Jun 242024
 


Paul Gauguin Van Gogh painting sunflowers 1888

 

“Falling Gently Away:” The G–7 in Italy (Patrick Lawrence)
Evil Is Now the Dominant Power in the Western World (Paul Craig Roberts)
The Myth of the European “Far-Right Surge” (Thunder)
It Won’t Be The End Of The World, But Of Europe (SCF)
Macron May Trigger France’s Exit From EU, Says EU’s Barnier (Sp.)
The Prigozhin Paradox: What Was Russia’s Wagner PMC ? (RT)
Ex-DoD Analyst Derides Bid to Upgrade Outdated B-52s With Nukes (Sp.)
Scott Ritter: It’s Direct Attack on Russia by US and NATO (Sp.)
Ex-White House Physician Demands Biden Drug Test Before Trump Debate (RT)
Snopes Finally Admits Trump Never Called Neo-Nazis ‘Very Fine People’ (ZH)
No Way Financial System Survives – Bill Holter (USAW)
Wales Moves Forward With Plan to Punish Politicians for Telling Lies (Turley)
Judge Dismisses Nevada Alternate Electors Case On Jurisdiction Concerns (ET)

 

 

 

 

Kim

 

 

Can’t sue them all, there’s too many

 

 

 

 

Elon

 

 

Kash

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Conversing with a hang-glider rather than the French president, the German chancellor, or the British prime minister is just what “the leader of the free world” should get up to at a G–7 summit.”

“..If many of us have worried for some time that no one seems to be driving the bus, maybe we can take cold comfort now in the thought that not many seem to be on it..”

“Falling Gently Away:” The G–7 in Italy (Patrick Lawrence)

That Group of 7 gathering on the coast of the Adriatic June 13–15 was truly a doozy, I have to say. Readers might think it a waste of column inches to devote any linage to it, as many will surely have forgotten about it by now—not to mention those many others who did not know of it in the first place and so could not get as far as forgetting it. But this just is my point: The seven people claiming to be the world’s most powerful assemble for a summit and it is not worth our attention? Say whaaa? The significance of this year’s G–7, I mean to say, lies in its insignificance. Considering the mess these very folk have made of the world, this bears consideration. Giorgia Meloni seems to have given some thought to the “non–” aspect of the event she hosted at the Borgo Egnazia, a resort hotel in the town of Savelletri di Fasano, “where the hills of the Itria Valley fall gently away to the Adriatic Sea.”

Prominent among the diversions the Italian premier arranged was a squad of hang-gliders who descended on the group, each trailing the flag of a G–7 member. Is this gravitas or what, 21st century statecraft at its most elevated—especially with a genocide, as supported by every one of these people, proceeding exactly 1,147 miles across the Mediterranean? The lasting image of the G–7 2024 summit has to be that viral video of President Biden wandering away from the others with, per usual at this point, the demeanor of a sleepwalker (which seems to me about right). No! the Democratic machine and its clerks in the media protested. That video was unfairly cut. Biden wasn’t drifting into nowhere: He went to talk to one of the hang-gliders as he, the hang-glider, packed up his harness and airframe. That changes everything. Conversing with a hang-glider rather than the French president, the German chancellor, or the British prime minister is just what “the leader of the free world” should get up to at a G–7 summit.

It was, of course, more worthwhile than talking to Justin Trudeau, I will give Biden this. One of the oddities of this year’s G–7, remarked upon here and there in the media coverage, is the low standing the seven had among their electorates. Axios had a wonderful headline on this, “World losers gather at G–7 summit.” Meloni was the enviable star, with a 40 percent approval rate, but Meloni was the odd one out: She has populist tendencies in a group of neoliberal authoritarians. Biden was second, with 37 percent, but this puts him behind Donald Trump in the American polls. The rest we can count among the walking wounded: Trudeau arrived at Savelletri with a 30 percent approval rate, Olaf Scholz with 25 percent, and then the hanging-by-fingernails group: Rishi Sunak (25 percent, about to be turned out of office), Emmanuel Macron (21 percent, tipped to lose in snap elections), Fumio Kishida (13 percent).

These people are by dint of the offices they hold the leaders of “the West.” If many of us have worried for some time that no one seems to be driving the bus, maybe we can take cold comfort now in the thought that not many seem to be on it. Can what remains of the West now fit into an Italian resort? I pose this as a serious question. Those ever-courteous but mercilessly direct Chinese went straight at this in their official comment on the summit. “The G–7 does not represent the world,” Lin Jian, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, remarked after the group issued its communiqué. Lin referred to the G–7’s share of global GDP: It is now roughly 10 percent and declining as the non–West’s rises. But, viewed from the Atlantic world’s perspective, it is just as significant, I would say, that those purporting to lead the West enjoy a similarly declining share of their population’s support.

The New York Times had an entertainingly contorted take on all this. Shared political weakness, along with high anxiety as the West’s major investments go bad—the proxy war in Ukraine, the Israelis’ savagery in Gaza, the attempt to isolate Russia—combined to make this year’s summit “unexpectedly smooth,” as Steve Erlanger wrote from Savelletri—“another example of unchallenged American leadership of the West.” Leave it to The Times, ever ready to find roses in the desert if it makes the imperium seem a good and welcome thing.

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“Can People Cope with the Challenges of Life when so Much of their Culture has been Destroyed?”

Evil Is Now the Dominant Power in the Western World (Paul Craig Roberts)

Depression, the meaninglessness of life and spiritual depravation engulfs so many people today, because they no longer have the cultural knowledge gained from familiarity with their classic literature and religion which teaches how to deal with the challenges of life and how to grapple with inner demons. This knowledge has been lost. It has been excised from education as outdated, racist, not inclusive, judgmental, and white. Hanne Herland reminds us of the importance of culture to survival and a moral life. She gives us hope for our revival by pointing out that Russia is again Christian despite decades of enforced communist atheism, which was also enforced on Americans by liberals and Jews. For example, no prayers in school, no Christian symbols in public places. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, author of The Gulag Archipelago, was a hero in America as a Soviet dissident until his speech at Harvard University at which he said that “men have forgotten God,” and that this forgetfulness is the explanation for the numerous crises and social and personal maladies of our time.

Instantly, Solzhenitsyn became person non grata. If you are a Christian, a real one and not a worshipper of Israel, you can understand what has happened to us in terms of Satan squeezing the good out of Western civilization and replacing it with evil. When I challenge this thought, I am confronted by the facts that it wasn’t Russia, China, and Iran who on the basis of totally false accusations overthrew the governments in Iraq and Libya and murdered the leaders. It wasn’t Russia, China, and Iran who tried to do the same in Afghanistan and Syria. It is not Russia, China and Iran who are providing the bombs and aircraft and money and diplomatic cover to Israel to exterminate the Palestinians. It is not the Russians, Chinese, and Iranians who are provoking more war. It is Washington and its EU Empire. If you consider the bare-faced facts, it is evil flowing from the Western World that is operating in the world. Russia, China and Iran think they are confronting governments that have lost their senses. They are relying on the threat of the breakout of a world war to bring the West to its senses.

They do not understand that they are confronting evil with whom no negotiations are possible. This means that the halting, hesitant, insufficient responses of Russia, China, and Iran to evil are too weak to be effective.The liberals, the left-wing, the Woke are the ones who destroyed the cultural knowledge of the West, thereby depriving the people of the ability to confront evil. For the liberal-left-Woke destroyers of civilization, spiritual evil is incomprehensible. For them the only evils are Trump, “white racism” and “Putin’s aggression.” In the liberal-left-Woke matrix there are no other evils. The West no longer rests on a Western culture. It rests on sexual perversion and the promotion by governments, corporations, and universities of transgenderism and critical race theory. Western nations have been replaced with Sodom and Gomorrahs and towers of babel. Enemies are necessary to justify the US military/security complex’s massive budget and power. The more enemies the larger the budget and power.

There is not much more hope in American conservatives than there is in the liberal-left-Woke contingent. Conservatives confuse their country with the government. As Albert Jay Nock and Thomas Jefferson clearly explained, the two are entirely different. But it is an important distinction that is over the heads of many conservatives. Solzhenitsyn told us that when respect for religion, traditional values, family, and religious faith are stripped from a society, society has been disarmed and no protection remains against the triumph of evil. As the liberal-left-Woke contingent has stripped away these protections, evil is now the dominant power in the Western World. Russia, China and Iran do not confront Western governments capable of reason. They confront unbridled evil. Putin puzzles why the West is so unreasonable. The answer is that evil is unreasonable. You cannot make a deal with it.

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“the term has degenerated into a cheap label used to discredit political conservatives..”

The Myth of the European “Far-Right Surge” (Thunder)

The term “far-right” should be reserved for political groups that oppose constitutionalism, are rabidly racist, or want to institute an authoritarian State akin to fascist Italy or Nazi Germany. But instead, the term has degenerated into a cheap label used to discredit political conservatives. This label is being attached willy-nilly to people who take political positions that are not in vogue among those who self-identify as “Woke” and/or “progressive,” even if these same positions were considered fairly conventional a couple of decades ago: People are labelled “far-right” if they defend the idea of a national identity, want an orderly immigration process, advocate for laws that are tough on crime, believe in traditional marriage and biological markers for gender; or believe that civil rights like informed consent are still relevant during a pandemic.

If you really want to understand why new parties are emerging on the right, throwing around the “far-right” label will not get you very far. What is really happening is that the traditional right-wing parties, many of which are represented by Europe’s largest political group, the European People’s Party, have jumped ship on a lot of traditional right-wing commitments, creating a vacuum to be filled by the “new right.” For example, rule of law and limited government have been replaced, under the watch of mainstream “right-wing” parties, with vaccine passports, lockdowns, intrusive hate speech laws, crippling “green” taxes and regulations, and the Orwellian idea that we should clamp down on “disinformation,” lest citizens be exposed to “dangerous” ideas. The old right has overseen a Europe of uncontrolled and disorderly immigration, with no proper vetting of migrants and little consideration for the impact of large-scale migration on local communities.

And the old commitment to the right to law and order has given way to a palpable complacency and inaction in the face of a growing crime problem in Europe’s cities. This has created a pent-up political demand for parties prepared to avow traditional right-wing commitments, such as law and order, orderly immigration, freedom of speech, pro-family taxation and welfare policies, and limited government. In some cases, this political vacuum has been filled with egregiously xenophobic, racist, and authoritarian rhetoric. But in many other cases, parties dismissed as “far-right” are simply questioning the wisdom of open border policies, exposing abuses of the refugee system, defending free speech, and trying to moderate the green agenda so that it is not so oppressive for farmers and ordinary citizens.

If having serious concerns about immigration and being opposed to far-reaching environmental regulations is considered “extreme,” then it appears that being “extreme” is now pretty normal in Europe: one recent opinion poll shows that immigration is one of the leading concerns for European voters, after the economy and war. In addition, the abysmal performance of the Greens in these EU elections—dropping from 71 to 53 seats—suggests that the Greens’ enthusiasm for ambitious climate regulations is not shared by many voters. In short, two of the central concerns of the new right—uncontrolled immigration and excessively burdensome environmental regulations—are actually shared by a sizeable number of European voters. Finally, there was no “surge” to speak of among the new and emerging parties on the right: more like a moderate consolidation.

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“..there are many domestic priorities for the U.S. that make Ukraine increasingly less important..”

It Won’t Be The End Of The World, But Of Europe (SCF)

Since the start of NATO’s proxy war against Russia, Europe still appears to have not understood its role in the conflict. By irrationally adhering to all measures imposed by the U.S., such as unilateral sanctions and unrestricted arms shipments to the Kiev regime, the EU appears increasingly closer to a true collapse, given the negative social circumstances and high security risks. In the end, the European bloc, like Ukraine, is just another proxy in this war. For obvious reasons, Europe has always been dependent on good relations with Russia to maintain its economic and social well-being and the balance of its regional security architecture. However, European countries seem to have forgotten the basic principles of geopolitics, betting on a futile attempt to “isolate” Russia through irrational sanctions that only harm Europe itself – without generating any impact on the Russian economy.

Without Russian gas, Europe has rapidly deindustrialized, increasing levels of poverty, unemployment and inflation. The most rational thing to do in this type of situation would be to avoid unnecessary spending and invest heavily in economic recovery projects – but, apparently, no European attitude is based on rationality. Instead of acting strategically in pursuit of the best for their people, European decision-makers committed themselves to a policy of systematically supplying weapons to the Ukrainian neo-Nazi regime, spending billions of euros on manufacturing and exporting weapons for the war against Russia. Obviously, the European people are dissatisfied with so many harmful policies, which is why in the last European elections voters reacted by voting massively for right-wing politicians and parties, trying to find an alternative against the unpopular Russophobic madness of liberal regimes.

Retaliating against the popular will, liberal governments are already beginning to take authoritarian measures, such as President Emmanuel Macron, who decided to dissolve the parliament and call for new elections. It is possible that many more similar dictatorial measures will be taken in the near future, which will only further worsen the serious legitimacy crisis of EU member countries. To make matters worse, some of these European governments are even thinking about going a step further in their support for Ukraine, with advanced discussions about sending troops on the ground. Apparently, European nations have lost their fear of escalating the war into a global, nuclear conflict, during which they would be easy targets for powerful Russian strategic weapons.

In parallel, in the U.S. there is great instability in the electoral scenario. Donald Trump promises to end the war, but the liberal establishment wants to prevent him from running. Biden promises to continue the conflict with Russia, which will certainly also be the guideline of the Republican candidate who replaces Trump. However, both domestic politics and the international scenario are extremely complicated for Washington. Having to deal with a pre-civil war atmosphere, social polarization, Texas separatism and mass migration, in addition to a severe economic crisis, there are many domestic priorities for the U.S. that make Ukraine increasingly less important.

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“They are still anti-European..”

No, they just don’t like your idea of Europe. Not the same thing.

Macron May Trigger France’s Exit From EU, Says EU’s Barnier (Sp.)

French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to dissolve the country’s parliament and hold snap elections could trigger France’s exit from the European Union, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said. Barnier said in an interview with The Telegraph newspaper that Macron’s hopes of beating the right-wing National Rally (RN) party in the elections are very risky, the report read on Saturday. “I don’t think Ms [the leader of the RN’s parliamentary faction, Marine] Le Pen and Mr [president of RN party, Jordan] Bardella changed their minds. They are still anti-European,” Barnier said. On June 9, Macron announced the dissolution of the French parliament’s lower house and holding of two-round snap parliamentary elections on June 30 and July 7. The decision was made in the wake of the European Parliament elections in which the National Rally party emerged victorious, finishing with over 15 percentage points ahead of Macron’s centrist coalition.

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“Prigozhin had a very tenacious intellect, huge ambitions and no brakes.”

The Prigozhin Paradox: What Was Russia’s Wagner PMC ? (RT)

On June 23, 2023, one of the most mysterious events in modern Russian history kicked off. Units of PMC Wagner – at the time a highly combat-ready but also historically unusual component of the Russian Armed Forces – withdrew from the theater of operations in Ukraine. The story of the Wagner mutiny cannot be told without the story of the people behind the creation of the PMC. The main figure is Yevgeny Prigozhin, a St. Petersburg businessman who rose from humble beginnings to become a wealthy tycoon. His youth was turbulent, and in the early 1990s, as the USSR collapsed, he went into business, far removed from military affairs. Prigozhin was a restaurateur. He started by selling hot dogs, but quickly acquired money and ambition and began to open restaurants in St. Petersburg to suit all tastes and budgets.

By the end of the 1990s, Prigozhin ran a chain of restaurants and a catering company, and was well known to the establishment of the city on the Neva. When Vladimir Putin, also from St. Petersburg, became president of Russia, Prigozhin found more success. He was involved in organizing catering in schools and then in the army, construction and other projects. The businessman tried to keep a low profile, but in the 2010s became increasingly involved in politics. In 2013, he created a media network that included online resources as well as a large, shadowy social media group. This media outlets were characterized by its sharp tone and assertiveness. Then, in 2014, he was asked to set up a private military company. Prigozhin was involved in organizational matters. The PMC received orders from official structures and was financed by them. It was commanded by Dmitry Utkin, a veteran of special military intelligence units.

One of his call signs was Wagner, so when information about the creation of the unit leaked to the media, it was referred to as the Wagner Group or PMC Wagner. Hence the informal name of the unit, ‘Orchestra’, and its fighters, ‘Musicians’. Initially, its fighters were recruited from retired Russian military personnel and participants in the war in Donbass. The fighters were attracted by good salaries and an informal management style: private soldiers were expected to produce results without worrying about army drills and the need to sign multi-year contracts. Wagner’s first operation was to storm the airport in the city of Lugansk, which had been occupied by Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainians were driven out and the beginning was made. Prigozhin, a non-military man, suddenly turned out to be an exceptionally suitable person to lead the PMC. Energetic and extremely rude, he had very little education, but quickly learned everything he needed to know. Prigozhin had a very tenacious intellect, huge ambitions and no brakes.

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They still can’t make hypersonics…

Ex-DoD Analyst Derides Bid to Upgrade Outdated B-52s With Nukes (Sp.)

The defense policy bills for fiscal year 2025 in both the US Senate and House include funding to enhance the nuclear weapon capabilities of approximately 30 B-52H Stratofortress bombers. However, the Pentagon is not enthusiastic about the proposal and instead favors a more expensive option of investing in a next-generation nuclear-capable bomber. Congress’ bid to restore the B-52 bombers’ nuclear capabilities comes in the wake of repeated disappointments in developing US hypersonic standoff weapons, retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik. “Putting nukes back on the upgraded B-52 is a band aid that covers that,’ said the former analyst for the US Department of Defense. “It is important to note that Congress and the Pentagon have already approved and funded engine, avionics and radar upgrades for the nearly 60-year-old B-52 airframe. The B-52H models will be designated B-52J’s, upon upgrade. This was justified several years ago with the B-52Js as a delivery mechanism for planned AGR-183 hypersonic missiles – a missile tested by the Air Force, but one that is no longer being funded in the FY2025 defense budget,” she underscored.

Dozens of the Pentagon’s hypersonic missile projects for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and DARPA have suffered setbacks, despite a desperate race to catch up with Russia and China in this field. The hypersonic weapon that was in development by the Pentagon, the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), had been mired in delays and test failures. The weapon was to be fired from beneath the wing of a B-52 Stratofortress bomber and also contain a glide vehicle. The ARRW program, launched in April 2018, was to achieve operational deployment in 2022. However, in November 2023, after conducting two test flights in August and October 2023, the Fiscal Year 2025 budget provided no funding for procurement or further research and development of the AGM-183, effectively ending the project.

“The initiative will be costly and profitable for the defense industry, and in practical terms it keeps the B-52 in the game for tax-payer dollars. It is somewhat practical, as nuclear re-arming of the new B-52J model, as it completes other B-52 upgrades, fits well in the Boeing and Northrup Grumman industrial base,” noted Kwiatkowski. It’s really all about the Congressional lobbyists, the ex-DoD analyst pointed out, clarifying that in the House, “Congressman Mike Rogers is the second-highest recipient of defense lobby money; In the Senate, Deb Fischer’s top donor is Northrup-Grumman a major missile developer, and Boeing, the maker of the B-52, is her fourth-largest donor.” The conventional B-52H Stratofortress bombers had been part of the US nuclear triad close to a decade ago. However, under the New START treaty with Russia, the planes were stripped of these capabilities.

With the treaty set to expire in February 2026, there is a drive to “beef up the US nuclear arsenal”. Congress has been advocating making the old bombers nuclear capable again, but the idea does not appear to be viewed favorably in the Pentagon. “The treaty expires in 2026, and… We need to be prepared to face a nuclear environment without any treaty limitations,” said House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., as he introduced the amendment to the passed FY25 defense policy legislation. In line with that bill, the Air Force would start upgrading the bombers within a month after the accord expires. Accordingly, it is hoped that the restoration of the B-52’s nuclear capabilities might be completed by 2029.

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“..this is an act of terrorism by the United States against Russia..”

Scott Ritter: It’s Direct Attack on Russia by US and NATO (Sp.)

On Sunday, the Ukrainian armed forces attacked Russia’s Sevastopol, using US-made ATACMS missiles with cluster warheads, four of which were shot down and one deflected and exploded over the city. Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter commented on Ukraine’s terrorist attack on Sevastopol. “The Ukrainians made a decision to use ATACMS missiles equipped with cluster munitions against a city, a civilian city. This is an act of terrorism,” Ritter emphasized. “Ukraine since 2014 has been bombarding Russian civilian sites, cities, villages, towns for the sole purpose of inflicting death and destruction on Russian civilians. This is an act of terrorism and given that the ATACMS missiles cannot be deployed by the Ukrainians without extensive intelligence support by the United States, this is an act of terrorism by the United States against Russia,” the analyst said.

Commenting on the terrorist attacks in Russia’s Dagestan, Ritter said they were “deliberately designed to disrupt the civil life of the Russian Federation”. He highlighted that the CIA has historically made attempts to “engender a split between the Muslim and non-Muslim segments of Russian society” and failed. “That effort failed and the effort in Dagestan will fail, too, but it doesn’t absolve the parties involved of their guilt in launching what is a direct assault on the Russian Federation,” Ritter insisted.

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“..his aides are fine-tuning the dosages for the drugs he will be taking on debate night..”

Ex-White House Physician Demands Biden Drug Test Before Trump Debate (RT)

A former White House doctor has argued that US President Joe Biden should be subjected to drug tests at this week’s debate with Republican challenger Donald Trump to check whether he’s taking performance-enhancing substances to cover up his allegedly declining cognitive health. Dr. Ronny Jackson, who served as White House physician in the Trump and Obama-Biden administrations, said he has reason to believe Biden will be drugged to boost his mental sharpness in Thursday’s presidential debate. The doctor, now a Republican congressman representing Texas, added that he suspected Biden took drugs before his State of the Union speech in March. “It’s really embarrassing, as a former White House physician, to have to do something like this, but we don’t have any choice, based on what’s going on,” Jackson said on Sunday in a Fox News interview.

“But I’m going to be demanding, on behalf of many millions of concerned Americans right now, that he submit to a drug test before and after this debate, specifically looking for performance-enhancing drugs.” At 81, Biden is already the oldest president in US history, and he would be 86 by the end of his second term if he wins reelection in November. Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly mocked Biden’s frequent mental gaffes and physical stumbles. A New York Times poll released in April showed that 72% of US voters, including over half of Democrats, believe Biden is too old to be an effective president. Jackson has repeatedly sent letters to the White House demanding that the president take a cognitive test to prove his mental fitness for the job. He said Biden and his staff ignored those demands. The congressman administered such a test to Trump in 2019, and the then-president passed the exam.

Biden is reportedly spending a full week at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland to prepare for the debate. Jackson said he believes part of the reason for the president’s long absence from the White House is that his aides are fine-tuning the dosages for the drugs he will be taking on debate night.

“They have to treat his cognition, they have to give him something to help him think straighter, they have to give him something to wake him up, for his alertness,” the doctor claimed. “And then, you know, he’s been agitated. We see that all the time, and that’s a common symptom, or sign, of this cognitive disorder that he seems to be suffering from. So, they’re probably going to give him something to take the edge off that as well.” The Biden campaign has denied that the president uses any drugs, calling accusations by Trump “a bizarre outburst.” Speaking at a political rally on Saturday in Philadelphia, Trump joked that Biden is sleeping at Camp David to rest up for the debate. “They want to get him good and strong, so a little before debate time, he gets a shot in the ass,” Trump told the crowd. “I say he’ll come out all jacked up, right? All jacked up.”

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7 years.

Snopes Finally Admits Trump Never Called Neo-Nazis ‘Very Fine People’ (ZH)

One of the more common lies peddled by top Democrats, including of course President Joe Biden, is that former President Donald Trump called neo-Nazis ‘very fine people’ during his press conference following the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally in 2017. Except, anyone who watched the full clip knows it’s bullshit, which is why anyone peddling the hoax has been operating in bad faith. Now, after seven years, and days before the Trump-Biden debate in Atlanta, Snopes has finally admitted that Trump never called neo-Nazis ‘very fine people.’

“While Trump did say that there were ‘very fine people on both sides,’ he also specifically noted that he was not talking about neo-Nazis and White supremacists and said they should be ‘condemned totally.’ Therefore, we have rated this claim ‘False,” wrote Snopes. Of note, Biden launched his his 2020 campaign based on this lie. “The president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it,” Biden claimed in his campaign announcement video. “And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I’d ever seen in my lifetime.”

Amazing…

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“..They have to kick the table over. They cannot allow the table to fall over on its own..”

No Way Financial System Survives – Bill Holter (USAW)

Financial writer and precious metals broker Bill Holter has been documenting all the unpayable debt that has been building up in the financial system like cancer. The latest black hole of default is coming from a big bank in Japan. Norinchukin Bank is selling $63 billion in Treasuries and other sovereign bonds to stay afloat. Then there is recent news announced by the FDIC that 63 US banks (the names are being kept secret) have more than $500 billion in losses, and let’s not forget about the trillions in losses sitting on the books of European banks ready to suck the world into a black debt hole. This is just a few of many on a long list of destabilizing problems that can tank the entire over-indebted financial system. Holter warns, “The list is so long…” “it could be a banking problem. It could be a derivatives problem. It could be a derivatives problem in the stock market, the bond market and you could see a failure to deliver in silver. Some type of warfare could crash the system. You could see warfare in Ukraine, Israel or Tiawan.

The system is so unstable, at this point, it could be anything that could bring it down. Unpayable debt is not just a US problem. This is all over the world. Central banks are having to issue huge amounts of debt because we are in the exponential decay phase. We are exactly where Richard Russell said we would be 20 years ago. It’s inflate or die, and the only way to inflate is to create more money supply.” Add to that the $10 trillion in debt the US Government has to roll over by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the US government piles on $1 trillion in new debt every 100 days. What could go wrong? Holter said the last time he was on USAW that there was a little less than a 50% chance we would even have an election. Now, he predicts it is more likely there will be no 2024 Presidential Election. Holter says:

“There is no way the system, as it is now, survives. It’s mathematically impossible. So, if it is mathematically impossible, are they going to blow smoke . . . up until the day it blows up? Or are they going to do something to blow it up and then say our programs and policies were working except for XYZ this or whatever. They have to kick the table over. They cannot allow the table to fall over on its own because then there is going to be finger pointing. To avoid the finger pointing, they have got to kick the table over.” Holter also thinks gold is going to exponential numbers to back all the debt the USA has.

If you go with the 8,030 tons of gold the government claims is in Fort Knox, you will need a dollar price of gold at “$125,000 per ounce for 100% gold backing of the dollar.”Holter also says, “The dollar is being pushed out of the global financial system…” “Demand for dollars is shrinking at a time when borrowing demand is rising.” This is a going to be a disaster for America and anyone holding dollars in the future. In closing, Holter says, “The financial collapse that is coming will be worse than anything we have ever experienced…” “This is going to be far worse than the Great Depression simply because society itself is far worse. . . . Back in the Great Depression, you had neighbors helping neighbors. Today you will have neighbors picking on other neighbors like vultures.”

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Sounds good until you realize what will be called ‘lies’.

Wales Moves Forward With Plan to Punish Politicians for Telling Lies (Turley)

Will Rogers once said that “if you ever injected truth into politics, you’d have no politics.” In Wales, it appears that the government is challenging that assessment. However, if the new legislation criminalizing political lies is successful, the Welsh are likely to find themselves with the same abundance of lies but little free speech. A proposal in the Welsh parliament (or the Senedd) would make it the first country in the world to impose criminal sanctions for lying politicians. Adam Price, the former leader of the liberal Plaid Cymru party is pushing for the criminalization, citing citing a “credibility gap” in UK politics. Astonishingly, this uniquely bad idea was received support from a key committee. Once on track for adoption, this is the type of law that can become self-propelling through the legislature. Few politicians want to go on record voting against a law banning political lies. The free speech implications are easily lost in the coverage.

The new law would make it a criminal offense for a member of the Senedd, or a candidate for election to the Senedd, to wilfully, or with intent to mislead, make or publish a statement that is known to be false or deceptive. There is a six-month period for challenges to be brought. The law allows a defense that a statement could be “reasonably inferred” to be a statement of opinion, or if it were retracted with an apology within 14 days. If guilty, the politician would be disqualified from being a Senedd member. The defense is hardly helpful. It creates an uncertainty as to what statements would be deemed an opinion and what would be treated as a statement of fact. It invites selective and biased prosecutions. After all, what does it mean to accuse a politician of trying to “mislead” the public?

Winston Churchill said “a politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.” It is a standard heavily laded with subjectivity and potential selectivity in prosecution. It is more likely to determine not whether lies can be told but which lies can be told. The government and the majority of the public are likely to hold certain “misleading” claims of politicians to be true or opinion while holding a harsher view of the claims of the opposition. Consider the massive censorship system in our own country. During Covid, you were labeled a liar, conspiracist, or racist for holding views now viewed as credible. For example, academics joined this chorus in marginalizing anyone raising the lab theory. One study cited the theory as an example of “anti-Chinese racism” and “toxic white masculinity.”

As late as May 2021, the New York Times’ Science and Health reporter Apoorva Mandavilli was calling any mention of the lab theory as “racist.” Mandavilli and others made clear that reporters covering the theory were COVID’s little Bull Connors. She tweeted wistfully “someday we will stop talking about the lab leak theory and maybe even admit its racist roots. But alas, that day is not yet here.” Now federal agencies have stated that they believe that the origin of the virus was indeed the Chinese lab. If this law were in place, politicians could have been charged with lying and barred from the legislature — only serve to diminish dissenting views further in the government. Politicians have long been accused of lying to the public.

In this country, presidents routinely lie on matters great and small. Many of those lies cost citizens dearly, from “keeping your doctor” under ObamaCare to losing your life in Vietnam. Criminalizing lies in campaigns because of the spread of disinformation or disorder is a slippery slope that vests unprecedented power in the Justice Department. There is obvious an abundance statements from politicians that could be deemed as intentionally misleading. Officials can then simply pick and choose what politicians they want to tar with the allegation and potentially bar from office.

Read more …

Cherry picking courts. Insane.

Judge Dismisses Nevada Alternate Electors Case On Jurisdiction Concerns (ET)

A Nevada judge on Friday dismissed the alternate electors’ case against six Republicans who were alleged to have submitted fraudulent certificates to Congress in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Clark County Judge Mary Kay Holthus issued a bench ruling on Friday during a hearing at the Clark County District Court that dismissed the case, according to courtroom reporters. The judge said she was not convinced by state prosecutors’ arguments that Clark County was the proper venue to hear the case, appearing to side with defense attorneys who said the signing of the certificates occurred in Douglas County. “You have literally, in my opinion, a crime that has occurred in another jurisdiction,” Judge Holthus said at the hearing. “It’s so appropriately up north and so appropriately not here.”

In dismissing the case, the judge called off the trial, which had been scheduled for next January. The defendants included state GOP chairman Michael McDonald; national party committee member Jim DeGraffenreid; national and Douglas County committee member Shawn Meehan; and Eileen Rice, a party member from the Lake Tahoe area. Each was charged with offering a false instrument for filing and uttering a forged instrument, felonies that carry penalties of up to five years in prison. Defense attorneys contended that Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford improperly brought the case in Las Vegas instead of Carson City or Reno, which are cities located near where the alleged crime took place. After the hearing, Mr. Ford told reporters at the court that “the judge got it wrong and we’ll be appealing immediately.” He did not provide any more details.

Margaret McLetchie, an attorney for one of the defendants, told news outlets that it’s unlikely the case will proceed. “They’re done,” she said. She said that the attorney general would have to now bring the case to another grand jury in another venue such as Nevada’s capital city of Carson City, which would violate a three-year statute of limitations on filing charges that expired in December 2023. Earlier this year, attorney Richard Wright, who was representing the defendants, argued that prosecutors made a “politically expedient” move by bringing the case in Clark County. “The venue that’s appropriate is Carson City and Minden,” he told the Nevada Independent in January. “That’s a Republican area, so I’ll be anxious to hear why the attorney general chose [Las Vegas] as the convenient forum. To me, it’s painfully obvious. Because it’s Democratic.”

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

Miami shark
https://twitter.com/i/status/1804865710130147758

 

 

Turtle
https://twitter.com/i/status/1804771449309126737

 

 

Good human

 

 

 

 

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Sep 202020
 


René Magritte The song of the storm 1937

 

 

I was going to make this the shortest essay I’ve ever written. “Trump Will Win Because of Energy. Period.” But wouldn’t you know, things start popping up on exactly the topic it was going to be about… The difference in energy between Donald Trump and Joe Biden should be obvious to everyone, including Biden supporters, though they will try to ignore it, as well as the role energy plays in a campaign, as it does in life in general -not just human life either-.

People recognize energy, they feel it. it’s a primal thing, directly linked to survival. It doesn’t get recognized at a rational level, but somewhere much deeper. And it’s not even so much that Trump’s energy levels are above average, for a 74-year old (though they appear to be), but that Biden’s are so far below average – or perhaps exactly what you would expect for a 77-year old, which is why so few of them are running for president of the United States, a job that I think we would all agree requires a lot of energy.

When you take out of the equation which person you like or not, when you disregard their policy proposals, and you only look at energy levels, the difference is vast. And people will catch on to this. The first debate is in 9 days, September 29, and how do you prepare Biden for that? Trump last night suggested his handlers do it by applying ‘big, fat shots in the ass’, but even that wouldn’t do it.

Trump doesn’t need to hammer this point home too hard, it will be obvious no matter what. It may even be better for him to show compassion for Biden. One of the main instructions from his team will undoubtedly be to NOT go after Joe Biden so hard it will make him stutter. Because that would make Trump look like a bully, and give Biden points on compassion from the audience.

But I doubt Trump will be able to help himself. And perhaps, at least from his point of view, he should just be and remain who he is. Because that worked four years ago. Will these be the best-watched debates in history? Quite possibly. Meanwhile, as Trump yesterday worked all day -if we are to believe the reports- and then campaigned all night in Fayetteville NC, Biden was MIA.

That by now is a pattern. As is the mysterious lack of door-to-door campaigning by the Biden team. It may not be impossible to win that way, but it certainly would be a first. And it makes the team look like they have a similar energy level to Biden himself (In another mystery, we see people talk about finding it hard to get yard signs for the Biden campaign).

That leaves you with the impression that the Biden team really has just one message: Orange Man Bad. Not: vote *for* me, but vote *against* the other guy. the racist/rapist who killed 200,000 Americans and offends “our” troops”. That in turn appears to signal that what energy there is, is negative energy. Doesn’t look like a winning formula.

But if the media, including social media, keep on pumping out that same message 24/7, who knows how many people will buy into it? After all, Twitter and Facebook et al are even more important influencers today than they were in 2016. Then again, the Trump people seemed to be much stronger on social media back then, and why would they have squandered that advantage? But then again, again, they weren’t constantly censored and banned then.

Trump last night in Fayetteville:

‘Big, Fat Shots In The Ass’: Trump Again Suggests Biden Is On Energizing Drugs

Donald Trump has mercilessly taunted Joe Biden, telling supporters that his Democratic nemesis must be taking performance-enhancing substances and should undergo a drug test. Trump reiterated previous casual accusations that Biden is too senile to be a good fit for the US president’s office while talking to a crowd of supporters in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Using his nickname for his Democratic opponent, Trump said that “Sleepy Joe” is appearing conspicuously efficient during debates and public events.

“Don’t underestimate [him], he’s been doing this for 47 years. And I got a debate coming up with this guy,” Trump said as he grinned, before suggesting that performance-enhancing substances were behind Biden’s efficiency. “You never know, they gave him a big, fat shot in the ass and he comes out,” Trump claimed as his audience laughed. “And for two hours he’s better than ever before. The problem is, what happens after that,” the Republican president added. Adding insult to the injury, Trump said offering a drug test to Biden is an option.

Remarkably, this is not the first time the 74-year-old president has accused his 77-year-old rival of being on drugs. Over a week ago, he fanned the claim while speaking to Fox. “I think there’s probably, possibly, drugs involved,” Trump told host Jeanine Pirro. “I don’t know how you can go from being so bad where you can’t even get out a sentence…” he speculated without finishing the sentence.

Trump and Biden are expected to face each other during debates in Cleveland on September 29, in Miami on October 15, and in Nashville on October 22. Their vice-presidential nominees Mike Pence and Kamala Harris will have a one-on-one in Salt Lake City on October 7.

 

 

In that same vein, there was also this from Irishman Graham Dockery on August 27:

Trump Has Called On Biden To Take A Drug Test. Why Don’t Both Old Guys Take This Idea Seriously?

Trump is 74 years old and Biden 77. If elected, Biden would be the oldest president in history, and would assume office at the same age Ronald Reagan left the White House – himself exhibiting the telltale signs of Alzheimer’s disease. If Trump wins, he’ll beat Reagan’s record by one year. Ten percent of white Americans over the age of 65 suffer from Alzheimer’s and related dementias. After 65, the risk of dementia doubles every five years. Even if Biden was speaking coherently, he would have a one-third chance of developing dementia by the end of his first term. Likewise, while Trump may appear sharp, he’s twice as likely to be losing his marbles now than he was in 2016.

Modern drugs can mask the symptoms of cognitive decline fairly well. Donepezil, Galantamine, Memantine and Rivastigmine are all used to boost memory, attention and the ability to perform simple tasks – like using a phone. Aside from these prescription medications, a candidate looking for a quick pre-debate fix could swallow some Adderall, a legal amphetamine that boosts cognition, short term memory and attention span, not to mention whatever experimental cocktails these two might have access to.

I’m not suggesting that either candidate is a chattering speed-freak. Trump’s opponents have beaten that drum before, accusing the president of railing Adderall every time he sniffs in a speech. Biden, on the other hand, looks like a man who could use an infusion from Doctor Feelgood. But it would be nice to know for sure. Most Americans would likely balk at the idea of sending a medicated husk to negotiate with allies and outwit adversaries. Let the two men competing for this position lay their cards on the table, and let the American public use this information to inform their decision.

After all, this is the leader of the free world we’re talking about, the man who, with a flick of his finger, could doom the planet to nuclear holocaust. It’s probably best if this leader remembers where he left the tapioca pudding.

 

Note that by now Trump’s advantage on energy says little about how the 2020 election will eventually be decided. It’s no longer possible for the US to NOT to sink into a deep quagmire because of mail-in ballots and the many days it may take to count them, the hundreds of lawyers that will be involved in various stages of that process -including many lawsuits-, and the Supreme Court, which will be a major election issue before November 3, and a possible/probable deciding factor sometime after that date.

Add to this that having the most votes, or even the highest numbers in the Electoral College system, no longer guarantees you a victory -because: lawyers and because: states may try to tamper with that system- and you end up with the most godawful mess ever. You would think everyone in Washington has an interest in not letting the city devolve into a circus tent where the clowns end up fighting the lions and tigers, but apparently they all have “more important” things to consider.

And all the time I’m thinking, guys, take care of your country, at least someone take care of it, you’re going to have to live in it together next year and the year after that etc.

 

 

 

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