration was,’ reports Just the News. The outlet was “alerted to the conference and to Boasberg’s attendance by a retired Democrat-appointed judge, who was concerned the July 2024 conference’s focus on judges’ role in a democracy was too close to a political party’s theme for comfort.”

“Overseen by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the ethical rules governing federal judges require that a private entity who “issues an invitation to a federal judge to attend an educational program as a speaker, panelist, or attendee and offers to pay for or reimburse that judge, in excess of $480, must disclose financial and programmatic information.” The rules do not require a specific accounting for each judge, or even how much was paid to judges at all. […] It is possible that his “payment” was merely reimbursement for expenses, but Boasberg did not respond to a request for comment from Just the News.”

The entire arrangement reeks of the same swamp politics that President Trump has been fighting since day one. Is it any surprise that after rubbing elbows with fellow liberals at this partisan powwow, Judge Boasberg decided to obstruct Trump’s efforts to remove dangerous gang members from our streets? This is exactly why Americans have lost faith in our judicial system — unelected judges attending partisan conferences, then making decisions based on partisan biases, not constitutionality. The conference was part of the Rodel Institute’s Judicial Fellowship, and each attending judge, including Boasberg, was a first-year fellow, according to the institute’s website. Notably, Rodel receives funding from the same foundations that frequently bankroll anti-Trump organizations, programs, and publications. Additionally, the institute’s faculty advisors — twenty in total — are overwhelmingly outspoken Trump critics or those who have opposed his policies.

The Rodel Institute’s Board of Directors is stacked with Trump critics, including Ian Solomon. Co-founders Bill and Don Budinger have deep ties to Democratic organizations and candidates, with Don opposing Arizona’s immigration enforcement efforts and backing Democratic Senate candidates. Former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock was under consideration for Kamala Harris’s Cabinet, while former Arizona legislator Heather Carter abandoned the GOP and endorsed Democrats like Katie Hobbs. Jamie Woodson co-chaired a report lamenting “political disinformation” in 2016, and former Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna has openly attacked Trump, calling him a “demagogue” and dismissing his legal arguments as “flimsy.” Maybe next time, Judge Boasberg can hold his strategy sessions somewhere less obvious than a millionaire’s playground. But then again, the left has never been particularly good at hiding its contempt for Trump or the rule of law.

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“What is the alternative to presidential oversight and management of the agencies listed in this branch of government? They run themselves? That claim means nothing in practice.” —Jeffrey Tucker

• The Last Resort (James Howard Kunstler)

Law is humanity’s instrument for creating order out of the terror and chaos of nature, where anything goes. The result of law theoretically, is a civil society, where only the good, true, and right things can go. These days, lawyers are hard at work to replace civilized order with the terror and chaos of nature — which is to say, the seeking of raw power: this is what I can do to you! That primal despotism is the motivating engine of the Democratic Party in its terminal phase, a feral, power-seeking monster. It was why, in case you hadn’t noticed, the essential drive of Woke politics was the sadistic pleasure it took in exacting its endless punishments — cancellation, personal ruin, censorship — not correcting alleged injustices against marginalized minorities.

And that tells you, by the way, exactly why the J-6 defendants were treated so harshly by the likes of Judge James Boasberg, Tanya Chutkan, and their colleagues of the DC federal district. The enabling device for that monstrous power seeking of the Democratic Party was the colossal racketeering operation they implanted in every corner of the federal government, an insidious process that accelerated during the Obama years, eluded discipline during Trump One — with the many distracting ruses such as RussiaGate — and surged into final overdrive during the perfidious term of “Joe Biden,” America’s first false-front president. The racketeering operation was perfectly illustrated in the DOGE’s recent deconstruction of USAID.

That agency worked as a gigantic money laundering matrix to pay Democratic Party activists for the sole purpose of maintaining and expanding the party’s power — its ability to push American citizens around, control our lives, tell us how to live, how to think, and, ultimately, in the Covid-19 scam, telling us to take our shots, get lost, and die. Pitifully, a lot of those vaxx victims were the Democratic Party’s own rank and file, which shows you how psychotically suicidal the Democratic Party became. By and large, it was conservatives who avoided the vaxxes because they were able psychologically to entertain the evidence that Covid was a nefarious set-up and that, month-by-month, the vaxxes were proving to be both ineffective and harmful. Democrats, in their Woke fugue state, could not do that. Even today, they insist that their vaxx injuries are “long Covid” and would be worse if not for the additional boosters they took. Poor dumb bunnies.

Mr. Trump was played masterfully in the initial 2020 Covid roll-out by the likes of Dr. Fauci, Deborah Birx, and the faithless Veep Mike Pence who directed the Coronavirus Task Force (and whoever was behind it). The president could not bring himself to oppose or cast doubt on their diktats and to this day he must remain embarrassed about how that all worked out. But he also probably learned to not be fooled again. And so, after the fishy 2020 election, and during the disastrous “Biden” years, Mr. Trump had time to lay careful and comprehensive plans for ending the massive racketeering and for restructuring the federal apparatus into a leaner, more efficient, and more lawful enterprise for managing the civil society known as the USA. Which brings us to the present.

Mr. Trump’s lawfully appointed agent, Elon Musk, and his legally chartered investigative advisory unit, called DOGE, has begun making recommendations for severe cuts in agencies and employees, which have been executed by the lawfully confirmed heads of agencies, and the chief executive himself. Thus, the rapid, systematic disassembly of the Democratic Party’s grift machine and the end of its immense revenue stream. No more USAID and its thousands of NGO money laundromats. No more Department of Education and its Grant-O-Matic depredations in the universities. No more work-from-home (but not really) nonsense. No more DEI reverse racism in hiring. No more flooding the swing state voting precincts with illegal aliens. No more stupid proxy war in Ukraine. No more gender pretending chaos. You see how it goes now.

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CNN yesterday didn’t talk about anything else.

• Pentagon Chief Hegseth Comments On ‘Yemen War Plans’ Leak (RT)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has addressed a recent leak of high-level discussions about US airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, calling the journalist involved “deceitful” and downplaying the significance of the disclosure. The incident came to light after The Atlantic reported on Monday that its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, had been accidentally added to a Signal group chat that included top Trump administration officials such as Vice President J.D. Vance, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, and Hegseth. The group had been actively discussing potential US military operations against the Houthis for days prior to President Donald Trump ordering strikes on Yemen on March 15. Goldberg claimed that one of Hegseth’s final messages before the attack “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.”

When asked about the leak on Monday, Hegseth dismissed Goldberg as “a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes.” “Nobody was texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that,” Hegseth said when pressed on the content of the messages. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes told Reuters that the message thread “appears to be authentic” and confirmed that an internal review had been launched into “how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.” “The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials,” Hughes added, without clarifying whether national security protocols had been breached or if any disciplinary action would follow.

Trump ordered a “powerful military action” against the Yemen-based Houthi militants last Saturday, accusing them of conducting an “unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.” The group, officially known as the Ansar Allah movement, has controlled large portions of Yemen – including the capital, Sanaa – since the mid-2010s. In what The Atlantic described as a “fascinating policy discussion,” senior US officials reportedly acknowledged the difficulty of building public support for a new military campaign.

“There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary,” the account labeled ‘JD Vance’ said, arguing that “the strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message.” In response, Hegseth agreed, stating: “I think messaging is going to be tough no matter what – nobody knows who the Houthis are – which is why we would need to stay focused on: 1) Biden failed & 2) Iran funded.” Trump has claimed that the Houthi attacks “emanate from, and are created by, Iran,” warning that from now on, Washington would view every shot fired by the Yemeni group as if it were fired by Tehran. “Iran will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire,” the president wrote on his Truth Social platform last Monday.

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“..the president dubbing it a “second-” or “third-rate,” “failing magazine” and calling “sleazebag reporter” Goldberg out by name..”

• Trump Team Unwittingly Sends Yemen Strike Plans to Editor of The Atlantic (Sp.)

The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was included in a confidential Signal messaging chain detailing US planning. Here’s what was revealed. In a message to Pete Hegseth, Vice President Vance said it was at the DoD chief’s discretion whether or not to proceed. “I just hate bailing Europe out again,” Vance said. Hegseth responded by saying he “fully” shared Vance’s sentiments about the “free-loading” Europeans, but added that the US was the only one capable of engaging the Houthis “on our side of the ledger.” A user named S M (presumably WH deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller) chimed in, saying that “as [he] heard it, the president was clear: green light.” In return, the US would look to “extract” “some further economic gain” from the Europeans, S M indicated. A follow-up message by Hegseth titled “TEAM UPDATE” provided operational details on the attacks, targeting details, which weapons the US would be using, and attack sequencing.

By Goldberg’s account, he was added to the confidential chat by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and didn’t believe it was real at first, fearing it might be an attempt “to somehow entrap” him or a script “by a particularly adept AI text generator.” The White House has confirmed that Goldberg had been made privy to classified discussions and information by mistake. “We are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” NSC spokesman Brian Hughes said. The Atlantic and its editor-in-chief have been a longtime source of Trump’s ire, with the president dubbing it a “second-” or “third-rate,” “failing magazine” and calling “sleazebag reporter” Goldberg out by name multiple times over what Trump said was false reporting on his private conversations.

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Re-organizing the legal teams. Time for the heavies.

• Trump Names Alina Habba To Be Interim US Attorney For New Jersey (NYP)

President Trump on Monday appointed his former personal attorney Alina Habba to serve as interim US attorney in New Jersey — with Habba vowing to clean up “corruption” in her home state. Habba, 40, became a public figure while repping Trump in a defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll between the president’s terms of office, and has held the senior role as presidential counselor since January. “There is corruption, there is injustice, and there is a heavy amount of crime right in [Senator] Cory Booker’s backyard and right under Governor [Phil] Murphy. And that will stop,” Habba told reporters on the White House driveway.

“I look forward to working with [Attorney General] Pam Bondi and with the Department of Justice and making sure that we further the president’s agenda of putting America first, cleaning up the mess and going after the people that we should be going after, not the people that are falsely accused.” Habba declined to say if she viewed the appointment as a stepping stone toward elected office in the Garden State — despite aiming her initial remarks directly at the Garden State’s two most prominent Democrats. “I think Cory Booker and Governor Murphy have failed the state of New Jersey,” Habba said. “If you look at what happened in crime, what’s going on in Newark, what’s going on in Camden, this has been a neglected state. It is one of the most populated states for its size, and it needs to stop. We’re going to do a bang-up job. I cannot wait. It’s a great honor.”

Trump announced Habba’s selection after selecting current interim US attorney John Giordano to serve as ambassador to Namibia. “It is with great pleasure that I am announcing Alina Habba, Esq., who is currently serving as Counselor to the President, and has represented me for a long time, will be our interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, her Home State, effective immediately!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Alina will lead with the same diligence and conviction that has defined her career, and she will fight tirelessly to secure a Legal System that is both ‘Fair and Just’ for the wonderful people of New Jersey.”

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“I recognize that when you’re dealing with children, it takes much more time. You’ve got to ensure that what you’re sending out publicly is not revealing any personal information.”

• The ‘Real’ Epstein Files Are Coming. Here’s What to Know. (Margolis)

The Trump administration is proving once again that promises made are promises kept. After successfully releasing over 80,000 pages of files connected to the assassination of John F. Kennedy on March 18, the focus has now shifted to perhaps what should be an even more explosive collection of documents—the Jeffrey Epstein files. As you know, there was a huge document dump of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case last month that was, to say the least, underwhelming. Part of the problem, it turns out, was that rogue officials out of the Southern District of New York office had withheld documents from the Department of Justice. So, where’s the good stuff? Well, according to a report from Vanity Fair, it should be coming soon.

It’s the FBI’s flagship field office, with more than a thousand agents and another thousand or so civilian employees. And right now, multiple sources with knowledge of the matter say that one priority at the bureau’s New York field office is taking precedence over all others: the review and redaction of sensitive information in the Jeffrey Epstein case files, to prepare for possible publication.“It’s literally all hands on deck,” one source familiar with the matter tells me, adding that dozens and dozens of agents are working around the clock on the case, instead of on their regular duties. “I even saw an agent walking in with a pillow,” the source added. Attorney General Pam Bondi, appearing on Maria Bartiromo’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” spoke about this massive undertaking. Bartiromo pressed Bondi about the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. Acknowledging the complexity of handling such sensitive material, Bartiromo noted,

“I recognize that when you’re dealing with children, it takes much more time. You’ve got to ensure that what you’re sending out publicly is not revealing any personal information.” She then asked Bondi whether more details would be forthcoming. Bondi confirmed that updates were on the horizon, stating, “You’re absolutely right, Maria. You know, tens of thousands of pages of documents and hundreds and hundreds of victims, um, of Jeffrey Epstein.” Bartiromo reacted with a stunned “Wow.” Bondi assured viewers that federal authorities were making progress. “The FBI, they have been working round the clock at my directive, at [FBI Director] Kash Patel’s directive,” she said, adding that FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino is also involved. “Dan Bongino’s there, who is a great asset for all of us at the FBI as well.”

Bondi reiterated the need to safeguard victims while ensuring transparency. “We have to protect their identity, their personal information, to make sure they’re safe,” she said. “But other than that, we are releasing all of these documents as soon as we can get them redacted to protect the victims of… of, of all of these horrific crimes he has committed.” Bartiromo responded, “Understood.” Rest assured, transparency is coming, everyone.

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“She is an elected public official, so she needs to tread very carefully because nothing will happen to Elon Musk..”

• “Tread Carefully”: Pam Bondi Issues Warning Over Musk “Takedown” (ZH)

We certainly did not have a member of Congress conspiring with radical far-left NGOs to sabotage the most made-in-America car company and critical to retirement and pension funds for millions of Americans on our 2025 bingo card. But here we are, and far-left Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) joined a “Tesla Takedown” teleconference last week, laughing and rooting for Tesla and Elon Musk’s demise. Other revolutionaries on the call described how they wanted to “kill the Tesla brand” and “drive down the stock price” to push Tesla “into a death spiral.” Now Attorney General Pam Bondi is getting involved, warning Crockett to “tread very carefully” following her support for the Tesla Takedown. “She is an elected public official, so she needs to tread very carefully because nothing will happen to Elon Musk, and we’re going to fight to protect all of the Tesla owners throughout this country,” Bondi said on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Bondi’s warning to the unhinged Democrat comes days after her appearance on the Tesla Takedown teleconference:

Crockett’s alliance with Tesla Takedown is alarming, considering the Soros-funded non-profit Indivisible is preparing a multi-city assault on Tesla service locations nationwide by the end of the month. There have been far-left terrorist attacks on Tesla service centers, showrooms, Supercharging networks, and vehicles that paint the Democratic Party as in disarray and resorting to communist revolutionary tactics. Polling data for the party has collapsed, while the latest ploy by the party to improve optics was entirely disproven to be “inorganic” by GPS data. The American people are finally getting to see the real Democratic Party—filled with hate and violence as its revolutionaries attack Tesla, all because the owner, Elon Musk, is uncovering massive fraud and waste by the Deep State. Remember when Democrats wanted to defund everything after George Floyd? Yet suddenly, now they don’t.

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🙂

• Elon Musk Disguises IRS Building As Tesla Dealership (BBee)

Proponents of eliminating the federal income tax rejoiced today as Elon Musk cleverly disguised the Internal Revenue Service headquarters as a Tesla dealership so Democrats would burn it down. The billionaire inventor and entrepreneur hatched the genius plan to cover the main IRS building with Tesla emblems and signage, which goaded angry Democrats to launch a large-scale firebomb attack against the building. “This’ll show Musk who’s boss! Burn it to the ground!” one enraged leftist reportedly shouted before throwing a Molotov cocktail through a window of the IRS building. “This looks different from any other Tesla dealership I’ve ever seen. It’s almost like a really old government building. Oh well. It’s all got to go. Everything he owns must be destroyed.”

When reached for comment, Musk was quietly pleased that his plan had worked. “It was quite a simple idea, really,” he said. “If Democrats are trying to burn down anything belonging to me, why not redirect that anger in a useful way to burn down something that should be demolished? For the cost of a few Tesla signs, we’ve now freed the American people from the terrible burden of excessive taxation. Ironically, once the rubble of the IRS building is cleared, we will, in fact, build an enormous new Tesla dealership in its place.” At publishing time, reports had circulated that the U.S. Capitol would be next to be disguised as a Tesla dealership in a plot to round up and imprison Democrats for attempting a violent insurrection.

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MS

Swan
https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1903880749935206439

Rooster

Elephants

Bounce

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle March 21 2025

Mar 212025
 
 March 21, 2025  Posted by at 10:33 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , ,  37 Responses »


Joseph Mallord William Turner Teasing the Donkey 1827

 

• Governance by 677 Gavels (Carter)
• President Trump Calls For End To ‘Unlawful Nationwide Injunctions’ (JTN)
• Obama Judge Blocks DOGE From Social Security Records (ZH)
• US Judge Blocks Trump’s Military Transgender Ban (RT)
• AG Bondi: District Judge Has No Right to Ask About Flight Deportations (ET)
• Soros-Funded NGO Plots Multi-City Assault On Tesla (ZH)
• European Nations Plan To Replace US in NATO by 2035 – FT (RT)
• The EU’s New Army. The Final Nail In The Project’s Coffin? (Jay)
• Not Going For Odessa Would Be A Mistake (SCF)
• Ukraine Strikes Russian Oil facilities, Violating the Ceasefire Deal (Sp.)
• Russia Has ‘Very Valuable Earth’ – Trump (RT)
• Germany Has Dealt ‘Death Blow To The Euro’ – AfD Leader (RT)
• North Korea World’s 3rd Largest Bitcoin Holder – Times (RT)
• Barron Trump Turns 19 (PJM)
• The Democratic Party Is Ripe for a Hostile Takeover (Pinsker)

 

 

 

 

Sleep
https://twitter.com/TheStormRedux/status/1902506686620856391

Macgregor

Bukele

Poll

Mars

MEE

Lighthizer
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1902534188223381666

 

 

 

 

I’m not the only one who counted the number of district judges.

• Governance by 677 Gavels (Carter)

Question: What’s the difference between a federal district judge and God? Answer: God doesn’t think he’s a federal district judge.

Or as Winston Churchill once said, “There, but for the grace of God, goes God.” Imagine the sheer hubris and limitless ego needed for an unelected jurist to don a black robe and assume the power of commandeering the national security apparatus and tell an aircraft full of dangerous foreign terrorists to turn around and return back to America to terrorize. Did Commissar Boasberg get his black robe from Hogwarts? Of course, there are a few problems with this, the first being purely logistical. If His Royal Awesomeness Commissar Boasberg is taking over the Venezuelan operation, that leaves the remaining 676 Commissars to split the remaining 194 countries into various principalities to accommodate their imperial administration.

However, I did see that another federal district commissar is assuming operational oversight of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to prevent it from ending a $20 million grant program begun by former President Biden even as another federal district liege has assumed control of military readiness by blocking President Trump’s ban on transexuals serving in the military. Still another federal district overlord says that Trump’s dismantling of the corrupt money-laundering machine known as the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is likely unconstitutional. History buffs will recall that the USAID clause is written in the Constitution next to the right to stick a fork in a baby’s head, which itself adjacent to the divine right of federal judges to appropriate the President’s Article II powers.

The logistical challenge of what to do with 677 otherwise idle Federal District Commissars having been solved by dispersing them, like the witch’s flying monkeys, throughout the Executive Branch, leaves only one remaining problem. No one elected these judges. They are not answerable to the American people, whom they hold in less esteem than foreigners with a knack for assaulting and murdering the innocent. As Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller wrote: “Currently, district court judges have assumed the mantle of Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, Secretary of Homeland Security and Commander-in-Chief. Each day, they change foreign policy, economic staffing and national security policies of the Administration. The day the nation arises to see what the craziest unelected local federal judge has decided the policies of the government of the United States shall be. It is madness. It is lunacy. It is the gravest assault on democracy. It must and will end.”

In his book, “The Devil’s Dictionary,” Ambrose Bierce defines law as “Compatible with the will of a judge having jurisdiction,” and he defines a lawyer as “One who is skilled in circumvention of the law.” That last little bit was conclusively demonstrated to me a few days ago when a lawyer acquaintance of mine wrote on social media that “[I]n 1798 Congress enacted the Alien Enemies Act, which specifically provides that when war is declared, the President can remove and treat as hostile all foreign enemy agents on U.S. soil over the age of 14. The statute expressly requires war to be declared (which is a power of Congress)…” His point is that absent a declaration of war, President Trump cannot summarily remove Venezuelan gang members without each individual having their day in court where a judge will adjudicate whether or not they are members of the Tren de Aragua gang. But the wording of the Alien Enemies Act states:

“…Whenever there shall be a declared war between the United States and any foreign government, or any invasion or predatory incursion shall be perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States, by any foreign nation or government, and the President of the United States shall make public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being males of the age of fourteen years and upwards, who shall be in the United States, and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed, as alien enemies. ”

Seems that the lawyer left something out of his narrative on the requirements for deportation, i.e. “…a declared war between the United States and any foreign government, OR any invasion or predatory incursion…” Ambrose Bierce is correct yet again.

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“Lawyers endlessly search the United States for these Judges, and file lawsuits as quickly as they find them..”

• President Trump Calls For End To ‘Unlawful Nationwide Injunctions’ (JTN)

President Donald Trump on Thursday night called for an end to the “unlawful” nationwide injunctions imposed by multiple judges, as his executive orders face a flurry of legal challenges. Several federal judges have made large moves against the implementation of Trump’s orders, including one federal judge who blocked Trump’s order to ban transgender people from serving in the military. Another judge ordered the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury and Veterans Affairs to reinstate their fired probationary employees. Trump claimed the orders were imposed by “radical left judges” and accused the judges of wanting to “assume the Powers of the Presidency” without getting elected.”Unlawful Nationwide Injunctions by Radical Left Judges could very well lead to the destruction of our Country,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

“These people are Lunatics, who do not care, even a little bit, about the repercussions from their very dangerous and incorrect Decisions and Rulings. “Lawyers endlessly search the United States for these Judges, and file lawsuits as quickly as they find them,” he continued. “These Judges want to assume the powers of the Presidency, without having to attain 80 Million Votes. They want all of the advantages with none of the risks.” The president went on to urge the Supreme Court to get involved in the recent rulings, warning Chief Justice John Roberts that failure to do so would put the country “in very serious trouble.” “A President has to be allowed to act quickly and decisively about such matters as returning murderers, drug lords, rapists, and other such type criminals back to their Homeland, or to other locations that will allow our Country to be SAFE,” he said.

“It is our goal to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and such a high aspiration can never be done if Radical and Highly Partisan Judges are allowed to stand in the way of JUSTICE,” he continued. “STOP NATIONWIDE INJUNCTIONS NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” The rant comes the same day Trump blasted U.S District Judge James Boasberg as a “grandstander” for issuing an order to halt the deportation of a group of Venezuelans, including alleged members of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang.

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DOGE=government.

• Obama Judge Blocks DOGE From Social Security Records (ZH)

A federal judge Thursday issued a two-week temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing personally identifiable information from the Social Security administration. US District Judge Ellen Hollander of Maryland also ordered DOGE to delete any personally identifiable data they may possess. The ruling come after labor unions and retirees asked for an emergency order limiting DOGE access to the agency and its vast troves of personal data, AP reports. “The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion,” wrote Hollander, an Obama appointee. The order still allows DOGE to access ‘redacted or anonymized data and records of SSA.’

According to the Trump administration, DOGE has a 10-person team of federal employees investigating the Social Security Administration, seven of whom have been granted read-only access to agency systems or personally identifiable information. The government has argued that DOGE access doesn’t significantly deviate from normal practices inside the agency whereby employees can search databases. Established via executive order on January 20, 2025, DOGE aims to cut federal spending, reduce the size of the federal workforce, and modernize government technology. In mid-February, acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, Michelle King, resigned after a standoff with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) over access to sensitive government records.

Today’s ruling follows a string of judicial DOGE-blocking – as their access to records across the federal government have prompted disputes with senior officials at various agencies. Perhaps most prominently, the highest-ranking civil servant at the US Treasury Department quit after similarly refusing to grant Musk’s team access to the Bureau of Fiscal Service, which manages over $5 trillion in annual payments. On February 8, 2025, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer in New York blocked DOGE from Treasury records after 19 states, led by NY AG Letitia James, sued over cybersecurity threats. Subsequent rulings, like Judge Deborah Boardman’s February 24 TRO on Education and OPM data, reinforced limits on DOGE’s reach. These cases established that DOGE’s “need-to-know” basis for PII access was unproven.

The same day that King quit, Musk posted what he says could be the ‘biggest fraud in US history’ in which millions of ‘people’ over the age of 100 are collecting payments. King – who worked at the agency for over 30 years, left her position this weekend after refusing to give DOGE staffers access to sensitive information, such as the fraudulent payments to ‘vampires’ – with at least one recipient being older than the United States itself. To that end, DOGE has removed the names of 3.2 million individuals from the Social Security database, many of whom were listed as 120 years of age or older. The agency has now marked them as deceased.

“For the past two weeks, @SocialSecurity has been conducting a major cleanup of its records. Approximately 3.2 million number holders, all listed as age 120+, have now been marked as deceased. More work remains to be done,” the agency posted on X. Musk shared the post, responding “Cleaning up the dead people database.” In response to the spate of Democrat judges blocking just about every Trump move of import, investor Joe Lonsdale hopes that “The Supreme Court’s going to step in and make some sound rulings here and stop activist judges from violating the Constitution by their interference. It is going to be a big issue.”

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If you’re not aiming for the best possible army when it comes to fighting, then why have an army at all? Can’t defend yourself with symbolism.

• US Judge Blocks Trump’s Military Transgender Ban (RT)

A US federal judge has blocked the enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive order barring transgender people from serving in the country’s military. Issued by Trump a week after taking office in January, the order prohibited trans people from enlisting and required the Defense Department to identify and dismiss all service members, who have “a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria.” US District Judge Ana Reyes of Washington, D.C. ruled on Tuesday that the ban is “soaked in animus” and violates the equal protection clause due to discriminating based on transgender status and sex.

“Its language is unabashedly demeaning, its policy stigmatizes transgender persons as inherently unfit, and its conclusions bear no relation to fact,” she wrote in her decision. Reyes, appointed by former US President Joe Biden, has delayed the effect of her preliminary injunction until Friday so that the Justice Department could challenge it at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The government “could have crafted a policy that balances the Nation’s need for a prepared military and Americans’ right to equal protection,” and “they still can. The Military Ban, however, is not that policy. The Court therefore must act to uphold the equal protection rights that the military defends every day,” she said.

A spokesperson for the Justice Department described Reyes’ ruling as “the latest example of an activist judge attempting to seize power at the expense of the American people who overwhelmingly voted to elect President Trump.” “The Department of Justice has vigorously defended President Trump’s executive actions, including the Defending Women Executive Order, and will continue to do so,” the spokesperson stressed.The lawsuit seeking to block Trump’s executive order had been filed by a group of active-duty transgender service members and six transgender people in the process of enlisting, who have claimed that the policy is “unconstitutional.” A senior US defense official told AP last month that about 4,200 US troops currently serving in the Army, National Guard and reserves have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

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The Supreme Court can’t wait forever.

• AG Bondi: District Judge Has No Right to Ask About Flight Deportations (ET)

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that a federal judge who blocked the Trump administration from invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to remove illegal immigrants has “no right” to ask questions on flights carrying deported individuals. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg had given the Trump administration until Tuesday to respond to his questions about deportation flights carrying alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which was designated by the administration as a foreign terrorist organization last month, over the past weekend following an order that he issued to suspend deportations after the administration invoked the 1798 law. He extended the deadline for another day, giving the government until Thursday to respond.

But Bondi told Fox News on Wednesday that such questions are inappropriate and that the judge has “no right” to ask those questions and “no power” to order the government to return those flights back to the United States, adding that she believes “liberal” judges are issuing orders on matters they have no jurisdiction over. “They’re meddling in foreign affairs. They’re meddling in our government,” she told the outlet. “And the question should be, why is a judge trying to protect terrorists who have invaded our country over American citizens?” On Wednesday, with the deadline nearing, Bondi said Boasberg had no “business, no power” to order the administration to return the flights. She said it has been a “pattern” from liberal judges to order things they have no jurisdiction to do.

The attorney general said that the Trump administration will continue to carry out deportation flights of Tren de Aragua members who are illegally inside the United States. “We are going to deport them, and we’re going to continue to deport them. We will honor what the court says, but we will appeal, and we will continue to fight terrorists within our country,” Bondi said, adding that Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys “are working on this” case and “will answer appropriately” to Boasberg’s questions. Her remarks on Wednesday are the latest development in a showdown between the federal government and the judge, who temporarily blocked deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.

President Donald Trump has called for the judge’s impeachment, while other administration officials have said that the judge has exceeded his authority in preventing the government from dealing with what it described as national security matters and foreign policy. The judge has questioned whether the Trump administration ignored his court order on Saturday to turn around planes with deportees headed for El Salvador, which has agreed to intern them in a prison. A post issued by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on X indicated that his government received the deportees, saying, “too late,” in reference to the judge’s original order. In court papers submitted Wednesday, the DOJ said it was considering invoking the “state secrets privilege” to allow the government to withhold some of the information sought by the court.

“The underlying premise of these orders … is that the Judicial Branch is superior to the Executive Branch, particularly on non-legal matters involving foreign affairs and national security. The Government disagrees,” DOJ lawyers wrote. “The two branches are co-equal, and the Court’s continued intrusions into the prerogatives of the Executive Branch, especially on a non-legal and factually irrelevant matter, should end.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed to reporters during a Monday news briefing that 261 people were deported, including 137 under the Alien Enemies law.

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Tesla’s have extensive camera systems, 6,7 camera’s per car. A lof of this stuff is on “tape”.

• Soros-Funded NGO Plots Multi-City Assault On Tesla (ZH)

While the FBI investigates far-left terrorist attacks against Tesla service centers, showrooms, Supercharging networks, and vehicles, the radical Soros-funded non-profit Indivisible is preparing to launch a multi-city offensive against the American company in the coming days. Anti-DEI crusader Robby Starbuck explained more about the rogue non-profit with Soros monies:

“Over the next few days you’re going to see an organized progressional protest effort at Tesla stores put together by a group called Indivisible. George Soros foundation has given Indivisible nearly $8 million dollars for their “activism”. They’re calling these “Tesla takedown” events and they’re doing it in the midst of a domestic terror spree targeting Tesla and Tesla owners. They have these planned across the entire country. These images are just six examples.

How can this not be seen as encouraging more violence and terrorism? I personally think that any violence occurring near locations they’ve chosen should result in Soros, his foundation, Indivisible and their founders being held criminally accountable as co-conspirators. The indivisible founders are Ezra Levin and his wife Leah Greenberg. They became “resistance” figures during Trump’s first term and their work is celebrated by elected Democrats. So yeah, it’s clear to me that the Democrats and their typical thugs are organizing this insanity. There’s reportedly even a form protest leaders can fill out to receive “reimbursement” payments for their protests.”

Tesla

There has been a series of domestic terrorism incidents nationwide by far-left Democrats targeting Tesla showrooms, service centers, Superchargers, and vehicles. The latest occurred on Tuesday in Las Vegas. On Wednesday night, FBI deputy director Dan Bongino said the agency is investigating attacks targeting Tesla. One day earlier, Attorney General Pam Bondi threatened “severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes.”

Elon Musk previously wrote on X that an investigation found five ActBlue-funded groups have fueled Tesla protests in recent weeks, including Troublemakers, Disruption Project, Rise & Resist, Indivisible Project, and Democratic Socialists of America (AoC’s party).

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It’s getting time to leave Europe.

• European Nations Plan To Replace US in NATO by 2035 – FT (RT)

Europe’s NATO members are drawing up a plan to gradually replace the US as their key defense guarantor over the next five to ten years, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing sources. The UK, France, Germany, and the Nordic nations are now in talks about a potential proposal that would shift the military and financial burden of the bloc’s defense away from Washington, four unnamed European officials told the Financial Times. The ultimate goal is to present the plan to the US before NATO’s annual summit in The Hague this June, according to the report. The effort reflects widespread fears among European NATO members that the US, under President Donald Trump, could renege on its defense commitments or leave the bloc altogether.

While the talks are reportedly being framed as offering a managed, long-term transition, European officials have admitted to the FT that the timeline of five to ten years seems extremely ambitious. “Increasing spending is the only play that we have: burden sharing and shifting the dial away from US reliance,” one official told the FT. “We’re starting those talks, but it’s such a big task that many are overwhelmed by the scale of it.” According to the paper, the plan could include EU commitments to increasing defense spending and ramping up military capabilities, which could potentially convince Trump to agree to a gradual transfer of responsibilities and allow the US to concentrate on Asia.

However, some European countries are said to be reluctant to support the talks at all, fearing they could encourage a faster US exit. Meanwhile, others are doubtful whether Washington would agree to a structured transfer of responsibilities, given the “unpredictable nature” of the Trump administration. Trump has demanded that NATO members raise defense spending to 5% of GDP – more than double the alliance’s 2% target. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has said that the country “will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship” with its allies, stressing that Washington “will prioritize empowering Europe to own responsibility for its own security.”

Earlier this month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urged the EU to create a “defense union.” The EU has also backed a plan known as ReArm Europe to mobilize up to €800 billion ($875 billion) in debt and tax breaks for the bloc’s military industrial complex. Moscow has sharply criticized the EU’s plans to boost military spending, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling the buildup “a matter of deep concern.” He has insisted that the measures “are primarily aimed at Russia” and threaten to undermine peace efforts with Ukraine.

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“..what do all three of these women have in common, apart from having names which sound like sexually transmitted diseases? They all want war.”

• The EU’s New Army. The Final Nail In The Project’s Coffin? (Jay)

It used to be quite a common thing for people in polite society to say “imagine if women ran the world…we would certainly have less wars, right?”. Wrong. Women are running the world, well, at least the EU world. Three women to be precise. Ursula von der Leyen, EU commission boss, Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister and of course, last but not least, the EU’s own foreign affairs chief, Kaja Kallas. And what do all three of these women have in common, apart from having names which sound like sexually transmitted diseases? They all want war. In line with spectacularly poor decision making right from the beginning of the Ukraine war, with probably Russian sanctions at the top of the list of stupid ideas, the EU has only one way forward in Ukraine.

At whatever cost, it must come out at least not looking like it lost. The EU project is very much like an old man on a bike moving very slowly along a Dutch cyclists’ path. The fear from the elites in the EU is that if he falls off the bike, he will never get back on. The constant worry from top EU figures is that if the EU loses its momentum with press coverage and relevance in general, then a pause – any pause – could be devastating. This, you might be surprised to hear, is what EU officials themselves confided in me when I was based in the Belgian capital. Such an expression gives you an idea of how little confidence the EU has in itself as a worthy, stable long-term project. And so the madness escalates now to such a point where we are actually looking at draining the wallets and purses of our own very poorest people to fund the ultimate EU sex toy going: an EU army.

The idea of an EU army is not new. As a notion, it’s as old as the hills as hard core federalists in Brussels have been arguing for the EU to have its own army for at least twenty years, but until now failed. The main reason for the idea not getting off the ground is that it created too many new, worrying political problems for the EU to wrangle with. In a nutshell, there was always a risk of a new political crisis that an EU army would create as member states argue over which country gets to run it, which nationality is its head, where it would be based and how politically would it be run, based on what decision making structure? (existing EU council, EU commission, member states themselves in a new set up via defence ministries). The concern was always that Germany would have too much power and then this would open an old wound about the country re-arming and rekindling memories of 1939. And we all know where that led.

The EU army idea is actually more complicated than you might think. One of the reasons why it never got off the ground despite several serious attempts is that both the EU and member states are both confused and lack confidence about such a bold plan. They are literally concerned the idea could blow up in their faces. It’s what Americans call ‘blowback’. No, that’s nothing to do with the German foreign minister or even innuendo. It’s a military term for when a gun throws back energy in your face when it discharges and wounds whoever is holding the weapon.

For a long time the EU itself wanted the army to be very much controlled by Brussels but knew that the big guns would not wear that. And so, for them, like those in the European Commission it was about giving power away to a new body, a new layer of EU power, as though there aren’t enough institutions in Brussels which already sap away power from member states. The attitude was somewhat self-defeating. ‘If we (the commission) don’t create this entity, then Germany may well do it on their own anyway, and then we will lose the power’ is the mentality in Brussels. Indeed, Germany for at least a decade has been toying with the idea of having its own EU army, which creates a real headache for Brussels as it gives crucial power to one member state who many would argue already wields quite enough in the first place.

The German parliament a few years ago leaked a document suggesting a new international army which Germany would run, which would be sent to troubled hotspots around the world and would be joined by a few allies who would play a supporting role. The problem with this is twofold. One, a good number of Germans would be very unhappy about his and believe that Germany should never be allowed to return to its former military power of the 1930s. Secondly, under such a set-up, the EU would suffer considerably as it would throw a spotlight on its own weakness and underline how ineffective Brussels is, given that it has no military edge and that one member state has gone rogue with a geo-military policy. And so two scenarios present themselves: Germany being the main player in an EU army created and apparently run from Brussels – at least in appearance or Berlin running its own EU army which isn’t called an EU army but the rest of the world will consider it to be one. Neither of these scenarios really does the EU any favours.

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De-nazification.

• Not Going For Odessa Would Be A Mistake (SCF)

Odessa is of crucial historical importance and vital relevance in the context of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. Its liberation should not merely be a military goal but a central strategic objective for Russia. Amid tragic events, such as the Trade Unions House massacre, and the extremist rhetoric of Ukrainian leaders, Odessa represents a turning point both for the future of the conflict and for regional security. Not going for Odessa would be a grave mistake, compromising not only Russia’s military objectives but also the very confidence of ethnic Russians in Moscow’s ability to protect them both within and outside the Federation.

The Trade Unions House massacre: A tragic symbol On May 2, 2014, Odessa was the scene of one of the bloodiest and darkest episodes in Ukraine’s recent history. On that day, nationalist militants, supported by the Ukrainian government, attacked anti-Maidan protesters who had sought refuge in the Trade Unions House. The attack culminated in a devastating fire, resulting in the deaths of 48 people and leaving more than 200 injured. Many of the victims perished in the flames, unable to escape the burning building. This massacre was not merely an isolated tragedy but a milestone highlighting the growing extremism within the Ukrainian government. The Ukrainian authorities’ failure to prevent the attack or hold the perpetrators accountable, as recently recognized by the European Court of Human Rights, reveals the regime’s complicity with radical nationalist groups. Since then, Odessa has become a symbol of the suffering inflicted by these groups, and its liberation would serve to rectify this historical injustice.

Kiev’s extremist rhetoric: the ideological threat During his presidency, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko adopted an aggressive stance that exacerbated division and violence in the country. In a terrifying speech, Poroshenko declared that Russian children would “live in bomb shelters,” revealing not only a belligerent posture but also a desire to instill fear and exclusion in Russian minorities within Ukraine at the time. This speech did not occur in Odessa by chance. Poroshenko chose a historically Russian city to threaten Russian citizens. Odessa then became the ultimate symbol of neo-Nazi occupation, with its liberation being a way to reverse the policies initiated by the Maidan Junta and finally achieve Russia’s goal of denazification.

The geostrategic importance of Odessa Odessa’s significance goes far beyond its symbolic value. Geographically, Odessa is in a crucial position for Russia. The city serves as a gateway to the Black Sea and as a key point to secure Russian access to the Transnistrian corridor — a strip of territory connecting Ukraine with the pro-Russian separatist Moldovan region. Currently, Russian and pro-Russian soldiers and civilians are trapped between Ukraine and Moldova, and controlling Odessa would open a safe route for these people, ensuring evacuation and necessary logistical support — perhaps even enabling the reintegration of Transnistria into Russia, if the local population desires it. The military and humanitarian importance of this operation cannot be underestimated. Without Odessa, Russia would compromise not only its strategic capabilities but also its responsibility to protect its citizens in critical zones.

The tragedy in Odessa, despite finally being covered by Western media after the recent condemnation by the European Court, has never been adequately addressed by Ukrainian authorities. Local police not only failed to prevent the massacre but also delayed the arrival of firefighters, resulting in more deaths. No significant legal measure has been taken against those responsible, and impunity has prevailed. For Russia, liberating Odessa represents more than a military victory. It is a chance to restore the dignity of the victims and reaffirm the need for justice. Odessa has become a symbol of the Ukrainian government’s failure to protect its citizens, and its liberation could be a decisive step toward eradicating nationalist extremism throughout the post-Soviet space.

Odessa as a strategic priority Not going for Odessa would seriously compromise the broader objectives of the special military operation. The city represents a convergence of military, humanitarian, and ideological importance. The liberation of Odessa would not only correct a historical injustice but also ensure a crucial strategic position for Russia, allowing safe access to Transnistria and protecting Russian civilians trapped by the violence of the Ukrainian regime. Recently, a Ukrainian neo-Nazi leader was assassinated on Odessa’s streets in an act of popular revolt against draconian mobilization policies. Moscow should interpret this gesture as a cry for help from Odessa’s Russian population, which is showing a willingness to take up arms against fascist occupation and in favor of Russian liberation. Furthermore, it is crucial to emphasize that the point of no return in the conflict’s escalation has already been crossed.

The Kiev regime has proven itself untrustworthy for any negotiation, which is why measures must be taken to permanently neutralize Ukraine’s strategic capabilities. Eliminating Ukrainian access to the sea is a fundamental measure in this regard, as landlocked countries face a clear military disadvantage. It is definitely time for Moscow to update its territorial interests beyond the four New Regions. The special military operation cannot allow Odessa to remain under the control of extremist nationalists who reject any possibility of dialogue or peace. After the complete expulsion of neo-Nazis from the New Constitutional Regions, Odessa must become a priority—not only to guarantee military victory but to reaffirm Russia’s commitment to justice, security, and regional stability. Abandoning Odessa should not be an option; after more than a decade of war, it is a mistake Russia cannot afford to make.

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Even before the deal was signed, Zelensky said it was Russia.

• Ukraine Strikes Russian Oil facilities, Violating the Ceasefire Deal (Sp.)

Despite Russia downing its own drones as part of the truce, Ukraine continues to attack Russian energy infrastructure. Let’s break it down. On March 18, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed that the first step toward peace would be a 30-day cessation of hostilities against energy and infrastructure sectors. Following the agreement, Russian military forces immediately shot down seven of their own drones that were reportedly targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities linked to the defense industry in the Nikolayev region. However, just hours after the Putin-Trump conversation, the Ukrainian regime launched a drone attack on oil facilities in the village of Kavkazskaya in Russia’s Krasnodar region on the night of March 19. UAV debris damaged a pipeline between fuel storage tanks.

A fire initially broke out over an area of 20 square meters but quickly spread to 4 square kilometers. Firefighting efforts at the oil depot in the Kavkazsky district have been reinforced, with 406 personnel and 157 pieces of equipment deployed to contain the blaze. The attacked facility handles the transfer of oil from rail tank cars to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) system. As a result, operations at the oil depot have been suspended. The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ drone attack on the energy infrastructure facility in Russia’s Krasnodar region was intended to disrupt Trump’s peace initiatives, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

This is not the first time the Ukrainian regime has violated international agreements. Speaking with Mario Nawfal, Andrew Napolitano, and Larry Johnson, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov detailed how Zelensky sabotaged the 2014 Minsk agreements. In April 2022, Zelensky TORE UP the Istanbul accords with Russia after Moscow withdrew its armed forces from Kiev in accordance with the agreement reached after the March 2022 negotiations.

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“They have 11 time zones. You can fly through 11 time zones from one side to the other. They have very valuable earth,” Trump said.”

• Russia Has ‘Very Valuable Earth’ – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump has cited Russia’s vast territory and valuable land as a reason for restoring economic ties between the nations in an interview with the conservative news outlet Breitbart.The remark followed Tuesday’s phone conversation between Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, where the two leaders focused on bilateral relations and the Ukraine conflict. The presidents agreed that improved ties between the US and Russia would have a “huge upside,” leading to “enormous economic deals” once peace has been achieved, according to the White House. In the interview, Trump said that the US “should be dealing with Russia.” “They have the largest piece of land by far, bigger than China. They have 11 time zones. You can fly through 11 time zones from one side to the other. They have very valuable earth,” Trump said.

The US President went on to mention the rare earths deal with Ukraine which he had sought in order to compensate for the billions the previous administration had given Kiev in aid. Vladimir Zelensky visited the White House in late February to sign the agreement, but the talks became contentious, ending abruptly without the deal being finalized. After the phone call with Putin on Tuesday, the White House said it has moved beyond “just the economic minerals deal framework” and was now focused on a long-term peace agreement. Putin said in February that Moscow was prepared to collaborate with Washington on developing its own rare earth mineral deposits, with Trump indicating he was open to the idea.

Rare earth elements (REE) are a group of 17 metallic elements which are indispensable in modern technology due to their unique chemical and physical properties. They are used in the manufacturing of electronics, defense systems, and in renewable energy technology. They are seldom found in the planet’s crust in concentrated forms, making their extraction both challenging and costly. According to an estimate from Russia’s Federal Agency for Mineral Resources, the country accounts for over 20% of the world’s total stockpile of REEs. Despite the abundance, Russia’s current share of global REE production is less than 1%, indicating significant potential for development. Forbes estimated in 2023 that 70% of Ukraine’s REE deposits are in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which declared independence in 2014 following the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev. These territories came under Russian control after popular referendums in 2022.

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“..the Bundestag backed an initiative allowing the federal government to unlock a record level of state borrowing..”

• Germany Has Dealt ‘Death Blow To The Euro’ – AfD Leader (RT)

Berlin’s move to overhaul its national debt rules in order to boost military spending has jeopardized the economic stability of the euro area, according to Alice Weidel, the co-leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Her comments came shortly after the federal legislature approved the measure. On Tuesday, the Bundestag backed an initiative allowing the federal government to unlock a record level of state borrowing for defense and infrastructure. The fiscal package was approved by 513 legislators, while 207 voted against it. “This is a death blow for the euro, which in the coming years – and it is already beginning to do so – will devalue significantly,” Weidel told journalists after the “historic” vote, emphasizing that German lawmakers had approved “gigantic debt.”

The reform, which amends the nation’s constitutionally enshrined fiscal rules, will hit the country’s future generations the hardest, according to AfD’s co-leader, who also warned that “what is being done here is the final destruction of Germany’s financial stability.” “We will lose our AAA rating, our top credit rating,” Weidel warned.The world’s major credit agencies currently rank Germany’s long-term sovereign debt AAA, entailing the lowest expectation of risk. The reform package approved by the lower chamber implies the removal of federal fiscal restrictions in order to increase the special fund for the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces.

If adopted, the amendments will allow spending exceeding 1% of the country’s GDP to be effectively exempt from the nation’s “debt brake” that was added to the constitution in 2009. The current rules normally limit federal budget deficits to no more than 0.35% of GDP. In addition, the proposed reform stipulates the creation of a debt-financed and brake-exempted fund of €500 billion ($548 billion) earmarked for infrastructure and climate investments, with one-fifth of that funding to be committed to fighting climate change. The reform package also needs to be approved by the Bundesrat, a body representing the country’s states, on Friday to become enshrined in Germany’s constitution.

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US $17 billion, UK $5 billion, NK $1.5 billion.

• North Korea World’s 3rd Largest Bitcoin Holder – Times (RT)

North Korea is estimated to be the world’s third-largest holder of bitcoin, The Times reported on Tuesday. The US has accused Pyongyang of masterminding a $1.5 billion digital asset heist and claimed that nearly half of North Korea’s foreign currency income comes from “malicious cyber activities.” The country has endured stringent economic sanctions that hinder its participation in international trade for decades. In order to secure resources for its defense programs, based on the need for a robust military ad a nuclear deterrent, Pyongyang has resorted to innovative strategies, including crypto, to circumvent the restrictions.

The ranking stems from an analysis by Arkham Intelligence, a firm that employs AI to trace ownership of anonymous crypto wallets. Arkham estimates that the Lazarus Group – a hacking collective allegedly linked to the North Korean government – holds around $1.2 billion in bitcoin. By comparison, it estimates US bitcoin assets to be worth over $17 billion, and those of the UK at over $5 billion. Last month, the FBI accused the Lazarus Group of stealing approximately $1.5 billion worth of digital currency from Bybit, a Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange serving over 60 million users. The hackers reportedly exploited a routine transfer between digital wallets to abscond with around 401,000 Ethereum tokens. The Bureau said it was expecting Lazarus to launder its ill-gotten gains through various cryptocurrencies.

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“I’m very proud of what he grew up to — his strength, his intelligence, his knowledge, his kindness. It’s admirable.”

• Barron Trump Turns 19 (PJM)

While Donald and Melania Trump have done a pretty good job of keeping their son, Barron’s, life private, it still feels like he’s grown up right before our very eyes. He was only 10 years old when his father first took office back in January 2017, and today just happens to be his nineteenth birthday. The president sat down with Fox News host Laura Ingraham for a rather lengthy interview this week — I covered part one on Tuesday, which about topics like Russia, Elon Musk, and rogue judges — but during part two on Wednesday night, Trump got a little more candid and personal and, in a rare moment, talked about his youngest son. Ingraham asked the president how often he talks to his youngest son, and he replied, “All the time” and said that he stays in touch with all five of his children regularly. She also asked him what he sees for Barron’s future. Will he go into business and/or politics like his dad and siblings?

“I think business, and I think he could probably — you know, if you look at my kids, all my kids, they’ve been very good, they’re very smart, always good students… I’m lucky… They are very smart. They’re good kids, and they work hard, and they love our country, and they’re proud of their father. We have a very good relationship,” Trump said. Ingraham brought up the fact that the president’s own father felt that he had an aptitude for music, and she asked what Barron’s aptitude might be. “Maybe technology,” the president replied, adding, “He’s got an unbelievable aptitude in technology.” Here’s more on that:

https://twitter.com/_johnnymaga/status/1902727721718866317?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1902727721718866317%7Ctwgr%5E70a3addc7644211d94e0cd227e9c1c9316b97b5b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpjmedia.com%2Fsarah-anderson%2F2025%2F03%2F20%2Ftrump-gets-personal-talks-about-barron-and-more-n4938103

However, it sounds like Barron has an aptitude for business and politics too. We all know now that Barron also played a minor but important part in his father’s campaign for president in 2024. It’s been said that he introduced his father to some of the most popular podcasts in the country and encouraged him to go on and speak to a new audience, something many say helped Trump win over certain audiences in November, especially men and young people. He is also reportedly working on a business venture that includes building luxury homes and golf courses in western states like Idaho, Utah, and Arizona. The youngest Trump son is currently a freshman at NYU’s Stern School of Business, and while I hate to quote anonymous sources, People magazine actually published a nice article about him today to celebrate his birthday.

One source calls him an “old soul,” and says you can tell he was raised with some of his mother’s European manners. “He isn’t as aggressive as many of his age when they are in their own social circles. He is someone who listens before talking, and is super polite,” the source said. A source also said he largely keeps to himself at NYU, is accompanied by Secret Service detail, and seems extremely focused on his studies, and he maintains a “button down collar mentality when he’s in the public eye.” In 2024, in a Fox News interview, Melania said that Barron chose NYU because he likes being in New York and wanted to continue to live in their home at Trump Tower. She also called him “an incredible young man,” and she said, “I’m very proud of what he grew up to — his strength, his intelligence, his knowledge, his kindness. It’s admirable.”

Trump is truly ushering in a new American Golden Age, but Democrats, the mainstream media, and everyone else on the left will do what they can to prevent it. They won’t even leave his teenage son alone. In her 2024 memoir, Melania wrote that bullying started by leftists led to “irreparable damage” to her son.

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AOC for the throne.

• The Democratic Party Is Ripe for a Hostile Takeover (Pinsker)

The United States is a two-party system, yet today, only 7% of all voters have a “very positive” view of the Democratic Party. That’s not a sustainable trajectory. Which means, the Democratic Party is going away. But our two-party system won’t be going away. Like we said, that’s too engrained culturally, economically, and procedurally. It means the Democratic Party is going to be replaced. The new party might still call itself the Democratic Party, but make no mistake, it’s gonna be something different. Just as MAGA transformed the GOP, this new, emerging liberal movement will prove just as transformative to the Democrats. It hasn’t received as much media attention as it probably deserves, but socialist darling Bernie Sen. Sanders (I-Vt.) and Squad radical Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have launched a “populist revolt” against President Trump. At least, that’s what they’re calling it. But it really isn’t about President Trump.

This is a populist revolt against the Democratic Party. Bernie Sanders has a national network of liberal/socialist donors — a ready-made list that he fully controls. It’s not in the hands of “senior party leadership” or locked somewhere in the Democratic National Committee (or in Joe Biden’s garage). It belongs to Sanders. He dedicated his life to building that list. And Sen. Sanders is 83-years-old. Question: If you were in Sanders’ shoes, how would you try to cement your legacy?Answer: It wouldn’t be by running for president in 2028 or 2032. He’s too old. Instead, it would be elevating the heir of your movement — and thus controlling the future. Sanders wants to play kingmaker. The Democrats can sense it, too: As Democrats scramble to find an authentic and effective messenger for the second Trump administration, there is a growing desire to elevate Ocasio-Cortez, 35, within the party in some way, according to interviews with a dozen Democratic lawmakers, aides and strategists — especially after last week’s government spending showdown left the base enraged.

Let them speak
https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1902545184509862013

Ocasio-Cortez was one of the most outspoken Democrats in torching Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for allowing a Republican funding bill to advance in the Senate to avoid a shutdown. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif, publicly urged Ocasio-Cortez to launch a primary challenge against Schumer in 2028 if he runs for re-election, and several House Democrats told NBC News that her colleagues also privately pushed her to do so at a party retreat last week. Give Sanders and AOC credit: They’re being honest and straightforward about their attempts to transform the party: “If there’s any hope for the Democratic Party, it is that they’re going to have to reach out — open the doors and let working-class people in, let working-class leadership come into the party,” Sanders told the Times. “If not, people will be running as independents, I think, all over this country.”

They’re campaigning on a populist, “anti-oligarch” message. Instead of running on pronouns, hashtags, Ukraine, or calling your enemy a Nazi, they’re running on pocketbook issues: “While Republicans try to gut Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security to pay for tax cuts for billionaires, people across the country are standing up against these attacks on the working class,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “They deserve representation that is willing to stand with them. I look forward to hitting the road with Sen. Sanders.” “Today, the oligarchs and the billionaire class are getting richer and richer and have more and more power,” Sanders said in a Friday statement. “Meanwhile, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and most of our people are struggling to pay for healthcare, childcare, and housing. This country belongs to all of us, not just the few. We must fight back.”

The timing is perfect for a hostile takeover of the Democratic Party. The liberal natives are restless; their gatekeepers have abandoned their gates; everything is wide open. With the right push — and just a little bit of luck — this will be the party of Sanders, AOC, and the Squad by the close of the 2026 midterms. They might not have enough “juice” to seize the whole country, but the Democratic Party is squarely within their grasp. (At this point, it’s low-hanging fruit!) AOC and Sanders know how to organize, lead a media campaign, and fight hard for what they believe in. If you’re a liberal-leaning voter, there’s more reason to support AOC and Sanders than Hakeem Jeffries and Charles Schumer.

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RFK

 

 

 

 

99 million

 

 

Fun
https://twitter.com/Yoda4ever/status/1902550662652580078

 

 

Pup

Mom
https://twitter.com/ShouldHaveCat/status/1902427429303676947

 

 

https://twitter.com/joeroganhq/status/1902524897764470927

 

 

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Debt Rattle March 15 2025

Mar 152025
 
 March 15, 2025  Posted by at 10:52 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,  36 Responses »


Pablo Picasso Rest 1932

 

• Trump Asks Russia To Spare ‘Surrounded’ Ukrainian Troops (RT)
• Putin Calls For All Ukrainians In Kursk To Surrender (ZH)
• Putin Peels Off The Masks Of The Ceasefire Kabuki (Pepe Escobar)
• Monday A Big Day For Ukraine Conflict – Trump (RT)
• NATO Countries Should Restore Ties With Russia – Rutte (RT)
• No Election In Ukraine Even If Truce With Russia Achieved – Podoliak (RT)
• The EU’s Plan For ‘Peace’ Is To Buy More Weapons With Taxpayer Money (RT)
• EU Aiming To Revive Military Industry – Politico (RT)
• Secretary Lutnick Outlines Stupidity of Canada and EU (CTH)
• AFK: Former CIA Agent Tasked With Reining In Intel’s ‘Black Budgets’ (RCW)
• The Minsk Agreements and Why They Failed (Proud)
• Trump Invented The Shutdown Vaccine: It Turns Out To Be DOGE (JTN)
• DOJ Asks SCOTUS For Help Against ‘Activist’ And ‘Overreaching’ Judges (JTN)
• FBI Assures Congress It Is Investigating Leakers Inside The Bureau (JTN)
• Vance Assesses Poland’s Nuke Request (RT)
• Trump Reacts to Biden Autopen Controversy: ‘Who Was Signing All This Stuff?’ (DS)
• Spring’s Frightful Awakening (Kunstler)

 

 

 

 

Darien

Jennings

Homan
https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbardrep/status/1900680065970528502

1850

Bessent

Paper ballots
https://twitter.com/TRUMP_ARMY_/status/1899869063343665284

 

 

 

 

Not so easy. Kiev would have to order their surrender. Then where does Russia take them, and their weapons? Forget the 30-day truce, not going to work.

Ukraine should surrender. Period. This is step 1.

• Trump Asks Russia To Spare ‘Surrounded’ Ukrainian Troops (RT)

US President Donald Trump has asked his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to spare the lives of the Ukrainian troops that have been encircled in Kursk Region as part of a ceasefire agreement. Following a meeting in Saudi Arabia earlier this week, Washington and Kiev put forward a 30-day ceasefire proposal, and US special envoy Steve Witkoff delivered the details of the initiative to Putin on Thursday. In a press conference on Thursday, the Russian president stated that he is open to the idea of a truce, but stressed that certain issues have to be addressed beforehand, including the fate of Ukraine’s incursion forces, which are currently surrounded in Russia’s Kursk Region.

“If we stop fighting for 30 days, what does it mean? That everyone who is there will leave without a fight? Should we let them go after they committed mass crimes against civilians?” Putin said. In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump acknowledged that “thousands of Ukrainian troops are completely surrounded by the Russian military and in a very bad and vulnerable position.” He went on to say that he “strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II.” Trump also stated that Washington’s latest discussions with Putin have been “very good and productive,” and suggested that there is now “a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end.”

Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, has also recently stated that Washington has “some cautious optimism” that a truce can soon be reached following contacts with Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed that there are “certainly reasons to be cautiously optimistic,” but reiterated that the issues outlined by Putin still have to be addressed. Apart from the fate of Ukraine’s incursion forces, Putin also raised the question of establishing a monitoring system to oversee a ceasefire along the entire front line, as well as guarantees that Kiev will not use the pause to rearm itself and replenish its ranks.

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“..a first top-level US acknowledgement that Ukraine is rapidly losing in its cross-border Kursk operation..”

• Putin Calls For All Ukrainians In Kursk To Surrender (ZH)

Update(1358ET): The Kremlin has responded to President Donald Trump’s request that the lives of the Ukrainian troops encircled in Russia’s Kursk Region be spared, which was conveyed in a Friday Truth Social post by the president. Moscow says it is “sympathetic” to this request, and the pattern in the battle to retake Kursk has been to take POWs if weapons are laid down. At the same time President Putin has called immediate surrender of all Ukrainian troops remaining on Russian soil. Trump had acknowledged that “thousands of Ukrainian troops” are “completely surrounded by the Russian military” in the southwest Kursk region. Putin said during a National Security Council meeting on Friday that Russian forces guarantee their lives if they lay down their arms, according to state media translation:

Putin responded that he was aware of Trump’s request, adding that Russia was willing to consider it. “If they lay down their arms and surrender, [we] will guarantee them their lives and dignified treatment in accordance with international law and Russian legal norms,” the president said. But Putin also emphasized the “numerous crimes against civilians” in the region, also has hundreds of thousands of citizens have fled over the last six months of the Kursk occupation on risky operation ordered by Zelensky. The Ukrainian leader has meanwhile rejected that he will cede territory in Ukraine for the sake of peace, and is demanding a ‘strong response’ from the US. But clearly Trump’s own words suggest he’s not ready to order some kind of greater intervention on Kiev’s behalf.

* * *
President Trump has revealed Friday that he has held the second phone call of his current administration with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the prospect of ending the Ukraine war. The call, held Thursday, included a plea by Trump for Russia to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers currently surrounded in the Kursk region. Such a direct appeal like this by Trump is unprecedented. “We had very good and productive discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday” – Trump began a statement on Truth Social, before continuing, “and there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end…” That’s when he stated in all caps, “But, at this very moment, thousands of Ukrainian troops are completely surrounded by the Russian military, and in a very bad and vulnerable position.”

“I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II. God bless them all!!!” – Trump ended with. Aside from the rare or even unprecedented nature of such a direct appeal from a sitting US President for Putin to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers, this is a first top-level US acknowledgement that Ukraine is rapidly losing in its cross-border Kursk operation. Already as of Wednesday there were widespread reports that a Ukrainian withdrawal from Kursk is underway, and it’s been confirmed that the key town of Sudzha has been taken back by Russian forces, along with well over a dozen towns and settlements in rapid fashion. The amount of Russian territory the Ukrainians still hold there has suddenly shrunk at least four-fold, and by many accounts Russian operatives continue closing in. Even the Financial Times has admitted that the writing is on the wall:

Kyiv’s forces managed at one point to seize some 1,300 sq km of Russian territory. But over the first few weeks the area they were able to hold became a narrow wedge. “It is no secret that the zone of our incursion, it should have been wider,” Kariakin said. “A wide area along the border would have been much more comfortable.” Instead, Russian troops surrounded Ukraine’s occupying forces on three sides. It was a precarious position and became increasingly difficult to hold. War analysts consider it highly debatable and uncertain whether the risky cross-border gambit which started in August actually translated to any strategic advantage across the broader war theater:

For Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a former defense minister of Ukraine, the Kursk operation “served its purpose”: it diverted elite Russian forces and prevented them from opening up another front, he said. Others question whether the benefits outweighed costs to Ukraine’s defense effort on the eastern front. The tragic ‘cost’ has been tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops lost to an operation which had little to no chance of success in the first place.

“High chance” of peace, Trump said…

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“After all, it’s Russia that’s winning the war in the battlefield, not the U.S., the – already fragmented – NATO, and much less Ukraine.”

“Zelensky already gave away to the Brits all sorts of control over minerals, nuclear power plants, underground gas storage facilities, key ports (including Odessa), and hydroelectric power plants.”

• Putin Peels Off The Masks Of The Ceasefire Kabuki (Pepe Escobar)

The “ceasefire” announced with trademark bombast by Team Trump 2.0 should be seen as a tawdry kabuki inside a cheap matryoshka. As we peel off the successive masks, the last one standing inside the matryoshka is a woke transvestite tiny dancer: a Minsk 3 in drag. Now cue to a “ceasefire” redux: President Putin in uniform only for the second time since the start of the SMO, dead serious, visiting the frontline in Kursk. Finally, cue to the actual peel off operation: Putin’s press conference after his meeting with Lukashenko in Moscow. Ceasefire? Of course. We support it. And then, methodically, diplomatically, the Russian President pulled a Caravaggio, and went all-out chiaroscuro on every geopolitical and military detail of the American gambit. A consumate artful deconstruction.

End result: the ball is now back in Donald Trump’s court. Incidentally the leader of the revamping-in-progress Empire of Chaos who does not (italics mine) have the cards. That’s how diplomacy at the highest level works – something out of reach of American bumpkins of the Rubio variety. Putin was gracious enough to thank “the President of the United States, Mr. Trump, for paying so much attention to resolving the conflict.” After all the Americans also seem to be involved in “achieving a noble mission, a mission to stop hostilities and the loss of human lives.” Then he went for the kill: “This ceasefire should lead to a long-term peace and eliminate the initial causes of this crisis.” As in all Russian key imperatives – widely known since at least June 2024 – will have to be satisfied. After all, it’s Russia that’s winning the war in the battlefield, not the U.S., the – already fragmented – NATO, and much less Ukraine.

Putin was adamant on the ceasefire: “We are for it.” But there are nuances; once again, it’s called diplomacy. Starting with verification – arguably the crux of Putin’s reasoning: “These 30 days — how will they be used? To continue forced mobilization in Ukraine? To receive more arms supplies? To train newly mobilized units? Or will none of this happen? How will the issues of control and verification be resolved? How can we be guaranteed that nothing like this will happen? How will the control be organized? I hope that everyone understands this at the level of common sense. These are all serious issues.” No: the collective EUrocracy, mired in demented Russophobia, does not understand “common sense”.

Once again Putin deferred, diplomatically, to the “need to work with our American partners. Maybe I will speak to President Trump.” So there will be another phone call soon. Trump, for his part, perennially floating on the clouds of bombast, already applied “leverage” on the negotiations – even before Putin’s detailed answer to the ceasefire kabuki. He ramped up sanctions on Russia’s oil, gas and banking, allowing the waiver on Russian oil sales to expire this week. That means in practice that the EUro-vassals and other assorted “allies” cannot buy Russian oil anymore without evading U.S. sanctions. Even before that elements from Kiev criminal gang were begging for more sanctions on Russia as part of a “peace” plan. Trump obviously agreed by bypassing basic diplomacy once again. Only those with an IQ of less than zero can possibly believe that Moscow will support a ceasefire/’peace process” where it is sanctioned for attempting to end a war that it is actually winning in the battlefield – from Donbass to Kursk.

Sanctions will have to be at the heart of the possible U.S.-Russia negotiations. At least some of those thousands will have to go right from the start. Same for the $300 billion or so in Russian assets “seized” – as in stolen –, most of it parked in Brussels. Putin’s Caravaggio ceasefire painting reveals that he has absolutely no interest in antagonizing the notoriously volcanic Trump, or to put in peril the possibility of a U.S.-Russia détente in the making. As for Kiev and the EUro-chihuahuas, they remain on the menu, and not on the table. Predictably, Western MSM, as a wave of toxic detritus hitting a pristine shore, is spinning that Putin said “Nyet” to the ceasefire gambit as a prelude to scotching any negotiations about it. These specimens would not understand the meaning of “diplomacy” even if it was a comet piercing the skies.

As for the spin on the Brits “helping” the Americans and the Ukrainians to concoct the ceasefire gambit, that does not even qualify as a crappy Monty Python sketch. The Brit ruling classes, MI6, their media and think tanks, simply abhor any negotiations. They are at direct, frontal war with Russia, and their plan A – no plan B – remains the same: inflict a “strategic defeat” on Moscow, as the SVR knows inside out. The heart of the matter is the Black Sea. Vladimir Karasev’s analysis, as explained to TASS, is spot on: “The British have already entered the city of Odessa, which they view as a key location. Their special services are heavily involved there. The British do not conceal their desire to establish a naval base in Odessa.”

Odessa is part of the extensive menu of Ukraine’s resources already, in thesis, handed over to the Brits under the shady – and completely illegal – 100-year agreement signed between Starmer and the sweaty sweatshirt in Kiev. According to the dodgy deal and its made in the shade footnotes, Zelensky already gave away to the Brits all sorts of control over minerals, nuclear power plants, underground gas storage facilities, key ports (including Odessa), and hydroelectric power plants. On the ongoing minerals/rare earth saga in 404 – or what will be left of it – the Brits are in vicious, direct competition with the Americans. The CIA is obviously in the know. This whole thing will turn very ugly in no time.

Read more …

Too much to do first.

• Monday A Big Day For Ukraine Conflict – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump has said that Washington’s negotiations with Moscow over a US-proposed temporary ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict have been going “okay” so far, and that he expects good news soon. Earlier this week, Washington and Kiev put forward a 30-day truce proposal, with US special envoy Steve Witkoff delivering the details of the initiative to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. Putin said Moscow is open to the idea but stressed that many issues need to be addressed beforehand, including the fate of the Ukrainian incursion forces currently surrounded in Russia’s Kursk Region. In a sit-down interview with Sharyl Attkisson for Full Measure published on Friday, Trump neither confirmed nor denied having direct communication with Putin regarding the initiative, calling it a “very complex situation.”

“Well, I don’t want to say it, but we are dealing with him, and I think it’s going reasonably well,” Trump said. “As you know, we have a ceasefire agreement with the Ukrainians. And we are trying to get that with Russia, too.” And I think thus far, it’s gone okay. We’ll know a little bit more on Monday, and that’ll be, hopefully, good. Trump admitted that he was being “a little bit sarcastic” when he previously claimed he could resolve the Ukraine conflict within 24 hours. He clarified that he meant he wanted to “get it settled” and expected Putin to support his initiative. “I think I know him pretty well, and I think he’s going to agree,” the US president said.

Earlier in the day, Trump asked Putin to spare the lives of the “thousands of Ukrainian troops” who are “completely surrounded” in Kursk Region. Putin said he is “sympathetic” to Trump’s plea but argued that it is up to Kiev to order its troops to surrender. “If they lay down their arms and surrender, [we] will guarantee them their lives and dignified treatment in accordance with international law and Russian legal norms,” Putin said. He stressed, however, that the Ukrainian forces committed “numerous crimes against civilians” during their incursion and that Russian law enforcement is treating their actions as “terrorism.”

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“..normal relations with Russia..” What tf is that? They’re all buying armss and building facilities.

• NATO Countries Should Restore Ties With Russia – Rutte (RT)

Europe and the United States should gradually normalize relations with Russia once the Ukraine conflict is over, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said. The statement comes a day after the head of the US-led military bloc met President Donald Trump at the White House and amid ongoing efforts by Washington to establish a ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev. Trump has also expressed interest in restoring economic ties with Russia, an idea that was supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking to Bloomberg TV on Friday, Rutte recalled that he had “many dealings” and “many negotiations” with Putin while prime minister of the Netherlands. “Long-term, Russia is there, Russia will not go away,” he said. “It’s normal if the war would have stopped for Europe somehow, step by step, and also for the US, step by step, to restore normal relations with Russia,” he argued.

Ukraine’s possible membership of the bloc is off the table in the current peace process, Rutte confirmed, a point Moscow has insisted upon. Most EU leaders, with the notable exceptions of Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Slovakia’s Robert Fico, have advocated for continued confrontation with Russia, despite the ongoing peace process. European NATO countries have been supplying weapons to Kiev since the escalation of the conflict in 2022. Some bloc members, such as France, have floated the idea of deploying troops in Ukraine to monitor a truce. Russia has denounced the idea and insisted that any NATO contingent in Ukraine deployed without a UN mandate will be considered a legitimate target.

Moscow has accused the EU of militarizing against Russia, after the bloc’s leaders backed €800 billion ($860 bn) in debt and tax-breaks for its military industrial complex. As NATO’s biggest financial contributor, Trump has consistently criticized the bloc’s European members for not meeting the defense expenditure targets. NATO has maintained a hostile position towards Moscow since Crimea joined the Russian Federation in 2014 and the subsequent escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. The developments led to the suspension of practical cooperation and a significant military buildup in NATO countries on Russia’s borders.

Read more …

“Ukraine will maintain martial law..”

• No Election In Ukraine Even If Truce With Russia Achieved – Podoliak (RT)

Ukraine will maintain martial law and will not hold a presidential election even if a ceasefire with Russia is established, Mikhail Podoliak, adviser to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, told the Italian newspaper la Repubblica on Friday. Martial law has been in place in Ukraine since the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022. Zelensky’s presidential term officially expired in May 2024, and he has refused to hold a new election, leading to debates about the legitimacy of his administration. Since US President Donald Trump assumed office in January, the US has been attempting to mediate peace in the conflict. Earlier this week, it proposed a 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine claimed it was ready to implement, contingent upon Russia’s agreement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the idea of a ceasefire “a good one” but pointed to a number of issues that would have to be addressed beforehand. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the issues would likely be discussed with Washington during future contacts. According to Podoliak, however, a temporary ceasefire does not equate to the end of the conflict. “We must maintain the ability to fight until the situation is regulated,” Zelensky’s aide said in an interview with la Repubblica. “The 30-day ceasefire will not unblock the elections,” he added.

In January, Putin stated that Zelensky is illegitimate, a circumstance that could invalidate any agreements that are reached with his involvement. Zelensky had previously enacted legislation prohibiting negotiations with Russia’s current leadership. The Trump administration has begun reestablishing contacts with Russia and has attempted to push Kiev toward seeking a resolution to the hostilities. In February, the Kremlin said that Putin was ready to negotiate with Zelensky, but pointed out the need to address the legal aspects related to the latter’s legitimacy as head of state.

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“The Ukrainians want peace. We all want peace. And as defense ministers, we have been discussing and we are working to strengthen the push for peace..”

• The EU’s Plan For ‘Peace’ Is To Buy More Weapons With Taxpayer Money (RT)

European defense is basically a teenaged-grade fantasy war gaming league at this point – minus the generous sponsorships. On Wednesday, defense ministers from five European heavyweights – France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Britain (yes, Britain, because apparently Brexit only applied to sensible EU decisions) – gathered in Paris to figure out how to elbow their way back into the Ukraine game. With US President Donald Trump running the show himself, Europe’s big players are scrambling for relevance. And they’re doing such a stellar job of it that the German defense minister is now relegated to sounding like every annoying dude sitting courtside at a French Open tennis match who thinks he’s offering stellar insight into the state of play.

“We welcome the one-month ceasefire,” Boris Pistorius said, referring to the deal that the Trump administration made with Ukraine. “But now the ball is in Vladimir Putin’s court. It is now Vladimir Putin’s turn to demonstrate his repeated stated readiness for a ceasefire or peace,” he added. Because nothing screams “gimme peace” like the EU meeting about throwing money into the purchase of new weapons. But all this war prepping talk is great for Europe’s latest PR push: convincing taxpayers that draining their wrung-out wallets to the point of even potentially leveraging their private savings for an arms race, as suggested by the French defense mall minister, is actually a genius economic plan. Keynesianism, but with a military vibe.

The British defense secretary claims that the need for a weapons shopping spree actually comes from a place of deep, inner hippie-ness. “The Ukrainians want peace. We all want peace. And as defense ministers, we have been discussing and we are working to strengthen the push for peace,” John Healey said, probably itching to get back home to squeeze into some bell bottoms and smash the bongo drums. Poland’s defense minister also appears to have just stumbled out of a flower-painted VW bus straight from Woodstock. “500 million Europeans deserve a force that will defend peace. 500 million Europeans deserve the opportunity to bring peace,” said Wladyslaw Kosinski-Kamysz in explaining why more weapons spending is needed, and sounding like the type who would also suggest that sobriety comes through an overextended happy hour sip n’ giggle.

Earlier this week, the French and British defense ministers huddled with their army chiefs of staff, still riding high on their leaders’ idea of a “coalition of the willing” for Ukraine. That was British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s braindropping, repurposed from the Iraq War – perhaps because he couldn’t think of an appropriate catchphrase to reference loss of 60,000 British troops in World War II’s Battle of the Somme. All because Trump had the audacity to suggest a grand bargain with Russia, with the risk of peace breaking out in Ukraine.

None of these European countries actually want any troops on the front line at this point, by the way. Not that they aren’t one screwup away from them ending up there anyway. Maybe the French president and armchair general, Emmanuel Macroleon, can train all these contingents like they did that €900-million Ukrainian ‘Anne of Kyiv’ Brigade, with 1,700 of them going AWOL before the first shot was even fired. Interesting that the Trump administration reportedly just wants private contractors on the ground around the resource exploitation deals that they’ve envisioned in Ukraine and elsewhere, and in which Putin has also expressed interest in partnering. But insiders have told France’s Le Figaro that the Europeans don’t believe that will work, and that NATO troops are needed. Apparently, they believe that Russia would attack its own joint ventures with the Americans in Ukraine.

Read more …

White Paper.

• EU Aiming To Revive Military Industry – Politico (RT)

The European Union has laid out plans to revitalize its military industry, citing an alleged “existential threat” from Russia and concerns over the future of NATO, according to a White Paper obtained by Politico. Moscow has repeatedly denied having any intention of attacking Western states, dismissing such claims as “nonsense” meant to justify increased military spending. The initiative comes in light of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal to mobilize up to €800 billion for defense. The so-called ReArm Europe plan includes financial incentives for EU member states to expand their military budgets, as well as a proposed €150 billion in loans for joint defense projects.

The White Paper, one of the authors of which is the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, outlines measures to “rebuild European defense” by increasing military spending, prioritizing the procurement of defense items within the EU, and streamlining financing for arms production. Kallas, a vocal critic of Moscow, has long advocated for a more aggressive military posture toward Russia. The document justifies its proposals by citing what it describes as the “existential threat” posed by Russia and Moscow’s “expansionist policies.” It states that the EU must prepare for a long-term confrontation and that investing more in defense is necessary to ensure security. The White Paper additionally highlights growing concerns over the US’ role in European security. It warns that Washington’s shifting policies under President Donald Trump could weaken NATO’s capabilities, meaning that the EU would have to take greater responsibility for its own defense.

The document refers to NATO as “the cornerstone of collective security” and argues that Europe must do more to ensure the military bloc remains intact. Another key aspect of the proposal is increasing assistance to Ukraine. The White Paper calls for additional military aid, including the supply of 1.5 million artillery shells, expanded training programs for Ukrainian forces, and continued integration of Ukraine into EU military initiatives. Moscow has repeatedly denied any intention of attacking NATO or EU member states. Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed such claims as “nonsense” meant to scare the European population and increase military budgets. Russian officials have also vehemently condemned the EU’s recent militarization efforts and vilification of Moscow, arguing that it is a path that only leads to more confrontation and undermines peace efforts in the Ukraine conflict.

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Lutnick is better at short soundbites.

• Secretary Lutnick Outlines Stupidity of Canada and EU (CTH)

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears on Bloomberg to discuss the tariff approach of President Trump toward national security. Economic security is national security. Lutnick correctly points out the crazy mindset of the Canadians and Europeans not understanding and respecting the big picture objective of President Trump. Ex. President Trump says we need steel and aluminum made in the USA, Canada responds with a tax on soccer balls. As Lutnick says, “really, I mean, REALLY?” This interview is must watch television that cuts directly through the pretending and silliness.

https://twitter.com/MarcNixon24/status/1900226170261774454

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Amaryllis Fox Kennedy. Interesting woman.

• AFK: Former CIA Agent Tasked With Reining In Intel’s ‘Black Budgets’ (RCW)

A glamorous woman in an unglamorous job, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy sits in a cavernous office that is entirely empty other than the leftover computers and keyboards still scattered about from when the last administration vacated the premises, leaving old copies of federal budgets bound in blue, red, and grey, stretching back decades and stacked nearly from floor to ceiling. It is not exotic like a dusty cafe in Karachi. It isn’t as chic as an art gallery in Shanghai. All the same, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, or AFK as aides now abbreviate her name, is happy with her new post. “I like to be in the plumbing,” says the daughter-in-law of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Once the youngest female CIA officer at 22 and whose memoir of a life spent undercover was optioned to Hollywood, she adds, this place “is where you can have the most impact.”

She is speaking from the Office of Management and Budget across the alleyway from the White House where, during her first interview since joining the new administration, the ventilation system can be heard kicking on and off. The onetime spy is now the associate director for Intelligence and International Affairs at OMB, a first-of-its-kind position and an assignment that is as influential as her path to it is ironic. President Trump had considered Fox Kennedy for CIA deputy director. Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, chairman of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee, intervened. Lawmakers worried that if given that role, AFK might shatter America’s premier espionage agency. Their fears were not entirely unfounded. Since leaving the agency in 2010, she has become a prominent CIA skeptic. She has made the declassification of the JFK assassination files a personal mission. She managed the campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last year as he promised to renew the work of his late uncle, President John F. Kennedy, who once vowed to “splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds.”

Any attempts to assuage concerns failed. Her call, and a subsequent call from the White House to set up a meeting with Cotton, went unanswered. She was torpedoed behind the congressional curtain. Enter Russ Vought. Rather than working inside just one three-letter agency to reform it, the director of the Office of Management and Budget asked, why not bring the entire espionage apparatus to the president’s heel? Fox Kennedy accepted. Passed over for a job at CIA, she now oversees the entire CIA budget as well as the budgets for the 17 other agencies that collectively make up the intelligence community.

This makes her the tip of the fiduciary spear, so to speak, in the ongoing White House war against what they see as a “woke and weaponized” government security establishment. The budgets, like the ones collecting dust next to her desk, and other bureaucratic authorities known only to the nerdiest of wonks, Fox Kennedy insists, are the very best tools “to put the Leviathan on the chain.” All of this delights Vought, who calls her addition to OMB “a huge deal,” a step toward policing the shadowy corners of the federal government he described as “nearly untouchable.” No clandestine budget or compartmentalized program will be beyond her purview. Instead, AFK will be free to follow the money. “The federal government has been weaponized against the American people, including our president, in ways most Americans have yet to realize,” the budget chief told RCP before likening the enterprise to “our own Church Committee within OMB to end the weaponization for good.”

But what would you say you do here exactly? “My job is to arm Tulsi and John,” AFK replies, referring to Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence, and John Ratcliffe, director of the CIA, like old friends, “and all the amazing men and women in the intelligence community with everything they need to do their job – to do it safely and efficiently, protect this country, and execute the president’s agenda.” She continues with standard boilerplate about ensuring that “not a penny of taxpayer dollars is wasted.” A wonk would talk about the efficiency of government systems, while a spook would say something about an attempt at omniscience. She talks that way, too, to be sure, but AFK is unusual in that she attempts to humanize budgetary questions of national security. Every taxpayer dollar that comes through the door, says the mother of three, is a dollar that will not go to “a family’s vacation” or “someone’s kid’s ballet lessons.” Misuse of those funds, she has concluded, is nothing short of “a sin.”

Read more …

Sabotage from the start.

• The Minsk Agreements and Why They Failed (Proud)

The Minsk agreements fell apart because delivering special status for the Donbas was politically too difficult in Ukraine. And because sanctions policy against Russia both disincentivized their compliance, and actively incentivised Ukrainian non-compliance. Claiming that Russia reneged on the Minsk agreements is wilfully inaccurate. The Minsk agreements refers collectively to three sets of peace proposals between June 2014 and February 2015, which culminated in the signature of the second Minsk agreement, commonly known as Minsk 2. They had several aims, including the end the fighting, the limitation on the use of heavy weapons by both sides and to seal Ukraine’s border. Critically, all three proposals sought to maintain the territorial integrity of Ukraine by offering some form of devolution or special status to the separatist oblasts of Lugansk and Donetsk.

It’s important to state up front that the basis for the Minsk agreements was initiated by the Ukrainian side. After violence in the Donbas erupted in February 2014 following the deposal of former President Yanukovych, the separatist leaders in Lugansk and Donetsk orchestrated referenda on 11 May, which ruled in favour of self-rule. These referenda voted in favour of separation from Kiev but were roundly criticised as illegitimate. However, on 21 June, then President Petro Poroshenko advanced a peace plan that included creation of a military buffer zone on either side of the line of contact, the restoration of public services in Donetsk and Lugansk, an amnesty for separatists who had taken up arms. Critically, it advanced the notion that the two oblasts comprising the Donbas would be offered some form of special status.

This offer was welcomed by the Russian side, but the Ukrainian military then intensified their so-called Anti-Terrorist operation to seize towns that had been occupied by the separatists in both Lugansk and Donetsk. By the start of July, the OSCE monitoring mission was reporting on an intensified Ukrainian military operation against the separatists. 5 July is the first time the OSCE reports on the deaths of civilians caused by the military operations, including the death of a five year old girl. By 6 July, Ukrainian forces have recaptured the towns of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. They approach Donetsk city and a fierce battle erupts around the airport which is destroyed. Fighting then breaks out on the outskirts of Lugansk city. By mid-July heavy military equipment is being moved into the Donbas from Russia, to resupply the separatists. On 17 July amid heavy fighting, flight MH17 is downed with the deaths of all 298 persons on board.

Throughout this period, the Ukrainian military operation continues with barely any let up in intensity. Doctors in Lugansk report 250 deaths and 850 injuries, including civilians during June and July 2014. The OSCE mission moves out of Lugansk on 21 July because of heavy Ukrainian shelling of the city. Severodonetsk falls to the Ukrainian military advance on 22 July. On 29 July, Ukrainian troops at a checkpoint fire warning shots at an OSCE vehicle in Lugansk. That day, Poroshenko announces a 20km ceasefire to allow access to the MH17 site which has been inaccessible because of ongoing military operations. In early august, Lugansk authorities report that citizens in the affected area are no longer receiving Ukrainian state salaries and pensions. Ukraine is now using military aircraft for strikes on targets in urban areas destroying electricity supply in Lugansk. On 10 August the head of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic proposes a ceasefire to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. Shelling of urban areas continues from the Ukrainian side with reports of deaths and injuries to civilians.

On 16 August OSCE is trying to corroborate reports of Russian military convoys moving into the Donbas. Donetsk’s water supply is affected by Ukrainian shelling and further civilian casualties are reported. Towards late August, human rights abuses by ultra-nationalist Ukrainian Aidar battalion are being reported by the OSCE. Amnesty international later reports that Aidar has committed widespread abuses, including abductions, unlawful detention, ill-treatment, theft, extortion, and possible executions, some of which allegedly amount to war crimes. On 26 Augst there are reports that Ukrainian personnel are abusing members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchy.

By late August, almost daily shelling of urban areas in Lugansk and Donetsk is taking place, basic services are disrupted and access to food is restricted. On 29 August, the Ukrainian army surrounds a town of Ilovaisk, with the order – according to the BBC – to ‘wipe out’ the separatists within. However, what are believed to have been Russian army formations have encircled the Ukrainian troops encircling the town. Up to 400 Ukrainian soldiers are killed in the ensuing firefight as they struggle to escape. Amidst signs that the Russian army is playing a more direct role in the conflict, the first Minsk agreement is signed on 5 September. It contains similar provisions to Poroshenko’s earlier peace plan, including the decentralisation of power, an amnesty for separatists and an inclusive ‘national dialogue’.

The line of contact between the Ukrainian armed forces and the separatist controlled parts of the Donbas largely stays firms over the coming months. However, there are repeated violations of the ceasefire and casualties on both sides, including civilian casualties in the separatist areas. At the start of 2015, Wagner troops from Russia assist in closing a pocket along the frontline at Debaltseve, a small transport hub, in a bloody battle that lasts for several weeks. This prompts German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of France, Francois Hollande to become directly involved in mediation. They meet with Presidents Poroshenko and Putin in Minsk on 14/15 February 2015, leading to the signature of the second Minsk Agreement, which people often refer to as Minsk 2. Two days later, the UN Security Council unanimously endorses the Minsk 2 agreement.

This second Minsk agreement is similar to previous agreements but, at Russian insistence, contains more extensive language on the need for devolution in the Donbass, including through the creation of a new Ukrainian constitution. Clauses 4, 8, 9, 11 and 12 all contain detailed provision about sequencing in devolution and resealing the border between Ukraine and Russia. From British Embassy contacts with Russian officials, it is clear that there is no desire on the Russian side to annex the Donbas. Throughout the seven-year period to the start of war in Ukraine in February 2022, President Putin talks often about the need for the Ukrainian side to meets its obligations on devolution under the Minsk II agreement.

But the Ukrainians do not fulfil their obligations. A law on special status was initially passed in Ukraine on 16 September 2014 after the first Minsk agreement was signed. This passed with a narrow majority of four votes. Promised elections in the Donbas were not held and the laws faced immediate resistance. It is quickly clear that there is little political appetite in Ukraine to push forward with special status in the Donbas and this becomes a constant theme. The reading of the special status law in the Verkhovna Rada in 2017 causes scuffles to break out and street protests in Kiev. When newly elected President Zelensky proposes adoption of a devolution law in 2019 he faced public protests by nationalist elements in Kiev and elsewhere. Just three weeks before war breaks out, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says in a press interview there will never be special status for the Donbas.

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Their own trap. With the government shut down, DOGE could keep on working.

“..I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.”

“This is the first time you’ve had an administration, a president, you know, take a deep, deep dive and audit these agencies..”

• Trump Invented The Shutdown Vaccine: It Turns Out To Be DOGE (JTN)

President Donald Trump appears to have found his leverage against congressional Democrats for the upcoming budget battles in the form of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Senate Democrats made an about face this week and supported a continuing resolution to keep the government funded at current levels until Sept. 30, despite its inclusion of $10 billion in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) funding and a $6 billion hike in defense spending. After the House passed the provision earlier this week, Democrats initially refused to agree to anything proposed by Trump or the razor-thin GOP House majority, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Thursday told the conference that he would support the measure. That led to 10 Democrats joining with Republicans to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold.

The turnaround came as Democrats voiced concerns over handing Trump too much power through a shutdown and as Elon Musk stoked fears that the government would simply permit a shutdown indefinitely to accomplish the goal of dramatically reducing the size of the government. “For sure, the Republican bill is a terrible option. It is not a clean CR [continuing resolution],” Schumer said. “It is deeply partisan. It doesn’t address far too many of this country’s needs. But I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.” “They’re concerned that if they do block that plan, there could be a prolonged government shutdown with disastrous consequences, giving Donald Trump even more power to shutter federal agencies,” CNN’s Manu Raju said.

Musk appeared to lend credence to some of Schumer’s concerns with his social media posting about how to manage a shutdown. “If the government shuts down, what if we just never brought most furloughed workers back?” asked White House correspondent Natalie Winters on X. Her rhetorical question went viral, with Musk himself responding with a contemplative emoji that appeared to signal his openness to the concept. Though Democrats agreed to the CR, DOGE’s presence will be a “sword of Damocles” hovering over the leftward side of the congressional aisle as negotiations gear up for the full-term budget bill. Republicans have expressed their plans to draft and pass all 12 yearly appropriations bills by Memorial Day, which should set the budget for fiscal year 2026.

DOGE has said it wants to cut as much as $2 trillion in wasteful spending to help balance the budget, though its efforts have faced legal hurdles, including from judges who have ordered their access to key data barred. This week, a federal district court judge ordered the reinstatement of thousands of fired federal probationary employees, though that ruling will likely face an appeal. At present, it claims an estimated $115 billion in savings. On the Republican side, some lawmakers see DOGE as crucial for justifying steep cuts that are expected to appear in the next budget. “There are some people expressing concerns about Elon Musk and what he’s doing with these agencies, but I applaud him, and I say, keep digging,” Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, said on the “Just the News, No Noise” television show this week. “This is the first time you’ve had an administration, a president, you know, take a deep, deep dive and audit these agencies, many of these agencies, defense and everything, they can’t even pass an audit.”

Republicans in the House and Senate have already passed initial budget blueprints for the following year, though they remain divided on planning. The House favors the Trump-preferred approach of “one big, beautiful bill” whereas the Senate has opted to include all of Trump’s border funding requests before addressing taxes. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., put the timeline for a final version at mid-May. “All the indications are, the Senate is going to take up their, version of the reconciliation and finish that package off, completing it a week or so after the reconciliation comes out next week,” he said. “So we’re talking two, three weeks out, and then you’re going to have the conference committee on it. There’s some resolution, and probably mid-May, maybe, if we’re lucky, you get that reconciliation package completely done and out.” With the new deadline coming on Sept. 30, it’s possible that Republicans will have their final version ready well ahead of time, giving Democrats plenty of time to mull the prospect of another shutdown. DOGE is expected to remain active well through that timeframe, moreover, and is sure to present a similar problem for Democrats mulling continued opposition.

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“Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars?”

• DOJ Asks SCOTUS For Help Against ‘Activist’ And ‘Overreaching’ Judges (JTN)

The Trump administration on Thursday filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, asking it to narrow the scope of injunctions against its immigrations policies and to thwart the emerging use of local District Court judges to issue nationwide blocks on its policies. “[Broad injunctions] compromise the executive branch’s ability to carry out its functions,” Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote. “This court should declare that enough is enough before district courts’ burgeoning reliance on universal injunctions becomes further entrenched.” The Solicitor General files or defends cases on behalf of the U.S., and answers directly to the Attorney General. It is under the Department of Justice’s remit. Harris has so far filed three appeals in three separate cases involving Trump’s birthright citizenship order, which directs federal agencies to not interpret the 14th Amendment as granting citizenship to the children of foreigners born within the U.S. interior.

Four federal district court judges have temporarily blocked the policy, purportedly nationwide. The courts issuing temporary injunctions are located in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Washington. The administration specifically asked that the courts narrow the orders to apply only to the plaintiff parties in each case, rather than block the order at a national level. Harris’s argument, moreover, comes as district judges have increasingly blocked Trump’s myriad policies on their own authority. Harris wrote in her briefs (identical in all three of the cases still in district court) that “District courts have issued more universal injunctions and TROs during February 2025 alone than through the first three years of the Biden Administration. That sharp rise in universal injunctions stops the Executive Branch from performing its constitutional functions before any courts fully examine the merits of those actions, and threatens to swamp this Court’s emergency docket.”

Throughout Trump’s 53 days back in office, he has faced a flurry of nationwide injunctions against his executive orders. This week alone, Judge Beryl Howell blocked the administration’s revocation of security clearances for the Perkins Coie law firm, which helped the Clinton campaign fund the Steele Dossier, and Judge Ana Reyes demanded that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth retract a public statement suggesting that the Defense Department would not permit any transgender persons to serve as part of a suit challenging the department’s new trans policy. The same week, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the reinstatement of thousands of probationary employees from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior and the Treasury Department, whom the administration fired as part of a broad effort to shrink the federal government.

Will the Supreme Court step in this time? The most straightforward remedy to the issue would be for the Supreme Court to intervene in one of these cases by defining the scope of their authority, as the Trump administration has requested. “Obama & Biden put leftwing saboteurs (even foreign citizens) on the bench (especially in DC) who are doing everything they can to destroy the presidency—thus, our country,” Attorney Mike Davis, the former Chief Counsel for Nominations to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, posted on Thursday. “Activist judges now control foreign aid and military readiness? Dangerous. Will Supreme Court stop them?” The justices had exactly that opportunity earlier this month, but declined to take it.

The Supreme Court recently sided against the administration on the matter of a lower court order demanding that the executive branch release U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funds. The 5-4 ruling did, however, permit the case to continue through the lower courts. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito, however, raised the constitutional question of a district judge’s authority in a scathing dissent. “Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars?” he wrote. “The answer to that question should be an emphatic ‘No,’ but a majority of this Court apparently thinks otherwise. I am stunned.”

One of — if not the — central issue is the constitutional separation of powers. The legislative, executive and judicial branches are officially co-equal, but Congress is responsible for the establishment of lower courts below the Supreme Court. The scope of those courts’ authority stands as the primary question. “If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” Vice President JD Vance said in February. “In addition to running the White House, federal judges are now in charge of the military—or think they are. James Madison, where are you?” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, quipped in March over the Reyes order.

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“Border Czar Tom Homan has confirmed that planned ICE operations have been leaked to targets of criminal deportation, including the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang..”

• FBI Assures Congress It Is Investigating Leakers Inside The Bureau (JTN)

FBI leadership has informed a key House leader in a letter dated Tuesday and sent Wednesday that the bureau is investigating leaks within the FBI, vowing that “there will be consequences” if the bureau unearths any misconduct. Just the News has learned that a senior FBI official assured Congressman Clay Higgins, R-La., in the letter that FBI Director Kash Patel has made it clear that “leaks will not be tolerated.” This comes after Just the News reported early this week that the FBI has launched an investigation into “dishonest leakers” inside the bureau who have recently pushed “false information” to the media. Higgins is the chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement, and urged the FBI and other federal agencies in late February to hold “deep-state leakers” accountable.

Just the News was allowed to read the letter, but at the source’s request they remain unnamed and the letter itself will remain out of public view. The FBI letter to Higgins informed the congressman that “the FBI shares your concern about the risk associated with any leaks of law enforcement sensitive information” and that “the FBI has launched an investigation into ‘leakers’ inside the Bureau” because “leaks undermine the FBI’s mission as the nation’s premiere law enforcement institution in the nation and put our brave agents at risk.” FBI spokesman Ben Williamson declined to elaborate further on investigative details, but told Just the News that “we will continue to hold individuals spreading false information and undermining the FBI’s mission accountable, and we will work with Congress on these efforts.”

Higgins had sent a letter to Patel in late February informing him that his subcommittee “is investigating leaks of law enforcement sensitive information about complex targeted immigration enforcement actions” conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with assistance from the FBI and other agencies. Higgins added that “the leaked plans tipped off dangerous criminals about imminent law enforcement actions, enabling them to evade apprehension and perpetuate the threat they pose to national security and the American public.” Border Czar Tom Homan has confirmed that planned ICE operations have been leaked to targets of criminal deportation, including the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, which was designated a terrorist organization by the Trump administration.

Homan said on Fox News that he believes some of the leaks came from within the FBI. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently announced that the Department of Homeland Security has identified staffers who leaked information about ICE raids. The FBI’s latest letter to Higgins promised that “we will continue to aggressively pursue allegations of misconduct regarding FBI employees” and that “whenever the FBI uncovers any evidence of employee misconduct, there will be consequences.” “The FBI is working with the Department of Justice to determine if there is any information relevant to the subject of your letter,” the senior FBI official assured Higgins. “The FBI will continue to comply with any requests for further information from the Department of Justice on this subject.”

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Oh sure, nukes at Russia’s border.

• Vance Assesses Poland’s Nuke Request (RT)

US Vice President J.D. Vance has said he would be “shocked” if President Donald Trump supported the idea of American nuclear weapons being based in Poland. In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Vance was asked about Warsaw’s proposal to host US strategic missiles on its territory as a “deterrent against future Russian aggression.” “I haven’t talked to the president about that particular issue, but I would be shocked if he was supportive of nuclear weapons extending further east into Europe,” Vance said. Polish President Andrzej Duda has called on Washington to move some of its nuclear arsenal stored in Western Europe or the US to Poland, claiming on Thursday that he had discussed the idea with Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, according to the Financial Times.

The Polish president reportedly made a similar request to the Joe Biden administration in 2022, but it was never approved. Vance argued that while “people like Joe Biden” are “sleepily walking us into the nuclear conflict,” allowing Russians and Ukrainians to “bleed out,” Trump has engaged in “tough diplomacy,” enlisting his entire administration to settle the Ukraine conflict. Polish officials are reportedly calling for militarization to address the alleged threat posed by Moscow. Prime Minister Donald Tusk claimed earlier this month that Russia could launch a “full-scale operation” against a “larger” target than Ukraine within three to four years – which Moscow has repeatedly dismissed. Tusk argued that Poland must serve as a “bastion” to protect NATO’s eastern flank and should expand its military capabilities and double the size of its army to 500,000.

Russia has consistently denied allegations that it poses a military threat to European NATO nations. President Vladimir Putin has dismissed such claims as “nonsense,” accusing EU leaders of using them to instill fear among their populations and justify increased military spending. Calls for higher defense budgets within the EU, however, align with Trump’s push for European NATO members to take greater responsibility for their own security. At the same time, the US president has criticized the idea of an arms race and suggested that nuclear powers should get rid of their atomic arsenals.

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An autopen is for Hunter’s birthday card. Not for his pardon.

• Trump Reacts to Biden Autopen Controversy: ‘Who Was Signing All This Stuff?’ (DS)

Former President Joe Biden’s consistent use of an autopen e-signature during his presidency has become the talk of Washington, after a Heritage Oversight Project report called into question the validity and legal standing of Biden’s actions. An autopen, or signing machine, is a device that reproduces a signature without the signatory having to be present. “He signs by autopen,” said President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday. “Who was signing all this stuff by autopen? Who would think you’d sign important documents by autopen? You know, these are major documents … . Nobody’s ever heard of such a thing. So, it should have never happened.”

The Heritage Foundation’s report found that the vast majority of documents signed by Biden while in office employed an autopen. That includes Biden’s last-minute pardons of his family members, Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, and the members of the Jan. 6 Committee.

https://twitter.com/OversightPR/status/1899185791269810512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1899185791269810512%7Ctwgr%5Ee79aed3e8a9579214ef0152671c691dbf40c7350%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailysignal.com%2F2025%2F03%2F13%2Fwashington-reacts-biden-autopen-controversy-signing%2F

The report also found that some of the autopen-signed documents “pardoned six criminals (with the exact same autopen signature) while Joe Biden was vacationing and golfing in the U.S. Virgin Islands.” These documents all say that they were signed “at the city of Washington.” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, took to X, humorously writing, “Autopen autocrat … Delaware Despot … Rehoboth Robot.” Asked by The Daily Signal whether he found the report’s findings significant, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., replied, “I think it is. I don’t have all the information on it, but it’s—we all use autopens for different things, but to sign legislation, presidential executive orders, that type of thing, that’s troubling.”

Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., however, rejected the significance of the study. “That’s a pretty standard process in a lot of offices,” he said. But Mike Howell, executive director of Heritage’s Oversight Project, says that Biden’s consistent use of an autopen is far different than a senator using it. “No president has ever used the autopen so prolifically as President Biden,” Howell said. “We’re trying to figure out who was actually exercising the authority of the president. And it appears that the autopen was used as a device to hide the responsibility from the American people,” he said.

“It’s functionally and categorically different for a senator to use an autopen to send a thank-you note to the Girl Scouts than it is for a staffer at the White House to use the autopen instead of the president’s authority to sign a pardon.” Howell added: “Only the President of the United States can sign a pardon. And the question remains whether Biden even had the cognitive ability to delegate his signature authority. Additionally, whether it’s even legal to do that for documents that only the presidents can sign.” When asked, Howell said he’s hoping that this question is litigated in the courts. “Absolutely I am,” he said. “I think that the January 6th committee members and staff and Gen. Milley and others, they have some funky pardons that are about as valid as a three-dollar bill. And Congress and others … need to figure out who is actually the president over the last four years.”

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“Nothing will be as it was. A most wicked spell has been broken. What does it feel like to be able to think again?..”

• Spring’s Frightful Awakening (Kunstler)

In my quiet backwater of the Hudson Valley, an early spring drives all creation violently. The peaceful sleep of winter ends in twitches and spasms. The ground breaks open like one big egg and all living things emerge: green shafts of the crocus, scuttling sowbugs, slithering snakes, sleek garlic shoots, ‘possums in the compost bucket, ticks are back on the cat’s face, the ice in the river cracks in frightening booms, hungry songbirds infest the bare roadside lilacs, tiny voices trill darkly in the woods, a lone early moth in its first rapture of flight meets the pitiless windshield. You can feel it. The northern hemisphere of this planet shudders, rattles, and rolls into the most tumultuous spring in memory.

Everything is in play, turning, turning, while forgotten consequence rises on vengeful wings like an aggrieved god of yore. Nothing will be as it was. A most wicked spell has been broken. What does it feel like to be able to think again? Messrs Trump and Putin sincerely seek to end the age’s stupidest war in Europe’s dumbest country, while the European Union and its outlier Great Britain go ostentatiously more insane every week. They bethink themselves storybook conquerors out of some retrograde history written by gibbering globalists. Macron and Friedrich Merz propose a grand invasion of Russia, as if Napoleon and Hitler had never existed, and they aim to get it done on about three days’ worth of ammunition. You first, Emmanuel, Merz insists. Non, non, pas de tout, Macron demurs with a deep bow.

Keir Starmer, Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, and PM of an empire in late-stage sclerosis, does jumping jacks with pom-poms across the channel to cheer on France and Germany in their quixotic quest to conquer of Russia. “Go get’um lads!” he cries. Think of Sir Keir as a Monty Python archbishop as written by George Orwell under the direction of Franz Kafka — there’s what’s left of your jolly old England!

Meanwhile Ursula von der Leyen rehearses her part as the wannabe Joan of Arc in this political psychodrama. Her sweet grandmother’s face will smile placidly as the flames tickle her penitent’s robe. She was born for this. A million deracinated Congolese perform the twerk mazurka around her flaming pyre while the muezzins sing out the call to prayer from every minaret around Brussels. Her Hanoverian ancestors weep for Ursula through the mists of the centuries. Was Satan himself behind the contract she signed with Pfizer for as much as 4.6 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine at a cost of €71-billion? Where did the money come from and where exactly did it go, and what did Ursula finally have to show for it? The European Court of Auditors had a look at this tangled web and blew their lunches all over the rue Alcide De Gasperi in Luxembourg City. Snails, champignon, and shards of puff pastry on the ancient stone steps. A disgrace.

You are not compelled to understand all these occult machinations roiling Europe at the moment, except to see that the continent wants to turn itself into the world’s premiere slaughterhouse once again after a seventy-year hiatus from the exciting frolics of World War Two. Almost everyone who lived through that episode is dead now. The cultural memory has faded. Europe is sick of lollygagging in the café, nibbling effete palmier and tartelette. They apparently want to wade across the chilly Vistula River and race to the east, like berserkers, hacking off Slavic limbs and heads along the way.

No, it is not true that Donald Trump’s ancestors invented the trumpet, but shrill brassy notes resound all over America these days as his enemies ululate and rend their garments. Liz Warren is yelling from streetcorners like her head’s going to blow plumb off her shoulders. Randi Weingarten was keening on MSNBC like an oboe with a broken reed. The entire two month-long spectacle has been a musical extravaganza. The President and his sidekick, Elon, keep coming at the country’s resident blob-of-evil like pit-bulls on a pack of wild hogs. Shreds of bacon have been flying all over the Beltway. I could have told you years ago that the blob was mostly lard and little meat. Now you know. It’s a sight to behold for the ages.

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RFK

Snow deer

Multiply

Sunset

 

 

 

 

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Debt Rattle March 12 2025

Mar 122025
 
 March 12, 2025  Posted by at 10:56 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,  50 Responses »


James Ensor The intrigue 1890

 

• Ukraine Open To ‘Immediate’ 30-Day Ceasefire If Russia Agrees: State Dept (JTN)
• 30-Day Truce: US Lifts Pause On Intel & Military Aid To Ukraine (ZH)
• What Should Trump Do? (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Kremlin Warns Russians Not To See Trump Through ‘Rose-Colored Glasses’ (ZH)
• Trump Moves To His Primordial Objective – The Global Reset (Alastair Crooke)
• Ontario Caves to Trump on Tariffs (Margolis)
• Musk: DOGE Will Cut $1 TRILLION in Spending ‘Unless We’re Stopped’ (Green)
• USAID Staff Rush To Shred And Burn Documents (RT)
• Brace Yourselves: The Next Media BIG LIE Is About to Drop (Green)
• The Right is Being Shut Out of Government Across Europe (DS)
• Europe Seizing Russian FX Reserves Would Reset Global Financial System (Every)
• Macron’s Napoleon Cosplay Could Come At A Grave Cost (RT)
• The French Despite Clear Warning Brought The Camp of the Saints to France (PCR)
• Hungary Accuses Ukraine Of Threatening Its Sovereignty (RT)
• Trump Finds an Epic Way to Repurpose Biden’s CBP One App for Ilegals (Margolis)
• Judge Declines Bid to Force Federal Gov’t to Restore Foreign Aid Contracts (ET)
• Moscow Reproaches Western Media For Silence Over Gonzalo Lira’s Death (RT)

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/WallStreetApes/status/1899243456800973262

Miller

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1899640782702723406

Stew Peters

Alina
https://twitter.com/MAGAVoice/status/1899524695588036956

 

 

 

 

What Russia wants -at least- has been obvious forever. But Rubio has a meeting wih Ukraine and more or less tells Putin ‘take it or leave it’. Russia will not accept a short term or partial ceasefire that can be used to rearm Ukraine. Russia has the momentum. They will not squander it. Russian troops have died to achieve the present situation. Their memories will be honored.

• Ukraine Open To ‘Immediate’ 30-Day Ceasefire If Russia Agrees: State Dept (JTN)

Ukrainian diplomats signaled their willingness to agree to a 30-day preliminary ceasefire with Russia as part of their negotiations with American officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. “Ukraine expressed readiness to accept the U.S. proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire, which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties, and which is subject to acceptance and concurrent implementation by the Russian Federation,” the State Department said in a joint statement with Ukrainian officials, according to CBS News. “The United States will communicate to Russia that Russian reciprocity is the key to achieving peace,” they said. The United States also announced it would end a pause on military aid and intelligence sharing as a result of the talks.

After the negotiations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the effort a “concrete step” from Ukraine and expressed “hope that the Russians will reciprocate.” The Russians have not agreed to a ceasefire as of press time. They are unlikely to do so, however, without significant concessions, as the Russian army is currently making significant gains in the Kursk region against Ukrainian troops that occupied the border area. In the meantime, Russian offensives in Zaporizhzhia and the Donbas have posted modest gains in recent days and a spring offensive in expected to materialize soon.

https://twitter.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1899585186624675845

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All Ukraine troops must withdraw from Crimea and the four regions. There must be a signed (not by Zelensky!) document that says Ukraine will not be part of NATO. Only then can a truce maybe be considered.

• 30-Day Truce: US Lifts Pause On Intel & Military Aid To Ukraine (ZH)

An apparent breakthrough in Jedda talks between the US and Ukraine, as the United States has announced it “will immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine.” The Zelensky government has also “expressed readiness to accept the U.S. proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire, which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties, and which is subject to acceptance and concurrent implementation by the Russian Federation,” the statement said.

“The United States will communicate to Russia that Russian reciprocity is the key to achieving peace,” it added. This comes after a reported over eight hour-long meeting between the US and Ukrainian delegations in the Saudi port city on Tuesday. No doubt, the Ukrainians came hat in hand, ready to please Trump after relations had fallen off a cliff with the Zelensky Oval Office confrontation earlier this month. Shortly before the announced US-Ukraine agreement for a 30-day ceasefire, a TASS headline said that the Kremlin has no information on any details coming out of the Jeddah meeting.

But will Putin agree? There’s as yet little incentive for him to enact a temporary ceasefire, given as Trump recently admitted… he has all the cards (and Zelensky doesn’t). By all accounts the Russians are fast taking back territory in Kursk and advancing along front lines in the Donbas. Likely Russia fears that Kiev could simply use this ceasefire as an opportunity to rearm, rest, resupply and regroup – especially given Washington just said the US arms and intel pipeline is back on. Moscow is likely to see this is simply a matter between Washington and Kiev, and it appears to be a version of Zelensky’s ‘partial ceasefire’ which demands a halt to all air assaults.

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“Trump should immediately remove all sanctions, not only against Russia but against every country. This will boost the dollar’s role as the international medium of exchange, save the basis of American power, and reassure the Kremlin that the Cold War is indeed over.”

• What Should Trump Do? (Paul Craig Roberts)

Trump should end America’s unconditional support of Israel. To enable genoide with weapons, money, and diplomatic cover is not making America great. If under Trump Israel maintains or increases its determination of US policy at home and abroad, it is Israel, not America, that will be made great. Is that Trump’s role, to make Israel great? American Christian Zionists, none of whom are Christians as they worship Israel, not Christ, say yes. The position of Christian Zionists is that God’s purpose for America is to protect Israeli Zionism. As so many of these are MAGA Americans, who really rules America? Trump or Israel? What should Trump do about Ukraine? To end the conflict Trump doesn’t need to be holding meetings and talking about meetings with Putin, Zelensky, EU or anyone. It is extremely simple for Trump to end the conflict as far as the US is concerned.

All he has to do is to make the hold he has put on delivery of weapons permanent and withdraw all US operatives in the proxy conflict with Russia. Without the US supplying weapons, intelligence, targeting information and money to keep the conflict alive, the conflict will quickly end.This is what Trump needs to tell Putin: “I know Washington is responsible for this conflict. I am withdrawing Washington’s participation. The conflict would not have happened if the Democrats had not stolen the 2020 election. I am cancelling the sanctions. I will be accused by the Democrats and the presstitutes of selling out Ukraine to you. Your job is to be merciful to Ukraine. As the US is responsible for the conflict, the US will help you to rebuild a demilitarized Ukraine in which economic advancement takes precedent over war. You must not fail my good intentions, or the Cold War will resume.”

Can Trump do this? Or is Trump compelled by anti-Russian propaganda to force some form of submission from Putin as a demonstration of American power? If Trump can do what is required, Zelensky will then have to deal with Putin. After all, what has it to do with us? If the Europeans want to line up with a loser, let them. There is no reason for Trump, whom they hate, to rescue the Europeans. To demonstrate to Putin that the US proxy war with Russia, started by Zionist Neoconservatives, is over, Trump should immediately remove all sanctions, not only against Russia but against every country. This will boost the dollar’s role as the international medium of exchange, save the basis of American power, and reassure the Kremlin that the Cold War is indeed over.

Trump should get off China’s back. It is not China’s fault that Wall Street drove American manufacturing jobs offshore to China and to other parts of Asia and Mexico. This was the greed for profits by lowering labor costs by leaving the American manufacturing working class without remunerative employment and our former manufacturing cities without a tax base. This is what Wall Street and the corporations did to America. Is it Trump’s role to protect these American adversaries by blaming China? It has never been clear what Trump wants from China. He should tells us so that we can assess his intention. As China has jurisdiction over a large segment of US manufacturing which is situated in China, it makes little sense to provoke confrontation with China.

It is Wall Street and the greedy self-serving corporate executives and boards who received huge renumeration for offshoring the jobs of the working class. When the products of the offshored jobs come back to the US to be marketed, they come in as imports. It is the offshored production of American corporations that is the cause of the trade deficit with China. It is not the fault of China. Why is Trump picking on the wrong source of the problem? If people in the Trump administration are deceiving Trump about this, he had best replace them. Being great has moral meaning. It does not suffice to be successful in business, to make successful deals, to avoid wars. To be great you have to stand up for Truth. You have to stand up for Justice. You have to stand up for the US Constitution.

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“..Moscow is signaling it is not in a hurry – and won’t be rushing to the negotiating table just because Trump wants it.”

• Kremlin Warns Russians Not To See Trump Through ‘Rose-Colored Glasses’ (ZH)

Earlier in the Trump presidency, and especially as his spat with Ukraine’s Zelensky played out more directly and out in the open, Russian media and Kremlin officials seemed almost gleeful. A slew of positive statements agreeing with Trump were issued from Moscow – for example enthusiastically backing Trump’s words that Zelensky is a “dictator without elections”. But it seems Russian leadership wants to pull in the reigns a bit on its generally positive Trump commentary, as intense negotiations for peace settlement in Ukraine are anticipated. On Tuesday the Kremlin warned the Russian public against viewing President Donald Trump and his recent actions related to Ukraine through “rose-tinted glasses”.

This is in most immediate reference to the drastic actions of Trump cutting off military aid to Kiev, as well as most intelligence-sharing, which shocked and angered Western allies. Peskov issued the caution about not getting overly excited in remarks given before an audience of Moscow’s Higher School of Economics. “Don’t rush to put on rose-tinted glasses,” Peskov said. “We always need to hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst. And we must always be ready to defend our interests.” He also referenced people getting too prematurely eager over this week’s reports that Elon Musk could cut off the Ukrainian military from his Starlink communications system. This was after a fierce online clash with Poland’s outspoken foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski, which also drew in Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

But by the end of that brief online spat, Musk pledged, “To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals.””I am simply stating that, without Starlink, the Ukrainian lines would collapse, as the Russians can jam all other communications! We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip,” he explained. This was an example Peskov provided to his audience as to why caution is needed with the American side in any future negotiations to end the war. The Putin spokesman stressed that Russia will achieve its war aims no matter what Washington demands:

Peskov said Russia was achieving its aims on the battlefield in Ukraine, regardless of what decisions the U.S. was taking. He said the amount of weapons circulating in Ukraine was so large that Kyiv had enough to keep fighting for many months despite the suspension of U.S. deliveries. All of this seems like Moscow is signaling it is not in a hurry – and won’t be rushing to the negotiating table just because Trump wants it. Each side is of course trying to maintain as much leverage as possible before any talks begin in earnest. Thus clearly Russian officials don’t want appear too ‘enthused’ about Trump and the concessions he might press the Ukrainian government to make.

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“The Maga Right has none of the inhibitions of its predecessors. It is planning to leverage the power of a recaptured state to annihilate its enemies..”

• Trump Moves To His Primordial Objective – The Global Reset (Alastair Crooke)

President Trump wants Ukraine settled, full stop. This is so that he can move ahead quickly – to normalise with Russia, and begin the ‘big picture’ project of setting a new World Order, one that will end wars and facilitate business ties. The point here – which Europe feigns to not understand – is that the end to the Ukraine conflict simply is Trump’s ‘gateway’ to the entire rationale and platform on which he stood: The Great Reset of the Geo-Political landscape. Ukraine, simply said, is the obstacle to Trump’s pursuit of his primordial objective: The Global Reset. Starmer, Macron and the eastern wing of the Euro-élites are blind to the sheer scale of the global vibe-shift towards traditionalist U.S. politics and ethics. They miss too, the barely concealed fury in the Trump world that exists behind this nascent revolution.

“The Maga Right has none of the inhibitions of its predecessors. It is planning to leverage the power of a recaptured state to annihilate its enemies”, Allister Heath writes. The European Ruling Class is in desperate trouble and increasingly isolated, in a world shifting ‘Rightward’ at breakneck speed. “The U.S. is now the enemy of the West”, the FT proclaims. European leaders wantonly won’t understand. The reality is that the U.S. is engaged now in rolling up Europe’s foreign policy. And, is about to start exporting U.S. traditional Republican values to roll up the European wokeist belief-system. The European Ruling strata – far removed from its base – has failed to grasp the threat to its own interests (a scenario outlined here). The Trump administration is trying to rebuild the ailing Republic, and Americans in this new era do not care for the European obsession with ancient feuds and their entailing wars.

Trump reportedly views with utter disdain the UK and European boast that should the U.S. not do it, then Europe will. The Brussels class claims to be able still – after three years of losing in Ukraine – to be able to inflict a humiliating defeat on President Putin. More profoundly, however, Team Trump – committed to the task of taking down the American Deep State as the ‘inexorable enemy’ – perceives (rightly) the British security state to be co-joined at the hip with their American counterparts, as a part of its global meta-structure. And its oldest and deepest component has always been the destruction of Russia, and its dismemberment. So when Macron, in an address to the nation this week, rejected a ceasefire in Ukraine and declared that “peace in Europe is only possible with a weakened Russia”, calling the country a direct threat to France and the continent, many in ‘Trump world’ will interpret this defiant declaration (that ‘Ukraine defeating Russia is preferable to ‘peace’’) is nothing more than Macron and Starmer ventriloquising the aims of the Meta Deep State.

This notion is lent substance by the sudden plethora of articles appearing in the European-(managed) MSM to the effect that Russia’s economy is much weaker than it appears and might collapse in the next year. Of course it is nonsense. This is about managing the European public to believe that keeping the war going in Ukraine is a ‘good idea’. The absurdity of the European position was perhaps best captured, as Wolfgang Münchau notes, in its full hubris last year by the historian and writer Anne Applebaum when she won a prestigious German peace prize. During her acceptance speech, she maintained that victory was more important than peace, asserting that the West’s ultimate goal should be regime change in Russia: “We must help Ukrainians achieve victory, and not only for the sake of Ukraine,” she said.

Zelensky and his European fans want ‘to negotiate’ – though later, rather than sooner (perhaps in a year, as one European Foreign Minister reportedly told Marco Rubio privately). “This”, Münchau writes, “is what the very public disagreement in the Oval Office [last week] was all about. Peace through untrammelled victory — essentially the Second World War model — as the lens through which virtually all European leaders, and most commentators view the Russia-Ukraine conflict”. America sees things differently: It views almost certainly the European Deep State to be putting a spoke into Trump’s ‘normalisation with Russia’ wheel – a normalisation to which they are viscerally opposed.

Or, at the very least, as the Europeans chasing a “mirage that no longer exists, stubbornly hiking ‘tax and spend’, whilst doubling down on mass immigration and overpriced energy, oblivious to the flashing red lights in the [financial markets] as government debt yields rocket to their highest levels since 1998”, as Allister Heath outlines. In other words, the suggestion is that Friedrich Merz, Macron and Starmer are talking about how they are going to turn around their countries – via a massive infusion of debt – into defence superstates. Yet, at some level of consciousness, they must realise that it is not doable, so they settle instead for presenting themselves as ‘world leaders on the international stage’.

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“Also, Canada must immediately drop their Anti-American Farmer Tariff of 250% to 390% on various U.S. dairy products..”

• Ontario Caves to Trump on Tariffs (Margolis)

Let me tell you what winning looks like. While the liberal media was busy predicting economic catastrophe from President Trump’s latest tariff moves, Canada just blinked — and blinked hard. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who thought he could play hardball with America by slapping a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to Michigan, New York, and Minnesota, just got a swift lesson in real negotiation. “Canada is a Tariff abuser, and always has been, but the United States is not going to be subsidizing Canada any longer,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social Monday evening. “We don’t need your Cars, we don’t need your Lumber, we don’t [need] your Energy, and very soon, you will find that out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” And then, Ontario responded by placing a 25% tariff on electricity coming into the United States, but Trump didn’t blink:

“I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to add an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. This will go into effect TOMORROW MORNING, March 12th. Also, Canada must immediately drop their Anti-American Farmer Tariff of 250% to 390% on various U.S. dairy products, which has long been considered outrageous. I will shortly be declaring a National Emergency on Electricity within the threatened area. This will allow the U.S to quickly do what has to be done to alleviate this abusive threat from Canada. If other egregious, long time Tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada, I will substantially increase, on April 2nd, the Tariffs on Cars coming into the U.S. which will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada.”

After Trump threatened to double existing tariffs on Canadian goods and announced a new 25% tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum, Ford’s tough-guy act fell faster than Joe Biden on the steps to Air Force One. “Today, United States Secretary of Commerce [Howard Lutnick] and Premier of Ontario Doug Ford had a productive conversation about the economic relationship between the United States and Canada,” the pair said in a joint statement Ford shared on X. Secretary Lutnick agreed to officially meet with Premier Ford in Washington on Thursday, March 13 alongside the United States Trade Representative to discuss a renewed USMCA ahead of the April 2 reciprocal tariff deadline. In response, Ontario agreed to suspend its 25 per cent surcharge on exports of electricity to Michigan, New York and Minnesota.

The lesson here is simple: America First works. While Biden spent years letting everyone walk all over us, Trump is back to showing the world what real leadership looks like. Canada’s quick surrender proves what conservatives have always known — strength gets respect, and respect gets results. Whether Canada will budge on tariffs remains to be seen, but Trump showed who has the upper hand in these negotiations because Ontario quickly caved. The economic relationship between the U.S. and Canada might be facing a test, but with Trump at the helm, there’s no doubt who’s going to come out on top. That’s what making America great again looks like in real time, folks.

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“If Musk and the DOGE boys can cut a trillion dollars of funny money out of 2025 spending, they’ll gut most of the inflation, too.”

• Musk: DOGE Will Cut $1 TRILLION in Spending ‘Unless We’re Stopped’ (Green)

Earlier today I had to share the bad news about the economy. Now it’s time for the good news. Savings generated by DOGE during the first two months of Trump 47 “exceed $4 billion per day,” Musk told Fox News on Monday afternoon. He also said he and his team will achieve $1 TRILLION in savings “unless we’re stopped.” Hang on to that last line for a moment while I tell you why that big number is a very big deal. Aside, of course, from the outrageous bigness of a one followed by 12 zeroes. Going into this DOGE thing shortly after Trump’s re-inauguration, Musk laid out just how much work there was to do and how difficult it would be to achieve his goal of cutting our [dr_evil_voice] TWO TRILLION DOLLAR [/dr_evil_voice] deficit in half. “Reducing the federal deficit from $2T to $1T in FY2026,” Musk explained back in January, “requires cutting an average of ~$4B/day in projected 2026 spending from now to Sept 30.”

In the last seven-plus weeks, DOGE has exceeded its seemingly impossible goal, though only barely. This is maybe the best news you’ll read all week, even though the legacy dinosaur media insists that it’s all doom and gloom and starving uneducated children who can no longer get their nads hacked off at taxpayer expense. Not to get too deep into the weeds, but cutting [dr_evil_voice] ONE TRILLION DOLLARS [/dr_evil_voice] wasn’t some nice-sounding number picked at random. I’ll keep this as brief and light as I know how. Prices rise and fall all the time according to changing market conditions. But inflation is special. It’s when the government prints additional dollars faster than the economy grows extra value. More dollar bills chasing around the same amount of goods and services causes a rapid and general increase in the price of everything, AKA inflation.

So far, so good? Barring a recession, the economy is expected to grow by about 2.2% this year — a roughly $638 billion increase in the size of the economy. Barring DOGE cuts, Washington is expected to borrow [dr_evil_voice] TWO TRILLION DOLLARS [/dr_evil_voice]. That’s inflationary funny money printed up out of nowhere. Again, roughly speaking, the difference between those two yuge figures is the inflation we’ll suffer. If Musk and the DOGE boys can cut a trillion dollars of funny money out of 2025 spending, they’ll gut most of the inflation, too. They might even get us under the 2% inflation that the Fed targets because the Powers That Be — the ones who politically benefit from spending money we don’t have — long ago decided that 2% annual inflation is good for us, ackshully. But that’s a discussion for another day.

Back to today’s news: DOGE cutting $4 billion a day “would still result in a ~$1T deficit,” Musk said several weeks ago, “but economic growth should be able to match that number, which would mean no inflation in 2026.” A trillion dollars in growth looks unlikely this year but that’s something I’d dearly love to be wrong about. The point is that there is a trillion dollars at stake, “unless we’re stopped,” as Musk put it Monday, and people have been murdered for a lot less than a trillion dollars.

https://twitter.com/joeroganhq/status/1899254896081469715

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“The acting executive secretary of the US Agency for International Development”.. should do some stiff jail time.

• USAID Staff Rush To Shred And Burn Documents (RT)

The acting executive secretary of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Erica Carr, has directed remaining staff to destroy sensitive documents stored at the agency’s former headquarters in Washington, DC, according to an internal email. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who leads the recently established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), have repeatedly accused USAID – the primary US agency for funding political projects abroad – of misusing taxpayer money and fostering corruption. As part of broader efforts to cut federal spending, the agency was forced to lay off 2,000 employees and place most of the remaining staff on leave. In an email first obtained by ProPublica,

Carr instructed the remaining staff to convene on Tuesday for an “all-day” effort to clear out classified safes and personnel documents at the Ronald Reagan Building. She advised employees to prioritize shredding documents and to use burn bags sparingly. “Shred as many documents as possible first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break,” the email read. “The only labeling required on the burn bags is the phrase ‘SECRET’ and ‘USAID/(B/IO)’ in dark Sharpie if possible. If you need additional burn bags or Sharpie markers, please let me or the SEC InfoSec team know.”

The email did not specify a reason for the destruction of the documents. However, the building is being vacated following mass layoffs, as US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently rented 390,000 square feet of office space in the facility. The directive has raised concerns among former USAID staff and legal experts, who argue that it could violate federal record-keeping laws and potentially hinder ongoing lawsuits challenging the agency’s restructuring. “Destruction of evidence is a crime,” Musk wrote on X in response to reports of the latest document purge. The billionaire previously called USAID a “criminal organization,” while Trump has claimed it was mismanaged by “radical lunatics.”

The handling of documents at USAID has already been under scrutiny. Last month, two of the agency’s security officials were placed on administrative leave after allegedly refusing to grant a team of DOGE auditors access to classified materials. The Trump administration plans to eliminate 90% of USAID contracts, amounting to $54 billion, AP reported last month, citing an internal White House memo and court filings. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has also had its government funding frozen. Although officially a US State Department-funded nonprofit that distributes grants to pro-democracy initiatives abroad, the NED has long faced allegations of acting as a CIA front for regime change operations.

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“All of our “growth” for the last five years is due to unsustainable deficits that will haunt generations of Americans yet to be born..”

• Brace Yourselves: The Next Media BIG LIE Is About to Drop (Green)

Before I tell you about the legacy dinosaur media’s next BIG LIE, I need to show you how they’ll sell it. It starts, as these things always do, with the Left attempting to control the language to alter your perceptions about how the economy performed under Presidentish Joe Biden and will perform under President Donald Trump. We might be done with Biden but he isn’t done with us, as you’re about to see. There was a recession in late 2021/early 2022, commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of economic shrinkage. Except the “non-partisan” National Bureau of Economic Research decided to change the commonly understood definition. In 2022, wouldn’t you know, it turned out that “many factors go into that calculation,” and that the Biden recession wasn’t a recession at all when you looked at the “many factors” that nobody had ever looked at before.

The White House got into the game, too, with the White House Council of Economic Advisors citing a “holistic look at the data,” instead of playing by the established rules. The press played along and pretended the recession never happened. Convenient, eh? I’d also add that if you take away Biden’s monstrous budget deficits, any economic growth that happened on his watch was an illusion. We entered a government-engineered recession during the lockdowns of 2020 and, thanks to epic economic mismanagement under Biden, we never left it. Budget deficits are a drag on future growth and should be subtracted from our GDP figures. But the same government that spends more than it takes in — currently by trillions of dollars — pretends that deficits are growth and, again, the press plays along. So convenient.

Private sector jobs and wages stagnated under Biden because everything was driven by Big Government and sold to you by Big Media. It was a helluva party that Biden threw for his well-connected buddies. Now comes the hangover, and some on the Left already have a word for the recession that hasn’t happened yet: Trumpcession. Assuming we do end up with a recession, they’ll probably call it the Trump Depression or something along those lines. I might be exaggerating but not by much. During the 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton claimed that President George H.W. Bush gave us “the worst economy since the Great Depression,” even though the 1991 recession was mild, short-lived, and over for a year before Clinton won the Democrat nomination.

The press helped him get away with it, too. The conveniences keep piling up. Here are the facts, as dreadful as they are. All of our “growth” for the last five years is due to unsustainable deficits that will haunt generations of Americans yet to be born. Economic decisions are increasingly driven by growth-killing mandates and regulations imposed by Biden and the Democrats during 2021-2022. Consumer spending is driven in large part by cheap imports from a country that hates us.

Getting over our addiction to new debt will be painful. Undoing the Biden regulatory binge comes with political risks that some so-called Republicans in Congress refuse to take. Homeshoring — or at least friendshoring — comes with the shock and pain of tariffs. The last time a new president faced an economic crisis like this one was Ronald Reagan in 1981. The recession he engineered with Fed Chair Paul Volcker that year genuinely was one of the worst since the Great Depression, but it was the price that had to be paid to wring Johnson/Nixon/Carter stagflation out of the system. It was a helluva risk they took but it paid off with 20 years of almost uninterrupted and unprecedented growth. So hang on tight because the so-called Trumpcession is in reality the final price to be paid for four years of Joe Biden.

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“Right” has become the equivalent of “far right” and “extreme right”. Simply a convenient -because often legal- way to get rid of normal right wing opposition. Incoming train wreck.

• The Right is Being Shut Out of Government Across Europe (DS)

Right-wing politicians are being shut out of Government across Europe, says Gavin Mortimer in the Spectator, as so-called ‘progressive’ elites in politics and the judiciary effectively rig what are supposed to be democratic elections. Here’s an excerpt. “Alarm grew as opinion polls indicated [Calin] Georgescu would win the second round [of Romania’s Presidential election]. Something had to be done, and it was. A couple of days before the decisive vote, Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the first round because of alleged Russian interference. The court had perused some declassified intelligence documents that claimed 800 TikTok accounts had been activated shortly before polls opened. There was no evidence of voting irregularities in the election itself but the fact Russia had been active on social media was enough for the court to intervene.

At the time, Georgescu likened himself to Donald Trump: an anti-system candidate who was the target of Establishment ‘lawfare’. The Trump administration has subsequently cited Georgescu as an example of the EU’s creeping illiberalism. In a speech at last month’s Munich Security Conference, Vice-President J.D. Vance expressed his astonishment “that a former European Commissioner went on television recently and sounded delighted that the Romanian Government had just annulled an entire election… these cavalier statements are shocking to American ears”. The Commissioner in question was Frenchman Thierry Breton, who in a television interview in January boasted that “We did it in Romania and we will obviously do it in Germany if necessary”. He was referring to the upcoming German election and the possibility that the Right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) might win.

As it turned out, simply annulling Romania’s Presidential election didn’t derail the Georgescu bandwagon. Quite the opposite. He picked up momentum and polls showed that he would romp to victory in May’s re-run election. As I predicted in January, Romania’s elite wouldn’t allow this to happen. And they haven’t. At the end of February, Georgescu was detained by police as he drove through Bucharest to file his candidacy in the election. He was indicted on six counts, among them false funding sources and false information in his last campaign. He was also barred from leaving the country and creating any new social media accounts. Now he is barred from standing for President, a decision he has called a “direct blow to the heart of democracy worldwide”.

It’s part of a disturbing illiberal pattern, says Gavin. In Germany, the AfD came second on 20% of the vote but has been shut out of Government in favour of the Left-wing Social Democrats, despite having had their worst performance since 1945. In Austria, the anti-immigration Freedom Party won the election last October but still finds itself shunned by the other parties who have colluded to keep it side-lined. And in France on March 31st a court will rule whether Marine Le Pen will be barred from office for five years over a charge of “misusing EU funds”. This doesn’t end well. The issues that these politicians represent – and simmering public anger about them – obviously aren’t going away, least of all while Left-wing parties cling to power despite losing elections and refuse to address them.

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“An economy that ‘must’ grow at 5%, and via more supply, not demand, necessarily makes too much, exports it, and… dominates global supply chains..”

• Europe Seizing Russian FX Reserves Would Reset Global Financial System (Every)

Yesterday saw the Nikkei -2.2%, the Dax -1.7%, the S&P -2.7%, and the Nasdaq –3.8%, while the US Treasury 10-year yield the White House is now focused on was -5bp to 4.16%. As the headlines put it, markets were “swooning”, first on China drifting back to deflation, then on President Trump’s comments that refused to rule out a US recession. Frankly, that commentary managed to be both very shallow and deeply myopic at the same time. China is “struggling” with deflation due to mercantilism. An economy that ‘must’ grow at 5%, and via more supply, not demand, necessarily makes too much, exports it, and… dominates global supply chains. Many Western economies could do with that right now – as Trump implied.

He made clear he wants to reset the US, and by extension, global economy: “I hate to predict things like [a recession]. There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America. That’s a big thing. And there are always periods of – it takes a little time… But I think it should be great for us… What I have to do is build a strong country… You can’t really watch the stock market. If you look at China, they have a 100-year perspective. We go by quarters. And you can’t go by that. You have to do what’s right.” Vice-President Vance put the same thing another way: “President Trump’s economic policies are simple: if you invest in and create jobs in America, you’ll be rewarded. We’ll lower regulations and reduce taxes. But if you build outside of the US, you’re on your own.”

Markets, which presumed Trump 2 would retain Trump 1’s monomania for stocks, just want what’s right for them. However, anyone who thought shifting the US to production-based mercantilism from asset-based financialisation via economic statecraft over economic policy could be done without assets falling didn’t understand either ‘ism’, or statecraft. Hence the sell-off. Of course, this attempted US reset could go horribly wrong; or right. Either way, markets will be dragged along behind it. We are also seeing a matching US global foreign policy reset via political statecraft:

The US and Ukraine are to meet in Saudi Arabia today to discuss ending that war, as Senator Graham threatens to sanction Russia aggressively if they don’t come to the table; the US wants a deal, not war between Israel and Hamas, and it, not Israel, is now seen in charge of hostage negotiations and the end game; the US is also getting tougher on Iranian oil, as the Houthis reportedly get ready to attack things again; Trump seems set for a June ‘two birthdays’ summit with China’s Xi despite the escalating trade war; and the FT’s Gideon Rachman claims Trump is “Making Europe Great Again” after decrying all the actions that led to that outcome.

Again, this attempted US reset could go horribly wrong; or right. Either way, markets will be dragged along behind it. So, do try to keep up. Moscow is now blaming the UK for instigating global wars – a Russian obsession and a good way not to blame the US, helping build détente, perhaps. However, that flatters the UK as much as recent comparisons between PM Starmer and Churchill. The looming UK Strategic Defence Review (SDR) reportedly states the military is so weak after 25 years of hollowing out that it will take ten years to become “match fit”, and require “much more” investment, and “industrial policy” to onshore production, tech, and jobs, as well as a recommendation this is done without the US. Oddly for military thinkers, the SDR seems to assume an economics-style static backdrop when it will be dynamic and antagonistic.

What if Russia, China, or even the US make the UK’s “industrial policy” or military decoupling more difficult and expensive via grey-zone sabotage, supply chain ‘shocks’, or economic statecraft countermeasures? At the very least, anyone thinking “much more” investment was covered by the recent policy shift away from foreign aid to defence spending, or that this is going to take only ten years, or that the government has a shovel-ready plan for military protectionism to allow it to happen is likely mistaken. The same applies to Europe: will the new “four-year” loosening of the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact, or the 1.5 percentage points of GDP, be all we get as it rearms? Half a Euro tank or a Euro combat aircraft to replace US systems like the F-35 for fear of built-in ‘kill switches’ –so requiring even more complex new supply chains to be built from scratch, and economies of scale, i.e., larger orders, to make it affordable– is no use to Europe at all.

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“France has been eyeing a defense spending boost for a while now – because nothing says sophisticated economic strategy like just cranking out piles of missiles..”

• Macron’s Napoleon Cosplay Could Come At A Grave Cost (RT)

French President Emmanuel Macron is currently completely absorbed in cosplaying Napoleon, leading the charge to put French and European boots on the ground on Ukraine’s side against the Russians. His costume needs to be taken in for resizing – downward. Sharing the stage with “Dollar General Napoleon” is British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the role of “Wish Wellington.” This sweatshop mail order version of the legendary British Duke of Wellington and military strategist sounds like he was knocked around and damaged during the shipping process, and has been keen to use his predecessor’s Iraq War tagline of a “coalition of the willing” for marketing purposes. Because that worked out so great the first time that reminding people of it will surely make them want to have yet another go. This time against Russia.

“Wish Wellington” seems rather keen to repeat the logistic challenges of the actual Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War of 1807 to 1814 in Spain and Portugal. Only this time the modern-day Napoleon knock-off would be fighting beside him rather than against him. Good luck stretching your logistics to Ukraine for battle when your stated opponent only has to travel from right next door.Macron doesn’t want to go in right away though, he says. He needs for everyone to stop fighting for a bit first – a month to be precise – so the French and Brits and their posse can safely get to the VIP room with the bar service without having to worry about getting mixed up with guys throwing punches in Club Ukraine. Macron has since explained that the French wouldn’t be on the front line, but would be hanging out to guarantee “peace” – by repeating the same NATO troop presence that sparked the conflict’s escalation in the first place.

So there’s no way they could possibly ever find themselves in the middle of punch-ups because Macron envisions that velvet rope separating his fantasy stage play from any real-life consequences remaining intact. A modern-day Maginot Line. In the meantime, he’s been taking to TV to tell French citizens, “Who can believe today that Russia would stop at Ukraine?” Well, the French, for one – 65% of whom currently oppose French troops in Ukraine, according to a new CSA Institute poll. Guess they don’t really see it as the pressing issue that Macron portrays. Neither do other EU members, apparently – contrary to their own hyperventilation on the issue. Why else would they have held their Ukraine defense summit in London and not ensured that the Baltics were there, if they were really that concerned about the EU’s frontline countries.

Obviously this is about something else. And one of those other things is trying to literally scare up as much taxpayer cash by fear-bombing their electorate, using the “Russian threat,” to boost their own industrial base. Germany’s economy has been in the dumps since 2022, but there’s nothing that now can’t be fixed with a trillion-euro blank check from the German taxpayer, as the top establishment parties on both the right and left now want – and a good excuse to have to transfer a big chunk of that cash to the country’s defense industry. Some analysts are saying that the plan could boost the country’s GDP by 2% – in the long run. And well, hey, even if it doesn’t, those responsible probably won’t be around when accountability comes knocking, anyway.

Meanwhile, France has been eyeing a defense spending boost for a while now – because nothing says sophisticated economic strategy like just cranking out piles of missiles. With French manufacturing about as sturdy as a baguette left out in the rain – declining output, sluggish new orders, and job cuts since 2023 – Reuters points to skyrocketing energy prices, fuel costs, and raw materials as the culprits. But hey, at least sticking it to Putin by messing with those things has totally, definitely worked… right? So who’s going to actually pay for all this? Sounds like the French government spokesperson already has an idea: dipping into the interest on French citizens’ savings. Pretty sure that people invest in savings so they can buy themselves nice things – not so Brigitte Macron’s former junior high school drama student can gear up for his “little emperor” era.

All this talk of war with Russia for peace has already sent European defense stocks through the roof. According to the Financial Times, Germany’s Rheinmetall is up 14%. A boost of 15% for France’s Thales and Italy’s Leonardo. BAE systems – 14%. Saab – 11%. Because nothing says ‘safety and security’ like a bunch of investors and establishment cronies getting rich off the backs of the average working stiff.

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“Why are Americans supporting an alien culture in Europe to the point of possibly having nuclear war with Russia, a law abiding Christian nation that protects its citizens?

• The French Despite Clear Warning Brought The Camp of the Saints to France (PCR)

France is dying. It is a piecemeal death. One business district at a time. One neighborhood at a time. A restaurant, a business, a theater, a hotel here and there. Each death so sad but survivable. But as the piecemeal deaths mount, they become an aggregate, and now France is dying. Jean Raspail warned the French in clear language in 1973 that the open borders acceptance of immigrant-invaders meant the death of France. Enoch Powell warned the British. It proved to be impossible to warn insouciant moronic populations imbued with racist guilt from decades of propagandistic indoctrination. Enoch Powell was denounced and Jean Raspail ignored. Marine Le Pen, the only politician in France who stands for the French people, seems headed to prison for stranding up for French ethnics against the immigrant-invaders.

The same destruction of nation is happening all over Europe, especially in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and the UK, countries in which the white ethnic female population has no protection against gang rape by immigrant invaders. White women are discouraged from reporting their gang rapes, because it is considered racist for a white to initiate action against a black. This is Europe today. A cultural dead zone or a rising new culture based on African and Muslim mores. All of my European and English friends tell me: “Don’t come back. It will break your heart. It is not like you remember it.” But still the tourists go. They are shown around the still safe areas and kept from seeing the encroaching barbarity. It is like a sponsored trip to Israel. You are not shown the bad stuff, only the good stuff. Trump is right. Europe is a basket case.

Why are Americans supporting an alien culture in Europe to the point of possibly having nuclear war with Russia, a law abiding Christian nation that protects its citizens? The United States should align with the rising powers–Russia and China–not with the decadent and declining countries, none of which are any longer ethnic nations, in Europe. European governments, who refuse to protect their women from immigrant-invaders, want instead to go to war with Russia. Well, Trump should let them. The war won’t last long, and we will be rid of Europe. Europe is dead just like the dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico or is it the Gulf of America where the Mississippi River dumps the chemical fertilizer runoff from commercial agribusiness and other pollutants. The United States has the same anti-Western intellectual class as Europe. How can Trump address our vulnerability from our internal enemies, which is where our vulnerability lies?

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“..an overnight drone strike on the Druzhba oil pipeline..”

• Hungary Accuses Ukraine Of Threatening Its Sovereignty (RT)

Hungary has accused Ukraine of threatening its sovereignty after Kiev launched an overnight drone strike on the Druzhba oil pipeline on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said shipments of Russian crude via the pipeline have been temporarily halted following the attack on a metering station. In a video posted on Facebook, Szijjarto stressed that the Druzhba pipeline is a critical component of Hungary’s energy infrastructure, pointing out that if it ceases to function, oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia would be “physically impossible.” “We consider these attacks against our energy infrastructure targeting Hungary to be unacceptable,” the foreign minister said. “Hungary’s energy supply is a matter of sovereignty and we expect everyone to respect this,” he added. Szijjarto noted that he had spoken to Russia’s deputy energy minister, who has assured him that crude oil deliveries will likely be resumed within the next 24 hours.

The diplomat recalled that Budapest had repeatedly raised the issue of the safety of its energy infrastructure multiple times in Brussels, and had been given assurances by the European Commission that there would be no attacks on such facilities. “Unfortunately, this is already the umpteenth time when the EC’s guarantee is violated,” Szijjarto pointed out. According to media reports, three Ukrainian fixed-wing drones attacked the Druzhba terminal in Bryansk Region on Tuesday night. No injuries were reported. The attack was part of a larger raid on Russia, which reportedly involved more than 340 UAVs, nearly a hundred of which were brought down near Moscow. The falling debris from the destroyed drones near the capital reportedly caused the death of at least three people, while over 20 civilians have been injured.

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“The CBP Home App gives aliens the option to leave now and self-deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream.”

• Trump Finds an Epic Way to Repurpose Biden’s CBP One App for Ilegals (Margolis)

The days of using government technology to roll out the welcome mat for illegal aliens are officially over. The Trump administration has just launched the CBP Home app, replacing Biden’s disastrous CBP One system that essentially served as a concierge service for illegal immigration. Remember how Biden used CBP One to usher in over a million illegal aliens? Those days are done. The new app has one crystal-clear message: It’s time to go home. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem didn’t mince words about the change. “The Biden Administration exploited the CBP One App to allow more than 1 million aliens to illegally enter the United States,” she declared. “With the launching of the CBP Home App, we are restoring integrity to our immigration system.”

The app’s primary feature is a “Submit Intent to Depart” function, which lets illegal aliens report their planned departure. It’s like an RSVP system for self-deportation. How sweet is that? It can also allow users to verify that they have left the United States. According to Fox News Digital, this feature is “limited to those who were paroled into the U.S.” Noem laid out the options in terms nobody can misunderstand: “The CBP Home App gives aliens the option to leave now and self-deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream. If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return.” The Trump administration isn’t just talking tough; it’s backing it up with action. On day one, Trump killed the parole function that Biden abused.

ICE has now expanded its authority to cancel existing parole statuses, and those previously cherished TPS extensions? Gone for many nationalities. Even domestic travel is getting a reality check. The CBP One system will now only help facilitate one kind of journey — the one that leads out of the country. Since Trump has taken office, border crossings have plummeted. Essentially, he secured the border in a matter of weeks. As President Trump told Congress with his characteristic directness, “The media and our friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation. ‘We must have legislation to secure the border.’ But it turned out that all we really needed was a new president.” This is a complete reversal of Biden’s open-borders disaster. While the Biden administration used technology to welcome illegal immigration, Trump is using it to restore law and order.

The automatic update of all existing CBP One apps to the new CBP Home version sends an unmistakable message: the Biden-era immigration free-for-all is over. The choice for illegal aliens is simple — leave voluntarily now and preserve the possibility of legal return or be deported and face permanent exclusion. This is what actual border security looks like. No endless processing of bogus asylum claims, no more humanitarian parole abuse, just straightforward enforcement of our immigration laws. It’s amazing what can happen when an administration actually wants to solve the border crisis instead of enabling it.

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Judges seeking to make policy; it is a peculiar sign of our times. Luckily, it’s not all of them.

• Judge Declines Bid to Force Federal Gov’t to Restore Foreign Aid Contracts (ET)

A federal judge on March 10 declined to compel President Donald Trump’s administration to restore foreign assistance contracts that it had canceled. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali said that Trump’s administration must spend money allocated by Congress on foreign aid, but that it is up to the Executive Branch as to which projects it funds with the money. “The separation of powers dictates only that the Executive follow Congress’s decision to spend funds, and both the Constitution and Congress’s laws have traditionally afforded the Executive discretion on how to spend within the constraints set by Congress,” Ali said in a 48-page ruling. “The appropriate remedy is accordingly to order Defendants to ’make available for obligation the full amount of funds Congress appropriated’ under the relevant laws.”

Officials have canceled about 9,900 of the 13,100 USAID and State Department agreements, according to court filings. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media this week that the canceled contracts “did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States.” The ruling came in response to a lawsuit from organizations that had agreements with the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) when Trump paused foreign aid spending to let the State Department review agreements to make sure they furthered his agenda. After Ali previously ruled that USAID and the State Department must fund contracts that predated the Trump administration but were paused under the freeze, the U.S. Supreme Court directed the judge to clarify which obligations the government must meet to comply with his order.

Ali set a March 10 deadline to issue payments to the organizations, while promising further instructions concerning groups that are not parties in the case. In the new ruling, Ali said that the Executive Branch unlawfully impounded congressionally appropriated foreign aid funds and ordered the Trump administration to pay committed funds for work completed before Feb. 13. The administration must pay nearly $2 billion in total, issuing around 300 payments a day until the organizations that had agreements with the government are recompensed for their work, the judge said.

Ali said that he concluded that government lawyers defending the withholding of foreign assistance funds, which were allocated by Congress, “offer an unbridled view of Executive power that the Supreme Court has consistently rejected—a view that flouts multiple statutes whose constitutionality is not in question.” However, he also said that courts are restrained in the relief they can offer in such disputes. “The Court must be careful that any relief it grants does not itself intrude on the prerogative of a coordinate branch,” he said. “The Court accordingly denies Plaintiffs’ proposed relief that would unnecessarily entangle the Court in supervision of discrete or ongoing Executive decisions, as well as relief that goes beyond what their claims allow.”

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“Has anyone else talked about Gonzalo Lira? An American journalist, He had a US passport. Has anyone talked about him besides Russia? Try to remember. Nobody did,”

• Moscow Reproaches Western Media For Silence Over Gonzalo Lira’s Death (RT)

The fact that only Moscow cared about the fate of US blogger Gonzalo Lira, who died in a Ukrainian prison last year, is a sign of the “deepest crisis” affecting the international bodies that are supposed to protect journalists, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. Lira, a Chilean-American citizen, passed away behind bars in Ukraine in January 2024, while awaiting trial for “systematically justifying the Russian aggression.” Zakharova recalled the ordeal of the US journalist during a conference on the development of modern media at the Moscow School of Economics (MSE) on Tuesday. “Has anyone else talked about Gonzalo Lira? An American journalist, He had a US passport. Has anyone talked about him besides Russia? Try to remember. Nobody did,” she insisted.

When asked about Lira’s incarceration, the White House and the US State Department replied with “strategic silence, generously paid for by USAID, an American agency that supposedly promotes international development. It is ridiculous,” the spokeswoman stressed.The international institutions that are supposed to protect journalists are currently in “the deepest crisis,” Zakharov said. “Waiting for them to resuscitate or for them to be resuscitated by someone else is unnecessary and useless” as Russia, which has “an amazing and diverse” journalistic community, has the potential to correct the situation on its own, she noted. Lira, who was married to a Ukrainian woman and had resided in the city of Kharkov since 2010, got in trouble with the Kiev authorities for his coverage of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on YouTube, which was critical of the government of Vladimir Zelensky.

The blogger, writer and filmmaker, who had Hollywood experience, was first detained by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in early 2022, but released after a week without any charges being pressed against him. Lira was arrested again in May 2023 and released on bail three months later; he claimed he’d been subjected to torture while in prison. He ended up in custody again in late July that year after jumping bail and attempting to flee the country to seek asylum in Hungary. At that time, his father, Gonzalo Lira Sr., suggested that the administration of then-President Joe Biden gave “at least tacit approval of Gonzalo’s arrest.” The journalist’s family later blamed Kiev for his death in prison. In February, US President Donald Trump’s close ally Elon Musk also claimed that Zelensky had “killed” the American journalist. When asked about Lira during a press conference last month, the Ukrainian leader replied: “I do not know this man. I never knew him.”

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Rogan98

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1899473449409552461

 

 

https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1899474006811537804

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle March 9 2025

Mar 092025
 
 March 9, 2025  Posted by at 11:06 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , ,  34 Responses »


Raphael The transfiguration 1520

 

• A New American Empire: Trump, Russia, and The End of Globalism (Kashin)
• U.S. Admits Ukraine Proxy War Defeat (SCF)
• Acute Dementia: Europe Declares War On Russia All Over Again (Pepe Escobar)
• Keir Starmer Is Ditching Zelensky To Avoid Trump Tariffs (Proud)
• UK Will Return Russian Money It Is ‘So Generously Giving Away’ – Moscow (RT)
• “NO DISSENT”: Trump Asks “All Republicans” To “Give Us A Few Months” (ZH)
• Federal Judge Denies Request to Block DOGE From Accessing Treasury Data (ET)
• Early ICE Arrests Are Below 5% Of Trump’s Target: Here’s Why (JTN)
• Something Huge for the MAHA Movement Is About To Happen (Margolis)
• The Media Can’t Hide This Trump Victory Forever (Margolis)
• US Pushing To Soften Anti-Russia Language In G7 Document (RT)
• Ukraine Loses Access To US Commercial Satellites (RT)
• Polish PM Plans To Double Size Of Army (RT)
• Ukraine’s Losses Mounting Due To US Intel Freeze (RT)
• Trump CDC to Probe Long-Rumored Vaccine-Autism Link (PJM)
• Bezos Ousts Bond Producers Over ‘Idiots’ Remark (RT)

 

 

 

 

Candy

Article 2
https://twitter.com/i/status/1898352472546070902

Sacks


https://twitter.com/i/status/1898216959038439807

Cards
https://twitter.com/i/status/1897995649330598293

Promises
https://twitter.com/i/status/1898058853033365678

 

 

 

 

Daylight time in the US, not for another 3 weeks here in Europe. Always throws me off.

 

 

“Since the late 1990s, the costs of maintaining global hegemony have exceeded the benefits..”

• A New American Empire: Trump, Russia, and The End of Globalism (Kashin)

Donald Trump’s return to the White House is shaping up to be nothing short of a political revolution. The new administration is rapidly dismantling the old order, purging the ruling elite, reshaping both domestic and foreign policy, and cementing changes that will be difficult to reverse – even if his opponents regain power in future elections. For Trump, as for all revolutionaries, the priority is to break the existing system and consolidate radical transformations. Many of the principles that guided US policy for decades – sometimes for over a century – are being deliberately discarded. Washington’s global strategy, long built on expansive military, diplomatic, and financial influence, is being rewritten to serve Trump’s domestic political needs.

The end of the American liberal empire For the past 100 years, the US has functioned as a global empire. Unlike traditional empires built on territorial expansion, the American empire extended its reach through financial dominance, military alliances, and ideological influence. This model, however, has become increasingly unsustainable. Since the late 1990s, the costs of maintaining global hegemony have exceeded the benefits, fueling discontent both at home and abroad. Trump and his allies seek to end this ‘liberal empire’ and return America to a more self-reliant, mercantilist model – one reminiscent of the late 19th and early 20th centuries under President William McKinley. Trump has openly praised this era, viewing it as the golden age of US prosperity, before the country took on the burdens of global leadership.

Under this vision, America will reduce unproductive foreign expenditures and refocus on its natural advantages: Vast resources, an advanced industrial base, and the world’s most valuable consumer market. Rather than policing the world, Washington will wield its economic power more aggressively to secure trade advantages. However, the transition to this model carries significant risks, particularly in a highly globalized economy.

A shift in global strategy Trump’s policies are driven by domestic concerns but will have major implications abroad. His administration is systematically dismantling key institutions of the old order, including those that irritated Moscow. For instance, USAID – a major vehicle for American influence in the post-Soviet space – has been gutted. Ironically, Trump had more motivation to destroy USAID than even Russian President Vladimir Putin, given that its resources had been repurposed for domestic political use by Trump’s rivals. If the US abandons its liberal empire model, many sources of tension with Russia will disappear. Historically, Moscow and Washington had relatively stable relations throughout the 19th century.

If Trump’s America reverts to a more isolationist approach, Russia will no longer be a primary target of US interference. The main friction point will likely be the Arctic, where both nations have strategic interests. China, however, remains Trump’s top adversary. Beijing’s state-led economic expansion is fundamentally at odds with Trump’s mercantilist vision. Unlike Biden, who sought to counter China through alliances, Trump is willing to go it alone – potentially weakening Western unity in the process. His administration is expected to escalate economic and technological warfare against Beijing, even if it means alienating European allies.

Europe’s strategic uncertainty One of Trump’s most disruptive moves has been his open hostility toward the EU. His vice president, J.D. Vance, recently delivered a speech in Munich that amounted to direct interference in European politics, signaling support for right-wing nationalist movements that challenge the EU’s authority. This shift is forcing Europe into an uncomfortable position. For years, China has viewed Western Europe as an ‘alternative West’ with which it could engage economically without the same level of confrontation it faces with the US. Trump’s approach could accelerate EU-Chinese ties, especially if Western European leaders feel abandoned by Washington.

There are already signs that European policymakers may loosen restrictions on Chinese investments, particularly in critical industries such as semiconductors. At the same time, the ambitions of some Europeans for NATO expansion into the Indo-Pacific may falter, as the bloc struggles to define its new role in a post-globalist US strategy. For years, Washington fantasized about splitting Russia and China apart. But Trump’s new approach is unlikely to achieve this goal. The Russia-China partnership is built on strong fundamentals: A massive shared border, complementary economies, and a shared interest in countering Western dominance.

If anything, the shifting geopolitical landscape could push Russia into a position similar to that of China in the early 2000s – focusing on economic development while maintaining strategic flexibility. Moscow may reduce its efforts to actively undermine the US and instead concentrate on strengthening its economic and security ties with Beijing. China, meanwhile, will bear the brunt of Trump’s new American empire. The US will no longer rely on alliances to contain Beijing but will use direct economic and military pressure. While this may make life more difficult for China, it does not necessarily mean the US will succeed. China has been preparing for economic decoupling for years, and Beijing may find opportunities in a more divided Western world.

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“European leaders are desperate. The about-turn in U.S. policy to walk away from the failed proxy war in Ukraine has left them holding a dead-end hand of cards..”

• U.S. Admits Ukraine Proxy War Defeat (SCF)

In an interview on Fox News this week, America’s top diplomat Marco Rubio made a damning admission. He called the conflict in Ukraine a proxy war between the United States, its NATO allies and Russia. Stop the press. In one fell swoop, the narrative justifying the NATO-backed war for the past three years was exposed as a naked lie. It is not about “defending Ukraine” from alleged Russian unprovoked aggression. It is a proxy war. That means it has deeper causes and responsibilities. This is what Moscow and many other international observers have been saying all along. To recognize the conflict as a proxy war is to begin admitting wider culpability for it and to start addressing the root causes for a genuine peaceful settlement.

Secretary of State Rubio went on to emphatically call for an end to the war to spare lives. He claimed the conflict was in a stalemate, not quite bringing himself to utter the word, “defeat”. But defeat is what this debacle is. Rubio decried how the previous Biden administration and Congress (including himself as a Senator) had fueled the conflict along with other NATO members in a futile campaign. It is now time to bring the conflict to an end, he said. Appropriately, the U.S. foreign minister appeared on television with a prominent Lenten cross of ash marked on his forehead. Christians around the world begin preparations for Easter by donning ashes as a sign of repentance. Rubio’s “confession” of a failed U.S. policy of proxy war against Russia in Ukraine may be seen as a belated recognition in Washington that it needs to cease, desist and make amends for peace.

Not so the European leaders, however, who this week persisted in their lies about a noble purpose in Ukraine. Following the humiliating rebuke of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky by U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office last week, the European politicians have been rallying their support for the Kiev regime. Trump aides ejected Zelensky from the White House last Friday because he testily refused to comply with a U.S. initiative for peace in Ukraine. This week, the chastened Zelensky wrote a letter to Trump appealing for forgiveness – and more U.S. military aid. It’s not clear if the Ukrainian redundant president has convinced the Trump administration that he is ready to sign a peace deal. In the meantime, the White House has now cut off military aid and intelligence sharing with the Kiev regime. Again, proving the reality of a proxy war.

That move has thrown the European allies into a quandary and existential crisis. It is a crisis of their own making. An emergency EU leaders’ summit was convened to drum up more military support for Ukraine. The EU 27 could not agree on a package because Hungary vetoed it. Another summit is to be called on March 20, when it is intended to bypass Hungarian objection to funding the war in Ukraine. European leaders are desperate. The about-turn in U.S. policy to walk away from the failed proxy war in Ukraine has left them holding a dead-end hand of cards. Rather than folding, they are doubling down on their worthless chips. Trump upbraided Zelensky in the Oval Office by telling him, “You don’t have the cards” to keep this war going. The same advice can be leveled at the European governments, including the British, who strangely have wormed their way back into calling shots in Europe despite exiting the bloc five years ago.

This war has been lost with appalling losses. Three years of the biggest war in Europe since World War Two has resulted in over one million deaths – mainly on the Ukrainian military side – and hundreds of billions of dollars and euros wasted, which the American and European public will pay over generations through debts. This war is an abominable crime perpetrated by Washington and its European allies. All the more so because it could have been avoided if Russian diplomatic efforts in late 2021 had been reciprocated to deal with Moscow’s legitimate security concerns over NATO’s expansion. But no, the Western imperialists wanted to strategically defeat Russia and they used a NeoNazi regime in Ukraine as their pawn following the CIA-backed coup in Kiev in 2014 against an elected president.

Western leaders must be held to account for their nefarious machinations and the colossal damage in Ukraine and Russia. Russian civilians have been killed by NATO weapons and over $300 billion in Russian assets have been confiscated. Russia has the right to seek massive war reparations. At least, to their credit, the Trump administration has realized that the evil of this fraudulent war must stop.

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“..the overwhelming majority of France would gladly agree that mini-Napoleon should be dispatched to the battlefields in the black soil of Novorossiya right away…”

• Acute Dementia: Europe Declares War On Russia All Over Again (Pepe Escobar)

Let’s start with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Road to Damascus moment: “Frankly, it’s a proxy war between nuclear powers, the United States helping Ukraine and Russia, and it needs to come to an end”. Now that’s a howler. Jeffrey Sachs to the rescue. Of course, the correct formulation would be “proxy war launched by the United States”. But still: Hallelujah! Such illumination – by proxy – from Heavens Above could never had hit the previous American Secretary of Genocide. Now cut to panic. Total European panic. Le Petit Roi, as popular in France as nighttime mosquitoes in a five-star beach resort, has declared that peace in Europe is only possible with a “tamed” Russia – and that Russia is a direct threat to France and Europe. On Ukraine, he pontificated that peace simply cannot take place under Russian terms or via the – inevitable – Ukrainian surrender.

Le breathless Petit Roi literally went nuclear. He stressed that France possesses a nuclear deterrent – and offered it to the rest of Europe, while insisting that Europe’s future should not be dictated by Moscow or Washington. Le Petit Roi napoleonically all but declared war on Russia. Well, the fact remains that the overwhelming majority of France would gladly agree that mini-Napoleon should be dispatched to the battlefields in the black soil of Novorossiya right away – where he would surrender in less than 5 minutes, waving a rainbow flag, as he realizes he’s about to be turned into an instant steak tartare. Now couple this Moliere farce with the fate of the much larger, fatter, pan-European New Model Woke Army regimented by the Fuhrerin SS von der Lugen out of Brussels, allegedly to be financed to the tune of 800 billion euros – money that no one has, and would have to be loaned then repaid with sky-high extorsion interest rates to the usual international financial system vultures.

SS von der Lugen insists Europe is in danger, so the solution is a massive expansion of the military-industrial complex – in practice, buying more overpriced American weapons – and “rearmament”. Talk about Gotterdammerung on crack. Were the New Model Woke Army ever come to light, surrender would also be a matter of less than 5 minutes – brandishing rainbow flags – as its woke warriors would face the dire prospect of being Oreshniked to a pile of charcoal grilled burgers. Add to it the Return of the Nord Stream Saga – with a new plot twist. Sy Hersh conclusively proved that the Nord Streams were bombed under orders of the previous Crash Test Dummy regime in Washington. Now Nord Stream 2, at least, could be back in business via a not-so-secret U.S.-Russia deal involving Gazprom and American oligarchs.

All that while fanatics in Berlin assure right and left they want to explore every possible way to prevent (italics mine) the Nord Stream system from being repaired – because after all no one, especially the new BlackRock chancellor, can deviate from the official policy of destroying the German economy by all means necessary. Compounding the Kafkaesque scenario, the Prime Minister of Denmark – which is on the brink of losing Greenland “one way or another” to Trump 2.0 – immortalized the words, “peace in Ukraine will be more dangerous than war.” The Polish Prime Minister did not miss a beat, adding that “Europe is stronger than Russia and capable of winning in any military, financial, or economic confrontation.” Europe is in such a “winning” streak now – as the record shows.

All this discombobulated Tower of Babel proves, without a shadow of a doubt, that Europe is geopolitically – and geoeconomically – dead and buried. No Teutonic Gods – complete with fat lady singin’ – will be able to resurrect it. The notion that Europe is able to pose a military threat to Russia does not even qualify as trashy propaganda for sub-zero IQs. It would take at least a decade to re-militarize Germany as its economy is moribund, serially stabbed by unmanageable energy costs. Russia for its part is protected from a possible nuclear attack by Le Petit Roi’s puny “umbrella” arsenal by the most sophisticated missile defenses in the world. The Aegis defensive missiles in Poland are relatively worthless – even if their prime danger to Russia remains that the system can be converted to handle offensive missiles. As a whole, the Aegis, Patriot, THAAD-PAC-3, SBIR-HIGH Ground Based Infrared Systems are all relatively useless.

Other than the U.S., NATO simply has no military worth. And Washington under Trump 2.0 simply will not be involved in the next European War. The U.S. has satellite systems for targeting but no one else in NATO has them. With the U.S. pulling out, and in the event of a hypothetical von der Lugen-led New Woke Army attack against Russia, Russian missiles can knock out all European ports, airports and manufacturing and energy systems in a day max – instantly returning Europe to the stone age. This applies to England, France, Germany, not to mention assorted chihuahuas: all of NATO. Russia can knock out all British power systems with Zircons launched from a conventional submarine. Stone Age, here we come. Russian hypersonic missiles cannot be intercepted.

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“..His Majesty King Charles II and President Trump are peers as Heads of State, and Prime Minister Starmer is a more junior Head of Government..”

• Keir Starmer Is Ditching Zelensky To Avoid Trump Tariffs (Proud)

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to Washington majored on an historic invitation for President Trump to make a second state visit to Britain. Despite considerable pre-visit hype among the UK mainstream media, Ukraine was barely mentioned. The cold truth is, Starmer is ditching Zelensky to avoid tariffs. The subtle art of diplomacy is often hard to fathom for the outsider. When Keir Starmer called on Donald Trump in the Oval Office on 27 February, there was an air of conviviality that belied what some considered to have been, hitherto, a difficult relationship. The set piece moment was the Prime Minster handing the President a letter from His Majesty, King Charles II. While it has attracted little comment, The King’s letter to President Trump was a diplomatic masterstroke. A section of the first page was captured by a photographer.

These were words crafted by His Majesty himself, with his distinct syntax, rather than written by an anonymous committee of officials in 10 Down Street. The preambular second paragraph appears to contain mere niceties about a possible Trump visit to Scotland, but it was so much more. Donald Trump’s mother was born in Scotland, and the President famously owns golf courses there. The King extends a deeply personal invitation for the President to stay at Balmoral, the favoured Residence in Scotland of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and the place she passed. There is also an offer to visit and stay at Dumfries House, which was His Majesty’s seat in Scotland before ascending to the throne, when his Royal title in Scotland was the Duke of Rothesay. He mentions that underprivileged young people are trained at the House and many end up working at the President’s golfing establishments.

Scotland holds a special place in the hearts of both Heads of State. And Diplomacy, ultimately, is about human connection. This was King Charles addressing President Trump as an equal, a peer and a cherished friend. And then the coup de grace, an invitation to an historic second State visit, historic because no US President has been afforded two State visits. President Trump appears to value the form of diplomacy at least as much as its substance. The style and class of King Charles’ letter sits in stark contrast, to the truculent, unshaven President Zelensky arguing in the Oval Office on 28 February. And the theatre behind Keir Starmer’s handing the letter to President Trump was designed to reinforce two perceptions. The first was that The King continues to regard the United States as a dear and trusted friend. The second, and perhaps more significantly, that Prime Minister Starmer was the messenger, not the peer.

Some British journalists jokingly referred to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday 27 February as a visit to the King. Clearly, President Trump isn’t a monarch, nor is he Elvis Presley. But in the game of diplomacy between the United States and the United Kingdom, His Majesty King Charles II and President Trump are peers as Heads of State, and Prime Minister Starmer is a more junior Head of Government. While the first sentence of the letter is not fully visible, His Majesty is clearly thanking President Trump for receiving the British Prime Minister – i.e. His Head of Government – so soon after the inauguration. I don’t believe the optics of this would have been lost on the President. The Labour Prime Minister’s has had a bad start with Donald Trump. The King’s letter brings the adults back into the conversation in a way that can only help the UK repair some of the damage caused.

In inviting President Trump to Britain, with all the pomp and ceremony that Britain offers like no other country, the UK government wants to reprioritise its trade and investment relationship with the United States. As Europe and America teeter on the brink of a trade war, Britain wants a genuinely open trading relationship with America that both prevents the risk of US tariffs but also gives the UK economy a much-needed boost post-Brexit. America is Britain’s largest export partner accounting for 15.7% of business and trade in goods is fairly balanced, with a tiny surplus of £2.5bn going Britain’s way in 2023. This may help to explain why Britain appears less in the firing line for US tariffs than the European Union, which President Trump said was designed to ‘screw the US’ flooding America with a surplus of $300bn in goods trade.

After President Obama famously said that Britain would have to join the back of the queue in any post-Brexit trade talks with America, UK-US trade talks were not prioritised under the Biden administration. This has now become a top priority for the UK in its relationship with the Trump administration. And Starmer has recognised that he can’t have it all – he can’t criticise Trump on Ukraine, backing Zelensky and steering Europe on a pro-war course, while at the same time landing a lucrative trade deal and avoiding Trump tariffs. He has therefore decided quietly to ditch Zelensky and to line up behind Trump’s plans for a peace deal.

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“Volodin said Britain “will have to give back to Russia what they are now so generously giving away,” adding that Moscow has “every reason to respond in kind.”

• UK Will Return Russian Money It Is ‘So Generously Giving Away’ – Moscow (RT)

The UK’s transfer of the proceeds from Russia’s frozen central bank funds to Ukraine is a blatant violation of international law, Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin has said. On Friday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal said that Kiev had received a first tranche worth about $1 billion from the UK, secured by the proceeds from the Russian assets. He said the funds would go toward “strengthening” Ukraine’s defense and voiced hope that all frozen Russian assets would be “confiscated and transferred” to Kiev. Speaking to reporters later in the day, Volodin said Britain “will have to give back to Russia what they are now so generously giving away,” adding that Moscow has “every reason to respond in kind.”

Volodin also warned that London’s actions would “undermine confidence” in its financial system, as they “violate the principle of property inviolability, a cornerstone of the global financial system.” Western countries froze around $300 billion in Russian central bank assets after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Of this total, more than $200 billion is reportedly held at the Brussels-based clearinghouse Euroclear, while up to $30 billion is in the UK. The assets have already generated billions in interest. Euroclear transferred over $1 billion directly to Ukraine last July. Kiev has been pressing its Western backers to expropriate the assets to finance its military and reconstruction efforts.

The West remains divided over the fate of the frozen assets. Many EU countries are reluctant to tap the reserves themselves, opting instead for the interest earned on them. Some have raised concerns that seizing the assets could damage the Western financial system and erode trust in the euro. The International Monetary Fund has also warned that taking the funds without a clear legal basis could undermine global confidence in Western financial institutions. The Kremlin has repeatedly denounced the asset freeze as “theft” and warned of legal action against those involved in the asset seizure.

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“..a March 14 deadline approaches for the latest government shutdown threat..”

• “NO DISSENT”: Trump Asks “All Republicans” To “Give Us A Few Months” (ZH)

President Trump on Saturday implored ‘All Republicans’ to vote on a 99-page spending bill that would keep the government funded through September, as a March 14 deadline approaches for the latest government shutdown threat. The bill largely maintains current spending levels, while an additional $8 billion would be included for defense programs, and $6 billion for veterans’ healthcare. Non-defense spending would drop by approximately $13 billion. Johnson is setting up the bill for a vote on Tuesday, despite a lack of buy-in from Democrats – essentially daring them to vote against it and risk a shutdown. He’s also betting that Republicans will be able to quash inner divisions over spending and force it through.

As Bloomberg notes, unlike previous shutdowns, this one would impact all discretionary spending since none of the 12 appropriations bills have been signed into law. While key entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid would continue making payments, administrative delays could affect new enrollments. With a razor-thin Republican majority in the House and the need for bipartisan cooperation in the Senate, negotiations remain fraught, as both parties clash over budgetary provisions that could make or break a last-minute deal. The economic consequences of a prolonged shutdown, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, would be immediate yet largely reversible. A month-long halt in government operations could shave 0.4 percentage points off GDP growth in the first quarter, though a rebound is expected once normal spending resumes. While federal workers may face furloughs, unemployment figures would not be affected in March but could rise by 0.5 percentage points in April if the impasse drags on. Inflation would see a temporary uptick because furloughed federal workers’ output wouldn’t be counted, even though they will eventually be paid.

More:
• Economic Data Collection: The shutdown will delay crucial economic reports like the consumer price index (CPI), unemployment rate, and retail sales data.
• Federal Agencies: Around 850,000 workers could be furloughed.
• Impact on the Fed: The Federal Reserve, which operates independently, will continue normal operations, including the scheduled March 18-19 FOMC meeting.

As Bloomberg concludes: In normal times, avoiding a shutdown would be a big priority – but now, amid the flurry of dramatic steps early in Trump’s term, it’s just one of many competing priorities. It’s not clear if the two sides can find common ground. Only twice before has the government been shuttered when one party controlled the White House, House of Representatives and Senate – and both were during the first Trump administration. Whether a third such episode can be avoided will depend on how the two sides assess the tactical risks of bringing the normal operations of government to a halt.

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The first judge DID block DOGE, “citing concerns over insufficient vetting and training” and saying “..the potential consequences of a cybersecurity breach could be catastrophic.”

Really, the Treasury is better at training and security than Musk and Big Balls? Is that judge just ignorant or is something else amiss?

• Federal Judge Denies Request to Block DOGE From Accessing Treasury Data (ET)

A federal judge in Washington has refused to block staff from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the Treasury Department’s systems that contain millions of Americans’ personal data. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly—who previously restricted DOGE’s work at the Treasury to two employees with read-only access—issued a decision on March 7 that rejects a request from the Alliance for Retired Americans and several employee unions to bar DOGE staff from the Treasury’s Fiscal Service system, which processes roughly 90 percent of federal payments. In her ruling, Kollar-Kotelly determined that the plaintiffs had failed to establish that allowing DOGE employees access to the system would result in irreparable harm.

“If Plaintiffs could show that Defendants imminently planned to make their private information public or to share that information with individuals outside the federal government with no obligation to maintain its confidentiality, the Court would not hesitate to find a likelihood of irreparable harm,” the judge wrote. She found no indication of any plans to misuse or improperly disclose sensitive data, and noted that the plaintiffs are free to return to court to seek emergency remedy if these circumstances change. The decision also lifts Kollar-Kotelly’s earlier access restrictions, which had permitted two DOGE-affiliated individuals to view the Fiscal Service system on a read-only basis. DOGE staff remain barred from the Fiscal Service under a separate order issued by U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas in New York.

Vargas, responding to a lawsuit from 19 Democratic attorneys general, partially granted their request to block DOGE personnel from the Treasury’s payment system, citing concerns over insufficient vetting and training. “Indeed, taking the time to adequately mitigate potential security concerns and properly onboard members to engage in this work outweighs the defendants’ immediate need to access and redevelop [the] Treasury system,” Vargas stated in her 64-page order. “Without addressing these issues, the potential consequences of a cybersecurity breach could be catastrophic.”

Vargas left open the possibility of lifting or modifying her order if the administration certifies that DOGE staff have undergone proper training and obtained necessary security clearances. She also denied the plaintiffs’ request to impose broader restrictions preventing DOGE from creating processes to stop payments within the Treasury’s systems. Vargas argued that such measures would “far exceed” the scope of the earlier temporary restraining order and that the plaintiffs had not justified the need for such extensive relief against DOGE.

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Homan will get there.

• Early ICE Arrests Are Below 5% Of Trump’s Target: Here’s Why (JTN)

President Donald Trump put the figure of illegal aliens in the U.S. under President Joe Biden at 21 million during his Tuesday address to Congress, but the latest arrest figures show his administration on pace to apprehend less than 5% of that amount by the end of his term. “Over the past four years, 21 million people poured into the United States,” Trump said. “Many of them were murders, human traffickers, gang members and other criminals from the streets of dangerous cities all throughout the world because of Joe Biden’s insane and very dangerous open border policies, they are now strongly embedded in our country.” The latest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) figures pointed to 20,000 arrests in Trump’s first month. Calculated as 20,000 in 30 days, the daily rate came to 667 arrests, which projected over four years would lead to slightly fewer than one million arrests by the end of Trump’s term, or 4.8% of the 21 million.

Put simply, ICE arrests are significantly behind schedule and would need to total roughly 440,000 per month to see Trump’s target met. Border Czar Tom Homan has expressed optimism that federal law enforcement can meet that target. So, why then the sluggish pace? The short answer is money. After a string of continuing resolutions from Congress to avoid government shutdowns, ICE and other immigration-related agencies are operating at Biden-era funding levels. That administration prioritized processing illegal entrants to the United States rather than removing them and former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas did not make arrests at a comparable rate to current figures.

Border funding is on the table, of course, but pending the resolution of House and Senate budget battles, there exists little in the way of resources to expand operations. Capacity issues prompted efforts to expand detention at Guantanamo Bay, though an early effort to use tents to expand the facility was abandoned over standards concerns. On Wednesday, reports emerged that the administration had halted deportation flights using military aircraft due to cost concerns. At present, the House and Senate remain divided on a one-step vs. two-step funding plan, with Trump himself favoring the former. The upper chamber has sought to advance border funding in the first phase while addressing Trump’s tax promises in a second. But no surge in additional funding to address the border crisis is expected until the resolution of that standoff.

Homan initially outlined plans to prioritize illegal alien violent criminals, namely those tied to gangs such as Tren de Aragua, repeat deportees, and those convicted of crimes. Recent ICE social media posts have pointed to MS-13 gang member arrests and efforts to handle trafficking operations. On February 20, the U.S. Department of State announced that Executive Order 14157 designates drug cartels and international gangs as “as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).” “We are prioritizing public safety threats, child predators, rapists, murderers. These are the worst of the worst walking around your communities,” Homan told Fox News’s Sean Hannity in late February. “And you would think any elected mayor, any elected governor, any elected city councilwoman would want public safety threats removed from their communities.”

ICE stopped posting regular updates on daily arrests weeks ago, leading to speculation that arrests had ground to a halt. The recently unveiled 20,000 figure appeared to confirm that the pace was not on target. Arrests and deportation figures are not the same. Potentially simplifying things for ICE, however, is the precipitous decline in new entrants to the U.S., with U.S. Customs and Border Protection reporting only 61,465 encounters at the southwest land border in January. The agency has yet to report on February’s numbers, which are expected to be much lower, but the January figures still represent a significant decline from the December 2023 high of 301,981.

ICE enforcement statistics are not currently up to date and are published on a quarterly basis. An ICE spokesperson told Just the News that “since Jan. 20, ICE has significantly increased its immigration enforcement activities with additional support from other federal law enforcement and DOD partners. In an effort to keep the American people informed about the results of our efforts with only the most accurate information, ICE is compiling and validating the data and is working toward publishing our enforcement statistics on a monthly basis.”

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“It’s about time someone in Washington had the courage to stand up to these corporate giants. Monday can’t come soon enough.”

• Something Huge for the MAHA Movement Is About To Happen (Margolis)

The foxes are about to meet the new guardian of the henhouse, and it promises to be quite the showdown! Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is scheduled to meet with executives from General Mills, PepsiCo, and other food industry giants on Monday, according to a report from Politico. And boy, do they have some explaining to do. Kennedy, who’s been waging war against what he calls the “chemical-intensive processed foods” poisoning Americans, isn’t exactly known for pulling punches. During his Senate confirmation hearing in January, he boldly declared what many of us have known for years: “Something is poisoning the American people.” Now he’s taking his fight directly to the corporate boardrooms of Big Food.

The timing couldn’t be more perfect—or more terrifying—for these corporate executives. With the Health and Agriculture Departments set to craft new Dietary Guidelines for Americans this year, the stakes couldn’t be higher. These guidelines shape everything from what our kids eat at school to what your doctor tells you about nutrition. What’s particularly interesting about this whole situation is that the Consumer Brands Association—the very group representing these food giants—initiated the meeting proposal back in February. This could be a sign they’re willing to do what it takes to make foods healthy again, or they’re going to play offense against the changes Kennedy wants to make. So what’s going to happen with to their precious seed oils and chemical additives? Will Big Food capitulate to the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement?

The meeting agenda remains “undecided” as of Friday, which has apparently caused quite the stir among CBA board members. It could mean they are trying to figure out how to defend their ultra-processed food empire against someone who’s made it his mission to expose their role in America’s chronic illness epidemic. But some industry insiders are whispering that these CEOs might actually cave to Kennedy’s demands. The real question is whether these corporate bigwigs will finally acknowledge their role in America’s health crisis, or continue hiding behind their slick marketing campaigns and army of lobbyists. Kennedy’s appointment signals that the days of business as usual might be coming to an end for Big Food.

Several fast food chains have recently announced they are switching to beef tallow for frying. One such chain is Steak ‘n Shake, which announced its support of RFK Jr. and the MAHA movement on Friday. One thing’s certain: Monday’s meeting won’t be your typical corporate kumbaya session. With Kennedy’s track record of calling out food conglomerates for their role in increasing childhood chronic illnesses, these executives better bring more than their usual PR talking points to the table. The American people are watching, and they’re tired of being force-fed chemicals disguised as food. It’s about time someone in Washington had the courage to stand up to these corporate giants. Monday can’t come soon enough.

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“..completed the hazardous materials cleanup in Los Angeles in just 29 days—far ahead of initial projections. “The estimates were it was going to take 18 months..”

• The Media Can’t Hide This Trump Victory Forever (Margolis)

The Trump administration has shattered expectations with its rapid response to the Los Angeles wildfire cleanup, delivering results in record time and proving critics wrong. Despite accusations of inefficiency and political grandstanding, the administration worked closely with California officials to expedite the recovery effort. And no one is covering it. CNN’s Scott Jennings pointed this out Friday night on “Laura Coates Live” on CNN, after Keith Boykin, a Democratic strategist and former Clinton White House aide, made a wild accusation that the Trump administration was responsible for “waste, fraud, and abuse” across various sectors, including water management and foreign aid.

“Not to mention the $400 million going to Elon Musk for his Cybertruck,” Boykin claimed. “This is the waste, fraud, and abuse in America. It’s not because of the federal workers doing their jobs. It’s because Donald Trump is self-dealing.” The Cybertruck story was debunked last month, by the way. But to the larger point that somehow Trump is causing “waste, fraud, and abuse” in America, Jennings destroyed that claim in a matter of seconds by highlighting an achievement that has gotten virtually no coverage in the media. It turns out that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Trump completed the hazardous materials cleanup in Los Angeles in just 29 days—far ahead of initial projections. “The estimates were it was going to take 18 months,” Jennings pointed out. “But this is the cleanup of the hazardous material that you have to do in order to start rebuilding. Twenty-nine days.”

Jennings dismissed the narrative that Trump was neglecting California, emphasizing instead the growing confidence in government efficiency under his leadership. “All this idea that there’s photo ops and waste and fraud and whatever and that Donald Trump was going to abandon California and L.A.—the EPA under Donald Trump, 29 days.”

Have you heard anything about this? Probably not, but it’s true. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the achievement on February 26. “President Trump set an extremely ambitious deadline for EPA to clean up all hazardous materials in the wake of the deadly California wildfires. Thanks to his leadership and the hard work of countless personnel in the field, we got it done in record time. There is still a long road ahead for thousands of residents who lost everything just a few weeks ago, but EPA is proud to do our part in the recovery process. The community will rebuild stronger than ever before,” Zeldin said in a statement. According to the agency, this effort “has been the largest wildfire hazardous waste cleanup in the history of the EPA.”

At the direction of President Trump, EPA partnered with the U.S. military and U.S. Department of Homeland Security to develop and execute a response plan. Under EPA leadership, crews identified and cleared hazardous materials from 13,612 residential properties and 305 commercial properties, paving the way for debris removal and other stages of the recovery effort to move forward. Administrator Zeldin traveled to Los Angeles on February 6, 2025, to survey damage and meet with EPA personnel on the ground. The results speak for themselves. Make no mistake about it, the Biden administration would have taken at least 18 months to get it done. The Trump administration took 29 days. Thanks to Trump, the government is working more efficiently and effectively, and the rebuilding process will be able to begin far sooner than anticipated. Once again, Trump delivered where bureaucrats and politicians had long failed.

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Found this funny: “..replace the wording about Russia’s ability to “maintain its war” with “earn revenue..”

• US Pushing To Soften Anti-Russia Language In G7 Document (RT)

The US has been pushing to soften the language aimed at Russia in the final communique of the upcoming G7 foreign ministers’ meeting, Bloomberg has reported, citing a draft of the joint statement and people familiar with the matter. The Group of Seven, comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and US, will meet next week in the Canadian city of Charlevoix. According to the report published on Saturday, the administration of US President Donald Trump is pushing to strengthen the language on China while “watering down” the wording on Russia. The US wants to remove the word ‘sanctions’ from the final statement and replace the wording about Russia’s ability to “maintain its war” with “earn revenue,” Bloomberg said. The US has reportedly rejected Canada’s proposal to establish a task force that would monitor the so-called ‘shadow fleet’ of oil tankers the West claims Russia is operating to bypass sanctions on energy exports.

During the final weeks of the previous administration of President Joe Biden, the US blacklisted more than 180 vessels allegedly used to illegally transport Russian oil. Moscow insists that all Western sanctions are illegal and has denied that it operates a shadow fleet. Trump has abandoned his predecessor’s strategy of “isolating” Russia on the world stage and reopened direct talks with Russia, which were suspended in 2022. He has stressed that his priority is to end the conflict through diplomacy and reach a ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev. Last week, Trump suggested that the US could lift the sanctions “at some point” during peace talks. He has since threatened Moscow with a new round of “large-scale” sanctions until a ceasefire and a “final settlement agreement on peace” is reached. Moscow has stated that the Western sanctions have failed to weaken or isolate Russia, instead harming the countries that imposed them.

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“..it would “probably be the best contribution to the cause of peace.”

• Ukraine Loses Access To US Commercial Satellites (RT)

The US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has stopped providing Ukraine with satellite imagery paid for by Washington, several media outlets have reported, citing a statement by the agency. The decision was made in line with President Donald Trump’s “directive on support to Ukraine,” it said. The move follows Washington’s recent freeze on further weapons deliveries and intelligence sharing with Kiev, which, in turn, came on the heels of last Friday’s altercation between Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance at the White House. The US head of state accused Zelensky of ingratitude and “gambling with World War III” by refusing to seek peace with Russia.

On Friday, the Washington Post, ABC News, and several other media outlets reported, citing a statement from the agency itself, that the NGA had “temporarily suspended [Ukraine’s] access” to commercial satellite imagery purchased by the US government. The NGA is a unit within the Department of Defense. The same day, Maxar, a leading US provider of commercial satellite imagery, issued a statement, confirming that the “U.S. government has temporarily suspended Ukrainian accounts” in the Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery program. According to the Washington Post, the Ukrainian military, artillery and drone units in particular, had heavily relied on the NGA service. The media outlet quoted several Ukrainian service members as saying that the “suspension was immediately felt” by Kiev’s forces.

The publication noted, however, that Kiev could still access this kind of satellite imagery via its own accounts. In a post on X on Wednesday, Oliver Carroll, a staff writer for The Economist, claimed that the US had ceased providing Ukraine with the data needed to conduct long-range strikes on Russian targets with the help of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS). Also on Wednesday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Fox Business that Trump had “asked for a pause” in intelligence sharing with Ukraine to determine whether Kiev was ready to negotiate peace with Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Washington’s decision to halt intelligence sharing with Kiev proved that without the West’s direct involvement “Ukraine would not be able to… launch long-range missiles at our territory.” Commenting on Tuesday on the halt of US intelligence sharing with Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed cautious optimism, noting that if the US were to suspend supplies altogether, it would “probably be the best contribution to the cause of peace.”

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“..that would require every adult male in Poland to undergo “large-scale military training” to prepare for a potential conflict with Russia..”

• Polish PM Plans To Double Size Of Army (RT)

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has unveiled plans to more than double the size of the country’s military to 500,000. Speaking in the Polish Parliament on Friday, Tusk said Poland must be prepared for future conflicts and strengthen its defenses. Tusk reiterated his earlier claims that Russia poses a threat to Europe, saying Moscow could launch a “full-scale operation” against a “larger” target than Ukraine within three to four years – which Russia has repeatedly dismissed as unfounded. He argued that Poland must serve as a “bastion” to protect NATO’s eastern flank and should expand its military capabilities. “We’re talking about the need to have an army of half-a-million in Poland, including the reservists,” he stated, noting that Poland’s current armed forces number around 200,000, which he compared to Russia’s estimated 1.3 million troops.

Tusk said his government is drafting legislation that would require every adult male in Poland to undergo “large-scale military training” to prepare for a potential conflict with Russia. “We will try to have a model ready by the end of this year so that every adult male in Poland is trained in the event of war, so that this reserve is comparable and adequate to the potential threats,” he said. He added that Polish women may also be required to undergo military training, thought “war is still to a greater extent the domain of men.” Tusk’s remarks came a day after EU leaders approved a major military spending plan to unlock billions of euros to build up defense capabilities. The initiative – ReArm Europe – which was adopted following an emergency summit in Brussels, hikes defense spending by up to €800 billion ($840 billion) – twice the total EU defense expenditures in 2024.

The Kremlin condemned the bloc’s “militarization” plan, calling it a path towards confrontation that hinders peace efforts with Ukraine. In addition to a larger army, Tusk said Poland must enhance its military capabilities, including through the acquisition of nuclear and “modern unconventional weapons.” Tusk’s speech followed his recent accusations that Moscow is fueling a new arms race, and calls for fellow EU nations to ramp up defense spending. The Kremlin has criticized Tusk’s rhetoric as confrontational and militaristic. Moscow has rejected accusations that it poses a military threat to Europe, with President Vladimir Putin dismissing the claims as “nonsense” designed to justify increased military budgets.

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Kursk.

• Ukraine’s Losses Mounting Due To US Intel Freeze (RT)

The recent suspension of US intelligence sharing with Ukraine has critically weakened Kiev’s defense capabilities, leading to substantial casualties, territorial losses – particularly in the occupied part of Russia’s Kursk Region – and plummeting morale, Time reported on Friday, citing Western and Ukrainian officials familiar with the situation. One unnamed official claimed that the lack of US intel directly resulted in “hundreds of dead Ukrainians,” adding that “the biggest problem is morale,” as Kiev is unable to effectively use some of its most powerful Western-supplied weapons. According to Time, the abrupt halt in intelligence sharing has affected the Ukrainian foothold in the Russian border region of Kursk, which Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky regards as a bargaining chip in potential peace talks with Russia.

The magazine said, citing sources, that Russia has made swift advances in the area, aiming to cut off Ukrainian supply lines into the region. According to Ukrainian media reports citing the Deep State monitoring website, Russian forces have nearly cut off Kiev’s foothold in Kursk Region from the border. The New York Post reported, citing sources, that Ukrainian forces in the region could wrap up their incursion within as little as two weeks due to supply shortages and deteriorating battlefield conditions. On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed gains in the region, saying Russian troops had liberated three villages. Ukraine invaded Kursk Region last August, and while it initially made some gains, the advance was soon halted.

A source in Zelensky’s government told Time that the loss of US intel has had major consequences beyond Kursk. The magazine noted that Ukraine has lost its ability to track Russian bombers and fighter jets, leaving the country vulnerable to surprise attacks. “It’s very dangerous for our people,” the source said. “It has to be immediately changed.” The halt in intelligence sharing has also weakened Ukraine’s ability to launch long-range and intermediate-range strikes against Russian military positions, as these operations rely heavily on precise targeting information from US reconnaissance data, Time added.

The US froze military aid and intelligence support for Ukraine following a heated exchange between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump on February 28 at the White House. During the televised meeting, Zelensky cast doubt on the possibility of diplomacy with Russia and told Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance that the US “will feel” the impact of the conflict. Trump accused Zelensky of being disrespectful and ungrateful for the US aid to Kiev, as well as being reluctant to seek peace with Russia while “gambling with World War III.” US officials have said the suspension of aid will remain in place until Kiev shows a commitment to holding peace talks.

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“..perhaps his handlers figured out that rolling a diseased-looking hippo in a white coat out in front of the cameras to parrot pharma industry talking points isn’t the compelling sell they would hope it might be.”

• Trump CDC to Probe Long-Rumored Vaccine-Autism Link (PJM)

Sources inside the Trump administration have leaked reported plans to put the CDC to work studying the “potential connections between vaccines and autism,” per the Washington Post. Via Washington Post:

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning a study into the potential connections between vaccines and autism, according to two people familiar with the plan, despite overwhelming scientific evidence that there is no link between the two. The request for the study came from Trump administration officials, said the two people familiar with the plan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy have repeatedly linked vaccines to autism… In a statement, HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said: “As President Trump said in his Joint Address to Congress, the rate of autism in American children has skyrocketed. CDC will leave no stone unturned in its mission to figure out what exactly is happening. The American people expect high quality research and transparency and that is what CDC is delivering.”… The number of autism cases is rising in the United States. About 1 in 36 children has received such a diagnosis, according to data the CDC collected from 11 states, compared with 1 in 150 children in 2000.”

For the first time in history, the American people might actually get an exhaustive, thorough, (fingers-crossed) unbiased examination of the long-suspected link between the ever-growing list of recommended (for all practical purposes, mandated) childhood vaccines and skyrocketing autism rates among American children. The biomedical industry that would stand to lose billions — along with its credibility, possibly forever — if the results of this investigation don’t go its way is not likely to simply allow the research to go forward unimpeded. And it has a major asset on its side: the legacy corporate state media machine that, although it’s losing influence, still holds massive sway in terms of narrative-setting.

For such propagandistic purposes, MSNBC turned to the de facto face of the “vaccinate everything and let God sort it out” side of the ideological spectrum, Dr. Peter Hotez. (To be radically fair to Hotez, he’s looking significantly less bloated these days than we are accustomed to seeing him. Speculatively, perhaps his handlers figured out that rolling a diseased-looking hippo in a white coat out in front of the cameras to parrot pharma industry talking points isn’t the compelling sell they would hope it might be.)

Me thinks the doctor doth protest too much; if he’s as sure of his professed belief in vaccine safety as he portrays, why wouldn’t he be eager to put the conspiracy theories to bed once and for all rather than shut down any inquiry before it gets off the ground? For the record, Peter Hotez got everything wrong that he possibly could have during the pandemic in terms of his pronouncements regarding the COVID shots as a frequent guest on corporate state media. Hotez also — and he should never be allowed to skirt this stain either — declared himself, with none of the commensurate shame, a “junk-food-a-holic” on Joe Rogan’s podcast a few years back at the height of COVID insanity. He then, like the weasel that he is, justified his horrific dietary habits by hiding behind his autistic daughter, claiming that their trips to the “Burger Joint” are ritual bonding experiences that they share.

Read more …

A Moneypenny spinoff?!

• Bezos Ousts Bond Producers Over ‘Idiots’ Remark (RT)

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has taken full creative control of the James Bond franchise after longtime producer Barbara Broccoli reportedly called his executives “f**king idiots,” the Hollywood Reporter wrote on Friday. According to insiders, Bezos reacted immediately, ordering her removal at any cost, which ultimately led to a $1 billion deal. As a result, Amazon now holds full control over the future of James Bond. Amazon acquired MGM in 2022, gaining distribution rights to the films, but creative control remained with Eon Productions under Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. The duo resisted Amazon’s proposed spin-offs, including a Moneypenny series and a female-led 007 project, preferring to maintain James Bond’s traditional narrative.

Tensions between Broccoli, Wilson, and Amazon executives escalated in late 2024. In December, the Wall Street Journal reported that Broccoli privately told friends she did not trust “algorithm-centric Amazon with a character she helped to mythologize through big-screen storytelling and gut instinct.” She also described the status of the next Bond film as dire, with no script, no story, and no actor chosen for the role. In the same conversation, referring to the company while among executives, she said, “These people are f**king idiots.”

The comment enraged Bezos, prompting him to take drastic action, the Hollywood Reporter stated. “He read her quote in the Journal and got on the phone and said, ‘I don’t care what it costs, get rid of her,’” an insider told the magazine. Soon afterwards, Amazon struck a deal worth nearly $1 billion to remove Broccoli and Wilson from creative control and bring the franchise under Amazon MGM Studios. After the deal was finalized in February 2025, Bezos shared a headline on X that read, “James Bond’s long-serving producers give control to Amazon,” adding the caption, “Who’d you pick as the next Bond?”

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Dore

 

 

Milk

 

 

Genius
https://twitter.com/i/status/1898335037918945515

 

 

Toucan

 

 

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Debt Rattle March 7 2025

Mar 072025
 
 March 7, 2025  Posted by at 10:15 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , ,  45 Responses »


James McNeill Whistler Symphony in White, No. 3 1867

 

• Are All of Biden’s Presidential Actions ‘Null and Void’? (Margolis)
• Europe’s ‘ReArm’ Plan “Is Going To Come At A Vast Cost” (Rabobank)
• European Leaders Want ‘Forever War’ In Ukraine – Musk (RT)
• Lavrov Compares Macron to Hitler and Napoleon (RT)
• Macron’s Remarks on Use of Nuclear Arms a Threat to Russia – Lavrov (Sp.)
• Kremlin Reacts To Macron’s ‘War’ Speech (RT)
• EU Must Win Arms Race – Poland (RT)
• Macron Should Apologize – Moscow (RT)
• Trump Begins CIA Cuts – NYT (RT)
• US Ready To Change Legal Status Of 240,000 Ukrainian Migrants (RT)
• Lavrov Weighs In On US Decision To Halt Intel Sharing With Ukraine (RT)
• ‘Science Should Be An Engine For Freedom’: NIH Nominee Bhattacharya (JTN)
• Obama Judge Indefinitely Blocks Trump Admin Funding Freeze (ZH)
• DOGE Looking To Cut More Than 80,000 Employees At Veterans Affairs (JTN)
• IRS Reportedly Plans To Cut Half of Its 90,000 Workforce (JTN)
• Elon Musk Says Amtrak, US Postal Service Should Be Privatized (ET)
• Trump Planning Major NATO Shakeup – NBC (RT)
• Trump Wants To Sideline EU – Politico (RT)
• EU Seeking To Bypass Opponents of Ukraine Aid – Kallas (RT)
• Israeli FM ‘Didn’t Know’ Kiev Glorifies Holocaust Perpetrators (RT)

 

 

 

 

1987

 

 

Destiny

PAC
https://twitter.com/i/status/1897633263750877606

Tulsi

Sachs Maidan

Rubio

Kash
https://twitter.com/i/status/1896935794532556981

 

 

 

 

Autopen. Could be explosive. Will the Trump admin want to pursue it? It has Pandora written all over it.

• Are All of Biden’s Presidential Actions ‘Null and Void’? (Margolis)

The Biden presidency might have been the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the American people. A shocking investigation by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project has revealed that virtually every document bearing Joe Biden’s signature during his presidency was signed by an autopen — except for one. What makes this revelation particularly damning is that the only document confirmed to have Biden’s actual signature was his letter announcing his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race. Let that sink in for a moment. Remember when House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) revealed his discussion with Biden when Biden couldn’t recall signing the executive order halting LNG exports? Now we know why — he probably didn’t. The real question is: Who did? Who was running the country while Biden was not all there?

The use of the presidential autopen dates back to the 1950s, and there’s been much debate about its legality. In 2013, Barack Obama became the first president to sign a bill into law using an autopen. He was vacationing in Hawaii at the time. His office relied on a 30-page memo from President George W. Bush’s legal team asserting that the president’s presence was not required as long as said president had authorized the signature. What’s not clear, in the case of Biden, is who was running the autopen and whether Biden was aware it was happening. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is demanding that the Department of Justice investigate whether Biden’s obvious cognitive decline allowed unelected bureaucrats to essentially run the government without presidential oversight. If this is true — and let’s be honest, all signs point to yes — every executive order, every pardon, and every official action taken under Biden’s name could be constitutionally void.

Bailey’s letter to Michael E. Horowitz, the inspector general of the Department of Justice, spells it out perfectly. “I write to request that you conduct a full investigation into President Biden’s mental capacity in his final days in office. By now, Biden’s mental decline is famous. Under the 25th Amendment, his inability to make decisions should have meant a succession of power. Instead, it appears staffers and officers in the Biden administration may have exploited Biden’s incapacity so they could issue orders without an accountable President of sound mind approving them. That would explain why the Biden administration’s orders were aggressively much farther to the left than any previous President. If in fact Biden’s staffers were exploiting his mental decline, those orders are null and void.”

The evidence is overwhelming. We know that Biden’s handlers desperately tried to prevent anyone from meeting with him one-on-one. Even Democratic insiders admit the truth. DNC fundraiser Lindy Li recently spilled the beans and acknowledged that Biden wasn’t running the show; his staff, his wife, and Hunter were. Thanks to the Heritage Foundation’s investigation, we now have proof that Biden’s signature was automated throughout his presidency — which raises serious questions about whether he was aware of what was being signed in his name at all. The Oversight Project rightfully points out that since Biden revoked Trump’s executive privilege, we can easily determine who controlled the autopen and what safeguards, if any, were in place.

The implications are staggering. We essentially had a presidency by proxy, with unelected staffers wielding presidential power while the man himself was barely cognizant enough to read a teleprompter. This isn’t just a scandal; it’s potentially the biggest constitutional crisis in American history. The American people deserve to know who was really calling the shots during the Biden administration. If these allegations prove true, every single action taken under Biden’s name needs to be scrutinized and potentially nullified. The truth must come out, and those responsible must be held accountable.

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The end of Europe’s welfare state.

“They created a wasteland and called it democracy.”

• Europe’s ‘ReArm’ Plan “Is Going To Come At A Vast Cost” (Rabobank)

The US has increased its pressure on Ukraine to pause the war by turning off military intelligence to it, removing Kyiv’s ability to fire missiles into Russia. This action has further outraged and –given their reliance on US systems in NATO– terrified Europe. Note President Eisenhower did the same vis-à-vis then-and-current ally South Korea in 1953, which didn’t want to stop fighting; the US didn’t want a direct war with China, or more inflation, and made it clear military aid would stop until an armistice was achieved. That frozen conflict seems where Ukraine-Russia is heading, especially as President Zelenskyy just said what rejected what the Russian terms for any formal peace deal (demilitarisation, formal renouncement of lost territories) would be.

Europe has added its own pressure on Zelenskyy as Germany’s ministry of defence admits it can’t supply more materiel to Ukraine either as it’s out of stock. That underlines the need for the German announcement on infrastructure investment and rearmament yesterday, which saw 10-year Bund yields rise 31bp on the day, their worst performance since 1997. EUR jumped. Ahead of today’s EU ReArm summit President Macron addressed his nation, stating: “Our prosperity and security have become more uncertain, and it must be said, we are entering a new era… if a country can invade its neighbour in Europe with impunity, then no one can be sure of anything anymore, and it is the law of the strongest that applies, and peace can no longer be guaranteed on our continent itself.” He added that the future of Europe will not be set by the Kremlin or Washington, DC, and spoke of extending the French nuclear umbrella to Europe.

This is going to come at a vast cost. If you think a 31bp rise in Bunds captures the scale of shocks involved in a soft-power Europe trying to set its own future in a hard-power world then you spend too much time in soft-power circles. For starters, the FT op-eds today that ‘Europe must trim its welfare state to build a warfare state’: like it or not, that is starting to sound a bit MEGA (Europe, not America) and DOGE. One wonders what the ECB will say about it today.

Europe is outraged by US actions vs Ukraine and what some call the White House’s “reverse Nixon” strategy (so, ‘Noxin’?) of trying to split Russia from China, as with China vs the USSR in the 1970s: there is talk of Trump–Putin kinship or kompromat even in the financial press. However, facing a united China and Russia, when until this week Europe refused to rearm, is something all geostrategists, some belatedly, see as a deeply flawed US strategy. Moreover, the eurocentric fail to spot that Trump is not only pivoting from Europe to focus on Asia –which the EU largely thinks of in terms of trade not security– but is trying to use the quid pro quo gained there for Putin’s help with nuclear negotiations with Iran.

After all, Tehran is close to a nuclear weapon and Israel, who just rehearsed a joint strike on it with the US, to having to remove what it sees as an existential threat the hard way. Were that to occur, it would have a vast negative impact on the US and European economies. That key issue isn’t even part of current EU conversations; but as Europe rearms and tries to find its own place in the world, it will find it has to join more such dots in more locations at an ever-higher price. It also goes without saying that the odds of ‘Noxin’ and an Iran deal success are very low; but the alternative scenarios are not ones markets want to think about. Again, they do not imply just a 31bp move higher in 10-year Bunds. Especially not when the Chinese embassy in the US tweets: “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.”

Read more …

Leaders that will all be voted out soon. So why do it?

• European Leaders Want ‘Forever War’ In Ukraine – Musk (RT)

European leaders who are pushing against a peace agreement in Ukraine want a perpetual state of war, tech billionaire Elon Musk said in a statement on X on Thursday. His remarks come in response to a recent video of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen arguing that peace in Ukraine could be more dangerous than the ongoing conflict with Russia. Musk, who is also currently a senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, has repeatedly called for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and has spoken out against continued military aid to Kiev, arguing that it could lead to an escalation and risk a nuclear confrontation. Responding to a post featuring Frederiksen’s latest remarks, he argued that some European leaders “want the forever war” and asked how many more people will have to lose their lives.

“How many more parents with no sons? How many more children with no fathers? By their logic, it never ends,” Musk wrote. Frederiksen, who stated last month that “peace in Ukraine is actually more dangerous than the war that is ongoing now,” told journalists earlier this week that “Ukraine has to win this war.” She claimed that if Russia is allowed to win, it will continue to take military action against other European countries. “If we end this war now with some kind of a ceasefire, it will give Russia the possibility to mobilize more funds, people, and maybe to attack another country in Europe,” she said.

Her statements echoed comments by other EU leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, who has recently claimed that Russia poses a threat to the entire bloc and called for defense spending to be ramped up. Russia has also rejected unsubstantiated claims that it intends to attack European or NATO countries with Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissing such statements as “nonsense” and fear mongering by EU leaders aimed at alarming citizens and raising defense budgets. Moscow has warned that one of the key reasons for the Ukraine conflict was NATO expansion towards Russia, including the bloc’s promise that Kiev would eventually become a member.

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“..the French president’s “predecessors, who also wanted to fight Russia.”

• Lavrov Compares Macron to Hitler and Napoleon (RT)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has compared French President Emmanuel Macron to Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte, saying that he is also looking to impose a defeat upon Russia. During an address to the nation on Wednesday, Macron labeled Russia a “threat to France and Europe” and announced that he was considering expanding Paris’s nuclear deterrent to cover other EU member states. He insisted that the bloc needs to strengthen its independence when it comes to defense as there are doubts about the US continuing to protect the EU after the administration of President Donald Trump “changed its position” on the Ukraine conflict and became “less supportive” of Kiev. The French president insisted on further assistance to the government of Vladimir Zelensky, claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not stop if he is allowed to defeat Ukraine.

When asked to comment on Macron’s statements by journalists on Thursday, Lavrov mentioned Hitler and Napoleon, describing them as the French president’s “predecessors, who also wanted to fight Russia.” The two European dictators sent their armies into Russia in 1812 and 1941, respectively, but ended up suffering crushing defeats. The difference is that Hitler and Napoleon “said directly: ‘We must conquer Russia, we must defeat Russia.’ And he [Macron], apparently, wants the same thing, but for some reason says that we must fight Russia so that it does not defeat France; that Russia is creating a threat to France and Europe,” he stressed.

The minister refuted the French leader’s claims that Moscow has plans to attack Western Europe, calling such notions “unreasonable.” “President [Vladimir] Putin has said many times that this is absolute nonsense. I think that any sane person would understand that [by launching its military operation] Russia only wants to eliminate the root causes of the situation created by the West in Ukraine,” he explained. Lavrov also said that Moscow views Macron’s statement about widening France’s nuclear umbrella as a “threat towards Russia.” “If he considers us a threat, if he is calls a meeting of the chiefs of staff of the [Western] European countries and Britain; if he says that it is necessary to use nuclear weapons; if he prepares to use nuclear weapons against Russia – this is, of course, a threat,” he insisted.

Read more …

“..former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was right when he said, in his usual manner, that the conflict in Ukraine could be stopped very quickly, within two weeks, if military aid to the Ukrainian government was halted..”

• Macron’s Remarks on Use of Nuclear Arms a Threat to Russia – Lavrov (Sp.)

Moscow sees French President Emmanuel Macron’s words on possible use of nuclear weapons as a threat, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday. “Of course, this is a threat to Russia. If he [Macron] considers us a threat, gathers a meeting of the chiefs of General Staff of European countries and Britain, says it is necessary to use nuclear weapons, prepares to use nuclear weapons against Russia, this is, of course, a threat,” Lavrov told a news conference. On Wednesday, Macron said that Russia had become a “threat” to France and Europe, therefore, it was necessary to open a discussion on the use of France’s nuclear weapons to defend the entire European Union. Emmanuel Macron has the opportunity to call Russian President Vladimir Putin anytime, and accusations that Russia is allegedly preparing a war against Europe are unwise, Lavrov said.

“Macron periodically proudly declares that he will definitely call Putin and talk to him. He has such opportunities. No one forbids it. On the contrary, the president constantly emphasizes his openness to contacts with all his colleagues. And regarding these, frankly, unwise accusations of Russia in preparing a war against Europe and France, Putin has repeatedly said, calling such thoughts delusional, nonsense. Probably, it is absolutely clear to any sane person that Russia does not need this,” Lavrov told a joint press conference with Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Amon Murwira. Russia sees no possibility for achieving a compromise on possible deployment of European peacekeepers in Ukraine, Lavrov said. “We see no room for compromise. This discussion is being conducted with an openly hostile purpose. They are not hiding what they need it for,” Lavrov.

Suspension of US intelligence transfers to Ukraine confirm Russia’s statements that such assistance was provided to Kiev and it helped to carry out strikes deep into Russia, Sergey Lavrov said. “As for the current situation with the provision of military assistance and the pause that the US has announced, and the pause that was announced with respect to the provision of intelligence information, this has confirmed what we have always said, our president has repeatedly noted that without the direct participation of the West, the US, the UK, France, Germany, and other countries that provide intelligence data and help use the technologies for using this data to launch long-range missiles at our territory, the Ukrainians could not do this,” Lavrov said. The suspension of military aid to Ukraine from the United States may help to quickly end the Ukrainian conflict, Sergey Lavrov said.

“It has been said many times that former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was right when he said, in his usual manner, that the conflict in Ukraine could be stopped very quickly, within two weeks, if military aid to the Ukrainian government was halted. This is the answer to your question. We agree with this assessment. Another thing that Josep Borrell added was that this should never be done, because first you need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, and then dictate the terms of peace to it,” Lavrov told reporters. The Russian foreign minister noted that Russia is ready for a frank dialogue on the settlement of the Ukraine conflict.

“We are ready for an honest conversation, taking into account all the root causes of this conflict, including, of course, the main one – Russia’s security and guarantees against NATO’s continued expansion into Ukraine, which would then be used to create constant threats to Russia,” Lavrov said. In addition, the Russian official said that French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement about Russia and Ukraine was nervous and very verbose. “Macron, as I understand it, said in his lengthy, rather nervous statement yesterday [March 5] that the war should not be allowed to end with the surrender of Ukraine,” Lavrov said.

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“Following the 2022 escalation, both politicians admitted that the purpose of the accord from the West’s perspective had merely been to buy time for Kiev to strengthen its military..”

Macron said that Russia cannot be trusted because it violated the Minsk agreements. 4 days before the Russian invasion (February 20, 2022), Macron told Putin that the Minsk agreements have no legal force and are worthless!

• Kremlin Reacts To Macron’s ‘War’ Speech (RT)

https://twitter.com/i/status/1897386604404306352

French President Emmanuel Macron’s speech focusing on Russia earlier this week was “highly confrontational,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, arguing that it signals an intent to further escalate tensions. In his address to the nation on Wednesday, Macron labeled Russia “a threat” to the EU and called for a significant increase in defense spending to counter the perceived danger posed by Moscow. He also said that France would be prepared to deploy troops to Ukraine should a truce be reached in the conflict. Commenting on the remarks during a regular press briefing, Peskov stressed that it hardly conveyed a message of peace: “France apparently is contemplating war, a continuation of war.” This stance naturally elicits a negative reaction in Moscow, he suggested.

Macron’s address adhered to the conventional Western narrative portraying Russia as the unprovoked aggressor in the Ukraine conflict and claimed that Moscow has ambitions of conquest in Ukraine and beyond. However, according to Peskov, the French leader selectively ignored crucial events and circumstances that contributed to the current Ukraine crisis. Among these, he pointed to NATO military infrastructure “encroaching, or rather making seven-mile strides” towards Russia’s borders, creating significant security concerns for Moscow. Peskov stated that Russia had no choice but to respond to this growing threat. He also refuted Macron’s claims that Russia violated the Minsk Agreements, citing former French President Francois Hollande’s acknowledgment that the West never genuinely intended for them to succeed.

In 2015, Hollande and then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel co-mediated a roadmap purportedly aimed at peacefully reintegrating the then-breakaway regions in Donbass back into Ukraine. Following the 2022 escalation, both politicians admitted that the purpose of the accord from the West’s perspective had merely been to buy time for Kiev to strengthen its military with NATO support. Peskov also remarked that in 2014 France and other European nations “deceived” then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich by endorsing his power-sharing agreement with Western-backed militants, who violated the deal within hours and forcibly removed the democratically elected leader, all without any protest from Paris.

The EU is currently promoting a substantial military buildup that would cost some $840 billion and be funded through debt. Brussels asserts that European security risks have been intensified by the shift in Washington’s policy under President Donald Trump, who is seeking a resolution to the Ukraine conflict while urging Europe to assume responsibility for future security guarantees for Kiev. Peskov observed that while this does not make the US a friend of Russia, it at least opens avenues for normalizing bilateral relations.

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“The war, the geopolitical uncertainty and the new arms race started by Putin..”

• EU Must Win Arms Race – Poland (RT)

The EU must escalate its military buildup and win the arms race against Russia, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said. This comes amid growing efforts by EU leaders to increase defense spending, citing what they describe as a threat from Moscow, which Russia has repeatedly denied. Tusk’s remarks also come as US President Donald Trump and his administration increasingly push European NATO members to take greater responsibility for their own defense. Washington has suggested that Europe should rely less on US military aid, particularly regarding Ukraine, and instead ramp up its own military spending. In a message posted on social media on Thursday, Tusk accused Moscow of starting a new arms race and insisted that Europe must respond.

“The war, the geopolitical uncertainty and the new arms race started by Putin have left Europe with no choice. Europe must be ready for this race, and Russia will lose it like the Soviet Union 40 years ago,” Tusk wrote, adding that from today, Europe will arm itself faster than Russia. His comments follow recent statements by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has claimed that Russia poses a threat to the EU. Macron has urged the bloc to increase defense spending and has also proposed expanding Europe’s nuclear deterrence, potentially extending France’s nuclear umbrella to other EU countries in response to the perceived risks from Moscow.

Moscow has dismissed the accusations that it poses a military threat to Europe and has condemned Macron’s latest statement as “highly confrontational.” Russian President Vladimir Putin called Western claims of an impending Russian attack “nonsense.” He has also accused European leaders of stoking tensions and using the perceived Russian threat as a pretext to justify increased military spending. In December, Putin also stressed that Russia does not want to be bogged down in an arms race, which would be detrimental to the social and economic development of the country. He warned, however, that Russia will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of itself and its allies.

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“Macron should invite his predecessor… Hollande, to the Élysée Palace to have a heart-to-heart talk with him… Then he’ll probably hear from Hollande… that he had no intention of implementing the Minsk agreements..”

• Macron Should Apologize – Moscow (RT)

French President Emmanuel Macron should apologize for making “misleading” claims about the origins of the Ukraine conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has told RT. In particular, Zakharova criticized Macron for alleging that Russia was to blame for the failure of the Minsk Accords. The agreements were brokered in 2014 and 2015 to halt fighting between Ukraine and the now-Russian Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, with France and Germany as guarantors. They were ultimately not implemented, and Moscow later accused Kiev and the West of using them to strengthen Ukraine’s military instead of securing peace. In a televised address on Wednesday,

Macron, however, blamed Russia of violating the accords and cited them as proof that the West “can no longer take Russia at its word” when it comes to resolving the conflict. “We cannot forget that Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and that we negotiated a ceasefire in Minsk at that time. And Russia did not respect this ceasefire,” the French president alleged, claiming that Moscow poses a direct threat to France and the entire EU. Zakharova condemned Macron’s comments as “aggressive and destructive” and pointed out that former French President François Hollande and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel have “openly confessed, and not under torture or pressure” back in 2022 they never intended to enforce the accords.

“Macron should invite his predecessor… Hollande, to the Élysée Palace to have a heart-to-heart talk with him… Then he’ll probably hear from Hollande… that he had no intention of implementing the Minsk agreements while representing France,” Zakharova stated, suggesting that after speaking to Hollande, Macron would “have to apologize to his own population for misleading them.” Macron has been a vocal advocate of strengthening Europe’s defenses against Russia and reiterated this position in his latest address. Moscow, however, has repeatedly denied having any plans to attack either the EU or NATO, with President Vladimir Putin dismissing such speculation as “nonsense” on multiple occasions.

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“..effectively granted Ratcliffe the authority to remove any CIA employee for any reason without the right to appeal.”

• Trump Begins CIA Cuts – NYT (RT)

The administration of US President Donald Trump has begun cutting CIA staff as part of a broader effort to downsize government agencies, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing sources. The first dismissals reportedly targeted officers hired within the past two years, many of whom were still on probationary contracts. According to sources familiar with the situation, several recently hired CIA employees were summoned to a location away from the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where they were asked to surrender their credentials without prior notice. The firings have reportedly led to anxiety among remaining CIA staff, with some employees allegedly avoiding calls from security out of fear they may be next.

A CIA spokeswoman confirmed to the New York Times that certain recently hired officers had been let go but did not specify how many. She signaled that the dismissals were performance-based, as did several unnamed officials who spoke to the outlet. The reported firings come amid Trump’s efforts to cut government ranks as part of a drive to eliminate wasteful state spending, bureaucracy, and corruption – a campaign spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under billionaire Elon Musk. During the first cabinet meeting of his second term, Trump pledged to “cut down the size of government,” arguing that federal agencies had become “bloated” and “sloppy.” On February 11, he signed an executive order on workforce optimization, mandating large-scale reductions across government agencies and limiting hiring to essential positions.

The report also follows a federal judge’s ruling that cleared the way for CIA Director John Ratcliffe to fire employees at will. In late February, Judge Anthony J. Trenga ruled on a lawsuit brought by officers dismissed after Trump’s order to cut diversity programs in government agencies. That decision effectively granted Ratcliffe the authority to remove any CIA employee for any reason without the right to appeal. The Trump administration has previously cracked down on the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington’s primary mechanism for funding political projects abroad, firing some 2,000 employees and putting nearly all remaining staff on leave. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, Trump is also preparing an executive order aimed at dismantling the Department of Education, which he has repeatedly criticized as a “big con job.”

Read more …

And “around 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans..”

• US Ready To Change Legal Status Of 240,000 Ukrainian Migrants (RT)

US President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to revoke the temporary legal status for all refugees, including around 240,000 Ukrainians – a move that could speed up their path to deportation, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing a senior administration official and three sources familiar with the matter. Expected to come into force in April, the decision is part of a broader crackdown on immigration which Trump launched since assuming office and marks a dramatic shift from the reception Ukrainians received under the previous administration of Joe Biden. The outlet noted that the effort to revoke protections for Ukrainians was already in progress before a verbal altercation between Trump and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky in the Oval Office last week.

According to sources, the move is part of a broader Trump administration initiative to eliminate the legal status of over 1.8 million migrants who entered the US through temporary humanitarian parole programs introduced under the Biden administration. In addition to the 240,000 Ukrainians, the administration plans to revoke parole for around 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans this month, the administration official and one of the anonymous sources told the outlet. Shortly after assuming office on January 20, Trump signed a number of executive orders introducing tougher immigration controls, including a decree instructing the Department of Homeland Security to “terminate all categorical parole programs.”

An internal US Immigration and Customs Enforcement email reviewed by Reuters indicated that migrants losing their parole status could face fast-track deportation proceedings. Other executive orders also included enhancing vetting for visa applicants, limiting birthright citizenship, directing the armed forces to guard the southern border with Mexico, and erecting additional barriers. Trump also repealed 78 executive orders signed by Biden, including directives related to immigration.

The development comes amid a deepening rift in US-Ukraine relations. Tensions have escalated in recent weeks following Zelensky’s ill-tempered meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over a minerals deal, culminating in a tense public argument between Trump and Zelensky in the White House last week. Zelensky was accused of “disrespecting” the US, with Trump insisting that the Ukrainian leader does not want peace. A proposed minerals deal between the US and Ukraine was left unsigned as a result.

Read more …

“Without the direct involvement of the West [..] Ukraine would not be able to use these technologies and data to launch long-range missiles at our territory. This is a very important acknowledgment,”

• Lavrov Weighs In On US Decision To Halt Intel Sharing With Ukraine (RT)

Ukraine is entirely incapable of launching long-range missile strikes on Russia without direct support from Western nations, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, citing the recent US decision to pause intelligence sharing with Kiev as proof. On Wednesday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed that the US had halted intelligence sharing with Kiev, adding that the restrictions could be lifted if Ukraine demonstrated a commitment to peace negotiations with Russia. Washington has also frozen military assistance to Kiev, with both moves following a public spat between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky during an Oval Office meeting last week. The talks ended with Trump accusing Zelensky of “disrespect” and reluctance to seek peace with Moscow.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Lavrov highlighted the consequences of the US decision on intel sharing. “Without the direct involvement of the West – namely the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and other countries – Ukraine would not be able to use these technologies and data to launch long-range missiles at our territory. This is a very important acknowledgment,” the minister said. At the same time, Lavrov declined to speculate on how long the freeze would last, stressing that Russia is focused on eliminating the root causes of the conflict, including securing guarantees that NATO “will not continue to absorb Ukraine as a territory that could later be used to create permanent threats against the Russian Federation.”

Ukraine has long used advanced Western-made weapons, including US-supplied HIMARS and ATACMS, and British Storm Shadow missiles, to target Russian facilities, including civilian ones. In the fall of 2024, the administration of then-US President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use American long-range missiles for strikes deep into Russian territory despite Moscow’s warnings that this would escalate the conflict. In response to Ukrainian long-range strikes using Western weapons, Russia deployed its newest intermediate-range ballistic missile system, the Oreshnik, to target Ukraine’s Yuzhmash military-industrial facility in the city of Dnepr. Russian President Vladimir Putin described the Oreshnik as impossible to intercept, noting its warheads travel at ten times the speed of sound. Putin has said that Ukraine could launch missile strikes deep into Russia only if it receives reconnaissance data from satellites operated either by the EU or the US.

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“..Senate Democrats seem to have thrown in the towel on defending their own COVID record and heroes including Dr. Anthony Fauci..”

• ‘Science Should Be An Engine For Freedom’: NIH Nominee Bhattacharya (JTN)

Senate Democrats and some Republicans liked the status quo at the National Institutes of Health before the second Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency started closely scrutinizing its grant decisions, headcount and wildly generous reimbursement for “indirect costs” to institutions at the expense of money for their researchers. That seemed apparent at Wednesday’s Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing for NIH director-nominee Jay Bhattacharya, who faced repeated bipartisan demands to oppose President Trump who nominated him and immediately undo decisions made by agency leaders and the president’s Department of Government Efficiency, especially mass terminations and funding freezes.

Best known for his pioneering research on widespread COVID-19 immunity by April 2020 and vocal opposition to prolonged school closures and vaccine mandates, the Stanford medical professor and health economist barely drew criticism for his own record. He mentioned just a single vaccine whose safety record troubled him when asked by Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J.: “COVID vaccines for young men causing myocarditis,” which is inflammation of heart muscle. Like their House colleagues a month earlier, Senate Democrats seem to have thrown in the towel on defending their own COVID record and heroes including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the four-decade director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Instead they assailed Trump and DOGE boss Elon Musk, with ranking member Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, telling Bhattacharya he’d be subservient to the unofficial leader of DOGE and asking Chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., to haul billionaire Musk before the committee. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., asked Bhattacharya whether he’d follow the law when Trump gave him an illegal directive. When he rejected the plausibility of the hypothetical, she responded “that strains credulity” and denounced his “disappointing answer.”

Sanders repeatedly cut off Bhattacharya as he tried to answer leading questions about unilaterally capping high prices for drugs developed through NIH research and using his “bully pulpit” to pressure TV stations to ban ads for “unhealthy foods.” The nominee barely got to answer that the U.S. could have saved untold spending on drugs by treating serious COVID infections with the “cheap steroid” dexamethasone, as documented in a July 2020 New England Journal of Medicine study. “A lot can be done through executive orders,” Sanders answered, referring to Trump’s first-month deluge, when Bhattacharya told him that previous NIH directors said only Congress can impose price caps. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called bullplop on Democrats for not cosponsoring his bill to remove junk food from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which he said would disproportionately improve health for poor people.

The ophthalmologist cheered Bhattacharya’s tout of steroids that cost “pennies” to treat serious COVID, which he said Fauci rejected in March 2020. Paul called it “the best cure and the cheapest,” and Bhattacharya frowned that the U.K. did that research instead of NIH. Just as Democrats pivoted to praising COVID vaccines as “life-saving” after the novel therapeutics were found unable to stop transmission, to make infection more likely via the antibody “class switch” and to cause heart inflammation in young people, several used the compound adjective to describe research subject to NIH’s funding pause. So did Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who also joined Democrats in branding NIH’s new 15% cap on indirect cost recovery – in line with private foundations’ reimbursement ratios – a violation of congressional directives. She called the cap “ill-conceived and completely arbitrary” and a “one-size-fits-all approach,” a jab often applied to federal COVID guidance.

Bhattacharya reminded senators his own research received NIH grants and he served on a standing NIH grant committee for a decade, but said the agency must recover from the cratering public trust in public health leaders due to their pandemic management. His NIH will “vigorously regulate” research that could cause another pandemic, he said, referring to the theory favored by the FBI, CIA and Department of Energy that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a Chinese lab conducting gain-of-function experiments, indirectly funded by Fauci’s agency. Bhattacharya promised Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., he’d work with Congress to keep taxpayer money out of foreign biolabs such as Ukraine’s, publish records with “limited obfuscation” and require funding recipients to report “politically inconvenient” results.

Tuberville had asked about an NIH-funded study on youth gender transitions and mental health whose negative findings were intentionally withheld for seven years, helping create a false medical consensus on so-called gender affirming care for young people. He urged Bhattacharya to be “very visual on television” with his transparency message. Bhattacharya said he’ll prioritize research on chronic diseases including obesity and diabetes and reversing the slide in life expectancy, which has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, and make it “replicable, reproducible and generalizable,” a weakness for the agency. He noted NIH’s “research integrity scandal” on Alzheimer’s disease, which he has studied, and its devotion to the “amyloid hypothesis,” an explanation for Alzheimer’s that may be based on falsified data and which he said crowded out study of other hypotheses.

Read more …

“..the Court finds that the public interest lies in maintaining the status quo and enjoining any categorical funding freeze.”

• Obama Judge Indefinitely Blocks Trump Admin Funding Freeze (ZH)

A Rhode Island US District Judge has indefinitely blocked President Trump’s freeze on federal grants and loans, arguing in his ruling that the White House had “put itself above Congress” and undermined democracy. In a Thursday ruling, Judge John McConnell Jr., an Obama appointee – prohibited the Trump administration from freezing or otherwise impeding the disbursement of appropriated federal funds, WSJ reports. The decision is a victory for Trump critics who say he has trampled on Congress’s authority in his effort to cut federal spending and overhaul agencies. McConnell’s order follows a similar one issued by a different federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 25. The judge had previously issued a temporary restraining order, which on Thursday he converted into an injunction, a more permanent form of relief.

“The Executive’s categorical freeze of appropriated and obligated funds fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government,” wrote McConnell. “Here, the Executive put itself above Congress,” he continued. “It imposed a categorical mandate on the spending of congressionally appropriated and obligated funds without regard to Congress’s authority to control spending.” Of note – McConnell was very active in Democratic politics before becoming a judge – serving 14 years as treasurer of the Rhode Island Democratic State Committee, and donating heavily to Democratic political candidates. McConnell’s ruling came after 22 Democrat states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit which challenged a directive from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directing them to pause funding while it assessed whether various government programs complied with executive orders issued by Trump which target foreign aid, DEI, and green energy projects.

While OMB then rescinded that directive, the states say that come Congressionally-approved funds were still being improperly withheld – and that the initial OMB policy rollout sowed confusion among state governments, nonprofits, and lawmakers. McConnell issued an earlier temporary restraining order (TRO), in which he said that the administration couldn’t “pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate” its federal financial-assistance obligations to the states. According to the judge, state governments face “significant disruption in health, education, and other public services” due to the funding freeze, and as such, “the Court finds that the public interest lies in maintaining the status quo and enjoining any categorical funding freeze.”

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“In February, [..] VA said it was continuing to hire for more than 300,000 mission-critical positions that are exempt from the federal hiring freeze..”

• DOGE Looking To Cut More Than 80,000 Employees At Veterans Affairs (JTN)

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is planning to cut 80,000 positions as part of an “aggressive” overhaul of the agency that runs programs for veterans and members of their families. The VA’s chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, told top VA officials on Tuesday that it would to return to 2019 staffing levels of just under 400,000 employees. That would require dismissing about 83,000 employees after the VA expanded during the Biden administration. It will work with the Department of Government Efficiency to create a workforce optimization plan, Syrek said in an internal memo obtained by multiple news outlets, including Government Executive, which first reported on the memo. He said VA will “move aggressively” to reduce bureaucracy, cut the department’s footprint and “increase workforce efficiency,” the outlet reported. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Democrats said the move could hurt veterans.

“83,000 VA employees are set to be fired,” the committee wrote on X. “These cuts won’t just impact those seeking health care. They will create chaos across every aspect of VA – delaying benefits, straining claims processing, and making it nearly impossible for student veterans and schools to get the assistance they need. Veterans will suffer the consequences.” The VA added staff quickly during the Biden administration as it staffed up to address increased coverage under the PACT Act, a law that expanded VA health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. News of the overhaul comes after relatively minor cuts at the agency. Earlier this week, Veterans Affairs started cancelling close to 600 “non-mission critical” and “duplicative” contracts valued at about $1.8 billion – and this is just the beginning, according to the department.

The cancellations result from the early stages of a “deliberative, multi-level review” by some of the people responsible for the contracts, VA senior leaders and contracting officials and will allow Veterans Affairs to redirect about $900 million back to veteran benefits and services, the agency said. The 585 contracts the department has begun canceling “represent less than 1% of the roughly 90,000 contracts VA currently has in place,” and the department plans to perform a thorough review of all of them. In February, VA dismissed more than 1,400 probationary employees in non-mission critical positions. At that time, VA said it was continuing to hire for more than 300,000 mission-critical positions that are exempt from the federal hiring freeze. Earlier that same month, VA announced it dismissed more than 1,000 of its 43,000 probationary employees in a move expected to save $98 million a year. The agency said those let go included non-union probationary employees who have served less than a year in a competitive service appointment or who have served less than two years in an excepted service appointment.

Read more …

“This will ensure that the IRS is not going after the wealthy and is only an agency that’s really focused on the low income,” he said. “It’s a travesty.”

• IRS Reportedly Plans To Cut Half of Its 90,000 Workforce (JTN)

The Internal Revenue Service reportedly plans to cut its roughly 90,000-employee workforce by as much as half, as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce. The cuts will be made through a mix of attrition, layoffs and incentivized buyouts, two people familiar with the situation told the Associated Press. The reduction of the federal workforce is being led by the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, which is being led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. Those being laid off are mostly probationary employees who have not yet gained civil service protection.

The agency has already cut roughly 6,000 employees, or bout 6% of its workforce, Reuters reported in late February. Philip Hackney, a University of Pittsburgh tax law professor and Former IRS lawyer, warned such cuts could unfairly target the country’s underclass. “This will ensure that the IRS is not going after the wealthy and is only an agency that’s really focused on the low income,” he said. “It’s a travesty.”

Read more …

“I think logically, we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized..”

• Elon Musk Says Amtrak, US Postal Service Should Be Privatized (ET)

Elon Musk, who is advising President Donald Trump on reducing government waste and downsizing the federal workforce, has called for privatizing the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and passenger rail operator Amtrak. “I think logically, we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized,” Musk said at a March 5 Morgan Stanley conference. “I think we should privatize the Post Office and Amtrak for example.” Amtrak, a government-owned company created in 1970, reported an adjusted operating loss of $705 million in the prior fiscal year. USPS, also government-owned, has accumulated over $100 billion in losses since 2007, including $9.5 billion in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2024. Neither Amtrak nor USPS responded to requests for comment on Musk’s remarks by publication time. The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) voiced opposition to Musk’s idea of privatizing USPS, emphasizing the service’s public mission.

“A friendly reminder on behalf of every American who depends on USPS (including 51.5 million rural addresses): It’s called universal service, not ‘as much as possible’ service,” NALC wrote in a post on X. “And we’ll #FightLikeHell to protect it.” Trump has previously suggested that the USPS could be privatized, a move that would allow for more flexibility in pricing and labor negotiations. During Trump’s first term, his administration proposed a restructuring plan for USPS, citing “extremely high” fixed costs and an inability to support its financial obligations. The plan highlighted over $100 billion in unfunded liabilities, a decade of consecutive losses, and a growing capital investment backlog. “A privatized Postal Service would have a substantially lower cost structure, be able to adapt to changing customer needs and make business decisions free from political interference, and have access to private capital markets to fund operational improvements without burdening taxpayers,” the proposal stated.

Last month, Trump said he was considering merging USPS with the Commerce Department, a move that Democrats said would violate federal law. Calling USPS “a tremendous loser for the country,” Trump said the objective of such a move would be to have a “post office that works well and doesn’t lose massive amounts of money.” Democrats have consistently opposed privatization efforts, warning that changes to USPS operations could disproportionately impact rural communities and those dependent on postal services for essential goods and medication. Trump has also repeatedly pushed to cut Amtrak’s federal funding, which totaled approximately $2.4 billion last year. His past budget proposals sought to reduce Amtrak’s funding by 40–50 percent and eliminate long-distance routes, arguing that resources should be redirected to higher-traffic corridors. Musk, comparing U.S. rail service to China’s high-speed system, criticized Amtrak as a “sad situation,” saying, “It will leave you with a very bad impression of America.”

Read more …

Trump questions Article 5.

• Trump Planning Major NATO Shakeup – NBC (RT)

The US could decide to only defend those NATO countries that actually meet the bloc’s spending requirements, four former and current officials have told NBC. Such a policy would mark a major departure from a core article of the military bloc, which states that an attack on any NATO member is to be treated as an attack on all of them. A similar principle would apply to joint military exercises and American overseas deployments, the report said. Washington could choose to prioritize drills with those NATO partners that meet the defense spending targets and also reposition its forces in Europe according to the same criteria.

The administration of President Donald Trump has previously signaled that it was planning to reduce its military presence in Europe. The president also recently urged the EU to take the lead in its own defense and to bear the brunt of any future security guarantees for Kiev. Last month, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said that Washington intended to refocus its military priorities on countering China. He also warned the EU nations that they should not assume the presence of US troops on the continent will be indefinite. Some senior US officials contacted by NBC denied that the mutual defense clause – Article 5 – could be affected by any policy changes. Senator Chris Coons, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Defense, said that Trump’s nominee for the NATO ambassador’s position, Matthew Whitaker, “gave very reassuring answers” on the administration’s commitments to Article 5.

Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO members that fail to meet the bloc’s current defense spending threshold of 2% of GDP. The president floated the idea of raising mandatory defense spending by members to 5% of GDP, though none – including the US – currently meet that threshold. According to NATO estimates, 23 bloc members met the 2% threshold as of 2024, with just five, including the US, coming in above 3%. Poland was the only member to spend more than 4% of GDP on defense.

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“..too divided and insufficiently nimble to respond to the scale of the storm that Trump is whipping up over Ukraine,”

• Trump Wants To Sideline EU – Politico (RT)

US President Donald Trump wants to sideline and destroy the European Union, an entity that he has long disliked, Politico has claimed in an article published on Thursday. The outlet argued that Trump is taking advantage of the cracks within the bloc caused by the Ukraine conflict. The administration in Washington has recently launched negotiations with Russia to broker peace in the Ukraine conflict and has excluded the EU from the process, which has elicited condemnation from Brussels. Trump has also halted American military aid to Ukraine, leaving the bloc jostling for funds to support Kiev. Washington’s anti-EU push “is triggering a crisis in Brussels institutions. The EU as a bloc is scrambling to prove its relevance,” Politico wrote. The Ukraine conflict has exposed differences among EU members in defense priorities, economic interests, and diplomatic approaches.

While countries such as Poland and the Baltic states have advocated for stronger military backing of Kiev, others, particularly Hungary and Slovakia, have pushed back, calling for a negotiated settlement with Russia. The financial burden of military aid and energy security concerns have also fueled tensions. Right-wing movements in several EU nations have questioned the bloc’s commitment to Kiev. “Trump will sideline the EU and play divide-and-rule with national leaders,” the publication wrote. While European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with US Vice President J.D. Vance in Munich last month, neither she nor European Council President Antonio Costa has had a face-to-face meeting with Trump, it noted.

The European Council, the body made up of the heads of state or government of all EU member states, “is being agonizingly exposed as too divided and insufficiently nimble to respond to the scale of the storm that Trump is whipping up over Ukraine,” Politico added. With Washington halting over $1 billion in arms shipments, Kiev faces potential shortages of ammunition and equipment. The EU is exploring alternatives to continue backing Ukraine militarily, despite the peace process initiated by the US and Russia. Von der Leyen on Tuesday unveiled a €800 billion plan aimed at bolstering the EU’s defense. In recent weeks, Trump has also targeted the bloc’s trade practices, describing them as “an atrocity” and announcing plans to impose a 25% tariff on EU goods. He also claimed that the bloc was “formed to screw the United States.”

Read more …

Trump wants to sideline EU, and the EU wants to sideline its own members.

“They created a wasteland and called it democracy.”

• EU Seeking To Bypass Opponents of Ukraine Aid – Kallas (RT)

The EU is working on a new mechanism whereby a “coalition of the willing” would continue providing military aid to Kiev despite opposition by Hungary, according to Kaja Kallas, the bloc’s foreign policy chief. Kallas made the announcement on Thursday after arriving in Brussels for an emergency summit of the bloc’s 27 countries to discuss boosting defense and Ukraine aid amid waning US support.Asked by reporters about Hungary’s attempt to block aid to Ukraine, Kallas acknowledged the issue is “increasingly difficult” and explained that Brussels is considering a new initiative called a “coalition of the willing,” so that “one country cannot block everybody else.” She did not provide any details about how the mechanism would work in practice. Hungary has already rejected an EU draft text on Ukraine that included security guarantees for Kiev and a new military aid package. Budapest has also called on the EU to begin negotiations with Russia.

The idea of creating a “coalition of the willing” – a group of countries ready to support Kiev militarily – was first proposed by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at an emergency summit in London this past Sunday. The meeting in London was summoned shortly after Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s ill-fated trip to Washington. The term “coalition of the willing” is most closely associated with the designation given to the countries supporting the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 on the ultimately disproven allegations of possession of weapons of mass destruction.“We are still striving for having the unity of 27 members,” Kallas said, but added that if unanimity cannot be reached, Hungary will have to “speak for themselves.” The military aid package for Ukraine reportedly being prepared by the EU is worth at least $6.2 billion, making it one of the bloc’s largest arms commitments since 2022. However, Hungary has indicated that it will veto the initiative.

Earlier this week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the so-called ReArm Europe initiative, an €800 billion plan aimed at bolstering the EU’s defense capabilities. The proposal was prompted by US President Donald Trump’s freezing of military aid to Ukraine while urging the EU to take greater responsibility for its own defense. Moscow has long warned against Western arms shipments to Ukraine, arguing that they only prolong the conflict without altering the outcome, while increasing the risk of a direct Russia-NATO clash. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko has suggested that the EU could contribute to resolving the crisis by halting military and logistical support to Kiev.

Read more …

Without a past of nazis and holocaust, the country would not exist. It has one of the prime secret services in the world. But no idea what happens in Kiev.

• Israeli FM ‘Didn’t Know’ Kiev Glorifies Holocaust Perpetrators (RT)

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has claimed ignorance of the well-documented fact that Ukrainian nationalists responsible for atrocities against Jewish people are venerated as heroes by Kiev. Moscow, in response, has offered to enlighten the Israeli official on the matter. On Monday, Sa’ar held a press briefing to mark Israel’s presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). West Jerusalem emphasized that anti-Semitism, which fueled Nazi crimes during World War II, “has not been eradicated from the world.” The minister seemed taken aback when a reporter asked for his thoughts on the modern-day glorification in Ukraine of Nazi-allied historical nationalist figures such as Stepan Bandera. In 2016, the Kiev city council renamed a large street in honor of Bandera, located just 3 km from Babi Yar, where an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 Jews and thousands of others were exterminated under Nazi occupation.

“First of all, I didn’t know about it. I will check it,” the official responded, pledging to issue a statement of condemnation “if there is a necessity.” Bandera and other nationalists, including those directly implicated in wartime atrocities, have been celebrated in modern Ukraine for years – something the reporter described as “common knowledge.” The Russian government expressed bewilderment at the exchange, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova sarcastically questioning the competence of Israel’s diplomatic staff. “How so? What is the Israeli embassy in Kiev doing then? And in Moscow too?” she wrote on social media, offering a collection of relevant documents in English for the minister’s convenience.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry and its embassy in Kiev have in fact issued multiple statements denouncing the veneration of such figures. In January 2022, the diplomatic mission described that year’s annual torch march commemorating Bandera’s birthday as “desecrating the memory of the victims of the Holocaust in Ukraine.” No such condemnation was issued the following year, however. The embassy explained to Haarez that “we’ve made our position clear many times, but apparently there is nothing we can do, at least at the moment.” Moscow views the current government in Kiev as dominated by neo-Nazis and radical nationalists and insists that any potential peace deal with Ukraine must include a reversal of policies discriminating against ethnic Russians.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Elon

 

 

Nap
https://twitter.com/i/status/1897477371051360561

 

 

Feeders

 

 

Cheetah
https://twitter.com/i/status/1897665976646373393

 

 

Secret

 

 

Jekyll island

 

 

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Debt Rattle March 5 2025

Mar 052025
 
 March 5, 2025  Posted by at 10:45 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  64 Responses »


Gustave Courbet The desperate man (self portrait) 1852

 

• Common Sense Revolution: Trump Outlines Sweeping Vision For Next 4 Years (JTN)
• Trump’s Big Speech Proves To Be Optics Nightmare For Democrats (JTN)
• Half of Democrat Voters Are Tired Of Far-Left Politics (ZH)
• Did Palantir Give Trump & Vance the Real Ukraine Intel? (Sp.)
• Musk Offers Zelensky To Give Up Power, Leave Ukraine (TASS)
• Zelensky Reverses Hardline Position On Peace Talks (RT)
• Musk Wants ‘Actions, Not Words’ From Zelensky (RT)
• Musk Says All Government Agencies ‘Cooperating With DOGE’ (ET)
• NATO Could Collapse Like a Balloon With a Slow Leak (Sp.)
• Reality Confronts The Euro Ruling-Strata (Alastair Crooke)
• Kaja Kallas Is Ill-Equipped To Take Stock Of EU Foreign Policy (Proud)
• Eating Crow (Stephen Karganovic)
• The Apocalyptic Trump Choice Facing The EU (Lukyanov)
• EU’s von der Leyen Unveils $840bn Rearmament Plan (RT)
• EU Spent More Money On Russian Energy Than Ukraine Aid Last Year (ZH)
• Sanctions Have To Go, Kremlin Tells Trump (ZH)
• Putin Agrees To Mediate US/Iran Nuke Talks After Trump Request (ZH)
• Government Advisor Warns UK is Heading For Civil War (MN)

 

 

 

 

FBI

Vance


https://twitter.com/i/status/1896754941575983386

Kari Lake

Fentanyl

Sachs
https://twitter.com/i/status/1896608908430672272

Sachs

Ursula

 

 

 

 

Common sense indeed. That’s all that’s needed. But the Democrats have lost it, and now they barely exist anymore. Watching bits of Trump’s speech last night, that’s what I was thinking: they’re gone, they’re around only in name. They took the knee to support BLM as it burnt down US cities unpunished. They insisted males must have access to girls’ dressing rooms. But countless Americans are (grand-) parents of young girls, and they want no part of that. Yesterday, their perhaps main point appeared to be that the world’s richest man is stealing granny’s pension and Medicare. Stick a fork in them and turn them over; they’re done. But that leaves Trump with no resistance; not sure that’s a good thing. And since we stopped last year with one Dem candidate who was too demented, followed by one who was too unpopular, it’s not clear at all what future they have, if any.

• Common Sense Revolution: Trump Outlines Sweeping Vision For Next 4 Years (JTN)

President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening delivered an optimistic speech outlining his vision for the next years, alternating between a pugilistic and jovial tone as he showed to Democrats that he would not back off of his core campaign promises and invited them to participate in his efforts to reshape the nation. “I return to this chamber tonight to report that America’s momentum is back. Our spirit is back. Our pride is back. Our confidence is back, and the American Dream is surging bigger and better than ever before,” he began. “The American dream is unstoppable, and our country is on the verge of a comeback, the likes of which the world has never witnessed and perhaps will never witness, again, never been anything like it.”

Focusing on a “common sense revolution” that he framed part as a global movement, he highlighted his early efforts to rebuild the American economy and declared that “among my very highest priorities is to rescue our economy and get dramatic and immediate relief to working families.” To that end, he pointed to his administration’s plan to reduce egg prices, bolster American energy production, encourage auto-manufacturing in the U.S., and revitalize the shipbuilding industry through a dedicated White House office. Though not technically a State of the Union address, the speech served a similar function and Trump used the opportunity to deliver a number of partisan blows to his opponents while attempting to win them over on key points.

“This is my fifth such speech to Congress, and once again, I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud, nothing I can do,” he said. “I could find a cure to the most devastating disease, a disease that would wipe out entire nations or announce the answers to the greatest economy in history, or the stoppage of crime to the lowest levels ever recorded. And these people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements,” he went on. “So Democrats sitting before me for just this one night, why not join us in celebrating so many incredible wins for America, for the good of our nation, let’s work together and let’s truly make America great again.”

Prior to the speech, reports had suggested that Democrats would take a more subdued approach to protesting Trump’s remarks. But such reports were disproven as raucous jeering from the conference prompted repeated admonishment from House Speaker Mike Johnson, who ultimately ordered the removal of Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, from the chamber. The opposition’s frequent refusal to stand or applaud throughout the speech, moreover, attracted considerable online attention, especially as Trump highlighted the death of Laken Riley and the presence of a 13-year-old child with cancer. Riley’s death served as the keynote of Trump’s discussion on illegal immigration as the first law he signed upon returning to office bore her name.

“Last year, I told Laken’s grieving parents that we would ensure would not have died in vain. That’s why the very first bill I signed into law as your 47th president mandates the detention of all dangerous criminal aliens who threaten public safety, very strong, powerful act,” he said. Much of the speech saw Trump urge Congress to pass his legislative priorities, including a call for a balanced budget, making interest payments on car loans tax deductible if the vehicle was made in America, and banning child sex changes. Trump used much of speech to Congress to highlight his efforts to fight inflation, bolster energy production, and strengthen the U.S. economy, outlining his overall plan and touting his early accomplishments.

“Among my very highest priorities is to rescue our economy and get dramatic and immediate relief to working families. As you know, we inherited from the last administration an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare,” he declared. “Their policies drove up energy prices, pushed up grocery costs and drove the necessities of life out of reach for millions and millions of Americans, if not never had anything like it.” “We suffered the worst inflation in 48 years, but perhaps even in the history of our country, they’re not sure. As President, I’m fighting every day to reverse this damage and make America affordable again,” he declared. “Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control. The egg prices out of control, and we’re working hard to get it back down. Secretary, do a good job on that. You inherited a total mess from the previous administration.” Trump further pointed to his efforts to construct a national gas pipeline, encourage foreign investment, and to cut government waste.

Read more …

It’s very sad, too.

• Trump’s Big Speech Proves To Be Optics Nightmare For Democrats (JTN)

President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday night proved to be an optics nightmare for Democrats as one of their own was booted from the House chamber by the sergeant at arms and social media lit up over liberal lawmakers’ refusal to stand for a boy with cancer being made a member of the Secret Service. House Speaker Mike Johnson had Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, removed from the House chamber during Trump’s joint address for disrupting the speech. Johnson banged the speaker’s gavel as Democrats disrupted Trump’s speech, before instructing them to follow decorum and ordering Green’s removal.

“Members are directed to uphold and maintain decorum in the House and to cease any further disruptions,” Johnson said. “That’s your warning. Members are engaging in willful and continuing breach of decorum, and the chair is prepared to direct the sergeant at arms to restore order to the joint session. Mr. Green, take your seat. Take your seat, sir. Take your seat. Finding that members continue to engage in willful and concerted disruption of proper decorum, the chair now directs the sergeant at arms to restore order. Remove this gentleman from the chamber.” Shortly after Johnson’s order to remove Green from the chamber, Trump said, “This is my fifth such speech to Congress, and once again, I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud, nothing I can do.

“I could find a cure to the most devastating disease, a disease that would wipe out entire nations or announce the answers to the greatest economy in history, or the stoppage of crime to the lowest levels ever recorded. And these people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements. They won’t do it, no matter what — five times I’ve been up here, it’s very sad, and it just shouldn’t be this way,” he continued. “So Democrats sitting before me for just this one night, why not join us in celebrating so many incredible wins for America, for the good of our nation, let’s work together and let’s truly make America great again.” Trump also pointed out a 13-year-old boy in the gallery who is battling cancer and has been made an honorary police officer. The president said that he was making the child an agent of the Secret Service.

“Joining us in the gallery tonight is a young man who truly loves our police. His name is DJ Daniel, he is 13 years old, and he has always dreamed of becoming a police officer,” Trump said. “But in 2018, DJ was diagnosed with brain cancer, the doctors gave him five months at most to live. That was more than six years ago. Since that time, DJ and his dad have been on a quest to make his dream come true, and DJ has been sworn in as an honorary law enforcement officer, actually a number of times. The police love him, the police departments love him. “And tonight, DJ, we’re going to do you the biggest honor of them all. I am asking our new Secret Service Director, Sean Curran, to officially make you an agent of the United States Secret Service. Thank you, DJ. DJ’s doctors believe his cancer likely came from a chemical he was exposed to when he was younger. Since 1975, rates of child cancer have increased by more than 40%.”

Wile Republicans gave DJ a standing ovation, only about a dozen Democrats joined them. The rest sat without recognizing the boy. Former Arizona Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright (R) reacted to the Democrats’ reaction in post on X on Tuesday, writing, “The congressional democrats are horrible human beings. They couldn’t even stand to applaud newly sworn in Secret Service Agent DJ, a child battling cancer!!” A brief clip that Wright reposted on X showed the majority of Democrats remaining seated while Republicans gave DJ a standing ovation. During Trump’s address, some Democrats in the chamber held up circular black signs with white lettering that had statements such as “Protect Veterans,” “False,” “Save Medicaid,” and “Musk Steals.” Near the start of the speech, Democrats started booing Trump, before being drowned out by Republicans chanting, “USA!”

As Trump entered the House chamber for his address, Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., held up a sign next to the president that read, “This is NOT Normal.” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich posted a thread on X on Tuesday of several occasions in Trump’s speech that Democrats didn’t clap for.

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“..if the polls are correct then nearly half of Democrats are burnt out on the wacky Manson Family behavior of their activist counterparts..”

• Half of Democrat Voters Are Tired Of Far-Left Politics (ZH)

Can Democrats learn to admit when they’re wrong? It might depend on the variety of Democrat. Woke activists have proven time after time that they will double down on every incorrect position because they don’t care at all about being right; they only care about winning and destroying anyone who stands in their way. But this is psychopathic behavior that should be common only among the fringes of ideological debate. Are all Democrats woke and crazy, or do a lot of them go along with the extremist mob because they’re too afraid to speak against their own side? Or, perhaps a lot of people that lean to the left of the political spectrum have a habit of blindly following the lemmings in front of them, even if it means going off a cliff in the end.

Whether it was psychopathy, cowardice or trend chasing, millions of US voters thought it was a good idea to jump on the woke bandwagon and support authoritarianism, collectivism and moral relativism for at least a solid four years. No moderation was allowed. No nuance was discussed. No centrist ideals entertained. During the Biden Administration and the Kamala Harris campaign ESG, CRT, DEI, LGBT and Net Zero were the message and the madness. It was everywhere and there was no escape. Not surprisingly, the zealotry of the political left created massive blowback that they just could not comprehend. Using billions in government funds from agencies like USAID to saturate the culture with race communism and trans cultism did not help them in the long run. In fact, most of the population became fed up and angry. The Democratic Party fully embraced the woke militants and ended up alienating half of their own voter base.

After the Democratic Party’s well-publicized setbacks during the November elections, a recent national poll indicates 45% of Democrats want their party to go moderate and move away from the terminally woke. That’s up 11 points from 2021. Only 31% of respondents in a Quinnipiac University survey conducted last month had a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party, with 57% seeing the party in an unfavorable light. Polls also show that Democrats in congress hit an all-time-low approval rating last month as the party is finding it increasingly difficult to counter Donald Trump’s government accountability message. To oppose government audits suggests they have something to hide. Democrat politicians have come out publicly in recent weeks to admit that overt “wokeism” is ruining the party. Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, asserts:

“I think the Democrats’ brand is really bad, and I think this was an election based on culture. And the Democrats’ failure to connect on a cultural basis with a wide swath of Americans is hugely problematic…” “I think the majority of the party realizes that the ideological purity of some of the groups is a recipe for disaster and that, candidly, the attack on over-the-top wokeism was a valid attack.” In other words, Get Woke – Go Broke. It took several years and a severe beat down in the elections to draw out even a modicum of awareness from leftists and it’s unlikely that they will abandon identity politics in the near term. But, if the polls are correct then nearly half of Democrats are burnt out on the wacky Manson Family behavior of their activist counterparts. This means that without dramatic changes, the Dems will not be winning any elections anytime soon.

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“Palantir Turns Ukraine Into an AI War Lab.”

• Did Palantir Give Trump & Vance the Real Ukraine Intel? (Sp.)

While Volodymyr Zelensky brazenly questioned JD Vance’s knowledge of Ukraine in the White House slapdown, Donald Trump and his veep may have already exposed all his corrupt schemes. Time Magazine boasted that tech giant Palantir Technologies embedded its state-of-the-art analytics AI software into Ukraine’s government operations in June 2022. More than half a dozen Ukrainian agencies, including its Ministries of Defense, Digital Transformation, Economy, and Education, now rely on Palantir. The company has access to virtually all Ukraine’s data, from real-time satellite and drone footage to financial and economic records, according to the media. Beyond its military AI solutions, Palantir is also tasked with “rooting out corruption” in Ukraine – effectively making it the Zelensky regime’s invisible watchdog.

Founded in 2003, Palantir was backed by the CIA’s venture arm, In-Q-Tel, and worked on US-NATO operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. What’s more, billionaire Peter Thiel, Palantir’s co-founder, has been a loyal Trump ally since 2016. Thiel mentored JD Vance since 2011, backed his Narya Capital, and donated $10 million to his Senate campaign in 2021. With Palantir’s insider access, it likely holds intel on Ukraine’s corruption, misuse of US funds, forced conscriptions, and more – intel Thiel could have shared with Trump and Vance. Rumors suggest Palantir’s AI may have been used by Elon Musk’s DOGE team, hinting that Kiev’s schemes could already be exposed, much like USAID’s murky dealings.

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At least it makes sense. But I don’t have the feeling it’s his decision.

• Musk Offers Zelensky To Give Up Power, Leave Ukraine (TASS)

The leader of the Kiev regime, Vladimir Zelensky, should resign and leave Ukraine, US entrepreneur and Head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk said. “As distasteful as it is, Zelensky should be offered some kind of amnesty in a neutral country in exchange for a peaceful transition back to democracy in Ukraine,” Musk wrote on his X social media page. On February 28, Vladimir Zelensky visited the White House for a meeting with US President Donald Trump. Their televised exchange, with reporters present, devolved into a shouting match, with Trump reprimanding that Zelensky was ungrateful to the United States for the support provided to Kiev, and Vice President JD Vance pointing out that Zelensky showed a disrespectful attitude towards the US. The press conference following their meeting was canceled. Trump posted a statement on the Truth Social network asserting that Zelensky disrespected the US and displayed reluctance to seek a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine conflict.

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He’ll say anything he’s told to say.

• Zelensky Reverses Hardline Position On Peace Talks (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has said that Kiev is ready to engage in peace negotiations with Russia, to be brokered by US President Donald Trump. The statement comes after the White House reportedly stopped all military aid to Kiev following a disastrous meeting in the Oval Office between the two leaders, for which US officials have demanded Zelensky apologize. Zelensky made a concession-filled post on X on Tuesday, saying his public feud with Trump in the Oval Office was “regrettable.” “We are ready to work fast to end the war,” Zelensky wrote. He has frequently said in the past that Ukraine would fight as long as necessary and that peace talks could only happen on Ukraine’s terms. He proposed the release of prisoners and establishing “truces” on both the air and sea fronts, echoing suggestions by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in a meeting with him in London on Sunday.

The French-UK plan envisages a temporary, month-long “truce in the air, on the seas, and on energy infrastructure.” Moscow has repeatedly ruled out a temporary ceasefire with Kiev, insisting on a permanent, legally binding peace deal that addresses the root causes of the conflict. On Monday, Trump reportedly ordered a temporary halt to all US military aid to Ukraine, aiming to pressure Zelensky into negotiations to end the conflict with Russia. An unnamed senior administration official told Fox News that military assistance would stay suspended until the Ukrainian leadership demonstrates a genuine commitment to peace talks. “Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer,” Zelensky continued on X, offering his appreciation for Washington’s support. “My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts,” he added.

“’Ready’ is good, it is positive,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reacted to the statement. During the Friday meeting, Trump accused Zelensky of ingratitude and “gambling with World War III” by refusing to work towards a halt to hostilities. On Sunday, Zelensky told reporters that “an agreement to end the war is still very, very far away, and no one has started all these steps yet.” Trump condemned his statement on social media, promising that “America will not put up with it for much longer.” Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated Moscow’s readiness to resolve the Ukraine conflict through peaceful means. He emphasized Russia’s aim of establishing an international system that ensures a balanced and mutual consideration of interests, creating a long-term, indivisible European and global security framework.

Additionally, Zelensky highlighted his willingness to swiftly finalize a minerals deal with the US, viewing it as a step toward “toward greater security and solid security guarantees.” Trump has declined to provide specific promises on security, such as admitting Ukraine to NATO or contributing American troops to a future peacekeeping mission. He has also argued that Kiev’s ambition to join NATO was “probably the reason this whole thing started.” Moscow has welcomed Trump’s NATO comments, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying the US president is “the first and only” major Western leader to publicly name NATO expansion and Ukraine’s desire to join the bloc as a key cause of the ongoing conflict.

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“The Kremlin also said that Kiev must renounce its claims to Crimea and four other regions that have voted to become part of Russia.”

• Musk Wants ‘Actions, Not Words’ From Zelensky (RT)

Words alone would not be enough to restore trust in Kiev, Elon Musk has said in a response to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s announcement that he was ready to sign a deal with the US on rare-earth minerals and agree to a ceasefire with Moscow. “Actions, not words, are what matter. Let’s see what actions take place,” the billionaire and top adviser to US President Donald Trump wrote on X on Tuesday. Zelensky had earlier expressed his regret that last Friday’s meeting in Washington “did not go the way it was supposed to.” The US and Ukraine were supposed to sign a rare-earths deal during Zelensky’s visit to the White House. The signing was abruptly canceled following a heated argument in the Oval Office, during which Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance accused Zelensky of not being grateful for American aid to Kiev.

Trump later claimed that his guest was acting disrespectfully and did not want to achieve peace with Russia. On Tuesday, Zelensky said that Kiev was ready to sign the minerals agreement at “any time and in any convenient format.” He stated that Ukraine was also ready for a prisoner exchange and a truce, with a “ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy, and other civilian infrastructure.” He thanked Trump, the US Congress, and the American people but stopped short of formally apologizing for the Friday incident. Following a shouting match in the White House, Trump told reporters that Zelensky would need to be ready for peace with Russia if he wanted to be welcomed back.

Fox News cited a senior US official on Monday as saying that Zelensky should issue a public apology if he wants to sign the minerals deal. Later reports said, however, that Trump was planning to announce the agreement during his address to Congress on Tuesday evening. Moscow welcomed Zelensky’s overtures as a “positive” development. “It is good that he [Zelensky] is ready [to go back to the talks with the US],” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalist Pavel Zarubin from the TV channel Rossiya-1 on Tuesday. Moscow has insisted that peace should be made on its terms, including the transformation of Ukraine into a neutral country. The Kremlin also said that Kiev must renounce its claims to Crimea and four other regions that have voted to become part of Russia.

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“I think that email perhaps was misinterpreted as a performance review, but, actually, it was a pulse check review…”

• Musk Says All Government Agencies ‘Cooperating With DOGE’ (ET)

Adviser to President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, said Saturday that some federal agencies will respond on behalf of employees to an email asking what federal workers did in the past week and that all agencies are cooperating with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was created last month to cut waste, fraud, and excess spending. “All federal government departments are cooperating with DOGE,” he wrote. For the Departments of State, Defense Department, and “a few others, the supervisors are gathering the weekly accomplishments on behalf of individual contributors,” Musk wrote on his social media platform, X. Over the weekend, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent out a second round of emails to multiple agencies asking all federal employees to list five things they accomplished that week.

Earlier on Saturday, Musk said in a separate X post that responding to the email “is mandatory for the executive branch” and that “anyone working on classified or other sensitive matters is still required to respond if they receive the email, but can simply reply that their work is sensitive.” An email that was sent to Defense Department civilian employees, seen by The Epoch Times, provided guidance to the “what you did last week” email and said employees must respond to it within 48 hours. “A response to this email satisfies all OPM requirements for the past two weeks,” the email to Pentagon employees added. Musk, with Trump’s backing, has pressed for the emails as a means to hold workers accountable and as a “pulse check” to make sure all federal employees on the payroll actually exist.

The emails are part of broader efforts by Musk and DOGE to downsize the federal government and reduce spending. Musk and Trump have said that the organization is needed to find and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. Democratic lawmakers and labor unions have criticized DOGE, saying that widespread cuts could hamper crucial government functions and services. Musk and DOGE have been targeted by multiple lawsuits seeking to block them from accessing government systems and confidential data. The suits allege that Musk and DOGE are violating the Constitution by wielding the kind of vast power that only comes from agencies created through the Congress or appointments made with confirmation by the Senate. At the first Trump Cabinet meeting held last week, Musk explained the role that DOGE will play. He also addressed the mass emails that were sent to federal employees.

“I think that email perhaps was misinterpreted as a performance review, but, actually, it was a pulse check review,” Musk said, adding that “this is not a high bar.” “What we are trying to get to the bottom of is we think there are a number of people on the government payroll who are dead, which is probably why they can’t respond,” he said. Shortly before the first round of emails were sent out last month, Trump had called on Musk to “get more aggressive” with spending cuts and reform to the government. After they were sent out, Trump told reporters in the White House, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, that those who do not answer the email are at risk of termination.

Musk is not a Cabinet-level official and has been listed as a presidential adviser to Trump with a special government employee status. The Trump administration has given conflicting statements on the exact role that Musk plays within DOGE or whether he actually heads it. In court papers last month, a senior White House official said that Musk is not in charge of DOGE, nor an employee of the department. Trump later said that Musk is effectively leading the organization.

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“NATO has been ‘unified’ for the past 40 years in letting the US foot the bill and supply the manpower for Europe’s defense..”

• NATO Could Collapse Like a Balloon With a Slow Leak (Sp.)

Former Supreme Allied Commander Admiral James Stavridis earlier warned that the end of NATO could be “days away.” Before entering office, then-President-elect Donald Trump vowed to consider withdrawing the US from NATO. However, the US won’t leave the alliance abruptly, Come Carpentier de Gourdon, a geopolitical analyst and the convener of the editorial board of World Affairs journal, told Sputnik.The US may “gradually starve NATO of funds and other resources by repatriating most of the US personnel from bases in Europe, for instance,” which would prod European states to maintain the alliance at their costs, Gourdon said.

Washington may also push NATO members to raise their defense budgets to 5% which “would probably put an unacceptable burden on those states,” he went on. “In that situation, NATO would become moribund and many of its countries would look for alternative arrangements,” the analyst concluded. It looks like US President Donald Trump has decided NATO’s “free ride is over,” Michael Shannon, political commentator and Newsmax columnist, said in an interview with Sputnik. “NATO has been ‘unified’ for the past 40 years in letting the US foot the bill and supply the manpower for Europe’s defense,” he noted.

The alliance “can pay its fair share in troops, money and equipment or it can watch the US leave them to their feckless fate. US taxpayers get nothing from this arrangement while EU taxpayers get everything,” Shannon stressed. It’s unclear if the US will formally withdraw from NATO, but one can see “a major cutback in NATO spending and a drawdown of US manpower in the EU,” according to the analyst. “When that happens and the other NATO members fail to shoulder their own burden, I can see NATO slowly collapsing like a balloon with a slow leak,” the commentator pointed out.

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‘Through the tear in the fantasy bubble, they see their own demise..’

• Reality Confronts The Euro Ruling-Strata (Alastair Crooke)

They (the Euro-élites) don’t have a chance: “If Trump imposes this tariff [25%], the U.S. will be in a serious trade conflict with the EU”, the Norwegian Prime Minister threatens. And what if Brussels does retaliate? “They can try, but they can’t”, Trump responded. Von der Leyen has, however, already promised that she will retaliate. Nonetheless, the combined suite of the Anglo administrative forces is still unlikely to compel Trump to put U.S. military troops on the ground in Ukraine to protect European interests (and investments!). The reality is that every European NATO member – to varying degrees of self-embarrassment – admits publicly now that none of them want to participate in securing Ukraine without having U.S. military troops provide ‘backstop’ to those European forces.

This is a palpably obvious scheme to inveigle Trump into continuing the Ukraine war – as is Macron and Starmer’s dangling of the mineral deal to try to trick Trump to recommit to the Ukraine war. Trump plainly sees through these ploys. The fly in the ointment, however, is that Zelensky seemingly fears a ceasefire, more than he fears losing further ground on the battlefield. He too, seems to need the war to continue (to preserve continuing in power, possibly). Trump calling time on the Ukraine war that has been lost has seemingly caused European elites to enter some form of cognitive dissonance. Of course, it has been clear for some time that Ukraine would not retake its 1991 borders, nor force Russia into a negotiating position weak enough for the West to be able to dictate its own cessation terms. As Adam Collingwood writes:

“Trump has torn a huge rip in the interface layer of the fantasy bubble … the governing élite [in the wake of Trump’s pivot] can see not just an electoral setback, but rather a literal catastrophe. A defeat in war, with [Europe] left largely defenceless; a de-industrialising economy; crumbling public services and infrastructure; large fiscal deficits; stagnating living standards; social and ethnic disharmony – and a powerful populist insurgency led by enemies just as grave as Trump and Putin in the Manichean struggle against vestiges of liberal times – and strategically sandwiched between two leaders that both despise and disdain them …”. “In other words, through the tear in the fantasy bubble, Europe’s elites see their own demise …”. “Anybody who could see reality knew that things would only get worse on the war front from autumn 2023, but from their fantasy bubble, our élites couldn’t see it. Vladimir Putin, like the ‘Deplorables’ and ‘Gammons’ at home, was an atavistic daemon who would inevitably be slain on the inexorable march to liberal progressive utopia”.

Many in the Euro ruling-strata clearly are furious. Yet what can Britain or Germany actually do? It has quickly become clear that European states do not have the military capacity to intervene in Ukraine in any concerted manner. But more than anything, as Conor Gallagher points out, it is the European economy, circling the drain – largely as a result of the war against Russia – that is dragging reality to the forefront. The new German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has shown himself to be the most implacable European leader advocating both military expansion and youth conscription – in what amounts to an European resistance model mounted to confront Trump’s pivot to Russia. Yet Merz’s winning CDU/CSU achieved only 28% of votes cast, whilst losing significant voter share. Hardly an outstanding mandate for confronting both Russia – and America – together!

“I am communicating closely with a lot of prime ministers, and heads of EU states and for me it is an absolute priority to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible, so that we achieve independence from the U.S., step by step”, Friedrich Merz said. Second place in the German election was taken by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) with 20% of the national vote. The party was the top vote getter in the 25-45 year-old demographic. It supports good relations with Russia, an end to the Ukraine war, and it wants to work with Team Trump, too. Yet AfD absurdly is outcast under the ‘firewall rules’. As a ‘populist’ party with a strong youth vote, it becomes automatically relegated to the ‘wrong side’ of the EU firewall. Merz has already refused to share power with them, leaving the CDU as pig-in-the-middle, squeezed between the failing SPD, which lost the most voter share, and the AfD and Der Linke, another firewall outcast, which, like AfD, gained voter share, especially among the under-45s.

The rub here – and it is a big one – is that the AfD and the Left Party, Der Linke (8.8%), which was the top vote getter in the 18-24 demographic, are both anti-war. Together these two have more than one third of the votes in parliament – a blocking minority for many important votes, especially for constitutional changes. This will be a big headache for Merz, as Wolfgang Münchau explains: “For one thing, the new Chancellor had wanted to travel to the NATO summit this June, with a strong commitment to higher defence spending. And even though the Left Party and the AfD hate each other in every other respect, they agree that they won’t give Merz the money to strengthen the Bundeswehr. More important, though, is the fact that they won’t support a reform to the constitutional fiscal rules (the debt brake) that Merz and the SPD are desperate for”.

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“No one voted for Kallas to occupy her office in Brussels. While Zelensky has only been unelected since May of 2024, Kallas will only ever be an unelected apparatchik.”

• Kaja Kallas Is Ill-Equipped To Take Stock Of EU Foreign Policy (Proud)

Now that Zelensky has been battered by Trump and abandoned by Starmer, he can fall back of Europe’s leading diplomat, Kaja Kallas. God help us all. The earth is still shaking from President Trump and Vice President Vance’s tag team annihilation of Volodymir Zelensky at the White House. The 27 February meeting between Trump and Keir Starmer was a more convivial affair, with the British Prime Minister quiet on Ukraine while promoting the idea of much prized trade talks with America. That was the first signal of the UK getting real about its foreign policy disaster in Ukraine and recognising that it needs trade with America far more than it needs the huge cost of propping up an unwinnable war. This leaves Zelensky’s fate in the hands of the European Union. And with Kaja Kallas, the current EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the omens aren’t promising.

Kallas’ problem is threefold. First, she is not diplomatic. If the biggest foreign policy challenge in Kallas’ in-tray right now is the war in Ukraine, then her ingrained hatred of Russia makes her a singularly bad choice as Europe’s lead diplomat. Her worldview is carved out of her experience growing up in the Soviet Union the child of a woman who was deported to Siberia in 1949. She looks at Russia through a shattered lens of Estonia’s suffering during the so-called communist terror after the end of World War II. How she sees events in Ukraine today is simply a continuum of the folklore of her life. Russia is the hated enemy, and, at some point, Russia will return to conquer Estonia once more. In her statements before war in Ukraine started, Kallas reaffirmed her view that Estonia could be the next country that Russia invades. As a NATO country, I have never seen any evidence that Russia has a plan to do this.

Kallas has called for NATO troops to be deployed to Ukraine, to ensure Russia’s total defeat. She has suggested that Russia be broken up into a series of smaller states. She once implied that Ukraine should inflict more civilian casualties on Russian citizens, to balance the number of casualties in Ukraine. Even as President Trump has said that NATO membership for Ukraine is unrealistic, she has continued to push for this to be kept on the table, despite it having been a redline for Russia for nineteen years. Almost everything that she says is rooted in her unshakeable belief that defeating Russia is vital for the world to become a safer place. The world is full of extremists, of course. However, she claims to be the leading diplomat of Europe. She seems singularly ill-suited to that role. But will nonetheless still support Zelensky, I’m sure.

Which ushers in her second problem, the absence of a democratic mandate. Countries that are sceptical about the European project often express concerns about the lack of democratic accountability of EU institutions. No one voted for Kallas to occupy her office in Brussels. While Zelensky has only been unelected since May of 2024, Kallas will only ever be an unelected apparatchik.

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“You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”

• Eating Crow (Stephen Karganovic)

For those unfamiliar with this colourful American idiom, “eating crow” means “to undergo the humiliation of having to retract a statement or admit an error.” It is a rough equivalent of the Biblical practice of putting on a sackcloth and covering oneself with ashes. Something of the sort has indeed happened with two major collective West narratives, the war in Ukraine and the “genocide” Xinjiang. The Ukraine narrative maintained that the conflict that started in February 2022 was an unprovoked act of “Russian aggression.” The equally bogus Xinjiang narrative rested on the groundless premise that the Chinese government was conducting an extermination campaign targeting the Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim ethnicity, in its Northwestern province of Xinjiang.

Both assertions have now been debunked as completely false. That was accomplished in part by those who were aggressively promoting those narratives. The one misrepresenting the conflict in Ukraine imploded with a huge bang, whilst the Xinjiang genocide fabrication did so with a whimper. But it hardly matters; they are both effectively dead now. The key ground of the Russian aggression claim was debunked recently by its most prominent promoters. In pursuing dialogue with Russia as a means of settling the conflict in Ukraine, the new Trump administration, in the face of fierce vested interest and deep state resistance and however grudgingly, has finally made an important admission. It is that the operational premise of the hostility to Russia which at several junctures had brought the world to the brink of war was in fact false.

That is the plain meaning of President Donald Trump’s remark, addressed to the Ukrainian leadership with reference to responsibility for the war: “You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.” As if on cue, administration officials are also changing their tune. The President’s adviser and special envoy Steve Witkoff articulated Washington’s new position in no uncertain terms: “The war didn’t need to happen. It was provoked.” But who provoked it? The key takeaway from Witkoff’s remarks concerns the genesis of the conflict, although what he said may strike informed people as merely conceding the obvious: “It doesn’t necessarily mean it was provoked by the Russians. There were all kinds of conversations back then about Ukraine joining NATO. The president has spoken about this — that didn’t need to happen. It basically became a threat to the Russians, and so we have to deal with that fact.”

There is an immense difference between “unprovoked full scale aggression,” which was the party line until a few days ago, and the new position consisting of the explicit recognition that Russia’s military operation was provoked, because it occurred in response to a threat. The acid test of Trump administration’s commitment to the revised view of the conflict was the way it would vote in the UN on the resolution proposed by Ukraine, regurgitating the three-year “Russian unprovoked aggression” propaganda claims. Refreshingly, this time round the U.S. joined Russia to vote against it.

The lie concerning the Chinese “genocide” in Xinxiang has now also been laid bare and once more the truth has been affirmed by the most authoritative source, the original slanderers themselves.It should be recalled that Great Britain not only spearheaded the charge that China was committing genocide in Xinxiang but had also made its facilities available in 2021 to an NGO specifically set up for the purpose of conducting a kangaroo court trial in order to give the charge a veneer of legitimacy. The veneer was rather short lived, as it turned out, because Dr. Alena Douhan, the UN Human Rights Rapporteur, evidently intrigued by the Xinxiang genocide frenzy, actually took the trouble to go there and check for herself. In her findings she reported that no evidence of genocide was detected and asked that sanctions based on the unfounded allegation be removed.

Easier said than done because the Xinxiang controversy has nothing to do with verifiable human rights abuses, much less the crime of genocide, and everything to do with the Chinese province’s pivotal position on the Great Chessboard. Quite simply, as we had stated before, “Xinjiang happens to be the most convenient land route corridor which China’s Belt and Road Initiative must inevitably take if it is to be viable. Accordingly, make Xinjiang a sufficiently hazardous place and for all practical purposes B&R trade goes up in smoke. Chinese products cannot reach their foreign destinations, and neither can the products of foreign partners be reliably delivered to the Chinese market.”

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“They have pushed Washington to find a resolution to the Ukraine conflict that aligns with European interests. But the now-public rupture between Zelensky and Trump has stripped them of that opportunity..”

• The Apocalyptic Trump Choice Facing The EU (Lukyanov)

Friday night’s dramatic events at the White House, featuring Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, have placed Western Europe in an extremely difficult position. Many of the region’s leaders, who range from moderate to intense skeptics of US President Donald Trump, have nonetheless attempted to preserve the traditional transatlantic alliance. They have pushed Washington to find a resolution to the Ukraine conflict that aligns with European interests. But the now-public rupture between Zelensky and Trump has stripped them of that opportunity. Whether by design or by accident, Zelensky has forced the United States to clarify its stance: Washington is a mediator, not a combatant, and its priority is ending escalation, not taking sides.

This marks a stark departure from the previous position, in which the US led a Western coalition against Russia in defense of Ukraine. The message is clear – American support for Kiev is not a matter of principle but merely a tool in a broader geopolitical game. The EU has loudly declared that it will never abandon Ukraine. But in reality, it lacks the resources to replace the United States as Kiev’s primary backer. At the same time, reversing course is not so simple. The price of trying to defeat Russia is too high, and the economic toll too severe, but a sudden shift in policy would force Western European leaders to answer for their past decisions. In an EU already grappling with internal unrest, such a reversal would hand ammunition to the political opponents of the bloc’s leaders.

Another key reason Western Europe remains on this path is its post-Cold War reliance on moral arguments as a political tool – both internally and in its dealings with external partners. Unlike traditional powers, the EU is not a state. Where sovereign nations can pivot and adjust policies with relative ease, a bloc of more than two dozen countries inevitably gets bogged down in bureaucracy. Decisions are slow, coordination is imperfect, and mechanisms often fail to function as intended. For years, Brussels attempted to turn this structural weakness into an ideological strength. The EU, despite its complexity, was supposed to represent a new form of cooperative politics – a model for the world to follow. But it is now clear that this model has failed.

At best, it may survive within Western Europe’s culturally homogeneous core, though even that is uncertain. The world has moved on, and the inefficiencies remain. This makes the dream of an independent, self-sufficient “Europe” – one capable of acting without American oversight – an impossibility. Western Europe may attempt to endure the turbulence of another Trump presidency, just as it did during his first term. But this is not just about Trump. The shift in US policy is part of a deeper political realignment, one that ensures there will be no return to the golden age of the 1990s and early 2000s.

More importantly, Ukraine has become the catalyst for these changes. The EU does not have the luxury of waiting things out. Its leaders must decide – quickly – how to respond. Most likely, they will attempt to maintain the appearance of unity with Washington while adapting to new US policies. This will be painful, especially in economic terms. Unlike in the past, modern America acts solely in its own interests, with little regard for the needs of its European allies. One indicator of Western Europe’s shifting posture may be the upcoming visit of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to Washington. At present, Merz presents himself as a hardliner. But if history is any guide, he may soon shift positions, aligning more closely with Washington’s new direction.

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Maybe if they had a reserve currency…

• EU’s von der Leyen Unveils $840bn Rearmament Plan (RT)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed that member states spend about $840 billion on defense to strengthen their military self-sufficiency – an amount more than double total EU defense expenditure in 2024. In a statement on Tuesday, the EU chief cited the “most dangerous of times” and the “grave” threats facing the bloc as reasons to assume greater responsibility for its own security. “We are in an era of rearmament,” von der Leyen declared, adding that she had sent a letter outlining her ‘ReArm Europe Plan’ to member state leaders ahead of the European Council meeting later this week. “ReArm Europe could mobilize close to €800 billion ($840 billion) for a safe and resilient Europe,” she said. “This is a moment for Europe. And we are ready to step up.”

Official data shows the bloc’s total defense spending reached an estimated $344 billion last year, marking an increase of more than 30% since 2021. The new plan includes $158 billion in loans available to member states to invest in what von der Leyen described as “pan-European capability domains,” including air and missile defense, artillery systems, missiles and ammunition, drones, and anti-drone technology. It will also address other needs, from cybersecurity to military mobility. The proposed five-part strategy is also designed to address the “short-term urgency” of supporting Ukraine, the EU chief said. Von der Leyen did not specify a detailed timeline, but emphasized that defense spending must increase “urgently now but also over a longer period over this decade.” Her announcement came just hours after news agencies reported on Monday that US President Donald Trump had ordered a pause on military aid to Ukraine.

Trump has repeatedly accused Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky of refusing to negotiate peace with Russia and exploiting US support for his own gain. Following Zelensky’s public clash with Trump and US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday, the US president said America would no longer tolerate the Ukrainian leader’s attitude. The EU has historically depended significantly on the US for its security, primarily through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). However, the Trump administration has recently signaled a major policy shift, urging European nations to take the lead in their own defense, as well as Kiev’s. Last month, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said that Washington intended to refocus its military priorities on countering China, warning the EU not to assume that American forces would remain in the region indefinitely.

Trump has previously warned that under his leadership the US would not defend NATO countries that fail to meet their financial commitments. He has floated the idea of raising mandatory defense spending by members to 5% of GDP, though none – including the US – currently meet that threshold. His push for increased defense spending has drawn mixed reactions, with some EU officials questioning its economic feasibility. European officials have occasionally raised concerns that Trump could pull the US out of the organization. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko recently warned that NATO appears to be preparing for war with Moscow, arguing that its current course poses a threat both to Russia and to overall security architecture.

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Trump talked about this report.

• EU Spent More Money On Russian Energy Than Ukraine Aid Last Year (ZH)

A new report reveals that the anti-Russia, pro-Ukraine EU – spent more money on Russian oil and gas in 2024 than they did on military aid to Ukraine. According to the report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), the EU spent approximately $23 billion on Russian fossil fuels vs. $19.6 billion on military and financial aid to Ukraine. Meanwhile, China purchased at least $82 billion of Russian energy, India spent $51 billion, and Turkey spent $36 billion. In total, Russia raked in $254 billion on energy exports. “Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Europe has made significant progress in terms of energy independence. Imports of Russian oil and gas have decreased substantially, with gas imports dropping from 45% in 2021 to 18% in 2024,” said EU MP Thomas Pellerin-Carlin in response to the report.

“However, a quarter of Russia’s fossil fuel export revenues still come from Europe,” he continued. And despite EU efforts to reduce Russian dependence, member nations spent 7 billion euros ($7.3 billion) on Russian natural gas in the third year of the Ukraine war – an increase of 9% vs. 2023. According to CREA, increased sanctions on Russia could reduce the Kremlin’s fossil fuel revenues by $51 billion euros ($53.3 billion). “Due to insufficient sanctions and loopholes, Russia has earned over 825 billion euros ($862.9 billion) from fossil fuel exports since the start of their invasion of Ukraine,” according to Isaac Levi, CREA’s Europe-Russia Energy policy analyst. As American Greatness’ Eric Lendrum notes further, Overall, Russia’s oil exports have decreased by just 8% since the start of the war in 2022, despite overwhelming condemnation and sanctions from most Western nations.

Since the war began in February of 2022, Russia has made nearly $1 trillion in oil exports alone. One major reason for Russian exports remaining strong is that, even after numerous sanctions, the average price of Russian oil is still cheaper than other sources such as the Middle East. Another reason why Europe has remained dependent on Russian energy is the anti-energy policies of the previous Biden Administration. After the start of the war, many European countries prepared to abandon Russian energy in favor of American exports. However, Biden’s White House soon banned liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports in the name of combatting so-called “global warming,” thus forcing Europe back to the Russian energy market. President Donald Trump rescinded the LNG export bans with an executive order on his first day back in office.

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“If the United States has really decided to suspend military aid to Ukraine, it may coerce the Kiev regime to engage in a peace process..”

• Sanctions Have To Go, Kremlin Tells Trump (ZH)

Russia has informed the Trump administration on Tuesday that any normalization of relations with the United States must be accompanied by the lifting of sanctions against Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to Monday reports saying Trump has ordered options be drawn up to potentially give Russia sanctions relief amid ongoing direct talks to prepare for peace negotiations to end the Ukraine war. “It is probably too early to say anything. We have not heard any official statements, but in any case, our attitude towards sanctions is well known, we consider them illegal,” Peskov said. “And, of course, if we talk about normalizing bilateral relations, they need to be freed from this negative burden of so-called sanctions.”

Several waves of sanctions have been slapped on Russia both by the prior Biden administration and the European Union, targeting especially banking, energy, and defense sectors – as well as many measures against Putin and his top officials, as well as Russian oligarchs. Given the dramatic and rapid moves coming out of the White House, this moment could be the best opportunity for Russia to get its wish of sanctions relief, though this is less likely to come from the European side. Monday saw the White House announce a pause in all US defense aid to Ukraine, amid ongoing pressure to ensure Zelensky signs Trump’s controversial minerals deal. Putin’s office has of course responded favorable to this unexpected development, with Russian media reporting the following new words, per TASS:

“If the United States has really decided to suspend military aid to Ukraine, it may coerce the Kiev regime to engage in a peace process, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. …The order came into effect in the early hours of Tuesday. A Pentagon official told TASS that the US Armed Forces had suspended supplies of military aid to Ukraine. According to him, the move concerns all US military equipment that has not yet reached Ukraine, including weapons transported by aircraft and vessels or waiting to be shipped from transit zones in Poland. “Undoubtedly, we have yet to figure out the details but if it’s true, then this is a decision that really can push the Kiev regime towards a peace process,” the Russian presidential spokesman noted. ”

That decision came the same day Reuters reported “The White House has asked the State and Treasury departments to draft a list of sanctions that could be eased for US officials to discuss with Russian representatives in the coming days as part of the administration’s broad talks with Moscow on improving diplomatic and economic relations, the sources said.” These developments will likely accelerate the US-Russia talks and process of bettering ties, which could lead to actual economic cooperation down the line. Washington has also likely perceived by now that its anti-Russian sanctions have by and large not worked, or backfired. In many ways they have only strengthened Moscow’s relations and trade with leading BRICS nations like China and India, as well as Iran. Meanwhile, the below archived clip is subject of a lot of commentary this week, given where things now stand…

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Trump is fast.

• Putin Agrees To Mediate US/Iran Nuke Talks After Trump Request (ZH)

A very unexpected and unlikely development and plan is being widely reported Tuesday: Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to help the Trump White House broker talks with Iran on curtailing the country’s nuclear program. Trump reportedly relayed the request for Putin to play a direct role in new negotiations with Iran during their February phone call. The topic was further broached and more details were discussed during the US-Russia Riyadh talks which followed, reports Bloomberg on Tuesday. Neither the Iranian nor US governments have publicly commented on the Bloomberg report specifically, which was based on anonymous sourcing. But Russian state media did quickly acknowledge that Moscow stands ready to help the US and Iran resolve their issues through talks.

A TASS headline issued almost simultaneous to the Bloomberg report says as follows: “Moscow believes that Washington and Tehran should settle all their differences through talks and is ready to contribute to this, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Bloomberg. “Russia believes that the United States and Iran should resolve all problems through negotiations,” he said, adding that Moscow “is ready to do everything in its power to achieve this.” This response from Peskov appears to support the Bloomberg report. This response marks something unexpectedly positive given that both Russia and Iran are heavily sanctioned by the United States – measures put in place under the Biden administration. Biden officials had castigated the Iranians as part of the axis attacking Ukraine, given that Iranian-supplied suicide drones have been heavily relied upon by Russian forces throughout the more than three-year long conflict.

Iran has only offered very vague comments, with a foreign ministry spokesman saying Monday it is “natural” for countries to offer to help negotiations along in the cause of diplomacy. “It’s possible that many parties will show good will and readiness to help with various problems,” the spokesman stated. “From this perspective, it’s natural that countries will present an offer of help if it’s needed.” Previously Tehran leaders, including the Ayatollah himself, expressed that at this point it’s somewhat futile to engage in direct talks with Washington – given Iran in good faith entered into the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal with Obama, but then Trump unilaterally pulled out in 2018. The Ayatollah said in recent comments this means there’s no way to know if a future US administration will honor prior commitments and deals.

There’s also the greater complication of the standoff with Israel. Iran’s missile sites are at the ‘ready’ amid constant fears of an Israeli preemptive attack on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities. Trump has been seen as giving Israel free reign to attack if it sees itself as under threat by Iran or its proxies in the region.

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It’s not just Britain.

• Government Advisor Warns UK is Heading For Civil War (MN)

A top academic and government advisor warns that the UK will experience a civil war within the next five years caused by the “destruction of legitimacy” brought about by the government’s failure to secure the border. Professor David Betz made the comments during a podcast appearance with journalist and author Louise Perry. Betz teaches at Kings College London and has advised or worked with the UK MOD and GCHQ as well as being a Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. The professor, who describes himself as a “classic member of the establishment,” told Perry that British society is now “explosively configured” to suffer mass unrest. He said the fallout began with the fracture of the social contract after the political establishment in the UK tried to subvert the Brexit vote.

Subsequent years have brought about a “destruction of legitimacy” as a result of successive governments’ open border policy and their inability to protect children from grooming gangs, in addition to a two-tier justice system presided over by a highly-politicised judiciary. “If you want to create domestic turmoil in a society, then what the British government has been doing is almost textbook exactly what you would do,” said the professor. Betz said that the situation is now “too far gone” and that a national eruption which will outstrip last summer’s riots is likely to happen within half a decade. Writing on his Substack, Paul Embery outlined some of the other arguments Betz made during the podcast that led the professor to make his fateful prediction.

“Betz contends that we now live in a deeply fractured nation and one that has much less connection to those aspects of its history which previously made it content and well governed. The nefarious activities of certain individuals and groups serve to exacerbate and magnify our divisions. So, can a society in which such realities are playing out be said to be destined for civil war? Well, here comes the interesting bit. Betz explains that highly-heterogenous societies (those comprised of many different social, cultural and ethnic groups) in which there is no single dominant cohort are not especially prone to civil war. That is because no group has enough power or status to co-ordinate a widespread revolt. Similarly, highly-homogenous, or ‘unfactionated’, societies are not particularly vulnerable on account of the fact that it is generally easy to arrive at consensus positions.

The danger area, Betz asserts, is in the middle – societies that are becoming more heterogenous and in which a previously dominant social majority fears that it is losing its place. In such societies, a nativist sentiment manifests in a narrative of what Betz calls ‘downgrading’ and ‘displacement’ – the most powerful causes of civil conflict. Throw in long-term structural economic decline and the apparent inability of the government to offer ‘bread and circuses’, and the sense of dispossession deepens. He also addressed the phenomenon of ‘asymmetric multiculturalism’ in which ‘in-group preference, ethnic pride, and group solidarity – notably in voting – are acceptable for all groups except whites, for whom such things are considered to represent supremacist attitudes that are anathematic to social order’. This ‘provides an argument for revolt on the part of the white majority (or large minority) that is rooted in stirring language of justice’.”

On the surface, the United Kingdom would seem like the least likely country to be susceptible to mass civil disorder, but thanks to years of societal malaise and mass immigration, it unfortunately feels like we’re on the brink of experiencing just that.

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https://twitter.com/i/status/1896823198953726216

 

 

Measles
https://twitter.com/i/status/1896720120871002449

 

 

Scofield

 

 

Snoot rubs
https://twitter.com/i/status/1896681968177132008

 

 

Mama horse
https://twitter.com/i/status/1896971400591880684

 

 

Concrete wood

 

 

Lion

 

 

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Debt Rattle March 4 2025

Mar 042025
 
 March 4, 2025  Posted by at 11:07 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  38 Responses »


Edouard Manet The absinthe drinker 1859

 

• Europe’s Reckless Warmongering Pushes Trump Toward NATO Exit (Sp.)
• Why Is Europe Making Itself Irrelevant? (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Europe is Falling & Needs War with Russia – Martin Armstrong (USAW)
• Attitude Adjustment (James Howard Kunstler)
• US Halts All Military Aid To Ukraine – Media (RT)
• The Three Conditions For Zelensky’s Departure (Ryumshin)
• Trump-Zelensky Clash Shows Ukraine Doesn’t Want Peace – Kremlin (RT)
• Musk Slams Zelensky For Rejecting Ceasefire (RT)
• Tulsi Gabbard Questions If Ukraine Is ‘Aligned’ With US Values (RT)
• Scott Ritter: US Had Its fingers in Every Aspect of Ukrainian Pie (Sp.)
• Zelensky Rejects Calls For Immediate Ceasefire & Won’t Apologize To Trump (ZH)
• US Reportedly Halts Offensive Cyber Ops Against Russia (ZH)
• Trump Tells Americans To Worry About Migrants Not Putin (RT)
• Bessent “Shocked” By Scale Of Fraud Already Uncovered By DOGE (ZH)
• Economist Says DOGE Checks Are ‘Exactly The Right Incentive To Find Waste’ (JTN)
• AG Pam Bondi Received “Truckload” Of Hidden Epstein Documents From SDNY (ZH)
• Democrats Go Full McCarthy in Attacks on Musk (Turley)
• Chinese Models Are Stunning Americans In The Tech Catwalk (Pepe Escobar)

 

 

 

 

Failings

Hegseth 5 bullets
https://twitter.com/i/status/1896279104535904726

Dellinger

Tucker

 

 

 

 

Time to talk Europe. Why do they insist on antagonizing Trump by sabotaging his peace efforts? Martin Armstrong says Europe is so far gone, the only thing they can think of doing is go to war with Russia. Von der Leyen today presented a $1 trillion EU rearmament plan. Which they can’t afford, but they could blame Putin for all consequences, not themselves. Consequences such as widespread and deep poverty across the continent.

• Europe’s Reckless Warmongering Pushes Trump Toward NATO Exit (Sp.)

So long as the US provides an expensive and robust support for Europe’s defense, oligarchs based in Europe can continue business as usual, living their lavish lifestyles and provoking their nuclear neighbor, Wall Streest analyst Charles Ortel says. “Our European ‘partners’ seem to want ‘war at all costs,’ believing that America will do the paying and Americans will do the dying,” Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel told Sputnik, commenting on Europe’s demonstrative support for Volodymyr Zelensky, who rejected a Trump-brokered ceasefire in Ukraine. The UK and EU feel free to provoke Russia – a nuclear power – because they believe their security is guaranteed by Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which would obligate the US to come to their defense, according to the analyst.

Europe’s proxy, Zelensky, “is behaving like an old-fashioned mafia goon, demanding protection money,” Ortel says. US involvement in the Ukraine conflict would mean increased protection for Europe and further US taxpayer money flowing into European coffers. But that won’t happen under Donald Trump and JD Vance, Ortel underscores. As Europe’s reckless warmongering continues, the US may have no choice but to leave the transatlantic alliance, he believes. “The US has no business subsidizing Europe and defending it,” Ortel says. “Indeed, I believe we have a duty to our own citizenry to significantly reduce our defense commitments to Europe and rescind NATO treaty assurances — if not exit NATO altogether under present circumstances.”

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“Trump has given us an opportunity we have not had for a long time. Be thankful for it.”

• Why Is Europe Making Itself Irrelevant? (Paul Craig Roberts)

Readers want to know why the UK PM and European leaders–really, non-readers, misleaders, bad leaders–want war with Russia over Ukraine. My answer is that they don’t. What would they go to war with? According to the European “leaders,” they already have given all their weapons to Ukraine and have nothing with which o fight a war. The only way Europe can send any money to Ukraine is to get the EU central bank to print euros to send to Ukraine. Moreover, the NATO force structure depends on the United States. Without the US, Europe lacks a force structure that can support a war. Trump has ruled out war with Russia and read Zelensky the riot act. Unless Putin makes a fantastic mistake, I expect the conflict to end.

Perhaps what is going on with Europe’s is that EU governments, after sending so much money and weapons to Ukraine backed by claims that Ukraine was winning and would win, want to be able to say that Trump sold out Ukraine in order to avoid accountability to the deceived populations of Europe. They can blame Trump for denying Ukraine and NATO a victory. The European talk of sending “peacekeepers” to Ukraine is nonsense. Putin intends a settlement, an over-and-done-with event, not a ceasefire with European “peacekeepers.” Trump can’t get a settlement if he sides with the EU against Putin. If Trump and Putin don’t accept “peacekeepers,” it can’t happen.

Here is a thought. Trump sees economic growth as fed by opportunity. He sees more opportunity in business deals with Russia, India, China, the rest of Asia, and Africa than he sees in Europe. Trump understands that it was sanctions and the weaponization of the dollar that produced BRICS and the search for an alternative for central bank reserves and international payments. To save the dollar’s role as reserve currency, Washington needs to stop bullying. Trump, like Putin, wants deals that work for everyone, not wars. In a world in which the dollar is not used as a weapon against other countries, BRICS is not necessary. Trump sees tariffs in a different way than indoctrinated free-market economists. Tariffs don’t prevent trade. They ensure that countries have something with which to trade.

Moreover, tariffs are a tax on consumption, not a tax on factors of production such as labor and capital. And as I emphasize, tariffs in place of income tax eliminates the resurrection of a form of slavery established in 1913 when government was given partial ownership of the labor of every working citizen. We have little to lose by supporting Trump and keeping him focused on his agenda. We should not add to problems for Ukraine’s sake, or for Israel’s sake, or some other non-American interest. There are sufficient unaddressed threats around, such as AI and the creation and release of another virus, to knock Trump’s agenda off balance. Life is a challenge. Making good decisions is a difficult thing to do. Let’s try for a change to meet the real challenges and to make good decisions. Trump has given us an opportunity we have not had for a long time. Be thankful for it.

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“Right now, I am concerned from about May 15th on. . . . Our computer (Socrates) says Europe is going into war, and I put it into this report, Europe will lose. . .”

• Europe is Falling & Needs War with Russia – Martin Armstrong (USAW)

Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong is back with a new warning about war coming to Europe. You may have seen the heated exchange between President Trump and President Zelensky of Ukraine on Friday. If not, you should. Some of the Trump highlights are: “President Zelensky is not ready for peace. . . (Zelensky is) gambling with WWIII, and You either make a deal or we are out.” It looks like Zelensky intentionally started a fight with Trump in the White House. It also looks like every country in Europe is backing more war in Ukraine. And now, there is renewed talk of an EU army. Armstrong says, “Why?” ” Because they all are facing the collapse of the European Union. The debt is just unbelievable. They never consolidated. Between Covid, Climate Change and sanctions on Russia, the German economy has shrunk . . . 3% to 5%. The economic growth (of the EU) is appalling. Europe is falling, and this is why they need war. So, they are backing Zelensky.”

In a new report released yesterday, Armstrong lays out the case why war in Europe is coming and coming soon. Armstrong points out: “In this report, I gathered a bunch of headlines: London Financial Times, what’s the headline? ‘America is Now the Enemy of the West.’ This is why Trump is saying ‘We are out.’ Zelensky has admitted that 58% of the $350 billion the US gave him is missing. You cut the funding, and you are going to find out the truth. Trump should cut every single penny. Bring it all out. Zelensky is counting on Europe to replace the United States. This is why he’s so arrogant. . . . Trump should get the hell out of NATO–ASAP.”

So, why are all these reports coming out in the last few months about gold coming to America from Europe? Armstrong says, “Last week, I was on the phone, and I can’t tell you how much, but when you are about to go into war, capital moves…” “Right now, I am concerned from about May 15th on. . . . Our computer (Socrates) says Europe is going into war, and I put it into this report, Europe will lose. . . . This is why the gold is coming to America.” Armstrong also contends you can forget about predictions of the US dollar collapsing anytime soon – it won’t.

Armstrong says, “The Euro will become extinct.” Armstrong also predicts, “I published what the computer “Socrates” put out on Ukraine. It’s a flatline, and I have never seen that on any other country. It’s a flatline. It’s going dead. That’s it.” Did the election of President Trump stop a thermonuclear exchange with Russia? Armstrong says, “Absolutely! You had Dick Cheney endorsing Kamala. . . . Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger were on the J6 Committee. Both of them are Neocons. Adam Kinzinger said ‘We could defeat Russia in three days.’ They put out nothing but propaganda all the time.”

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“Because Ukraine is mostly a flat plain, it has served historically as the doormat for invasions into Russia, so you may see why Russia was not comfortable with the prospect of NATO perched there..”

• Attitude Adjustment (James Howard Kunstler)

See if you can get this straight: So, Kier Starmer says: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland wants to “put boots on the ground and planes in the air” in Ukraine so as to lead a “coalition of the willing” (NATO) against Russia. Sounds a little like the British PM is holding seances at No. Ten Downing Street to channel the spirits of bygone European leaders who launched doomed bear hunts into the vast and mysterious Eurasian east. (Who comes to mind?) Why is Europe so avid for war? After eighty-odd years of serving as the world’s tourism theme park, languishing in their cafes, maybe they forgot what war is like. The New York Times reports: Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union would fortify Ukraine with economic and military aid, aiming to turn it into “a steel porcupine that is indigestible for potential invaders.”

This requires you to fall for the fake idea that Russia seeks to invade western Europe. Notice how much the EU acts like America’s Democratic Party — projecting its own hostile fantasies on its adversaries. Also, like our Democratic Party, Europe is sinking into oblivion. The animating ethos of the ruling parties in Germany and France is to punish their own citizens with censorship, tyranny, and sponsoring an alien invasion that aims to demolish European culture. Their economic wizards are taking the continent medieval, to a global backwater of defeated peasants eating bugs. I will boldly predict that the likes of Starmer, von der Leyen, and Friedrich Merz will be swept out of power by angry mobs before next Christmas. In the meantime, Europe has made itself preposterous. Europe does not have the mojo to do a darned thing about Ukraine or Russia.

The British army has 74,296 active-duty troops, comparable to Algeria. The UK’s North Sea oil production has declined by approximately 73-percent since 2000. Germany produces around 23,000 barrels-a-day, enough to meet two percent of its domestic oil demand. Anyway, exactly a year ago, Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared, “There will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European countries or NATO states.” So, who’s kidding whom? Circumstances are driving the USA and Russia into an alliance of necessity. The immediate goal is to stop the insane war provoked by previous non-Trump administrations (and the EU) going back to George W. Bush, that repeatedly promoted “color revolutions” (regime change) in Ukraine so as to drag it into NATO — putting a hostile forward base on Russia’s “front porch.” The idea all along among the most fervidly delusional neocons has been to bust-up Russia in order to seize its oil and mineral assets.

That project never panned out because after a decade of post-Soviet chaos, Mr. Putin put his country back in order, turned it into what used to be the definition of a normal European nation and — too ironically even for Russian literature — made it a bastion for defending Western Civ while the other nations of Europe launched their campaign of collective suicide. History is ever a trickster and the zeitgeist is its consigliere. Mr. Trump and his wingmen apparently recognize the obvious: that Ukraine is exactly what its name signifies in its Slavic root, (Ukraina): frontier, borderland, periphery, outskirts. Ukraine is on the edge of Russia. Most of all, it is geopolitically within Russia’s sphere-of-influence in the same way that Mexico is in ours, with similar implications for national defense as laid out explicitly in our Monroe Doctrine.

Because Ukraine is mostly a flat plain, it has served historically as the doormat for invasions into Russia, so you may see why Russia was not comfortable with the prospect of NATO perched there, especially in a new age of drones and missiles. As Europe now flounders impotently and wrecks itself, America and Russia are motivated to avoid being snookered into an unnecessary world war over Ukraine. Mr. Zelenskyy is but an anachronistic artifact of the color revolutions that finally sputtered out with “Joe Biden,” who was himself in the vanguard of a colossal money-grubbing operation in that sad-sack country.

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“This guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing..”

• US Halts All Military Aid To Ukraine – Media (RT)

US President Donald Trump has instructed the Defense Department to pause all military aid to Ukraine following his public spat with Vladimir Zelensky, news agencies reported on Monday, citing American officials. According to Bloomberg, the freeze affects the equipment already designated for delivery, including weapons in transit on aircraft and ships or waiting in transit areas in Poland. The suspension will stay in place until Trump sees that the Ukrainian leaders “demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace,” Bloomberg said, citing a senior Pentagon official. According to the New York Times, the order takes effect immediately and affects more than $1 billion in “arms and ammunition in the pipeline and on order.”

“The president has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,” a White House official told Reuters. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Monday that Washington has stopped funding new weapons sales to Ukraine and was considering freezing weapons shipments. Trump has repeatedly accused Zelensky of undermining his effort to broker a peace deal between Kiev and Moscow. Their public feud culminated in an unprecedented shouting match during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House on Friday, after which Trump said that Zelensky was disrespectful to the US.

Zelensky has insisted that a ceasefire must be tied to security guarantees provided by the US and other Western countries. Trump, however, has refused to commit to specific guarantees and has ruled out making Ukraine a NATO member or contributing American troops to a potential peacekeeping mission. On Sunday, Zelensky told reporters that “an agreement to end the war is still very, very far away, and no one has started all these steps yet.” Trump condemned his statement on social media, promising that “America will not put up with it for much longer.”

“This guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Zelensky told reporters last month that Ukraine had a “low chance” of survival without American aid. The US is one of Kiev’s principal suppliers of weapons, including M1 Abrams tanks, Bradley armored vehicles, M777 howitzers, HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, and artillery rounds. As of December 2024, the Pentagon has committed more than $66 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since 2022. Russia has stressed that no amount of Western aid would stop its troops in Ukraine.

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Just take the arms away.

• The Three Conditions For Zelensky’s Departure (Ryumshin)

For a long time, discussions about elections in Ukraine were hypothetical, a distant prospect. But recent developments – including Russian-American negotiations and the growing friction between Washington and Kiev – have thrown the question of Vladimir Zelensky’s future into sharp focus. The emerging détente between Russia and the US has activated what one might call a “Chekhov’s gun” scenario – an inevitability set in motion long ago. Both Moscow and Washington now seem to agree that Zelensky, whose legitimacy is increasingly in question, must face elections before making any binding agreements. Public statements from Russian and American officials indicate that if Zelensky were to exit following an election, both parties would welcome the outcome.

However, Zelensky’s departure is far from certain. For him to resign, at least two of three critical conditions must be met:
• The key players in the Ukraine conflict – Russia, the US, and the European Union – must want him to go.
• The Ukrainian political elite must push for his resignation.
• Zelensky himself must see a reason to step down.
• At present, none of these conditions are fully in place.
The US and Russia have seemingly converged on a three-stage process: ceasefire, elections, peace talks. Reports indicate that an informal consensus is emerging in both capitals. However, neither side has explicitly acknowledged a unified stance, likely because the negotiations are still in their early stages and have yet to formally address Ukraine.

The European Union remains the wildcard. Brussels is adamant that Ukraine must be supported, regardless of Washington’s position. This provides Zelensky with an alternative power base, meaning that even if Russia and the US agree on his departure, he could still count on support from Europe to justify staying in power. Public sentiment within Ukraine is difficult to gauge accurately. While polls indicate that Zelensky’s approval ratings have been steadily declining since 2023, recent attacks from US President Donald Trump and other Western critics have paradoxically caused his numbers to rebound. Whether this surge in support is genuine or a manufactured crisis response from his administration remains unclear. Polling during wartime is notoriously unreliable, making it difficult to assess whether the Ukrainian people truly want Zelensky to step down.

Ukrainian political opposition also remains fragmented. Many figures within the ruling elite bear grudges against Zelensky, but their ability to effectively challenge his authority is questionable. The Ukrainian parliament recently embarrassed Zelensky by failing to pass a resolution reaffirming his legitimacy at the first attempt – an incident that took place in front of EU representatives. But this is hardly a coordinated coup attempt; rather, it underscores the lack of unity among his detractors. A unifying figure for the opposition remains elusive. Former Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny, once seen as a potential rival, has so far refrained from making any overt political moves. Without him, Zelensky’s adversaries appear more interested in minor disruptions than in mounting a serious challenge.

Despite his declining popularity, Zelensky is not without influential allies. His inner circle, particularly Andrey Yermak, head of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration, has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Yermak, often seen as the power behind the throne, has built his career on his proximity to Zelensky. Any shift in leadership could threaten his influence and that of his associates, making it likely that they will fight to keep Zelensky in office. The simplest answer is no. Zelensky appears convinced that his leadership is indispensable to Ukraine’s survival. He has consistently rejected any suggestion of early elections or stepping down voluntarily. His statements on the matter are often deflective, saying he would consider resignation only if Ukraine was admitted to NATO – an impossible condition. This suggests he will cling to power for as long as possible.

While Zelensky currently holds his ground, shifting battlefield dynamics could force his hand. Ukraine’s military situation continues to deteriorate, its resources are stretched thin, and Western support is no longer guaranteed. The new US administration is unlikely to display the same patience as the Biden White House. If Ukraine fails to turn the tide, Zelensky may face a stark choice: hold elections before the situation becomes catastrophic or risk being overthrown in a palace coup orchestrated by Ukrainian elites desperate to preserve their own futures. The latter scenario would not be unusual in history. Leaders who refuse to acknowledge military defeat often find themselves ousted by their own ranks. If Zelensky continues to insist on leading Ukraine down an unwinnable path, he may well meet the same fate.

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“The argument at the White House was “a rather unprecedented event,” during which the Ukrainian leader “at the very least, demonstrated a complete lack of diplomatic skills..”

• Trump-Zelensky Clash Shows Ukraine Doesn’t Want Peace – Kremlin (RT)

The public dispute between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky at the White House last week is further evidence that Kiev is not genuinely interested in a diplomatic resolution to its conflict with Russia, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has stated. Zelensky’s visit to the White House on Friday was abruptly cut short after a heated exchange with the US president and vice president in front of the media. During the tense meeting, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance accused the Ukrainian leader of “gambling with World War III” by refusing to negotiate peace with Russia. They also criticized him as ungrateful and disrespectful despite the significant military aid Washington has provided to Kiev. During the intense argument, Zelensky once again ruled out talks with Moscow, demanded security guarantees from the US, and denied that Ukrainian forces are facing manpower shortages.

“The Kiev regime and Zelensky do not want peace,” Peskov told journalists on Monday. “In this situation, Washington’s efforts and Moscow’s readiness alone will clearly not be enough [to stop the fighting] as a very important element is missing.” The Ukrainian leader’s behavior at the Oval office “demonstrated how difficult it will be to get on the path of a settlement around Ukraine,” he said. According to the spokesman, Russian President Vladimir Putin is aware of the details of the clash between Trump and Zelensky. “It was available for the entire international community to see… Therefore, of course, the president knows all the nuances,” he confirmed. The argument at the White House was “a rather unprecedented event,” during which the Ukrainian leader “at the very least, demonstrated a complete lack of diplomatic skills,” Peskov noted.

The Kremlin spokesman also stressed that “the collective West has partially begun to lose its collectiveness” when it comes to the Ukraine conflict, as some nations or groups of nations are beginning to work out their own more nuanced stances. There remains “a party of war” in the West, which declares its readiness to continue backing Ukraine and ensuring the continuation of the fighting, he said, adding that “at the same time, some first drafts of eventual peace plans are also appearing.” Peskov emphasized, however, that “it is too early to speak about some kind of a coordinated, detailed peace plan being on the agenda.” Overall, the situation surrounding the resolution of the Ukraine conflict remains complex, he stressed. Peskov reiterated that Russia remains committed to achieving all the objectives outlined at the start of its special military operation.

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“The EU leaders and Zelensky having fancy dinners while men die in trenches. How many parents will never see their son again?”

• Musk Slams Zelensky For Rejecting Ceasefire (RT)

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has lashed out at Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky in a series of X posts, accusing him of prolonging the conflict with Russia by refusing to negotiate. Musk’s comments follow a tense White House meeting on Friday between Zelensky, US President Donald Trump, and Vice President J.D. Vance. The meeting ended abruptly without a planned minerals agreement. During a heated exchange, Zelensky resisted Trump’s demand to negotiate with Moscow, leading Trump to accuse him of ingratitude, “gambling with World War III,” and lacking the willingness to end the conflict. After Zelensky’s “fiasco” in Washington, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called an emergency summit in London on Sunday to discuss Western support for Ukraine. Some European leaders raised the possibility of sending ground troops.

Early Sunday, Musk reposted a statement made by Balazs Orban, political director of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, calling for “direct negotiations with Russia” and an “immediate ceasefire and peace.” He then re-shared his 2022 peace proposal, suggesting referendums in Russian-controlled territories, the recognition of Crimea as Russian, and Ukraine’s neutrality. The Donetsk People’s Republic, Lugansk People’s Republic, Kherson Region and Zaporozhye Region—formerly part of Ukraine—became federal subjects of Russia after referendums in 2022. Crimea and Sevastopol had previously voted to join the country in 2014. However, Kiev continues to assert sovereignty over these territories.

“What I said over 2 years ago was that Ukraine should seek peace or suffer severe loss of life for no gains. The latter was Zelensky’s choice. Now, he wants to do that again. This is cruel and inhumane,” Musk wrote in a pinned post. Musk followed up with a meme of a tram running over people, with Zelensky at the control lever. Another post showed a blood-stained chessboard next to a dining table, captioned: “The reality of war.” He later reposted the image, adding: “The EU leaders and Zelensky having fancy dinners while men die in trenches. How many parents will never see their son again?” Musk’s remarks come as Zelensky demands more funding from Western backers while resisting talks with Moscow. Reports indicate Washington is unwilling to approve further aid unless Ukraine agrees to negotiations.

During the summit, Starmer urged the EU and other sponsors to take a leading role in supporting Kiev. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau backed the idea, stating that “everything’s on the table.” French President Emmanuel Macron said deployment would only be possible “when the peace is signed.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has expressed strong opposition to the potential deployment of Western peacekeeping forces. He emphasized that NATO expansion towards Russia’s borders is perceived as a threat, and deploying the bloc’s troops in Ukraine, even under a different guise, does not alter this perception.

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Ukraine is aligned with EU/Biden values.

• Tulsi Gabbard Questions If Ukraine Is ‘Aligned’ With US Values (RT)

Ukraine and many of its European backers may not be aligned with the US values of freedom, peace, and democracy shared by President Donald Trump, according to Washington’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Gabbard was asked about last week’s heated exchange at the White House involving Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and Trump and his vice president, J.D. Vance. The tense meeting ended with Zelensky abruptly leaving the White House after being accused by Trump of ingratitude, “gambling with World War III,” and refusing to seek peace with Russia. The incident has sparked a backlash from Trump’s critics, including several EU leaders, who have accused him of “bullying” Zelensky.

However, according to Gabbard, anyone who has criticized Trump over his interaction with the Ukrainian leader is merely showing that they are “not committed to peace.” “Many of these European countries, and Zelensky himself, who claim to be standing and fighting for the cause of freedom and democracy” are actually acting contrary to these values, Gabbard stated. “When we actually look at what’s happening in reality in these countries, as well as with Zelensky’s government in Ukraine, it is the exact opposite,” she added. Gabbard pointed to the lack of elections in Ukraine, Kiev’s criminalization of opposition parties, the shutting down of Orthodox churches, and the complete government control over media outlets.

“It begs the question. It’s clear they’re standing against [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. But what are they actually really fighting for, and are they aligned with the values that they claim to hold in agreement with [the US], which are the values of freedom, peace and true security,” Gabbard said. The DNI chief further criticized Washington’s EU partners, recalling Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference, where he accused European countries of implementing policies that “undermine democracy” and show that they “don’t actually believe in the voices of the people.”

“We’re seeing this in the United Kingdom, we’re seeing this in Germany, we saw it with the tossing out of the elections in Romania,” Gabbard said, suggesting that this shows a “huge divergence” between US values and those of the European nations that have backed Zelensky. Russia has also suggested that last week’s clash between Zelensky and Trump once again proved that Kiev is not genuinely interested in peace. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stressed that the Ukrainian leader’s behavior in the Oval Office “demonstrated how difficult it will be to get on the path of a settlement around Ukraine.”

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“A hammer doesn’t know the intent of an architect. America was the architect of Ukrainian project. Ukraine is just the hammer, just like Europe..”

• Scott Ritter: US Had Its fingers in Every Aspect of Ukrainian Pie (Sp.)

Aside from preparing Ukraine for guerrilla warfare and conducting anti-Russia propaganda operations, the US and the CIA built 20 bases throughout the country, former US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter told Sputnik. Hunter Biden’s position on the board of the major Ukrainian energy company Burisma also shows that “the United States had its fingers in every aspect of the Ukrainian economic pie.” Ukraine, Ritter explained, is just a tool US tried using to defeat Russia – a tool that wasn’t even aware of “every aspect of this grand plan.”

“A hammer doesn’t know the intent of an architect. America was the architect of Ukrainian project. Ukraine is just the hammer, just like Europe,” he said. Commenting on the recent clash between JD Vance and Zelensky, Ritter noted that Vance is “the vice president of the United States, who has received some of the best intelligence there is about the reality of Ukraine.” “Zelensky is an actor who reads from a script as part of a play that’s being controlled by others,” he remarked.

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“This is a new president, and we are determined to take a new approach towards peace.”

• Zelensky Rejects Calls For Immediate Ceasefire & Won’t Apologize To Trump (ZH)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has remained defiant in the wake of Friday’s explosive confrontation with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office. He said from London Sunday that he will not apologize and that his country’s freedom is “not for sale”. He acknowledged that the public spat “didn’t bring anything positive or additional to us as partner” – however he also said “This relationship will continue because this is more than a relationship in one moment.” “If you don’t have an end to the war and you don’t have security guarantees, no one is able to control a ceasefire,” he told reporters while preparing to leave the UK, following a meeting with European leaders to agree on continued support for Ukraine.

Financial Times has underscored that Zelensky is not only rejecting calls from the US to apologize to Trump and Vance, but he’s now openly pushing back against ceasefire. The Ukrainian leader…rejected calls for Ukraine to agree an immediate ceasefire in its war with Russia, saying it would be “failure for everyone” if a cessation of hostilities were not accompanied by detailed security guarantees. “If you don’t have an end to the war and you don’t have security guarantees, no one is able to control a ceasefire,” Zelensky stressed in these latest remarks. He still proclaimed that he remains “ready” to sign a US-Ukraine minerals deal, confirming that his aides are now speaking to Trump’s team about ways to move forward on it. Zelensky says he is prepared to sign a mineral rights deal with the US and thinks the relationship with Washington can be salvaged. —NBC

But the mood from the White House appears to be one of willingness to cut Zelensky off altogether. There are reports that President Trump is mulling cutting off all continuing defense aid to Ukraine. Administration officials have sought to clarify that this was no ambush which played out before media cameras on Friday, but that Zelensky was rude and confrontational the whole time, and never satisfied with what the US was providing to Ukraine. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told the Sunday news shows that President Trump “was frustrated and angry because it’s unclear if Zelensky truly wants to stop the fighting. The President and VP said enough is enough.” Walz added: “This [lecturing] was the wrong approach, wrong time, and the wrong president to try to do this kind of a thing. This is not Joe Biden. The entire world saw that, crystal clear.”

And this segment from Walz’s account in a Fox News interview is hugely revealing:
Q: How did Zelensky react after press left? Was he surprised?

Waltz: No. His team was. His ambassador, and adviser were practically in tears, wanting this to move forward. But Zelensky was still argumentative. I said “Mr. President, time is not on your side here, on the battlefield, and in terms of the world situation. And most importantly, USAID, and the taxpayers’ tolerance, is not unlimited”.

Waltz: I think Zelensky is used to hearing that “as long as it takes” and blank check from Biden. He has not gotten the memo that this is a new sheriff in town. This is a new president, and we are determined to take a new approach towards peace.

European leaders are meanwhile trying to absorb the blowback and fallout, now talking about an alternative peace plan backed by “boots on the ground and planes in the air”. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is leading the way on plans for a ‘stabilization force’ to back a Ukraine ceasefire, likely involving France – and which the Europeans hope Trump can sign on to. But the Kremlin is likely to immediately reject it, given the Western ‘boots on the ground’ aspect to the plan.

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“If this was a Democrat that was doing this, everyone would be saying, well, he’s on his way to the Nobel Peace Prize…”

• US Reportedly Halts Offensive Cyber Ops Against Russia (ZH)

In the latest indication that we’re entering a new, less adversarial era of US-Russia relations, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a suspension of offensive cyber operations against Russia. The length of the pause is uncertain but the purpose seems clear: To demonstrate good will as the Trump administration earnestly seeks a negotiated end to the three-year-old war in Ukraine, which has been costly not only to the two warring countries, but to the United States and Western European countries that first precipitated that conflict, and then perpetuated it. The pause will continue as long as negotiations move forward, according to the Washington Post’s sources. US officials tell various media outlets that the stand-down order was issued to US Cyber Command in late February.

Headquartered at Ft Meade, Maryland and commanded by Air Force Gen. Tim Haugh, the mission of Cyber Command’s two to three thousand employees is to “plan and execute global cyber operations, activities, and missions to defend and advance national interests in collaboration with domestic and international partners across the full spectrum of competition and conflict.” “I have seen many times when we are in some type of negotiation with another nation, especially if it’s one that is considered an adversary, that we stop operations, exercises, we even cancel speeches sometimes,” retired Cyber Command deputy commander Lt. Gen. Charlie Moore told the Post. The pause in offensive cyber-operations was first reported by The Record. The precise nature of the adjustment in activity is unclear, but the outlet’s sources say it does not apply to the National Security Agency and its signals intelligence-gathering.

Right on cue, hawks squawked over the deescalation move. “Russia continues to be among the top cyberthreats to the United States,” James A. Lewis, a Clinton administration diplomat and former U.N. cyber negotiator told the Washington Post. “Turning off cyber operations to avoid blowing up the talks may be a prudent tactical step. But if we take our foot off the gas pedal and they take advantage of it, we could put national security at risk.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Trump of giving Russian President Vladimir Putin “a free pass…to launch cyberoperations and ransomware attacks against critical American infrastructure.” Appearing on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back on leftist hysterics about Trump’s eagerness to reach a negotiated ceasefire and lasting peace in Ukraine — consistent with his campaign pledges:

“If this was a Democrat that was doing this, everyone would be saying, well, he’s on his way to the Nobel Peace Prize. This is absurd. We are trying to end a war. You cannot end a war unless both sides come to the table, starting with the Russians, and that is the point the president has made. And we have to do whatever we can to try to bring them to the table to see if it’s even possible.” In another recent sign of easing tensions between the world’s two nuclear superpowers, the United States approved Russia’s selection of a new ambassador to Washington. Aside from the Ukraine peace overtures, current bilateral US-Russia dialogue has been focused on fully restoring relations and putting back in place all embassy staff in Washington and Moscow, respectively. As relations deteriorated during the Biden era, there had been several rounds of hostile, mutual booting of diplomats. Meanwhile, a summit between Trump and Putin is in the works.

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“We should spend less time worrying about Putin, and more time worrying about migrant rape gangs, drug lords, murderers, and people from mental institutions entering our Country – So that we don’t end up like Europe!”

• Trump Tells Americans To Worry About Migrants Not Putin (RT)

President Donald Trump has stated that the US should prioritize domestic issues, such as migrant crime, rather than focusing on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Recent Russia-US talks initiated by Putin and Trump, followed by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s disastrous White House appearance, have triggered concern among Kiev’s backers that the US president’s approach could benefit Russia more than Ukraine. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has commended Trump’s approach, noting that it “largely aligns with our vision.” The American leader has dismissed concerns about his relationship to Putin, emphasizing that Washington has more pressing matters to address. “We should spend less time worrying about Putin, and more time worrying about migrant rape gangs, drug lords, murderers, and people from mental institutions entering our Country – So that we don’t end up like Europe!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.

EU nations are meanwhile facing a migration-related security crisis. France has seen a rise in extremist attacks linked to radicalized asylum seekers, while Germany grapples with migrant-related violent crime. Italy continues to struggle with mass arrivals via the Mediterranean, prompting stricter border controls. In Sweden, studies have highlighted a high percentage of sex crimes committed by foreign-born individuals, fueling debates on immigration policy. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has underscored these concerns, stating, “There is a very clear link between terrorist acts and migration.”The US has faced a surge in illegal border crossings, increased cartel-linked drug trafficking, and crime in migrant-populated areas. In response, Trump has threatened tariffs on Mexico if it does not take stronger action. Since taking office in January 2025 Trump has signed executive orders tightening immigration policies.

One expanded expedited removal, denied federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions, and increased border enforcement hiring. Another declared a national emergency, allowing the deployment of the armed forces to secure the border. The administration is expanding detention facilities to house up to 30,000 migrants. Former President Joe Biden had made Ukraine one of the key focuses of his administration, a decision that drew strong opposition from conservatives. Critics argued he should have prioritized domestic issues instead of sending billions in aid overseas. Biden’s visit to Kiev in 2023 and other foreign trips sparked backlash from Republicans who accused him of neglecting crises at home. Following Trump’s inauguration in January, the White House reaffirmed his ‘America First’ policy – first introduced in 2016 – by outlining plans to “make the country safe again” through stronger border security and a renewed focus on “American values.”

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President Trump and Elon Musk [..] are planning to visit Fort Knox in the near future to “audit” the gold stocks and make sure all of the gold is where it’s supposed to be. I’m certain that visit will be the mother of all photo-ops.”..

• Gold’s Historic Rally (Jim Rickards)

Even casual observers know that gold has been trading near all-time highs lately. The dollar price of gold has been trading around $2,955 per ounce, quite close to the all-time closing high and near the recent intraday high just below $3,000 per ounce. Since November 1, 2022, gold has rallied from $1,650 per ounce to $2,955 per ounce, an 80% gain in 28 months. Since the U.S. dollar is also near interim highs based on leading indices, gold’s performance when measured in euros, sterling or Swiss francs is even stronger. We expect this trend to continue and to push gold solidly above the $3,000 per ounce level on its way to even higher levels in the months ahead. That’s news in its own right but there’s a lot more going on in the gold space than just the price action. President Trump and Elon Musk (head of the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, and the world’s richest man) are planning to visit Fort Knox in the near future to “audit” the gold stocks and make sure all of the gold is where it’s supposed to be. I’m certain that visit will be the mother of all photo-ops.

Of course, Trump and Musk will not be conducting a real audit in the financial sense. They’ll just look around and show that the gold is actually there. This should lay to rest the rumors and ill-founded theories that the gold is somehow missing or has been shipped to JPMorgan. It hasn’t been. Even this publicity visit has not captured all of the gold news lately. On a more serious note, Scott Bessent the U.S. Treasury Secretary said recently that “within the next twelve months, we’re going to monetize the asset side of the balance sheet for the American people. We’re going to put the assets to work.” There has been so much focus on the liability side of the balance sheet (basically the $38 trillion in national debt) that it’s refreshing to hear a senior official talk about the asset side.

The liberal critics will wail that Bessent plans to sell Yosemite National Park to real estate developers. Nothing like that will happen but the U.S. does have ample assets it can sell, lease or otherwise monetize without invading national parks or wilderness areas. These include mineral and mining rights, intellectual property, airwaves, rights of way, flight paths, and, yes, property development rights and land sales in non-sensitive areas. No one has any idea what all of this is worth, but it’s certainly worth in the trillions of dollars and can be monetized for the benefit of the American people including paying down the national debt.

Gold dealers and gold bugs immediately focused on one particular U.S. asset that could be monetized – gold. The U.S. has 8,133 metric tonnes of gold bullion in three locations – Fort Knox, West Point and the Denver mint – that could be sold. That gold has a current market value of $771 billion. Of course, any effort to sell more than a small fraction of that would drive the price of gold straight down. It would be an immense blunder to sell any of it anyway. The Treasury should be buying gold to maintain confidence in the dollar, not selling it.

Another take on monetizing gold revolves around the fact that the Federal Reserve currently holds a gold certificate issued by the U.S. Treasury in 1934 in compensation for the transfer of gold bullion from the Fed to the Treasury on orders of Franklin Roosevelt (backed up by legislation). That certificate is valued on the Fed’s books at $42.22 per ounce. If the Treasury ordered the Fed to write-up the value to market, that would add $760 billion to the Treasury’s general account, which could be used to finance the U.S. government without adding new debt.

Trump definitely wants new revenue streams for the government. I wouldn’t count marking-up the price of gold as a revenue stream. It does produce cash with no addition to the national debt but it’s not really a revenue stream; it’s just an accounting entry. It does produce cash but only on a one-time basis. In principle, you could repeat the process if gold went higher in the future but that’s uncertain and not completely reliable like taxes, leases and tariffs.

Despite the gold bug claims, there is no particular connection between marking up the price of gold (accounting) and selling gold reserves for cash (monetizing). One has nothing to do with the other. The government could sell the gold today at the market price without having to wash the accounting through the Treasury general account at the Fed. There’s nothing about marking up the price of gold on the Fed’s books that affects the government’s ability to sell the gold one way or the other.

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Scary numbers.

• Bessent “Shocked” By Scale Of Fraud Already Uncovered By DOGE (ZH)

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent did the mainstream media press tour this weekend, clarifying two critical bullshit talking points to the propagandists: first, DOGE is doing a good job; and second, the US economy faces some significant headwinds as a hangover from ‘Bidenomics’ spendfest. Speaking in a Feb. 28 interview on Bloomberg Podcasts, Bessent was asked whether DOGE’s cost-cutting measures would have a “material” impact on deficit reduction. “I think we can make a pretty big hit here,” he replied, explaining that if DOGE identifies $300 billion in savings – which he suggested is possible – it could reduce the annual deficit by approximately 1 percentage point as a share of GDP. Even if the savings total only $150 billion, he said, this is still “moving us back toward the target, and we’re determined to get this down.”

As The Epoch Times’ Tom Ozimek reports, Bessent emphasized that DOGE, which was tasked by President Donald Trump with rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending, has already uncovered substantial inefficiencies—and a surprising amount of outright fraud. When in comes to “waste, fraud, and abuse, I think most of us think in terms of waste and abuse,” Bessent said. “I’ve got to tell you that I’m slightly shocked at some of the fraud we’re finding, and you’re going to be hearing about more of that over the next couple of weeks.” As for the ultimate savings that DOGE will deliver, Bessent said: “We’ll see.”

DOGE, led by Elon Musk in a special government role, has an 18-month mandate to slash $2 trillion in federal spending before its scheduled dissolution on Independence Day 2026. Musk has acknowledged the ambitious nature of this goal, saying that even cutting half that amount would be a major step toward reducing inefficiency and lowering deficits. Over the past month, Musk and DOGE staffers have moved aggressively to pursue reforms across federal agencies, reporting $65 billion in savings through canceled grants, asset sales, workforce reductions, and terminated contracts and leases. Trump recently urged Musk to push even harder to root out waste and fraud. He also signed an executive order directing federal agencies to work with DOGE to eliminate costly or duplicative regulations, further accelerating its deficit-cutting mission.

“We either solve the deficit, or all we’ll be doing is paying debt,” Musk said in a recent interview with Fox News. “It’s not optional. America will go bankrupt if this is not done.” According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the federal deficit is projected to average $1.9 trillion per year between 2025 and 2034, or approximately 5.4 percent of GDP over that period. If DOGE’s projected $300 billion in savings materializes—a figure Bessent said was not out of the question—it would lower the deficit to $1.6 trillion and reduce the deficit-to-GDP ratio by nearly 1 percentage point, improving fiscal sustainability. The CBO has warned that persistently high debt could slow economic growth, increase interest payments to foreign creditors, heighten the risk of a fiscal crisis, and limit policymakers’ ability to respond to future downturns. It has stressed that lawmakers must pursue comprehensive fiscal reforms, including spending cuts, revenue increases, or a combination of both, to put the budget on a sustainable long-term path.

Meanwhile, DOGE’s aggressive efforts have drawn criticism from Democrats in Congress, who accuse the agency of overstepping its authority and operating without sufficient oversight or transparency. The agency also faces multiple lawsuits, some challenging its access to federal data and others questioning its constitutional legitimacy. Despite the legal and political battles, DOGE appears to have significant public support. A recent poll of Epoch Times readers found overwhelming backing for DOGE and the Trump administration’s push to curb waste, fraud, and abuse. At the same time, respondents called for greater visibility into DOGE’s findings, with some demanding greater accountability—including the prosecution of individuals found to have engaged in fraud. Bessent’s remarks suggest that such accountability may be on the horizon.

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“Trump will turn it around. We’re going to get inflation back down at 2% but it’s going to take a little while.”

• Economist Says DOGE Checks Are ‘Exactly The Right Incentive To Find Waste’ (JTN)

Since news broke last week that Elon Musk wants to send $5000 as a waste reduction dividend to every taxpaying household, outlets like CNN and Forbes are repeating DNC talking points that it could make matters worse. National Economic Council (NEC) Director Kevin Hassett defended the plan to CNBC, noting that if the government spends the money on a program or sends it back to the American people — who will spend it back into the economy or save it — the outcome is the same. But in the latter scenario the American people get some money back. “Imagine if we don’t spend government money and we give it back to people, if they spend it, you’re even but they’re probably going to save a lot of it in which case you’re reducing inflation” he told the press during a briefing at the White House last week. Notwithstanding fears about inflation being heightened by another stimulus-type check to Americans, the economy has a major renovation job ahead.

Many blame that stimulus spending for the inflationary surge during Biden’s term in office. Moore, who served as President Trump’s senior economic advisor told the “Furthermore with Amanda Head” podcast that for Trump to overhaul Biden’s economy, “he needs a big pooper scooper to clean up the mess that was left behind… everything that Trump is doing is deflationary; whereas, everything that Biden did raised the cost of businesses and led to runaway inflation.” It can be done, however. Moore gives a timeline of six to nine months for Trump to undo the damage and for the American people to start feeling relief. “Trump will turn it around. We’re going to get inflation back down at 2% but it’s going to take a little while.” A significant contributor to that economic recovery is reducing the cost of oil and gas. In 2024, 82% of energy consumption was sourced from traditional means like oil, gas and coal.

The Biden administration, through vehicles like the Green New Deal, allowed for regulations and standards that stymied or halted altogether domestic energy production. The “Green New Deal,” introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey in 2019, has not passed legislatively, but its core principles have been implemented throughout industry and used as a template for blue state policies like California’s push to eliminate gas-powered cars. Speaking to the seeming intentionality of Biden damaging energy production, Moore cited the first-day-of-office action by Biden to shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline, and asked, “why would anybody do that? Why would they try to destroy American infrastructure?” While legacy media outlets ran coverage for Biden and stuck to DNC talking points, Biden ultimately admitted in January of 2023 that the cancellation of the natural gas resource in fact cost thousands of jobs and revenue in the billions.

Other contributors to the rebounding economy are government spending and the tax bill Americans must pay to satisfy that spending. The budget resolution passed by Congress on Tuesday provides a framework for what needs to be done. Each of the House’s committees are now tasked with finding tax cuts and opportunities to reduce spending. The resolution passed 217 to 215 with all Democrats and one Republican voting against it. Digging into the alternative had it not passed, Moore indicates Americans dodged a bullet: “Republicans voted to stop the biggest tax increase in the history of this country” that would’ve hit taxpayers next January. When asked what a $4 trillion tax increase would have cost the average, middle-income household, Moore said, “The average family would pay somewhere between $2000 and $3000 a year more on taxes.”

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Looks like she gets a second chance. Use it wisely. And yes, get DOGE involved. You don’t have 6 months.

• AG Pam Bondi Received “Truckload” Of Hidden Epstein Documents From SDNY (ZH)

After last week’s botched Epstein files release, many are calling for Attorney General Pam Bondi to be fired over the lame binders given to right-wing influencers and journalists that contained old information. On Monday, Bondi appeared on Fox News, where she told host Sean Hannity that she received a truckload of files on Friday morning containing additional Epstein files which were hidden away in the Southern District of New York. “FBI handed over a couple hundred pages of documents, but you know Sean, I gave them a deadline of Friday at 8am to get us everything, and a source had told me where the documents were being kept – southern district of new york (shock), so we got – hopefully all of them, Friday at 8am. Thousands of documents,” said Bondi.

“I have the FBI going through them … Now that we have Kash here it’s a game changer of course, and Director Patel is going to get us a detailed report as to why the FBI withheld all of those documents.” Sean Hannity: “I want to be clear, because I think people are frustrated. You were expecting more, and you didn’t find out – less than 24 hours before the release, you got a whistleblower that confirmed that there were way more documents that they were supposed to turn over, and then you found out just before that.” Pam Bondi: “Well sure, you’re looking at these documents going ‘these aren’t all the Epstein files!’ – and we’re going ‘where’s the rest of the stuff?’ and that’s what the FBI had turned over to us. And so a source said, whoa – all this evidence is sitting in the Southern District of New York. So based on that I gave them the deadline – Friday at 8. A truckload of evidence arrived.

It’s now in the possession of the FBI. Kash is going to get me – and himself a detailed report as to why all these documents and evidence had been withheld. And, you know, we’re going to go through it – go through it as fast as we can, but go through it very cautiously to protect all the victims of Epstein, because there are a lot of victims.” “Now, is that the only thing that would be redacted,” Hannity replied, referring to the names of the victims. Pam Bondi: “Yeah, the FBI hasn’t had, obviously, they haven’t looked at the thousands of pages of documents that they just received Friday. Kash has a team going through them – and it’s always about protecting the victim … We believe in transparency, and America has the right to know.”

The Biden administration sat on these documents. No one did anything with them, and why are they sitting in the Southern District of New York? I want a full report on that. Sadly these people don’t believe in transparency, but I think more than that – I think they don’t believe in honesty,” she continued. “Everything is going to come out to the public.” Watch (via Collin Rugg):

Maybe they can ask Elon Musk and DOGE to scan and redact the documents by the end of the week, vs. stringing us along for what could now take months?

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“..this is a naturalized citizen who not only could be the next Elon Musk. He is Elon Musk.”

• Democrats Go Full McCarthy in Attacks on Musk (Turley)

This month, 75 years ago, Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-Wisc.) gave his infamous speech denouncing disloyal Americans working at the highest levels of our government. It was the defining moment for what became known as McCarthyism, which attacked citizens as dangerous and disloyal influences in government. Some of us have criticized the rising “rage rhetoric” for years, including that of President Trump and Democratic leaders, denouncing opponents as traitors and enemies of the state. In the 2024 election, the traditional red state-blue state firewalls again collapsed, as they had in 2016. The response among Democrats has been to unleash a type of new Red Scare, questioning the loyalty of those who are supporting or working with the Trump administration in carrying out his promised reforms.

Elon Musk is the designated disloyal American for many on the left. That rage has reached virtual hysteria on ABC’s “The View.” This is the same show before the election on which hosts warned that, if Trump were elected, journalists and homosexuals would be rounded up and “disappeared.” After the election, democracy seemed to stubbornly hang on, so the hosts had to resort to attacking as disloyal anyone joining the government or supporting Trump’s policies. This week, co-host Joy Behar followed many others in questioning Musk’s loyalty and attacking him over being a naturalized American citizen: “The guy was not born in this country, who was born under apartheid in South Africa. So, [he] has that mentality going on. He was pro-Apartheid, as I understand it.”

Behar was then forced, perhaps by panicked ABC lawyers, to walk back the comment — such retractions having become a regular feature on “The View“. What came out was the type of jumbled confusion that results when you interrupt a lunatic on the metro in mid-rave. Behar stated: “I’m getting some flack because I said that Musk was pro-apartheid. I don’t really know for sure if he was … He was around at that time, but maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t—he might have been a young guy, too. So, don’t be suing me, okay Elon?” This anti-immigrant attack on Musk, however, has worked its way into many Democrats’ talking points, even though their party had previously claimed to defend immigrants against racist Republicans seeking to close the Southern border and deport criminal illegal immigrants.

On Capitol Hill, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) launched a xenophobic tirade that should have shocked the conscience of the nation. She warned citizens that Musk could not be trusted because he is an immigrant who has been a citizen for only a couple of decades: “Mr. Musk has just been here just 22 years and he’s a citizen of three countries. I always ask myself the question: With the damage he’s doing here when push comes to shove, which country is he loyal to? South Africa, Canada, or the United States? And he’s only been a citizen, I’ll say again, 22 years.” Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney was another joining in to attack Musk for being an immigrant. “You may be unfamiliar with that part of our history since you weren’t yet an American citizen,” she wrote on Musk’s social media platform, X.

These attacks are straight out of McCarthy’s playbook. It was McCarthy who insisted that “there are no degrees of loyalty in the United States — a man is either loyal or he’s disloyal…” Of course, McCarthy (and the earlier Red Scare) attacked government employees, writers and others on the left. It is now the left that is employing the same tactics, including censorship, blacklisting and public vilification. Throughout the 2024 campaign, the Democrats, including President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, painted Republicans as either aspiring or actual fascists. That continued recently with Minnesota Gov. and former Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz (D), who referred to Republicans as “fascists and Nazis.” Even journalists and civil libertarians have been reviled using the same terms.

After a hearing on censorship two years ago, MSNBC contributor and former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) attacked journalists and members who had spoken in favor of free speech. She denounced the member witnesses (Sen. Chuck Grassley, Sen. Ron Johnson and former Rep. Gabbard) as “Putin apologists” and Putin-lovers. Stacey Plaskett, the Democratic delegate representing the Virgin Islands in the U.S. House, even suggested arresting respected journalist Matt Taibbi, who, along with Michael Shellenberger, testified on their investigation into a massive censorship system developed under the Biden administration. The attack on Musk is particularly disgraceful, given his contributions to his adopted country. Ironically, filmmaker Michael Moore denounced the deportations of criminal illegal immigrants last week by noting that Trump was deporting someone who might cure cancer or be the next Steve Jobs. Well, this is a naturalized citizen who not only could be the next Elon Musk. He is Elon Musk.

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Americans are so addicted to the idea of being No. 1 that they’ve completely forgotten it’s just an idea.

• Chinese Models Are Stunning Americans In The Tech Catwalk (Pepe Escobar)

When President Xi Jinping hosted a recent – rare – meeting with an array of Chinese tech superstars, including a “rehabilitated” Jack Ma, Alibaba’s founder, he urged them to “show their talent”, code for going for broke in the tech war with the U.S. It was no wonder that young Liang Wenfeng, founder of AI sensation DeepSeek, was among the guests. DeepSeek threw not only Silicon Valley but the whole somewhat paranoid U.S. national security ecosystem completely off balance. Yet Beijing’s emphasis is not subversion, but a sound drive towards building an AI system totally independent from U.S. monopolistic pressure and Nvidia products. Alibaba, Huawei and Tencent will likely align their infrastructure with DeepSeek. This process is perfectly synchronized with the Made in China 2025 project, which has already propelled China to the leadership position in several sectors – from electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels to smart grids and advanced manufacturing.

The final breakthroughs will be on top semiconductors and aerospace. It’s now common knowledge that DeepSeek’s development was not a product of Silicon Valley labs showered with billions of dollars of research funds. Liang Wenfeng himself revealed it: “I won’t lie, our AI was created on the basis of Soviet developments – the OGAS system of Academician Glushkov.” The wonders of History: a Soviet marvel auctioned off for a pittance, $15,000 in 1995 possibly because it was considered worthless, is now the backbone of China’s new digital revolution. Physics heavyweight Quantum Bird, formerly with the CERN in Geneva, is adamant: “The Americans lost the plot. It’s all about models employing less computing power and less data. Nvidia high-performance GPUs costing $40,000 consume too much energy.

Then there’s financial speculation. Raspberry Pi [a small single-board computer], the size of a credit card and with a simple processor, costing $50 for students, they may run DeepSeek, consuming less energy than a cellphone.” And that’s just the beginning, Quantum Bird adds: “When Russia and China come up with their first lithographic machine… It was Silicon Valley that pushed the world to this.” Russia-China scientists have already accelerated scientific computing on conventional Nvidia graphics cards by 800 times, creating a new algorithm using reverse engineering. That was pulled off by a joint group of scientists from MSU-PPI University in Shenzhen (MSU-BIT University), established in 2014 by Lomonosov Moscow State University and Beijing Polytechnic Institute. In parallel, researchers using Made in China GPUs have already boosted 10 times their performance over U.S. supercomputers relying on Nvidia hardware. U.S. tech sanctions? Who cares?

Chinese scientists are not intimidated by any challenges. On hardware, production of advanced GPUs like the A100 and H100 is a foreign monopoly. On software, Nvidia has restricted its CUDA software ecosystem from running on third-party hardware; that’s a serious problem for those working on independent algorithms. These may not be insurmountable problems when a rolling wave of Chinese scientists is coming back home to China mostly from the U.S.. Take Tsinghua University chip superstar Sun Nan. Tsinghua’s social media recently revealed that Sun Nan came back in 2020 after many years in the U.S. to “train chip professionals for China and solving the manufacturing problems of mid- and high-end chip technology”. The key sectors, once again, are semiconductors and quantum computing. Nothing Trump 2.0 will throw at China in terms of “tech containment” will alter the Chinese drive.

Sun Nan and his team have already come up with high-performance circuit design tech they integrated into more than 50 chips used in the Chinese power grid, high-speed rail, industrial measurement and control, instrumentation and electric vehicles. Countering the American drive to derail China’s development in AI and chipmaking equipment, interconnected Sun Tzu maneuvers paint the picture of a Chinese transformation of current supply chains, fomenting a tech crisis in the West itself. That is a key reason for Trump’s obsession with Greenland and Ukraine’s rare earth potential. Sanctionmania has been going on since 2017, when Trump started to impose a 60% tariff on Chinese imports. The Cadaver in the White House administration then slapped a 100% tax on Chinese EVs, and dozens of export controls on China, via coercion of its own “allies” such as Holland’s ASML and South Korea’s Hynix and Samsung.

Trump 2.0 will come up with a renewed charge of the heavy brigade quite soon. By 2018, China was entirely dependent on Western tech. That was a time when telecom towers came from Ericsson, GPUs and chips for neural networks from Nvidia, and cars from the European giants. Now it’s a completely different ball game: a blowback game. Huawei leads in global telecom equipment. BYD is the world’s top producer of electric vehicles – ahead of Tesla since last year. Huawei is ahead of Google in smartphone processor shipments, also since last year. Xiaomi will launch its own smartphone processor this year. Huawei’s Ascend 910B chip is already just 5% behind Nvidia’s AI products – and 70% cheaper. Huawei is vertically integrated with its own chip design and manufacturing supply chain – offering mobile operating systems (Harmony OS NEXT), electric vehicles, streaming services, and autonomous driving.

Apart from DeepSeek, ByteDance, Baidu, Alibaba, and 01.ai have all developed their own sophisticated LLM models. China not only already leads in industrial AI applications from robotics and drones to autonomous driving; it is also metastasizing its industrial, technological and economic breakthroughs into military power. Example: the recently launched world’s first 6th generation fighter prototypes – not only one but two, simultaneously; the world’s first drone-carrier; the first hypersonic stealth unmanned airplanes for strike and reconnaissance; the first stealth unmanned warship; and the most powerful long-range air defence systems. China is advancing at breakneck speed in directed energy weapons, military 5G, atomic timing, and space warfare systems.

[..] “China’s nuclear fusion device Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), Physics World wrote, ‘produced a steady-state high-confinement plasma for 1,066 seconds, breaking EAST’s previous 2023 record of 403 seconds’. This last development is an advance for the potential of a fusion power plant, a promise of almost limitless clean energy without significant radioactive waste.” China trades mostly with the Global South: more than 50% of total. Trade with the U.S. is less than 3% of its GDP – as of last year.

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Water
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Bobcat

 

 

Rhinos
https://twitter.com/i/status/1896233790294327794

 

 

2
https://twitter.com/i/status/1896481106687639791

 

 

Pack
https://twitter.com/i/status/1896536408346788183

 

 

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