Jean-Francois Millet The Young Shepherdess 1870-73
I will cut the price of ENERGY and ELECTRICITY in HALF within 12 months. We will seriously expedite our environmental approvals, and quickly double our electricity capacity. This will DRIVE DOWN INFLATION, and make AMERICA and MICHIGAN the best place on earth to build a factory… pic.twitter.com/N3UFtLXf8L
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2024
RFK Trump legacy
RFK Jr. on Trump: "He’s interested in his legacy, and he wants his legacy to be the President who ended the wars, who brought the money home to rebuild the middle class, who ended the censorship, who ended the power of the CIA over the American people, and who made America… pic.twitter.com/5bNhZBnv2s
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) October 9, 2024
RFK critical thinking
The capacity for critical thinking has been so overwhelmed and subverted in my generation that they didn't see the possibility of an unprecedented level of control. They went along with COVID, which looked like in many ways a psyops program with orchestrated fear to disable the… pic.twitter.com/WEnK794miX
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) October 9, 2024
Appelate
https://twitter.com/i/status/1844426831564505456
Trump ad
https://twitter.com/i/status/1844017818729333213
Dark MAGA
Trump just said his campaign store immediately received thousands upon thousands of orders for black MAGA hats after millions saw Elon Musk wearing it on stage in Butler
"I didn't even know we made black hats… Now I find out it's like the hottest thing going… Dark MAGA."… pic.twitter.com/SiOXRE74TV
— George (@BehizyTweets) October 9, 2024
War face
This is amazing. President Trump plays a video of Full Metal Jacket clips juxtaposed with real life videos of the modern woke military under Biden-Harris.
What kind of military do you want defending you and your family, America? pic.twitter.com/47n1Dnz8Qb
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) October 9, 2024
FEMA
https://twitter.com/i/status/1844150855290822983
Don jr
https://twitter.com/i/status/1844071224223334741
“Volodymyr Zelensky is willing to kidnap his own people and send them to die simply to hold off his defeat until after the US presidential elections.”
• They’re Just Not That Into You (DeMartino)
As Hurricane Milton is nearing landfall, victims of Hurricane Helene are still waiting for supplies and rescue. Meanwhile, FEMA says it doesn’t have enough funding to last the hurricane season and taxpayers in the affected areas are undoubtedly having buyer’s remorse over all the funds Congress has allocated to Ukraine and Israel. The issue, it seems, is the American people don’t really do anything for the elite in this country. Sure, everyday people make up the tax base and quite literally are the economic engine that led to the 1%’s great fortunes, but that’s expected. Ukraine and Israel are new and exciting. Big bombs and bigger contracts, that’s the way to a president’s heart. Volodymyr Zelensky is willing to kidnap his own people and send them to die simply to hold off his defeat until after the US presidential elections.
Benjamin Netanyahu is genociding a population so the West can have a forward operating base in the Middle East. What has North Carolina done for America recently? They’ve been coasting on that “first in flight” tagline for far too long. Last week, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre admitted that only $4 million had been sent directly to hurricane victims. That number has likely increased in the week since but it is still a pathetically paltry sum a full week after Hurricane Helene hit. Meanwhile, FEMA keeps touting its top-line number of $286 million, which has primarily been given out to well-connected aid organizations that filled out the organization’s “Vendor Profile Forum,” enabling it to engage in “business with FEMA” (their words) if approved.
And even that number pales in comparison to what the government spent on previous major hurricanes, like Katrina and Andrew. Maybe it is time for Americans to accept the facts. When it comes to the ruling elite and the Biden administration, they just aren’t that into you.
“..he is “leading in the polls, with the lead getting bigger by the day – and leading in all swing states.”
• ‘Too Late’ For Harris Rematch – Trump (RT)
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said that he is not going to debate his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris again before the November 5 election, and outlined his rationale for the decision. Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, a few hours after Fox News reported that it had made a final pitch to host a televised face-off between the two US presidential candidates in Pennsylvania on October 24 or 27. “It is very late in the process, [early] voting has already begun – there will be no rematch!” he wrote in an all-caps. The former president implied that he had been victorious in his first and only debate with Harris on September 10. “The first thing a prizefighter does when he loses a fight is say that he ‘demands A Rematch,’” he said of his rival in the race for the White House.
A poll commissioned by CNN suggested that 67% of registered voters who watched that debate believed Harris to be the winner. “Besides, Kamala stated clearly, yesterday, that she would not do anything different than Joe Biden, so there is nothing to debate,” Trump pointed out. He was referring to the vice president’s appearance on ABC’s program ‘The View’ on Tuesday, during which the hosts pressed Harris to name a decision she would have made differently if she had been the US president instead of Joe Biden. “There is not a thing that comes to mind,” the Democratic nominee replied. Harris joined the presidential race in June as Biden stepped down as his party’s candidate after a poor performance in his debate with Trump on June 27.
Another reason presented by the Republican contender for not needing to debate his opponent again is because he is “leading in the polls, with the lead getting bigger by the day – and leading in all swing states.” According to polling averages provided by ABC News on Thursday, Harris is actually in the lead, on 48.4%, with Trump 2.5% behind. The former president previously declined the offer by Harris to hold a debate on CNN on October 23. Instead, he suggested another face-off on Fox News on September 4 or on September 25 on NBC News, but the vice president never confirmed her participation.
“While she was saying all this, CNN’s chyron read “Trump Links Migrants to Murderers: ‘It’s In Their Genes.’”
• Dem Strategist Claims Trump Vowed To EXTERMINATE People With Eugenics (MN)
A deranged Democrat strategist appeared on CNN and claimed that Donald Trump has promised to “exterminate” people with “bad genes,” suggesting that she is at risk because she is a “black lesbian.” Yes, it really has gotten that crazy. Aisha Mills seriously argued that Trump, should he be elected, will engage in a eugenics program to eliminate black people and gay people. “Listen, this isn’t the first time we heard this kind of talk from Donald Trump, and it reeks of authoritarianism,” Mills stated, adding “It also harkens back to a time of Hitler who used the same exact language that Donald Trump is now quoting to talk about the people who he thinks are poisoning the blood of the nation.”
She continued, “You know, all of this smells like an affinity towards eugenics, which really should give us all pause, because when we remember the last person, the last awful authoritarian dictator who believed in eugenics, it was someone who really wanted to exterminate an entire people because they thought that they didn’t have good genes and because they were trying to create a certain type of race.”
Deranged Dem strategist on CNN claims Trump SAID he's going to "exterminate" black and gay people via eugenics. When a GOP strategist challenged her she said "I'm not going to be lectured by some white man who has no idea what he's talking about." Report: https://t.co/MsiAKtvPam pic.twitter.com/g5Ej8byEIa
— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) October 10, 2024
Republican strategist David Urban, who was also on the segment, attempted to point out how completely bat shit Mills’ assertions are, urging that it is “just shameful to compare Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler.” Mills charged that Urban is “doing Donald Trump’s bidding” and then claimed that she is “at risk of being exterminated” by Trump for being a “black lesbian.” When Urban asked her to provide any evidence of Trump saying such a thing, she shouted back “I’m not going to be lectured by some white man who has no idea what he’s talking about and is trying to rewrite history here.” “I am afraid as an American of a Donald Trump presidency, and his actual quotes don’t lie because I take him seriously and I think that he believes what he says. And that is why he is a danger and a threat to America,” she further blathered.
While she was saying all this, CNN’s chyron read “Trump Links Migrants to Murderers: ‘It’s In Their Genes.’” This all stems from Trump positing that illegal immigrant murderers, 13,000 of them convicted under the Biden Harris administration, people who have come into the US illegally and have killed Americans, might have “bad genes.” He never talked about “exterminating” anyone, only about securing the border and preventing thousands of murderers and violent criminals getting in. Mills is clearly mentally unstable, yet another example of a rabid leftist engaging in this bizarre fantasy about Trump throwing them in detention camps or even worse, executing them, and contributing to the vile rhetoric that has almost gotten him assassinated twice.
“On the outside, he looks like he’s your father. He is the nicest and a total killer..”
• ‘Total Killer’ – Trump on Modi (RT)
Former US President Donald Trump has expressed his admiration for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling him a “friend of mine” and the “nicest human being.” Speaking on the Flagrant podcast hosted by Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh, the Republican presidential candidate claimed that India’s political landscape had been “very unstable” before Modi took office in 2014. “On the outside, he looks like he’s your father. He is the nicest and a total killer,” Trump stated. In fact, Modi’s predecessor, Manmohan Singh of the Congress Party, had held power from 2004 to 2014. Trump also reminisced about Modi’s [visit] to the US in 2019, when he participated in the grand ‘Howdy, Modi’ rally in Houston, Texas, addressing the Indian diaspora. The event was attended by tens of thousands and was described as the largest gathering ever for a foreign leader in the US.
”It was me and him, and it was beautiful. There were around 80,000 people, and it felt crazy. We were walking around. Today, maybe I wouldn’t be able to do something like that,” Trump added, seemingly alluding to the recent assassination attempts against him. Trump recounted conversations with Modi regarding India being “threatened” by a “certain country.” “I said, let me help; I am very good with those people,” the former president remarked, before appearing to impersonate Modi, by altering his tone and saying: “I will do it; I will do anything necessary. We have defeated them for hundreds of years.”
“He was talking about a certain country; you can probably guess which one,” Trump continued, apparently referring to Pakistan, India’s nuclear-armed neighbor with which it has had longstanding border disputes and has accused of sponsoring cross-border terrorism. Ahead of Modi’s visit last month to the US for the ‘Summit of the Future’ conference at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, as well as the Quad summit of leaders from the US, Japan, India, and Australia hosted by President Joe Biden in Delaware, Trump suggested that he would meet with the Indian prime minister. “He (Modi) happens to be coming to meet me next week,” Trump stated during a town hall meeting in Flint, Michigan, referring to Modi as a “fantastic man.”
“Nuclear weapons are “the biggest threat we have in the world today,” Trump argued. “It’s not global warming, where the oceans are rising 1/8 of an inch in the next 500 years.”
• Global Denuclearization Deal Was Close – Trump (RT)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said Washington almost reached an agreement on nuclear weapons with Russia and China during his time in the White House. The former president made the claim during a two-hour interview with comedian Andrew Schulz, posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday. “We were close to a deal for getting rid of nuclear weapons. It would be so good,” Trump said. “I’m talking about Russia, ourselves, and China. We would then bring everyone else into it.” Nuclear weapons are “the biggest threat we have in the world today,” Trump argued. “It’s not global warming, where the oceans are rising 1/8 of an inch in the next 500 years.” Neither Russia nor China have yet commented on Trump’s claim about a denuclearization treaty being in the works during his administration.
Trump’s remarks came during a discussion of Iran’s alleged nuclear program, in which he criticized US President Joe Biden for being reluctant to confront Tehran. Biden has publicly urged Israel to refrain from striking Iranian nuclear and oil facilities. The five nuclear-armed members of the UN Security Council struck a deal with Tehran in 2015, under which Iran would not enrich uranium beyond a certain level, and therefore be unable to build atomic weapons. Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the arrangement in 2018. Though Biden promised to reinstate the deal, his diplomats have failed to get any traction on the issue over the past four years. In 2019, Trump also pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) Treaty, accusing Russia of being in breach of it. That left the New START as the last remaining arms control deal between Russia and the US.
Trump initially sought to get China to join the treaty, but Beijing declined, and it appeared as if New START might expire at the start of Trump’s second term. The Biden White House extended the treaty in February 2021, but it now seems likely to expire in 2026. Russia suspended its participation in New START in February 2023, citing the illegal and illegitimate US sanctions preventing its reciprocal enforcement, as well as US support for Ukrainian attacks on Russian strategic airbases. Trump officially lost the 2020 election to Biden but has questioned the vote’s legitimacy ever since. He won the 2024 Republican nomination and will face current Vice-President Kamala Harris – nominated by the Democrats after Biden withdrew from the race in July – in the November 5 election.
Or maybe not…
• Russia Rubbishes Trump’s Nuclear Arms Claim (RT)
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has denied a claim that Moscow, Beijing and Washington were at one point close to reaching a denuclearization agreement, a claim made earlier this week by former US President Donald Trump. “No, that is not true. It is well-known that attempts by the Trump administration to put a Chinese delegation at the negotiations table with us [Russia and the US] did not end in a success,” the official said on Thursday. Any hypothetical nuclear reduction talks will have to involve “nuclear allies of the US, meaning the UK and the French Republic, which, naturally, showed no desire to join the negotiations too,” Ryabkov added. Trump, who is running for a second term in office, has regularly raised –on his campaign trail– the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons.
In an interview with comedian Andrew Schulz posted on X on Wednesday, the Republican candidate claimed that Russia, the US and China were “close to a deal for getting rid of nuclear weapons,” with “everyone else” potentially brought into it at a later time. The US under Trump pulled out of a number of nuclear-arms-related agreements, including the bilateral Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia, which it quit in 2018. Washington accused Moscow of violating its terms but Western press reported that the US was concerned that the agreement imposed no restrictions on its rising strategic rival, China. The INF treaty used to ban the US and Russia from developing and deploying certain types of land-based nuclear-capable missiles. It was signed in the late 1980s and was meant to prevent an accidental nuclear war.
The scrapped weapons had flight times of mere minutes, which gave the rival sides of the Cold War a very short window to decide whether to disregard a detected launch as a false positive or to order retaliation, before any incoming weapons reach their targets and the ability to respond is diminished. New START, the last surviving US-Russian bilateral agreement on nuclear reduction, is set to expire in 2026. Ryabkov told journalists that Moscow sees no basis for talks about its prolongation, or any other issues of strategic stability, as long as the US maintains its hostile policy towards Russia. This will remain the case “regardless of who becomes the next president of the US,” he stressed.
Time flies…
• Nearly 3 Million Americans Have Voted So Far. Here’s What We Know. (ET)
Nearly 3 million Americans have cast early ballots either in person or by mail with under four weeks to go until Election Day, an election tracking site shows. As of 6:43 p.m. on Oct. 9, 2,877,590 people had cast ballots in states that report early voting data, according to an update from the University of Florida’s Election Lab website. Of that figure, nearly 504,000 people had voted early in person, and more than 2.37 million had voted by mail, the tracking site found. About 47.5 million mail-in ballots have been requested so far. In comparison, more than 92 million mail-in ballots were requested through the 2020 election, according to the university. In the states reporting how people voted by party, 56.3 percent of people who had returned early ballots were Democrats, representing about 732,378 people. Another 27.4 percent were Republican, representing 356,797 voters, and 16.2 percent, or 210,980, were independent or members of a third party, according to the website.
When broken down by age, nearly 60 percent of early voters were over 65, the tracking site found. Another 28 percent were age 41 to 65, while 9 percent were age 26 to 40, and only 3.2 percent were aged 18 to 25. Slightly more than 54.4 percent of people who returned early ballots were female, and roughly 44.6 percent were male, the site found. The remaining 1.1 percent were marked “unknown,” according to the site. Among early voters, about 72 percent were white, 8.6 percent were black, 2.2 percent were Hispanic, 2.4 percent were Asian, and 14.3 percent were marked “unknown,” the site stated. Early in-person voting started on Oct. 9 in Arizona, making it the earliest of this year’s presidential battleground states to enable residents to cast a ballot at a traditional polling place ahead of Election Day.The start of in-person voting in the closely contested state is also drawing the presidential tickets, with both campaigns scheduling visits in the state this week.
The Oct. 9 start date for early voting overlaps with campaign stops by both vice presidential nominees, Democrat Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Republican Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), who are each holding events in Tucson, Arizona, on that day. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, is scheduled to host a rally in Phoenix on Oct. 10, while former President Donald Trump will hold an event on Oct. 13 in Prescott Valley, north of Phoenix. Early voting, particularly by mail, has long been popular in Arizona, where nearly 80 percent voted before Election Day in 2020, according to the secretary of state’s office. Each of Arizona’s 15 counties is required to open at least one site for in-person early voting, which runs until the Friday before the Nov. 5 general election. In Maricopa County, a dozen voting centers are scattered around the metro Phoenix area. Early in-person voting has been underway in some states for several weeks now. It begins next week in four more swing states: Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and Nevada.
Following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina, the state’s election board this week approved an emergency measure that changes voting rules. The rule changes apply to 13 counties that saw infrastructure, voting sites, and mail delivery impacted by Helene, which made landfall in late September. One change approved by the board includes enhancing in-person early voting by allowing county boards to modify early voting sites, dates, and hours. It will also allow a county election board for one county to open a polling site in another county, depending on the circumstances, the state election board stated. Voters in affected counties can now request an absentee ballot in person up until Nov. 4, the day before the general election, according to the election board.
Completed ballots can be dropped off by Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at a polling location. Voters who were displaced are also allowed to turn in ballots to another county’s elections board by the same deadline, the state said. Previously, voters could turn in absentee ballots to early voting sites only in their county or to their county elections board by Election Day. South Carolina took action earlier this month to extend its voter registration deadline to Oct. 14, while Georgia elections officials have said they do not expect major disruptions from Helene. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order allowing election supervisors in 13 counties impacted by Helene to make voting-related changes. The state is bracing for a major hurricane, Milton, which is expected to hit Florida’s Gulf Coast on the night of Oct. 9.
“..money follows a winning hand, not a losing one..”
• Delayed Ramstein Meeting Speaks Volumes About Zelensky Regime’s Failure (Sp.)
President Joe Biden’s decision to remain in the United States – resulting in the postponement of a summit in Germany organized by Ukraine’s NATO allies – is not due to Hurricane Milton, asserts ex-DoD analyst and retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski. “The risk is high that Biden is not current on his understanding of this situation, and will say something that will embarrass or overly commit the US in the region,” Kwiatkowski said, adding that the Biden administration sees “the US must… minimize US policy failures that led to the destruction of Ukraine as a functioning and potential EU state.” According to the pundit, the Biden administration sees “the US must solve a new problem in Ukraine, and to minimize US policy failures that led to the destruction of Ukraine as a functioning and potential EU state.”
“The NATO game in Ukraine has run its course, and money follows a winning hand, not a losing one,” she said, referring to the Zelensky regime’s failed 2023 counteroffensive and Kiev’s “compound strategic miscalculation” in the Kursk region, that cost the Ukrainians even more loss of territory and depletion of manpower. Kwiatkowski continued that Washington’s allies vis-a-vis Ukraine “already understand that a miracle of military prowess and productivity in the West isn’t coming in time to save Ukraine.” In the meantime, NATO war planners don’t seem to be ready to talk about a post-war Ukraine plan yet, she said, presuming that “it must be made ready soon.”
“The mayor of Dnepropetrovsk today spoke out that there’s a problem, there’s hardly any men in the city, so they have no one to defend the city..”
• Capitulation to Save Lives Only ‘Victory’ Left to Ukraine (DeMartino)
On Saturday, US President Joe Biden indefinitely delayed his meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, citing the dual crisis of Hurricane Helene and Milton. However, the delay was also seen as a slight against Zelensky, who planned to press Biden to support his so-called victory plan. Sports are often compared to war. NFL Films are full of flowery prose about the soldiers of the gridiron battling to the finish. And it is often said that there are no symbolic victories, no half-measures, no capitulation in sports. A win –and nothing else– is a win. But life isn’t a sport. There is no timer in real life, except for death, and that can hit zero at any moment. Every day it does for scores of people, some in incredibly gruesome and violent ways, more so in recent years. The elite play with our lives like a sport, but it is not a game. Reality is a shared continual experience that lasts as long as we do, all you can do is work to improve it while you are on the field.
Enter Volodymyr Zelensky, the man ostensibly able to make decisions in Ukraine but one seemingly without the ability to do anything. I imagine Zelensky was proud of himself when he morphed from a comedian with an unusual method of playing the piano, to the NATO-backed and installed “leader” of Ukraine. I imagine that the first night he slept in Marie Palace, he stayed up late thinking about all the things he would do with his newfound power. I also presume he woke up sometime between then and now and found out that power was nothing but a dream. Maybe it was in 2019 when an Azov battalion fighter embarrassed Zelensky while he was allegedly attempting to get them to abide by the Minsk agreements. Or maybe he woke up when Ukraine had a peace treaty signed with Russia, only to have then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson come and tell him to scrub the whole thing and condemn his country to a bloody and fruitless fight with a much larger and more powerful country.
Or maybe it was this morning, when he found out the Ramstein conference, where he planned to ask Biden for more assistance and permission to strike deep inside Russia, had been delayed to an unspecified date. Zelensky’s so-called “victory plan” will go unheard. “There is no victory plan for Zelensky. Everybody understands that. His days are numbered,” explained whistleblower and former Ukrainian diplomat Andrii Telizhenko on Sputnik’s The Final Countdown. “We’re going to see how many days there are. [Is he] going to stay afloat until New Year’s? Or [is he] going to stay afloat until November 5th – the [US] elections? Or until January [when the new term begins]? This is Zelensky’s timetable now.” Zelensky is beset by enemies on all sides. Not just on the battlefield but internationally and domestically. The West is no friend to Zelensky. They assured him he could win with their help. They assured him that they’d stick by him “for as long as it takes.”
Anyone with a knowledge of US history could have told him that the US has a history of chewing up and spitting out its supposed allies, but Zelensky was a mere actor, what qualification did he have to doubt the leaders of the West? Since they never blame themselves, the US will blame Zelensky for losing to Russia in a fight they never expected him to win and will look to replace him as Ukraine transitions to a rump state, but they’d prefer that he holds on until after the election in November. “They need to sustain themselves. The deep state, the Biden administration, Kamala Harris, [the] Obamas, they need to show that they are still fueling this war, that they’re fighting Russia to stay afloat until the elections. That is the main goal for them, and until then they will decide what’s going to happen next,” explained Telizhenko.
“Kamala or Trump, they’re going… to blame Europe and Zelensky and the Nazis in Ukraine. [Say] that they didn’t do their job, even though they were given all the money that the world could give them, they didn’t win.” There is also Azov, who never respected Zelensky to begin with and would be furious if he asked for peace. His political rivals are also salivating at Zelensky’s perilous hold on power. “The [Petro] Poroshenko people, the neo-Nazi radical groups, which Zelensky thinks he controls but they’re controlled by the Ukrainian intel and law enforcement, together with the United States [Ukrainian People’s Deputy of Ukraine] Yulia Tymoshenko, [Kiev Mayor Vitali] Klitschko, that crowd, they are going to eat him alive like spiders,” Telizhenko said. Lastly, the people of Ukraine themselves are increasingly turning on Zelensky. Those that wanted, or could be forced to fight in Ukraine have already been sent to the frontline. “The mayor of Dnepropetrovsk today spoke out that there’s a problem, there’s hardly any men in the city, so they have no one to defend the city,” Telizhenko explained.
Over the summer, the anti-war underground in Ukraine started to grow, with multiple videos showing the vehicles used by mobilization officers being burned with gasoline. Without the support of his people, his military, his government, or his nominal allies in the West, Zelensky has one option left: turning to Russian President Vladimir Putin and requesting capitulation. It’s not the end he wanted, but nearly a million Ukrainian men have been killed trying to secure his vision of victory. This is not a game. Zelensky should not worry himself with what he could have had, even though what he was offered by the Russians in Istanbul is far better than he can hope for now. Instead, he needs to look forward and make the only move he can to end the bloodshed. “A win for Ukraine is saving more lives,” argued Telizhenko. “As [many] lives as they can save, as [many] men they can save, women and children to rebuild Ukraine in the future, that’s going to be a win for Ukraine.”
“..The closer the US election nears, the more unhinged Netanyahu gets and the more “outrageous actions” he performs..”
• Netanyahu’s ‘God Complex’ Caused Cancellation of Defense Chief’s US Visit (Sp.)
The sudden cancellation of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s visit to the US may be related to his complicated relationship with Israel’s PM Netanyahu, suggests Tel Aviv-based international relations expert Dr. Simon Tsipis. According to Tsipis, Netanyahu is afraid that Gallant may be gunning for him and would immediately start plotting against him upon arriving in the US. “Netanyahu is paranoid, he has a king syndrome, a god complex,” says Tsipis. “He constantly fears that someone might overthrow or supplant him. This paranoia of his grows more acute with each passing day. He sees traitors everywhere, he sees enemies inside his inner circle.” Seeing how the potential Israeli strike on Iran was the very issue Gallant and Austin were supposed to discuss in the US, Netanyahu basically ended up “holding hostage the entire Middle East, including Israel’s population and Iranian society,” argues Tsipis.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that Netanyahu is essentially trying to blackmail the US by threatening to start a major conflict right on the eve of the US presidential election, the expert adds. “The relations between the US and Netanyahu are quite strained. Neither Democrats nor Republicans can hold the election normally if there is a big war raging in the Middle East,” Tsipis explains. “This is Netanyahu’s biggest leverage and the primary instrument of blackmail.” The closer the US election nears, the more unhinged Netanyahu gets and the more “outrageous actions” he performs, Tsipis notes.
He also suggests that the upcoming phone call between Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden is going to be related to the security situation in the Middle East: namely, Netanyahu will likely seek the United States’ support in case of a war with Iran, whereas Biden will probably demand from Netanyahu to not start such war in the first place. Finally, Tsipis points out that one should not necessarily equate Benjamin Netanyahu with Israel. “Netanyahu does not represent the entire Israel,” he insists, arguing that the Israeli prime minister currently “acts as a dictator.”
“We are approaching Armageddon from two directions, and the word can’t get out.”
• Does Israel Wag America or Does America Wag Israel (Paul Craig Roberts)
Americans who pay attention are critical of Israel for its control not only of US foreign policy but also US domestic policies, such as those regulating speech, and even tenure decisions of Catholic universities. CIA personnel have complained that attempts to rein-in Israeli spying on America have been politically blocked. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt in their book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, reveal Israel’s power over America. It is hard to see it any other way when American universities, such as Harvard, prevent students from protesting Israel’s genocide of Palestine, and when in the middle of the genocide, the US Congress shows its support for the genocide by inviting Israeli prime minister Netanyahu to address Congress and reward his war crimes with 53 standing ovations. How can Washington be any more subservient to Israel than that?
[..] Michael Hudson and Richard Wolfe are credible witnesses, because they, especially Hudson, participated in the formation of Washington’s policy to use and direct Israel in behalf of US hegemony in the Middle East. Israel is Washington’s proxy against the Muslims, just as Ukrainians are Washington’s proxy against Russia, just as Georgians were when Washington sent them to invade South Ossetia, and just as the British and Europe are by serving Washington’s hegemony at the risk of their own destruction. Looking at it from this standpoint, the view that Israel controls Washington serves as a cover to protect Washington from responsibility for Israel’s actions that serve Washington’s agendas.
Instead of choosing between the two explanations, I would say both are true. The cover has been in place for 50 years, and during that time due to belief in it, acquired its own power. The consequence is that whereas Israel has as much power over Americans’ First Amendment rights as the US Supreme Court, Israel continues as Washington’s proxy against the Arabs. The Hudson-Wolfe explanation originated as an interview hosted by Nima Alkhorshid on October 6, 2024. At places it seems there are errors in the transcription that result in confusion, but if you attend to the confusing passages you can figure out what is being said.
In the last part of the interview, Hudson and Wolfe seem to agree with my position that the Russians, Arabs, and Iranians are miscalculating when they rely on threats of wider war and demonstrations of ability to strike Israel to bring the Washington hegemon to his senses. What they are actually doing is giving away their strategic advantage to Washington and to Israel without getting credit for trying to stop the widening of the wars. Hudson and Wolfe support the point that I have often made. No one with a wide audience, money, or clout from a think tank, university, or major foundation is saying a word about the risks of two wars spinning out of control into nuclear war. Those few of us speaking are isolated individuals denounced as Russian agents, anti-semites, and purveyors of disinformation. This should scare the world to death. We are approaching Armageddon from two directions, and the word can’t get out.
“..a propensity for violence against innocents which defines the Israeli way of war and, by extension, the Israeli nation..”
• The Fall of Israel (Scott Ritter)
I have previously written about Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, calling it “the most successful military raid of this century.” I have described the Hamas action as a military operation, while Israel and its allies have called it a terrorist action on the scale of what transpired against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. “The difference between the two terms,” I noted, “is night and day — by labeling the events of October 7 as acts of terrorism, Israel transfers blame for the huge losses away from its military, security, and intelligence services, and onto Hamas. If Israel were, however, to acknowledge that what Hamas did was in fact a raid — a military operation — then the competency of the Israeli military, security, and intelligence services would be called into question, as would the political leadership responsible for overseeing and directing their operations.”
Terrorism employs strategies that seek victory through attrition and intimidation — to wear an enemy down and create a sense of helplessness on the part of the enemy. Terrorists by nature avoid decisive existential conflict, but rather pursue asymmetrical battle which pits their strengths against the weaknesses of their enemies. The war that has gripped the Levant since Oct. 7, 2023, is not your traditional anti-terrorism operation. The Hamas-Israeli conflict has morphed into a conflict between Israel and the so-called axis of resistance involving Hamas, Hezbollah, Ansarullah (the Houthi of Yemen), the Popular Mobilization Forces, i.e. militias of Iraq, Syria and Iran. It is a regional war in every way, shape, or form that must be assessed as such. The Prussian strategist Carl von Clausewitz noted in his classic work, On War, that “war is not merely a political act but a real political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, a carrying out of the same by other means.”
From a purely military perspective, the Hamas raid on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was a relatively minor engagement, involving a few thousand combatants from each side. As a global geopolitical event, however, it has no contemporary counterpart. The Hamas raid triggered a number of varied responses, some of which were by design, such as luring the Israeli Defense Forces into Gaza, where they would become trapped in a forever war they could not win, triggering the dual Israeli doctrines governing military response to hostage taking of the “Hannibal Doctrine” and the Israeli practice of collective punishment, the “Dahiya Doctrine.” Both of these doctrines put the IDF on display to the world as the antithesis of the “world’s most moral military” by exposing the murderous intent ingrained into the DNA of the IDF, a propensity for violence against innocents which defines the Israeli way of war and, by extension, the Israeli nation.
Prior to Oct. 7, 2023, Israel was able to disguise its true character to the outside world, convincing all but a handful of activists that its actions in targeting “terrorists” were proportional and humane. Today the world knows Israel as the genocidal apartheid state it really is. The consequences of this new global enlightenment are manifest.
“..federal authorities possess “several terabytes of electronic data from P. Diddy and his empire”..”
• US Elites Inclined to Cover Up P. Diddy Sex Scandal (Sp.)
US media earlier reported that federal authorities possess “several terabytes of electronic data from P. Diddy and his empire” as part of the prosecution of the 54-year-old hip-hop mogul. Speaking to Sputnik, US constitutional historian and political commentator, Dan Lazare, said that it remains to be seen how the sex scandal surrounding American rapper Sean Combs, better known as P. Diddy, will further unfold. The scandal shows “the really ugly underside of the US entertainment industry, where one man, a billionaire, was able to run wild and essentially engage in a lot of sex crimes of a really horrific sort, against women,” Lazare underscored. He recalled that there are “a lot of very big name celebrities who are there, including Donald Trump, Al Sharpton, many Hollywood stars, etc.”
With the 2024 US presidential election race now in full swing, the photograph of P. Diddy with the former POTUS and his wife Melania could have been released “in an attempt to get Trump, to embarrass Trump,” Lazare said. According to the analyst, “some members” of the American elites “are so inclined to cover up” the brouhaha over the P. Diddy case. “Certainly, he was buying influence, and he was eagerly sought out by some of the most famous names of the day, all of whom are now acutely embarrassed to be associated with him. It reminds me of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. And Epstein made a big point of cultivating the most prominent people in America. So it’s very similar,” Lazare pointed out.
The analyst didn’t rule out that further information on the scandal, and the possible involvement of the US deep state, including its intelligence agencies such as the FBI “will come out” soon. “How far this scandal will go is impossible to say,” the analyst concluded. P. Diddy, who was arrested at a New York hotel on September 16, is charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution, among other felonies. Combs has been denied a $50 million bail after pleading not guilty to all the charges.
“..a smokescreen and a distraction from the bottomless decline of a society whose elite rapes children.”
• Russia Calls Out US Deep State on Covering Up P. Diddy Sex Scandal (Sp.)
54-year-old Sean Combs, also known as P. Diddy, was charged earlier with sex trafficking, racketeering, conspiracy and other felonies. US political elites knew perfectly well about the crimes committed by P. Diddy, but they turned a blind eye to it, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told Sputnik when commenting on the scandal surrounding the US rapper. She stated that the scandal is not merely a problem, but a catastrophe, and what’s been revealed is just “the tip of the iceberg.” For many years, P. Diddy’s “white parties” were highly exclusive and not all Hollywood stars were given access. Participation at this level of crime was reserved for the highly exceptional business elites only, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.
US law enforcement agencies and special services were involved in all this media blackmail, as well as “thousands of people” who were engaged in the “criminal network,” Zakharova said. She also noted that many US experts believe the content of those “freak-offs” was recorded. The records enabled the creation of an “elite network” which has been spreading information to manipulate public opinion for years. Zakharova also made the topic-related remarks on her Telegram page: “Now it is clear why the American deep state is interested in foreign policy, the Ukrainian agenda, hacking accusations against Russia, the “remlin hand,” and purported interference in US elections – all this is a smokescreen and a distraction from the bottomless decline of a society whose elite rapes children.”
The idols of the American show business have collapsed, and continue to do so, dragging neoliberal values into the abyss with them.” “It’s funny and terrifying that a show business big shot has been accused of all the sins of modern America, camouflaged by its political establishment as the new normal.” “All of America knew about these ‘white parties.’ They were discussed so widely that they became memes. A unique situation: everyone talked, but kept mum on the main thing,” Zakharova concluded.
“..the “deindustrialization of Europe” will continue..”
• EU Committing ‘Energy Suicide’ – Gazprom CEO (RT)
The EU economy is suffering without cheap Russian gas and its industrial production has slumped to record lows, Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller has said. His comments came after the German government warned that the EU’s economic powerhouse is facing a second consecutive year of recession in 2024. The EU gas market is seeing ‘demand destruction’, Miller told the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum on Thursday. The term refers to a situation in which persistently high prices or limited supply of a certain commodity lead to lower demand for it and trigger a search for alternatives. “Some [experts] say that [the situation] may be described as Europe’s energy suicide,” the head of the Russian state-run energy giant said. Others say that the “economic locomotive” has turned into “the sick man of Europe,” Miller added, in apparent reference to Germany.
The EU’s largest economy contracted 0.3% last year, with the slowdown being attributed partly to a sharp drop in pipeline gas imports from Russia. Germany’s GDP is expected to decline by a further 0.2% this year, Berlin’s Ministry for Economic Affairs announced on Wednesday. That would mark the second straight year of recession for the country. Miller argued that the “deindustrialization of Europe” will continue, as well as increasing volatility in the gas market, warning that the trend could lead to “a new price shock for gas and supply disruptions.” According to the Gazprom chief, EU policies have resulted in a nearly 10% decline in industrial production in the bloc, to the lowest levels in a decade. European industry will not become more competitive, Miller argued, saying that industries in the US spend up to five times less on energy.
The EU previously received the bulk of its Russian gas via the Nord Stream pipelines, but supplies stopped indefinitely after the under-sea infrastructure was damaged in a sabotage attack in September 2022. According to EU statistics, Russia’s share in EU gas supplies plunged from 45% in 2021 to 15% in 2023. Russian gas is currently delivered to Western and Central Europe via Ukraine, based on a contract signed by Gazprom and Naftogaz in 2019. Kiev, however, has said it has no intention of extending the agreement when it expires at the end of this year.
Dems drove Elon away
NEW: CNN panel admits they messed up and drove Elon Musk away from the Democratic party, say they should have respected his contributions to the world.
The panel blasted the Biden administration for purposely excluding Musk from events.
“I think where the Democrats started to… pic.twitter.com/ApqCR9747a
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 9, 2024
Elon Obama
https://twitter.com/i/status/1844045138177192180
Friedman
https://twitter.com/i/status/1844259132926534118
Stray
This lady built a home for stray cats to find comfort in winter
pic.twitter.com/SkCEcgGYz0— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) October 10, 2024
Night train
https://twitter.com/i/status/1844219708440281390
Pineapple
He gives a pineapple full of bills to a single mother to save her baby. Her reaction makes him cry. pic.twitter.com/oVFRxlqnst
— Jean Claude NIYOMUGABO (@jcniyomugabo) October 10, 2024
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