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Debt Rattle February 19 2026

Feb 192026
 
 February 19, 2026  Posted by at 10:25 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  51 Responses »


Ceiling painting from the palace of Amenhotep III, New Kingdom ca. 1390–1353 B.C.


• Ukraine Should Come To The Table ‘Fast’ – Trump (RT)
• Under Pressure To Reach Deal, Zelensky Explodes: No Time “For All This S**t” (ZH)
• Putin Aide Urges Retaliation To ‘Western Piracy’ (RT)
• US and Dutch Pilots Flying F-16s For Ukraine – Western Media (RT)
• Hungary’s Opposition Made ‘Secret Pact’ With EU On Ukraine – Orban (RT)
• 18 Ways To Reverse The EU’s Immigration Disaster (RMX)
• Judge Orders ICE Not to Re-Detain Abrego Garcia (ET)
• Disinformation Board Member Jennifer Daskal Appointed as FISA Court Advisor (CTH)
• Fear Is The Only Thing The EU Understands – Karaganov (RT)
• Can You Buy A Country? (RT)
• Former Trump Strategist Defends Ties with Epstein (RT)
• The Last Temptation of the Least Dangerous Branch (Turley)
• German Public Broadcaster Ran Fake Ai-Generated Clip of ‘ICE Troops’ (RMX)
• Macron Calls Free Speech Online ‘Pure Bullshit’
• Trump Posts Tribute to Rush Limbaugh on the Anniversary of His Death (Margolis)

 


 

Optimus

 


 

 


 


They don’t want peaxe. They want to beat Russia.

• Ukraine Should Come To The Table ‘Fast’ – Trump (RT)

Ukraine must swiftly give up its uncompromising stance in the negotiations to settle the conflict with Russia, US President Donald Trump has warned. He made the comments ahead of talks between Russia, the US, and Ukraine in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday and Wednesday. The parties previously held two trilateral meetings in Abu Dhabi in January. Territorial issues – namely Ukraine’s refusal to abandon its claim to Donbass – reportedly remain the key item hampering progress towards peace. When asked about his expectations from the Swiss negotiations by journalists aboard Air Force One on Monday, Trump said they will be “very big.”


“Ukraine better come to the table fast. That’s all I’m telling you… we want them to come,” the president insisted. During his speech at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky again ruled out any territorial concessions, claiming that it “would be an illusion to believe that this war can now be reliably ended by dividing Ukraine.” Instead, he demanded more weapons from Kiev’s European backers and called for Ukraine to be included in NATO, which is one of Moscow’s clear red lines. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier that only a few issues remain to be addressed by the sides in Geneva. “The bad news is they’ve been narrowed to the hardest questions to answer,” he stressed.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the members of the Russian delegation in Geneva, led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, “intend to discuss a broader range of issues, including the main questions concerning territories… and those related to the demands we have.” Moscow maintains that any sustainable settlement requires Ukraine to withdraw from the areas still under its control in Donbass – which voted to join Russia in referendums in the fall of 2022 – give up on its NATO aspirations, and commit to demilitarization and denazification.

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Zelensky represents a corrupt cabal. He’s getting rich doing it.

• Under Pressure To Reach Deal, Zelensky Explodes: No Time “For All This S**t” (ZH)

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has increasingly made his frustrations with the Trump administration public, but he may have just crossed the line with the US President, who Zelensky admits can be tough and unbending. Zelensky has newly complained amid the latest Geneva trilateral talks that the US delegation could pressure him to make “unsuccessful decisions” and he is urging Washington to back off, even using expletives to make his point. For starters, he claims that the Ukrainian public won’t let him cede territory to Russia for the sake of peace even if he wanted to, as we highlighted previously.


But the latest colorful verbal broadside, cited by Axios on Tuesday as Russian and Ukrainian delegations convened in Geneva, saw Zelensky take direct aim at the head of Moscow’s negotiating team, Vladimir Medinsky. Kiev’s frustration at the state of dialogue has been boiling over. Medinsky has argued – along with numerous Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin – that the conflict’s historical roots must be addressed as part of any settlement, especially given the bulk of the Ukrainian population in the east (Donbas) has always been Russian speaking and looked to Moscow historically.mZelensky dismissed that approach outright: “We don’t have time for all this shit,” he told the outlet. “So we have to decide, and have to finish the war.”

Regardless, the Kremlin has lately made clear its aims to take the full Donbas either through talks or by force. Ukraine’s military still holds 10% of the Donbas, however, and Kiev is rejecting a US proposal for it to draw back its forces as part of a conflict freeze leading to settlement. The White House this month has finally appeared to be ratcheting up the pressure directly on Zelensky to make some kind of serious land concession. This was evident in the latest comments by President Trump on the topic of Geneva issued near the start of the week. Frustration with Kiev was evident when he told reporters aboard Air Force One, “Well, we have big talks.” He stated that “It’s going to be very easy. I mean, look, so far, Ukraine better come to the table fast. That’s all I’m telling you.”

Zelensky after this bitterly complained that it’s ‘not fair’ for Trump to take aim at Ukraine and not Russia, and suggested maybe it’s simply easer for Trump to do this given he doesn’t want to upset the far larger, more formidable country. Meanwhile, Medinsky has said Wednesday that the U.S.-mediated peace talks in Geneva had been “difficult but business-like, and that a new round of talks would be held soon,” according to Reuters.

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Patrushev is an important voice.

• Putin Aide Urges Retaliation To ‘Western Piracy’ (RT)

Russia’s response to “Western piracy” targeting its maritime trade should be forceful and not limited to diplomatic means, an aide to President Vladimir Putin has said. Nikolay Patrushev, a veteran national security official who heads a naval policymaking body, called for stronger action against Western moves targeting vessels described as part of an alleged Russian ‘shadow fleet’. Attempts to paralyze Russian foreign trade will only intensify, Patrushev warned in an interview with Argumenty i Fakty published on Tuesday. “Unless we push back forcefully, soon the English, the French, and even the Balts will get brazen enough to try and block our nation’s access to at least the Atlantic,” he said.


“The Europeans are in essence making steps to impose a naval blockade, deliberately pushing towards a military escalation, testing the limits of our patience and provoking our retaliation. If the situation is not resolved peacefully, the Navy will be breaking and lifting the blockade,” Patrushev said. “Let’s not forget that plenty of vessels sail the seas under European flags. We may get curious about what they are shipping and where,” he added. Patrushev expressed skepticism that tensions could ease, saying “there is little hope that the West has an ounce of respect for diplomacy and the law.” He argued that “the old practice of ‘gunboat diplomacy’ is being revived,” citing US operations targeting Venezuela and Iran.

Washington has used warships to target suspected drug smuggling boats off Venezuela and intercept outgoing oil tankers, including one sailing under a Russian flag. The Pentagon is now concentrating assets in the Middle East as President Donald Trump pressures Iran to accept restrictions on its missile deterrence against Israel. In today’s world, the Russian Navy is “a geopolitical tool that combines might with flexibility and is suitable for both peacetime and armed conflicts,” Patrushev said. Its strength is needed to protect Russia’s “ability to export oil, grain and fertilizers, and the normal functioning of the state.”

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“.. intelligence, planning, troop training, and maintenance of complex Western hardware – are handled by foreign personnel.”

• US and Dutch Pilots Flying F-16s For Ukraine – Western Media (RT)

The Ukrainian military is secretly using a squadron of veteran NATO pilots to fly donated US-made F-16 fighter jets, the French outlet Intelligence Online reported on Monday. Moscow has long warned that Western nations are moving closer to direct conflict with Russia. The report, which Kiev has denied, said the covert mission relies primarily on experienced US and Dutch air force veterans. The foreign personnel are deployed far from the front lines and focus on intercepting Russian long-range weapons, the outlet said. They are no longer part of their original militaries and reportedly work for Kiev as civilian contractors, without military ranks and outside the Ukrainian chain of command.


A shortage of trained Ukrainian pilots was previously identified as the main obstacle to using F-16s donated to Kiev. Training courses were reportedly undermined by language barriers, a lack of qualified trainees, and other issues, and were simplified for speed. Shortly after the first F-16s arrived in Ukraine in August 2024, Kiev began losing pilots in botched air defense missions, with four such incidents acknowledged. The secret foreign squadron provides pilots with the experience needed to operate advanced F-16 equipment, Intelligence Online said.

Moscow views the Ukraine conflict as a NATO proxy war against Russia, in which key elements of Kiev’s military effort – including intelligence, planning, troop training, and maintenance of complex Western hardware – are handled by foreign personnel. Western specialists were reportedly involved in Ukrainian strikes using Storm Shadow/SCALP air-launched cruise missiles on Russian territory. German officials opposed supplying Taurus missiles because Ukrainians cannot launch them independently. Russia also says Western nations tacitly support Kiev’s recruitment of mercenaries from among their military veterans. Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik estimated that around 20,000 foreign fighters have taken part in the conflict on the Ukrainian side.

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“… an election he has framed as a choice between “war or peace.”

• Hungary’s Opposition Made ‘Secret Pact’ With EU On Ukraine – Orban (RT)

Hungary’s opposition parties are colluding with EU leaders to fast-track Ukraine’s accession to the bloc, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was claimed, warning that should the pro-Brussels Tisza Party come to power, it could drag the country into a direct conflict with Russia. Hungary’s April 12 parliamentary election is expected to be a tough test for Orban’s longstanding conservative rule, during which time he has criticized the EU’s financial and military support for Kiev and its sanctions on Russia. Orban also opposes Ukraine’s bid for EU membership. Recent polls show a tight race between his Fidesz party and the opposition, led by former party member Péter Magyar, who met with European leaders at last week’s Munich Security Conference.


“Last weekend, the Tisza Party made a secret pact with Brussels in Munich. Part of this pact includes giving up its veto power, supporting the migration agreement, and accepting Ukraine into the EU. They are following Brussels’ orders and thus dragging us into war,” Orban remarked at a meeting of Fidesz and its coalition partner, the Christian Democratic People’s Party, which was broadcast on Hungary’s M1 television. Magyar met EU leaders on the sidelines of the conference last week, where he held talks with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, according to his office.

“Our friends belong to the international peace camp led by the United States. Their friends are leaders of the European military camp led by the German chancellor,” Orban said, referring to his political opponents. He claimed that Merz had openly signaled readiness to support Magyar’s party in the April vote because he wanted Hungary to relinquish its veto power within the EU. “The chancellor needs this to establish Germany’s sovereign rule in Europe,” Orban stated. The Hungarian leader has previously accused Magyar of acting under Brussels’ influence, saying the bloc uses “censorship, intervention, and manipulation” to undermine his government in an election he has framed as a choice between “war or peace.”

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“European Union member states can reclaim effective authority over migration and asylum policy without changing the EU treaties.”

• 18 Ways To Reverse The EU’s Immigration Disaster (RMX)

Due to years of uncontrolled mass migration, many Europeans are asking what concrete options there are to reverse course, with many feeling that the situation is hopeless and cannot be significantly reversed. However, a new report titled “Taking Back Control from Brussels: The Renationalization of the EU Migration and Asylum Policies” — produced by the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), Hungary’s Migration Research Institute, and Poland’s Ordo Iuris Institute — provides comprehensive solutions to the crisis.


The paper’s core thesis offers bold and practical solutions today, noting that the power still rests with member states. The authors write: “European Union member states can reclaim effective authority over migration and asylum policy without changing the EU treaties.”

The report outlines how asylum policy has “completely collapsed” in the EU and reached a point of “total failure.” The authors contend that the current system lacks democratic legitimacy and has turned the Schengen area into a “sieve” that facilitates illegal migration and prevents effective border protection. Given the recent legalization actions of the far-left Spanish government, aimed at regularizing approximately 500,000 migrants who can then move freely across Europe, the paper’s proposals may be more relevant than ever.

The paper calls for a fundamental “paradigm shift” to restore migration sovereignty to individual nation-states, asserting that renationalization is a necessity for Europe to regain control over its borders and territory. The following 18 proposals from the second part of the paper outline a roadmap for this renationalization. The paper itself provides far more details about each proposal and is recommended reading for any European party looking for a blueprint to regain control of immigration.

https://twitter.com/RMXnews/status/2016823717800624625
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“The illegal immigrant from El Salvador is also facing federal human smuggling charges.”

• Judge Orders ICE Not to Re-Detain Abrego Garcia (ET)

A federal judge has blocked U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) from re-arresting Kilmar Abrego Garcia, one of the men at the center of the Trump administration’s deportation battles.The Salvadoran national’s case attracted attention across the country, including widespread protests, after the federal government detained him in March 2025 and shipped him to El Salvador’s maximum security prison, the Terrorism Confinement Center, along with an airplane full of other deportees. He was later returned to the United States, where he has had long-running legal battles with the administration.


U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who ordered the administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return last year, ruled on Feb. 17 that he cannot be deported again because the federal government has not presented a feasible plan for removing him from the country. The judge said that despite releasing Abrego Garcia, the government appeared to be making plans to re-detain him, so Abrego Garcia filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent being re-detained. The court previously granted the requested order.In the new order, the court granted Abrego Garcia’s request to upgrade the temporary restraining order to an injunction to prevent him from being re-detained.

Abrego Garcia, who entered the United States illegally more than a decade ago, had been living in Maryland when federal agents arrested him. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security takes the position that Abrego Garcia is a “violent criminal illegal alien, and MS-13 gang member,” who “belongs behind bars and off American soil.”Abrego Garcia, who is facing separate criminal charges, denies being a member of MS-13, which has been designated a terrorist organization. Xinis previously ordered his release on Dec. 11, 2025, finding that because the federal government had never issued a final order of removal against him, it could not detain him in order to force him from the country.

The government said in a brief last month that Abrego Garcia may be detained because an immigration judge issued an order of removal on Dec. 11, 2025, that became final on Jan. 13 of this year. Detention after that order “does not require that the country of removal be certain in order for detention to be lawful,” the brief said. The judge suggested the federal government is not serious about removing Abrego Garcia from the United States.Since he secured release from criminal custody in August 2025, the government has “made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success,” she said.

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“.. one of the core officials who used the term dis-mis-mal-information to censor speech on social media platforms ..”

• Disinformation Board Member Jennifer Daskal Appointed as FISA Court Advisor (CTH)

A good catch by Chuck Ross at WFB drawing attention to the latest Amici curiae appointed to the FISA Court. Adding to a string of leftist ‘advisors to the court’ Jennifer Daskal has been appointed by FISA Court Presiding Judge Anthony Trenga. Daskal was the Biden administration principal deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security who launched the Disinformation Governance Board (Ministry of Truth) ultimately led by Nina Jankowicz. Jennifer Daskal’s career has centers around controlling information from a leftist perspective and was one of the core officials who used the term dis-mis-mal-information to censor speech on social media platforms around COVID-19 and the vaccination protocol.


Daskal’s reach and control into big tech and social media is well documented. Appointing her as an advisor to the FISA court is troubling as she has joined Amy Jeffress, appointed amicus curiae in 2015 (Biden’s personal attorney), David Kris, a 2016 amicus curiae selection (denied Carter Page FISA application contained fabrications), and the infamous Mary McCord appointed amicus curiae in 2021 (sits at the center of every stop-Trump operation).

“Washington Free Beacon – A Biden administration official who launched the Disinformation Governance Board and served as co-chair of the so-called Ministry of Truth has been appointed to advise the powerful Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, prompting concerns from some Republican lawmakers. The presiding judges of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review appointed Jennifer Daskal on Feb. 1 to serve as amicus curiae for the court. Amici curiae, known as “friends of the court,” advise judges on legal issues related to foreign surveillance warrants in national security cases. Daskal served as acting principal deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security under Biden. In that role, she drafted the charter for the Disinformation Governance Board, according to a Jan. 31, 2022 memo. (read more)”

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“Our strategy must change fundamentally. The objective is to accelerate the United States’ withdrawal from Europe. The method is firm deterrence.”

• Fear Is The Only Thing The EU Understands – Karaganov (RT)

The current phase of the West’s conflict with Russia may be nearing its end. It has dragged on longer than necessary. The principal reason is a lack of determination to employ active nuclear deterrence. This is the only mechanism capable of resolving the “European problem,” which has once again become an existential threat to our country.The Ukraine military operation has acted as a powerful catalyst for Russia’s internal renewal. It has mobilized society, awakened patriotism, and allowed people to demonstrate their best qualities. Pride in the Fatherland and respect for service to it have grown. Engineering, science, the military profession, and skilled labor have regained their rightful status. The economy and science have revived. Teachers, regrettably, have not yet received similar recognition, but that is a subject for later.


By drawing Western hostility onto ourselves, we have seriously weakened the position of the comprador bourgeoisie and its Western-educated allies. The Portuguese once used the word compadres to describe local merchants who served colonial interests. After the reforms of the 1990s, this class expanded in Russia to unhealthy proportions. Fortunately, the process of cleansing the country of this Western-oriented stratum has begun. It has been achieved without mass repression, but with historical inevitability. This revival has come at a terrible cost. Tens of thousands of brave soldiers lost their lives at the opening stage of national recovery. They deserve eternal gratitude. When – or rather, if – the unfinished war resumes, such losses must not be repeated.

In 2013, I personally warned a group of Western European leaders that their policy of dragging Ukraine into the EU and NATO would lead to war and mass casualties. No one met my gaze. They looked down at their shoes, then continued talking about democracy, trust, and human rights. In reality, they wanted to exploit another forty million people. Something they have partly succeeded in achieving through the creation of millions of refugees. They spoke of containing Russia, which was still loyal at the time. Our response to NATO’s aggression in Libya in 2011 was weak. We are now paying for years of appeasement and the comprador instincts of part of our elite.

Russia briefly slowed down the EU’s march toward military adventurism by returning Crimea in 2014 and intervening in Syria in 2015. Then we relaxed. Had an ultimatum on NATO expansion been issued in 2018–2020 and backed by credible nuclear deterrence, the current war might have been avoided. Or at the very least it would have been far less bloody. By 2022, it was obvious that both the West and the Kiev authorities were preparing for war.Ukraine is not a homogeneous entity. In the east and south live people culturally close to us. West of the Dnieper lies a different historical and cultural community, shaped by Austro-Hungarian, Polish, and Western influence and infused for decades with anti-Russian ideology. We must accept this reality and pursue a rational separation from both Ukrainian and European pathologies, forging our own healthy model of development.

Militarily, we are winning. Politically, we have yet to respond adequately to a series of openly aggressive actions: pirate seizures of Russian vessels, threats to close straits, attempts to impose a de facto economic blockade, attacks on oil terminals, and efforts by the Kiev regime to sabotage our tankers. Often with Western European connivance. Our response so far has been intensified strikes on Ukrainian targets. This is not a strategic solution. Ukraine was deliberately thrown into the furnace so that the fire would spread to Russia. EU elites do not care about Ukrainians. The conflict will continue until its true source is addressed: Western Europe’s degenerated ruling classes, intellectually, morally, and materially exhausted, who cling to power by fueling war.

Unlike 1812–1815 or 1941–1945, we have not yet destroyed a hostile coalition or broken its will. The war has entered what chess players call the middle-game. The remnants of Ukraine, supported by the West, will continue sabotage and terrorism. Sanctions will remain. The EU is preparing for a new confrontation, potentially involving rearmed Ukrainian forces and mercenaries from poorer European states. Any violations of future agreements will require military responses. We will again be accused of aggression. Open conflict will likely resume. Our strategy must change fundamentally. The objective is to accelerate the United States’ withdrawal from Europe. The method is firm deterrence. The task is to defeat Western Europe’s current elites, who see Russophobia as their last political lifeline.

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It’s getting harder as time goes by.

• Can You Buy A Country? (RT)

When US President Donald Trump revived the idea of buying Greenland – and refused to rule out stronger measures if Denmark declined – the reaction across Europe was swift and indignant. The proposal was framed as an anachronism: a throwback to imperial horse-trading that modern international politics had supposedly outgrown. But the outrage obscures an uncomfortable historical reality. The United States was not only forged through revolution and war; it was also built through transactions – large-scale territorial purchases concluded at moments when the balance of power left the seller with limited options. From continental expanses to strategic islands, Washington has repeatedly expanded its reach by writing checks backed by leverage. If the idea of buying land now sounds jarring, it is worth recalling that some of the largest such deals helped shape the United States into the country we know today. To understand why the Greenland debate resonates so strongly, we should revisit the major acquisitions that redrew the American map.


Louisiana: The biggest purchase
French explorers ventured into the Mississippi Valley in the late 17th century, claiming new territories and naming this vast expanse Louisiana after King Louis XIV. In 1718, they established New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi, gradually populating the colony not just with French settlers but also through policies enacted by Louis that granted freedom to children born of unions between white settlers and black slaves. Still, the population remained sparse. The region’s bad climate and complex relationships with Native Americans made settlement difficult. As a result, France didn’t particularly value this territory, despite its huge size: French Louisiana encompassed not just modern-day Louisiana but, either partially or wholly, the modern states of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Texas, New Mexico, and even parts of Canada. Despite this, however, it was hard to find a Frenchman beyond New Orleans.

New France in 1750 before the French and Indian War. © Wikipedia


In 1763, following the Seven Years’ War, France ceded Louisiana to Spain. The Spanish administration didn’t oppress the French settlers and managed the colony quite competently. However, much of this enormous land remained largely uninhabited aside from the Native Americans. The total number of settlers, including black slaves, amounted to several tens of thousands of people. By the early 19th century, Europe saw many changes. Napoleon regained control of Louisiana, aiming to revive France’s overseas empire. However, this ambition crumbled when his attempt to restore French rule in Haiti failed. A force sent by Napoleon was decimated by black rebels and succumbed to tropical diseases.

Against this backdrop, Napoleon quickly realized that he could not hold onto Louisiana, and the English or Americans would easily seize it. As for the US, it had mixed feelings about Louisiana; controlling the mouth of the Mississippi was crucial, but Americans were also wary of potential French aggression. Finally, US President Thomas Jefferson initiated negotiations with France for the purchase of Louisiana. Napoleon saw this as a big opportunity. He recognized that he could get real money by selling the territory which France didn’t really need and couldn’t control.

Jefferson and the American side initially aimed to purchase only New Orleans and its surrounding areas, offering $10 million. However, the French surprised their American counterparts: they asked for $15 million, but as part of the deal, offered vast territories stretching up to Canada. However, beyond New Orleans, the French essentially sold the freedom to claim land inhabited by the Native Americans. The French had very little control over this vast territory, and the Native Americans didn’t even understand what the sale entailed. In fact, aside from the Native Americans, the vast territory was inhabited by only about 60,000 settlers, including black slaves.

Regardless, the deal was concluded, and America’s territory effectively doubled overnight. Robert Livingston, one of the Founding Fathers and then US ambassador to France, famously declared, “We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives… From this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank.”

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“The strategist’s spokesman said he conducted about 12 hours of interviews with Epstein for the documentary. ”

• Former Trump Strategist Defends Ties with Epstein (RT)

Steve Bannon, a former White House strategist and prominent MAGA figure, has defended his extensive communications with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, insisting they were part of an effort to produce a documentary. His comments come after the release of millions of pages of Epstein-related files by the US Justice Department, which reveal a far cozier relationship between Bannon – a former adviser to President Donald Trump – and the financier who was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in August 2019.


According to the New York Times, Bannon’s name appears in the Epstein emails nearly every day in the six months leading up to financier’s July 2019 arrest on sex trafficking charges. In April 2019, Bannon texted Epstein a strategy to rehabilitate his image. “First we need to push back on the lies; then crush the pedo/trafficking narrative; then rebuild your image as philanthropist,” he wrote. Epstein also appears to have offered Bannon lavish perks, including private jet travel, lodging at his Manhattan townhouse, and medical care. While Bannon’s spokesman denied he accepted the jet or medical care, records suggest he had stayed at Epstein’s Paris apartment on at least one occasion in March 2019.

In a statement to the New York Times, Bannon said his interactions with Epstein were strictly professional, noting that he is “a filmmaker and TV host with decades of experience interviewing controversial figures.” “That’s the only lens through which these private communications should be viewed – a documentary filmmaker working, over a period of time, to secure 50 hours of interviews from a reclusive subject,” Bannon insisted. The strategist’s spokesman said he conducted about 12 hours of interviews with Epstein for the documentary.

However, so far only two hours have been released by the Justice Department. In the footage, Epstein acknowledged being “a criminal” and a sexual predator, but Bannon did not focus on his treatment of women and instead discussed finance and science. His spokesman said he planned to address the topic later on.The Epstein files, totaling over 3.5 million pages, include multiple mentions of numerous global elites, including Bill Clinton, Elon Musk, and the former Prince Andrew. Attorney General Pam Bondi has declared all the Epstein files released, though critics claim this represents only a fraction of the seized data.

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” These judges are using their offices to amplify their personal outrage over policies. The result is that they are erasing the distinction between our courts and our politics.”

• The Last Temptation of the Least Dangerous Branch (Turley)

This month, the U.S. Judicial Conference issued new ethics guidelines, a publication that rarely attracts attention beyond a small circle of legal nerds. These guidelines, however, are not just the usual tweaks on rules governing free meals or travel. They include a new policy that could materially alter the character of the American courts, allowing judges to engage in commentary to rebut what they deem “illegitimate forms of criticism and attacks.” It is not just injudicious, it is dangerous.


Over two centuries ago, the Framers had to sell the Constitution to skeptical states, leery about yielding power to a central government, including federal courts. In Federalist #78, Alexander Hamilton sought to put these fears aside and assured the states that the federal judiciary is “the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution; because it will be least in a capacity to annoy or injure them.” One can certainly disagree with Hamilton whether history has borne out his prediction that the court would have the least capacity to “annoy” others in our system. However, Hamilton’s pitch would later be reinforced by the adoption of apolitical ethical standards in our courts that separated them from political activities and commentary.

It did not begin that way. Early federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, were often openly partisan. Federalist judges took active roles in hunting down Jeffersonians under the infamous Alien and Sedition Acts. That changed as the nation embraced a new model of judges who would stand apart from politics. While judges often reflect the ideological views of the presidents who nominated them, they have largely followed rigid rules that have prevented them from engaging in political commentary. Judges are expected to address the legal issues in their opinions and leave political commentary to others regarding the implications or basis of those opinions.

It has not been a perfect system. Recently, some of us have criticized judges who have made overtly political statements in their opinions or in public. The deviation from the traditional line of judicial silence has grown in recent years. I previously wrote about this pattern of extrajudicial commentary, including inappropriate commentary in court statements and opinions. These comments often undermined the integrity of the court and the public’s faith in the neutrality of our judges.

District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, was criticized for failing to recuse herself from the Special Counsel’s case against President Donald Trump after she made highly controversial statements about him from the bench. Chutkan lashed out at “a blind loyalty to one person who, by the way, remains free to this day.” That “one person” was still under investigation at the time, and when Trump was charged, Chutkan refused to let the case go. Chutkan later doubled down when asked to dismiss a case due to Trump pardoning Jan. 6 defendants. After acknowledging that she could not block the pardons, she proclaimed that the pardons could not change the “tragic truth” and “cannot whitewash the blood, feces and terror that the mob left in its wake. And it cannot repair the jagged breach in America’s sacred tradition of peacefully transitioning power.”

One of Chutkan’s colleagues, Judge Beryl Howell, also an Obama appointee, denounced a Trump policy as “a revisionist myth relayed in this presidential pronouncement.” Then there is Judge Amit Mehta, another Obama appointee, who has been criticized for conflicted rulings in Trump cases and his bizarre (and ultimately abandoned) effort to banish January 6th defendants from the Capitol. He called Trump’s policies “shameful.” D.C. Circuit Judge Reggie Walton called Trump a “charlatan.” U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt of the Southern District of Iowa made public comments calling Trump a “criminal.” Other federal judges have made other public statements denouncing Trump and Republican priorities. Even before this change, these judges felt that they could engage in such political declarations.

Even Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson declared publicly how she sees her position as a judge “as a wonderful opportunity to tell people in my opinions how I feel about the issues, and that’s what I try to do.” Last year, the Supreme Court condemned U.S. District Judge William Young, a Reagan appointee, for his attacks on Trump as a bully bent on “retribution.” He also accused the administration of “racial discrimination” and “discrimination against the LGBTQ community,” and asked in one order, “Have we no shame?” There is no paucity of such criticism in our country. Many pundits have leveled such attacks against the President, but this was a sitting judge. These judges are using their offices to amplify their personal outrage over policies. The result is that they are erasing the distinction between our courts and our politics. ccu

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Here’s one use of AI.

• German Public Broadcaster Ran Fake Ai-Generated Clip of ‘ICE Troops’ (RMX)

The German public broadcaster ZDF has admitted to a significant editorial oversight after its flagship news program, Heute Journal, aired AI-generated images featuring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arresting an immigrant family. After uproar on social media over the fake news segment, which included a visible OpenAI’ “Sora” watermark on the screen, the broadcaster expressed regret over the error and has since updated the report to remove the synthetic content. Critics pointed out that while it is becoming harder to differentiate fake AI content from real events, the appearance of the Sora watermark made it clear that this was AI content.



The controversy from the Feb. 15 report featured fake AI scenes of a woman and two children being led away by ICE. During the segment, ICE agents were referred to as “troops.”m When questioned about the incident, ZDF stated that the images should have been clearly marked. The broadcaster explained: “This marking was not transferred when the article was transferred for technical reasons.”nThe question now is whether ZDF generated these images in-house. ZDF has declined to comment on whether the editorial staff was aware that the footage was AI-generated at the time of the initial broadcast.

If ZDF created them, the fact that arguably the biggest public broadcaster is creating AI-generated content for public broadcasting is raising concerns about how often AI-generated content has been produced without proper labeling in the past. In response, ZDF reiterated its commitment to transparency, noting: “ZDF’s AI principles stipulate that AI-generated images are always transparently labeled.” The incident caused further confusion when the original broadcast was temporarily removed from YouTube and the ZDF media library, leading some media outlets to report that the broadcaster had “deleted its fake video.” ZDF clarified that the removal was only a temporary measure while the editorial team replaced the AI sequences with authentic video and still images.

A revised version of the program is now available in the media library, accompanied by a disclaimer stating: “Video subsequently changed for editorial reasons.”All German households are required to pay nearly €20 per month to fund ZDF and other public broadcasting outlets like ARD. That translates to billions every year. The outlets are routinely accused of bias against conservatives, including negative reports targeting the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and a high rate of rejection for AfD guests on the networks .

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“.. Elon Musk slamming Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, when he wrote “Dirty Sánchez is a tyrant and traitor to the people of Spain.”

• Macron Calls Free Speech Online ‘Pure Bullshit’ (ZH),

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said that the notion of free speech on social media platforms – is “pure bullshit,” because algorithmically served content can lead to hate speech (such as the right to say his elderly wife has a penis and gives him black eyes). The comments come after the US recently imposed bans on a former European official and pro-censorship activists for trying to police online speech, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio justifies the moves as pushback against the “global censorship-industrial complex.”


Europe, including Germany and the UK, have been weighing social media bans for minors, a move that could impact critical advertising revenue for companies and platforms such as Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Snap, X, and others. “Having no clue about how their algorithm is made, how it’s tested, trained and where it will guide you — the democratic consequences of this bias could be huge,” Macron said in New Delhi on Wednesday, Bloomberg reports. “Some of them claim to be in favor of free speech — OK, we are in favor of free algorithms — totally transparent,” he continued. “Free speech is pure bullshit if nobody knows how you are guided to this so-called free speech, especially when it is guided from one hate speech to another.”


Earlier this month, Macron said he expects a battle with the Trump administration over the bloc’s regulation of digital services, and that countries such as France and Spain could be punished if they move forward with proposed social media bans for children. nThe Trump administration has vowed to oppose efforts by foreign nations to “censor our discourse” or otherwise limit free speech that has been used to disadvantage anti-immigration political parties, and that the US would foster “resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations.”

Vice President JD Vance, speaking last year at the Munich Security Conference, accused the EU of suppressing free speech and said Europe’s retreat from its fundamental values was a bigger threat to the continent than Russia or China. Calling Trump Washington’s “new sheriff,” Vance slammed attempts to moderate speech on social media. Some EU officials were concerned that the US was using free speech as a pressure point to cow the bloc into softening its regulation of technology platforms, Bloomberg reported earlier. -Bloomberg In response, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that freedom of speech ends with hate speech. Hilariously, Bloomberg highlighted Elon Musk slamming Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, when he wrote “Dirty Sánchez is a tyrant and traitor to the people of Spain.”

As the FT’s Stephen Bush opines regarding the UK’s push: Children are a lot like terrorists, and I don’t mean that as a commentary on their behaviour. I mean that being defined as one in a liberal democracy means that you lose at least some of the rights and freedoms that other citizens take for granted. Your freedom to marry who you want, to work or not work, to vote, to seek or not consent to medical procedures; these and many other rights granted to adults are curtailed for anyone the state defines as a child.

Another way in which they are like terrorists is that invoking children is a good way to get people to stop asking difficult questions and arguing against policy proposals. One big reason why banning under-16s from social media is taking off as a policy idea is that it is more palatable than banning all of us. But it is far from clear that any of us are well served by algorithms that dish up addictive material, violent pornography or endless footage of atrocities. Nor is it clear that “protecting” the under-16s will not make 16, 17 and 18-year-olds more vulnerable. The large number of first-time internet users who are taken in by fraud or are susceptible to harmful behaviour online, suggests that all it may do is move the problem along.

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“I’ll never forget, 2015, and I got a call, all excited, that Rush Limbaugh just endorsed you.”

• Trump Posts Tribute to Rush Limbaugh on the Anniversary of His Death (Margolis)

It’s hard to believe it, but it’s been five years since the passing of Rush Limbaugh. Five years. Conservative talk radio has never been the same since. Honestly, I wish I had listened to him more, but as a writer, I found anything other than music distracting from my ability to write.mI did listen occasionally, and any time Rush read one of my articles, I would get a whole bunch of texts from people alerting me to it, which was pretty awesome. The last time he read one of my articles (that I know of) was the day of Biden’s inauguration, less than a month before he passed. Limbaugh had unmatched insight. In fact, even before Biden took office, Rush observed that Democrats were still very much afraid of Trump and would indict him to try to take him down.


“I know they desperately want Trump gone and I know that they desperately want it codified that Trump cannot run again because make no mistake, they remain scared to death of you and they remain scared to death of Trump, Trump — 75 million, 80 million votes — and I’m going to tell you, you’re not going anywhere,” Limbaugh said in January 2021. “Even if Trump does, you’re not. They can’t separate you from Trump, and more importantly, they can’t separate you from the ideas. They can’t separate you from MAGA. They can’t separate you from Make America Great Again, which I think remains one of our big campaign strengths going forward.”

On Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump released a video tribute honoring Limbaugh and reflecting on their friendship. Trump called it “the fifth anniversary of the loss of a really great man.” He described Limbaugh as “a great conservative, somebody that loved our country, loved his family, loved a lot of things.” He added on a personal note, “he was a friend of mine, Rush Limbaugh.” Trump recalled that the two had never met when he first launched his presidential campaign in 2015. “I’d never met Rush when I announced that I was running,” he said. Then came a moment he still vividly remembers. “I’ll never forget, 2015, and I got a call, all excited, that Rush Limbaugh just endorsed you.”

At the time, Trump said, Limbaugh’s support came purely from what he heard. “I’d never met him. He liked my opening speech.” Trump pointed to his campaign launch that June, when he descended the now-famous escalator alongside the woman who would become first lady. Limbaugh, he said, responded to the message immediately. “He liked, uh, when I got up in June, and I said, ‘You know, uh, we got bad borders, we got bad crime, we got bad everything,’ and he liked it,” Trump said. “I came down the escalator with now our first lady, and he thought it was great, and, uh, he endorsed me, and then I got to know him, and I realized what a great guy he was.”

Five years after Limbaugh’s death, Trump said the loss is still deeply felt. “But it’s five years, and we miss Rush,” he said. Echoing a frequent refrain from Sean Hannity, Trump added, “As Sean Hannity would often say, ‘There will never be another Rush Limbaugh.’” He closed by offering condolences to Limbaugh’s loved ones. “So to his family, his great wife and family, I just wanna say we miss you all,” Trump said. “We miss him, and there’ll never be anybody like him. Thank you very much.” A year before his death, Trump awarded Rush with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during the 2020 State of the Union address, honoring him days after Limbaugh revealed his Stage 4 cancer diagnosis.

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Cybercab https://twitter.com/EvaFox/status/2023710868207292719?s=20

 

 

 

 

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Debt Rattle February 12 2026

Feb 122026
 
 February 12, 2026  Posted by at 11:30 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  50 Responses »


Camille Pissarro The Boulevard Montmartre at Night 1897


• Elon Musk Vows To Establish A MOON CITY Within 10 Years (MN)
• Economy Adds 130,000 Jobs in January, Unemployment Rate Falls to 4.3% (CTH)
• Trump Orders CIA To Give 2020 Election Intel To ‘Stop The Steal’ Lawyer (ZH)
• 30 Years Later Massie Discovers Les Wexner Was Associate of Epstein (CTH)
• Steve Bannon Messages About Trump Included in the Epstein File Release (CTH)
• The Trump Admin Just Won the Mask Decision . . . Now it Should Appeal (Turley)
• Jordan Opens Bondi Hearing By Railing Against Sanctuary Cities (JTN)
• Lawmaker Probing J6 Worried US Capitol Police Intel Politicized vs GOP (JTN)
• Munich 2007: Putin’s Warning To The West (RT)
• Russia Will Stick To Nuclear Arms Limits If US Does The Same (ZH)
• All the Media’s Men: When Journalism Became the Story -Part II of II (Wilson)
• Texas Judges Strategize Ways to Block DHS From Enforcing Immigration Laws (CTH)
• ‘No Privacy’ CBDCs Will Come, Warns Billionaire Ray Dalio (CT)

 


 

 


 


Musk ponders his own mortality. He won’t make it to Mars in time to be the first settler.

“Priority Of SpaceX becomes a self-sustaining lunar metropolis to safeguard humanity’s future..”

• Elon Musk Vows To Establish A MOON CITY Within 10 Years (MN)

Elon Musk and SpaceX are charting a bold new course for American space dominance, prioritizing a thriving city on the Moon to shield civilization from earthly perils like natural disasters or geopolitical chaos. With frequent launches and rapid iteration cycles, the Moon offers a practical launchpad for multi-planetary life, free from the constraints of overregulated space agencies that have stalled progress for decades. SpaceX’s announcement comes amid a renewed push for lunar exploration, where private enterprise is outpacing sluggish international efforts.


According to reports, the company aims to establish a “self-growing city” on the Moon within a decade, leveraging the proximity for hundreds of test cycles that Mars’ distant orbit simply can’t match. Musk elaborated on X, stating, “SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon, as we can potentially achieve that in less than 10 years, whereas Mars would take 20+ years.” He emphasized the logistical edge: launches to the Moon every 10 days with a two-day trip, versus Mars’ 26-month windows and six-month journeys.

This allows for swift advancements in life support, construction, and energy systems—key to breaking free from Earth’s vulnerabilities.

The shift doesn’t abandon Mars entirely. Musk noted that SpaceX will still pursue a long term plan for a Red Planet city, but the Moon takes precedence as a faster safeguard for civilization.

“The overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster,” Musk posted. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/2020962635156684920

This pragmatic approach exposes the folly of pie-in-the-sky promises that have dominated space policy, often mired in wasteful spending and political gamesmanship. Musk also teased democratized space travel:

This development echoes broader frustrations with establishment space programs. NASA’s Artemis missions, while ambitious, are bogged down by delays and ballooning costs. SpaceX, unencumbered by such bureaucracy, is poised to deliver tangible wins, potentially including lunar data centers powered by constant solar energy, boosting U.S. tech supremacy. By prioritizing the lunar city, SpaceX advances an independent, resilient humanity—free from reliance on fragile international alliances that often prioritize control over innovation.

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In a time of large scale revisions, OK numbers.

• Economy Adds 130,000 Jobs in January, Unemployment Rate Falls to 4.3% (CTH)

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics releases the employment figures for January today [BLS DATA HERE]. Overall, in the establishment survey, 130,000 jobs were added and the unemployment rate fell to 4.3%. This is much stronger than anticipated and there are indications of significant movement back to work as the exfiltration of illegal alien workers continues.


Via WSJ – “The U.S. added 130,000 jobs in January, surging past expectations and marking a strong start to the year following a weak year of job growth. The January numbers from the Labor Department were above the seasonally adjusted 48,000 jobs added in December, which were revised slightly lower. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal were expecting 55,000 jobs in January.The unemployment rate, which is based on a separate survey from the jobs figures, fell to 4.3% from 4.4%.” (more)

What I find interesting in the Household ‘Employment’ Survey is the number of people going back into the workforce. I am left to wonder if the ICE removals are starting to create employer driven incentives, increased wages etc. that seem to be pulling sidelined workers back to the labor market.


528,000 more people employed. The unemployed dropped by 141,000, and the number of people not in the labor force dropped by 221,000.

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“The administration last year hired Kurt Olsen, who more than five years ago took part in the “Stop the Steal” campaign that promoted baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, to investigate the 2020 election.”

• Trump Orders CIA To Give 2020 Election Intel To ‘Stop The Steal’ Lawyer (ZH)

President Donald Trump has instructed the CIA and other spy agencies to hand over intelligence related to the 2020 election, a bunch of (presumably panicked) US intelligence officials told Politico and NBC News. The records are to be handed over to Kurt Olsen – now a temporary government employee in the White House – who four years ago was involved in the “Stop the Steal” campaign to determine whether Joe Biden won the 2020 election via cheating. And you know they’re freaking out by the way they tell us this… “The administration last year hired Kurt Olsen, who more than five years ago took part in the “Stop the Steal” campaign that promoted baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, to investigate the 2020 election.” -NBC News


… President Donald Trump has directed top U.S. spy agencies to share sensitive intelligence about the 2020 election with his former campaign lawyer, known for pushing debunked theories of electoral fraud, according to four people with knowledge of the effort. -Politico. Indeed:

“The president has asked Mr. Olsen to look at intelligence related to the 2020 election and the agency is ensuring that he has the access necessary to do his work,” a CIA official told NBC in an emailed statement (probably right after hanging up with the reporter). When asked about Olsen’s role, the White House told the outlet “President Trump has the authority to provide access to classified material to individuals as he deems necessary. The entire Trump administration is working together to ensure the integrity of U.S. elections.”

The admin did not specifically respond to questions about whether Olsen was focusing only on the 2020 election, or possible security threats to future elections. The freakout comes after the FBI’s recent search of an elections center in Fulton County, Georgia – where they seized ballots from the 2020 election. Now check out the tone over at Politico: “The decision to provide some of the government’s most sensitive spy material to Olsen is unusual, given that he has no known experience working with the U.S. spy community and only joined the Trump administration as a short-term special government employee in October 2025. Special government employees are supposed to work no more than 130 days during any period of 365 days, suggesting his time at the White House could end soon.”


The first person said that Olsen has passed a background check and a polygraph exam. It is not clear how close Olsen is to completing his report on the 2020 elections. Intelligence analysis is supposed to be nonpartisan, and it appears Olsen’s views on electoral fraud in prior U.S. elections are so deeply held that even some people close to the president question his ability to evaluate the material shared with him. “This guy has no background” in intelligence, said the second person, a close Trump ally. Olsen “will find some super classified report, say it’s evidence of fraud, but really it’s just completely out of context.”

… Olsen rose to prominence by working closely with Trump to undermine the results of the 2020 election under the slogan “Stop the Steal.” He urged several DOJ officials that year to file a complaint to the Supreme Court scrutinizing Trump’s loss, and even called the president multiple times during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Wow! As we noted earlier Tuesday, an affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Hugh Raymond Evans last month, which was unsealed Tuesday, lays out five categories of confirmed problems in Fulton County’s handling of ballots, raising questions that have simmered for over five years since Trump and his allies raised questions about the election in Georgia and other states where irregularities were alleged.

According to a report from Just the News, Evans filed the affidavit last month to establish probable cause for a raid that seized around 700 boxes of ballots from an Atlanta-area storage warehouse. The investigation stemmed from a referral by Kurt Olsen, President Trump’s election integrity czar. Evans interviewed roughly a dozen unnamed witnesses about allegations tied to the contested Georgia race, where Joe Biden edged out Trump by less than 12,000 votes in the official results. “This warrant application is part of an FBI criminal investigation into whether any of the improprieties were intentional acts that violated federal criminal laws.”

Fulton County admitted it lacks scanned images of all 528,777 ballots counted during the initial count and of the 527,925 ballots tallied during the state’s first recount. County officials also confirmed that during the recount, some ballots were scanned multiple times. Ballot images obtained through public records requests show identical markings appearing on duplicated images.During the Risk Limiting Audit, hand counters reported vote totals for batches that didn’t match the actual votes inside those batches. According to the affidavit, “The State’s Performance Review Board reported that Secretary of State investigators confirmed inaccurate batch tallies from the Risk Limiting Audit.

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“Wexner’s money was the originating capital for what would later become Epstein’s influence empire…”

• 30 Years Later Massie Discovers Les Wexner Was Associate of Epstein (CTH)

I said Monday on Twitter: “Seriously. Correct me if I’m wrong. For more than a decade we have known that billionaire Les Wexner from Victoria’s Secret was the originating money man behind Jeffrey Epstein. This should not be some kind of revelation, as it was widely discussed by those who researched Epstein over a decade ago. Wexner’s money was the originating capital for what would later become Epstein’s influence empire. Additionally, and again, stop me if this old news is incorrect, well over a decade ago it became openly known that the “PINK” brand of Victoria’s Secret was specifically created due to the sexuality of young girls becoming part of the marketing influence of Epstein. Wexner created the original VS girls, and the influence of Epstein (underage sexual perversions) then led to the adding of the VS “PINK” sub-brand.


Are we supposed to understand this is all new information? Honest question. No snark. I’m just confused by this sudden newness of it. We been knew.”The above VH1 segment was from 2007; however, even ten years prior to that it was commonly known that Les Wexner from Victoria’s Secret was the source of most of Jeffrey Epstein’s start-up finances. The resulting social network was fraught with sexual weirdos, and the VS brand alignment just fit with the club. Suddenly, Representative Thomas Massie, a Sea Island asset if ever there was one, is proclaiming the Epstein file information outlining the relationship with Wexner is new information, stunning in scope and worthy of extraordinary time to explore. It’s all weird.

https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/2021055705826943265?s=20

VIA NBC – […] The newly released version of the 2019 document shows eight people are listed as co-conspirators, including four whose names are not redacted: Wexner, the former CEO of Victoria’s Secret, Lesley Groff, Epstein’s longtime secretary, the late modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, and Ghislaine Maxwell, the only person who was charged in connection with Epstein. She was convicted of sex trafficking charges and is serving a 20-year prison sentence. Four other names on the document are still redacted. It’s unclear who those people are but prosecutors have said that Epstein used women he preyed on as recruiters. A separate document dated August 2019 indicated that some of the others were victims as well, and had been cooperating with investigators.

A Wexner legal representative said in a statement to NBC News Tuesday that “The Assistant U.S. Attorney told Mr. Wexner’s legal counsel in 2019 that Mr. Wexner was neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect. Mr. Wexner cooperated fully by providing background information on Epstein and was never contacted again.” Wexner had a long relationship with Epstein that dated back to the 1980s, and hired him to manage his personal finances. He’s said he cut ties to Epstein after he was accused of sexually abusing minors in Florida. It was after that Wexner said he “discovered that he had misappropriated vast sums of money from me and my family.”

Wexner’s name was also mentioned in a July 2019 FBI email about possible co-conspirators that was made public as part of the DOJ release. Another August 2019 FBI email said there was “limited evidence regarding his involvement.” He is scheduled to be deposed by the House Oversight Committee next week. (more)The first time I heard the information about Wexner and Epstein was sometime in the mid 1990’s. It was well known. There is a lot of horrible, creepy and perverted stuff in the Epstein file releases that is factually new information. However, the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and Les Wexner is not new. Perverse, yes -as it was even then; but not new. There were even documentaries about it, one of them I think was called “Angels and Demons“. Maybe it wasn’t as widely known as I thought?

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“Trust your instincts folks, and always remember…. It’s ALWAYS about the money”

• Steve Bannon Messages About Trump Included in the Epstein File Release (CTH)

Apparently, Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein had a considerable relationship together. Bannon is cited frequently in the 3 million+ Epstein files that were released by the DOJ. Unfortunately, part of the document production includes text messages between Steve Bannon and an unknown individual. Within a segment of the text messages Bannon calls Jared Kusher “the idiot son-in-law,” and frames himself as more important that President Donald Trump who Bannon sees as “transitory.”


STEVE BANNON (SB) – “To do that shows that [Trump] is center of gravity of this movement and not me — will never do — they are transitory figures — the dc game is to succumb to that — it’s why I never did before joining campaign — I could have been the trump whisperer years ago — avoided on purpose” This rather elevated sense of self-importance likely explains why Bannon was the source for Michael Wolf via leaks, and why President Trump seems to have kept distance from Mr. Bannon. However, people who walk the deep weeds of U.S. politics will also remember when Steve Bannon was the editor of Breitbart and together with financial owner Robert Mercer in 2015/2016 was backing Ted Cruz in the run-up to the 2016 election.


Both Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway were original political consultants and financial beneficiaries connected to the failed Ted Cruz presidential effort, before they abandoned the Cruz Crew and jumped aboard the MAGA movement. The Cruz Crew has essentially morphed into the Ron DeSantis coalition and this superiority attitude expressed by Bannon is one of the key characteristics of the group we affectionately call the “alligator emojis. Perhaps the best two words to describe the brilliant political strategies of Steve Bannon are ‘Roy – Moore’. I digress.

Trust your instincts folks, and always remember…. It’s ALWAYS about the money!

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“Judge Synder came to the right conclusion for the wrong reason.”

• The Trump Admin Just Won the Mask Decision . . . Now it Should Appeal (Turley)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has become increasingly Orwellian in his declarations of success. Last week, Newsom was proclaiming the great success of his high-speed train to nowhere – a project delayed by decades, reduced to a fraction of the original plan, and set to cost tens of billions over budget. This week, he is proclaiming victory after a court struck down his signature law requiring federal agents to unmask. The preliminary injunction issued Monday by Senior status Judge Christine Snyder against California’s No Secret Police Act was a victory for the Trump Administration. However, it should still appeal Judge Snyder’s flawed decision. In other words, the Administration won for the wrong reason.


Snyder, an Obama appointee, faced two laws passed in September 2025 with great fanfare in California: the Secret Police Act and the No Vigilante Act. As their titles indicate, they are not serious efforts at legislating but unconstitutional acts designed to pander to the politics of the moment. In the oral argument, some of us were concerned over the curious position staked out by Judge Synder. DOJ counsel Tiberius Davis tried to explain how such state laws usurp federal authority and violate the Supremacy Clause. He drove that point home by asking “Why couldn’t California say every immigration officer needs to wear pink, so it’s super obvious who they are? The idea that all 50 states can regulate the conduct and uniforms of officers … flips the Constitution on its head.”

That would seem an unassailable point, but not to Judge Synder. She asked, “Why can’t they perform their duties without a mask? They did that until 2025, did they not? How in the world do those who don’t mask manage to operate?” I remarked at the time that the court seemed to miss the central point. The question is not whether the federal government can continue to function under limitations imposed by various states, but whether those states have the authority to impose such conditions. I do not believe that they do. Nevertheless, Judge Synder came to the right conclusion for the wrong reason. She enjoined the mask requirement, but did so on the basis that California exempted its own officers.

“Even though the United States has failed to demonstrate that the facial covering prohibition of the No Secret Police Act unduly interferes with federal functions, the court acknowledges that it is nonetheless an incidental regulation on law enforcement officers. The intergovernmental immunity doctrine prohibits imposing such a regulatory burden, albeit minimal and incidental to operations, in a discriminatory manner against the federal government.” By adopting this narrow basis, the court was able to enjoin the No Secret Police Act while rejecting an injunction against the No Vigilantes Act and certain other provisions of the No Secret Police Act. I think the court is wrong and should be reversed.

Snyder rejected the rationale of the federal government that these masks are being used to protect ICE agents from “doxing,” even though various agents have been targeted and threatened. Synder waved off the concern and said that the government had not shown by such masking is essential to carrying out such functions. Her opinion relies on broad, unsupported assumptions. Because officers are facing these security concerns, she concludes that they will continue regardless: “Security concerns exist for federal law enforcement officers with or without masks. If anything, the court finds that the presence of masked and unidentifiable individuals, including law enforcement, is more likely to heighten the sense of insecurity for all.”

It is a bizarre rationalization. The court is simply imposing its judgment on what will make officers safer, rather than emphasizing whether these agencies have the discretion to make such judgments in the execution of federal law. Yet the court still enjoins the law because it discriminates between federal and state officers. (Not surprisingly, Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, the author of the mask ban, immediately declared that they would amend the law to add state law enforcement).

The Court then upheld a state requirement that federal officers cannot conceal their identities in a discussion more befitting a legislative committee than a court: “The Court finds that these Acts serve the public interest by promoting transparency, which is essential for accountability and public trust. Moreover, the Court finds no cognizable justification for law enforcement officers to conceal their identities during their performance of routine, non-exempted law enforcement functions and interactions with the general public.” In my view, Judge Snyder twists the analysis into knots to try to preserve as much of these laws as possible while giving the Administration the minimum level of deference.

Under the intergovernmental immunity doctrine, the Supreme Court has mandated in cases such as McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. 316, 317 (1819), that “the states have no power, by taxation or otherwise, to retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control, the operations of the constitutional law enacted by congress to carrying into execution the powers vested in the general government.” A state cannot intrude into this authority absent a “clear and unambiguous” authorization from Congress, Goodyear Atomic Corp. v. Miller, 486, U.S. 174, 180 (1988).

Snyder finds that the California laws discriminate but do not constitute direct regulation of the federal government. She does so through a “functionalist” approach that avoids bright lines of supremacy. She simply dismisses the objections, saying the federal government has not shown that wearing masks is “essential” to carrying out these functions. Consider that approach for a second. A wide range of state regulations on federal officers could be deemed permissible, since federal officers can still functionally carry out arrests. States could dictate everything from uniform requirements, such as masks, to vehicle conditions to verbal commands or warnings.

The opinion is spotty in its analysis and sweeping in its implications. It is, in my view, ripe for reversal either before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit or the Supreme Court.

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“..almost 1/3 of the American people live in a city, county or state where the left wing leadership tells local law enforcement not to work with federal law enforcement..”

• Jordan Opens Bondi Hearing By Railing Against Sanctuary Cities (JTN)

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Wednesday opened a hearing with Attorney General Pam Bondi by railing against sanctuary cities and their impact on Americans.”The chairs now recognize 18 cities, 11 states, excuse me, three counties and the District of Columbia are sanctuary jurisdictions, accounting for 31% of the population in this country, 31% of the American people, almost 1/3 of the American people live in a city, county or state where the left wing leadership tells local law enforcement not to work with federal law enforcement,” he said.


Jordan then turned to the case of Abraham Gonzalez, an illegal alien whom Colorado authorities released from prison after ignoring a detainer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who later assaulted an officer. He then highlighted the voluminous instances of ICE detainers issued in sanctuary jurisdictions for violent offenders said that such policies were “helping create the environment that results in the tragic deaths.” Jordan made the remarks as part of his opening statement.

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“Now, why would you need these intelligence guys, these plain clothes guys, to just show up? It just stinks to high heaven, but I believe I was a target,”Now, why would you need these intelligence guys, these plain clothes guys, to just show up? It just stinks to high heaven, but I believe I was a target..”

• Lawmaker Probing J6 Worried US Capitol Police Intel Politicized vs GOP (JTN)

The House chairman tasked with investigating law enforcement and intelligence failures related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot says he is probing whether U.S. Capitol Police intelligence gathering was weaponized by House Democratic leadership against their Republican colleagues in the aftermath of the Capitol riot. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., who is the Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on January 6, said he suspects that Democrats used the department to gather information on Republican lawmakers concurrent with the Justice Department’s wider Arctic Frost probe into alleged efforts by President Donald Trump and his followers to contest the 2020 election results. Loudermilk told Just the News that what former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund and others told his committee raises questions about how the department’s intelligence arm might have been used to further what he says was “weaponization against members of Congress.”


“Political weaponization against members of Congress”
“There may be some evidence out there that this [Arctic Frost] extended all the way into Congress, that there was investigation and political weaponization against members of Congress that may even have ties with the Select Committee on January 6,” Loudermilk told the Just the News, No Noise TV show on Tuesday, referring to the Democrat-led committee that probed the Trump administration alongside the Justice Department. “There’s others who have spoken to us about efforts within the political element of Congress, within the Democrat Party, who were actively seeking access to the Capitol Police database and their intelligence, and they were using that intelligence against sitting members of Congress,” Loudermilk added.

The probe into Trump and his allies in the aftermath of Jan. 6, code named “Arctic Frost,” was led by an openly anti-Trump FBI supervisor, and was eventually taken over by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith. The probe treated the effort by Trump’s allies to submit alternate electors to Congress to sway the certification of the 2020 election as a criminal conspiracy, even though two prior episodes in American history were not prosecuted as crimes. Experts told Just the News last year the FBI memo that officially launched the investigation, around the time that Trump announced he would run for president again, was thin on evidence and legal justifications.

Snooping and snapping
The House Judiciary Committee, the parent of Loudermilk’s subcommittee, released FBI records last year showing that the Arctic Frost investigators targeted more than 160 Republicans in Donald Trump’s orbit, including members of the president’s staff and Republican officials from the House and Senate. Loudermilk pointed to the case of Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, a member of his subcommittee, who claims that Capitol Police searched his office. Nehls alleged in a lawsuit last year that an officer improperly entered his office during the 2021 Thanksgiving break and snapped a photograph of his office whiteboard. Later, plainclothes officers returned to the office and questioned a staffer about the whiteboard without the congressman’s permission, the court documents allege.

“That is totally outside the realm of anything acceptable here,” Loudermilk said of the Nehls search. “He was investigated as a member of Congress by the US Capitol Police, and I know he has litigation regarding that going right now, but I think this is just the tip of the iceberg of what may have been happening, not only in the Wray FBI, but under the Pelosi House of Representatives as well.” “It just stinks to high heaven, but I believe I was a target,” Nehls say Nehls also told Just the News that he believes the Capitol Police spied on him because of his outspoken criticism of the department in the wake of Jan. 6. “I think that the Capitol Police, they found a few weaklings in there to go out there and spy – I will say ‘spy’ – and look into members of Congress that were very, very outspoken and critical of January 6,” Nehls told the John Solomon Reports podcast.

“We found out that these employees worked for the intelligence division of the U.S. Capitol Police. Now, why would you need these intelligence guys, these plain clothes guys, to just show up? It just stinks to high heaven, but I believe I was a target,” Nehls added. Former Capitol Police Chief Sund confirmed that even before Jan. 6 he faced increasing pressure from Democratic leadership for access to the Capitol Police intelligence unit, which he called “very concerning.” Sund told Just the News that “it was an ongoing process where we had, you know, people, senior staffers, like from [Senator Chuck] Schumer’s staff that wanted to be involved in intelligence briefing, wanted to have access into the Capitol Police Headquarters, specifically to be able to access into the intelligence unit.”

Though he pushed back on those efforts, Sund told the John Solomon Reports podcast that he does not know what happened after he resigned on Jan. 16, 2021, just ten days after the riot during which hundreds of protesters entered the secured Capitol building. “My concern is, what happened after January 6? You know, did these people then all of a sudden, now get involved? They’re now on the intelligence calls, intelligence briefings, things like that. Now, are they using that for any political benefit?” Sund questioned. Loudermilk has doggedly investigated the Jan. 6 security failures and politicization related to the Democrat-led Jan. 6 Select Committee for years. He exposed a key witness who changed her story that was damaging to Trump and documented failures to secure key entry points at the U.S. Capitol before protesters entered.

Pipe bomb mystery solved by Patel’s FBI
He also relentlessly pursued accountability for what was the biggest unsolved mystery of that day, how the FBI had failed to identify a suspect in the planting of two pipe bombs at the Democratic and Republican Party headquarters. That case was blown open last year when the new FBI Director, Kash Patel, and his then-Deputy Director, Dan Bongino, brought a new team and a fresh perspective to the mountains of data collected by investigators. The new approach led to the arrest of suspect Brian Cole Jr. of Virginia. Earlier this month, Loudermilk subpoenaed T-Mobile for the phone records that it had turned over to the FBI and had languished in its possession until last year.

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19 years ago he spelled it out. Who listened?

• Munich 2007: Putin’s Warning To The West (RT)

Exactly 19 years ago on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin took the podium at the Munich Security Conference and demolished the myths and falsehoods underpinning the American-led world order. Did anyone heed his warning? To Russia, the “rules-based international order” has always been shorthand for a system in which the US makes the rules and issues the orders. “However one might embellish this term, at the end of the day it refers to one type of situation, namely one center of authority, one center of force, one center of decision-making,” Putin told the audience in Munich. “It is a world in which there is one master, one sovereign. And at the end of the day this is pernicious not only for all those within this system, but also for the sovereign itself because it destroys itself from within.”


Under the auspices of protecting this order, the US carried out “unilateral and frequently illegitimate actions,” in “disdain for the basic principles of international law,” he declared.In the decade before Putin’s speech, the US invaded Afghanistan, invaded Iraq, and led a NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia on behalf of Kosovo separatists. Four years after his speech, NATO forces dropped more than 7,000 bombs on Libya, ending Muammar Gaddafi’s rule and handing the keys of the country to jihadists and slave traders. “No one feels safe,” Putin stated in 2007, “because no one can feel that international law is like a stone wall that will protect them.”

Putin warned that NATO’s broken promises to halt its eastward expansion after the Cold War represented “a serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust.” The Russian president noted that the US-led bloc had already placed its “frontline forces on our borders,” and asked “against whom is this expansion intended?” The following year, NATO published its infamous Bucharest declaration, assuring Ukraine and Georgia that they “will become members” at an unspecified future date. The consequences of this declaration – which flew in the face of warnings from Putin and American strategists – are playing out in Ukraine today.

No, the Atlanticist neoliberal establishment roundly ignored Putin’s layered and impassioned warning. But Russia kept trying. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov echoed Putin’s complaints when he spoke at the conference in 2018, pointing out that “NATO troops and military infrastructure are accumulating on our borders,” and that “the European theatre of war is being systematically developed.” By that stage several thousand people had been killed in Donbass. Lavrov urged European leaders to abide by the Minsk agreements, which were ostensibly aimed at ending hostilities in Donetsk and Lugansk and granting autonomy to the two predominantly Russian-speaking regions.

Following the collapse of the accords, and the escalation of the conflict in 2022, European and Ukrainian leaders admitted that the agreements were a ruse to enable Ukraine to buy time to prepare for a war with Russia.The organizers of the Munich Security Conference have not so much as attempted any introspection over the last 18 years. Instead, in their latest report, they blame US President Donald Trump for taking a “wrecking ball” to the so-called “rules-based international order.”

All the Europeans could do was cry. Literally, conference Chairman Christoph Heusgen broke down in tears during his closing comments, sobbing as he lamented the decline of the “rules-based international order” and proclaiming that “our common value base is not that common anymore.”nVance’s speech “illustrated just how different the current administration’s perspective on key issues is from the bipartisan liberal-internationalist consensus that has long guided US grand strategy,” Munich Security Conference Foundation President Wolfgang Ischinger wrote in a report ahead of this year’s conference, which kicks off on Friday. As such, discussion in Munich this year will focus almost entirely on “the United States’ evolving view of the international order,” he wrote.

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” For the first time since 1972, Russia (the former USSR) and the US have no treaty limiting strategic nuclear forces..”

• Russia Will Stick To Nuclear Arms Limits If US Does The Same (ZH)


One of the globe’s biggest developing stories this month, but which has been largely underreported in mainstream TV networks and other press, is the collapse of New START – the last major nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the United States. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Moscow will in good faith stick to the nuclear limits outlined in the now-expired arms control treaty, provided Washington does the same. It expired earlier this month after Washington declined to respond to President Vladimir Putin’s proposal for a one-year extension capping both sides’ nuclear arsenals.

The Trump admin has long wanted a more comprehensive agreement which brings China’s arsenal into the scope; however, there’s been no formal process on this front with Beijing or Moscow. Lavrov said Russia has no intention of rapidly expanding or deploying additional weapons, clarifying remarks from his ministry last week that suggested Moscow no longer considered itself bound by the treaty. “We proceed from the fact that this moratorium, which was announced by our president, remains in effect, but only while the United States does not exceed the outlined limits,” Lavrov told Russia’s parliament.

Some key aspects to the treaty have gone unobserved for some time, especially the regimen of mutual nuclear site inspections.President Trump has in the recent past called New START “badly negotiated” and said it “is being grossly violated. He has in mind Russia having blocked inspections of its nuclear facilities under the treaty framework in 2023, as tensions with Washington escalated over the proxy war in Ukraine. Moscow has in turn complained that Washington is the chief violator, and that it now refuses to respond to Putin’s overture to extend it by one year, while a more comprehensive and extended deal is negotiated.

That’s it. For the first time since 1972, Russia (the former USSR) and the US have no treaty limiting strategic nuclear forces. SALT 1, SALT 2, START I, START II, SORT, New START – all in the past. pic.twitter.com/D3TBZM9ffC — Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) February 4, 2026


Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave insight into why the White House has let New START expire: “Obviously, the president’s been clear in the past that in order to have true arms control in the 21st century, it’s impossible to do something that doesn’t include China because of their vast and rapidly growing stockpile,” he explained.

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Did the Internet make journalism worse?

• All the Media’s Men: When Journalism Became the Story -Part II of II (Wilson)

There was once a professional rule in American journalism that functioned as a real constraint: report the story; do not become the story. It was not a claim of purity. Ego, ambition, and moral certainty were known dangers, and the rule existed to keep them from overwhelming the work. Journalism was never perfect. Nothing is. But it was once constrained by this rule and by rivalry among competing papers, by scarcity of publishing platforms, by reputational risk, and by audiences willing to walk away. Those constraints mattered more than ideology.mThe first visible crack came with Nellie Bly, fairly described as a stunt reporter. Her work was brave and effective, exposing abuses that would otherwise have remained hidden.


But it also introduced a dangerous precedent: the journalist as protagonist. Readers followed the reporter as much as the facts. The tool proved powerful and reusable. The profession corrected itself for a time. Through the 1940s and 1950s, likely learning from war reporting norms, American journalism emphasized impersonality and restraint. Authority came from distance. Reporters were meant to be interchangeable. Credibility rested on institutional voice rather than personality. Television eroded that equilibrium. Once news had faces, voices, and time slots, personality became unavoidable. The anchor was no longer merely delivering information but performing steadiness and judgment.

Journalism did not yet see itself as entertainment, but it had begun using entertainment tools: lighting, camera angles, makeup, vocal intonation, even on-scene reporting.The decisive rupture came with Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. What they uncovered mattered. Watergate took advantage of a nascent mythic template: the journalist as lone truth-seeker standing between power and the people. Reporting, fed by classic Hollywood movies that romanticized the crusading reporter, became an identity rather than a function.mFrom that point forward, becoming the story was no longer a lapse. It was aspirational.

Hollywood, Myth, and Moral Authority
Watergate supplied the moment. Hollywood, already primed to heroize the reporter, crafted the meaning. Films like All the President’s Men dramatized and then sanctified the Heroic Journalist. The journalist was patient, tenacious, hard-working, incorruptible, and uniquely qualified to Bring Truth to the public — a pattern that perfectly follows the Hero’s Journey. Opposition was framed not as disagreement but as ignorance or corruption. Journalism absorbed that image. It began to see itself as a secular clerisy: interpreters of reality rather than accountable informers. A clerisy assumes its authority by right of wisdom and superior knowledge. Questions are permitted only within bounds. Dissent is treated as moral failure rather than feedback.

Skepticism became asymmetrical. Journalists remained suspicious of every institution except one: their own. Tone displaced argument. Moral urgency crowded out evidentiary discipline. Entertainment tools such as emotion, narrative compression, repetition ceased to be aids and became substitutes for reasoning. And any pushback became grounds to cast the questioner out as a heretic.The pattern is familiar enough to be lampooned, as in my favorite satirical novel The Narrative, which captures how story replaces fact once the reporter becomes the hero and the audience becomes a problem to manage.

How Journalists Rise on the Left Today
Once journalism adopted that heroic clerical self-image, advancement followed a different logic. Status stopped coming from readers and started coming from institutions adjacent to power.Journalists rise by demonstrating narrative reliability, not truthfulness or factuality. Their stories must follow the Approved Narrative. Editors and other gatekeepers learn who can be trusted to frame events without destabilizing the approved story. This is rarely enforced explicitly. It works through selection. Those who create friction are sidelined; those who anticipate expectations are rewarded.

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“.. openly strategizing ways to work around that higher court ruling and keep giving bond releases to illegal aliens under the guise of “liberty interest.”

• Texas Judges Strategize Ways to Block DHS From Enforcing Immigration Laws (CTH)

This is one step further than simple Lawfare, this story is about lower court judges openly strategizing ways to stop the enforcement of laws they are supposed to uphold. Last week the Fifth Circuit Cout of Appeals ruled that detaining illegal aliens during the deportation proceedings is entirely following current immigration law. Now, according to Politico, federal judges in Texas are openly strategizing ways to work around that higher court ruling and keep giving bond releases to illegal aliens under the guise of “liberty interest.”

POLITICO – […] two federal district court judges in Texas, who are bound by the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit’s ruling, said the 2-1 decision left an opening for them to continue granting immigrants’ release on other grounds, primarily constitutional arguments against detaining people who have established roots in the U.S. without due process. Those roots amount, in legal parlance, to a “liberty interest” that the Constitution says cannot be taken away without at least a hearing before a neutral judge. “This conclusion is not changed by the Fifth Circuit’s recent decision,” Judge Kathleen Cardone, an El Paso based appointee of George W. Bush, ruled late Monday in at least five cases, concluding that the circuit’s decision “has no bearing on this Court’s determination of whether [the petitioner] is being detained in violation of his constitutional right to procedural due process.”


Judge David Briones, an El Paso-based Clinton appointee, reached a similar conclusion. “The Court reiterates its original holding that noncitizens who have ‘established connections’ in the United States by virtue of living in the country for a substantial period acquire a liberty interest in being free from government detention without due process of law,” Briones wrote. The decisions from the Texas-based judges are notable in part because the administration has often rushed detainees there after their arrests in other states such as Minnesota.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.n A Justice Department official, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said the rulings were in keeping with the view that there are rogue judges who continue to make results-oriented decisions to suit their personal policy preferences.The 5th Circuit’s ruling has yet to percolate through federal courts across Texas and Louisiana, where detained immigrants have been filing so-called “habeas” petitions in extraordinary numbers to seek freedom from what they say is illegal detention without the opportunity for bond. The losing parties in Friday’s ruling may still appeal the decision to the full bench of the 5th Circuit or the Supreme Court. (more)”

Lower courts trying to circumvent higher court rulings, even before any plaintiff brings them a case or argument. This is judicial activism in the extremes.
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Hedge fund manager Ray Dalio warns that CBDCs will eliminate financial privacy and enable governments to tax, seize funds and cut off political opponents.

• ‘No Privacy’ CBDCs Will Come, Warns Billionaire Ray Dalio (CT)

American billionaire and hedge fund manager Ray Dalio has warned that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are coming, offering benefits but also potentially allowing governments to exert more control over people’s finances. “I think it will be done,” said Dalio on CBDCs in a wide-ranging interview on the Tucker Carlson Show on Monday, which also included topics on the US debt crisis, gold prices, and even a potential civil war. Ray Dalio is a billionaire hedge fund manager who has been co-chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates since 1985, after founding the firm in 1975.


During the interview, Dalio said CBDCs could be appealing due to the ease of transactions, likening them to money market funds in terms of functionality, but he also cautioned about their downsides. He said there will be a debate, but CBDCs “probably won’t” offer interest, so they will not be “an effective vehicle to hold because you’ll have the depreciation [of the dollar].” Dalio also cautioned that all CBDC transactions will be known to the government, which is good for controlling illegal activity, but also provides a great deal of control in other areas. “There will be no privacy, and it’s a very effective controlling mechanism by the government.”

A programmable digital currency will enable the government to tax directly, “they can take your money,” and establish foreign exchange controls, he said. mThat will be an “increasing issue,” particularly for international holders of that currency, as the government can seize funds from nationals of sanctioned countries. mDalio also said that you could be “shut off” from a CBDC if you were “politically disfavored.” An American CBDC is unlikely to be deployed in the near future, as US President Donald Trump has been vocally opposed to them.

Soon after taking office in January 2025, Trump signed an executive order prohibiting “the establishment, issuance, circulation, and use” of a US CBDC. According to the Atlantic Council’s CBDC tracker, only three countries have officially launched a CBDC: Nigeria, Jamaica, and The Bahamas. Another 49 countries are testing CBDCs, including China, Russia, India and Brazil. Twenty nations have a CBDC in development, and 36 are still researching central bank digital currencies. India’s central bank reportedly proposed an initiative in January linking BRICS CBDCs to facilitate cross-border trade and tourism payments.

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https://twitter.com/upholdreality/status/2021316872277266889?s=20

 

 

 

 

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Debt Rattle February 11 2026

Feb 112026
 
 February 11, 2026  Posted by at 10:54 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , ,  61 Responses »


Henri Matisse The Blue Window 1913


• Trump Called Police About Epstein in 2006 (Weiss)
• Epstein Files: Victims Buried at Zorro Ranch? (Catherine Salgado)
• Musk Shifts Gears: Moon Megacity Beats Mars Colony (Stephen Green)
• US to Fund Free Speech Initiatives in Europe, Trump Official Reveals (ET)
• French Defense Chief Says Europe Has Until 2030 For War (RMX)
• Lavrov: US No Longer Wants To Pursue Its Own Ukraine Peace Proposal (Antiwar)
• Ukraine Launching Arms Exports At Centers Across Europe (ZH)
• Judge Blocks California’s Law Mandating Federal Agents Remove Masks (ET)
• Trump Threatens Blockade of Almost Completed Michigan-Ontario Bridge (CTH)
• Fetterman Breaks Ranks With Democrats, Supports Federal Voter ID Measure (AmG)
• Hollywood Is Sick — but It’s L.A. That’s Dying (Stephen Green)
• New York Post Publishes Long Excerpt From “Rage and the Republic” (Turley)
• Adam Smith and The Importance of Capitalism (Turley)

 


 

https://twitter.com/Ellieinspace/status/1902069908608782472?s=20

 


 

 


 


Everybody has the story. But what will they do with it? They just love linking Trump to Epstein.

• Trump Called Police About Epstein in 2006 (Weiss)

Newly unsealed Department of Justice documents reveal that in July 2006, then businessman Donald Trump was one of the first to call police to warn them about sex predator Jeffrey Epstein. The documents include a previously unreported 2019 FBI interview summary with former Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter. Trump had contacted the department shortly after reports of Epstein’s criminal sex investigation became public. The future president contacted Reiter to express relief that authorities were finally acting, suggesting his associates in New York had described Epstein’s behaviors as “disgusting,” and advised investigators to focus on Ghislaine Maxwell, whom he described as “evil.” The Miami Herald first reported on the development.


The first mention of Trump in the FBI interview summary notes that he told investigators that he “threw Epstein out” of Mar-a-Lago, something he has maintained consistently over the years. “Thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this,” Trump reportedly told the Palm Beach Police Department. “TRUMP told him people in New York knew EPSTEIN was disgusting. TRUMP said MAXWELL was EPSTEIN’s operative, ‘she is evil and to focus on her,’ the report continues. The president also noted that he had witnessed Epstein in the presence of teenagers and was apparently dismayed by what he saw and “got the hell out of there.”

This bombshell document release is narrative-busting stuff. Democrats, desperate to land a punch on President Trump with the Epstein files, have repeatedly attempted to tie the two together as close associates. Epstein, the late financier, was convicted of procuring for prostitution a girl below the age of 18 in 2008 and was facing sex trafficking charges until he died, according to authorities, by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019. Maxwell is currently serving 20 years in prison for her involvement in the late billionaire pedophile’s crimes.

The media, of course, is framing the latest revelation not as ‘Trump tried to warn authorities’ but rather, as ‘this contradicts the president’s previous claims.’ From the Miami Herald: “That stands in sharp contrast to what Trump told reporters in July 2019 when he was asked if he had any knowledge that Epstein had molested girls. “No, I had no idea. I had no idea,” Trump said at the time It’s a misleading and dishonest spin, something one comes to expect from the media. Trump’s comment came in direct response to reporters asking if he had any knowledge that Epstein had molested girls. He was denying awareness of Epstein’s crimes or the allegations of molestation/sex trafficking that surfaced prominently around Epstein’s 2019 arrest.

Nowhere in this FBI interview does it indicate he had specific knowledge of the criminal molestation, sexual abuse, or trafficking details that later emerged in the full Epstein investigation or his 2008 plea deal. It’s Trump saying he had heard from others about “disgusting” behavior and how he was so creeped out that he had to remove Epstein from his club. Countless people in Palm Beach social circles noticed Epstein had a pattern of questionable behavior with young women, without having direct evidence or knowledge of the felony-level crimes. Good try, media. Maxwell repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to testify before the House Oversight Committee during a closed-door virtual deposition on Monday. Her lawyer declared that she would “speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump.”

“Both President Trump and President Clinton are innocent of any wrongdoing,” the lawyer said. “Ms. Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to hear that explanation.”

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I don’t think so. But that’s just me.

• Epstein Files: Victims Buried at Zorro Ranch? (Catherine Salgado)

One message in the Justice Department-released Epstein files claims that two girls, victims of the abusive trafficker, are buried at Zorro Ranch after they died as a result of sexual abuse there. Convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who died under suspicious circumstances while in jail in 2019, owned one property that reportedly has yet to be raided by federal authorities: Zorro Ranch outside Santa Fe, N.M. Multiple victims have testified to Epstein’s criminal and horrifying sexual abuse there, and multiple powerful men, including a former governor, reportedly visited the place. And an eerie message in the Epstein files seems to indicate that the powerful pedophile was trying to cover up the reason for the deaths of two young women.


Award-winning journalist Catherine Herridge discussed the email and the possibility of investigating the allegations concerning the dead girls with a former FBI special agent and investigator, Jonathan Gilliam. A former staffer at the ranch wrote in the email, “Did you know somewhere in the hills outside the Zorro, two foreign girls were buried on orders of Jeffrey and Madame G? Both died by strangulation during rough, fetish s*x.” Madame G is likely Epstein’s partner-in-crime, Ghislaine Maxwell. Herridge mentioned the possibility of video evidence in the case of the dead girls and asked Gilliam, of the allegation, “Could that be investigated at this stage?”

He affirmed, “That could absolutely be investigated. There is no statute of limitations on that, and then also, if they have testimony or some type of witness saying that that is where they were killed, they can then go out and do a search and potentially find a body.” Gilliam did caution, “It’s going to be difficult years later to prove something like sexual assault, but if you can find the evidence that somebody was killed, that’s totally different. And again, there’s no statute of limitations. But, see, this is also, Catherine, why you don’t just say, ‘Oh, that crime that that person committed is dropped off, we’re not gonna investigate that any further.’ [Because] you never know who these loop back around to.”

He went on to say that if, as some victims’ testimony indicates, “this was a society of people abusing women, then, and some of them died, you really don’t know who was connected to them… and who has knowledge of that. So that’s why you would continue to look into all these different subjects.” This “ongoing conspiracy” involves people still prominent in the media, Hollywood, business, and politics. Powerful pedophiles and sex abusers should NOT get away with their crimes just because they are wealthy and influential. What is the point of being a Republic if our oligarchy always evades accountability? We might as well have an official aristocracy. That’s what the Justice Department ought to understand.

Herridge asked if the released email about the dead girls was blackmail. Gilliam warily answered, “It looks like it could be any of several things. It could be blackmail. It could also be that somebody had some type of information, and they wanted to make it known somewhere along the way that they had nothing to do with that. We’ve seen that in other cases.” He concluded, “I don’t think there’s enough evidence at this point for me to say blackmail or not, but is there a possibility? Of course.” Sounds as if federal authorities need to pay a visit to Zorro Ranch.

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“I’d like to die on Mars, just not on impact…”

• Musk Shifts Gears: Moon Megacity Beats Mars Colony (Stephen Green)

“I’d like to die on Mars, just not on impact,” SpaceX founder Elon Musk half-joked to a capacity SXSW crowd in 2013, reiterating the launch company’s core mission of establishing a self-sustaining human colony on the Red Planet within his lifetime — and his lifelong dream of being one of those colonists. It seems almost impossible that just 13 years ago, SpaceX had yet to land a Falcon 9 booster rocket, much less reuse one. Yet since then, the Falcon is now so inexpensive and reliable that it launched more than 150 times in 2025 alone, accounting for more than 80% of all the mass lifted into orbit last year. While no other company has yet to master it, reusable boosters are the norm for SpaceX, and its Starship rocket — still in development — promises to reduce launch costs by at least one order of magnitude.


Times change. So do dreams. “For those unaware,” Musk posted to X (another Musk company) on Sunday, “SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon, as we can potentially achieve that in less than 10 years, whereas Mars would take 20+ years.” “It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (2 day trip time). This means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city.” That’s always been true — orbital mechanics are unforgiving in the extreme — but Starship development stalled badly enough in 2025 that a change in focus was perhaps inevitable.

Musk had hoped to launch multiple Starships late this year on an unmanned exploratory/proof-of-concept mission during the next Mars launch window (the optimal Earth-Mars transfer opportunity using a fuel-efficient Hohmann transfer orbit). But too many technologies and processes remain unproven, including the orbital refueling that makes it possible for Starship to reach Mars. Or even Luna, for that matter. Starship’s unprecedented cargo capacity for deep-space missions is only possible through orbital refueling performed by other Starships acting as LEO gas stations. Direct-transfer windows to Luna — with flight times of just three to five days — open roughly twice per month. The Hohmann window to Mars opens about every 26 months, with a flight time of up to nine months. Another technology SpaceX has yet to fully iterate is crew protection from radiation during such a long flight.

Iteration is the key, and at 54 years old, Musk probably can’t afford the time it will take to iterate Starship for manned Mars missions — certainly not on the scale needed to make life even semi-tolerable for, say, an aging launch company founder “It’s not any easier landing on the moon,” space photographer Andrew McCarthy added, “but once getting mass to the moon is a solved problem Mars becomes so much easier.” Indeed. Musk also said that SpaceX’s core mission remains unchanged, to “extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars.” “Aim for the moon,” they say, because “If you miss, you may hit a star.” I’d still love to see human footprints on Mars in my lifetime, but if the alternative is a large and growing American population on Luna, I’ll take it.

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”.. the policy “has got nothing to do with racism” and is “a classic example of how the EU proceeds to amass for itself more powers to regulate orderly life and get involved in politics.”

• US to Fund Free Speech Initiatives in Europe, Trump Official Reveals (ET)

The Trump administration announced plans to direct funding toward promoting free speech in Western allied democracies, a senior State Department official said on Monday. The initiative bolsters efforts to counter European online regulations categorized by Washington as censorship. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers discussed the initiative during a trip to Europe. It includes grants to support free expression, a result of concerns about rules such as the European Union’s Digital Services Act and Britain’s Online Safety Act. These laws, which E.U. officials say aim to deter hate speech and misinformation, have been scrutinized by U.S. officials as restricting the free speech of American tech firms and suppressing immigration policy critiques.


“One way my office is going to operate differently is we’re going to be very forthright and transparent about everything we do,” Rogers said during a panel discussion in Budapest on Monday. She added that her role allows directing U.S. funding through grants, stating, “I want to promote free speech in Western allied democracies, and … that’s what my grantmaking is going to be doing.”Rogers, appearing alongside a top aide to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, underscored the importance of free speech for democracy. “The United States government, via me, but not only me, has been engaging aggressively on the issue of free speech, because you don’t have self-governance without freedom of speech, you can’t have a democratic deliberation if viewpoints are proscribed from the public square,” she said.

Rogers is scheduled to stop in Dublin, Budapest, Warsaw, and Munich to discuss digital freedoms with officials and others. The administration’s December National Security Strategy said that European leaders were censoring speech and suppressing opposition to immigration policies, warning of the continent’s “civilizational erasure.” Rogers said European polls showing European views on migration are similar to those in the United States.The United States imposed last month visa bans on a former European Union commissioner and four anti-disinformation activists. The administration labeled them agents of censorship for working to regulate U.S. social media platforms. European leaders lambasted the bans. They defended the commissioner and activists’ rights to push for regulations on foreign companies operating locally.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed the designations on Dec. 23, 2025. He called the individuals “agents of the global censorship-industrial complex” and blocked their entry to the United States.The European Commission unveiled a new “anti-racism” strategy on Jan. 20, aiming toward a “Europe free from racism” with increased anti-discrimination enforcement and training. The Commission said the training will help civil servants “recognise and tackle racial bias, while fostering greater cultural awareness and sensitivity.” It also requires European educators to “address teacher training and professional development on diversity and inclusion, as well as promoting diversity in the teaching profession itself.”

Eric Kaufmann, a professor at the University of Buckingham, said the strategy “betrays an illiberal moralizing worldview” that could lead to “suppressing free speech and asphyxiating the historical pride and culture of Europe’s ethnic majorities.” Jacob Reynolds of think tank MCC Brussels called it a “slide to cultural socialist ideas.” Reynolds previously told The Epoch Times that he believes that the policy “has got nothing to do with racism” and is “a classic example of how the EU proceeds to amass for itself more powers to regulate orderly life and get involved in politics.”

“This is not [anti-racism], as ordinary people understand it,” he said. “This is the kind of woke [diversity, equity, and inclusion] agenda that has come to dominate the way that lots of civil servants, lots of academics, lots of civil society organizations think.”

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They really want war. Trump really doesn’t.

• French Defense Chief Says Europe Has Until 2030 For War (RMX)

France and Europe have four years to prepare for war, said Fabien Mandon, chief of the defense staff of the French Armed Forces, who cited Russia as Europe’s biggest threat. His speech at a major naval conference outlined that France, as well as its allies, must take into account that this war will break out in the near future and that the French military must be ready by 2030. “Today, we are preparing for war,” he said, according to BreakingDefense. During his speech at the naval conference, Mandon stated that France is not prepared for war and the country had “an insufficient number of ships and armaments.” He stated the nation needs “more missiles with greater range and lethality.”


Mandon recently made headlines for stating that Europeans and the French must be ready to lose children in a war, stating: “You have to accept that you will lose your children,” which is necessary to defeat Russia during a November speech at the National Congress of French Mayors. His words caused national shock, while the representatives of the parliamentary parties protested sharply in connection with his comment. As in November, he named Russia as the main source of the threat of war.

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“Lavrov claimed that the US and Russia came to an agreement on Ukraine during President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s summit in Anchorage, Alaska, back in August 2025.”

• Lavrov: US No Longer Wants To Pursue Its Own Ukraine Peace Proposal (Antiwar)

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said in an interview published on Monday that the US no longer wants to implement a Ukraine peace deal that it previously proposed, the latest sign that there’s little chance the grinding war will come to an end anytime soon. Lavrov claimed that the US and Russia came to an agreement on Ukraine during President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s summit in Anchorage, Alaska, back in August 2025. He didn’t elaborate on the details of the potential deal, but it’s believed to involve Ukraine ceding territory it still controls in the Donbas, a condition included in a 28-point peace plan that was later drafted by the Trump administration.


“In other words, we were told that the Ukrainian issue must be resolved. In Anchorage, we accepted the United States’ proposal. To put it straightforwardly, they proposed, and we agreed – the problem should be solved,” Lavrov told TV BRICS. “The position of the United States was important for us. Having accepted their proposals, we essentially fulfilled the task of resolving the Ukrainian issue and moving toward comprehensive, broad, mutually beneficial cooperation.”

The Russian diplomat said that despite the “positive” summit, the US began imposing sanctions on Russia a few weeks later and has continued the economic pressure. “New sanctions are imposed, attacks on tankers are staged in international waters in violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and India and other partners are discouraged from purchasing affordable Russian energy, while Europe has long prohibited such purchases, forcing them to buy American liquefied natural gas at significantly higher prices,” he said.

Lavrov added that he didn’t see a “promising future in economic terms” when it comes to US-Russia relations. “Thus, in the economic sphere, the United States has effectively declared a goal of economic domination,” he said. Elsewhere in the interview, which focused on Russia’s relationship with other BRICS nations, Lavrov said the Biden administration has turned the US dollar into a “weapon,” prompting Russia and other countries to reduce their reliance on the US currency. “Under the Biden administration, the United States has taken every step to weaponize the dollar against those it considers inconvenient,” he said, adding that the policies have continued under the Trump administration.

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“Moscow’s allegations specify that modern, Western-supplied stockpiles are being used far outside the actual Ukrainian battlefield, and that the illicit trade has enriched powerful Ukrainian officials, while increasing crime and terrorism.”

• Ukraine Launching Arms Exports At Centers Across Europe (ZH)

Ukraine has another money-making idea – instead of begging for urgently needed funds from Western partners, it plans to start exporting weapons, instead of only buying them. But there is a big and unexpected catch to the whole scheme. Flush with external funding connected to the war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced ambitious plans to open ten arms export hubs across the European continent by the end of 2026. Given Ukraine is still an active warzone, and given the likelihood that Russian forces will continue targeting defense manufacturing sites, Ukraine is seeking to have European allies play host to Ukrainian arms production plants.


For example, Ukrainian-made drones are expected to be in production on German soil later this month. Zelensky laid out new details of Ukraine’s move into foreign arms markets, describing it as a long-term economic necessity, in a speech before the Kyiv Aviation Institute on Sunday night. Ukraine’s defense sector rapidly grown as a result of the war, accounting for roughly 7% of GDP, according to July 2025 estimates from the Kyiv School of Economics Institute. “Today we are opening up exports. In Europe in 2026 there will be 10 export centers. These are the Baltic countries and the countries of Northern Europe. In 2026, 10 representative offices will operate,” Zelensky said, as quoted in Reuters.

“This is a [production] line that is already working. The production lines are already operating in the UK. These are Ukrainian technologies,” Zelensky added – though without providing much more in the way of specifics. In essence, Ukraine is seeking to sustain its war effort while locking in a long-term economic leverage by expanding its defense production sector, but in a protected and safe way far from the front lines. Simultaneously, Moscow has complained that Ukraine is already deep in the black market export of arms siphoned off from Western deliveries, which Russian media alleging as follows:

Russian officials have long accused Kiev of fueling global arms proliferation through the black market and have specifically alleged that Ukraine has supplied weapons, including those it received from the West, to militant groups in Africa. Last week, Russian envoy to the UN Vassily Nebenzia reiterated the accusations and told the Security Council that “the Kiev regime is actively involved in… supplying terrorists with weapons, including drones, and training fighters,” citing the Sahel region as an example. Mali’s Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maiga has accused Kiev of supplying kamikaze drones to terrorists. Some serious question remain, however…

Of course, Russian weapons also often make their way to African battlefields. But Moscow’s allegations specify that modern, Western-supplied stockpiles are being used far outside the actual Ukrainian battlefield, and that the illicit trade has enriched powerful Ukrainian officials, while increasing crime and terrorism.

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Keep cops safe, why don’t you.

• Judge Blocks California’s Law Mandating Federal Agents Remove Masks (ET)

A federal district court judge partially blocked a California law barring law enforcement officers from wearing masks in a Feb. 9 ruling, finding the law discriminated against federal officers. District Court Judge Christina Snyder ruled in favor of the Trump administration, prohibiting the state from enforcing its No Secret Police Act—which was scheduled to go into effect earlier this year—against federal law enforcement officers. The federal government sued California, challenging the law as well as with another law—the No Vigilantes Act, that requires federal officers to wear identification. Snyder ruled that the second law was not discriminatory. California had agreed to pause enforcement of the laws, which went into effect on Jan. 1, while the Trump administration challenged them in court.


Attorney General Pam Bondi praised the court’s decision on Feb. 9. “These federal agents are harassed, doxed, obstructed, and attacked on a regular basis just for doing their jobs,” Bondi posted on X. “We have no tolerance for it. We will continue fighting and winning in court for President Trump’s law-and-order agenda—and we will always have the backs of our great federal law enforcement officers.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed both bills into law last year in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in the state. The No Secret Police Act prohibited any law enforcement officer from wearing a facial covering while performing official duties unless the agency employing the officer has a policy regarding the covering. Some exceptions were made for SWAT teams and in other cases.

The No Vigilantes Act requires any law enforcement officer operating in the state to visibly display identification indicating his or her agency and name or badge number when working. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) argued the two state laws violated the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which mandates that if state laws conflict with federal laws, the federal law takes precedence. The department also argued that the laws violated the intergovernmental immunity doctrine, which prevents federal and state governments from interfering with each other’s operations.The DOJ argued that prohibiting facial coverings and requiring identification put officers’ safety at risk as violent crime against federal immigration officers has skyrocketed in recent months.

Snyder found the No Secret Police Act did not apply equally to all law enforcement officers in the state, and therefore it “unlawfully discriminates against federal officers,” according to her ruling.“Because such discrimination violates the Supremacy Clause, the court is constrained to enjoin the facial covering prohibition. California may not enforce the facial covering prohibition of the No Secret Police Act, SB 627 … against federal law enforcement officers,” she ruled. The judge denied the federal government’s other challenges. The state’s law was already receiving pushback by the largest metropolitan police agency in the state. Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell said his officers would not enforce it.

“The reality of one armed agency approaching another armed agency to create conflict over something that would be a misdemeanor at best—or an infraction—it doesn’t make any sense. It’s not a good public policy decision and it wasn’t well thought out, in my opinion,” McDonnell said during a news conference on Jan. 29.

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He uses Canadians as toys. It’s what you get for electing Justin.

• Trump Threatens Blockade of Almost Completed Michigan-Ontario Bridge (CTH)

Writing on a Truth Social post earlier this evening, President Trump is threatening to block the U.S. side of a new bridge that links Detroit, Michigan to Ontario, Canada: (Truth Social) – “As everyone knows, the Country of Canada has treated the United States very unfairly for decades. Now, things are turning around for the U.S.A., and FAST! But imagine, Canada is building a massive bridge between Ontario and Michigan. They own both the Canada and the United States side and, of course, built it with virtually no U.S. content. President Barack Hussein Obama stupidly gave them a waiver so they could get around the BUY AMERICAN Act, and not use any American products, including our Steel.


Now, the Canadian Government expects me, as President of the United States, to PERMIT them to just “take advantage of America!” What does the United States of America get — Absolutely NOTHING! Ontario won’t even put U.S. spirits, beverages, and other alcoholic products, on their shelves, they are absolutely prohibited from doing so and now, on top of everything else, Prime Minister Carney wants to make a deal with China — which will eat Canada alive. We’ll just get the leftovers! I don’t think so.

The first thing China will do is terminate ALL Ice Hockey being played in Canada and permanently eliminate The Stanley Cup. The Tariffs Canada charges us for our Dairy products have, for many years, been unacceptable, putting our Farmers at great financial risk. I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve. We will start negotiations, IMMEDIATELY. With all that we have given them, we should own, perhaps, at least one half of this asset. The revenues generated because of the U.S. Market will be astronomical. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” ~PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

The USMCA renegotiation plan likely plays a big part in this announcement. Don’t react, just watch.

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Who doesn’t love him?

• Fetterman Breaks Ranks With Democrats, Supports Federal Voter ID Measure (AmG)

Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) has broken ranks with Democratic leadership and has come out in favor of requiring photo ID for voting in elections across the nation. Fetterman appeared on the Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures” yesterday and told host Maria Bartiromo that voter ID wasn’t an “unreasonable” requirement, saying, “It’s not a radical idea for regular Americans to show your ID to vote.”


Fetterman pointed to states like Wisconsin that have similar protections requiring proof of citizenship for federal voter registration and photo ID at the polls. He noted that 60% of voters in Wisconsin support such safeguards, despite having elected liberal justice Susan Crawford in 2025 to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. House Republicans plan to vote this week on the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act with national polls showing 83% of Americans support the measure, including 71% of Democrats. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries continued to decry the SAVE America Act as “voter suppression” and accused President Trump and GOP leadership of trying to steal the upcoming midterm elections by nationalizing them.

Fetterman rejected comparisons of the SAVE America Act to resurrecting Jim Crow laws as Democratic leaders have claimed. The Pennsylvania Senator also broke with his party leadership on the issue of funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which is expected to run out on Friday unless lawmakers can break a deadlock.

https://twitter.com/i/status/2020564856663884171

Fetterman came down on the side of border enforcement and said he does not support shutting down the government, saying, “I don’t ever want to vote to shut our government down again.” Fetterman told Bartiromo that he expects Democrats and Republicans to remain divided beyond Friday’s funding deadline.

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“They have what we call the Noah’s Ark problem,” Willems continued, “which is, if they effectuate this deal, they’re going to have two of everything.”

• Hollywood Is Sick — but It’s L.A. That’s Dying (Stephen Green)

Hollywood as we know it is sick — not the kind of sick you might usually think of with the woke agenda pushing, child-actor grooming, and all the rest — but the “sick and dying” kind of sick. Netflix’s Chief Global Affairs Officer warned Monday that Hollywood will suffer billions of dollars worth of job losses if rival Paramount Skydance succeeds in buying Warner Bros. Discovery out from under the streaming giant’s buyout bid. During an interview on Fox Business Network, Clete Willems said, “Paramount has identified $6 billion in synergies in the offer that they made, which is code for $6 billion in job cuts.” “They have what we call the Noah’s Ark problem,” Willems continued, “which is, if they effectuate this deal, they’re going to have two of everything.”


There’s also the matter of debt. The Paramount offer is generous, but requires billions in financing — including personal security guarantees from Oracle multibillionaire Larry Ellison, whose son David runs Paramount. So when Willems says Paramount will “have to cut, cut, cut,” if the studios merge, he’s probably right. But similar downsizing wouldn’t happen when and if Netflix buys Warner, instead? Color me skeptical that Netflix’s bid magically spares the axe — especially when it already churns out content like it’s going out of style (which, quality-wise, it often is). Netflix wants Warner more for its old intellectual properties for streaming than it does for its production facilities or crews.

Netflix already spews out plenty of content on its own, seemingly without much care about actual quality in most cases. The last thing Netflix needs is probably more output; it just needs that sweet, sweet Warner IP to fill the streaming hours. “Cut, cut, cut,” indeed.mRegardless, either buyout likely means the end of Warner Bros. as Hollywood has known it for just over a century — and that, gentle reader, is the absolute least of Hollywood’s troubles. Or maybe I need to rephrase that bit. Maybe Hollywood is the sickness, and Los Angeles is the patient at risk of dying. The Hollywood Reporter featured a telling report in recent weeks, headlined with a dire warning for the City of Angels: “Los Angeles’ Hold on Hollywood Is Slipping.”

When 2025 wrapped, Hollywood tallied up its Los Angeles-based production figures, and the numbers were stark at best. “Superhero movies have fled to London,” HR’s Erik Hayden wrote, and “three major studios (Netflix, Paramount and Lionsgate) have inked expansive deals to build or lease in new production bases in New Jersey; states like Georgia, Louisiana and New Mexico are fighting for their share of projects with generous tax incentives while Illinois is becoming a player in its own right.” The result is that in 2025, there were almost as few productions in L.A. as there were during the panic-fueled COVID lockdowns. Read that again — and it’s close, too. Hollywood’s Los Angeles shoots dropped almost in half during COVID, from over 36,000 in 2019 to just under 19,000 in 2020. Things bounced back almost immediately when the lockdowns ended, right back up to 37k.

But something happened in 2023, and that number dropped precipitously to 24,000. Last year? Just 19,694 shoots in L.A.— barely above the 2020 lockdown abyss, yet it’s boom times anywhere that isn’t business-hostile California. Streaming killed Hollywood’s movie theater cash cow without even pretending to look for a golden goose first. Instead of enjoying a night out at the movies, anonymous Hollywood screenwriting veteran George MF Washington warned in 2022, “streaming subscribers expect a constant firehose of content fired directly into their faces 24/7/365.” Now the largest streamer is about to buy one of Hollywood’s oldest and most storied studios, just as Los Angeles plumbs COVID-era depths of disaster with no relief in sight.

Hollywood is sick, but it might be Los Angeles that’s dying.

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Loooong excerpt.

• New York Post Publishes Long Excerpt From “Rage and the Republic” (Turley)

I am delighted that the New York Post decided this week to run a long excerpt from my new book, “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.” I wanted to share the full excerpt and a clip from the audiobook below. Here is the description and excerpt that appeared in the New York Post:


America’s Revolutionaries: We’re Our Own Greatest Creations, As Tom Paine Proved.
In his new book, “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution,” Professor Turley explores the meaning and future of democracy on the American Revolution’s 250th anniversary. The first half looks back at the unique confluence of people and events that led to the establishment of the American republic.The second half looks forward, exploring whether the American republic can survive in the 21st century in light of changes ranging from artificial intelligence to robotics to global governance systems. Turley believes the American republic is uniquely suited to address those challenges, but it will require a return, not a rejection, of the core values that defined the American Revolution.

Excerpt: “Like Saturn, the Revolution devours its children.” Those words from journalist Jacques Mallet du Pan during the French Revolution referred to the Roman God Saturn, or Kronos in Greek. Kronos attempted to defy his mother’s prophesy that he would be overthrown by one of his children by them upon their births. When his son Zeus was born, Kronos’s consort Rhea decided to trick him by wrapping a stone in a swaddling blanket and handing it to him to devour. She then hid Zeus on Crete. Once he reached adulthood, Zeus returned and, fulfilling the prophesy, defeated his father. The story of Kronos held obvious meaning for Mallet du Pan, who watched with alarm as the French Revolution devoured first its aristocratic foes and then its own supporters.

It is a story played out over and over again in history as ambition becomes activism, activism becomes extremism, and extremism becomes authoritarianism. Call it the Saturn gene. We are all Saturn’s children with an inherent impulse that rests within each of us: the capacity of all mortals to become monsters. The lesson of Saturn would also be raised in the American Revolution by none other than Thomas Paine. Long before Jefferson put pen to parchment on the Declaration of Independence, it was Paine who would speak of the natural and inalienable rights as the basis for the American Revolution. It was Paine, in his pamphlet Common Sense, who made the case for “independency.” It was also Paine who saw, firsthand, the ability of a revolution to consume itself.

Paine would play a significant role in two revolutions that took strikingly different paths in America and France. Among the best-known figures of the American Revolution, only the Marquis de Lafayette could make a similar claim. Paine learned the dangers of unrestrained popular government in the hardest possible way. It came close to killing him in France. He would learn that what was lost in Paris was precisely what he had left in Philadelphia—a system that could channel tremendous political and economic pressures into a stable Republic.

We are again living in revolutionary times. It is not just classic revolutions where governments are overthrown, but rather revolutions that can change countries from within. We refer to the Industrial Revolution and the Information Revolution to signify the transformative changes that they brought to society. Often those new realities produce countervailing political changes in government. The twenty-first century has seen the acceleration of new technology like artificial intelligence (AI) that is reframing every aspect of human existence. These changes will redefine not just the workplace but also the place of citizens in society at large. The question is whether American democracy can survive in the twenty-first century or collapse under the same forces of democratic despotism that brought down its contemporaries. It is the unfinished story of the American Revolution.

Thomas Paine saw this up close in Paris at the height of the French Revolution. He had been among those voices early on among the French Jacobins who cheered the stripping away constitutional protections to unleash the “general will.” The insatiable appetite of Saturn took hold of the liberators.bFor Paine, the ultimate collapse of his ideals came in December 1793. He had just been stripped of his seat in the French National Convention in a vote of no confidence. In watching the executions in Paris, Paine lamented to a friend, “Ah France, thou hast ruined the character of a revolution virtuously begun, and destroyed those who produced it.”

The long-awaited knock at his bedroom door came on December 28, 1793. There stood five policemen and two representatives of the feared Committee on General Safety. When asked for the charge, they just shrugged. Such details were now largely meaningless in France. It would not be democratic ideals but poor ventilation that would save Paine from joining his decapitated colleagues in Paris. After opening the door to allow more air into the cell, guards missed the chalk mark designating him and his cellmates for death. Paine would soon walk out of the Palais du Luxembourg as the Terror came to an end with the death of Robespierre..[..]

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“The Importance of Capitalism…in the Founding and the Future of the American Republic..”

• Adam Smith and The Importance of Capitalism (Turley)

Capitalism is under attack from classrooms to town halls to voting booths. According to polls, a rising segment of the population is calling for socialism or even communism as young people embrace a radical chic in the country. And this week, another socialist looks ready to join a growing “squad” in Congress. On our 250th anniversary, the fight over capitalism and economic freedom could prove critical to the future of this republic. However, there is an unexpected change that could help reverse this trend. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently announced that one million families have already signed up for the new tax-privileged Trump Accounts, which will be seeded with $1,000 in taxpayer funds for children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028.


With an anticipated 25 million participants, the initiative is one of the most ambitious and potentially impactful in U.S. history. But its true impact may be far greater than the wealth that it could generate for families. It may just be the determinative factor in preserving this Republic in this century. This month, Simon and Schuster released my new book on the founding and the future of the American republic — “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.” The book asks whether this unique republic can survive in the 21st century amid growing economic, political, and social challenges.

What many celebrating our 250th anniversary do not appreciate is that this is also the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, released around the same time as the Declaration of Independence. The book was not a great success in Great Britain. In addition to its foundational support for capitalism, it challenged the mercantilist policies of the British Empire and supported the claims of the colonies in seeking greater economic freedoms. Smith, however, was immediately embraced by the founders, who saw his work as the perfect economic theory to advance their political theory. Ours was the first Enlightenment Revolution based on a belief in natural rights that came from God, not governments.

Yet, the founders knew that true individual liberty could not be achieved without economic freedom. Smith’s idea of the “invisible hand” offered an idea of individual economic freedom where whole economies were driven by the individual tastes and choices of citizens. The combination would prove transformative, as the U.S. became not only the world’s oldest large-scale democracy but also history’s greatest economy. We will need that combination in the years to come to maintain what I call a “liberty-enhancing economy.” The book looks at the expected impact of new technology, from robotics to AI, in the possible creation of a large population of unemployed, unproductive citizens.

The question is how the likely state support for a large segment of our population will change their relationship to the government, changing the dynamic of what it is to be a citizen. The danger of a “kept citizenry” is that we will lose the essential independence that our founders wanted to instill in new Americans from their government. As we face these challenges, we are seeing a rise in support for socialism and communism in the West. It is the rage among young people who have no experience or memory of the socialist governments that collapsed in the prior century. Their understanding of socialism comes from armchair revolutionaries in colleges and the sloganeering of figures like Zohran Mamdani about introducing them to “the warmth of collectivism.”

That brings us back to the Trump accounts. The insidious aspect of past socialist systems is that their consistent failure often resulted in demands to “double down,” to increase state subsidies, nationalizations, and central planning. For their part, citizens can become accustomed to government support. When socialist François Mitterrand came to power in France in 1981, promising a “rupture with capitalism,” he quickly destroyed the country’s economy. However, he continued to dazzle French citizens with promises of free money, even appointing Andre Henry as the Minister of Free Time to assist citizens in their new socialist leisure.

The same seductive appeal is evident today in the U.S. and other Western countries. Sixty-five percent of Democratic voters have a favorable view of socialism. An even greater percentage of young Britons want to live under socialism, and 72 percent favor nationalization of industries.Capitalism was key to the success of the American Republic, and it will be even more important in the coming years. As jobs are wiped out through robotics and AI, we will have to shift to homocentric jobs and productivity to preserve not just economic but also political liberty. We cannot preserve that liberty as some arts-and-crafts citizenry, entertained with state-subsidized leisure and distractions.

The $6.25 billion gift of Michael and Susan Dell (now augmented by dozens of corporations) could offer the single best hope for the survival of our system. Millions of young people will be able to experience the benefits of investments, savings and, most importantly, economic independence. It has the benefit of being a tangible lesson about capitalism — not simply an abstraction pulled from the pages of the Wealth of Nations. As socialist experiments replicate the failures of past eras, these accounts will offer a stark contrast for a rising generation. It is an investment that must be extended beyond 2028 to inculcate values of economic and political independence in the 21st century.

For young Americans, there has been a continual barrage of anti-capitalist sentiments. However, there is still muscle memory in this country of the gifts that free markets brought to a free people.

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https://twitter.com/STANISKRAPIVNIK/status/2021226671307706762?s=20

 

 

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Debt Rattle February 6 2026

Feb 062026
 
 February 6, 2026  Posted by at 10:47 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , ,  57 Responses »


Albert Cuyp Cows in a river 1650


• UBS: SpaceX-xAI Merger Signals Rise Of “Orbital AI” (ZH)
• This is When Volatility Kicks In – Martin Armstrong (USAW)
• Netherlands To Tax Unrealized Gains: EU Wealth Grab And Global Implications (Kolbe)
• Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman Deny Epstein Malarkey, And Here’s Some Weird Sh*t (ZH)
• DHS Secretary Noem Identifies Another Leaker and Refers to DOJ for Prosecution (CTH)
• Why Democrats Fight Immigration Enforcement (Matt Margolis)
• How Many Handshakes From Epstein Are You? (Akhmedova)
• Nancy Mace Demands SUBPOENA For Bill Gates In Epstein Case (MN)
• Vance Slams ‘Incestuous’ US Elites Over Epstein Files (RT)
• Vance To Lead Sweeping Anti-Fraud Task Force Investigating California (ZH)
• Vance and Rubio Lead ‘Critical Minerals’ Strategic Ministerial Gathering (CTH)
• How Fast Is The Asian Population Ageing? (ZH)

 

 


What would YOU do with your days in a world where robots fulfill every need and want?

https://twitter.com/HustleBitch_/status/2019282180187291921

 

 

 

 


“… the merger of Musk’s SpaceX and xAI earlier this week, a transaction that has lifted his net worth to $850 billion..”

• UBS: SpaceX-xAI Merger Signals Rise Of “Orbital AI” (ZH)

In September 2024, we penned a note that Elon Musk was on track to become the world’s first trillionaire by 2027, driven by what we described as “space race bets.” That call looks increasingly correct following the merger of Musk’s SpaceX and xAI earlier this week, a transaction that has lifted his net worth to $850 billion. By contrast, former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann, who once famously said in 2019 that he wanted to live forever and be the first trillionaire, must be watching Musk’s empire soar to new heights in disgust. Musk’s decision to fold xAI into SpaceX is already being framed by UBS as an “orbital AI” investment angle, positioning Musk at the center of low-Earth orbit dominance and next-generation AI compute.


UBS trader Jephine Wong provided clients on Wednesday with what has caught her eye with the xAI-SpaceX deal:

“X” marks the spot as Elon Musk moved swiftly to fold xAI into SpaceX – an all stock deal valuing the combined entity at ~$1.25T (~$1T for SpaceX; ~$250B for xAI). The signal is clear: SpaceX is planting a flag in orbital AI, betting that a meaningful share of compute -essentially data centers in space- will be operating within 2–3 years. It’s a bold storyline to take into a potential summer/fall ~$50B IPO, but it also introduces new complexity for investors: SpaceX is generating ~$8B in EBITDA while xAI is burning approximately $1B per month. The roadshow narrative shifts from a pure- play space champion to a space-plus-AI hybrid -asking investors to balance operating strength against AI scale capex. EchoStar, a holder of SpaceX- linked assets, slipped on the news – a sign that not everyone is converted just yet.”

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“Europe needs war. You already had the finance ministers of France and Germany say that they may need IMF bailouts. This is why they want war. It’s a distraction.”

• This is When Volatility Kicks In – Martin Armstrong (USAW)

Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong warned in late December to be ready for the “Perfect Storm for Debt, Economy, War, Gold & Silver.” The rain and thunder started at the beginning of February, and the storm is just beginning. Armstrong says, “This is where the volatility starts kicking in. I think Europe is so desperate for war. My concern with the Trump Administration is I would not step a foot in there. Europe needs war. You already had the finance ministers of France and Germany say that they may need IMF bailouts. This is why they want war. It’s a distraction.


Without war, people are going to figure out what the hell is going on. My pension fund is gone. Everything is defaulting. What’s going to happen? They are basically going to be storming the parliament with pitch forks.” Where are you going to see volatility? Armstrong says, “The volatility is in everything. You just saw the metals come down. They will probably consolidate before they go back up when people realize that Europe is going to go to war. What will happen? The dollar will go up. Metals will go up. It will be like WWI and WWII. The US became the financial capital of the world because Europe blew its brains out twice. Now, they think the third time is going to be the charm. . .. If there is war in Europe, it will be maybe in the summer. It does not look good.”

One bright spot was the Ukraine/Russia peace plan Armstrong put together at the request of President Trump. Armstrong says, “I did get a letter from President Trump . . . thanking me for writing it. So, it was sanctioned by Trump, and that’s pretty much everything he is doing except for NATO . . .. At the meeting, they told me you are correct. We know we are not going to be at war with Russia.” Let’s hope the US stays out of a coming Russia/Europe war. If we do, you can thank Martin Armstrong who put his peace plan together for Trump for free.

Armstrong also says the illegal alien invasion created by Democrats is the way they are trying to stay in power. Don’t be fooled by the close Dem wins in recent special elections. Armstrong’s “Socrates” computer has seen no advantage for either side for the midterms this year–yet. Armstrong sees the dollar staying strong and says, “You can’t park money in Canada, Mexico, Japan, or Europe. . ..Where are you going to put serious money? The United States is the only place—sorry. This is why the United States is what it is. Big money needs a place to park.”

On gold and silver, Armstrong is decidedly bullish on both metals and says, “This is not the major high. We have too much craziness on the horizon, from sovereign debt default to war. You are just getting a pullback and consolidation. . .. I am looking at the $165 to $200 per ounce area for silver. For gold, I am looking at resistance at the $8,500 per ounce level and, after that, $10,000 per ounce . . . in the next few years.”

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Taxing the money you haven’t yet made…

• Netherlands To Tax Unrealized Gains: EU Wealth Grab And Global Implications (Kolbe)

A fiscal storm is brewing in the Netherlands. With the potential introduction of a tax on unrealized capital gains, The Hague is set to become a testing ground for the systematic transfer of wealth from the private sector to the state. Across all government levels, the European Union is increasingly transforming into an aggressive parasitic system. A fundamental clash between the public and private sectors is intensifying across the EU. In March, both chambers of the Dutch parliament will decide on the implementation of an annual tax on unrealized gains. Going forward, all increases in value—from real estate and stocks to bonds and cryptocurrencies—would fall under this fiscal framework.


This move significantly accelerates the extraction of capital from the private sector, constituting a political rule violation. Already taxed income and assets would be hit again based on hypothetical gains, severely impeding private wealth accumulation. Support for this measure spans both right- and left-wing parties. It reflects a form of fiscal horseshoe logic, apparently anticipating a severe national financial crisis. For the EU as a whole, this is disastrous. That a nation with a debt ratio of just 46% and new borrowing of slightly over 2% of GDP would effectively declare war on private capital signals profound economic distortions in one of Europe’s most successful economies. One naturally asks: if this is happening in the Netherlands, what does it say about the rest of the European Union?

The End of the Productive Economy

A glance at Eurozone manufacturing suggests a storm is brewing. Deindustrialization in Germany, the largest industrial base in Europe, began in 2018 and has accelerated ever since, with massive capital flight. What applies to Germany applies even more so to the fragile peripheral European economies. For decades, Europe’s economy has shifted from production toward financial and wealth-rentier models. As financialization advances, production and value creation increasingly relocate abroad. This mirrors a process the United States underwent for decades and attempted to reverse under President Donald Trump.

European states see no escape from the economic death spiral created by expanding welfare systems, uncontrolled migration, and slowly shrinking core industrial productivity. Politicians are buying time through the expropriation of citizen savings to evade growing reform pressure. Once societal patience reaches a tipping point, Europe may witness scenes similar to those currently unfolding in the U.S., where the government has effectively declared war on illegal immigration amid a media-driven defensive battle coordinated by far-left forces, globalist media, and foreign foundations.

The pressing question for Europe: how long will native populations tolerate financial assault from the state without demanding corresponding migration and welfare reforms? Several EU states already levy progressive inheritance and gift taxes. Norway recently introduced a wealth tax of roughly 1% on net assets above €160,000 per person, raising eyebrows in one of Europe’s richest nations. Spain applies a progressive wealth tax up to 3.5%, plus a solidarity wealth levy for assets above €3 million—“solidarity,” a political buzzword used to rhetorically justify impending fiscal expropriation.

This expropriation is imminent. Coalition parties have spent the past year laying the groundwork for a massive expansion of inheritance taxes. It would be unwise to rule out Germany’s politically influenced Constitutional Court approving a national wealth tax in the future.

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Lots of them.

• DHS Secretary Noem Identifies Another Leaker and Refers to DOJ for Prosecution (CTH)

The good news is the process to identify the subversive agents inside the various offices of the administration continues to yield results. The bad news is there’s a lot of them to identify and remove. Dept of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shares another leaker has been identified and removed. Additionally, she is referring their conduct to the Dept of Justice for criminal prosecution.

Both Noem and Gabbard appear to be continuing their methodical approach without fear or favor. Secretary Noem facing down the internal resistors within the FBI, who have been leaking about ICE enforcement operations. Director Gabbard working through the tentacles of the Intelligence Community to identify similarly minded IC agents. Meanwhile there was some media controversy about the FBI Special Agent in charge of the Atlanta Field office being removed from his position just prior to the execution of a federal search warrant in Fulton County. The reason for that removal now seems to come to light with the release of letter former Agent Paul Brown sent to Elections Director Nadine Williams giving her a head’s-up on the material the FBI was going to seize.

FBI Agent Brown asks Ms Williams to voluntarily hand over the material, which has the result of giving Fulton County a heads-up about the specifics of the material the FBI were going to gather and review in their search warrant. [..] Another positive outcome amid all of this, is honestly exposing FBI Director Kash Patel’s lack of operational control over the agency he heads. Each day more people are starting to realize what many of us have noted from the outset. Without first admitting the scale and scope of the problem within the FBI, there was no way Kash Patel was ever going to address it.

The issues with the FBI are obvious; a few examples: There were 40 FBI agents on the Robert Mueller investigation into Trump-Russia collusion. Why would any of them still be employed? Additionally, think about the J6 investigations and Arctic Frost, are those FBI agents still employed within the FBI? There is no apple, it’s all worms.

FEBRUARY 9, 2025:

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“…huge majorities of Republicans, Democrats, whites, Latinos, and black Americans all agreeing that you should show a photo ID to vote.”

• Why Democrats Fight Immigration Enforcement (Matt Margolis)

Democrats have spent years insisting illegal immigrants do not vote, yet Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries just gave the whole game away. In a letter to GOP leadershi p, they demanded a slate of “reforms” to immigration enforcement as the price for funding the Department of Homeland Security, including targeted enforcement, no masks, mandatory use of body cameras, and other demands, several of which I suspect are nonstarters. I don’t see Democrats getting anywhere with these, but the big thing is that buried in that list is a rather revealing demand:


“Protect Sensitive Locations – Prohibit funds from being used to conduct enforcement near sensitive locations, including medical facilities, schools, child-care facilities, churches, polling places, courts, etc.”

huge majorities of Republicans, Democrats, whites, Latinos, and black Americans all agreeing that you should show a photo ID to vote. Polling places? They went out of their way to include polling places right alongside hospitals, courts, and churches. There is only one thing that happens at polling places that would matter to illegal immigrants, and it is not the bake sale. Democrats have insisted for years that illegal immigrants cannot and do not vote, and that the whole issue is a right-wing myth. If that is true, then why is “polling places” even on their list of protected zones for immigration violators? No one accidentally adds “polling places” to a policy letter being negotiated at the leadership level. This is deliberate. It gives away what they are worried about… and what they are counting on.

“Democrats just admitted they think illegal aliens need to be protected at polling places. Why exactly would illegal aliens be at polling places? We MUST fully fund DHS AND pass the SAVE America Act,” Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) posted on X. That is the obvious question Democrats do not want to answer. If illegal immigrants are not supposed to be anywhere near the ballot box, then immigration enforcement near polling sites ought to be a non-issue.This comes as Republicans are pushing election reform through Congress with the SAVE Act. The SAVE Act is a straightforward concept: safeguard federal elections by ensuring only American citizens can cast ballots, and that an ID is required to vote.

Schumer’s response has been to smear the SAVE Act as “Jim Crow 2.0” and brand it “racist” and “dead on arrival.” That is the Democrats’ go-to play whenever Democrats feel threatened: slap a “Jim Crow” label on common-sense election rules and scare minorities into thinking Republicans are trying to stop them from voting. The problem is that even minorities aren’t buying it. As PJ Media previously reported, polling has shown consistent and overwhelming support for Voter ID laws for years. That consensus cuts across both party and race, with

Why are Democrats pushing so hard against common sense and trying to help illegal immigrants vote even though they’re not supposed to? Recent census projections show blue states are bleeding population while red states are gaining it, which will shift House seats and electoral votes after the 2030 reapportionment. As people flee high-tax, crime-ridden, Democrat-run states for freer red states, Democrats face shrinking power at the national level. That gives them every incentive to import a new population, shield it from enforcement, and eventually convert them into votes, one way or another.

That’s why Democrats have no qualms fighting so aggressively against overwhelmingly popular election reforms. For them, it’s a matter of survival.

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“Some Weird Sh*t” alright.

• Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman Deny Epstein Malarkey, And Here’s Some Weird Sh*t (ZH)

As the latest Epstein Files release continues to provide premium toilet reading and no arrests, tech billionaires Bill Gates and Linkedin founder Reid Hoffman are in full damage control mode, while President Donald Trump – whose name is all over the files as well, is back to asking if we can just move on. Other notables mentioned in the release are Steve Tisch, Richard Branson, Elon Musk, Harvey Weinstein, Leon Black, Peter Mandelson (who just imploded), Sergey Brin, Jason Calacanis, Howard Lutnick and the Nobel Prize committee (more on that later, it’s a fun one), and of course Ehud Barak.


To review – Gates, whose ex-wife Melinda says he ‘needs to answer to those things’ in the Epstein files – was featured in a 2013 email Epstein sent to himself – three months after the disgraced financier appears to have brought top Gates ‘assistant’ Boris Nikolic and ‘two Russian girls’ to Richard Branson’s island for a crypto summit. According to Epstein, Gates – who apparently severed ties with Epstein after some incident involving Boris, ‘implored’ Epstein to ‘delete the emails regarding your std, your request that I provide you with antibiotics that you can surreptitiously give to Melinda and the description of your penis.’ Gates responded to the latest email, claiming it was ‘never sent’ (incorrect) and that it’s ‘false,’ (though he did offer $100k to anyone that can make a ‘next generation’ condom earlier that year).

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/2019045284689424764

Hoffman vs. Musk Meanwhile, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman – who went to Epstein’s island, was invited to his weird fertility ranch, and apparently left his passport in a ‘gift bag’ for Epstein – has been trading Epstein ‘gotchas’ with Elon Musk, who asked Epstein if he could bring his ex-wife to the island for a ‘wild’ party. Hoffman claims he was only on Epstein’s island to fundraise with former MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito, while Musk claims Epstein used the fact that Hoffman was on the island to try to get him to go.

Feb 1: Musk drops ‘reid was on the island last weekend,’ email Epstein sent him, and notes that Hoffman brought ‘gifts’ to Epstein. Hoffman, who says he deeply regrets associating with Epstein post-conviction, defended his visit, replying to ZeroHedge after we asked to clarify that he went to Epstein island to raise money for MIT.

When asked if President Trump deserves the same ‘assumption of innocence’ that you are claiming, Hoffman pivots, saying he’s “been calling for an investigation,” adding “No one will need to assume anything if Trump releases all of the files, and we conduct a transparent investigation into those implicated in crimes.” Shockingly, not everyone is buying Hoffman’s story…

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/2018958358607520099

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“Look at Ukraine. The same political class that now shocks you with its private depravity has been overseeing the destruction of a country in public. These political cannibals may not literally devour people, but the result is much the same. They would have consumed Russia too, had it not resisted.”:

• How Many Handshakes From Epstein Are You? (Akhmedova)

The US Department of Justice has released another batch of files connected to Jeffrey Epstein, so extensive that even Russia’s “foreign agents” and émigré commentators felt compelled to sift through them. “It seems this isn’t a conspiracy theory after all,” they muttered, suddenly uneasy. “It seems the American and global elite really did indulge in depravity with children. And… perhaps even something worse.” Stunned, they asked each other: Will nothing change now that the truth is out? Is the world simply evil? But the world is not “doomed.” What these revelations provoke is disgust, outrage and, for many in Russia, very little surprise.


What exactly is new here? That parts of the global elite are morally rotten? But haven’t they behaved that way in full public view for years? Was it not the same elite – acting through NATO coalitions and political blocs – that bombed countries, toppled governments, and plunged entire regions into chaos? For over a decade, the world has lived with the consequences of decisions made by a tight circle of self-styled “civilized” leaders. The problem is not just a few twisted individuals. It is the elite as a collective. It’s cohesive, protected, smug, and convinced of its own impunity. When you see how casually they destroy weaker nations in politics, it’s not hard to imagine an island where the same people feel entitled to indulge their private vices.

Political cruelty and moral corruption rarely exist separately. Yet many of Russia’s liberal émigrés, who fled in 2022 hoping to merge into this very “global elite,” seem only now to be waking up. Journalist Anna Mongait, for example, wrote that she spent an entire day studying the Epstein files as if sorting through rubbish. She says it looks unreal, as though generated by artificial intelligence: “Old men I know from official chronicles groping teenage bodies. One frame would be enough for a universal scandal, but there are thousands.”

By evening, she said she was wondering whose handshake had indirectly connected her to Epstein. The thought, she wrote, made her want to wash her hands “up to the elbow.” Now she fears Epstein will drag down not only the American establishment, but “many of our own people.” But two things must be said. First: not everyone is linked to Epstein by some chain of social proximity. Many of us are not connected to that world at all. Not by one handshake, not by ten. He will not drag down “our people,” because we were never part of that circle.

Second: you did not need to know about Epstein’s island to recognize the moral bankruptcy of the global elite. Look at Ukraine. The same political class that now shocks you with its private depravity has been overseeing the destruction of a country in public. These political cannibals may not literally devour people, but the result is much the same. They would have consumed Russia too, had it not resisted. Those who left Russia did not support that resistance. Now they recoil from the elite they once admired. But is this a moral awakening, or simple disappointment? Perhaps they distance themselves now because the political winds have shifted, because figures like Trump do not favor them. If a smiling Western politician returned who embraced their worldview, would they not stretch out their hands again?

Cleansing oneself is actually simple. Stand on firm moral ground. Judge people by their actions, not their smiles, slogans, or fashionable reputations. Understand that evil persists as long as people remain fascinated by it and eager to belong to its circle. There are fewer such admirers left in Russia today. Not least because many of them have already left, and no longer lecture the rest of us about what we should be ashamed of.

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“And I am so happy to be away from all the muck.”

• Nancy Mace Demands SUBPOENA For Bill Gates In Epstein Case (MN)

Congresswoman Nancy Mace is turning up the heat on Bill Gates, pushing for a subpoena that could force the tech tycoon to spill the beans on his shady ties to Jeffrey Epstein—exposing how deep the rot runs in the elite circles that have long evaded justice. With the DOJ dropping three million pages of Epstein docs packed with stomach-turning allegations, Mace isn’t buying Gates’ denials, demanding he testify before Congress to set the record straight or face the consequences. Mace wasted no time after seeing Melinda Gates’ eye-opening comments about her ex-husband and Epstein during an NPR interview.

The Rep. announced a push to subpoena Bill Gates in a social media blast, revealing she has asked House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) to haul the Microsoft founder in “immediately.” “We’re calling for Bill Gates to testify under oath on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein in front of the Oversight Committee,” Mace declared. She added: “[Three] million pages of Epstein documents were just released by the DOJ and the allegations are SICK. If these allegations are false, Bill Gates should have no problem saying so under oath before Congress.” “Nobody is above the law. Not billionaires. Not the powerful. Nobody,” Mace added.

The latest Epstein files, unleashed by the Department of Justice, include a 2013 email from the predator himself alleging Gates caught an STD after “sex with Russians girls” and schemed to slip antibiotics to Melinda without her knowing. Another 2017 email hints at Epstein blackmailing Gates over an alleged affair with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova. Melinda’s response on NPR’s Wild Card podcast lit the fuse for Mace. Melinda said Gates and other Epstein cronies “need to answer to those things.”

“I think we’re having a reckoning as a society,” she told host Rachel Martin. “No girl should ever be put in the situation that they were put in by Epstein and whatever was going on with all of the various people around him.” Reflecting on the victims, Melinda added: “It’s beyond heartbreaking. I remember being those ages those girls were; I remember my daughters being those ages.” The Gates’ 2021 divorce announcement cited: “[W]e no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives.” But Melinda tied the Epstein mess directly to her pain: “So, for me, it’s personally hard whenever those details come up because it brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage, but I have moved on from that.”

She pointed the finger squarely: “whatever questions” that remain on the Epstein debacle “are for those people, and even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me. And I am so happy to be away from all the muck.” Gates’ camp fired back through a spokesperson: “These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false.” They claimed: “The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame.”

This push comes amid a broader reckoning, with the DOJ’s massive file dump shining a light on elite entanglements. Fresh scrutiny hits figures like Elon Musk and Howard Lutnick over their Epstein links, proving no one is immune. Gates’ own squirming defense on Australia’s 9News—claiming he was “only at dinners” and never met women—got shredded on The View, with hosts like Joy Behar mocking: “I know nothing. I did nothing.” Even that leftist stronghold is turning, signaling Gates’ PR fortress is crumbling.

The Clintons have also finally caved under pressure, agreeing to testify in the Epstein probe after dodging subpoenas for months. Facing contempt charges, Bill and Hillary bent the knee, with depositions set for late February— a win for transparency against deep state stonewalling. This cascade signals that the elite pedophile network’s protectors are finally cracking. As Mace leads the charge, it’s clear the Epstein saga is far from over. Globalists like Gates, long shielded by their billions and media allies, now face real oversight. The Clintons’ testimony could unleash more bombshells, exposing how power corridors enabled this horror.

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“… Gates sought help obtaining drugs “in order to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls.”

• Vance Slams ‘Incestuous’ US Elites Over Epstein Files (RT)

US Vice President J.D. Vance has said new documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein expose what he described as an “incestuous” culture among America’s political and business elites. The documents, released by the US Justice Department last week, include previously unpublished records from Epstein’s estate and related investigations. The trove spans more than 3 million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images, renewing scrutiny of his connections to political, business, and tech figures and revealing how he maintained ties with prominent individuals even after his 2008 conviction.


Vance told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that the files expose a “pretty incestuous nature” among America’s elites, calling the revelations “pretty gross.” He singled out figures including Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, former US President Bill Clinton, and billionaire Bill Gates, saying the disclosures reflected “very poorly on them.” The documents show Musk discussing plans in 2013 to visit Epstein’s private island, asking about “a good time to visit,” with Epstein offering to send his helicopter. The trip never happened, and Musk said he never traveled to the island.

A separate 2013 email shows Epstein sending himself a document claiming Gates sought help obtaining drugs “in order to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls.” A spokesperson for Gates dismissed the claim as “absolutely absurd and completely false.” Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee in its investigation into Epstein. The ex-president has previously acknowledged flying on Epstein’s private jet in the early 2000s but denied wrongdoing. The couple had initially resisted subpoenas, calling them “invalid and legally unenforceable.”

Speaking about Trump, whose name appears in the files on at least 3,000 occasions and who has denied being friends with Epstein, Vance said the president “knows a lot of these people” due to his wealth and status but “is very much outside of the social circle” and was not closely involved. Trump himself has accused Epstein of plotting against him, writing on social media: “I never went to the infested Epstein island but, almost all of these Crooked Democrats, and their Donors, did.” Epstein died in a New York jail in 2019, in a death ruled a suicide, which has fueled conspiracy theories, including claims he was killed to prevent the disclosure of compromising material involving prominent figures.

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“Hospice is crazy here,” Dr. Oz said. “You’ve got hospice that’s grown seven-fold in the last five years. They represent about three and a half billion dollars of fraud, we believe, just in LA County.”

• Vance To Lead Sweeping Anti-Fraud Task Force Investigating California (ZH)

Vice President JD Vance is poised to chair a new White House task force aimed at rooting out potential fraud and abuse in government programs in California, according to CBS News. Andrew Ferguson, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, is expected to serve as the task force’s vice chairman and handle day-to-day operations, CBS News reports. President Donald Trump is anticipated to issue an executive order in the coming days to formally establish the group, the news outlet said. The White House task force would operate separately from a related Justice Department effort led by Colin McDonald, a Trump nominee for a new fraud-investigation role at the department. McDonald is expected to also probe fraud in Minnesota uncovered by YouTuber Nick Shirley and other independent journalists.

https://twitter.com/NJGOP/status/2017397171604115771

California has long grappled with documented issues of waste, fraud, and weak oversight in state and federally funded programs. State auditors have for more than a decade flagged problems including persistent cost overruns, inadequate internal controls, and unimplemented reform recommendations across various initiatives, CBS News reported last month. California’s Employment Development Department faced acute criticism during the pandemic, when unemployment-insurance fraud resulted in an estimated $20 billion or more in improper payments, while many eligible claimants endured lengthy delays in receiving benefits, according to NPR News. Separately, federal officials have recently scrutinized fraud risks in hospice and home-health services, particularly in Los Angeles County.

Last week, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz visited the area to draw attention to the issue, citing the rapid proliferation of hospice providers and potential billions in improper billings. One physician in California reportedly billed the government $120 million in a single year while claiming oversight of 1,900 patients -an volume that has raised questions about feasibility and potential abuse. The county is home to nearly 2,000 licensed hospice agencies, a number exceeding the combined total in more than 36 states and roughly 30 times the count in states such as Florida or New York. “Hospice is crazy here,” Dr. Oz said. “You’ve got hospice that’s grown seven-fold in the last five years. They represent about three and a half billion dollars of fraud, we believe, just in LA County.”

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“… has made a policy decision to create a critical mineral reserve [..] The initiative is called “Project Vault.”

• Vance and Rubio Lead ‘Critical Minerals’ Strategic Ministerial Gathering (CTH)

In the past few years people have heard the term “rare earth minerals” or “critical minerals” as they relate to the manufacture of component goods that are vitally important in the lives of everyone. However, the term “rare” is somewhat of a misnomer. The minerals themselves are not rare; indeed, they have been around for hundreds of millions of years in abundant supply. It is the processing of those minerals into stable second stage commodities that has become rare.


As a result of western environmental rules and regulations, U.S, EU and developed nations have outsourced critical mineral processing (the dirty stuff) to China and Asia. We then import the finished commodity after processing. This becomes a problem when you realize the processor can weaponize western dependency, as we have recently seen with China controlling the export of processed minerals needed for manufacturing. President Trump has made a strategic decision to bring back the manufacturing of critical minerals to the United States and has made a policy decision to create a critical mineral reserve. Just last Monday President Trump announced a $12 billion strategic mineral reserve to combat China’s domination of critical mineral supply chains, a major step toward tackling China’s advantage in a crucial sector of the U.S. economy. The initiative is called “Project Vault.”

“For years, American businesses have risked running out of critical minerals during market disruptions,” President Trump said. “Just as we have long had a strategic petroleum reserve and a stockpile of critical minerals for national defense, we are now creating this reserve for American industry,” Trump said during the Oval Office announcement. Today in Washington DC, Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio led a critical minerals discussion at the State Dept., where they are organizing an effort to get all nations to invest and create their own critical minerals strategic reserves. WATCH:

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Faster than us?!

• How Fast Is The Asian Population Ageing? (ZH)

The latest revision of UN World Population Prospects reveals that demographic shift is no longer a distant projection but an accelerating reality across parts of Asia, with the share of people aged 65 and over rising fast in several countries. As Statista’s Tristan Gaudiaut reports, this trend poses a significant challenge in the region for labor markets, public finances and care systems within a single generation. The figures (UN medium-scenario projections) show Japan already far ahead, as older adults made up already around 29 percent of the population in 2020, and are projected to surpass 30 percent in the coming years: 31.1 percent by 2030 and 35.4 percent by 2040. But, as our infographic shows, the more striking story is the pace of change elsewhere.

South Korea and China are among the standout accelerators. Both countries are expected to see their 65+ population shares more than double between 2020 and 2040. In South Korea, this figure is projected to surge from 15.8 percent (2020) to 33.8 percent (2040), while in China, it is expected to rise from 12.7 percent to 26.6 percent.

Those trajectories mirror intensifying national concerns about future labor supply and pension burdens, amid persistent low fertility and a shrinking workforce. Meanwhile, rapid ageing is not confined to the region’s richest economies. Thailand and Vietnam start from lower baselines, yet both trend sharply upward by 2040. Both South-East Asian countries are projected to see their 65+ population shares double in twenty-years: Thailand to 25.6 percent and Vietnam to 15.8 percent.

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https://twitter.com/MarioBojic/status/2019010007887478792 https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/2019025650099855464

 

 

 

 

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Debt Rattle February 4 2026

Feb 042026
 
 February 4, 2026  Posted by at 11:35 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , ,  65 Responses »


David Hockney The Big Tree in Autumn 1 November 2020


• U.S. Navy Shoots Down Iranian Drone Approaching Aircraft Carrier (Salgado)
• Europe’s Russian Gas Ban Is Set to Trigger a New Wave of LNG Tanker Demand (Slav)
• New York Released Almost 7,000 Criminal Illegal Aliens (Salgado)
• The Trump Coalition Wins, But the GOP Brand Doesn’t (Daniel McCarthy)
• Brussels Can’t Make Peace With Moscow Until It Breaks Its Habits (Ryumshin)
• Musk’s X Office In Paris Raided By Cybercrime Unit (ZH)
• ‘Not a Free Country’: Telegram CEO Slams France’s X Office Raid (Salgado)
• Gabbard Defends Presence at Fulton County Election Warrant Execution (ET)
• UK’s Mandelson Accused Of Leaking Bombshell Financial Data To Epstein (ZH)
• Ghislaine Maxwell Claims Dozens of Epstein’s Accomplices Got Off Scot-free (RT)
• British PM Calls On Ex-Prince Andrew To Testify Over Epstein Links (RT)

 

 


Make power in space.

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2018703572016287879/

 

 

 

 


Harmless contraption. But the story sells back home.

• U.S. Navy Shoots Down Iranian Drone Approaching Aircraft Carrier (Salgado)

The U.S. Navy reportedly shot down an Iranian drone apparently threatening one of our aircraft carriers on Tuesday, as tensions continued to mount between the two countries’ governments. Reuters reported that U.S. military officials confirmed to it that the Navy shot down an Iranian Shahed-139 drone, which “aggressively” approached the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea today. An F-35 fighter jet took out the drone after it exhibited a pattern “with unclear intent.”


U.S. Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins told Reuters, “An F-35C fighter jet from Abraham Lincoln shot down the Iranian drone in self-defense and to protect the aircraft carrier and personnel on board.” Fortunately, no American servicemen or equipment were injured in the incident. The United States has built up its naval presence in the Middle East as it seemed to be preparing for Donald Trump’s promised strike on the Islamic regime in Iran. The regime has massacred 30,000+ freedom protesters in the country (per TIME), and Trump originally indicated he was going to take military action to support the protesters. He has not done so, and diplomats have been trying to keep Trump from taking any military action.

The Iranian Islamic regime is one of America’s most aggressively hostile enemies, as Ayatollah Khamenei and his fellow terror-sponsoring authoritarians say that “death to America” is an official policy. Khamenei has repeatedly threatened to assassinate Trump. U.S. Central Command does not appear to have issued an official statement on the incident aside from its comments to Reuters. The outlet reported:

Trump, who stopped short of carrying out threats to intervene during the crackdown, has since demanded Tehran make nuclear concessions and sent a flotilla to its coast. He said last week Iran was “seriously talking,” while Tehran’s top security official, Ali Larijani, said arrangements for negotiations were under way. The U.S. military’s Central Command said in another incident on Tuesday, hours later in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces harassed a U.S.-flagged, U.S.-crewed merchant vessel. Hawkins stated, “Two IRGC boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone approached M/V Stena Imperative at high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker.”

There is some debate as to why Trump pulled back from striking the Islamic regime, with some reports indicating he did so after talking with pro-Khamenei Qatari officials and other Gulf dictators. It remains to be seen if the Trump administration will take more decisive action after this.

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Europe pretends it’s rich. It’ll pay double for US gas

• Europe’s Russian Gas Ban Is Set to Trigger a New Wave of LNG Tanker Demand (Slav)

The European Union’s plan to ban LNG imports from Russia will prompt a surge in demand for LNG carriers to the tune of 30 new vessels, a senior Vortexa analyst said ahead of the LNG Qatar gathering that starts today. According to Ashley Sherman, senior LNG analyst at the company, if the EU sanctions leave currently unsanctioned Yamal LNG free to deliver liquefied gas to European buyers, at least 30 new low ice-class or non-ice-class LNG carriers to satisfy demand for the fuel from the second-largest importing region after Asia.


In December last year, the European Union agreed a legally binding, gradual reduction in both LNG and pipeline gas imports from Russia, eventually resulting in a full ban on these exports, with the deadlines set for the end of 2026 for LNG and the autumn of 2027 for pipeline gas. Last month, the European Council gave the final approval to the ban. It also gave EU members until March to “prepare national plans to diversify gas supplies and identify potential challenges in replacing Russian gas.” Hungary and Slovakia have protested the move on the grounds it would raise their energy costs to unacceptable levels.

The Yamal LNG facility, operated by Novatek, has been excluded from direct sanctions so far due to the Europea Union’s strong demand for gas, but the EU has sanctioned vessels loading from the Western Siberian LNG plant. Novatek’s second LNG plant, however, Arctic LNG 2, along with Gazprom’s Portovaya LNG plant, are under Western sanctions. They still export liquefied gas to China, despite the sanctions on both production facilities and LNG carriers servicing them. Meanwhile, the EU imported record volumes of LNG last month amid harsh winter weather, with the total calculated at 12.7 billion cu m, Russia’s TASS news agency reported, citing figures from Gas Infrastructure Europe.

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Anti-ICE.

• New York Released Almost 7,000 Criminal Illegal Aliens (Salgado)

New York released almost 7,000 criminal illegal aliens last year as a result of sanctuary policies, rewarding killers, rapists, robbers, and burglars while defying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). On Feb. 2, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a press release about the arrest of Gerardo Miguel-Mora, a criminal illegal alien with an extremely lengthy rap sheet for strangulation, rape, grand larceny, burglary, sexual assault, and drug possession.


New York City released Miguel-Mora because city officials refuse to honor ICE detainers, so ICE had to re-arrest him on Jan. 30 of this year. But Miguel-Mora is no exception. He is one of thousands of illegal aliens who benefitted, at least temporarily, from sanctuary policies. At the end of the release on Miguel-Mora, DHS included two illuminating paragraphs of data covering Jan. 20, 2025, when Donald Trump took office, up to the present time. DHS said that New York, in defying ICE detainers, freed 6,947 criminal illegal aliens.

DHS explained further: The crimes of these aliens include 29 homicides, 2,509 assaults, 199 burglaries, 305 robberies, 392 dangerous drugs offenses, 300 weapons offenses, and 207 sexual predatory offenses. There are currently 7,113 aliens in the custody of a New York jurisdiction with an active detainer. The crimes of these aliens include 148 homicides, 717 assaults, 134 burglaries, 106 robberies, 235 dangerous drugs offenses, 152 weapons offenses, and 260 sexual predatory offenses. And since Commie Mamdani is now mayor of New York City, expect such numbers to grow even more out-of-control.

Since the DHS used Miguel-Mora as an example, I will too. Between July and August of 2011 — more than a decade ago — authorities charged Miguel-Mora with various crimes including strangulation and rape. The New York State Supreme Court convicted the illegal alien of burglary in 2012, and sentenced him to 42 months in jail, plus 10 years of post-release supervision. In 2023, Miguel-Mora was still in the United States for some insane reason, and the New York Police Department arrested and charged him with false personation and grand larceny. NYPD subsequently arrested and charged the criminal illegal alien with crimes twice in 2024, releasing him the very day after the arrest both times to avoid ICE detainers. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a criminal warrant for Miguel-Mora for illegal reentry as an aggravated felon in 2025.

In January of this year, NYPD arrested Miguel-Mora twice, but released him both times despite the federal arrest warrant and ICE detainer. So ICE finally had to arrest Miguel-Mora themselves. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin emphasized, “These are the types of public safety threats New York Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani are releasing from their jails onto the streets to perpetrate more crimes and create more victims. We need local law enforcement to cooperate with us to get these heinous criminals out of our neighborhoods. 7 of the 10 safest cities in the United States cooperate with ICE. We are once again calling on Governor Hochul to commit to turning the more than 7,000 heinous criminals in New York’s custody over to ICE.”

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What will the GOP do in 2028, when Trump can no longer be elected?

• The Trump Coalition Wins, But the GOP Brand Doesn’t (Daniel McCarthy)

Just how badly did Republicans do in two Texas special elections last weekend? Not as badly as apocalyptic headlines in liberal-leaning outlets would suggest — but badly enough that Republicans nationwide have to learn some searing lessons. Although the GOP lost both races, one was for a U.S. House seat that’s been in Democrats’ hands for decades: Christian Menefee’s victory narrows the GOP’s congressional majority, but only because that safely blue seat had been vacant since Rep. Sylvester Turner died last March.


The other contest, which yielded an upset, was for a Texas state senate seat that will be up for election again before the legislature convenes. In other words, the victorious Democrat, Taylor Rehmet, won’t get to vote on anything before Texans get another vote on him, and the November race that really matters is certain to have stronger turnout than last Saturday’s special election. The trouble is Rehmet didn’t just win, he won by more than 14 points in a red-leaning Ft. Worth-area district.

Democrats and much of the media converged on the same message: this was a district Donald Trump won by roughly 17 points in 2024, so the swing away from the GOP was more than 30 points, a staggering humiliation that augurs a Republican wipeout in November. But comparing presidential elections to state senate elections — and a January special election, at that — is absurd. Never mind presidential years: Saturday’s turnout was pitiful even in comparison to typical off-year state legislative races. Merely 94,000 or so people voted last weekend, barely a third as many as participated the last time the seat was up in a general election, back in 2022, when nearly 278,000 ballots were cast.

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“Peace with Russia? Not until the EU changes its political class..”

• Brussels Can’t Make Peace With Moscow Until It Breaks Its Habits (Ryumshin)

Relations between Russia and the European Union are now at their lowest point since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The economic and cultural ties that once connected us were largely severed in 2022. Today, our neighbors are effectively finishing the job. They are doing so in two ways: by introducing ever more trade restrictions, and by sustaining a climate of military hysteria that justifies higher defense spending and the gradual dismantling of Western Europe’s welfare model.


Yet even in this bleak landscape, a faint glimmer of hope has appeared. The recent confrontation with the United States over Greenland has forced EU leaders to rethink their place in the global order. For years, the bloc’s members treated the US as a reliable strategic rear. That allowed them to align almost automatically with Washington. But this year, Western European capitals were reminded that America is a power with its own interests, which may sharply diverge from theirs. Unconditional loyalty has suddenly begun to look like a strategic risk.

From this realization flow conclusions that, until recently, would have been politically unthinkable in Western Europe. Dependence on American gas, it turns out, is no better than dependence on Russian gas. Except that imported LNG from across the Atlantic is far more expensive. More broadly, the United States, given its capabilities and assertiveness, can itself become a source of pressure and even a military risk. These thoughts are still spoken quietly, but they are no longer taboo.

Against this backdrop, the first cautious voices in favor of renewing dialogue with Russia have emerged inside the EU. What is notable is that they are not coming from marginal far-right forces, but from mainstream figures such as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. Their statements remain hedged: we need to talk, they say, but the time is not yet right. Still, the very fact that the possibility of future relations with Moscow has returned to the political discourse marks a qualitative shift in the thinking of Western Europe’s elites.

If the EU is serious about standing on its own feet, it will eventually have to resolve the Russian question. For now, however, Brussels remains trapped in an outdated worldview. Its foreign policy is still overly ideological, rooted in the early 2010s. Its leaders continue to speak about a “rules-based world order” and to treat states whose political systems differ from their own liberal democratic model as inherent threats. This mindset also explains the EU’s confrontational approach to China, which from the outside often looks strategically self-defeating.

A genuine and pragmatic dialogue with Russia would require Western Europe to move beyond these assumptions. It would also mean abandoning the posture of moral superiority that flows from them. This is not a simple shift: it involves rethinking how the bloc understands power and sovereignty.

A second necessary step would be a sober recognition that the EU’s interests end where Russia’s begin. Just as Moscow once accepted the Baltic state’s accession to NATO as a geopolitical reality, Brussels must accept that Ukraine, in one form or another, will remain in Russia’s strategic focus. Western European policy should be built around this fact, not around ideological narratives about an existential struggle between democracies and autocracies.

Finally, before relations with Moscow can truly improve, the EU would need to distance itself more decisively from Washington. Despite current tensions with the Trump administration, many leaders still hope that the storm will pass and that transatlantic relations will return to their old pattern. But this is likely an illusion. Only once this illusion fades will Western Europe be able to define its own long-term interests clearly, and to see how important cooperation with Russia could be in that context.

None of this will happen quickly. Meaningful change will probably begin only with a partial generational shift in the EU’s political class. Leaders who built their careers on confrontation with Russia will gradually give way to more pragmatic figures. The first signs may appear within a year, with elections in France and Italy. A more decisive turning point could come with the electoral cycle in Germany and Britain in 2029, unless early votes intervene. A European parliament vote is also scheduled for that year.

If, by the end of that cycle, figures like Kaja Kallas are replaced in European diplomacy by politicians closer to the pragmatic line of Giorgia Meloni, it will signal that Western Europe is finally adjusting to a more realistic understanding of the world. That, in turn, could open the door to a gradual de-escalation with Russia. Until then, confrontation will likely remain the dominant framework. Not because it is inevitable, but because the EU has not yet completed its own political and strategic rethink.

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Naked power game. “..child abuse images, sexually explicit deepfakes, Holocaust denial content..” We’re supposed to think Elon promotes those things? Really, Macron?

• Musk’s X Office In Paris Raided By Cybercrime Unit (ZH)

One week after the European Commission opened a new formal investigation into Elon Musk’s X under the Digital Services Act (DSA) and expanded a separate probe launched in December 2023, X’s Paris office was raided by France’s cybercrime unit as part of an investigation into the distribution of sexual deepfakes and Holocaust denial content. “A search is being carried out at the French premises of X by the cybercrime unit of the Paris public prosecutor’s office, together with @CyberGEND and @Europol , as part of the investigation opened in January 2025,” the Paris prosecutors’ office wrote on X early Tuesday.


The Paris public prosecutor’s office also said it is leaving the X platform and will post exclusively on Reid Hoffman’s LinkedIn and Meta-owned Instagram. In a statement, the public prosecutor’s office said that both Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino (former X CEO) had been summoned for voluntary questioning “in their capacity as de facto and de jure managers of the X platform at the time of the events.” The prosecutor’s office set the date for April 20, a day frequently associated with Musk, suggesting the activists chose it as a pointed jab.

Back to the X message: “Find us on Lkd and Insta.” What a ridiculous statement from the prosecutor’s office. It only reinforces the idea that this is pure political theater, emblematic of Europe’s left-wing, unhinged censorship regime targeting a U.S. billionaire who has done more to uphold free speech than anyone else in the West. X previously described the probe’s widening last year as “politically-motivated”… The prosecutor’s office said it was examining “alleged complicity” in offences related to the platform, including the spreading of child abuse images and sexually explicit deepfakes via the AI chatbot on X called “Grok.”Yet, no investigation into other chatbots?

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Pavel Durov has a strange story with France by now.

• ‘Not a Free Country’: Telegram CEO Slams France’s X Office Raid (Salgado)

The French government is one of the worst European persecutors of free speech, and it just added another flagrant abuse to its list by raiding X’s office in what many, including the CEO of Telegram, allege is a politically-motivated move. The UK, Germany, and France have all become as synonymous with aggressive government censorship as openly dictatorial and socialist regimes. Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has some personal experience with how biased the French government can be against free speech, as the nation’s officials actually arrested him back in 2024 over his reluctance to comply with extreme demands.


Durov posted on X Tuesday morning, “French police is [sic] currently raiding X’s office in Paris. France is the only country in the world that is criminally persecuting all social networks that give people some degree of freedom (Telegram, X, TikTok…). Don’t be mistaken: this is not a free country.” One might contest his inclusion of TikTok, given that it is still partially owned by the genocidal and anti-West Chinese Communist Party (CCP), but it is true that the French government — which frequently panders to the CCP — seems to base its investigations into and persecution of platforms not so much on real national security threats (after all, French officials are fine with allowing in hordes of unassimilating Muslims), but on whether it can sufficiently repress free speech on those platforms.

The Paris prosecutor’s office and Europol were involved in the raid on X’s office in France, according to Fox Business. It appears that the raid is the result of a fairly new Paris investigation, added to the investigation that has already sparked controversy both in France and abroad. One might almost say, in fact, that French politicians have drawn inspiration from the CCP in cracking down on free speech. The French government certainly does not model its actions on democratic principles anymore. Like Durov, X Global Government Affairs has previously made the case that the ongoing French government investigations into the company are an excuse to pressure X into more authoritarian censorship policies.

For example, last July, X Global Government Affairs accused French politician Eric Bothorel of triggering an investigation as an effort to undercut “X’s fundamental right to due process and threatens our users’ rights to privacy and free speech.” The X department argued, “French authorities have launched a politically-motivated criminal investigation into X over the alleged manipulation of its algorithm and alleged ‘fraudulent data extraction.’ X categorically denies these allegations.”

I cannot, of course, pronounce one way or the other as to whether X is guilty of the allegations, and I must acknowledge as a separate point that X does have a track record of complying more than it ought to with dictatorial governments. That said, the French government is also extremely corrupt. When the authoritarian and corrupt hurl allegations against others of exactly what they themselves do, it naturally inspires suspicions.

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“Tulsi Gabbard has been tapped by the president to oversee the sanctity and the security of our American elections.”

• Gabbard Defends Presence at Fulton County Election Warrant Execution (ET)

National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard on Feb. 2 defended her presence at a Fulton County elections office while FBI agents executed a search warrant there, saying President Donald Trump had requested that she go to the Georgia office and that she has the authority to take action related to election integrity and security. “Interference in U.S. elections is a threat to our republic and a national security threat,” Gabbard said in a letter to members of Congress.


“The president and his administration are committed to safeguarding the integrity of U.S. elections to ensure that neither foreign nor domestic powers undermine the American people’s right to determine who our elected leaders are.” She said that Trump tasked her office with taking appropriate action under the authority granted by Congress toward ensuring the integrity of elections, and specifically directed her to observe the execution of the warrant in Fulton County near Atlanta on Jan. She also said she facilitated a call in which Trump briefly thanked the agents for their work. Trump did not ask any questions during the call, and neither the president nor Gabbard issued directives, she said.

“Tulsi Gabbard has been tapped by the president to oversee the sanctity and the security of our American elections. She’s working directly alongside the FBI Director Kash Patel,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday. “This is a coordinated, whole-of-government effort to ensure that our elections are … fair and transparent moving forward. I don’t see anything wrong with the president tasking a cabinet member to pursue an issue that most people want to see solved.” FBI officials previously described agents as executing a court-authorized warrant about a month after the Trump administration filed a lawsuit against the county seeking voting records from the 2020 presidential election.

County officials have said the records were under seal and could not be produced absent a court order. Trump has alleged that he lost in Georgia in 2020 because of election fraud. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), top Democrats on congressional intelligence committees, in a Jan. 29 letter said Gabbard’s presence was “deeply concerning.” “The intelligence community should be focused on foreign threats and, as you yourself have testified, when those intelligence authorities are turned inwards the results can be devastating for Americans privacy and civil liberties,” they wrote.

The lawmakers asked for Gabbard’s reasoning for attending the FBI operation and legal authorities for her involvement and that of other intelligence officials.n Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) was among other critics of Gabbard’s actions. “The seizure of ballots in Fulton County may trace back to Trump’s refusal to accept his 2020 loss, but the danger is forward-looking. Tulsi Gabbard has no legal role in domestic law enforcement, and the FBI should not be seizing ballots,” he said on social media on Feb. 1.

Gabbard said in response that personnel from the National Counterintelligence and Security Center traveled with her to Fulton County but were not present during the execution of the warrant. She said that she has not seen the warrant, which is under seal, or evidence submitted to the court by the Department of Justice.mShe also said that to preserve the integrity of American elections, officials must determine whether there has been malign interference and whether election systems are vulnerable to future exploitation.“Election security is a national security issue,” Gabbard wrote.

The National Security Act gives the Office of the Director of National Intelligence the authority to coordinate and integrate national intelligence, including intelligence related to elections, Gabbard said. mShe promised that the office would not “irresponsibly share incomplete intelligence assessments” concerning election interference. Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said on X this week that Gabbard had found 2020 election fraud. Kent, who did not elaborate, later shared Gabbard’s letter to Warner and Himes.

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What did a gay guy like so much about Epstein? Blackmail? Makes no sense.

• UK’s Mandelson Accused Of Leaking Bombshell Financial Data To Epstein (ZH)

Former U.K. Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson – who was fired last September from his new role as ambassador to the United States due to his ties to Jeffrey Epstein – is facing mounting political and legal pressure following disclosures that he may have shared market-sensitive government information with Epstein during the global financial crisis. Documents released Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of the so-called Epstein files appear to show that Mandelson, then business secretary in the Labour government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, forwarded confidential policy discussions and draft plans to the disgraced financier while the government was grappling with the collapse of global credit markets.


As the Guardian notes, emails forwarded to Epstein from the very top of the UK government include:

• A confidential UK government document outlining £20bn in asset sales.
• Mandelson claiming he was “trying hard” to change government policy on bankers’ bonuses.
• An imminent bailout package for the euro the day before it was announced in 2010.
• A suggestion that the JPMorgan boss “mildly threaten” the chancellor.
• Epstein asked Mandelson to confirm a €500bn bailout – which the then business secretary said would be announced that evening. The following day, Mandelson also appeared to give Epstein an early tipoff about Gordon Brown’s resignation.

The revelations have prompted Prime Minister Keir Starmer to order an investigation by the cabinet secretary and to demand that Mandelson resign from the House of Lords. Brown has separately asked the cabinet secretary, Chris Wormald, to investigate the alleged disclosures.Opposition parties have escalated the matter further. The Scottish National Party and Reform UK have reported Mandelson to police, alleging misconduct in a public office. Emily Thornberry, Labour’s chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said the allegations should be examined as a potential criminal matter.

[..] According to the disclosures, emails forwarded to Epstein from senior levels of the British government included a confidential document outlining £20 billion in potential asset sales, discussions about changing policy on bankers’ bonuses, details of an imminent eurozone bailout package ahead of its public announcement in 2010, and references to pressuring the chancellor through senior banking executives. In one email sent on June 13, 2009, Nick Butler, then a special adviser to Brown, circulated a memo detailing policy measures under consideration and suggesting that the government had £20 billion in saleable assets. Mandelson forwarded the message to Epstein, writing, “Interesting note that’s gone to the PM.”

Epstein replied asking, “what salable (sic) assets?” A response from a redacted email address stated: “Land, property I guess.” Four months later, the government announced plans to sell surplus real estate in a bid to raise £16 billion. Butler said he was considering reporting the matter to police. “We worked on the basis of trust, which allowed us to float ideas,” he told the Times. “I am disgusted by the breach of trust, presumably intended to give Epstein the chance to make money.”

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Bought off.

• Ghislaine Maxwell Claims Dozens of Epstein’s Accomplices Got Off Scot-free (RT)

Twenty-nine alleged accomplices and co-conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein have avoided prosecution, most of them through “secret settlements,” the disgraced financier and sex offender’s partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, has claimed in court documents.Several media outlets on Thursday reported on Maxwell’s filing dated December 2025. On Friday, the US Department of Justice announced the release of a new batch of the so-called Epstein files. Epstein was found dead in 2019 in his cell at a Manhattan correctional facility while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.


Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison term over her role in the infamous sex-trafficking ring. In the court papers cited by the media, Maxwell petitioned the court to overturn her conviction, citing what she described as “new evidence of the collusion between the plaintiff’s lawyers and the government to conceal evidence and the prosecutorial misconduct.” Epstein’s former partner claimed that “new evidence reveals that there were 25 men with which the plaintiff lawyers reached secret settlements.” According to the filing, another four of Epstein’s co-conspirators never faced charges. It is not clear from Maxwell’s motion whether she contends that the individuals in question had also sealed similar deals with federal authorities.

Asked by a reporter about Maxwell’s allegations, Deputy Attorney General Blanche said on Friday that “to the extent that such arrangements exist, I’m not aware of them.” Disclosures from the so-called Epstein files indicated that he had associated with many high-profile politicians and business people, including ex-US President Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, US President Donald Trump, and ex-US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to release the ‘Epstein files,’ but as president he has bristled at the issue, dismissing calls to make the documents public as a politically motivated “hoax.” Late last year, amid sustained public pressure, Trump mandated the Department of Justice to release the first batch of heavily redacted Epstein-related documents.

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Formerly known as Prince

• British PM Calls On Ex-Prince Andrew To Testify Over Epstein Links (RT)

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to testify before the US Congress after the former royal was featured extensively in the latest tranche of Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice. The documents were published under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law by US President Donald Trump in November last year, which requires the Justice Department to release federal records linked to investigations into Jeffrey Epstein. Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his royal titles last year, appears in emails and photographs included in the cache released Friday.


Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Starmer was asked whether the former prince should apologize and give evidence to US lawmakers if requested. “Firstly, I have always approached this question with the victims of Epstein in mind. Epstein’s victims have to be the first priority. As for whether there should be an apology, that’s a matter for Andrew,” he said. “But yes, in terms of testifying, I have always said anybody who has got information should be prepared to share that information in whatever form they are asked to do that. You can’t be victim-centered if you’re not prepared to do that,” he added.

The brother of King Charles III has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has previously claimed he ended his relationship with Epstein after the financier’s first conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008. However, the latest release includes photographs and email exchanges between the two from 2010, two years after the disgraced financier pleaded guilty in Florida.The images show the former royal kneeling over an unidentified woman lying on the floor, with no context provided as to when or where they were taken. The emails also feature Epstein proposing that Andrew have dinner with a “beautiful, trustworthy” 26-year-old Russian woman.

Last year, the king stripped his brother of his royal titles and honors following renewed controversy linked to Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April. In 2022, Andrew settled a civil lawsuit with Giuffre, who alleged she was trafficked to the then-Prince for non-consensual encounters while still a minor under New York law.

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https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/2018488089325289899/

 

 

 

 

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Debt Rattle October 3 2025

Oct 032025
 
 October 3, 2025  Posted by at 9:14 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , ,  82 Responses »


Rembrandt van Rijn Student at a table by candlelight c.1642

 

• Vance Destroys Jeffries’ Claim That Sombrero Meme Is ‘Racist’ (Cantrell)
• Ukraine’s Patriots Can’t Tackle Russian Missiles – FT (RT))
• Merz Rivalry With Von Der Leyen Heating Up – Bloomberg (RT)
• Musk Becomes First Person Worth $500 Billion – Forbes (RT)
• Large Training Center For Ukrainian Troops Opens In Poland (RT)
• When Tomahawk Meets Bear, The Hazel Tree (Oreshnik) Wins (Helmer)
• We Are Approaching The Oreshnik Moment (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Bessent Outlines Ramifications of Dem Shutdown Day #2 (CTH)

 

 

https://twitter.com/ricwe123/status/1973657381872562557
https://twitter.com/MyLordBebo/status/1973671919305028041

 

 

 

 

How could you not laugh?

• Vance Destroys Jeffries’ Claim That Sombrero Meme Is ‘Racist’ (Cantrell)

Vice President JD Vance shrugged off liberal outrage over President Donald Trump sharing a meme video of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a sombrero, saying he couldn’t understand claims that it was “racist.” The radical left truly has no sense of humor. Is it any wonder they always look miserable, mean, and nasty to anyone who holds different beliefs? Maybe if they learned how to laugh once in a while, they wouldn’t be so violent. A reporter asked Vance on Wednesday if Trump’s meme helped efforts to reach a government funding deal. “Oh, I think it’s funny. The president’s joking and we’re having a good time,” Vance replied. “You can negotiate in good faith while still poking fun at the absurdity of Democrats’ positions—and yes, even the absurdity of Democrats themselves.”

Then he added with a grin: “I’ll tell Hakeem Jeffries right now, I make this solemn promise to you—help us reopen the government, and the sombrero memes will stop.” Vance appeared at a White House briefing on Wednesday to discuss the government shutdown, which took effect after Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a funding deal. The Trump administration blamed Democrats, saying they tried to sneak in healthcare for illegal migrants. Leftists denied it, of course. But given the left’s agenda, I’d bet the administration is right.Fox News reported the now-infamous meme appeared on Truth Social. The video showed Jeffries with a sombrero and mustache while mariachi music played in the background. Honestly? That sounds hilarious.

Jeffries’ buddy, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, also made a cameo in the video. An AI-generated voice mocked Democrats for their “woke, trans agenda” and quipped that “nobody likes Democrats anymore.” Again—hilarious. The video, laced with profanity, mocked Democrats for pandering to illegal immigrants as potential new voters. Predictably, Jeffries and his liberal pals pulled the tired “racist” card. “Mr. P resident, the next time you have something to say about me, don’t cop out through a racist and fake AI video,” Jeffries fumed to reporters Tuesday. “When I’m back in the Oval Office, say it to my face.” Vance pushed back, blasting liberal media outlets for obsessing over the fact that the video was AI-generated.

“Hakeem Jeffries said it was racist, and I know he said that,” Vance noted. “And I honestly don’t even know what that means. Is he a Mexican-American who feels offended by a sombrero meme?” He laughed off the media’s pearl-clutching: “One of the major networks even showed the meme and solemnly announced it was AI-generated. But the guy had a curly cartoon mustache and a sombrero! Do you really think Americans believe Jeffries walked into the White House dressed like that? Give the country a little credit.”

Democrats assume Americans are both stupid and uneducated. It’s the very line of thinking that made them so arrogant as to believe they could get away with the destruction wrought during the Biden administration and still defeat Republicans in 2024. Once again, the perpetually offended Democratic Party exposed itself as the party of intolerance, anger, violence—and absolutely no fun.

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No defense.

• Ukraine’s Patriots Can’t Tackle Russian Missiles – FT (RT))

The Russian military has modified its missiles to better evade Ukrainian air defenses, including US-made Patriot systems – often seen as a key linchpin of Kiev’s shield – the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing officials in Kiev and the West. According to officials interviewed by the FT, Russian missiles can now follow a normal arc before veering into a steep terminal dive or executing maneuvers that “confuse and avoid” Patriot interceptors. The outlet cited recent strikes against Ukrainian drone facilities as a strong indication that Russia has likely upgraded the Iskander-M mobile system and the air-launched Kinzhal.

One former Ukrainian official called the added maneuverability “a game changer for Russia,” the newspaper reported, adding that deliveries of US-supplied Patriot interceptors, essentially the only weapon in Ukraine’s arsenal capable of tackling Moscow’s ballistic missiles, are not coming as quickly as planned. The paper also noted that data released by the Ukrainian Air Force shows that the rate of interception of Russian ballistic missiles improved over the summer, reaching 37% in August, but then fell to just 6% in September. Ukraine shares data on Patriot battlefield performance with the Pentagon and weapons producers, according to the FT. Officials told the outlet that while efforts are being made to improve the Patriots’ performance, they often lag behind Moscow’s evolving tactics.

Ukraine’s Air Force flagged similar concerns in May. Spokesman Yury Ignat said that the ballistic trajectories of the Iskander-M missiles “have been improved and modernized” while the projectiles could fire off radar decoys. He also complained that Ukraine’s domestically designed air defenses are unable to shoot down most of the Russian missiles, while those produced in the West are used to cover key infrastructure and other high-priority targets. Moscow has repeatedly said its strikes only target military-related infrastructure, defense industry, and troop deployment bases and are never aimed at civilians.

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“We must now put a stick in the wheels of this machine in Brussels,” Merz told business leaders..”

• Merz Rivalry With Von Der Leyen Heating Up – Bloomberg (RT)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is seeking to claw back decision-making power from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing diplomats familiar with the matter. Merz, increasingly critical of Brussels, wants Berlin to have greater influence over issues directly affecting EU members, according to one of the sources. He has already opposed von der Leyen’s proposals for new EU taxes and her plan to send peacekeepers to Ukraine, while also clashing with her over a tariff agreement with the US and climate regulations. “We must now put a stick in the wheels of this machine in Brussels,” Merz told business leaders on Friday, Bloomberg noted.

Ahead of an informal EU leaders’ summit in Copenhagen on Wednesday, he again pressed for a “fundamental correction” of what he described as excessive regulation. “It is simply too much,” he said, as quoted by the German Press Agency. The European Commission has introduced several measures to cut red tape this year, including the Defense Readiness Omnibus, aimed at streamlining EU defense market procedures. The initiative is part of von der Leyen’s broader effort to raise up to €800 billion ($938 billion) in investments for weapons and ammunition procurement by 2030.

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And now Optimus comes…

• Musk Becomes First Person Worth $500 Billion – Forbes (RT)

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has become the world’s first person to reach a net worth of $500 billion, according to Forbes. Musk’s fortune has been boosted recently by a rally in Tesla shares and soaring valuations of his private firms. Tesla stock jumped nearly 4% on Wednesday, adding $9.3 billion to Musk’s fortune and pushing it to $500.1 billion, according to the Forbes Billionaires List. Musk’s 12% stake in the carmaker is valued at $191 billion. Analysts credit the recent surge in Musk’s wealth to his renewed focus on business. Tesla shares have nearly doubled since April, when he first announced during an earnings call that he would step down from his post as head of US President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to devote more time to the automaker and his other business interests. Musk departed the agency after a rift with the president over a major tax-and-spending bill.

Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm said last month that Musk was again “front and center” after months of distraction. Days later, he bought nearly $1 billion worth of Tesla stock, signaling confidence as the company expands into AI and robotics. Outside Tesla, Musk’s space venture SpaceX was valued at $400 billion in an August tender offer, up from $350 billion in December. His 42% stake is worth $168 billion. Musk also owns 53% of xAI Holdings, the company formed when he merged his AI startup with X. Currently valued at $113 billion, reports suggest xAI could soon target $200 billion.

Musk has repeatedly set net worth records. He first topped Forbes’ list in January 2021 at $190 billion, hit $300 billion that November and crossed $400 billion in December 2024. He now outpaces Oracle founder Larry Ellison, the second-richest person, by $150 billion. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which uses a different wealth tracking method, places Musk’s fortune slightly lower – at $470 billion – but still the highest among the world’s top 500.

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Norway has a camp in Poland for Ukr soldiers…

• Large Training Center For Ukrainian Troops Opens In Poland (RT)

A Norwegian-led training center for Ukrainian soldiers opened in southeastern Poland on Wednesday. Camp Jomsborg, constructed by engineers from Norway’s Brigade Nord in the town of Lipa, can host up to 1,200 troops at a time, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on X. He added that the base will focus on “developing drone capabilities.” Kosiniak-Kamysz stressed that NATO would also benefit from Ukrainian combat experience. “This is not a one-way street. An important element is that we will draw on Ukrainian experience. Right next to us is a drone launch strip,” he said.

Poland has been a key logistical and training hub for Western military aid to Ukraine since the outbreak of open conflict with Russia in 2022.Also on Wednesday, EU leaders agreed to create a “drone wall” along the bloc’s eastern flank, following Polish claims last month that Russian UAVs had violated its airspace. Estonia likewise alleged that three Russian fighter jets entered its airspace in September. Moscow dismissed both accusations as baseless and accused the EU of warmongering.

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“I believe the Russians will secure victory using the Oreshniki rather than a massive ground offensive.”

• When Tomahawk Meets Bear, The Hazel Tree (Oreshnik) Wins (Helmer)

A week ago on September 23, President Donald Trump called President Vladimir Putin’s military power a “paper tiger”, and declared ”this is the time for Ukraine to act”.By that he said he meant “to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that!” Five days later, the successor president, Vice President J D Vance, explained that deployment on the Ukrainian battlefield by NATO-supplied Tomahawk cruise missiles, with a 2,500-km range, is the next step he and Trump are considering. “Russia is really stalled,” Vance claimed, “The Russian economy is in shambles. The Russians are not gaining much on the battlefield… The Russians have refused to sit down in any bilateral meetings with the Ukrainians. They have refused to sit down in any trilateral meetings with the President…

The Russians have got to wake up and accept reality here… About Tomahawks, it’s something the President is going to make the final determination on. What the President is going to do is what’s in the best interest of the United States of America.” The scheme, Vance intimated, is to allow NATO member states with Tomahawk batteries – at the moment this means the UK and Germany – to deliver them to Kiev, or for other European states to buy the missiles from the US and send them on. This means that the crews operating the Tomahawk systems in the Ukraine would be British, German, or other Europeans. “What we’re doing,” Vance said, “is asking the Europeans to buy that weaponry that shows some European skin in the game. I think that gets them really invested in both what’s happening in their own backyard, but also in the peace process that the president has been pushing for, for the last eight months,” Vance said.

The skins at risk of Russian counterattack, Vance meant but omitted to acknowledge, would be European, not American. The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, responded with the obvious followed by a placebo. “We have heard these statements. We are thoroughly analyzing them. Our military specialists are closely monitoring it.” “Even if it happens that the United States sends its Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, currently there is no cure-all that could be a game changer on the front lines for the Kiev regime. No magical weapons exist, and Tomahawk or other missiles simply won’t be a game changer.”

Then Peskov muffled a warning: “The question… is this: who can launch these missiles…? Can only Ukrainians launch them, or do American soldiers have to do that?” The answer is already obvious – Vance made it plain. The operators of the Tomahawks would be Europeans. Peskov’s questions also avoided Vance’s and Trump’s strategic point. They are now aiming to intensify the domestic damage they can inflict deep inside Russian territory – Moscow and St. Petersburg if they can — in the belief this will trigger loss of Russian morale and voter opposition to Putin. “This war is terrible for their economy,” Vance repeated several times, as has Trump. The Russians, Vance declared, “have to ask themselves how many more people are they willing to lose…for very little military advantage.”

What is happening from the Russian point of view which isn’t public?The US “understanding” from the Anchorage summit meeting on August 16 is no longer the Russian interpretation as Putin himself first explained it. “Hopefully, the understanding [singular] we have reached will bring us closer to this goal and open up the road to peace in Ukraine,” Putin said at his brief press conference after meeting with Trump. “We see that the US President has a clear idea of what he wants to achieve, that he sincerely cares about his country’s prosperity while showing awareness of Russia’s national interests. I hope that today’s agreements [plural] will become a reference point, not only for resolving the Ukrainian problem but also for resuming the pragmatic business relations between Russia and the United States.”

Escalation to Tomahawk attacks on the Russia hinterland is also not the “understanding” with the US which the Russian Foreign Ministry announced after Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met at the United Nations with Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “The heads of the foreign offices exchanged opinions on the Ukraine crisis settlement as a follow up to the understandings [plural] reached at the Russia-US summit in Anchorage. The parties have reaffirmed mutual interest in the search for peaceful solutions. Sergey Lavrov emphasised our country’s readiness to adhere to the line developed by the Russian and US leaders in Alaska, including to coordinate efforts with the US side to remove the root causes of the Ukraine conflict. The minister stressed the unacceptability of the schemes intended to protract the conflict promoted by Kiev and some European countries. The parties compared their positions on the entire bilateral agenda including the prospects of restoring their socio-political contacts. They have reaffirmed the importance of using the impetus given by Russian and US presidents to the process of normalising bilateral relations.”

Speaking to Russian reporters, Lavrov then added: “We operate on the premise that everything we have heard from our US colleagues at the top and other levels tells us that they want to help us end this conflict by addressing and eliminating its root causes. There are no other countries in the Western camp that abide by such a position. I have no doubt that the US President is genuinely interested in this outcome. Some people are trying to have influence on him, but that’s another matter… The 2022 borders are off the table today. What we are now discussing are the borders as enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.”

The “reality on the ground”, as Vance and Trump say they understand it on the battlefield, is plainly now not the reality on the ground as the Russian side sees it. The US is announcing that Russia the paper tiger has lost escalation dominance on the battlefield, and is vulnerable to even greater domestic insecurity than it faced three years ago, when the Special Military Operation began. If that was the “root cause” of the war, as Putin and Lavrov say they have explained to their US counterparts, Trump and Vance are now dismissing “root cause” as the basis for terms to end the war.

When Vance announced that the Tomahawk deployment will be decided “in the interests of the United States of America”, he meant to say that the Russian military and Putin have lost their power of deterrence. A Moscow source in a position to know says the General Staff will convince the President on the measures required to prove the Americans wrong. “I believe the Russians will secure victory using the Oreshniki rather than a massive ground offensive. But there is also a build-up many of us can tell. That is why Americans and Europeans are getting very nervous, threatening Russians with a direct confrontation unless they back off.”

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“..which means good-bye to several European capitals, if not all of them..”

• We Are Approaching The Oreshnik Moment (Paul Craig Roberts)

John Helmer thinks that the Russian response to the ever-widening war that Putin has conducted will be the Oreshnik missile, which means good-bye to several European capitals, if not all of them. https://johnhelmer.net/when-tomahawk-meets-bear-the-hazel-tree-oreshnik-wins/

Washington giving missiles to Ukraine that can reach Moscow and St. Petersburg does not “normalize relations.” This is the path to war, not to peace. Such a gift of missiles would clearly indicate that the US military/security complex has taken policy away from President Trump and is continuing the war instead of peace negotiations, From John Helmer’s report, I conclude that Putin, Lavrov, and the Russian media are too naive, too unaware, too gullible, too unrealistic and too idealistic in the way they think about the West to comprehend the danger. I find it extraordinarily that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov is so lost to reality that he actually said: “We operate on the premise that everything we have heard from our US colleagues at the top and other levels tells us that they want to help us end this conflict by addressing and eliminating its root causes.”

If the Russian government operates on this basis, Russia is definitely doomed. The “root causes” are NATO on Russia’s borders which causes Russian insecurity. To remove the root cause means to remove the source of Russian insecurity. For many years the combined West has refused Russia’s request to join NATO and Russia’s pleadings for a mutual defense agreement. Yet the Kremlin is still hopeful??!! Russia has experienced this feeling of insecurity since American President Clinton violated the word of the US government, thus making the US government untrustworthy to the world since the last years of the 20th century. Clinton violated the word of the George H.W. Bush administration that in exchange for the Soviet Union’s agreement to permit the reunification of Germany, NATO would not move one inch toward the Soviet borders. Clinton, little doubt well paid, moved NATO to Russia’s borders, and by doing so made the word of the US Government completely worthless. Yet Putin and Lavrov rely on Washington’s word !

For Putin and the Russian military command to permit a limited territorial conflict with Ukraine to continue for so long that it now approaches four years was a fantastic strategic blunder that is widening into World War 3. Putin is not responsible for the conflict. It was forced on him, but his response to the conflict–permitting it to endure and widen–was a massive mistake in judgment. I don’t know if anything can bring the Kremlin out of its stupor. Perhaps it might help if the Russians read this article: https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2025/09/28/presidents-have-little-control-over-their-governments/

We are approaching the point where to avoid a world destroying nuclear war, Putin will have to surrender Russia. Putin, unlike the ruthless American Zionist neoconservatives, is capable of surrendering his country to save the world from nuclear war. But would the Russian nationalists permit him to do so? Are the Russian people willing to be the sacrificial lamb that saves the world from nuclear war by going into subservience to the Satanic West?

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For now, a Mexican stand off

• Bessent Outlines Ramifications of Dem Shutdown Day #2 (CTH)


Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears on CNBC to discuss the second full day of the government shutdown and the potential ramifications therein.Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought is meeting with President Trump today to discuss the facets of the government that will be closed and for the duration therein. Secretary Bessent is asked if the furloughs will be a long-term feature of the backfire created by the Democrat strategy.Bessent reemphasizes he personally joined the Trump administration to shrink the scale of government spending, and the administration is not going to flinch on any CR agreement that backtracks on existing spending reductions.

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https://twitter.com/WallStreetApes/status/1973387980388884779

 

 

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Debt Rattle September 27 2025

Sep 272025
 
 September 27, 2025  Posted by at 9:50 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  47 Responses »


René Magritte The song of the storm 1937

 

• Martyr or Liar? Comey Indicted on Two Counts (Turley)
• Former FBI Director James Comey Indicted on Three Counts (CTH)
• Days of Judgment (James Howard Kunstler)
• Yet Again, Deep State Attacks DNI Tulsi Gabbard (CTH)
• Leaked Memo Reveals FBI Deployed A Stunning 274 Agents On J6 (ZH)
• Kiev False-Flag Provocation Could Lead To World War 3 – Zakharova (RT)
• Kremlin Slams ‘Reckless’ NATO Threats To Shoot Down Russian Planes (RT)
• EU Moves To Bypass Hungary’s Veto On Russia Sanctions (RT)
• Crazy Idea On How To Steal Russia’s Assets: Make EU Taxpayers Pay For It (MoA)
• Kallas Insists US Shouldn’t Offload Ukraine On EU (RT)
• West Invented The ‘Russian Threat’ – And Kept It For 500 Years (Bordachev)
• Gaza Deal Near – Trump (RT)
• He Destroyed A Country and Half A Million Lives and Got Five Years (Fetouri)
• Elon Musk Says Charlie Kirk Was Shot From The Rear (Paul Craig Roberts)

 

 

https://twitter.com/Real_RobN/status/1971625536607940870

https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1971742140704096733

https://twitter.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1971617889510715468

 

 

 

 

As I said yesterday, this will be a difffiult case to bring. They are all in it together, and all for one, one for all etc. But there’s a weakness to that too. The rats may try to be first to leave the ship if they expect rain. Several sources now say McCabe may turn on Comey, on whose orders he leaked.

“This is a city that floats on a rolling sea of leaks.”

“He is also a sophisticated player. Perhaps that is why he issued a videotaped message saying effectively “bring it on” and let’s go to trial. While an improvement over Comey’s bizarre seashell messages, the videotape may be too confident.”

• Martyr or Liar? Comey Indicted on Two Counts (Turley)

Yesterday, James Comey became the first former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to be indicted for a federal crime. That is likely the only fact upon which you will receive anything close to agreement in the country. For some, the two-count indictment is a long-overdue accountability for a man who pushed through the now-debunked Russian collusion investigation. For others, it is another abuse on President Donald Trump’s revenge tour. There are legitimate concerns about the targeting of a political critic of the President, particularly after he publicly complained just days ago that Attorney General Pam Bondi was not indicting Comey and others.

However, Comey is hardly the pristine model of “ethical leadership” that he described in his book. Putting aside his critical role in the Russian collusion investigation, Comey tossed aside even the pretense of ethics after Trump fired him. The Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, issued a scathing report that found Comey was a leaker and had violated FBI policy in his handling of FBI memos. On his way out of the Bureau, Comey stole FBI materials, including those containing the “code name and true identity” of a sensitive source. While he did not find that he disclosed the classified information, Horowitz found that Comey took “the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive investigative information, obtained during the course of FBI employment, in order to achieve a personally desired outcome.”

He further added that Comey “set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees—and the many thousands of more former FBI employees—who similarly have access to or knowledge of non-public information.” Comey later admitted that he asked his friend, Columbia Law Professor Daniel Richman, to leak information from the documents to the New York Times. Comey’s close associate, former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, stated that Comey did instruct him to leak information to the media. Comey denied that repeatedly under oath. James Baker, FBI general counsel and a close adviser to Comey, also told investigators that he was “under the belief” that he was “ultimately instructed and authorized to [provide information to the Times] by then FBI Director James Comey.”

That sets up a straightforward question: who is lying? It could also set up a bizarre scene of McCabe testifying against his friend. McCabe despises Trump as much as Comey, so he may prove to be an overtly hostile witness for the prosecutors. Washington will be glued to any such trial. The only thing more unnerving than the alleged targeting of a political critic in Washington is the prosecution of a leaker. This is a city that floats on a rolling sea of leaks. The Justice Department is notorious for leaks made with lethal effect against targets. Now the former FBI director will stand trial to see if he is a leaker and a liar. There is one individual who is likely to be watching with particular interest and perhaps satisfaction: former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Comey is facing two counts of making false statements and obstructing a congressional proceeding. The first count under 18 U.S.C. 1001 (a)(2) is the exact charge that Comey engineered against Flynn. Comey gave a book tour where he thrilled audiences about how he secured a criminal charge against Flynn for making false statements. In one event, an audience cheered as Comey took credit for the controversial charge. He explained that what he did was not exactly proper. It was, he explained, “something we’ve, I probably wouldn’t have done or maybe gotten away with in a more organized investigation, a more organized administration…I thought, ‘It’s early enough, let’s just send a couple of guys over.’”

The actual agents who interviewed Flynn did not believe that he intentionally lied about a meeting with Russian diplomats, but Comey and his investigators pushed for charges anyway. They drained Flynn of resources, threatened to indict his son, and ultimately secured a guilty plea. Now it will be Comey in the dock, facing a charge of making a false statement. He will do so as someone who has admitted to improperly removing FBI material and leaking information to the media. The odds still favor Comey. He will have a jury taken from a generally liberal, Democratic jury pool. He is also a sophisticated player. Perhaps that is why he issued a videotaped message saying effectively “bring it on” and let’s go to trial. While an improvement over Comey’s bizarre seashell messages, the videotape may be too confident.

Perjury or false statements can be challenging to prove, particularly when vague or nuanced language is used. This is neither vague nor nuanced. Comey repeatedly swore that he never asked anyone at the FBI to leak information. That is either true or it is not. Comey will continue to be vilified and lionized by different parts of the population. Yet, this is an ignoble moment that he helped bring about. Notably, this indictment comes 50 years after the only Attorney General was convicted of crimes (including false statements and obstruction). That was John Mitchell after the Watergate scandal. Now the man who bragged about nailing Michael Flynn will face the same false statement charge. The man who celebrated the charging of Donald Trump (including obstruction-related charges) will face his own obstruction charge. Whether karma or lawfare, Comey will now have his day in court.

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“This count could open the door to public testimony by McCabe, Rice, Mook, Brennan and even Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton herself as to Comey’s knowledge; each was a first-hand witness.”

• Former FBI Director James Comey Indicted on Three Counts (CTH)

Newly appointed U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, from the Eastern District of Viginia, has released a criminal indictment of former FBI Director James Comey . The indictment alleges three counts. Counts one and two are ‘false statements’ to congress on September 30, 2020, [18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2)] and count three is ‘obstruction of a federal proceeding’ stemming from the same testimony. [18U.S.C. § 1505] The first false statement charge surrounds Hillary Clinton’s “approval of a plan concerning” Donald Trump and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election.

COUNT #1 – James Comey claimed he could not remember being made aware of the Trump-Russia collusion plan, and there is ample evidence from his own previous public statements, from public and sworn statements by former CIA Director John Brennan, from former statements by officials in the January 5, 2017, meeting memorialized by Susan Rice, from statements that remain sealed as recounted by former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and from statements under oath by the former Clinton campaign team -including campaign manager Robby Mook- that James Comey was well aware of the plan. While this first count is based on the tenuous “I don’t remember” aspect, this count holds more material benefit than simply Comey’s recollection.

This count could open the door to public testimony by McCabe, Rice, Mook, Brennan and even Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton herself as to Comey’s knowledge; each was a first-hand witness. This first count holds strong material value in a public trial regardless of the outcome. This first count establishes the baseline for USAO Lindsey Halligan to bring all material witnesses into court and publicly put them on record outlining the Trump-Russia collusion scheme. You could say, I hope the intent is not just to incarcerate Comey per se’ – but rather to use what Comey represents to indict the entire enterprise around him. The facts behind Count #1 make this possible. Let’s all hope this strategic intent unfolds.

Count #2, involves James Comey falsely testify he did not direct former his FBI Special Government Employee (SGE) Daniel Richman to leak information to New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt. This second count is easily evidenced through the prior investigation of Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz and all prior witness statements therein. Again, that includes testimony to Horowitz given by former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Additionally, the second count is evidenced by the direct testimony of Daniel Richman himself, who was hired by James Comey and given special access privileges to classified information systems. Richman was likely a grand jury witness during the assembly of the case against Comey. Count #2 is the easiest to prove beyond any reasonable doubt.

BIG PICTURE – One of the frustrations felt by many people who have researched or followed the Trump-Russia collusion nonsense, is the lack of accountability for the internal actors who operated within a highly weaponized DOJ and FBI system. Perhaps this indictment is the first step in holding those to account. I am often asked about why the second term cabinet members of President Trump do not take action. My response is consistent. They refuse to acknowledge or assert the corruption within the institutions they lead. They are fraught with fear. The administration of President Donald Trump does not have the same institutional operations in place that Joe Biden visibly deployed post January 6, 2021.

President Barack Obama spent eight years working with Attorney General Eric Holder, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Deputy AG Sally Yates, former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and former FBI Chief Legal Counsel James Baker, on a process of weaponizing the Dept of Justice and FBI. All of the agents and attorneys within the Obama network, in addition to their private sector media and Lawfare partners, spent over a decade building out their ideological targeting tools. Bondi, Patel and to a lesser extent Bongino, spent a ridiculous amount of time denying the institutional constructs that sit beneath them. Still, to this day, they do not publicly admit the internal challenge with each organization. All institutional change first requires a public admission of the problem.

Main Justice and FBI remain -to this day- in private acceptance but public denial of the problem. In essence they are stuck in a pretending loop. Each day that follows grows the Gordian knot their denial & fear creates. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy; an outcome born of both fear and inability. Those who created the weaponized institutions are heavily reliant upon the retention of pretense. We the people, are continually witnessing this dynamic and frustrated at the lack of accountability. Yet even within that frustrated annoyance, too few boldly outline exactly how comprehensively corrupt the institutions are – by former design. Pam Bondi and Kash Patel are afraid of the organizations they lead. Their fear stems from a desire to be viewed as effective, and yet their ineffectiveness at correcting the problem is driven by their fear. Thus, the loop.

Yes, Main Justice and the FBI can change the dynamic, but it starts -as all massive institutional reform efforts must- with a seismic release of sunlight upon the toxic corruption that sits at their feet. As long as Pam Bondi and Kash Patel continue to maintain a pretense of top-down control, the embedded system operators will continue undermining them and acting maliciously. The effort to hold James Comey to account is highlighting just how corrupt THEIR SYSTEM is. It is not accidental that President Trump needed to shake them up and change this dynamic with the very public appointment of Lindsey Halligan.

How do Bondi and Patel stop entwining the knot and finally cut it? Well, that begins with sunlight, firings, investigations and criminal indictments of former officials AND current holdovers inside their agencies. In essence, they must purposefully and righteously ‘turn the tables‘ in their own temples. Perhaps the indictment of James Comey will finally begin the process.

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“If you’re want a friend in DC, get a dog. We’re coming for you.” —Dan Bongino, Deputy Director, FBI

• Days of Judgment (James Howard Kunstler)

You better believe Martha Stewart baked a cake last night — the lovely Gâteau Opéra perhaps? — when she got the news that the ham sandwich known as James Comey got indicted by a federal grand jury twenty-two years after that same ham sandwich indicted the goddess of hearth and home for lying to the FBI and the SEC over a trumped-up insider-trading rap, and sent her to federal prison for a five-month stretch plus five additional months of confined home-making and two years of supervised redecorating.

Mr. Comey’s indictment is probably just the opening salvo in what will be a barrage of indictments coming down against government officials who used their powers-under-law to harass, disable, cancel, dis-bar, bankrupt, persecute and ruin thousands of their fellow citizens, including especially the 45th president and the people who worked for him.

Jim Comey was the engine who pulled the choo-choo train of seditious fakery known as RussiaGate (Donald Trump colluding with Vladimir Putin) into America’s public life, which then expanded into the years-long ass-covering operations of the Mueller Investigation, then Impeachments One and Two, then the J-6 FBI-engineered “insurrection,” then Nancy Pelosi’s Congressional J-6 committee gong show, and then the four various fugazi prosecutions against Mr. Trump in 2024 designed to derail his re-run for office bankrupt his family, and stuff him in prison for the rest of his life.

Mr. Comey and his associates must be astounded that none of that worked. It really was a mighty organized criminal endeavor. And, as such, it stands to be prosecutable under the RICO statutes, which means that these current two charges against Mr. Comey should be a coming attraction of much more to come against him and many other familiar characters, possibly including his successor as FBI Director Christopher Wray. (The Blaze reports overnight that the FBI deployed roughly 275 plainclothes agents into the J-6 protest crowd at the US Capitol, as opposed to the 26 agents that Mr. Wray testified about to Congress.)

The smuggery of this gang in the years since all this business started in 2016 has also been out of this world. Mr. Comey dropped one rancid video after another either making threats or sanctimoniously declaring his sainthood, as if he expected the dreadful day would never come that he might face charges. Likewise, former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe ran his mouth all over CNN for years, former CIA Director John Brennan spun fibs on MSNBC, while FBI RussiaGate straw-boss Peter Strzok rode shotgun regularly with fake news confabulator Rachel Maddow. All of it was designed to bamboozle the public, and it worked!

You can expect more than one RICO case to come because these crimes against our country occurred in many discrete episodes of organized misconduct over many years. The RussiaGate op involving Comey, Brennan, Hillary, Obama, Biden, et al., was quite separate from Adam Schiff’s orchestrated seditious Impeachment #1 featuring CIA mole Eric Ciaramella, Col. Alexander Vindman, and ICIG Michael Atkinson. As was the activity of the Mueller group actually supervised by Andrew Weissmann (because Robert Mueller was secretly non compos mentis). As were the J-6 shenanigans of Mr. Wray’s FBI, including the DNC Pipe Bomb sideshow.

As were the Lawfare exploits of Norm Eisen and Mary McCord conniving with “Joe Biden’s” White House to arrange the Trump prosecutions by DA Alvin Bragg and AG Letitia James in New York and DA Fani Willis in Fulton County, GA. As were the dark deeds of Merrick Garland and his Special Counsels Jake Smith, David Weiss, and Robert Hur. As were the 2020 and 2022 election-rigging capers of Marc Elias & Company. As were whatever peculiar directives were ordered by Alejandro Mayorkas to throw the US borders wide open. As was the “autopen” abuse by the White House staff and their cover-up of “Joe Biden’s” mental decline.

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“It is certainly true that AG Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have refused to look internally; and it is also true that DNI Tulsi Gabbard has spent much of her focus time looking internally.”

• Yet Again, Deep State Attacks DNI Tulsi Gabbard (CTH)

It is difficult not to notice the strategy of how certain Trump administration officials are targeted. Any cabinet member that looks inward to reveal the status of corrupt activity within the information silo itself becomes a target. Cabinet officials who focus externally, meaning the majority of their effort looks outside government, are seemingly left alone. HHS Secretary RFK Jr and Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, are examples of those receiving the worst ideological targeting from operations within HHS and the Intelligence Community respectively. Conversely, CIA Director John Ratcliffe faces almost no scrutiny or targeting by the Intelligence Community as the silo operators frame narratives almost exclusively against DNI Gabbard.

The latest effort surfaces as embeds within Main Justice and the CIA frame a storyline that Tulsi Gabbard’s action in removing the security clearances of 37 current and former officials, has now resulted in those same officials being incapable of testifying against former CIA Director John Brennan (and others). The premise of the narrative is ridiculous. If we are to accept some current or former IC officials are willing to testify against Brennan (or others), regardless of whether Tulsi Gabbard has revoked their security clearances, their retroactive knowledge is still pertinent. They are completely free to give statements and testimony based on their prior conduct. What the leakers to Axios and the New York Times are trying to establish, is groundwork for the removal of Tulsi Gabbard.

This stops her objective of investigating internal corruption. I suspect most of the people trying desperately to undermine Gabbard are from within the CIA Directorate of Analysis, or at least in alignment with the directorate’s agenda. The narrative’s author, Marc Caputo, claims AG Pam Bondi is hampered in her effort to criminally indict John Brennan because the witnesses Main Justice would use have lost their security clearances. Again, the game of leveraging internecine friendships in/around the office of Trump becomes an overlay. It is certainly true that AG Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have refused to look internally; and it is also true that DNI Tulsi Gabbard has spent much of her focus time looking internally. Bondi and Patel continue the preferred game of institutional blame-casting in Main Justice. Meanwhile, Gabbard is busy focused on cleaning up her IC house.

The Fourth Branch embeds do not fear the approach of Bondi/Patel, but the Fourth Branch embeds are petrified by the approach of Tulsi Gabbard. That reality underpins the baseline of opposition against the Director of National Intelligence. As the dynamic unfolds, CIA Director John Ratcliffe is certainly not corrupt; however, nor is he brave. Director Ratcliffe is willing to let Director Gabbard clean up his house, and then he takes credit for the reform. As the weeks unfold into months, this is becoming increasingly obvious.

Mark Zaid is the current anti-Trump Lawfare operative likely seeding the narrative to Axios/New York Times. “Mark Zaid, a Trump administration critic who represents six of the intelligence professionals whose clearances were revoked, said administration officials fretting about the Brennan case have “valid concerns.” “This seems to be, as usual, an unforced error by Trump administration officials who don’t think things through in the long game in favor of a quick-pass completion,” he said. “If I were the defense counsel [for Brennan], I would raise the revocation in an attempt to undermine the credibility of the witnesses.”

Mark Zaid knows the game-changing process that DNI Tulsi Gabbard is using. Gabbard is directly going into each IC agency to review and retrieve information. When she finds something that connects to the overall plots being used by the Fourth Branch, the DNI takes that information directly to President Trump who subsequently declassifies it and then she releases it. Zaid and the Deep State operatives he represents, want to stop Tulsi Gabbard with urgency. They are throwing every available IC narrative into the media flow in the hope that something stops Tulsi’s effectiveness.

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And then lie about it 1,000 times…

• Leaked Memo Reveals FBI Deployed A Stunning 274 Agents On J6 (ZH)

The FBI deployed nearly 300 plainclothes agents to the US Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, in an effort that became so chaotic it caused an internal schism within the agency that led many rank-and-file at the bureau that core competencies had been lost to “wokeness,” and that employees had become “pawns in a political war,” according to an after-action report hidden from the public for over four years until it was obtained by Just the News. Anonymous complaints were sent to the after-action team by scores of FBI agents and other personnel – many from the bureau’s premier Washington field office (WFO) – detailing how agents were sent into a dangerous situation without proper safety equipment or even the ability to identify themselves as armed officers to other police agencies.

Most common among the complaints was that under former directors Chris Wray and just-indicted James Comey, the bureau had become infected with political bias and liberal ideology that treated the Trump-supporting Jan. 6 protesters much differently from Black Lives Matter rioters from the summer of 2020. “The FBI should make clear to its personnel and the public that, despite its obvious political bias, it ultimately still takes its mission and priorities seriously,” wrote one employee. “It should equally and aggressively investigate criminal activity regardless of the offenders’ perceived race, political affiliations, or motivations; and it should equally and aggressively protect all Americans regardless of perceived race, political affiliations, or motivations.”

The agent suggested that leaders “identify viable exit options for FBI personnel who no longer feel it is legally or morally acceptable to support a federal law enforcement and intelligence agency motivated by political bias.” Another agent suggested that the problem was widespread throughout the FBI. “Currently, the US Attorneys office is dictating what it is that gets investigated. This is a dangerous precedent because we can barely get them to prosecute investigations that clearly meet thresholds needed for Federal prosecutions,” the agent wrote. “However, their willingness to conduct a search warrant on someone’s life for a misdemeanor seems ridiculous. It is unreasonable for the FBI to conduct investigations involving misdemeanor violations at a federal level… it is not our role.”

Several employees directly mentioned the Washington Field Office (WFO) and its culture. “WFO is a hopelessly broken office that’s more concerned about wearing masks and recruiting preferred racial/sexual groups than catching actual bad guys,” wrote one worker. “I wish you all would pay more attention to our safety than what type of masks we wear. If you are going to deploy us to a riot situation, then give us the proper damn safety equipment–helmet, face shield, protective clothing–and training!” wrote another. In total, the after-action feedback spanned 50 pages, which were located by current FBI Director Kash Patel’s office and turned over to the House Judiciary Committed and its subcommittee

As Just the News notes further; the document has proven a bombshell to lawmakers, revealing for the first time that the FBI had a total of 274 agents deployed to the Capitol in plainclothes and with guns but no clear safety gear of way to be recognized by other law enforcement agencies working in the chaos of the riot. Wray, Patel’s predecessor, steadfastly refused to tell Congress how many if any agents went to the Capitol that day. And a prior DOJ Inspector General Report did not divulge the number, referring only to a SWAT team the bureau sent into the Capitol and having more than two dozen informants in the crowd. The existence of mass FBI agents at the Capitol on Jan. 6 could also be a problem in many of the cases that were subsequently brought in court. If agents were witnesses at the Capitol and did not disclose it in the subsequent affidavits during prosecutions it could create grounds for defendants to appeal.

The document also reveals for the first time that there were widespread concerns for years inside the bureau – sentiments that boiled over after the FBI began sending SWAT teams to arrest Jan. 6 participants on misdemeanor charges – that the FBI had become biased in favor of liberals and against conservatives. Despite the pre-existing report, Wray rejected that notion in testimony before Congress. “The idea that I’m biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background,” Wray told Congress in 2023. “I have found almost invariably, the people screaming the loudest about the politicization of the FBI are themselves the most political, and more often than not, making claims of politicization to advance their own views or goals, and they often don’t know the facts or are choosing to ignore them,” Wray added in an episode of the podcast “FBI Retired Case File Review” that aired the same year.

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MO: take a downed Russia drone, repair it, use it to attack Europe. Everyone will think Russia did it.

• Kiev False-Flag Provocation Could Lead To World War 3 – Zakharova (RT)

Ukraine is planning a possible false-flag operation in Romania or Poland that could escalate into a third world war, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. In a Telegram post on Friday, she pointed to reports in Hungarian media alleging that Kiev intends to stage acts of sabotage in neighboring NATO countries and place responsibility on Moscow. ”Europe has never been so close to the outbreak of World War 3 in modern history,” Zakharova wrote. According to the information available, the Kiev regime’s plan is to repair several downed or intercepted Russian UAVs, fit them with lethal warheads, and – controlled by Ukrainian specialists – send them disguised as “Russian drones” to major NATO transport hubs in Poland and Romania, Zakharova continued.

https://twitter.com/MyLordBebo/status/1971614761889726746

At the same time, they would run a disinformation campaign across Europe to pin the blame on Moscow and thereby try to provoke an armed conflict between the Russian Federation and NATO, she added. In order to carry out this alleged provocation, Russian-made ‘Geran’ drones were reportedly delivered on September 16 to the Yavorov training ground in western Ukraine, which hosts the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security of the Hetman Petro Sagaidachny National Academy. The UAVs had reportedly earlier been repaired at the LORTA plant in Lviv.

Zakharova cited Hungarian journalists as saying that the reason for these actions by Vladimir Zelensky is straightforward: the Ukrainian armed forces are suffering a crushing defeat. The collapse of the army, they argued, is no longer limited to the tactical level but has taken on a strategic dimension. If all this is confirmed, it means that Europe has never been so close to the start of World War 3, Zakharova concluded.

https://twitter.com/Alex_Oloyede2/status/1971655097034633621

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You can bet the Russian pilots are under strict orders NOT to breach protocol.

• Kremlin Slams ‘Reckless’ NATO Threats To Shoot Down Russian Planes (RT)

Threats by NATO member states to shoot down Russian warplanes are “reckless and irresponsible,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said. He insisted that no hard evidence has been presented to back up allegations that Russian fighter jets violated bloc members’ airspace. Earlier this month, Poland alleged that multiple Russian drones had entered its territory. Estonia made similar claims of airspace violations last Friday, requesting urgent consultations with fellow NATO member states. Moscow has denied any breaches of the military bloc’s airspace. Responding to the Estonia claim, the Russian Defense Ministry said three MiG-31s were conducting a routine flight from Karelia Region, east of Finland, to an airfield in Kaliningrad Region, a Russian exclave bordering Poland and Lithuania, and that they strictly flew over neutral waters of the Baltic Sea.

https://twitter.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1971640205116654076

When asked to comment on a report by Bloomberg, in which Western diplomats were cited as threatening to shoot down intruding Russian warplanes, Peskov said on Friday that “this is a very reckless and irresponsible statement.” “Allegations against Russia that its warplanes have violated someone’s airspace are groundless,” the official said, noting that “no credible evidence has been produced” to corroborate the claims. The Bloomberg report cited anonymous officials as claiming that earlier this week, British, French, and German representatives had held a closed-door meeting with Russian officials in Moscow. According to the publication, the Western diplomats warned that NATO was prepared to shoot down Russian warplanes in the event of airspace violations.

Earlier this week, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said he would not rule out such a scenario, but that decisions are made strictly on a case-by-case basis. In an interview with France’s RTL radio station on Thursday, Moscow’s ambassador to Paris, Aleksey Meshkov, cautioned that such an incident would trigger a “war” between NATO and Russia.

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Democracy and sunlight. This sort of thing always reminds me of Groucho: ‘These are my principles, and if you don’t like them, well, I have others’.

• EU Moves To Bypass Hungary’s Veto On Russia Sanctions (RT)

The European Commission has proposed extending sanctions against Russia by qualified majority rather than unanimity in order to prevent Hungary from blocking them, Politico reported on Friday, citing an EC document.EU diplomats are due to discuss the proposal and a new sanctions package later on Friday, the outlet said. Currently, Brussels renews anti-Russian sanctions every six months with unanimous approval. Hungary has consistently opposed the bloc’s unconditional support for Kiev, favoring peace talks over continued military aid, and has repeatedly used its veto to block EU financial and military assistance. Under the Commission’s plan, only a qualified majority would be needed to extend the restrictions, curbing Budapest’s ability to wield its veto and demand concessions such as releasing frozen Russian assets.

The outlet said that ahead of Friday’s meeting of EU permanent representatives, the Commission also outlined a plan to provide Ukraine with a €140 billion loan backed by frozen Russian central bank assets, to be disbursed in tranches for defense and budget support. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz endorsed the idea this week, but said the funds should go solely to pay for military equipment and only be repaid when Russia compensates Kiev for damages. Earlier this month, the Commission floated a proposal to use Russian assets to back a reparation loan to Ukraine, repayable only if Kiev receives “compensation” from Moscow.

Reuters earlier put the plan at €130 billion, describing it as a “reparations credit” replacing Moscow assets with zero-coupon bonds issued by the Commission, guaranteed by all EU states or a coalition of willing countries. Diplomats for the bloc are expected to debate these initiatives alongside a 19th sanctions package. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the measures would target Russian banks, liquefied natural gas, the Mir payment system and vessels in what Brussels calls Moscow’s “shadow fleet.” Russia, which has denounced Western sanctions as “illegal,” has warned that any attempt to seize or redirect its assets would deliver a “very serious blow” to the international financial system and has vowed to retaliate.

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“If countries see that central bank money can disappear when European politicians see fit, they might decide to withdraw their reserves from the eurozone.”

• Crazy Idea On How To Steal Russia’s Assets: Make EU Taxpayers Pay For It (MoA)

The war hawks have long tried to steal Russian assets held in West to then use the money to finance the proxy war against Russia. The sums involved are serious: “Nearly three years after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Belgium holds €258 billion in frozen or immobilised Russian assets. The General Administration of Treasury at the Ministry of Finance confirmed the figures on Wednesday to La Libre and De Tijd.” Some of these assets belong to institutions not sanctioned by the European Union. Frozen assets amount to €65 billion, with an additional €193 billion in immobilised transactions, primarily from the Central Bank of Russia.”

The money is not really held by Belgium but by the Belgium company Euroclear which acts as depository for international central bank assets denominated in Euros. Currently the EU is confiscating the interest, not the principal, of that money to distribute it to Ukraine. That step is likely already illegal and Russia will certainly use the courts to get it back. There were also talks to invest the Russian assets in junk bonds with aim of achieving a higher yield:

“Euroclear chief executive Valérie Urbain told the Financial Times that European Union plans to raise additional revenue from frozen Russian assets by investing them in higher-risk securities would amount to “expropriation.” Urbain also warned that such a move could prompt “Russian retaliation in all sorts of forms,” as well as damage Euroclear’s reputation. The majority of Russian assets frozen after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine are currently held at Euroclear. The E.U. has reportedly been discussing the possibility of transferring these assets to a special E.U.-administered fund that would make higher-risk investments. The goal is to generate greater returns to support Ukraine.”

That move was blocked as no one was ready to accept the potential liability for it. Not only Belgium, but also Germany and other fiscal conservative states, have warned that such a move would endanger their own assets. Russia has announced that it will retaliate against any confiscation of its money. It threatens to confiscate whatever European companies own or hold in Russia. Those companies would then have to sue their own governments for cover of their losses. Now a new idea has crept up. How it is supposed to work is not clear to me but it seems to have the support of the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

In a Financial Times op-ed Merz claims (archived): “Germany has been, and remains, cautious on the issue of confiscating the Russian central bank’s assets that are frozen in Europe, and with good reason. There are not only questions of international law to consider, but also fundamental issues concerning the euro’s role as a global reserve currency. But this must not hold us back: we must consider how, by circumventing these problems, we can make these funds available for the defence of Ukraine. In my view a viable solution should now be developed whereby — without intervening in property rights — we can make available to Ukraine an interest-free loan of almost €140 billion in total. That loan would only be repaid once Russia has compensated Ukraine for the damage it has caused during this war. Until then, the Russian assets will remain frozen, as decided by the European Council. Such extensive assistance will require budgetary guarantees from member states. Those bilateral guarantees should, as soon as the next Multiannual Financial Framework is in place in 2028, be replaced by collateralisation under the EU’s long-term budget.”

What sounds like AI slop is not Merz’ own idea but a plan that had been proffered earlier by the EU commission. But no one seems to understands how its is different from an outright confiscation of those assets: “Frustration has been building in EU capitals around the lack of details surrounding the so-called reparations loan, which Commission President Ursula von der Leyen first pitched in her State of the European Union speech Sept. 10. The bulk of the Russian assets are held by the Brussels-based financial firm Euroclear and are invested in Western government bonds that have matured into cash. The cash is sitting in a deposit account with the European Central Bank.

The idea is for the EU to redirect the cash to Ukraine and “enter into a tailored debt contract with Euroclear at 0 percent interest,” according to the note. Euroclear holds €185 billion in cash balances linked to the Russian assets, a part of which will pay back a preexisting G7 loan to Ukraine. The remaining €140 billion will be paid out to Ukraine in tranches and used for “defense cooperation” as well as supporting Kyiv’s ordinary budget needs.” Reuters has more details on it: “To avoid seizing the Russian assets, the idea is to transfer the cash from Euroclear to a newly created Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) owned by EU governments, or G7 governments as well. In exchange, the European Commission would issue Euroclear with zero-coupon bonds guaranteed by the owners of the SPV.

The EU bonds would cover Euroclear’s risk against Russian litigation while the cash in the SPV could be invested more profitably than overnight deposits in the ECB and thus generate a higher return for Ukraine. Why would this scheme, as Merz say, ‘require budgetary guarantees from member states’? Doesn’t that mean that the tax-payers of those member state will eventually have to pay it? Who’s money is at risk when Russia wins its litigation? Who pays if something goes wrong? Some 62% of German voters disapprove (in German) Merz’ policies. Only a record low 35.5% says that he is right in what he is doing. In the fiscal conservative Germany any attempt to borrow more money for the war in Ukraine will further sink his and his party’s chances of ever being reelected.

Merz knows that the scheme has little chance to find unanimous EU approval. He plans to circumvent opposition to it: “I propose that, at the European Council at the end of October, we give the mandate to prepare this instrument in a legally secure manner. That decision should, ideally, be unanimous — failing that, it should be adopted by the large majority of member states who are firmly committed to Ukraine. We should also invite partners around the world that have frozen Russian assets to join the instrument. To this end, we will co-ordinate closely with our partners in the G7”. Luckily it is Belgium which has the last says in this. It is, naturally, opposing the scheme:

Speaking in the margins of the UN General Assembly, Mr De Wever said that Chancellor Merz’s proposal “will never happen”. The Belgian Prime Minister argues that seizing central bank assets of a third country would set a dangerous precedent “If countries see that central bank money can disappear when European politicians see fit, they might decide to withdraw their reserves from the eurozone.” De Wever added Chancellor Merz’s public statement regarding this is regrettable. “I’ve told everyone that I am happy to discuss this. But let’s talk and come up with something, rather than sharing an opinion on it every day. I find it quite frustrating.” It is, in the end, Russia’s money. Any attempt to seize is outright thievery. How long will it take for sane people to intervene and to shoot this idea down?

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Scared shitless that the US will distance itself from Kiev.

• Kallas Insists US Shouldn’t Offload Ukraine On EU (RT)

Brussels is not solely responsible for helping Ukraine end its conflict with Russia, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told Politico on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday. The comments follow US President Donald Trump’s recent apparent change of stance on Ukraine, after he suggested that Kiev, “with the support of the European Union,” was “in a position to fight and win.” Some observers saw the remark as Trump stepping back from the conflict after failing to make good on his pledge to end it quickly. “He was the one who promised to stop the killing,” Kallas said. “So it can’t be on us.”

After taking office in January, Trump engaged in brokering peace negotiations while suspending military aid to Kiev and refraining from imposing sanctions on Russia. He has insisted that the EU countries take greater responsibility for their own security, urging European NATO members to increase military spending to 5% of their GDP. Brussels’ top diplomat insisted that there is no NATO without the US, adding that America is one of the military bloc’s key members and any discussion of NATO’s role must reflect Washington’s responsibilities. The EU has faced challenges in financing long-term support for Ukraine, limited by constraints in its budgetary mechanisms and resistance from some members.

Kallas, a long-time Russia hawk, put forward an ambitious plan in March to mobilize new military aid for Ukraine worth €40 billion via EU member states. Several countries, including France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, resisted the proposal, wary of the formidable commitments. After weeks of negotiations, the package was scaled back to €5 billion for ammunition, underscoring both the limits of EU unity and the challenges Kallas faces in translating her hawkish stance into collective action. Russia has repeatedly accused the EU of undermining the peace efforts around Ukraine and militarizing in preparation for any conflict with Moscow. Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that the EU and NATO have declared “an actual war” on Russia, accusing the West of orchestrating the Ukraine conflict.

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“The myth of the bogeyman from Moscow was born of cowardice and kept alive by greed..”

• West Invented The ‘Russian Threat’ – And Kept It For 500 Years (Bordachev)

In recent weeks, tensions between European political elites and Russia have flared once more. A drone incident in Poland, an alleged violation of Estonian airspace by Russian jets, and calls from Eastern European politicians to shoot down Russian aircraft all point to a deliberate effort at escalation. This sudden surge of provocation is less about Moscow and more about the EU’s own insecurity. With the United States steadily reducing its security guarantees, the bloc’s governments are grasping at their oldest weapon: the myth of the ‘Russian threat’.It is a myth that has lingered in the European imagination for over 500 years, and it tells us more about Western Europe’s cowardice and greed than about Russia itself

Two realities drive the EU’s current posture. First, Washington’s appetite for underwriting European defense is waning. Reports in Western media suggest that US officials recently told their European counterparts that direct military aid to Eastern Europe may soon be scaled back. For elites in the Baltics and former Soviet republics, this is a nightmare scenario. Their foreign policy has always revolved around one thing: provoking Russia to extract protection and resources from abroad.Second, the EU has no alternative strategy. Without US leadership, it cannot conceive of a foreign policy beyond confrontation with Moscow. Reviving the Russian bogeyman provides a convenient way to retain Washington’s attention – and money.

Yet the irony is obvious. Russia has no interest in punishing its smaller neighbors. Moscow does not seek revenge on the Baltics, Poland, or Finland for decades of anti-Russian rhetoric. Their importance in world affairs is negligible. But for their elites, clinging to the myth of Russian aggression has been the only foreign policy achievement of their independence. The roots of this myth lie not in the Cold War or the 19th century rivalry between empires, but in the late 15th century. Historians trace its emergence to the cowardice of the Baltic barons and the opportunism of German knights in Livonia and Prussia. In the 1480s, Poland’s kings considered sending these knights south to fight the expanding Ottoman Empire. The plan terrified them.

For centuries, they had lived comfortably in the Baltics, bullying local populations and skirmishing with Russian militias at little risk. Facing the Turks was another matter. The memory of Nicopolis – where Ottoman forces executed nearly all captured knights – was still fresh. Unwilling to face a real war, the Livonian and Prussian knights launched a propaganda campaign. Their aim was to convince the rest of Europe that Russia was as dangerous as, or even more dangerous than, the Turks. If successful, they could keep their privileges at home, avoid Ottoman swords, and secure papal approval to treat their border clashes with Russians as a holy war. The strategy worked. Rome granted indulgences and support, ensuring the knights could stay put while still enjoying the prestige of crusaders.

As historian Marina Bessudnova notes, the 1508 Livonian chronicle ‘The Wonderful Story of the Struggle of the Livonian Landgraves against the Russians and Tatars’ provided the finishing touches to this propaganda. Tellingly, the Baltic barons’ private letters contain no mention of a Russian threat. The danger was never real on the ground – only in the stories they sold to Europe. Thus, the myth was born: a fusion of fear, convenience, and profit. Over time, Western Europe, particularly France and England, absorbed it into a broader Russophobia – equal parts contempt and anxiety over a vast empire they could neither conquer nor ignore.

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I don’t think you can save Netanyahu anymore. Best you can do is to argue he is not Israel.

• Gaza Deal Near – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that a deal on ending the war in Gaza is close, but without providing any details. His comments came just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly he would “finish the job” of eliminating Hamas in the enclave. “I think we have maybe a deal on Gaza, and very close to a deal on Gaza, it’s looking like we have a deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. Trump and Netanyahu are planning to meet in Washington on Monday. ”I think it’s a deal that will get the hostages back. It’s going to be a deal that will end the war,” Trump added.

Earlier this week, Trump and senior US officials presented a 21-point peace plan to Arab and Islamic leaders, the president’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said at the UNGA. The plan calls for a permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages, new governance for Gaza without Hamas, and a phased Israeli withdrawal, according to media sources. ”I think it addresses Israeli concerns and, as well, the concerns of all the neighbors in the in the region,” Witkoff said. “And we’re hopeful, and I might say, even confident, that in the coming days, we’ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough.”

Trump’s position on the future of Gaza has not been consistent. In March, Trump said that “nobody is expelling any Palestinians” from the enclave, but later in May, he reiterated his desire for the US to take over the territory and “make it a freedom zone,” urging residents to leave. However, ahead of Netanyahu’s UN speech on Friday, Trump said he would not allow the annexation of the occupied West Bank, rejecting calls from some far-right politicians in Israel who want to extend sovereignty over the area. “It’s not going to happen,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding: “There’s been enough. It’s time to stop now.” Netanyahu signed a controversial West Bank settlement expansion plan this month.

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“The former French president’s conviction is a rare glimpse of justice – but his true crime goes unpunished..”

• He Destroyed A Country and Half A Million Lives and Got Five Years (Fetouri)

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty and sentenced to five years in jail for campaign finance violations, a historic ruling in a case that has long captivated Parisian politics. The court concluded that Sarkozy had exceeded legal spending limits during his 2007 presidential election campaign, and engaged in a conspiracy to obscure the sources of illicit funds he received from Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi, as various evidence has demonstrated. However, while the conviction targets money, it leaves untouched the far heavier human toll of his foreign policy decisions – from the 2011 Libya intervention to its cascade of wars, state collapse, and crises brought on by migration across the Mediterranean and Sahel. In other words, France’s courts can punish illicit euros, but fails to account for the blood spilled in the pursuit of regime change.

Earlier this year, while discussing the saga surrounding Sarkozy’s campaign funds, a source speaking to me anonymously, and corroborated by a former Libyan intelligence official, revealed for the first time that “a portion of the money reportedly came from Libyan intelligence, delivered across the Italian border by a female operative.” While the court did not definitively link these funds to Sarkozy’s campaign expenditures, the claims echo earlier allegations by Ziad Takieddine, who passed away in Beirut on September 23. He had maintained that he transported cash from Libyan officials to Paris. The murky trail of intermediaries underscores the complexity of the financial networks and how covert foreign influence can intersect with domestic politics, even when the legal system stops short of proving direct use.

The fallout from Sarkozy’s Libyan intervention extends far beyond financial scandals. By leading France – and later the entire NATO alliance – into the 2011 regime-change operation against Muammar Gaddafi, he helped dismantle Libya’s institutions, creating a vacuum that allowed jihadist networks to expand across the Sahel. Fourteen years on, Libya has yet to recover from that invasion. The resulting instability triggered waves of displacement, forcing thousands of migrants to risk crossing the Mediterranean in search of safety. What began as a “humanitarian intervention” became a cascade of unintended consequences: weakened states, regional insecurity, and a humanitarian crisis that Europe continues to grapple with more than a decade later. Sarkozy’s decisions illustrate how foreign policy choices can have profound, long-term effects reaching far beyond the immediate political or financial sphere.

Sarkozy’s Libyan gamble continues to reverberate across Africa, where resentment toward France has deepened amid coups, political instability, and ongoing foreign interventions. From Mali and Niger to Burkina Faso, anti-French sentiment has surged, fuelled by perceptions of neo-colonial arrogance and broken promises. At the UN General Assembly on September 23, 2023, Mali’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop recalled the 2011 UN Security Council authorization for NATO’s military intervention in Libya, noting that it went against the objections of African leaders and resulted in “consequences [that] have permanently destabilized this fraternal country as well as the entire region.”

The betrayal of Gaddafi, once considered a potential strategic ally, has become a symbol of Western leaders’ disregard for African sovereignty, illustrating how regime-change adventures can leave a continent grappling with the fallout for years. Sarkozy’s conviction for campaign finance violations, while significant in Paris, cannot erase the broader geopolitical upheaval his decisions unleashed – a reckoning with the enduring shadow of neo-colonial interference. Many believe French intelligence played a role in Gaddafi’s murder in order to cover up the campaign funding scandal.

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“I think all that we really know is that the official narrative is false.”

• Elon Musk Says Charlie Kirk Was Shot From The Rear (Paul Craig Roberts)

Much of what Musk says makes sense, but not the globalism part that the assassination of Kirk is a way of dividing us. We have been divided for decades by the teaching of critical race theory, aversive racism and by the DEI policy created by Blumrosen in the EEOC in the 1960s, by abortion, by the legalization of sexual perversity, by the feminist attack on men, and so on. Division has long existed and worsened. Musk’s “globalism” explanation is an effort to rationalize division that has long existed and grown. Liberal-left American professors had done a thorough job of creating division. It is all they are good for.

The globalism theory assumes that the US is the only obstacle to the WEA’s global management of the world. But of course there is Russia, China, and the rest of the world. As for division it is the neoconservatives that have the US aligned against Russia, China, Iran, India, and in Israel’s pocket. Perhaps it is Israel that is attaining world control.

As for forensic evidence, the front neck wound is too small to be an exit wound. Possibly it could be an exit wound of a small caliber such as .17 or .22. But it is most certainly not an exit wound of a powerful round. Moreover, Kirk’s right hand man says the surgeon said there is no exit wound and that the surgeon found the bullet inside Kirk’s neck. Musk did not give evidence for the trajectory he asserts of rear entry and front exit. Still no one has identified the caliber of the bullet. It clearly is not a 30-06 as the official narrative asserts. I find the video of the palm pistol shot more convincing, at least convincing enough to be investigated. Indeed, all explanations should be investigated.

As we already have multiple explanations of Kirk’s assassination, it reminds me of what James Jesus Angleton once told me. When the CIA pulls off an event it has a pre-packaged cover story that instantly becomes the explanation, and several more pre-packaged stories in reserve. If the first narrative wears thin, a couple more narratives are released. People then argue over which is correct and the focus is shifted off the question why the first narrative was wrong. I think all that we really know is that the official narrative is false. The important question is why is the FBI satisfied with a false narrative?

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https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1971324014279917971

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1971432886633972153

 

 

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Debt Rattle September 24 2025

Sep 242025
 
 September 24, 2025  Posted by at 10:12 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  37 Responses »


Vincent van Gogh Almond blossom 1890

 

• Trump Changes Rhetoric On Ukraine Conflict (RT)
• Trump Says Ukraine Can Win Back All Territory Lost to Russia (ZH)
• NATO States Can Shoot Down Russian Planes – Trump (RT) /td>
• Hungary Pledges To Keep Buying Russian Energy (RT)
• Western Europe ‘Going To Hell’ – Trump (RT)
• Turning Point Campus Tour Continues with Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson etc (CTH)
• Who Charlie Kirk Really Was (CTH)
• Is This the Media’s Newest Spin on Charlie Kirk’s Murder? (Margolis)
• The Evolution of MAGA and The Perils Ahead (Pinsker)
• President Trump Calls Out Democrats for Threatening Shutdown (CTH)
• Secret Service Foils Massive Plot To Cripple NYC Cell Network (NYP)
• Jimmy Kimmel Set For Return To ABC (NYP)
• Bill O’Reilly Shreds Liberals’ ‘Free Speech’ Spin (ZH)
• US Officials Say Regime Change in Venezuela Is the Real Goal (Antiwar)
• Is Wired Trying to Get Elon Musk Assassinated Next? (Stephen Green)

 

 

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1970273969870905494
https://twitter.com/SaiKate108/status/1970089397199802437

 

 

 

 

It looks like a sudden 180º. But how exactly do you get from Zelensky has no cards, to now is “time for Ukraine to act?” What changed?

• Trump Changes Rhetoric On Ukraine Conflict (RT)

US President Donald Trump has claimed that Ukraine can still prevail in the conflict with Russia three years into the fighting, even as Kiev’s forces have been steadily losing ground in recent months. The statement marks a stark shift in rhetoric from the US leader. Since taking office, Trump has made repeated attempts to mediate the Ukraine conflict, initiating numerous rounds of talks with Russian officials, which culminated in a summit with Putin in Alaska in mid-August. The US president has recently expressed frustration over the lack of progress in settling the conflict but still referred to Russia as a powerful nation while arguing that Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky had no “cards.”

However, in a Truth Social post on Tuesday, following a meeting with Zelensky, Trump claimed that he believes Kiev is “in a position to fight and win all of Ukraine back,” if the EU and NATO continue to support it. He also referred to Russia as a “paper tiger,” arguing that it had failed to defeat Kiev’s forces in three and a half years. The US president also claimed that Russia is “in [a] big economic trouble” over the conflict and it was “time for Ukraine to act.” He did not announce any new financial or military aid packages for Kiev, though, stating instead that the US would continue to “supply weapons to NATO” for the bloc to use them as it sees fit.

The Russian economy has recently showed signs of slowing down compared to the growth of 4.1% in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024. It is still expected to grow 2.5% this year, despite sweeping Western sanctions. President Vladimir Putin said last week that the country “is still far from a recession,” citing the “historically low unemployment rates.” The governor of Russia’s central bank, Elvira Nabiullina, also recently dismissed the rumors about recession. “The economy is slowing, but there is no recession,” she said at the Moscow Financial Forum last week. The nation’s military have also been steadily advancing on the front lines for months. Moscow’s forces had taken control of 3,500 square kilometers and 149 settlements since March, Chief of the General Staff General Valery Gerasimov reported in late August.

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To me, it feels like he’s hallucinating. But what do I know, right?

• Trump Says Ukraine Can Win Back All Territory Lost to Russia (ZH)

In a dramatic reversal from his previous stance where he urged Zelensky to seek a ceasefire with Putin promptly as recently as a month ago following his summit with Putin in Alaska, on Tuesday afternoon President Donald Trump said that Ukraine should go on the offensive against Russia and reclaim all occupied territories. “After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

The president said that, with backing from Europe and NATO and enough time and patience, it is “very much an option” for Ukraine to drive Russian forces out and restore its borders. “Why not? Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win,” Trump wrote. “This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like ‘a paper tiger.’” Trump said Russia’s faltering economy, shortages at home, and growing public discontent could tip the balance further in Ukraine’s favor. He described Ukraine as having “Great Spirit” and growing stronger as the war drags on, while warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin faces “BIG Economic trouble.” “This is the time for Ukraine to act,” Trump wrote, adding that he wishes both countries well, and that the United States would continue to supply weapons to NATO “for NATO to do what they want with them.”

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Oh sure, suddenly Russia flies war planes all over Poland, Romania and Estonia.

• NATO States Can Shoot Down Russian Planes – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump has replied affirmatively when asked if NATO states should shoot down Russian aircraft that breach their airspace. The US president was asked the question at a joint press conference alongside Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky on Tuesday. “Yes, I do,” Trump replied. Estonia, a Baltic member of the US-led military bloc, last week claimed that three Russian MIG-31 jets breached its airspace. Moscow has denied the claims, saying that the planes did not deviate from their routine flight path, and arguing that NATO lacked evidence. Tallinn called for urgent consultations with bloc members under NATO Article 4, which allows members to seek talks if they believe their security or territorial integrity is threatened. Bloc members convened in Brussels on Tuesday.

According to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, the US-led military bloc decides whether to shoot down planes that violate the bloc’s airspace on a real-time case-by-case basis depending on the threat level. In the alleged Estonian incident, “NATO forces promptly intercepted and escorted the aircraft without escalation as no immediate threat was assessed,” he claimed during a press conference following the meeting. Earlier this month, another NATO member, Poland, accused Russia of sending at least 19 drones into its airspace – a claim Moscow has dismissed as baseless. The only damage from the incident was allegedly caused by a missile fired by a Polish F-16, which struck a residential building, the news outlet Rzeczpospolita reported last week.

The incident in Poland was a fabricated provocation meant to “undermine a political settlement of the Ukraine conflict,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the accusations were levied without a shred of evidence. The claims “have never been supported by any reliable data or convincing arguments,” he told journalists on Tuesday.

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“Brussels has reportedly included twelve Chinese and three Indian entities in its 19th sanctions package..”

• Hungary Pledges To Keep Buying Russian Energy (RT)

Hungary will continue importing Russian oil and gas, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said, rejecting pressure from Washington and Brussels for a clean break from Moscow’s energy supplies. Szijjarto made the comments in an interview with The Guardian published on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. For landlocked Hungary, he said, the issue of energy security is a matter of physical infrastructure – pipelines, refineries and existing contracts – that limit where it can source energy. “We can’t ensure the safe supply for our country without Russian oil or gas sources,” he said. “It can be nice to dream about buying oil and gas from somewhere else … but we can only buy from where we have infrastructure.”

In recent weeks, Washington has increasingly pushed its European NATO partners to stop purchasing Russian energy – and to introduce secondary tariffs on India and China – while refusing to impose any new sanctions unilaterally. President Donald Trump mocked them in his UNGA address on Tuesday, claiming “some in NATO are funding the war against themselves.” Hungary’s state-owned MOL Group imports about five million tonnes of crude annually via the Druzhba (“Friendship”) pipeline, which also supplies Slovakia. The route has come under direct threat in recent months, with Ukrainian forces striking pumping stations and other facilities along the line, causing temporary disruptions to shipments.

The European Commission has set a goal of phasing out Russian fossil fuels by 2027. Brussels has reportedly included twelve Chinese and three Indian entities in its 19th sanctions package, which must be unanimously approved before being adopted. Brussels has also been weighing separate trade measures that could curtail oil deliveries through Druzhba, even without unanimous consent, effectively allowing other EU members to outvote Budapest and Bratislava, according to Bloomberg. When asked about mounting European pressure, Szijjarto said it was “totally impossible to carry out a fact-based, rational dialogue based on common sense” with Western officials, whom he described as “fanatics.”

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No doubt there. “..each country is unique. But to stay this way, every sovereign nation must have the right to control their own borders and to limit the sheer number of migrants entering their countries,” he said.”

• Western Europe ‘Going To Hell’ – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump has warned that open border policies and “suicidal energy ideas” will be “the death of Western Europe,” insisting that something must be done immediately to reverse course. “This cannot be sustained,” Trump told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, calling the crisis of uncontrolled migration “the number one political issue of our time.” Your countries are being ruined,” he said, accusing the UN of funding an “assault on Western countries and their borders,” citing the $372 million spent by the organization in 2024 on supporting an estimated 624,000 people migrating to the US.

He went on to claim that Europe is in “serious trouble” and has been “invaded” by an unprecedented “force of illegal aliens” that is “pouring” into the continent. He criticized European leaders for failing to do anything about it due to political correctness. Trump pointed to London and its “terrible mayor,” Sadiq Khan, claiming that the city has changed beyond recognition and is moving toward Sharia law. “What makes the world so beautiful is that each country is unique. But to stay this way, every sovereign nation must have the right to control their own borders and to limit the sheer number of migrants entering their countries,” he said.

He stressed that while the US remains compassionate to people who have truly struggled in their home countries, it is important to “solve problems in their countries, not create new ones in our countries” by importing people from different cultural and religious backgrounds who break the law and make false asylum claims.“You’re doing it because you want to be nice,” Trump said, addressing his European counterparts. “You want to be politically correct, and you’re destroying your heritage,” he claimed, calling for an end to “the failed experiment of open borders.”

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Looks promising. But what if it takes a unique set of talents?

• Turning Point Campus Tour Continues with Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson etc (CTH)

Turning Point USA has announced speakers to help maintain the TPUSA mission of Charlie Kirk. The schedule is being worked out, but names like Megyn Kelly, Vivek Ramaswamy, Rob Schieder, Tucker Carlson, Glenn Beck and Michael Knowles will assist. It is awesome to see people stepping into the breach.

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“Charlie Kirk’s Best Friend Debunks the Conspiracy Theories..”

• Who Charlie Kirk Really Was (CTH)

Andrew Kolvet, the Executive Producer of The Charlie Kirk Show was Charlie’s best friend. Following the memorial service he sat down for a lengthy podcast interview with Alex Clark. WATCH:

Reference points:
0:00 intro
1:38 Charlie’s last weeks
3:59 Charlie’s urge for International travels
4:38 His favorite form of exercise
5:50 Sharing the Gospel in Tokyo
6:55 Conservative infighting about Israel

15:22 Prepping Erika for Opportunists
18:04 Andrew’s “out-of-body” experience
20:06 How Charlie treated women
22:14 Andrew calls Charlie a “prophet”
24:05 Erika’s confidence in Charlie’s investigation
26:29 Charlie’s problems with Alex
28:17 Charlie & Erika behind the scenes
31:10 Fox vs. Charlie?
34:16 Charlie was “Mr. MAHA”
36:26 Why did TPUSA Team take down cameras?
38:40 Charlie’s true view of politics
39:22 The future for Charlie’s tours & Charlie’s show
42:34 Andrew’s remedy for healing a sick culture

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“Not political”.

• Is This the Media’s Newest Spin on Charlie Kirk’s Murder? (Margolis)

When it comes to political violence, the left far outpaces anyone else. Naturally, after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the media scrambled to obscure that reality. First, they falsely claimed that Kirk’s killer was a MAGA Republican, and that lie collapsed almost immediately. Then they trotted out bogus studies claiming that political violence is mostly a right-wing problem, only for conservative outlets to expose their deception. So what’s their next move? Now they’re trying to spin Kirk’s murder as “not political.”As PJ Media has previously reported, Tyler Robinson’s own text messages revealed that he killed Kirk because he was “tired of his hatred.” His mother told investigators that Robinson had become increasingly “pro-gay and trans-rights oriented” over the past year, and prosecutors indicate he acted because of Kirk’s stance on transgender issues.

But according to ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, Kirk’s murder “was not a political act.” “Later today, family, friends and supporters of Charlie Kirk will gather in Phoenix for his memorial service,” Karl said. “The 31-year-old activist’s murder shocked the nation and was condemned by sensible and compassionate Americans in and out of politics and across the political spectrum. It was also senselessly celebrated by some, a small minority, who didn’t like what Kirk stood for.” Karl continued: Celebrating or excusing violence is abhorrent. The murder of Charlie Kirk was not a political act. It was gruesome crime. His alleged killer now faces the death penalty. Our thoughts this morning are with the Kirk family, especially his two young children who will now grow up without their father.

Whatever you think of his political views – and there are many people deeply offended by things he said – Charlie Kirk was an unwavering advocate for free speech. On a personal note – he was always willing to engage with me and answer my questions. He welcomed debate with those he disagreed with. He didn’t try to silence his critics. He listened to them and tried to change their minds.”

Notice the sleight of hand? Karl acknowledges that some people celebrated Kirk’s murder because they “didn’t like what Kirk stood for,” then immediately claims that the murder itself wasn’t political. When someone kills you specifically because they disagree with your political views, that constitutes a political action, not a random crime of passion. This is media spin at its best. By this twisted logic, the assassination attempts against President Donald Trump weren’t political either. Perhaps Karl thinks the Capitol riot wasn’t political either. Oh, no, I’m sure that was. It’s only violence against the right that isn’t political. And when the outrage poured in, Karl’s cleanup attempt got even more ridiculous.

Of course, Karl’s claim that a small minority of people celebrated Kirk’s death is a gross attempt at gaslighting. A YouGov poll found that 24% of very liberal Americans agree it’s acceptable to be happy about the death of opposing political figures, compared to just 3% of very conservative Americans. The same poll revealed that 25% of very liberal Americans believe violence can be justified to achieve political goals, while only 3% of very conservative Americans agree.

That’s not a “small minority.” These numbers dismantle the left’s carefully constructed narrative about who really supports political violence in America. Liberal Americans consistently endorse both celebrating political opponents’ deaths and using violence for political purposes, yet the media continues pushing the fiction that conservatives are the real threat.

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“From now on, it’ll be commonplace for GOP candidates to urge supporters to attend church, surrender themselves to Christ, and emulate His example. The two are now permanently intertwined. This is the true legacy of Charlie Kirk..”

• The Evolution of MAGA and The Perils Ahead (Pinsker)

“One day spent with someone you love can change everything.” —Mitch Albom

Charlie Kirk’s memorial service — and what a beautiful, sorrowful, unforgettable service it was — signaled the closing of one chapter and the beginning of a new one. Because, for a solid decade, Charlie’s journey and the Make America Great Again movement were indistinguishable; Charlie’s mission was MAGA’s mission — his path was MAGA’s path. Then, on the fateful day of Sept. 10, Charlie earned a new path. And today, he’s walking hand-in-hand with Jesus Christ; his horrible wounds cleansed, healed, and purified. Charlie’s earthly mission is now complete; his eternal rewards await.= Yet somehow, his widow, his young children — and the MAGA movement he so dearly loved — must endure.

The Democratic Party gave a master class on what NOT to do on Oct. 29, 2002: A week before the midterm elections, Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) died in a tragic plane crash. The Democrats staged a made-for-TV “memorial service” — and I’m using quote marks because it was less a memorial than a nakedly partisan political rally where Republican guests (including Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott) and independent guests (including Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura) were booed, cursed, and heckled until they left in protest. As CNN reported: “[Gov. Jesse] Ventura, who walked out of the service, said Democrats “should hang their head in shame.” […] “I feel used. I feel violated and duped over the fact that that turned into nothing more than a political rally,” [Ventura] said.”

The damage to Democrats was immediate: Ex-V.P. Walter Mondale, the favorite son of Minnesota who was tapped to replace Wellstone, went from the sentimental choice and a slam-dunk winner — buoyed by an eight-point lead over Republican Norm Coleman with just a week left — to losing the election by 2.2%. That won’t happen to the Republican Party. Not when the service’s most viral moment was Erika Kirk declaring her forgiveness of the man who made her a widow: And instead of boos, protests, or howls of indignation, her forgiveness was met with rapturous applause. Erika Kirk’s love and faith overshadowed everything else and everyone else — including the president and vice president. In an evening of indelible images and unforgettable moments, an army of angels sang as she spoke: The earth trembled and the heavens rejoiced.

And the trumpets of troubadours toppled more than the walls of Jericho. Charlie Kirk’s dearly beloved was baptized in a flash of gunfire, transformed from wife to widow to beacon of hope. None of us will ever be the same again. That includes the MAGA movement. As of today, the MAGA movement is now a Christian movement. That doesn’t mean Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and atheists are persona non grata in the Republican Party, but brands and movements evolve over time. Nothing stays the same. MAGA is no different. Since the end of World War II, the Republican Party has been governed by three key constituencies: The so-called Religious Right (pro-life, prayer in school, traditional values), economic conservatives (business leaders and the tax-cut crowd), and military hawks.

After the broken promises, exaggerated claims, and staggering cost of the Iraq War, the military hawks were diminished. They still haven’t recovered. A few years later, the 2008 Too Big to Fail financial crisis sullied the image of economic conservatives. From government bailouts to cries of cronyism, this gave an opening to today’s economic populists. It’s how the party of tax cuts became the party of tariffs. Unlike the other two, the Religious Right wasn’t damaged by a single watershed moment. Even after a few notable TV evangelists humiliated themselves in high-profile scandals, the Religious Right was mostly unfazed: Pat Robertson unapologetically carried their banner in the 1988 Republican primaries, finishing second in Iowa — ahead of George H. W. Bush — and first in Washington state.

In retrospect, that was the high-water mark for the Religious Right movement… until yesterday evening. When Americans yawned in indifference to the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, conservative pundits and political strategists interpreted it as a cue to relegate moral conflicts to the back burner and focus instead on pocketbook issues. This, along with other cultural trendlines — including a 12-point drop among U.S. adults who regularly attend religious services — created an impression that Americans didn’t want to hear about God anymore. That impression was further reinforced when the thrice-married Donald Trump overcame the “grab ‘em by the p***y” Access Hollywood leak, winning the presidency. The Religious Right, they assumed, was dead and buried. Not anymore: We just witnessed its miraculous resurrection.

The MAGA mission is now a faith-based mission (and maybe it always was). From now on, it’ll be commonplace for GOP candidates to urge supporters to attend church, surrender themselves to Christ, and emulate His example. The two are now permanently intertwined. This is the true legacy of Charlie Kirk. Unfortunately, with it comes a new line of attack for GOP grifters. Because, whether we like it or not, grifters are gonna grift. That’s what they do. It’s how they make money. All movements have ‘em, and MAGA, alas, is no exception. Fortunately, they’re easy to spot:

Their success depends on attention, views, and clicks. They’re suddenly obsessed with causes and issues that they’ve never shown a heightened interest in before (cough, Israel, cough). They’ve flip-flopped on key positions over the last 10 years, often trafficking in conspiracy theories. They claim to speak on behalf of Charlie Kirk, putting words in his mouth that he never said. And now that Christianity has ascended, they’ll weaponize their faith to attack “the other.” Even if “the other” is a fellow conservative! No, I’m not gonna name names — because I don’t have to: If you’ve read the list, you already know EXACTLY who they are. Consider yourself warned. Consider all of us warned.

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“..Otherwise, it will just be another long and brutal slog through their radicalized quicksand.”

“All Congressional Democrats want to do is enact Radical Left Policies that nobody voted for — High Taxes, Open Borders, No Consequences for Violent Criminals, Men in Women’s Sports, Taxpayer funded “TRANSGENDER” surgery, and much more.”

• President Trump Calls Out Democrats for Threatening Shutdown (CTH)

The Democrats are threatening to refuse to support a stopgap spending measure to extend federal spending. President Trump is calling them out and refusing to meet with them until they get serious about it. After passing a clean CR in the House, Republicans in the Senate are pushing a “clean” seven-week continuing resolution, which they say will buy time for more negotiations on full-year spending bills and possibly an extension of expiring health insurance subsidies. Democrats, meanwhile, wrote an alternative four-week punt that tacks on a laundry list of other demands, including a permanent extension of the insurance subsidies. Should the government shut down, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought will determine which elements and agencies of the government are considered essential and which will be shuttered until the budget is extended.

President Donald Trump – “After reviewing the details of the unserious and ridiculous demands being made by the Minority Radical Left Democrats in return for their Votes to keep our thriving Country open, I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive. They are threatening to shut down the Government of the United States unless they can have over $1 Trillion Dollars in new spending to continue free healthcare for Illegal Aliens (A monumental cost!), force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors, have dead people on the Medicaid roles, allow Illegal Alien Criminals to steal Billions of Dollars in American Taxpayer Benefits, try to force our Country to again open our Borders to Criminals and to the World, allow men to play in women’s sports, and essentially create Transgender operations for everybody.”

“These Radical Left Views and Policies is what allowed me to win the Presidential Election, including all seven Swing States, and the Popular Vote, IN A HISTORIC LANDSLIDE. There are consequences to losing Elections but based on their letter to me, the Democrats haven’t figured that out yet. They are trying to eliminate the popular $50 Billion Dollar Rural and Vulnerable Hospital Fund, which was passed with only Republican Votes, and proudly signed into Law by ME. The Democrats in Congress seem to have totally lost their way. They obviously have no idea what it means to put America First or to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! All Congressional Democrats want to do is enact Radical Left Policies that nobody voted for — High Taxes, Open Borders, No Consequences for Violent Criminals, Men in Women’s Sports, Taxpayer funded “TRANSGENDER” surgery, and much more. Few people voted for what they represent, which would lead to the destruction of America.

Instead, people voted for COMMON SENSE, and that’s what the Republicans and your President, “DONALD J. TRUMP,” stand for. I look forward to meeting with them if they get serious about the future of our Nation. We must keep the Government open and legislate like true Patriots rather than hold American Citizens hostage, knowing that they want our now thriving Country closed. I’ll be happy to meet with them if they agree to the Principles in this Letter. They must do their job! Otherwise, it will just be another long and brutal slog through their radicalized quicksand. To the Leaders of the Democrat Party, the ball is in your court. I look forward to meeting with you when you become realistic about the things that our Country stands for. DO THE RIGHT THING!”

DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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This is massive big. We’ll hear more about it.

“..a wide-range of telecommunications attacks — including spamming networks with up to 30 million text messages a minute..”

• Secret Service Foils Massive Plot To Cripple NYC Cell Network (NYP)

A massive illegal electronic device network capable of crippling cell towers and jamming 911 calls across New York City was uncovered by the Secret Service — just as world leaders prepared to descend on Manhattan for the UN General Assembly, officials said Tuesday. Investigators discovered the trove of devices — including more than 300 co-located SIM servers and 100,000 SIM cards – at multiple locations within 35 miles of the United Nations. “The potential for disruption to our country’s telecommunications posed by this network of devices cannot be overstated,” Secret Service Director Sean Curran said. Officials warned the devices had the capability of carrying out a wide-range of telecommunications attacks — including spamming networks with up to 30 million text messages a minute — that could have had “catastrophic” consequences for the city.

“It can take down cell towers, so then no longer can people communicate, right? …. You can’t text message, you can’t use your cell phone. And if you coupled that with some sort of other event associated with UNGA, you know, use your imagination there, it could be catastrophic to the city,” Matt McCool, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s New York field office, said. “Given the timing, location and proximity and potential for significant disruptions to the New York telecoms system, we moved quickly to disrupt this network.” It wasn’t immediately clear exactly when the cache of hidden devices was seized. The hidden network was found as part of a sweeping Secret Service probe that kicked off in the spring following telecommunications-related threats targeting senior US government officials, according to investigators.

When agents ultimately raided the locations, they uncovered rows of servers and shelves stacked with SIM cards – including more than 100,000 that had already been activated, as well as a large number still waiting to be deployed, McCool said. McCool warned of the havoc the network could have caused if it had been left intact — comparing the potential impact to cellular blackouts that followed the 9/11 terror attacks when networks crippled under the strain. Officials said they haven’t uncovered a direct plot to disrupt the UN General Assembly but noted there was no ongoing threat to the Big Apple. Investigators are still probing who is responsible but believe perps from certain countries used the system to send encrypted messages to organized crime groups, cartels and terrorist organizations.

Forensic analysis is still in its early stages, McCool said. “We need to do forensics on 100,000 cell phones, essentially all the phone calls, all the text messages, anything to do with communications, see where those numbers end up,” he said.

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More attention than Kimmel had in many years.

Now more people can voluntarily not watch. It all looks like one big PR thing.

“Where has all the leadership gone?”

• Jimmy Kimmel Set For Return To ABC (NYP)

Jimmy Kimmel will be back on ABC Tuesday, but the country’s largest owner of its local affiliate stations won’t air his show as he still refuses to apologize for his incendiary, false claim about Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer. The $15 million-per-year ABC late-night host negotiated his return to the airwaves directly with Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger and his No. 2, Disney Entertainment Co-Chair Dana Walden, sources with knowledge of the situation told The Post. Kimmel will address the controversy during his monologue on Tuesday though he will stop short of apologizing, the sources said. The episode, however, won’t be aired on dozens of local ABC stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which announced Monday night that it will instead air news programming in its place.

“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return,” the company said in a statement. In response, Turning Point USA posted on X, “Good for @WeAre-Sinclair for blocking Kimmell [sic] from its 31 ABC affiliates. Reminder, Kimmell has yet to apologize for saying the assassin was MAGA, and he was reportedly going to double down. He’s an unrepentant liar, and affiliates have every right to demand accountability.” Sinclair had previously demanded Kimmel apologize to Kirk’s family and pledge a donation to Turning Point USA, the activist group Kirk founded. Nexstar Media Group, the other largest ABC station owner, has not yet said whether it’ll air Kimmel on its stations Tuesday. The Post has sought comment from the company.

Both media conglomerates had successfully pushed ABC to yank him from the airways for the Sept. 15 comments about Kirk’s assassination. In a statement Monday, Disney said it suspended Kimmel last Wednesday “to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” calling some of his comments “ill-timed and thus insensitive.” The suspension followed a monologue in which Kimmel claimed Kirk was killed by other Trump supporters — despite authorities saying the alleged shooter had left-wing views. It remains unclear what Disney and Kimmel agreed to secure his return to air. The company has not disclosed whether the talks involved new contract terms or a donation to Kirk’s organization. Reports have suggested those points were central to discussions, but no final details have been confirmed.

Kimmel’s current contract with ABC runs through May 2026, following a three-year extension signed in 2022. He reportedly earns between $15 and $16 million per year, with total compensation potentially exceeding $20 million with bonuses. The move left Disney squeezed from both sides: conservatives enraged by Kimmel’s remarks and his apparent refusal to apologize, and liberals angered that the company appeared to bow to pressure from FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and pro-Trump voices. Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner ripped the company for pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in the first place. Eisner accused Disney of capitulating to “intimidation” from Washington regulators and demanded to know, “Where has all the leadership gone?”

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“..they have BANISHED all traditional conservative thought and discourse on all of their programs.”

• Bill O’Reilly Shreds Liberals’ ‘Free Speech’ Spin (ZH)

Jimmy Kimmel will finally return to the air on Tuesday night, after his show was briefly yanked for falsely labeling Kirk’s suspected assassin as “one of them” in a distasteful dig at conservatives. Democrats rushed to defend Kimmel, calling it a “First Amendment issue.” But Bill O’Reilly says that story is, frankly, bullsh*t. The real free speech story, he argues, is what these mainstream networks have been doing for years. “Look, this [Trump v. Kimmel] story is bogus,” O’Reilly told Vittert. “The [real] story is that Disney and Kimmel, for three years, would not put on a non-liberal voice on his program.”

“You talk about no freedom of speech and expression? That story has been totally ignored,” O’Reilly lamented. “And it’s not just ABC. It was CBS, NBC, MSNBC, and CNN. Okay? They will not put any non-liberal voice on the air.” O’Reilly recalled how, before the Trump era, he was booked regularly on mainstream networks. Now, he says he and other conservatives have been deliberately excluded from those programs — something he called “Putin stuff.”“This whole freedom of speech BS is coming from the far left to make Kimmel a victim and to make Trump a villain when, for ten years, they have BANISHED all traditional conservative thought and discourse on all of their programs.” “All of them,” O’Reilly continued. “They don’t want non-liberal voices. That is Putin stuff!”

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1970310297689678327

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Mario’s hobby.

• US Officials Say Regime Change in Venezuela Is the Real Goal (Antiwar)

US officials have told The New York Times that the real goal of the US military buildup in the Caribbean, and the bombing of boats in the region, is regime change in Venezuela. The policy is being largely driven by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has long wanted to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power. Back in 2019, when the first Trump administration attempted to back a coup against Maduro, Rubio posted a photo on Twitter of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in the moment he was being brutally murdered in an apparent threat to the Venezuelan leader. The Trump administration claims that Maduro is the leader of a drug cartel, but has not produced any evidence for the charge.

Maduro and other Venezuelan officials have forcefully rejected the accusation and have pointed to data that shows the majority of the cocaine that is produced in Colombia doesn’t go through Venezuela. President Trump has also framed the military campaign in the region as a response to overdose deaths in the US due to fentanyl, but fentanyl isn’t produced in Venezuela, and it does not go through the country on its way to the US. The Times report, which was published over the weekend, reads: “Several current and former military officials, diplomats, and intelligence officers say that while fighting drugs is the pretext for the recent US attacks, the real goal is to drive Mr. Maduro from power, one way or another.”

The US began bombing boats allegedly running drugs in the Caribbean on September 2. According to numbers released by President Trump, at least 17 people have been extrajudicially executed by the US military since the campaign began. US officials have said the Trump administration is considering direct strikes on Venezuelan territory, which could lead to a full-blown war with the country. One US official speaking to Axios last month suggested that the US military buildup in the region could lead to a “Noriega part 2,” referring to the 1989 US invasion of Panama that led to the ouster of Manuel Noriega. Other US officials hope that the pressure and $50 million bounty on Maduro leads to his assassination.

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“With Starship, SpaceX hopes to reduce the cost to orbit by an additional 90-99%.”

• Is Wired Trying to Get Elon Musk Assassinated Next? (Stephen Green)

You might think that the days and weeks after an assassin took the life of the guy who wanted nothing more than to engage with people would be a good time to tone down the “NAZI!” rhetoric against other public figures. Tell that to Wired’s Noah Shachtman, whose latest piece paints Elon Musk as an evil Bond villain “out to rule space” and demands to know “When the orbiting rifles are handed out, how many gun lockers will Elon have the keys to?” I’m trying hard not to sound paranoid here. But when Shachtman tells Wired readers that “you’ve watched Elon Musk stomp and smash and rage his way through politics and policy,” so they “get what’s at stake if he’s given an outsize role in the weaponization of space,” it’s easy to imagine the next Tyler Robinson carving death messages into a few shell casings.

Am I insane? Normally, this is where I’d urge you to go read the whole thing, but Shachtman’s article is behind Wired’s paywall (link here). Apple News seems to have it available to the public (link here). I’m not an Apple News subscriber, but they’re pushing one of those “Three Months Free!” offers at me since I bought a new phone. So maybe that link will work, maybe it won’t — good luck! Here’s more: Musk often lets Starlinks run under the table, sometimes as a way of pressuring governments to license the service legitimately. “But in Iran, they’re just straight-up flouting the rules,” says one knowledgeable observer, “trying to overthrow the government by giving power, giving internet access” to Tehran’s opponents. It wasn’t the first—or last—time Musk used Starlink in ways that seemed to support the Israeli government’s objectives.

Musk also likes and works with President Donald Trump, who is Literally Hitler™, except when Bibi Netanyahu is. “Musk isn’t afraid to use his technologies to advance his politics,” Shachtman warns. “We’ve seen Musk enable [Israel’s] war effort, and we’ve seen him deny that aid when it suited him to do so.” But Musk’s evil ambitions go so much further than just enabling Nazis, foreign and domestic. “This is really the elephant in the room. And Musk just points at Mars like, ‘This is my objective. Don’t look at Starlink,’” Novaspace’s Lucas Pleney told Shachtman. “This is why I’m thinking: Is he really pointing the finger toward Mars and believing in it? Or is he just trying to divert us from the big thing, which is Starlink and how much it will take over?”

Then there’s Golden Dome, which is where Shachtman’s Hitler-meets-Bond-villain theme shines through: “In an unusual twist, SpaceX has proposed setting up its role in Golden Dome as a ‘subscription service’ in which the government would pay for access to the technology rather than own the system outright.” Of course, a subscription is something that can be turned off. Musk would have the kill switch to America’s orbiting weapons system. The man behind “MechaHilter.” The guy who gave the thumbs up to using his satellites as part of a campaign to overthrow a government and appeared to do very little as hundreds of thousands starved. That dude, with an outsize role in the making and maintaining of an arsenal in space—one in which the guns are pointed down at Earth.

Somewhere, a deranged young man reads this and wonders what to carve into a 30-06 shell. While I’m a big supporter of Musk’s politics — and also a happy Starlink customer — Longtime Sharp VodkaPundit Readers™ know that what I’m really crazy about is Musk’s space ambitions. SpaceX, with its reusable Falcon 9 workhorse, has already reduced the cost of putting stuff in Low Earth Orbit by 25-40%, depending on the launch. That’s made things possible (like Starlink, our military’s growing Starshield, and much more) that simply weren’t possible before. With Starship, SpaceX hopes to reduce the cost to orbit by an additional 90-99%. At that price, Musk won’t just make a lot of money for his investors; he’ll open up the Solar System to the human race. There are riches out on the final frontier, starting with metals-rich 16 Psyche, just waiting for the nation able to reach them first.

Exploration? Pure science? Settlement? Whatever your space dream — and even if you don’t have one, because SpaceX is paying its own way to Mars — Musk could prove to be the most impactful human being since Christopher Columbus. It’s no coincidence that Lefties hate Columbus, too. I have one last question. Couldn’t we put politics aside long enough to give humanity its best shot at ending our dependence on a single, fragile planet?”Nah,” says the Left. “Let’s see if we can spur another nutcase like Tyler Robinson into action.”

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galagos

 

 

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Debt Rattle September 23 2025

Sep 232025
 
 September 23, 2025  Posted by at 9:55 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,  54 Responses »


Frans Hals Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer 1626

 

• ‘Absolute Miracle’ May Have Saved Lives During Charlie Kirk Murder (ET)
• Bullet That Hit Charlie Kirk Purportedly Made No Exit Wound (HUSA)
• Building a Legacy: Charlie Kirk’s Memorial (Salgado)
• Moscow Ready To Respond To Any Threat – Putin (RT)
• Putin Makes Nuclear Treaty Offer To US (RT)
• Trump Declares Antifa a Terrorist Group (Catherine Salgado)
• Biden’s FBI Tried to Entrap Trump’s Border Czar Before the Election (Margolis)
• Why We Are at War (Richard C. Lyons)
• Disney Gives Kimmel Show Back, But Nexstar & Sinclair Still Refuse To Air (ZH)
• The Funniest Joke Jimmy Kimmel Never Told (Turley)
• Trump Links Tylenol To Autism Risk During Pregnancy (RT)
• Personal Note (James Howard Kunstler)
• EU Looks To ‘Le Pen-Proof’ Its Budget – Politico (RT)
• Macron Warns Against Seizing Frozen Russian Assets (RT)
• Britain’s Fate Is Decline, Not Upheaval – And History Explains Why (Bordachev)

 

 

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1970169307867890068

https://twitter.com/Juliesnark1731/status/1970092182196642217

https://twitter.com/TheBritLad/status/1970047562565488823

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1970153374310945092

 

 

 

 

Hmmmm. “‘This would have taken a moose or two down, [or] an elk.’”

• ‘Absolute Miracle’ May Have Saved Lives During Charlie Kirk Murder (ET)

A spokesperson for Turning Point USA provided an update on the assassination of the group’s founder, Charlie Kirk, earlier in September and said Kirk’s body “stopped” the bullet from producing an exit wound. Citing a surgeon at the hospital that assisted Kirk, spokesman Andrew Kolvet wrote in a post on X that the bullet that killed Kirk on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University “‘absolutely should have gone through, which is very very normal for a high powered, high velocity round.’ “‘I’ve seen wounds from this caliber many times and they always just go through everything,’” the surgeon said, according to Kolvet’s post. “‘This would have taken a moose or two down, [or] an elk.’” But the bullet “didn’t go through” because “Charlie’s body stopped it,” Kolvet said in the Sept. 20 post.

“I mentioned to his doctor that there were dozens of staff, students, and special guests standing directly behind Charlie on the other side of the tent,” he said. The doctor then told Kolvet, according to his post, that it “‘was an absolute miracle that someone else didn’t get killed’” by the bullet. According to the doctor, the shot “‘likely would have killed those standing behind [Kirk] too.’” “Even in death, Charlie managed to save the lives of those around him,” Kolvet wrote, noting that the doctor told him that the bullet had been recovered. It was discovered underneath Kirk’s skin. Officials have said the gun used in the shooting was a Mauser 98 model chambered in .30-06. According to prosecutors, the suspected assassin, Tyler Robinson, had told a male with whom he was in a romantic relationship that it was his grandfather’s gun. Authorities also said DNA on the trigger of the rifle that killed Kirk matched that of Robinson.

The authorities have released text messages said to be between Robinson and his romantic partner, whom prosecutors said identifies as a transgender female and was Robinson’s roommate. In these messages, Robinson allegedly said he plotted the attack for about a week and used a scope. Officials said Robinson had become “more political” in recent years, expressing more left-wing and pro-transgender views. When the roommate asked the suspect why he shot Kirk, according to the charging documents, Robinson said in response: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”Kirk had become a prominent force in politics and was credited with energizing the Republican base, particularly among youth, and helping President Donald Trump win back the White House in 2024.

Robinson’s roommate appeared shocked in the text exchange after the shooting, according to court documents, asking Robinson “why he did it and how long he’d been planning it.” While authorities say Robinson has not been cooperating with investigators, they say his family and friends have been talking to officials. Robinson made his first court appearance last week, with a judge declaring the suspect indigent and provisionally appointing a public defender. That public defender has not yet been named. The suspect faces capital aggravated murder, obstruction, witness tampering, and other charges. A capital murder charge means that Robinson could receive the death penalty. His next court date is set for Sept. 29. Robinson has not issued any public statements in response to the allegations.

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“Kolvet’s claims have been met with widespread skepticism online.”

• Bullet That Hit Charlie Kirk Purportedly Made No Exit Wound (HUSA)

Call it a miracle—though many are calling bullshit. Andrew Kolvet, the executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” said Saturday that he spoke with the surgeon who worked on conservative activist Charlie Kirk at the hospital. According to Kolvet, the surgeon said the .30-caliber bullet that hit conservative activist Charlie Kirk made no exit wound because Kirk is “like the man of steel.” “He said the bullet ‘absolutely should have gone through, which is very very normal for a high powered, high velocity round. I’ve seen wounds from this caliber many times and they always just go through everything. This would have taken a moose or two down, an elk, etc.’ But it didn’t go through. Charlie’s body stopped it,” Kolvet said on Twitter/X.

The surgeon supposedly explained that “his bone was so healthy and the density was so so impressive that he’s like the man of steel. It should have just gone through and through. It likely would have killed those standing behind him too.” The coroner found the round just beneath Kirk’s skin, Kolvet added. By comparison, the .30-caliber round that Secret Service counter-sniper David King fired at alleged would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks made five wounds. According to the medical examiner who autopsied Crooks, he suffered five gunshot wounds—an entry wound, an exit wound, a re-entry wound, and “two corresponding, partial re-exit wounds.”

“There is a corresponding, partial gunshot re-exit wound on the lateral right upper back … There is an additional, corresponding partial gunshot re-exit wound on the lateral right upper back,” stated Crooks’s autopsy report, which was obtained exclusively by Headline USA. The bullet that hit Crooks came from a 300 Win Mag cartridge, which is more powerful than the .30-06 that allegedly was used in the Kirk assassination—but both have the same caliber bullet. Kolvet’s statement comes amidst public questions about what happened to the .30-06 round said to have slain Kirk. Ballistics experts have floated various theories about what really happened, speculating that Kirk may have been shot from somewhere else—possibly from his right side or even from below. Kolvet’s claims have been met with widespread skepticism online.

https://twitter.com/KitKlarenberg/status/1969707314618790326?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1969707314618790326%7Ctwgr%5E47736aecc70ef1bad7a6a7699346024dd87bba18%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fheadlineusa.com%2Fbullet-that-hit-charlie-kirk-purportedly-made-no-exit-wound%2F

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“‘Except a corn of wheat fall onto the ground and die, it abideth alone.”

• Building a Legacy: Charlie Kirk’s Memorial (Salgado)

The most important officials in the United States, including the president, gathered to pay tribute to one man yesterday. Pastors glorified his faith, academics praised his intellect, and hundreds of thousands of people chanted his name. This man did not hold elected office. He was not a billionaire or an entertainer or a star athlete. He was a patriot who believed so strongly in free speech and the truth that he changed history. In a little over a decade, Charlie Kirk went from being a teenager with a lot of enthusiasm but no money or connections to becoming leader of a world-shaping movement, a man whom the most famous and powerful patriots of our era were proud to know. His loss to assassination was a grievous blow for America, which needed his talent and his vision for years to come. It was also a personal tragedy for his wife and little children.

But at only 31 years of age, Charlie Kirk left behind him a legacy much greater than that of many an octogenarian. As Donald Trump said, Charlie was “one of the giants of our nation,” a true “martyr for American freedom.” White House official Stephen Miller, speaking with intensity, declared, “The day Charlie died the angels wept, but their tears have turned to fire in our hearts.” He told Charlie’s enemies, “You have nothing, you are nothing, you are wickedness….You thought you could kill Charlie Kirk; you have made him immortal.” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth compared Kirk to St. Paul and described him as “a warrior for country, a warrior for [Christ],” in the best tradition of American courage. His fellow cabinet member, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said that Charlie Kirk, like Christ his Master, “changed the trajectory of history.

Charlie’s other overarching passion was free speech,” and “there’s a lot worse things than death and one of those is if we lost our constitutional rights in this country.” As the true warrior he was, Hegseth continued, “Charlie died with his boots on, and he died so that we did not have to undergo those fates worse than death.” Every speaker referred to the importance of faith for Kirk, from his pastor Rob McCoy to gospel singers to the president (read Chris Queen’s piece). As Kennedy said, “Charlie’s mission was Jesus Christ and also free speech.” Erika Kirk, before forgiving her husband’s murderer, said that “more than anything, Charlie wanted to do not his will but God’s will,” and “after Charlie’s assassination we didn’t see violence, we didn’t see rioting,” but “instead we saw what my husband always prayed we’d see in this country. We saw revival.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Charlie would want everyone watching or attending the memorial to believe we’re created by God, that we sinned and were redeemed, and that at the end of time all believers will have a great re-union, including with Charlie himself. Jack Posobiec, rosary in hand, urged attendees to put on the armor of God, “for Charlie.” Dr. Ben Carson read John 12:24 because Charlie was shot, he said, at 12:24 p.m. on Sept. 10: “‘Except a corn of wheat fall onto the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.’ And I want to thank Charlie for his sacrifice, because much fruit is going to be realized.” Kirk’s encouragement to young people to get married and raise families was also a recurring theme. Kirk’s Chief of Staff, Mikey McCoy, thanked Charlie for urging him to get married and helping him meet his wife, who stood beside him holding his arm.

While some ignorant, elitist leftists sneered at Kirk’s lack of a college degree, Hillsdale College President Dr. Larry Arnn lauded Kirk’s intellect and was proud to remember that Kirk had taken multiple online courses through Hillsdale. “I keep a list in my head of the 6 or 8 young people, and I’m very privileged, I get to know many inspiring young people who are the best I ever saw. Charlie is the only one who was never a full-time student at Hillsdale College who was on that list,” Arnn said, announcing an honorary degree for Kirk. Donald Trump Jr. said Kirk “was like a little brother to me,” but amid the heartbreaking tragedy, “we won’t be intimidated…Our message of faith, family, and country will not be silenced.” Don Jr. urged, “His legacy must be that when they took his life, a million more Charlies stepped up to fill the void. We are all Charlie!”

Vice President JD Vance, tears in his eyes, said of Kirk, “He changed the face of conservatism in our time and in doing so he changed the course of history….[Debate] was the vehicle for bringing the light of truth to dark places.” The most moving speech of the day was the eulogy by Mrs. Erika Kirk, who stood strong even as she wept, filled with love and forgiveness for friends and foes alike, describing the beauty of her marriage, the excruciating heartache of Charlie’s assassination, and her plans to carry on her husband’s vital work of free speech and outreach to young Americans.

Finally, Donald Trump paid tribute to the man he credits with ensuring his 2024 election victory. “Charlie’s murder was not just an attack on one man,” Trump stated, but on “our entire nation….The gun was pointed at him but the bullet was aimed at all of us.” Kirk changed history in his three decades of life on earth, Trump declared, before ending by calling Erika out on stage again to embrace her.

It was my great honor to attend the memorial of Charlie Kirk, a visionary and American hero. As someone only a few years younger than Kirk, his sudden death provokes a question in me as well as many of my fellow Gen Z and millennial Americans — what will my legacy be? Charlie Kirk was one in a billion. But while he was the indispensable man, he needed the staff, volunteers, fans, and friends who helped him make his movement a success. Now that he is gone, We the People are left to take up his banner, practice his courage, display his faith and patriotism, and prove to the bloodthirsty Democrats that we are all Charlie Kirk now.

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Trying to beat Russia amounts to suicide.

• Moscow Ready To Respond To Any Threat – Putin (RT)

Russia is ready to respond to any threats, President Vladimir Putin has said, adding that Moscow still supports a diplomatic path to ease tensions despite the West’s destructive policies.Speaking ahead of the Security Council meeting on Monday, Putin sounded the alarm with regard to the “extreme danger of further deterioration” of the geopolitical situation, particularly amid the Ukraine conflict.= He added that while Russia had offered “specific ideas” to correct this trajectory, these “warnings and initiatives received no clear response.”There should be no doubt about this: Russia is capable of responding to any existing and newly emerging threats. Responding not with words, but through the application of military-technical measures, Putin warned.

He noted Moscow’s decision to abandon the unilateral moratorium on the deployment of ground-based intermediate- and shorter-range missiles last month, describing it as a forced step caused by the need to counter plans to deploy US- and other Western-made missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Putin stressed, however, that Russia is not interested in warmongering and saber-rattling. “We are confident in the reliability and effectiveness of our national deterrent forces, but at the same time we are not interested in further escalating tensions or fueling an arms race.” He added that Russia has always prioritized “political and diplomatic methods for maintaining international peace, based on the principles of equality, indivisibility of security, and mutual consideration of interests.”

Putin signaled that Moscow is ready to prolong the 2010 New START Treaty, the last remaining arms control pact between Russia and the US, which expires in February. It limits each side to no more than 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads and 700 deployed delivery systems, and provides for inspections and data exchanges to verify compliance. This initiative, Putin said, “could make a significant contribution to creating an atmosphere conducive to substantive strategic dialogue with the United States.”

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“The New START Treaty will expire on February 5, 2026, signaling the imminent end of the last international accord directly limiting nuclear missile capabilities.”

• Putin Makes Nuclear Treaty Offer To US (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow will continue to adhere to a key nuclear arms control treaty signed with the US for one year after its expiration, provided Washington agrees to do the same. Speaking ahead of a Security Council meeting on Monday, Putin said global strategic stability has been increasingly threatened by what he described as the destructive actions of Western nations. He stressed that while Moscow is ready to meet any threat, it is and always has been interested in political and diplomatic methods of resolving conflicts.

Russia is prepared to follow the 2010 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) treaty for one year after its expiration next February, provided the US reciprocates and refrains from actions that could break the nuclear status quo, such as deploying interceptor systems in space, Putin offered. The Russia-US treaty establishes limits on the numbers of intercontinental-range nuclear weapons both sides can deploy. Below is the full text of Putin’s speech, as published on the Kremlin website:

Good afternoon, colleagues,

We have several topics to discuss today, including matters related to migration policy. However, I would like to begin with an issue of prime importance, one that is critical to safeguarding our national interests, Russia’s sovereignty, and without exaggeration, international security as a whole. I am referring to the situation in the realm of strategic stability, which, regrettably, continues to deteriorate. This is driven by a combination of factors, which are negative, compounding existing strategic risks and generating new ones. As a result of the destructive actions previously taken by Western countries, the foundations of constructive relations and practical cooperation between nuclear powers have been significantly undermined.

The basis for dialogue within relevant bilateral and multilateral frameworks has been eroded. Gradually, the system of Soviet-American and Russian-American agreements on nuclear missile and strategic defense arms control – long relied upon to stabilize relations between the two largest nuclear powers and to enhance global security – has been nearly dismantled. Let me reiterate: We have repeatedly examined the causes and potential consequences of this situation. We attribute the numerous challenges that have accumulated in the strategic sphere since the beginning of the 21st century to the destructive actions of the West, their destabilizing doctrines and military-technical programs designed to undermine global parity and pursue absolute, overwhelming superiority.

We have consistently and thoroughly addressed these issues, criticized this approach, and not only highlighted the extreme dangers of further deterioration but also repeatedly proposed concrete ideas for joint solutions. However, our warnings and initiatives have not received a clear response. Let me emphasize and let there be no doubt: Russia is fully capable of responding to any current or emerging threat, not with words, but through concrete military-technical measures. A clear example is our decision to end the unilateral moratorium on the deployment of ground-based short- and intermediate-range missiles. This was a forced move needed for ensuring an adequate response to the deployment of similar US and other Western-made weapons in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, which poses a direct threat to Russia’s security.

Our plans to strengthen the country’s defense capability are being developed with full regard to the evolving international situation, and they are being implemented in a comprehensive and timely manner. We are confident in the reliability and effectiveness of our national deterrent forces. At the same time, we are not seeking to further escalate tensions or fuel an arms race. Russia has consistently upheld the primacy of political and diplomatic methods for maintaining global peace, based on the principles of equality, the indivisibility of security, and mutual respect for interests.

Let me remind you that the last major political and diplomatic achievement in the field of strategic stability was the conclusion of the Russian-American New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in 2010. However, owing to the profoundly hostile policies of the Biden administration, which undermined the fundamental principles on which this treaty was built, its full implementation was suspended in 2023. Nevertheless, both parties have declared their intention to continue voluntarily observing the central quantitative limits of the strategic offensive arms treaty until its expiry. For nearly 15 years, this agreement has played a constructive role in maintaining balance and predictability in the sphere of strategic offensive weapons.

The New START Treaty will expire on February 5, 2026, signaling the imminent end of the last international accord directly limiting nuclear missile capabilities. A complete renunciation of this treaty’s legacy would, from many points, be a grave and short-sighted mistake. It would also have adverse implications for the objectives of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In order to prevent the emergence of a new strategic arms race and to preserve an acceptable degree of predictability and restraint, we consider it reasonable to maintain at this turbulent time the status quo established under New START. Accordingly, Russia is prepared to continue observing the treaty’s central quantitative restrictions for one year after February 5, 2026.

Following that date, based on a careful assessment of the situation, we will make a definite decision on whether to uphold these voluntary self-limitations. We believe that this measure is only feasible if the United States acts in a similar spirit and refrains from steps that would undermine or disrupt the existing balance of deterrence. In this connection, I would like to ask the relevant agencies to maintain close oversight of American activities related to the START arsenal in the first place. Particular attention must be directed towards US plans to expand strategic components of its missile defense system, including preparations for the deployment of interceptors in outer space. We believe that the practical implementation of such destabilizing measures could nullify our efforts to maintain the status quo in the field of strategic offensive arms. We will respond appropriately in this case.

I believe that Russia’s initiative, if implemented, could make a substantial contribution to creating the conditions necessary for a substantive strategic dialogue with the United States – provided, of course, that the grounds for its full resumption are secured and that broader steps are taken to normalize bilateral relations and remove core security contradictions.

Let us now turn to the current agenda.

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“..a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law.”

• Trump Declares Antifa a Terrorist Group (Catherine Salgado)

President Donald Trump officially designated Antifa a domestic terror organization on Monday. In his Sept. 22 executive order, Trump defined Antifa as “a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law. It uses illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals.” Antifa became particularly infamous during the 2020 summer of love and the so-called “mostly peaceful” protests, and it remains a source of violence in the United States, with Portland just one city still enduring months of anti-ICE Antifa riots.

Antifa, as defined, Trump continued, “involves coordinated efforts to obstruct enforcement of Federal laws through armed standoffs with law enforcement, organized riots, violent assaults on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement officers, and routine doxing of and other threats against political figures and activists.” It is obvious that the federal government needs to take action against Antifa, which follows in a very long tradition of Democrat domestic terrorism stretching back to the mid-19th century. The KKK’s power is almost entirely a matter of the past, and hopefully that will be said one day soon of Antifa.

The president explained further that “Antifa recruits, trains, and radicalizes young Americans to engage in this violence and suppression of political activity, then employs elaborate means and mechanisms to shield the identities of its operatives, conceal its funding sources and operations in an effort to frustrate law enforcement, and recruit additional members.” This enhances the threat, as does the fact that Antifa has ties to other political organizations. Therefore, since Antifa has made it obvious through the cities it has torched and the other crimes that its members have committed that it is a domestic terror organization, Trump officially announced:

Because of the aforementioned pattern of political violence designed to suppress lawful political activity and obstruct the rule of law, I hereby designate Antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization.” All relevant executive departments and agencies shall utilize all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations — especially those involving terrorist actions — conducted by Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa, or for which Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa provided material support, including necessary investigatory and prosecutorial actions against those who fund such operations. The president previously expressed his intention not only of investigating Antifa and its funding sources further, but of designating other radical leftist organizations as domestic terror groups too.

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And these guys still work at the FBI?

• Biden’s FBI Tried to Entrap Trump’s Border Czar Before the Election (Margolis)

Another day, another Biden scandal that the media desperately tries to dump on Trump. This time, MSNBC is working overtime to spin a damning story about Joe Biden’s FBI into yet another bogus hit piece on the Trump administration. Last year, while Biden and his minions were still calling the shots at the FBI, the bureau launched a brazen undercover operation targeting incoming Border Czar Tom Homan. Federal agents, posing as shady businessmen, tried to bait Homan with a $50,000 bribe in exchange for help securing contracts under a future Trump administration. It was a manufactured setup, designed from the start to entrap a Trump ally. The whole thing blew up in Biden’s face. When FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche reviewed the case, they immediately exposed it as a political hit job.

“This matter originated under the previous administration,” they said in a joint statement. “They found no credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing.” Translation: Biden’s FBI wasted taxpayer dollars trying to entrap one of Trump’s top immigration advisors, and they failed. But instead of admitting Biden’s corruption, MSNBC twisted the story with a headline that made it sound like Trump’s DOJ covered up wrongdoing: “Tom Homan was investigated for accepting $50,000 from undercover FBI agents. Trump’s DOJ shut it down.” This isn’t journalism—it’s propaganda. Do you think it’s a mere coincidence that Biden’s team launched the sting while Homan was advising Trump’s 2024 campaign—knowing full well he would play a major role in Trump’s second term? They weren’t investigating a crime; they were trying to create one.

“Mr. Homan never took the $50,000 that you’re referring to. So you should get your facts straight, number one,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday during the White House daily press briefing. “Number two, this was another example of the weaponization of the Biden Department of Justice against one of President Trump’s strongest and most vocal supporters in the midst of a presidential campaign.” She added, “You had FBI agents going undercover to try and entrap one of the president’s top allies and supporters, someone who they knew very well would be taking a government position months later.” Leavitt continued, “They found zero evidence of illegal activity or criminal wrongdoing. And the White House and the president stand by Tom Homan 100% because he did absolutely nothing wrong, and he is a brave public servant who has done a phenomenal job in helping the president shut down the border.”

This is the Biden playbook: weaponize the Justice Department against political enemies. They tried it with Trump himself, dragging him through endless witch hunts. When that didn’t stop him, they moved on to targeting his inner circle. And when even that failed, the media stepped in to try and salvage the narrative. MSNBC’s shameless story proves the corporate media isn’t just biased—they’re active participants in political persecution. They took a story that completely vindicates Homan and twisted it into anti-Trump propaganda, counting on their audience to never read past the headline. The sad truth here is that Americans are being lied to by “journalists” who sold their souls to the Democrat Party.

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“..a Democratic Party that is diametrically opposed to the reconciling systems on which this nation was founded.”

• Why We Are at War (Richard C. Lyons)

Polarity is in the nature of things, in fact, just as the poles of north and south exist, matter itself is drawn into being at opposites, as in the forces of magnets. So are we; we are social creatures of this world given to being at opposites. When our nation’s founders gathered in Philadelphia 238 summers ago, with the wealth of all of their collected libraries, they studied history’s opposed factions: from the Plains and Coastal parties of the Athenians, to the factions of Marius and Sulla in Rome, to the Byzantine parties of the Blue and the Green, to the Guelphs and Ghibellines of the Florentines, to the literary houses of Verona, the Montagues and Capulets, whose differences devoured the lives and loves of innocents. One of the great fears of that great intellectual company was that America would fall, broken by such opposing factions.

They deliberately wrote the Constitution, our social compact, to overcome such factions. Firstly, by creating a Constitution based on common law, with protections of individual and property that shield everyone against the ambitions of government, or any party thereof. The founders crafted a Constitutional Republic based first on federalism, which allowed people as varied in interests as a Boston lawyer and a Key West fisherman to live under distinct state and local laws best suited to themselves. Much of our Constitution has to do with voting into office, by a majority, those representatives freely chosen to represent the citizens’ interests. If anyone does not represent the citizens’ interests, they are as easily voted out, thus ensuring that governance is representative of the people’s will.

Our free enterprise system came into being with our nation; The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith, was published in the same year as the Declaration of Independence; and the personal property rights espoused by John Locke were ensconced in our highest law in the 5th Amendment, among the Bill of Rights, including the “takings clause,” which forbids government from taking from an individual what they have earned by their labors and investments. Lastly, at the time of our nation’s founding, the Judeo-Christian ethic was omnipresent, with it’s Ten Commandments, the first common law of humanity, and its highest law: to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Each of these systems of law, of federalism, of representation, of free enterprise and of the ethos of Judeo-Christianity has helped reconcile our society as a whole and has been responsible for our nation’s peace and prosperity since the Constitution’s signing 237 years ago.

Who can argue with a common law that protects the wealthy and the poor? Who can argue about a system of diffused power, allowing localities and states to create their own laws? Who can argue with the right of people to empower those whom they would wish to represent them? Who can argue with the principle that the people who are entitled to wealth are those who have earned that wealth themselves? Who can argue with the notion that Judeo-Christianity is perhaps the best ethos for advancing peace through mutual respect, respect for the law, charitability, and humility? So why are we so opposed and at the point of war with one another in our nation today? Until November1963, both of our political parties, their patrons and, their constituents believed in every one of these societally reconciling systems. Then the momentum in the Democratic Party to more fully institute socialism began.

Today, the Democrats believe devoutly that the Constitution is a “living” document, which is to say, they can change or disregard whatever they don’t like in the text or kill it altogether as a document of “negative rights.” Today, the Democrats don’t believe in federalism; they desire all the wealth and power of the nation to be invested in one capital, Washington D.C., to be parceled out to family, friends and allies of their own. Today, Democrats do not believe in representative government; they believe in bureaucrats appointed for life to eternal agencies in the never constitutionally enumerated power of the Administrative State. Their only concern for the chambers of Congress is as a central exchange between the taxpayer and those agencies, which are the power base of the Democrat Party.

Today, Democrats do not believe in property rights; they believe that what is theirs is theirs and what is yours is theirs. They believe anyone who has earned wealth has done so illegitimately and those who haven’t have a superior moral right to it anyway, so long as the Democrats get an overall cut. Lastly, the Democrats’ idea of Judeo-Christianity is to pronounce publicly that they privately believe in it, while acting against it with every meaningful national vote they take and every regulatory rule they make. What is at opposition today is a conservative Republican Party that believes profoundly in the reconciling promise of these foundations of our society. And a Democratic Party that is diametrically opposed to the reconciling systems on which this nation was founded.

The Democratic Party has become what this nation fought against in the Second World War, the Cold War and the Middle Eastern wars. The Democrats — or the liberal left, progressives, or Democratic Socialists — have become a tyrannical bunch of bastards who have renounced their good parentage, and they are getting very violent about it. God Bless Charlie Kirk, who fought and died for all of these reconciling societal blessings.

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But you can still not watch it.

• Disney Gives Kimmel Show Back, But Nexstar & Sinclair Still Refuse To Air (ZH)

Hours after 400 artists signed an ACLU letter in response to Jimmy Kimmel’s firing, the late-night host’s ‘indefinite termination’ for propaganda surrounding the Charlie Kirk assassination has been turned into a week’s vacation. According to Variety, Disney and ABC are bringing the comedian back to its schedule Tuesday night. “Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” the company said in a statement. “We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”

Of note, none of the Nexstar or Sinclair affiliates will carry the show. Despite Kimmel’s return, it is not immediately clear if his show will be available across the entire country. Sinclair, for its part, had said that it would not go back to running Kimmel’s show on its stations until the late night host apologized for his comments, met with Sinclair representatives and made a donation to Turning Point, the organization that Kirk founded. Sinclair, it should be noted, owns the ABC station in the Washington, D.C., metro area, among other markets. Nexstar, similarly, could also choose to continue to preempt the show, though of course it would still be accessible online across the country after it runs on ABC. -Hollywood Reporter

Kimmel’s show was pulled last Wednesday after the host said that Charlie Kirk assassination suspect Tyler Robinson was ‘MAGA’ – when he’s very clearly not based on what we know. In response, FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened to revoke ABC affiliate licenses over the comments, which he described in a podcast interview with host Benny Johnson as “the sickest conduct possible.” As The Blaze’s Auron Macintyre opines: “ABC is putting Jimmy Kimmel back on the air because terrorism works in America.” Guess who predicted it? Does Roseanne Barr get her show back too now?

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“So Kimmel is now a hero of democracy — all he had to do was spread disinformation. That makes this the funniest joke that Kimmel never told.”

• The Funniest Joke Jimmy Kimmel Never Told (Turley)

Democrats were finally outraged this week. No, it was not about the murder of Charlie Kirk, but rather the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night comedy show. Democratic leaders are taking to the airways to denounce the decision to take Kimmel off the air after he spread disinformation about Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer. The same leaders and pundits who have for years fought for censorship in the name of combating disinformation are now making the very arguments they ridiculed just months ago. Democrats once wrote letters to Internet carriers suggesting that Fox News, the most popular cable news network, should be taken off the air in the name of combating disinformation. That was when the Democrats controlled the White House and were targeting conservatives.

Suddenly, now, disinformation is no longer a valid reason to censor and alleged government-corporate alliances are a menace to free speech. After the tragedy in Utah, many on the left immediately tried to deflect responsibility for the murder by claiming that Kirk’s killer was actually a Trump supporter. On his show, Kimmel declared that “the MAGA Gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” The far-left motivations of the alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, were already well known. His family confirmed that he had been radicalized with leftist ideology and cited pro-transgender views. This was not even a joke — it was just a false factual claim made by Kimmel on national television. And it came at a time when others were spreading this lie.

Despite stories to the contrary, many repeated the false claim. For example, Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe posted that “Kirk’s apparent assassin seems to have been ultra-MAGA, exploding the GOP/MAGA attempt to pin the blame for this tragedy on liberals.” (Previously, Tribe had claimed that the October 2023 massacre of Israelis by Hamas was a “wag-the-dog” operation to distract from corruption allegations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu). The disinformation took hold on the Internet and social media. One poll showed that a plurality of Americans think Robinson was a conservative. Call it assassination denial. It is all the rage. Former MSNBC and ESPN host Keith Olbermann wrote after Kimmel’s suspension, “Burn in hell, Sinclair. Alongside Charlie Kirk.” He added that “nothing [Kimmel] said was untrue.”

Curiously, some of these politicians and pundits are claiming that, yet again, democracy will die if Kimmel is not allowed to spread disinformation. There are reports that Kimmel was refusing to apologize and planned to double down on the attacks on conservatives in his next show. Faced with a revolt by affiliates and a potential exodus of advertisers, Disney’s head, Bob Iger, pulled the plug. (By the way, Kimmel’s ratings had been falling for years, and he had a smaller audience than the Colbert Show, which was itself discontinued due to loss of money). The hypocrisy was pure comedy. For years, these same voices demanded censorship of individuals deemed to be spreading disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation. The last category was used by the Biden administration to target statements “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”

At the same time, they mocked claims that corporations were working with the government to maintain this censorship system. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) ran on a pledge to impose new criminal and civil penalties for anyone spreading disinformation. Now, however, censorship is intolerable. Warren told CNN “we know there was federal interference … We saw the government step up and give a hard shove and then we saw a compliant company turn around and suspend Mr. Kimmel.” She added that his collaboration with corporations “truly undermines the whole premise of the First Amendment.”

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called the suspension one of “the most blatant attacks on the free press in American history.” Schiff had previously demanded that Twitter suspend an array of users and “reduce the visibility” of blacklisted individuals — including a journalist who held opposing views. When Elon Musk reduced censorship at X, it was Schiff who warned Facebook not to follow his example by restoring free speech protections. Schiff threatened legislative action if the company moved to “alter or roll back certain misinformation policies.” This week, Schiff is outraged by a company’s decision to suspend a host who refused to correct a false story he had spread.

For years, I appeared before these same leaders in Congress as they defended corporate censorship and dismissed allegations of collaboration with the government. I would not cancel Kimmel so long as his show was profitable. But I have long maintained that companies can limit the free speech of employees at work. I do not believe Kimmel should be censored on social media for spreading false information. At the same time, ABC does not have to lose money or viewers because an employee attacks others with vile, false claims. Now Disney is accused of killing democracy itself, in league with Trump. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) attacked Trump for “trying to destroy our democracy” and acting like “many would-be despots.”

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) used Kimmel’s suspension as evidence that “fascism is not on the way, it is here.” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) insisted that suspending a host for spreading false information about a murder was “North Korea-style stuff” while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) insisted that it is “what Putin would do.” It is a curious spin, since Putin and Kim Jong Un value media figures who spread false information — particularly about murders. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) went so far as to compare Kimmel to Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense and “Penman of the revolution.” So Kimmel is now a hero of democracy — all he had to do was spread disinformation. That makes this the funniest joke that Kimmel never told.

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It deactivates something?!

• Trump Links Tylenol To Autism Risk During Pregnancy (RT)

US President Donald Trump has drawn a connection between the use of Tylenol during pregnancy and rising autism rates in America, calling the increase in diagnoses “one of the most alarming public health developments in history.”Speaking at a White House briefing alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday, Trump said pregnant women should avoid acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, unless absolutely necessary. He said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would begin updating warning labels and launch an information campaign aimed at pregnant women.

“Taking Tylenol is not good,” Trump said during the event. “They are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary… If you can’t tough it out, if there’s a problem, you’re going to end up doing it, but ideally you don’t take it at all.”= Citing an increase in autism rates, Trump said the condition has become far more prevalent over the last two decades. “The meteoric rise in autism is among the most alarming public health developments in history,” he said. The FDA issued two separate news releases confirming a formal response to growing evidence of neurological risks linked to acetaminophen during pregnancy. The agency said it has initiated a label change for all acetaminophen-containing products, including Tylenol, to reflect studies suggesting an association with autism and ADHD.

“The FDA is taking action to make parents and doctors aware of a considerable body of evidence about potential risks associated with acetaminophen,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said. The FDA acknowledged that while some studies show an association between prenatal acetaminophen use and neurodevelopmental disorders, a causal link has not been established. It stressed that acetaminophen remains the only over-the-counter medication approved for fever relief during pregnancy and warned that alternatives like ibuprofen and aspirin can pose known risks to fetal development.

Tylenol manufacturer Kenvue responded to the developments by defending the drug’s safety. “We strongly disagree with any suggestion that acetaminophen causes autism,” the company said, warning that discouraging appropriate use during pregnancy may put mothers and infants at risk from untreated fever or pain. In another announcement, the FDA said it is initiating approval of leucovorin calcium tablets for patients with cerebral folate deficiency (CFD), a condition linked to developmental delays and autistic features. Though the agency cautioned that more studies are needed to assess the drug’s full efficacy in autism-related populations, it said the initiative reflects a broader strategy to repurpose existing medications for neurological conditions.

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“I’ve never talked to a Democrat who ever wanted to listen. They start to glitch out if you try.” — Sasha Stone

• Personal Note (James Howard Kunstler)

This past summer, I tried to open a line of communication with a West Coast relative. We exchanged a few letters. I tactically steered the conversation away from the political. Here was the closer salvo from my relative:

Jimmy, on a completely personal level, and in different times, I think we could have been very good friends. At this point in our history, I find what you say in your blogs and Kunstlercast to be outrageous, deceptive, and ugly. I disagree with almost everything you hold dear politically, and even if, for instance, we agree about the horrors of Big Pharma, your worship of Kennedy makes me ill. Your language falls right into all the clichés of the far right ideologies I loathe.Maybe someday things will change. For now, this is the last you’ll be hearing from me.

Frankly, what stung most keenly was the accusation that my language fell “into all the clichés of the far right ideologies. . . .” I like to think that I am allergic to clichés, though it’s possible that I am deluded about that. If anything, the dynamic collective thought disorders of our time present themselves in astonishingly fresh ways — for instance, a Supreme Court nominee who can’t define what a woman is. (Makes you kind of wonder how such a mind could parse Article Two of the Constitution.)

Mostly, I would have liked to know what those “far right ideologies” are, exactly, but it looks like I will never find out now. Maybe it is being opposed to censorship. . . or against Ukraine’s entry into NATO. . . or wanting coherent procedure for foreigners seeking to enter the USA. . . or keeping biological men out of the women’s swim lanes. . . or saying that ivermectin is a safe and effective anti-viral med. . . or supposing that people charged with felonies should not be released to the streets without significant cash bail. Stuff like that.

As it happened, we were not discussing these matters in our brief correspondence, but I was at something of a disadvantage since I am a professional writer who posts his opinion for public scrutiny and my relative is not. Of course, I describe what is a pandemic of broken family relations in our country. And social relations. I have been cancelled by most of my old friends, too, and I’m quite sure that I am not a special case. I am mystified by what these relatives and old friends actually believe these days. When we were hippies back in the day, they were very much opposed to war, turned-off by attempts at censorship, and deeply averse to the dark operations of the CIA and FBI. Now, they seem avid for intel ops and hoaxes, eager for war, and all-in for censoring ideas that make them feel “unsafe.”

There are various useful theories for this state-of-affairs, all pretty cross-compatible. Strauss and Howe’s Fourth Turning template of generational cycles explains a lot. Elizabeth Nickson has some fine insights about the extreme discontents of women these days leading them to summon political demons. Mattias Desmet, the Belgian psych professor has his Mass Formation theory, which states that societal anxieties provoke aligned “radical intolerance” among a populace. I recommend Wendy Williamson’s recent blog discussion of The Law of Reversal. Joseph Tainter’s classic, The Collapse of Complex Societies lays out the pitfalls of our “over-investments in complexity.” I wrote a book in 2005 titled The Long Emergency which describes the drawn-out collapse of our techno-industrial economy — the widespread apprehension of which helps define the societal anxieties described by Dr. Desmet that bring on his “Mass Formation Psychosis.”

All these theories tend to imply an inflection point where our assumptions about human progress get undermined, provoking an intense loss of faith in institutions and authorities, resulting in epochal socio-political disorder. Wouldn’t you agree we are seeing exactly that now? That the net effect of all this is of a society driven insane. Surely, the craziness is amplified by the novel connectivities of the Internet and exacerbated by many other high-tech innovations from ubiquitous camera surveillance to cryptocurrency to drone warfare.

In our country these days, all of this has apparently produced two camps at war psychologically, now verging on something like a hot civil war. One camp calling itself “progressive” insists on a roster of ideas, policies, and practices that look patently absurd, abusive of the public interest, and hostile to the values of Western Civ. The other camp styles itself as “conservative” seeking to preserve Western Civ and the advancement of our so-called way of life — an ever growth-seeking high-tech economy.

Personally, I doubt that the latter is possible. I believe we’re due for a pretty serious time-out from the sort of economic “growth” we enjoyed the past two-hundred years. That high-tech mega-fiesta has thrown off a lot of entropy, which is now working hard to slow things down and make us stop a lot of what we are doing. It manifests in many ways, but most vividly by flinging us into social disorder, turning what had been communication and correspondence into a rising babel that is driving us crazy. That is exactly why it is so hard to talk to our relatives and old friends. But mark this: there is a time coming when we will get tired of being crazy, and then things will go differently for us. We’ll start talking again.

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“At the European Council in December 2026, there will be blood on the walls..”

• EU Looks To ‘Le Pen-Proof’ Its Budget – Politico (RT)

The EU leadership is trying to fast-track talks to reach a deal on the bloc’s new budget before the French presidential election in April 2027, Politico reports. EU officials reportedly fear it could be won by right-wing firebrand Marine Le Pen or one of her allies from the National Rally party. The EU’s next seven-year budget is scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2028. The proposal by the European Commission currently being discussed amounts to €1,816 trillion ($2,136). It requires unanimous approval from all 27 member states to pass. The risk of the right-wing forces defeating French President Emmanuel Macron in the election is the main reason budget negotiations are being accelerated, the outlet said in an article on Monday, citing five officials and EU diplomats.

The concern in Brussels is that the National Rally’s platform, which includes slashing Paris’ contribution to the EU budget and reducing military aid to Ukraine, could disrupt the already complex talks, it said. Le Pen has been banned from running for public office after a French court found her guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds earlier this year. She has challenged the ruling. The National Rally’s second most prominent figure, Jordan Bardella, is also believed to be capable of winning the election, according to the article. European Council President Antonio Costa is working to secure a budget deal in the council by the end of 2026, his spokesperson, Maria Tomasik, told journalists on Friday.

“At the European Council in December 2026, there will be blood on the walls,” a senior EU diplomat told Politico, referring to the negotiations. There is “annoyance” over attempts to speed up the budget talks in countries including Italy and Poland, which argue that it leaves them less time to make changes to the proposal and benefits the Northern European nations, according to the outlet. A poll by Ifop published on Saturday suggested that Macron’s ratings have fallen to 17%, the lowest during his two-term presidency. Hundreds of thousands protested across France last week against government policies, including additional austerity measures proposed by newly appointed Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu.

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Word from your banker.

“Ignoring international law would lead to “the beginning of total chaos,” the French president has said..”

• Macron Warns Against Seizing Frozen Russian Assets (RT)

French President Emmanuel Macron has pushed back against the idea of seizing frozen Russian assets, warning that doing so could backfire on the West and undermine global stability. In an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation aired on Sunday, Macron was asked about what the West was planning to do with the $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets which were frozen after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. “We are all very much attached to being compliant with international rules. You cannot seize these assets from the central bank, even in such a situation,” the French leader said, describing it as “a matter of credibility.”

“When some countries start to disrespect international laws… this is the beginning of a total chaos. So we will respect international law. We are predictable, and we will not do all impossible things with these frozen assets,” he added, recalling that Kiev’s Western backers are already using proceeds from the frozen assets to prop up Ukraine. Throughout the conflict, Western policymakers have considered seizing Russian assets – most of which fall under EU jurisdiction – but have so far refrained due to the lack of a legal basis and fears it would damage global trust.

Last year, however, G7 nations supported a $50 billion loan to Ukraine secured by the income from Russian reserves. Western nations have also directly handed over to Kiev approximately $4.3 billion in proceeds from Russian assets. This month, the EU Commission floated a proposal to use Russian assets to back a reparation loan to Ukraine, which Kiev would be obligated to repay only if it receives “compensation” for damages from Moscow. Russia has denounced both the freeze and the profit-transfer scheme as “theft,” warning that confiscation would damage the global financial system and trigger retaliation from Moscow.

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“Protests in London will change nothing – Britain’s people were bred to endure..”

• Britain’s Fate Is Decline, Not Upheaval – And History Explains Why (Bordachev)

The demonstrations in London earlier this month – up to 150,000 people protesting immigration and government incompetence – drew attention in Russia and abroad. Some observers even wondered if Britain might finally be approaching a breaking point. Perhaps, like Nepal or France in past years, mass anger could reshape politics. But such hopes are misplaced. Britain will never experience revolutionary upheaval. Its culture is not one of defiance but of endurance. The United Kingdom has, over centuries, become a bastion of injustice disguised as stability, where ordinary people are conditioned to accept their powerlessness. This cultural inheritance, once an imperial advantage, now guarantees slow decline.

Britain is unique in Western Europe: it was created not through union or invitation, but through conquest. In 1066 Norman knights crushed the native English and divided the land into fiefdoms. Unlike Russia, where foreign warriors were invited to defend the realm, or Hungary, where nomads fused with locals to form a people, England’s story was one of subjugation. That pattern hardened in 1215, when barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta. Propaganda later elevated the charter as the foundation of English liberty. In reality it entrenched oligarchy: the power of the wealthy over crown and people alike. Where monarchs elsewhere often stood with peasants against feudal tyranny, in England the crown itself was shackled by landowners. Injustice became not an aberration but the system’s operating principle.

Geography reinforced the pattern. For centuries there was no frontier of freedom. Only in 1620 did dissenters finally flee on the Mayflower, planting English settlements in North America. By then, 600 years of endurance had shaped a national character: patient, fatalistic, and resigned. In Russia, by contrast, peasants had begun migrating east as early as the 11th century. Freedom was found in movement: new villages, new lands, and eventually a new people. This restless expansion created Russia’s unique statehood and ethnic identity. The English, trapped on their island, cultivated instead a tradition of enduring injustice. By the 18th century, Britain was sending its sons to wars around the world. They returned crippled, if at all – as Rudyard Kipling later immortalized. Yet they went meekly. A society drilled in obedience did not question orders, however insane. That made Britain dangerous abroad, but docile at home.

Popular uprisings were crushed without hesitation. Laws such as the Settlement Act of 1662, tying workers to their parishes, or the Poor Law of 1834, abolishing basic relief, stripped away rights. Only after 1945, under pressure from the USSR’s example, did Britain adopt limited welfare protections. Even these are now eroding, with no real resistance. This tradition once gave Britain its edge. Armies could be raised, colonies conquered, wars fought with little domestic dissent. But in the modern world, where political vitality depends on public will, the same habit of resignation has become a liability. Unlike Russians, who carved out freedom by settling new lands, or French and Germans, who rebelled and migrated, the English learned to endure. Their legacy is a society where injustice is not challenged but accepted – and where any hope of transformation evaporates before it begins.

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statin

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle August 21 2025

Aug 212025
 
 August 21, 2025  Posted by at 9:31 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  62 Responses »


Henri Cartier-Bresson A visitor to the Forbidden City, Beijing 1948

 

• Ukraine Has Lost Over 1.7 Million Troops – Leaked Docs (RT)
• ‘We Lost Several Generations’ – Ukrainian MP On Leaked Docs (RT)
• US Realistic About Chances Of Ukraine Peace – Trump Aide (RT)
• Russia Ready To Upgrade Level Of Direct Talks With Kiev – Lavrov (RT)
• Peace in Ukraine Will Destroy The EU Establishment (Amar)
• Gabbard Contradicts Key Russiagate Claim (RT)
• ICC Putin Arrest Warrant ‘Counterproductive’ – EU MP (RT)
• Ukraine Stripped of USAID Billions (RT)
• Another Remarkable Picture from White House Ukraine Peace Summit (CTH)
• Trump Weaponization Czar Urged NY AG Letitia James To Resign (AP)
• Ed Martin Suggests Letitia James Resign to Avoid Further Conflict (CTH)
• Trump Demands Fed Governor “Must Resign Now” Amid Mortgage Fraud Probe (ZH)
• NYT: The Death Cycle of the Democratic Party (Pinsker)
• The Walls Are Closing in on Adam Schiff and He Knows It (Margolis)
• Jeanine Pirro Launches DOJ Probe To Find If DC Has Been Faking Crime Data (ZH)
• Musk Reportedly Scales Back ‘America First Party’ Plans (ZH)
• The EU’s Latest Plan to Stifle Online Privacy Is Terrifying (NC)
• Wanted For Lonely Russian Female: Sanctions-Buster (RT)

 

 

Lavrov – “These lands became part of Ukraine only on the promise of neutrality..”
https://twitter.com/rinalu_/status/1957906561197621559

Vance

 

 

Scott Adams: “Democrats are a criminal organization. There’s no real way around it.”
https://twitter.com/TheChiefNerd/status/1958133800539496951

 

 

CDL

Sachs

Ritter

 

 

 

 

“We” claim “we” support Zelensky. Meanwhile, this is what we really support.

“..obtained the information by gaining access to the personal computers and local networks of the Ukrainian General Staff..”

• Ukraine Has Lost Over 1.7 Million Troops – Leaked Docs (RT)

Ukraine has allegedly lost more than 1.7 million troops killed and missing, multiple media outlets reported on Wednesday, citing a digital card index reportedly from the country’s armed forces. Russian hacking groups have claimed to have obtained the information by gaining access to the personal computers and local networks of the Ukrainian General Staff. The database is said to include the full names of deceased soldiers, descriptions of the circumstances and places of their death or disappearance, personal data, next of kin, and photos. The entries suggest that since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Kiev’s forces have lost a total of 1,721,000 servicemen. 118.5 thousand were apparently killed in 2022, 405.4 thousand in 2023, 595 thousand in 2024 and a record 621 thousand in 2025.

Hackers from the groups Killnet, Palach Pro, User Sec and Beregini are said to have obtained terabytes of information about the Ukrainian military. Aside from personnel losses, the groups allegedly also possess the personal data of the command of the Special Operations Forces and the Main Intelligence Directorate, lists of all countries that have supplied weapons to Kiev and lists of all weapons transferred from 2022 to 2025. This Ukrainian casualty estimate far exceeds losses previously reported by Kiev.

In February, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky told CBS News that since 2022, just 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, with another 380,000 wounded. The estimate was widely questioned even in Western media, with the France’s Le Monde reporting last month that “the real death toll is likely much higher,” citing Ukraine’s increasing efforts to build military cemeteries. The Russian military has consistently reported higher casualties among Ukrainian servicemen, claiming their losses particularly surged following Kiev’s unsuccessful counteroffensive in 2023. As of February, more than 1.08 million Ukrainian troops had been killed or wounded, according to Moscow’s estimates.

https://twitter.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1958095123352301682

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“In February, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky told CBS News that 46,000 of his soldiers had been killed since 2022…”

• ‘We Lost Several Generations’ – Ukrainian MP On Leaked Docs (RT)

A Ukrainian MP has admitted the loss of “several generations” in the country’s 3-year coflict with Russia. The comments from Ukrainian MP Artem Dmytruk follow reports that leaked military files indicate Kiev’s forces have lost more than 1.7 million troops – killed or missing – since 2022. Russian media outlets on Wednesday cited a digital card index allegedly acquired by hacker groups from Ukraine’s Chief of Staff said to contain names of dead or missing soldiers, details of their deaths, and personal data of their families. The entries suggested 118,500 troops were killed or went missing in 2022, 405,400 in 2023, 595,000 in 2024 and a record 621,000 so far this year.

Commenting on the reported losses, Dmytruk said: “The lists of the missing today contain more than a million people, and of course these people are most likely dead, while their families remain in complete ignorance. The situation is tragic, the situation is frightening.” He warned that villages had been emptied of men, including the elderly and disabled, and that Ukraine was facing “huge losses” and a “demographic crisis.” “We have lost several generations,” he said, urging peace on the grounds that both Ukrainians and Russians were dying. The reported figures far exceed official estimates. In February, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky told CBS News that 46,000 of his soldiers had been killed since 2022, alongside about 380,000 wounded – numbers questioned in Western media. Moscow has also claimed higher Ukrainian losses, putting the toll at more than 1 million killed or wounded as of early this year.

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“The Russian president said earlier that he could meet with the Ukrainian leader during the “final stage” of negotiations.”

We’re nowhere near the final stage.

• US Realistic About Chances Of Ukraine Peace – Trump Aide (RT)

Washington does not expect a swift resolution to the Ukraine conflict because such negotiations usually take time, US Chief of Protocol Monica Crowley has said. On Friday, US President Donald Trump hosted his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska for the first face-to-face talks between the leaders of the two countries since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. On Monday, Trump summoned Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to the White House to discuss a possible settlement. He arrived accompanied by the leaders of France, Germany, the UK, Italy, and Finland, as well as the heads of NATO and the European Commission. Crowley told Fox News on Tuesday that the “very productive meeting” with Putin in Anchorage and the subsequent talks in Washington with Zelensky and his Western European backers “have been game changers for the peace process.”

The chief of protocol said she thought that currently “all parties are interested in achieving peace.” However, she stressed that the settlement of the Ukraine conflict “is not going to happen overnight. We talked about the peace process in the Middle East. Peace is a process.” Trump, who claimed repeatedly during his reelection campaign last year that he would end the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev “in 24 hours,” was later forced to acknowledge that doing so turned out to be much more complicated than he expected. Despite expressing a readiness to negotiate, Russia has never voiced deadlines for achieving peace. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed previously that “there is no point in setting any strict timeframes or trying to fit a viable settlement into a short period. This is a thankless pursuit.”

Trump said on Tuesday that Putin and Zelensky should next meet one-on-one before a potential trilateral summit with him. “They had a hard relationship, very bad, very bad relationship. And now we will see how they do and if necessary, and it probably would be, but if necessary, I will go and I will probably be able to get [the deal] closed,” the US president claimed. Zelensky told reporters on Monday that he is ready for potential talks with Putin. The Russian president said earlier that he could meet with the Ukrainian leader during the “final stage” of negotiations.

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Putin won’t show up for a photo-op.

• Russia Ready To Upgrade Level Of Direct Talks With Kiev – Lavrov (RT)

Russia is ready to raise the status of its delegation-level peace negotiations with Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has announced. His remarks followed a summit between President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump in Alaska last week. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Lavrov said that the idea was floated by Putin following his phone call with Trump on Monday, which went on as the US president was holding talks with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky and several key European leaders in the White House. It is unclear whether Lavrov’s reference to elevating the delegation status was hinting at the possibility of future Putin-Zelensky talks. Lavrov added that the new status of delegations would also imply the review of “a separate bloc [of questions] to address the political aspects of conflict resolution, alongside military and humanitarian issues.”

He said that Russia had suggested forming three working groups to discuss this agenda during the latest round of direct talks with Ukraine, but noted that Kiev “so far has not responded.” Russia and Ukraine have held three rounds of direct talks in Istanbul this year, led on Moscow’s side by presidential advisor Vladimir Medinsky. The negotiations made no breakthroughs on the settlement of the wider conflict, but did lead to prisoner exchanges between the two sides. Lavrov’s remarks come in the wake of the Putin-Trump Alaska summit, which both leaders described as constructive, although it ended with no deal on Ukraine.

Trump’s meeting with Zelensky and the European leaders several days later ended with the US president saying that Kiev’s membership in NATO is out of question, and insisting on a direct Putin-Zelensky meeting. Putin has not ruled out a meeting with Zelensky in principle, but said it should be preceded with serious progress in negotiations on the conflict. Moscow has also voiced concern about Zelensky’s authority to sign any binding documents, given that his presidential term expired last year.

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The way to peace is through the “New Right”, not the center left. It’s the same as in the US, where the Democrats have become the war party. But in both places, it’s they who own the media.

• Peace in Ukraine Will Destroy The EU Establishment (Amar)

Despite continuing if dwindling Western European attempts to play spoiler, the prospects for an end to the Ukraine War have never been so good, with the exception, of course, of the almost-peace of spring 2022 that the West sabotaged. Since then, there’s been much water – or rather blood – under that bridge not crossed. Now there is a real chance that the presidents of Russia and the US, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, will compel – “persuade,” if you wish – both the Zelensky regime in Kiev and its remaining backers in NATO-EU Europe to return to reality: namely, to accept, if tacitly, that Russia is winning the war on the ground and that a later peace will only bring further unnecessary losses for Ukraine and its Western users. Nothing, except death, is certain until it is in the past. This peace is still in the – hopefully near – future. Yet we can already think about its consequences.

Regarding the 32 European countries that are either in NATO, the EU, or both, this is usually done with an eye to military posture, foreign policy, and the economy (oddly enough, in that order). How long, for instance, will it take for hysterical predictions of a Russian attack on at least the Baltics if not Warsaw, Berlin, and – who knows – Luxembourg, to wear off? What will happen to the new monster-debt-driven militarism? Will the NATO-EU Europeans ever be sensible enough again to rediscover diplomacy and cooperation with Russia? If so, when? Before or after they finally collapse under the weight of energy prices, deindustrialization, and public debt? The answer to all questions above will depend on how the domestic politics of key European states develop.

In that respect, the single most important question is about the future of Europe’s currently rising, even surging New Right (an umbrella term for parties that are commonly labeled, for instance, “right-populist,” “hard right,” or “far right”). But this logic also works the other way around. If the Ukraine War ends mostly on Moscow’s terms, as now supported even by Washington, this peace will inevitably influence politics inside NATO-EU Europe and in particular the chances of the New Right. The New Right advance is especially significant in three key countries: France, Germany, and Great Britain. They have in common that their respective New Right parties – Rassemblement National (RN), Reform UK, and Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) – are leading national polls. While this is similar to several other European states, such as Spain and Austria, the British, French, and German cases are special because of their economic and political weight.

The New Right surge is by no means new. It has been building for about two decades now, and for some observers, its triumph is already an accomplished fact: It was last spring, in the run-up to EU parliamentary elections, that Politico acknowledged that the “longstanding effort” to keep the New Right out of government was “officially over.” That turned out to be a little premature: In Austria, Germany, and France, current government set-ups are still based on excluding the New Right. Yet sometimes, another word for “premature” is “prophetic.” The pressure from the New Right parties has not slackened but increased. Current measures to ignore their popular backing at all costs have a whiff of despair about them and may fail entirely in the near future.

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Putin never “preferred” Trump. That was always just propaganda. But it controls the entire “discussion” to this day.

• Gabbard Contradicts Key Russiagate Claim (RT)

Russia did not favor Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton ahead of the 2016 US presidential election and the administration of then-President Barack Obama was well aware of that, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard has said. Since mid-July, Gabbard has released multiple documents which allegedly expose a coordinated effort by senior Obama-era officials to falsely accuse Trump of colluding with Russia and delegitimize his first election win. During an appearance on the Hannity program on Fox News on Tuesday, Gabbard insisted that “the intelligence community assessed in the months leading up to that 2016 election that, yes, Russia was trying to interfere in our election by sowing discord and chaos, but stating over and over again that Russia did not appear to have any preference for one candidate over the other.”

At the time, Moscow viewed both Trump and Clinton “as equally bad for Russia’s interest,” she said. “The big shift – that happened around what is now commonly known as ‘Russiagate’ – was after the election,” Gabbard claimed. In early December 2016, Obama called a meeting of his national security council leadership, telling then-DNI James Clapper and then-CIA Director John Brennan to come up with a new “politicized and weaponized fake intelligence” assessment, claiming that “Russia, [President Vladimir] Putin did try to interfere in the election because he wanted Trump to win,” she alleged. Russiagate was the “real crime” by Obama officials against the American people because it undermined their votes, Gabbard stressed.

Earlier on Tuesday, Gabbard announced that her office had stripped security clearances from 37 current and former US intelligence officials, including Clapper, for allegedly politicizing and manipulating intelligence. Trump said earlier that all those behind the Russiagate hoax should pay a “big price” for what he labeled a deliberate attempt to sabotage his presidency. Moscow has consistently denied any interference in the 2016 election, with Russian officials calling the US accusations a product of partisan infighting. The Russiagate scandal severely strained US-Russia relations, resulting in sanctions, asset seizures, and a breakdown in diplomatic engagement.

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A member of the European Parliament who leaves not one stone standing of EU politics vs Russia. He’s in for a hard time. They don’t like that.

• ICC Putin Arrest Warrant ‘Counterproductive’ – EU MP (RT)

The credibility of international legal institutions has been severely undermined by Western efforts to wage “lawfare” against Russia, a member of the European Parliament has told RT. Luxembourger Fernand Kartheiser made the comments after Switzerland offered to host Ukraine peace talks and suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin would receive immunity from an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against him. The ICC announced the warrant in March 2023, alleging the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine. Russia has rejected the jurisdiction of the court, calling its decisions null and void. Kartheiser questioned the credibility of the warrant against Putin, insisting it was initially designed as part of a broader Western strategy to weaken Moscow.

“We had this diplomatic isolation. We had economic sanctions. We had military support for Ukraine. We had many ways to weaken Russia and one of those ways is lawfare,” he recalled. He argued that this strategy has proven “counterproductive for any diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict,” and pointed out that the ICC warrant is “basically not practicable.” “We have a huge problem with the credibility of international jurisdictions,” Kartheiser said, adding that “we should give it a thought and also stop to use lawfare as a weapon in this conflict.”

The MEP also challenged the basis for the ICC’s allegations. He noted that despite claims of thousands of children being abducted, Ukraine had provided Russia with a list of only 309 names during earlier peace talks in Istanbul. “I don’t think that you can continue to argue that there has been a systematic abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia. So I think that there is an issue with the credibility also of the arrest warrant by the ICC,” he said. Kartheiser also told RT that Switzerland’s proposal to host the summit was an attempt to restore its neutrality and argued that Ukraine should hold elections as Vladimir Zelensky’s mandate as president has expired.

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“USAID was a “black fund for supporting American non-profits linked to the Democratic Party.”

• Ukraine Stripped of USAID Billions (RT)

Ukraine has lost billions of dollars in aid from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington’s primary funding channel for political projects abroad. Most USAID programs have been shut down in the country, with only a handful set to continue beyond 2025, according to data reviewed by RT. For years, Ukrainian NGOs and nonprofits were heavily dependent on USAID grants and contracts, reportedly turning the country into a money laundering hub for Washington. Vladimir Vasilyev, chief research fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for US and Canadian Studies, told RT that the financial flows, including from Ukraine, eventually returned to the US. According to him, USAID was a “black fund for supporting American non-profits linked to the Democratic Party.”

“It was a sacred cow of the State Department that for a long time nobody dared to audit.” Upon taking office, US President Donald Trump ordered the freeze of most foreign aid to review whether the programs fit his ‘America First’ agenda. Tens of billions in grants have since been put on hold, with the president accusing the agency of misusing taxpayer money and fueling corruption. In Ukraine alone, where more than $400 billion had once been earmarked for reconstruction, over a hundred projects have already been scrapped. Only 30 USAID initiatives have been preserved, but most are set to expire in 2025, the data shows.

A scandal erupted earlier this year over billions of USAID dollars lost in Ukraine. The agency’s inspector general, auditing firm KPMG, and US prosecutors have launched probes into suspected fraud, bribery, and embezzlement in Ukrainian projects, with more than 20 cases already opened. Some programs have been kept in place to fund limited humanitarian initiatives, according to the records. Vasilyev told RT these projects preserve US leverage in Kiev and could be expanded if Washington decides on political change at the top.

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“I need to talk to Putin. You go hide in the closet.”

And they do it!!

• Another Remarkable Picture from White House Ukraine Peace Summit (CTH)

It is said that pictures tell a thousand words. If that oft-cited phrase is correct, then this picture speaks volumes. The image below is from when President Trump asked Zelenskyy and the EU leaders to vacate the Oval Office while he called Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin to discuss the results of the Zelenskyy/EU leadership meeting. While President Trump was on the phone with President Putin, Zelenskyy and the EU team waited to return.

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I like Ed Martin already. And I think Letitia should shop around for a new lawyer.

“I would take this as an act of good faith.”

• Trump Weaponization Czar Urged NY AG Letitia James To Resign (AP)

President Donald Trump’s political weaponization czar sent a letter urging New York Attorney General Letitia James to resign from office “as an act of good faith” four days after starting his mortgage fraud investigation of her. Then he showed up outside her house. Ed Martin, the director of the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group, told James’ lawyer on Aug. 12 the Democrat would best serve the “good of the state and nation” by resigning and ending his probe into alleged paperwork discrepancies on her Brooklyn townhouse and a Virginia home. “Her resignation from office would give the people of New York and America more peace than proceeding,” Martin wrote. “I would take this as an act of good faith.”

Then last Friday, Martin turned up outside James’ Brooklyn townhouse in a “Columbo”-esque trench coat, accompanied by an aide and New York Post journalists. He didn’t meet with James or go inside the building. A Post writer saw him tell a neighbor: “I’m just looking at houses, interesting houses. It’s an important house.” James’ lawyer Abbe Lowell shot back on Monday, telling Martin in a letter his blunt request for James’ resignation defied Justice Department standards and codes of professional responsibility and legal ethics. The Justice Department “has firm policies against using investigations and against using prosecutorial power for achieving political ends,” Lowell wrote. “This is ever more the case when that demand is made to seek political revenge against a public official in the opposite party.” “Let me be clear: that will not happen here,” Lowell added.


Ed Martin

Lowell also blasted Martin’s visit to James’ home as a “truly bizarre, made-for-media stunt” and said it was “outside the bounds” of Justice Department rules. He included an image from security camera footage showing Martin, in his trench coat, posing for a photo in front of James’ townhouse. He said Martin looked as if he were on a “visit to a tourist attraction.” The Associated Press obtained copies of both letters on Tuesday. A message seeking comment was left for Martin’s spokesperson. The letters were the latest salvos in a monthslong drama involving Trump’s retribution campaign against James and others who’ve battled him in court and fought his policies. James has sued the Republican president and his administration dozens of times and last year won a $454 million judgment against Trump and his companies in a lawsuit alleging he lied about the value of his assets on financial statements given to banks.

An appeals court has yet to rule on Trump’s bid to overturn that verdict. Earlier this month, the AP reported, the Justice Department subpoenaed James for records related to the civil fraud lawsuit and a lawsuit she filed against the National Rifle Association. Martin’s investigation stems from a letter Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi in April asking her to investigate and consider prosecuting James, alleging she had “falsified bank documents and property records.” Pulte, whose agency regulates mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, cited “media reports” claiming James had falsely listed a Virginia home as her principal residence, and he suggested she may have been trying to avoid higher interest rates that often apply to second homes. Records show James was listed as a co-borrower on a house her niece was buying in 2023.

Lowell said records and correspondence easily disproved Pulte’s allegation. While James signed a power-of-attorney form that, Lowell said, “mistakenly stated the property to be Ms. James’ principal residence,” she sent an email to her mortgage loan broker around the same time that made clear the property “WILL NOT be my primary residence.” Pulte also accused James of lying in property records about the number of apartments in the Brooklyn townhouse she has owned since 2001. A certificate of occupancy issued to a previous owner authorized up to five units in the building, where James lives and has rented out apartments.

Other city records show the townhouse has four units, a number James has listed in building permit applications and mortgage documents. On Aug. 8, Bondi appointed Martin, a former Republican political operative, to investigate. Martin, the current U.S. pardon attorney and former acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., is also investigating mortgage fraud allegations against Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Schiff’s lawyer called the allegations “transparently false, stale, and long debunked.” Lowell said it appears the working group Martin leads “is aptly named as it is ‘weaponizing’” the Justice Department “to carry out the President’s and Attorney General’s threats.”

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“Then he showed up outside her house.”

• Ed Martin Suggests Letitia James Resign to Avoid Further Conflict (CTH)

As noted by the Associated Press, “President Donald Trump’s political weaponization czar sent a letter urging New York Attorney General Letitia James to resign from office “as an act of good faith” four days after starting his mortgage fraud investigation of her. Then he showed up outside her house.” Letitia James’ lawyer, Abbe Lowell, shared the content of the letter with the media as both James and her legal representatives continue efforts to leverage media as a defensive strategy.

NEW YORK – President Donald Trump’s political weaponization czar sent a letter urging New York Attorney General Letitia James to resign from office “as an act of good faith” four days after starting his mortgage fraud investigation of her. Then he showed up outside her house. Ed Martin, the director of the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group, told James’ lawyer on Aug. 12 the Democrat would best serve the “good of the state and nation” by resigning and ending his probe into alleged paperwork discrepancies on her Brooklyn townhouse and a Virginia home. “Her resignation from office would give the people of New York and America more peace than proceeding,” Martin wrote. “I would take this as an act of good faith.”

Martin’s investigation stems from a letter Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi in April asking her to investigate and consider prosecuting James, alleging she had “falsified bank documents and property records.” Pulte, whose agency regulates mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, cited “media reports” claiming James had falsely listed a Virginia home as her principal residence, and he suggested she may have been trying to avoid higher interest rates that often apply to second homes. Director Pulte also accused James of lying in property records about the number of apartments in the Brooklyn townhouse she has owned since 2001.

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It’s evidently very tempting to fool around with “primary residence” status.

• Trump Demands Fed Governor “Must Resign Now” Amid Mortgage Fraud Probe (ZH)

The director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency is urging Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over a pair of mortgages, the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration to increase legal scrutiny of Democratic figures and appointees. FHFA Director Bill Pulte wrote a letter to Bondi and DOJ official Ed Martin on Aug. 15 suggesting that Cook may have committed a criminal offense. The letter alleges that Cook “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statute.” Bloomberg reports that Pulte said Cook took a mortgage on a property in Ann Arbor, Michigan, signing a mortgage agreement that stipulated she would use the property as her primary residence for at least a year.

Two weeks later, according to the letter, she took another mortgage on a Georgia property and also declared it would be her primary residence. Pulte also called on Bondi to look into whether Cook misrepresented her circumstances by later listing the Georgia property for rental. The letter includes copies of mortgage documents in Cook’s name, as well as an apparent rental listing from 2022, a little over a year after she bought the Georgia property. Here is the Criminal Referral Letter on Lisa Cook, the current Fed Governor.

— Pulte (@pulte) August 20, 2025
And President Trump was swift to respond… demanding that “Cook must resign, now!!!”

…as the full court press to pack The Fed continues. Cook was nominated to the Fed by President Joe Biden and took office in 2022, becoming the first Black woman to serve on the Fed’s board of governors. She was later nominated by Biden for a full term, which expires in 2038. Bloomberg reports that no charges have been filed and it’s not clear whether Bondi will investigate. The Justice Department declined comment. The Federal Reserve declined comment. Cook did not respond to requests for comment late Tuesday.

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“Damn straight there’s no “cavalry” coming across the hill: That’s the upside to securing the border. The Democrats will have to woo real, actual Americans…”

Note: the Democratic party won’t be allowed to die. That would leave the US with a one-party system. A new party? Just about impossible.

• NYT: The Death Cycle of the Democratic Party (Pinsker)

Instead of a donkey as its mascot, maybe the Democrats should consider a Mohican. It’d be more accurate: They’re dropping like flies. Since April of 2024, six U.S. congressmen have died in office. All six were Democrats. (Fun fact: Even if you go all the way back to 2022, the last EIGHT congressmen who died in office were ALL Democrats.) Turns out there are a few unfortunate consequences to relying on a geriatric workforce. Those dead congressmen cost the Democrats dearly. But in hindsight, perhaps we should applaud the Democrats for being such sticklers for accuracy in representative government: A dying party, after all, deserves to be represented by a dying congressman. This morning, the New York Times released a fascinating study — one that should send shockwaves throughout D.C.: “The Democratic Party Faces a Voter Registration Crisis.” Among its findings:

“The Democratic Party is hemorrhaging voters long before they even go to the polls. Of the 30 states that track voter registration by political party, Democrats lost ground to Republicans in every single one between the 2020 and 2024 elections — and often by a lot. That four-year swing toward the Republicans adds up to 4.5 million voters, a deep political hole that could take years for Democrats to climb out from.” So, just your standard story about the Democratic Party going… wait: 0-30 in ALL 30 STATES that track voter registration? Welp, that ain’t good. This means that it is clearly a national movement. We can’t dismiss it as a Red State phenomenon, or a regional skirmish in the Culture War. This is far bigger than that:

“The stampede away from the Democratic Party is occurring in battleground states, the bluest states and the reddest states, too, according to a new analysis of voter registration data by The New York Times. The analysis used voter registration data compiled by L2, a nonpartisan data firm. Few measurements reflect the luster of a political party’s brand more clearly than the choice by voters to identify with it — whether they register on a clipboard in a supermarket parking lot, at the Department of Motor Vehicles or in the comfort of their own home. And fewer and fewer Americans are choosing to be Democrats.”

The New York Times is using lots of loaded language — phrases like “stampede away from the Democratic Party” and “hemorrhaging voters.” We should always be mindful of their not-so-subtle editorializations because they reflect certain biases. So let’s strip away the pearl-clutching nonsense and narrow our focus to the “bottom line” numbers in a specific timeframe: 2020 through 2024. Really, how bad was it? All told, Democrats lost about 2.1 million registered voters between the 2020 and 2024 elections in the 30 states, along with Washington, D.C., that allow people to register with a political party. (In the remaining 20 states, voters do not register with a political party.) Republicans gained 2.4 million. Holy Guacamole! One party is growing; the other is dying. Some of the Donkeys’ attrition is clearly due to ex-Democrats joining the GOP, but lots of the GOP’s gains were from an influx of new voters:

“In 2018, Democrats accounted for 34 percent of new voter registrations nationwide, while Republicans were only 20 percent. Yet by 2024, Republicans had overtaken Democrats among new registrants. In six years, the G.O.P.’s share rose by 9 percentage points; the Democratic share dropped nearly 8 points. […] Not so long ago, in 2018, Democrats had accounted for 66 percent of new voters under 45 who registered with one of the two major parties. Yet by 2024, the Democratic share had plunged to 48 percent, the Times analysis of L2’s data found. In other words, Republicans went from roughly one-third of newly registered voters under 45 to a majority in the last six years. The story is even bleaker for Democrats in some key states. In Nevada, which releases particularly detailed data, Republicans added nearly twice as many voters under 35 to the rolls as Democrats did last year, state records show.”

The bad news for the Democratic Party is that its popularity with men has plummeted. But the good news is, its popularity with women has plummeted, too. (Wait. That’s not good news.) “Nearly 49 percent of men newly registering with a major party chose the Democrats in 2020. In 2024, that figure was down to roughly 39 percent. At the same time, the Democratic edge among women registering to vote has shrunk. The combination inverted a gender gap that in recent years had heavily benefited Democrats.” So, congrats to the Democrats on FINALLY achieving gender equality. (And now it makes sense why they keep insisting there are dozens of different genders to choose from: If men AND women rejected me, I’d be looking for a third, fourth, and fifth gender, too. Maybe somewhere, someone will love me!) There also seems to be a mass exodus of Latino voters: Few states offer partisan registration data by race. But those that do reflect the Democratic Party’s fading allure to Latino voters, according to the Times analysis of the L2 data.

“In Florida, a slim 52 percent majority of new Latino registrants who chose one of the two major parties had aligned with the Democrats in 2020. By last year, the party’s share of new Latino voters had collapsed to 33 percent. Democrats fared only slightly better in North Carolina: The party’s share of Latino registrants picking one of the two major parties declined from 72 percent in 2020 to 58 percent last year.” The New York Times lamented the deathblow of the old liberal canard of using “nonprofits” to juice Democratic registration artificially: Because of Trump’s popularity with minorities, that no longer works:

“For years, the left has relied on a sprawling network of nonprofits — which solicit donations from people whose identities they need not disclose — to register Black, Latino and younger voters. Though the groups are technically nonpartisan, the underlying assumption has been that most new voters registering would vote Democratic. Mr. Trump upended that calculation with the inroads he made with working-class nonwhite voters. “You can’t just register a young Latino or a young Black voter and assume that they’re going to know that it’s Democrats that have the best policies,” Ms. Cardona said.” Right! Those mercurial Latinos and disloyal blacks might do something loco — like think on their own — and leave the Democratic Party plantation. Why, the nerve of them! One of the so-called “experts” quoted in the New York Times’ study believes these political trends are permanent:

“I don’t want to say, ‘The death cycle of the Democratic Party,’ but there seems to be no end to this,” said Michael Pruser, who tracks voter registration closely as the director of data science for Decision Desk HQ, an election-analysis site. “There is no silver lining or cavalry coming across the hill. This is month after month, year after year.” Damn straight there’s no “cavalry” coming across the hill: That’s the upside to securing the border. The Democrats will have to woo real, actual Americans — as opposed to simply importing their next generation of voters — and they don’t like it one bit. Well, okay. Things are looking awfully bleak for the Democratic Party, but surely there’s SOMETHING positive for liberals to hang their hat on, right? Like, President Trump has done such a miserable, terrible, abysmal job as president, so the American people MUST have come to their senses since then, right? Wrong:

“Any hope that the drift away from the Democratic Party would end organically with Mr. Trump’s election has been dashed by the limited data so far in 2025. There are now roughly 160,000 fewer registered Democrats than on Election Day 2024, according to L2’s data, and 200,000 more Republicans. “It’s going to get worse,” Mr. Pruser, of Decision Desk HQ, said of the outlook for Democrats, “before it gets better.” Ah, so another 360,000 vote swing over the last nine months. That’s a 40,000 Democratic net loss each month! And we’re still about 15 months away from the midterms — and 38 months away from Election Day 2028. Do the math: It’s not good for Democrats.

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“A Schiff spokesperson immediately blamed Donald Trump and his supporters for supposedly weaponizing the justice system.”

• The Walls Are Closing in on Adam Schiff and He Knows It (Margolis)

Adam Schiff has always loved the spotlight, but not like this. The California senator, best known as the face of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax and the architect of the first impeachment circus, is now launching something very different: the “Senator Schiff Legal Defense Fund.” Schiff filed the paperwork with the IRS last week. This move doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in his future. You don’t create a legal defense fund unless you expect things to get messy. And he knows he’s in serious trouble over his alleged mortgage fraud. According to his camp, this isn’t about a real scandal but revenge. A Schiff spokesperson immediately blamed Donald Trump and his supporters for supposedly weaponizing the justice system.

“It’s clear that Donald Trump and his MAGA allies will continue weaponizing the justice process to attack Senator Schiff for holding this corrupt administration accountable,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “This fund will ensure he can fight back against these baseless smears while continuing to do his job.” Translation: Schiff knows the walls are closing in, but he wants his donors to pay the bill. The problem is that the allegations against Schiff don’t look like political fiction. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) referred him to the Justice Department last month. Investigators say Schiff falsified bank documents and property records related to a Potomac, Md., home, securing sweetheart loan terms between 2003 and 2019. Schiff denies everything, calling it politically motivated. Of course, that’s what he always says. The Maryland Attorney General is now actively investigating the case.

Schiff has a long history of playing fast and loose with facts when it serves his purpose. Back during the Russia collusion hoax, he insisted he personally saw “evidence” that Trump’s campaign conspired with Moscow to steal the 2016 election. Spoiler alert: he hadn’t. It was a complete lie. White House Spokesman Harrison Fields blasted Schiff as “a sleazy and corrupt politician who betrayed his oath to the Constitution by prioritizing his selfish and personal animosity toward the President over the interests of the American people.” Fields added, “No amount of money can shield Adam from the truth that he is a fraud.” In recent weeks, we’ve learned that whistleblowers have accused Schiff of authorizing leaks tailored to smear Trump and even bragged that those leaks would lead to an indictment.

“For years, certain officials used their positions to selectively leak classified information to shape political narratives,” FBI Director Kash Patel said earlier this month. “It was all done with one purpose: to weaponize intelligence and law enforcement for political gain. Those abuses eroded public trust in our institutions.” FBI files later confirmed that had Hillary Clinton won in 2016, she planned to reward Schiff for his efforts to undermine Trump by appointing him CIA director. This is a man who has built his career on dishonest narratives and has never faced consequences for them until now.

Adam Schiff has spent years peddling lies, abusing his power, and weaponizing government institutions against his political enemies. Now, with investigators circling and a legal defense fund in place, the same man who smeared Trump with fabricated scandals is finally staring down a real one of his own. Schiff may try to spin this as partisan revenge, but the truth is simple: after decades of dishonesty, the reckoning he has long evaded may finally be at hand. The walls are closing in on him.

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“D. C. gave Fake Crime numbers to create a false illusion of safety,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday night. “This is a very bad and dangerous thing to do, and they are under serious investigation for so doing!”

• Jeanine Pirro Launches DOJ Probe To Find If DC Has Been Faking Crime Data (ZH)

Four weeks after a DC police commander was suspended amid accusations that he manipulated crime statistics, the Department of Justice has launched a wide-ranging investigation into whether the department has been faking data to make crime rates lower, the Washington Post reports, citing two senior law enforcement officials. The investigation is run out of DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office following the accusation lodged against Metro PD commander Michael Pulliam, who was put on leave in May after the department began investigating whether he altered crime data. Pullman has denied the allegations. Pulliam’s paid administrative leave came a week after he filed an equal employment opportunity complaint against an assistant chief over accusations that the department deliberately falsified crime data.

The Police union, meanwhile, claims police supervisors in the department manipulate crime data to make it appear violent crime has fallen considerably compared to last year. The DOJ investigation, however, will go much further – and will include other police and city officials who may have also fabricated or altered crime data. “D. C. gave Fake Crime numbers to create a false illusion of safety,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday night. “This is a very bad and dangerous thing to do, and they are under serious investigation for so doing!” he continued, adding “Until 4 days ago, Washington, D.C., was the most unsafe ‘city’ in the United States, and perhaps the World. Now, in just a short period of time, it is perhaps the safest, and getting better every single hour!”

The DOJ has yet to articulate what specific crimes DC police officials have committed beyond ‘manipulating data.’ DC Mayor Muriel Bowser flipped out, of course, touting what she says is a drop in violent crime that happened before President Trump brought in hundreds of National Guard troops and federal law enforcement officers to join local PD – also taken over by the Trump admin – in fighting what Trump called a crime emergency. DC statistics showed violent crime down 27% year-over-year, and homicides down 11% – numbers that are now being called into question. “We are not experiencing a spike in crime,” Bowser told MSNBC. “In fact, we’re watching our crime numbers go down.” Sure you are!

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They were always destined for each other.

• Musk Reportedly Scales Back ‘America First Party’ Plans (ZH)

There are emerging signs that Elon Musk and President Trump have reached a détente – well, at least for now. The public bickering has stopped, tensions over Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ have faded, and both men have found common ground in backing the deployment of federal troops to curb violent crime across Washington, D.C., after DOGE’s ‘Big Balls’ was injured in an attack. Now, a new report from the Wall Street Journal, citing sources, says Musk has dialed back plans to launch a political party to challenge Trump ahead of next year’s midterms. Recall that Musk had called for the ‘America First Party’ to challenge the Washington ‘uniparty’ following Trump’s passage of the BBB in early July. He was also infuriated by the failure to codify a broad range of DOGE cuts. The tit-for-tat social media fight between Musk and Trump was fierce between June and July.

https://twitter.com/PapiTrumpo/status/1957980919962452055

Here are key points from the WSJ report (citing sources): • Focus on Tesla/SpaceX & GOP Ties: Musk is prioritizing his companies and preserving his relationship with Vice President JD Vance, seen as Trump’s political successor. He has privately admitted forming a party could strain that alliance. • Future Support for Vance: Musk is considering channeling financial support into Vance’s potential 2028 presidential run, after spending nearly $300 million to back Trump and Republicans in 2024.

An excerpt from WSJ: “As he has considered launching a party, the Tesla chief executive officer has been focused in part on maintaining ties with Vice President JD Vance, who is widely seen as a potential heir to the MAGA political movement. Musk has stayed in touch with Vance in recent weeks, and he has acknowledged to associates that if he goes ahead with forming a political party, he would damage his relationship with the vice president, the people said. Musk and his associates have told people close to him that he is considering using some of his vast financial resources to back Vance if he decides to run for president in 2028, some of the people said. Musk spent close to $300 million to support Trump and other Republicans in the 2024 election.”

WSJ was careful to note that Musk or his team didn’t respond to requests for comment. So it’s only a matter of time before Musk comments about the story on X. Interestingly, WSJ sources reported that the America First Party canceled meetings with third-party organizers, including notable figures such as Andrew Yang and Mark Cuban. Yang and Cuban are weak men in the era of ‘MAGA’ – probably for the best. Steven Nekhaila, chair of the Libertarian National Committee, confirmed to WSJ that Musk’s team has had an “eerie silence” and “doesn’t seem like anything has been in action, neither at the state level or at the ground level.” Was Musk’s America First Party merely political theater, as the billionaire pivoted from neutering the Democratic Party through DOGE strike teams in federal agencies back to the private sector, aiming not to alienate customers amid weakening Tesla sales?

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“European censors” at the Commission and EU countries “target core political speech that is neither harmful nor illegal…”

• The EU’s Latest Plan to Stifle Online Privacy Is Terrifying (NC)

Regular readers are by now familiar with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which we have covered on several occasions since July 2023. For those who aren’t, a quick primer: the DSA imposes a legal requirement on very large online platforms (VLOPs), and very large online search engines (VLOSEs) to take prompt action against illegal content hosted on their platforms, either by removing it, blocking it, or providing certain information to the authorities concerned. VLOPs and VLOSEs are also required to take action against risks that extend beyond illegal content, including vague threats to “civic discourse”, “electoral processes” and “public health”. It is down to the Commission or national authorities to define what those threats might entail. This is where the EU’s mass censorship regime began to take form.

The overarching goal of the DSA is to combat — i.e., suppress — mis- and disinformation online, not just in Europe but potentially across the world. It is part of a broader trend of Western governments and UN institutions pushing to censor information on the Internet as they gradually lose control over key narrative threads. Platforms that fall foul of the Act face potentially ruinous fines of up to 6% of their global annual turnover. As such, it’s probably safe to assume that they err on the side of caution, deleting content that could be considered harmful, even when it is entirely lawful. So begins the slippery slope of systemic online censorship. As retired German judge Manfred Kölsch warned in an op-ed in Berliner Zeitung, the DSA not only poses an existential threat to the freedom of speech in Europe, it contravenes many of the EU’s own laws on freedom of expression and information:

“A careful look behind the facade of the rule of law reveals that the DSA knowingly undermines the right to freedom of expression and information guaranteed by Article 11 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 5 of the Basic Law (Germany’s written constitution, agreed by the allies back in 1949 when the first post-war government was established in West Germany).” The text of Article 11 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights reads as follows: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.” As we warned back in 2023, the reverberations of the DSA are likely to extend far beyond the EU’s borders and could even go global, much like its predecessor, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Those concerns were echoed by a report released in January by the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, which singled out the DSA as a “foreign censorship threat.” From Politico: “[The report] includes non-public information about how the European Commission and national authorities implement the rules, including confidential information from EU workshops, emails between the EU executive and companies, content takedown requests in France, Germany and Poland and readouts from Commission meetings with tech firms.” “On paper, the DSA is bad. In practice, it is even worse,” the report said. “European censors” at the Commission and EU countries “target core political speech that is neither harmful nor illegal, attempting to stifle debate on topics such as immigration and the environment,” it said. Their censorship is “largely one-sided” against conservatives, it added.”

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Putin and Trump should turn this into an international feel-good story. Make a few phone calls.

• Wanted For Lonely Russian Female: Sanctions-Buster (RT)

A female pygmy hippopotamus named Eva who lives at the city zoo of Ekaterinburg in central Russia cannot meet a mate. Western sanctions have blocked efforts to deliver a male hippo from abroad, according to the zoo director, RIA Novosti reports. Svetlana Prilepina told the news agency on Tuesday that the zoo had found a suitable male pygmy hippo from a partner institution in the Czech Republic. However, logistical and legal barriers tied to international sanctions have prevented the animal from being transported to Russia, she lamented. ”Due to sanctions, we are unable to bring the male to Russia and therefore cannot form a breeding pair with Eva,” the director said. She explained that sourcing a mate within Russia was not feasible due to genetic compatibility concerns. Prilepina emphasized that the zoo had to look abroad to maintain healthy breeding lines, with the search extending across Asia and Europe.

Pygmy hippos are classified as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); fewer than 3,000 are estimated to live in the wild. Eva arrived at the Yekaterinburg Zoo in 2013 from Edinburgh and is now 13 years old. Like all hippos, she is mostly active in the evening and at night. She enjoys swimming in her pool and playing with a ball, while during the day she prefers to rest in the water, often covering herself with a mat. Adult pygmy hippos typically stand 75–83 centimeters tall at the shoulder, measure between 150 and 177 centimeters in length, and weigh between 180 and 275 kilograms. Unlike their larger relatives, pygmy hippos are more solitary and less aquatic, spending much of their time hidden in forested areas.

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Shiong

How it started
https://twitter.com/Arrogance_0024/status/1957778243710275827

Monks
https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1957969200397377638

Song

Chongqing

 

 

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