Giovanni Bellini St. Francis in ecstasy 1480
Gaetz
Matt Gaetz is currently at Mar-a-Lago, helping build an "America First Army" to take over the DOJ.
"You and I have been very involved at Mar-a-Lago at finding patriotic Americans who want to do incredible service, not for themselves, for the country, and putting them in a… pic.twitter.com/KvsHeL20AB
— George (@BehizyTweets) November 22, 2024
All in Pod
The All In Pod highlights how Trump's MAGA movement attracted former Democrats such as Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, Tulsi Gabbard, and Robert Kennedy Jr., positioning itself as the forward-thinking political force driving progress.@friedberg: "It used to be that Democrats were… pic.twitter.com/G1TvsM4eE7
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) November 24, 2024
Megyn
https://twitter.com/i/status/1860050307713237211
Jennings
WATCH: Scott Jennings fires back at CNN panelists on Trump's deportation plan; "If you exit people that already have deportation orders from the court and you exit people who are violent criminals, that is no way shape or form going to hurt the economy." pic.twitter.com/Gmrs8N91iP
— Overton (@overton_news) November 23, 2024
Fang
Listen to @lhfang explain how the huge junk food industry and its DC lobby are gearing up to sabotage @RobertKennedyJr's nomination and, if that fails, to sabotage the reforms he intends to implement for a less poisonous and toxic food supply:pic.twitter.com/2IbpJhITuY
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 23, 2024
“..the Oreshnik is the signal that the “General Staff are talking directly to Trump & Co.”
• The Ukraine War After The Penny Has Dropped – Make That The Oreshnik (Helmer)
President Vladimir Putin has announced that serial production of the new Oreshnik hypersonic, intermediate range, 36-warhead missile has commenced. He made this announcement at a special public meeting with Defense Ministry officials in the Kremlin on Friday, November 22. “There are no means of countering such a missile; no means of intercepting it exist in the world today,” Putin said. “We need to launch its serial production. Let us assume that the decision on the serial production of this system has been made. As a matter of fact, it has already been essentially organised.” This means there are already, or will shortly be deployed, dozens of Oreshniki missiles for firing at targets in the Ukraine west of the Dnieper River and as far west as the Polish and Hungarian borders. This also means that no American, no NATO staff group, no Anglo-American target intelligence unit in bunkers in Kiev or Lvov are safe any longer.
Nor are Vladimir Zelensky and his advisors. To escape Israeli-precedent decapitation, they must all decamp to the Ukrainian war operations mock-up already prepared on the Polish side of the border. Ukrainian military intelligence head, Kirill Budanov, has claimed that the Oreshnik strike on the Yuzhmash (Pivdenmash) plant in Dniepropetrovsk is “just a cipher…We know for sure that as of October they were supposed to make two research samples, maybe they made a little bit more, but believe me, this is a research sample, but not yet serial production, thank God.” “Wishful thinking,” a NATO military source comments. “He’ll get the chance to find out first- hand.” Russian military sources add that, following disclosure of the Kremlin’s back-channel talks with Donald Trump and his advisors on terms for an end-of-war settlement, the Oreshnik is the signal that the “General Staff are talking directly to Trump & Co.”
Putin was explicit in his first announcement of the Oreshnik firing: “We believe that the United States [President Trump] made a mistake by unilaterally destroying the INF Treaty in 2019 under a far-fetched pretext.” Dmitry Rogozin — formerly Russian NATO ambassador, then deputy prime minister in charge of the Russian military industrial complex, now senator for Zaporozhye – carefully identified the credit for the Oreshnik: “Today, everyone who fought for the creation of this missile system, who overcame what we may call scepticism, should congratulate each other. And I join those congratulations. Good for you!…Thank you to the Supreme Command for supporting the work! Thank you to the Academy for not backing away!” A Russian source, who does not believe Putin ordered the General Staff to suspend its electric war campaign between August and this month, believes Russian strategy now is “a thousand cuts.
The Oreshnik is a particularly deep one but I don’t believe that the Kremlin and General Staff have decided to use it to hit Bankova [street address in Kiev of the presidential offices and living quarters]. The decapitation threat is real enough though to impel Zelensky to exit, or maybe for the Ukrainian military to get rid of him on their own initiative.” “Just as important,” the source says, “the Russian ground offensive in the east will remain slow, patient, maybe for two years more. The priority is on preventing Russian casualties, conserving Russian lives. This is essential once you realize that the [Putin] presidential succession also depends, not only on winning the war on Russian terms, but ensuring the protection of Russian lives.” Oreshnik in Russian means, literally, hazel nut or the wood of the hazelnut tree. In Siberia, the cognate expression “to give nuts” has the metaphorical meaning of inflicting punishment.
As Putin pointed out in his national address on the evening after the Oreshnik strike, it had been then-President Trump’s “mistake” in 2019 to unilaterally withdraw from the 1987 Soviet-American treaty on intermediate range nuclear forces (INF). Oreshnik is both the Russian reply and also a warning to Trump to correct his mistake. For the time being, the Financial Times, a Japanese propaganda outlet in London, reported a Norwegian graduate student as claiming “there certainly was no military value to it.” In Moscow, Izvestia, on which the BBC has relied for republication, reported “it is likely that we are dealing with a new generation of Russian intermediate-range missiles [with a range of] 2,500-3,000km (1,550-1,860 miles) and potentially extending to 5,000km (3,100 miles), but not intercontinental. It is obviously equipped with a separating warhead with individual guidance units.”
This means the missile is MIRV, comprising multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles. Close observation of the strike videoclips shows six of these releasing six munitions capable of penetrating deep underground bunkers. A salvo of thirty-six warhead detonations, altogether. Missile speed is reported to be between Mach 10 and Mach 11.
“..it was Trump 1.0 who withdrew the US from the INF treaty, in 2019. If the US had remained, Russia would not have been able to develop and use Oreshnik.”
• Oreshnik – The 3 Km Per Second Plot Twist (Pepe Escobar)
Captain America believed it would intimidate Russkie Charlie with the “authorization” straight out of the Deep State for Ukraine to attack targets inside the Russian Federation with ATACMS. Such attacks had already happened in the past on Russia’s new territories. Still, two new ones were unleashed after the “authorization”, against Kursk and Bryansk; one with ATACMS, and the other with Storm Shadows. Then came the inevitable Russian response. What was that? New multiple hypersonics? Zeus? Superman? Deputy Chair of the Security Council, Dimitri “Unplugged” Medvedev, could not resist concise trolling; “So that’s what you wanted? Well, you’ve damn well got it!” Collective West rats were predictably scurryin’ all across the spectrum after watching what was first interpreted as a RS-26 “conventional warheads package” demo. Then President Putin went on the record.
Key takeaways: Western long-range weapons have been used against Russia, which retaliated with the new, medium-range, ballistic hypersonic “Oreshnik” system against the Yuzhmash factory in Dnipropetrovsk; additionally, the use of long-range weapons by the enemy cannot affect the course of the Special Military Operation (SMO). But this was the key relevant message Putin relayed to the Americans, NATO and the collective West: “We are conducting combat tests of the Oreshnik missile system in response to the aggressive actions of NATO countries against Russia. The issue of further deployment of medium-range and shorter-range missiles will be decided by us, depending on the actions of the United States and its satellites. The targets for destruction during further tests of our newest missile systems will be determined by us based on threats to the security of the Russian Federation. We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against the military installations of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities. And in case of escalation of aggressive actions, we will also respond decisively and in a mirror manner. I recommend that the ruling elites of those countries that have plans to use their military contingents against Russia seriously think twice about this.”
The initial interpretation of this de facto game-changing move was that Russia had launched a single RS-26 Rubezh road mobile missile against the Yuzhmash missile production factory in Dnepropetrovsk, equipped with six independent, non-nuclear (italics mine) warheads, each in turn deploying other warheads (call it 6×6 = 36). That in itself changed the “essence” of the war in Ukraine, as Putin himself had previously recognized when it comes to the “authorization” for attacks by ATACMS. Putin’s speech established that Russia in fact used a completely new medium range (1,000 to 3,000 km) missile, the Oreshnik (“Hazelnut). Even US officials admitted it’s an “experimental” system; that implies they knew something about it. Putin himself also referred to “combat testing”. What is established beyond any testing, in Putin’s own words, is that “Hazelnut” may be sent as a gift to any target across NATO.
Oreshnik is as badass as missiles get. It may reach the UK in only 19 minutes; Brussels in 14; Berlin in 11; and Warsaw in 8 minutes. And, of course, traveling at over Mach 10, it simply cannot be intercepted by anything in the collective West arsenal. That includes the US. High destructive power is a given – already guaranteed by the surprise factor; you only know what hits you after you get hit (maybe). One potential option is that Oreshnik targeted secret underground workshops at Yuzhmash, where NATO had sent equipment and parts for short-range ballistic missiles (500 km to 1,500 km). In his four books and in his blog, the indispensable Andrei Martyanov has made it clear that “Russia has an overwhelming conventional escalation superiority” compared to the Hegemon. So, yes: this testing of an IRCM (a conventional missile) with hypersonic MIRVs (Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles) may be just a demo – a preview of what else may be in store.
Martyanov: “NATO has zero capability to stop Russia’s long-range fires.” The “demo” also happens to be paired with a new shot at making war a relatively civil affair: Moscow will warn civilians of any impending Oreshnik strike. Those that won’t leave will do so at their own peril. As Martyanov remarked, “this is not anymore just SMO”. Indeed: for quite a while we have been way past a special military operation: this is a do-or-die NATO v. Russia hot war. Aggravated by the fact that the Hegemon’s ruling elites are congenitally incapable of stop escalating. Even the Oreshnik demo won’t stop escalation. A plausible scenario is that US military intel learned about an impeding Russian mid-range ballistic missile strike and then informed Kiev and NATO. Moscow then warned the US 30 minutes before the strike (that’s the norm, to prevent nuclear misunderstandings); the Americans not only confirmed it, but stressed there was no risk of a Russian nuclear attack on Kiev, now or in the foreseeable future.
Oreshnik in fact is a tacit demo that Russia does not need nuclear power to solve anything in the Ukrainian theater of war. So let’s assume that escalation has been controlled – for now. Yet we still have nearly two months of a completely deranged US administration in power. NATO’s congenital dementia suggests escalation will continue. The difference though is stratospheric: now they don’t know if Oreshnik handing them a business card comes with a nuclear bomb on or not. For all the inbuilt dementia of the current – exiting – administration, Americans who only understand the world via movies may have forgotten that it was Trump 1.0 who withdrew the US from the INF treaty, in 2019. If the US had remained, Russia would not have been able to develop and use Oreshnik. But now it’s hazelnut salad time, everybody; a great way to regulate blood pressure.
“• Six warheads, each carrying six submunitions. • A terminal phase speed exceeding Mach 11..”
• Reach Of Russia’s New Hypersonic Missile: ‘London In 20 Minutes’ (ZH)
Soon after warning that Russia’s newly deployed ‘Oreshnik’ nuclear capable hypersonic missile is able to reach any European capital, at a top speed of Mach 10+ —which is significantly faster than a bullet—Russian state media issued the below ominous infographic. It touts that Eastern European capitals could be hit in a matter of a few minutes, and that Berlin is reachable in only 15. It lists capitals as far away from the Kapustin Yar rocket launch complex like London and Paris as reachable by the Oreshnik in just 20 minutes. This means if proverbial all hell broke loose and WW3 came to Europe, these populations would have very little time to reach shelter. On Thursday Moscow had shocked the world after six independent war heads of a new intermediate range ballistic missile were launched on the Yuzhmash missile plant in Dnipro Ukraine. Thus Putin has demonstrated that the West has crossed his ‘red lines’ after its long-range attack authorization granted to Kiev.
Russian media released a new graphic showing Oreshnik missile flight times to major cities in Europe pic.twitter.com/Ry7yLymK2n
— Preston Stewart (@prestonstew_) November 22, 2024
According to more via a war monitoring site: Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) provided further details, stating that “Oreshnik” refers to a research project, while the operational missile system is named “Kedr.” Its known specifications include: • Six warheads, each carrying six submunitions. • A terminal phase speed exceeding Mach 11. If this is indeed a medium-range ballistic missile, as Putin suggests, its range could extend up to 5,500 kilometers. This would violate the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed by the US and the Soviet Union to eliminate such missiles. Developing Kedr would thus signify Russia’s breach of this agreement. Vladimir Putin warned back in July, “Today, the development of such systems in Russia is nearing completion. We will take mirror measures to deploy them, taking into account the actions of the United States, its satellites in Europe and in other regions of the world.”
https://twitter.com/i/status/1859663512093544452
A day after Russia’s attack on Ukraine with what were clearly big, very fast and new intermediate-range missiles, which many outlets initially reported to be an ICBM, the Kremlin is touting that it launched a cutting-edge hypersonic missile for which there is no defensive intercept capability. Russia says that Washington has now understood and been able to grasp Putin’s warnings and red lines more clearly following the missile strike a Ukrainian defense industry facility in Dnepropetrovsk Thursday morning. The new hypersonic weapon, dubbed ‘Oreshnik’ is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. “We have no doubt that the current administration in Washington has had the opportunity to familiarize itself with this announcement and understand it,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Putin had said the West’s escalation, seen this week in authorizing Ukraine’s long-range strikes on Russia with US/UK-made weapons, makes Ukraine a “global” conflict.
He strongly hinted that this global aspect to the war means attacks on Western targets can’t be ruled out. The same day, the foreign ministry said a US missile base in Poland is a prime target. Peskov further called Putin’s message following the hypersonic attack “comprehensive, clear and logical.” The Russian leader has authorized the new missile to enter mass production. “The key message is that the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries — which produce missiles, supply them to Ukraine and subsequently take part in carrying out strikes on Russian territory — cannot go unanswered,” Peskov continued. On Friday Russian state media sources have begun publishing specs for the Oreshnik missile, claiming it flies at Mach 10, and can reach 5,500km in distance, or 3,400+ miles (as a medium-range weapon). Russia’s missile command has also informed Putin that the projectile is capable of reaching any European target…
The Pentagon has confirmed that the US was warned in advance about the "Oreshnik" missile attack via nuclear security channels. NOTICE: they did not warn the EU, so the pucker factor in the EU watching that ICBM launch must have been intense. Can you imagine?? pic.twitter.com/mfKfY58bn2
— Old Lion (@OldLion1965) November 21, 2024
“..it is a new development based on cutting-edge hypersonic technology and modern materials..”
I was wondering about the -heat-resistant- coating. Didn’t see a clue. It’s what the west can’t get right.
• Putin Announces Mass Production Of Oreshnik Missiles (RT)
Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Friday the decision to begin serial production of the new Oreshnik ballistic missile system. The announcement came after the system was used in combat for the first time earlier this week in Ukraine. Speaking during a meeting at the Kremlin with the leadership of the Defense Ministry and defense industry representatives, Putin outlined that the Oreshnik missile system, one of Russia’s latest military advancements, is not a modernization of an old Soviet weapon. Instead, it is a new development based on cutting-edge hypersonic technology and modern materials. “It is the result of work done in the conditions of New Russia,” Putin said, highlighting that the system was created to meet contemporary defense needs.
Putin confirmed that several Oreshnik systems are currently undergoing testing in Russia, and that the decision to embark on mass production had already been articulated. “You can assume that the decision on production has been made. In fact, it is organized,” he added. More of the missile systems are expected to be delivered to Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces in the coming months. The first combat use of the Oreshnik missile took place on Thursday, when it was used to strike a Ukrainian defense facility in Dnepropetrovsk. The target was Yuzhmash, one of Ukraine’s largest defense-industrial facilities inherited from the USSR that produces missile equipment and other weapons.
Putin said the use of the missile was in response to Kiev’s attacks inside Russia with Western-supplied long-range weapons such as American ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles. The Oreshnik is described as a medium-range, hypersonic weapon designed for high precision strikes. According to the Defense Ministry, “all warheads” of the missile “reached the target” during this week’s deployment. The president praised the missile’s successful test and combat deployment, expressing admiration for the speed at which the system had been developed. Putin also emphasized the importance of continuing testing and increasing production rates. “I congratulate the military on the successful tests and support the adoption of the system,” he said.
”..clear criminal penalties for federal bureaucrats who partner with private entities to do an end run around the Constitution.”
• RFK Jr. vs WaPo First Round In Trump’s Fight With Legacy Media, Censorship (JTN)
“If we don’t have free speech, then we just don’t have a free country,” President-elect Donald Trump said in a video posted to social media just day after winning reelection on Nov. 5. “Today, I’m announcing my plan to shatter the left-wing censorship regime.” Not mentioned by name, though alluded to, are the various non-profit and for-profit groups that have sprung up to battle “fake news” but typically target outlets that lean right of center. Those group include the Trusted News Initiative (TNI), Media Matters for America (MMFA), the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and NewsGuard. “When I am president, this whole rotten system of censorship and information control will be ripped out of the system at large,” Trump also announced. With his bold pronouncements in mind, the following is Part 1 of a four-part series – a deep dive into some of the organizations to which he was likely referring.
Critics of their work say it leads to censorship and loss of advertising for the media outlets that dare challenge the legacy media’s approved narrative. Multiple outlets have published profiles of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the past 18 months, though only The Washington Post’s in June warranted a 20-page response from Kennedy that includes 78 footnotes. The letter, reviewed by Just the News, includes the expected complaints: The writer referred to Kennedy’s claims as “conspiracy theories” or as having been “debunked,” though he says they hadn’t been. Too many journalists do not “speak truth to power,” Kennedy wrote, but instead “serve as propagandists pouring concrete on official orthodoxies, and attacking dissent.” The Washington Post did not respond to a request for comment.
Peppered throughout the letter are references to something called the Trusted News Initiative, a global consortium of members founded in 2019 by the BBC that also includes the Associated Press, Reuters, Microsoft, Google, YouTube and The Washington Post. Its goal: combat disinformation. In the letter, Kennedy, nominated by Trump to run the Department of Health and Human Services, refers to TNI as a “clandestine industry partnership” and a “cabal” made up of “conspirators” whose mission is to label as “misinformation” any assertion that departs from pronouncements made by the Biden-Harris administration, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and other bureaucracies. Examples of “misinformation” that proved to be plausible, if not true, include early claims that COVID-19 may have originated in a lab in Wuhan, China; that mRNA vaccines might not prevent infection or transmission of COVID-19; that hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin might be effective in treating the infectious disease; and that a laptop left at a repair shop belonged to first son Hunter Biden.
One of Kennedy’s footnotes includes a quote from TNI Director Jessica Cecil, who said last year: “We don’t fact check; but once we learn from a partner that something is unreliable, that’s when we alert each other.” The TNI did not respond to a request for comment from Just The News, nor to its request that it reveal the names of outside donors or to clarify whether it gets – directly or indirectly – funds or directives from any government entity. Trump, in the Nov. 9 video, alluded to the latter when he vowed to end censorship, saying, “We should also enact new laws laying out clear criminal penalties for federal bureaucrats who partner with private entities to do an end run around the Constitution.”
One of Kennedy’s footnoted accusations reads: “By depriving the public of complete scientific information, TNI may have had a calamitous impact on public health. Nearly 100 studies of ivermectin and 400 studies of hydroxychloroquine revealed that the drugs are safe and effective against COVID-19. TNI social media platforms nevertheless took the official position that these repurposed drugs were unsafe and ineffective.” He writes that TNI was doing the bidding of the pharmaceutical companies, given that “federal law prohibits the issuance of an Emergency Use Authorization for any vaccine if any approved drug is demonstrated effective against the target disease.” Kennedy’s letter notes that The Post reported that 70% of calls to one state’s poison control center involved ivermectin, when the real number was 2% (the newspaper ran a correction).
“Newsweek’s Josh Hammer, moreover, suggested that the nod may have been an example of Trump playing “4-D chess..”
• Trump’s AG Fight Threatens To Spill Over To His Other Cabinet Picks (JTN)
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s, R-Fla., withdrawal from consideration to serve as United States Attorney General and his replacement with Florida’s Pam Bondi has many scratching their heads and some forecasting trouble for his future Cabinet picks. Trump’s nomination of Gaetz shocked Capitol Hill. The conservative firebrand and die-hard MAGA supporter had previously rocked the lower chamber by leading the charge to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year. His reputation as an anti-institutional wrecking ball, moreover, scared establishment lawmakers stiff. More shocking than his nomination, however, was his withdrawal and speedy replacement with former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. Neither Gaetz nor Bondi were on most insiders’ shortlists for the post and more than a handful of Republican heavyweights have speculated that the Gaetz nomination may have been some sort of headfake.
Ostensibly motivating Gaetz’s withdrawal were his concerns that a contentious nomination process would needlessly distract from Trump’s agenda. But Gaetz had also faced a House Ethics Committee investigation into his conduct, of which Gaetz has vehemently denied. The DOJ previously declined to charge him after a years-long investigation, but senators wanted the panel’s findings. After Gaetz resigned from Congress, the committee chose not to release them. Purportedly, Gaetz did not have the votes for confirmation, with a handful of establishment Republicans standing firm in their opposition to him despite a Capitol Hill meeting between Gaetz and members of the upper chamber. While his replacement may have an easier path to confirmation than he did, Gaetz’s departure from the media cycle may prove a detriment to the success of Trump’s other nominees.
Defense Secretary designate Pete Hegseth, for instance, was briefly the subject of headlines over his own legal woes and allegations, though Gaetz’s nomination saw him draw the media flak away from Hegseth. An Army veteran of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Hegseth earned two Bronze Stars and went on to become a host on Fox News. His issues speedily returned to headlines after Gaetz backed out of the nomination. More than a few analysts predicted Gaetz’s failure as a nominee and have suggested that Trump may have as well. “There’s always one” that takes the fall and “gives cover to the others,” one Republican strategist told Fox News, suggesting Gaetz was a “sacrificial lamb” for other nominees. Newsweek’s Josh Hammer, moreover, suggested that the nod may have been an example of Trump playing “4-D chess,” in reference to a 2016 notion that he was outthinking his opponents.
The essence of Hammer’s theory is that Trump’s nomination of Gaetz gave the congressman an excuse to leave Congress and thereby avoid the release of the ethics report, freeing him up for a possible 2026 gubernatorial run. Given how odious Gaetz was to Senate lawmakers, moreover, whomever Trump chose to replace him would seem more palatable. Hammer suggests that the short turnaround between Gaetz’s withdrawal and Bondi’s nomination signaled she may have been on deck for the job already. Under that theory, Trump would have helped a MAGA stalwart gear up to lead one of the most important Republican bastions while greasing the wheels for another stalwart nominee, who might otherwise have faced more intense scrutiny.
In late October, Trump declared that he and Gaetz have a “little secret” they would reveal after the election concluded. The clip of him saying so recirculated amid Gaetz’s nomination, though Trump never confirmed any link between the clip and the AG nod.
This is RFK Jr.
• Trump Taps COVID-Contrarian Dr. Marty Makary For FDA (ZH)
In another appointment with potential to shake up the federal health regime, Donald Trump on Friday nominated Dr. Martin Makary to lead the Food & Drug Administration. Makary, a Johns Hopkins University pancreatic surgeon and author of three New York Times bestsellers, has been critical of the government’s role in health care. The role requires Senate confirmation. Declaring that the FDA has “lost the trust of Americans,” Trump said Makary will “course-correct and refocus the agency,” to include “properly evaluat[ing] harmful chemicals poisoning our nation’s food supply and drugs and biologics being given to our nation’s youth, so that we can finally address the childhood chronic disease epidemic.” Makary grew to national notoriety as one of several highly-credentialed physicians who pushed back on many elements of the federal response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Testifying before Congress, Makary said:
“The greatest perpetrator of misinformation during the pandemic has been the United States government. Misinformation that Covid was spread through surface transmission, that vaccinated immunity was far greater than natural immunity…that myocarditis was more common after the infection than the vaccine…that young people benefit from a booster…” While not broadly opposing Covid-19 vaccines, Makary condemned the Biden administration for pushing boosters on young patients for whom the virus presented a far lower threat, and has declared that heavy-handed vaccine mandates “created never-vaxxers.” He co-wrote a study that concluded that Covid vaccine booster mandates for college students created net harm, with adverse reactions like myocarditis in young men outweighing slim benefits from vaccination.
“It’s a no brainer that COVID came from the Wuhan lab.” – Dr.Makary, John Hopkins University pic.twitter.com/ePpuVUr6ih
— Aaron Ginn (@aginnt) February 28, 2023
Makary also ridiculed fear-mongering about the Omicron variant as “fueling…a pandemic of lunacy,” and urged a rollback in Covid testing in low-risk situations, saying, “If you test everyone in the United States, you will find a virus particle in the nose of some fraction of Americans forever.” That said, some feel Makary was too slow to question some elements of the Covid regime, and was initially too credulous about the benefits of vaccination. In June 2020, he touted the “liberating” qualities of “universal masking.” In March 2021, he tweeted, “The data show that vaccines confer near perfect protection against death and hospitalization from Covid.” With a $7 billion budget and 18,000 employees, the FDA has enormous influence over Americans’ lives, with regulatory influence over products that account for about a fifth of all US consumer spending.
Makary, who has degrees from Bucknell University, Thomas Jefferson and Harvard, would report to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr — if the controversial Kennedy is confirmed by the Senate or manages to achieve a recess appointment to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy has said the FDA is in need of a major trimming. “There are entire departments, like the nutrition department at the FDA … that have to go—that are not doing their job. They’re not protecting our kids,” Kennedy said earlier this month. In a more aggressive post to X in October, Kennedy said “FDA’s war on public health is about to end,” and said that, for employees who were part of corruption that serves the pharmaceutical industry to the detriment of the public’s health, “I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.”
President Trump just nominated Dr. Marty Makary for FDA Commissioner…
So I just went and watched the first interview I found and this guy sounds awesome!
Watch this clip. He’s talking about all the same stuff as RFK Jr…
Chronic diseases, chemicals & pesticides in our foods,… pic.twitter.com/JPC1Oo3Wrz
— TheStormHasArrived (@TheStormRedux) November 23, 2024
The Washington Post reports that Kennedy was influential in Makary’s selection, as Kennedy urged Trump to favor candidates that are not tightly linked to either the health care industry or government. Kennedy is said to consider Makary as a likeminded reformer. Much like Kennedy, Makary has harshly criticized the federal government’s approach to food and health, saying root causes of serious conditions are ignored in favor of simply prescribing drugs: “We are right now witnessing the largest uncontrolled experiment in modern health history…we have introduced tons of chemicals, pesticides, micro-plastics, ultra-processed foods, seed oils into the modern diet, altering the microbiome and no one talks about it. They’re too busy demonizing saturated fat and trying to defend the old food pyramid. They just replaced it with a food compass that’s almost worse…it says Lucky Charms is healthier than a steak.”
Makary’s new book is “Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health.” Makary makes a case that government malpractice has been at the root of many modern health crises, from opioid addiction to peanut allergies to obesity and drug-resistance bacteria. Here he is recounting how the National Institutes of Health, on the basis of its own profoundly flawed study, wrongly discouraged doctors from prescribing hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women, creating a reluctance that still persists today:
However tardy Makary may have been in challenging some public health approaches to the Covid-19 pandemic, it seems clear he is poised to shake things up at the all-too-powerful FDA. January 20 can’t come quickly enough.
“Russia has been pushed as far as it is safe to push. If the pushing doesn’t stop, the world is going to end.”
• How Lies Become Facts And The World Ends (Paul Craig Roberts)
Endless repetition by whore media and careless media turn lies into truth. Whatever media you read, you read that “Russia invaded Ukraine.” The lie is not limited to official narrative-controllers, such as the NY Times, Washington Post, Reuters, AP, Bloomberg, CNN. Wikipedia, NPR, ABC, CBS, NBC, BBC, Telegraph, Guardian. It appears in alternative media, such as the Epoch Times and Breitbart. Indeed, the lie is repeated as fact almost everywhere, in the houses of Congress, the UK Parliament, Wall Street, European media and governments. The fact is there was no Russian invasion at all. Russian forces entered Donbas at the request of the two independent breakaway republics for help against the US-trained and equipped Ukrainian army and neo-Nazi militias that were about to invade Donetsk and Luhansk. The two independent republics requested Russia to return them to Russia in 2014 along with Crimea.
But Putin refused the republics, taking only Crimea because it is the site of the Russian Black Sea fleet. Instead Putin placed his bet on the Minsk Agreement, which kept Donbas as part of Ukraine. The enforcers of the Minsk Agreement, Germany and France, later admitted that the Minsk Agreement was used to deceive Putin while Washington created a Ukrainian army to conquer the independent republics and present Putin with political difficulties for failure to defend Russians from those whose forebears fought for Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union. In other words, it was a plan to discredit Putin, for his crime of dissenting from Washington’s hegemony. Putin’s refusal to restore Donbas to Russia in keeping with the overwhelming vote of the Donbas people subjected Donetsk and Luhansk to eight years of bombardment and many casualties while Putin stood by the Minsk Agreement.
Finally in February, 2022, with Washington, NATO, and the EU refusing Russia a mutual security agreement, and the Donetsk and Luhansk Republics facing invasion, Putin was forced to act to protect the Russian populations in the east and south of Ukraine that had been attached to the Ukrainian province of the Soviet Union by Soviet leaders for political and administration reasons. Donbas and Crimea were for centuries part of Russia, not Ukraine. Putin, a leader, rebuilding Russian confidence after the Soviet collapse, could not stand aside while Russian people were massacred by an American-provided Ukrainian army. Putin’s view of his intervention was very limited. It had nothing whatsoever to do with conquering Ukraine. His publicly announced “Special military operation” had to do only with driving Ukrainian forces out of Donbas. Putin made no effort to conquer Ukraine.
At the time I said his limited approach, particularly his intention to minimize both Russian casualties and casualties among the Ukrainian population, would leave the Ukrainian puppet government in place to continue the war despite Russian successes in clearing Donbas of Ukrainian forces. My prediction, and not Putin’s bet, proved to be correct. As I said would be the case, by not impeding Kiev’s ability to continue the war, Putin enabled a long-term war, now three years, during which Washington has managed to get the West involved up to the hilt. The latest being the Biden regime’s green light to missiles being fired by US and NATO personnel into Mother Russia. The recent US missile strikes into Russia crossed a red line that, finally, Putin was not prepared to ignore in his interest to avoid a wider war. Unlike the West, Putin does not want war. He did not want the conflict in Ukraine. Washington forced it on him. He cannot stand aside while an army created by Washington slaughters Russians.
Putin’s response to the missile strikes, which ignored his warning, was restrained. He merely demonstrated with a hypersonic missile that travels at mach 10 the fate of the West if the West’s attack on Russia continues. The question is whether the West heard the warning.. Putin’s past record of ignoring provocations in order to avoid widening the war has created the impression in the West that Putin’s warnings don’t mean anything as “Putin never does anything.” This conclusion is dangerously mistaken. It ignores that Putin, a humanitarian, ignores provocations in order to avoid widening the war, which has a terrible impact on innocent civilians and their hopes, and, if nuclear, on life on Earth. The West’s conclusion also ignores that provocations can become too severe for Putin to ignore. I believe that point has been reached.
If the irresponsible American establishment, deluded by its hubris and belief in its invincibility, continues to provoke Russia, Putin will run out of space into which to back up. At that point the Western world’s aggression could result in an unintended consequence. The problem before us is that the Western leaders are too lost in their false narratives to comprehend reality. It is not all their fault, because Putin encouraged their provocations by not standing up to them. But the aggression lies with the West, not with Russia. And Russia has been pushed as far as it is safe to push. If the pushing doesn’t stop, the world is going to end.
From a western source.
• The US and Britain, Inciting Global War, Must Be Defeated For Good (SCF)
This week marks a fateful threshold for the world. In a grave announcement, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the three-year proxy war in Ukraine has now reached a global dimension. The responsibility for this abysmal moment lies fully with the United States’ elitist rulers and their British accomplices. They are inciting global catastrophe in a desperate bid to save their hegemonic empire. Putin’s announcement on November 21 came only hours after Russia launched a retaliatory strike against Anglo-American aggression. Russia’s new hypersonic ballistic missile destroyed a munitions center in Dnepropetrovsk in central Ukraine. The conventionally armed missile – called Oreshnik – was deployed in combat for the first time. It delivered several warheads at Mach-10 speed. There is no air defense against such a unique weapon.
The Oreshnik attack was in response to the firing of long-range missiles by the United States and Britain on November 19 and 21 against the pre-conflict territory of the Russian Federation. There is no doubt that the U.S. and British forces were directly involved because, as Moscow has noted, the Ukrainian regime does not have the personnel or logistics capability to operate these advanced NATO weapon systems. The conclusion is stark. The world is on the cusp of World War Three, a war that would inevitably become a nuclear conflagration and precipitate the end of life on Earth. The evil facing humanity is staggering. Western barefaced lies to the public Ludicrously, or perhaps more accurately, fiendishly, Western politicians and media are condemning Russia for the escalation. Their accusations are in flagrant contradiction with the facts. The Western public is being lied to about the sequence and causes of war.
In a move beyond reckless, the United States and Britain attacked Russia with long-range missiles from the territory of Ukraine. The ATACMS and Storm Shadow weapons were aimed at Bryansk and Kursk Oblasts in Western Russia. The American missiles were shot down by Russian air defense, while the British Storm Shadow cruise projectile caused deaths in Kursk. That barrage marked an open act of war against Russia by the United States and Britain. Hence, the Russian leader commented that the proxy war in Ukraine had now taken on a global dimension. The American and British leadership went ahead with this aggression even after Russia had explicitly warned several weeks ago that the deployment of such weapons against Russian territory would be seen by Moscow as an act of war.
It also followed only hours after Russia revised its nuclear defense doctrine on November 19, defining that the use of long-range conventional weapons from the territory of a non-nuclear state (Ukraine) supplied by nuclear states (the U.S. and Britain) would constitute a joint attack, thereby giving Russia the right to retaliate with nuclear force. The situation has thus entered the realm of nuclear world war. Given the aggression initiated by the U.S. and Britain with their ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles, Russia has the legal right to hit those territories and any other territory of the NATO alliance. Russia chose not to do so – for now – limiting its Oreshnik’s target to the territory of Ukraine. What happens next over the coming days depends on the U.S. and its NATO partners. So far, the White House and Pentagon have sought to (irrationally) blame Moscow for escalation and are saying that the United States will continue to deploy long-range missiles from Ukraine against Russian territory. That remains to be seen if the insanity prevails.
“The American inaction was the best warning that could have been given to the Ukrainians. The Americans made it clear that they would do nothing to protect their proxy.”
• Russia’s “Apocalyptic” Troops Officially Engaged In The SMO (SCF)
November 21, 2024, will go down in Russian military history as the date of the first real combat deployment of the legendary and feared Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation (RVSN). Created in Soviet times, the RVSN is the independent branch of the Russian Armed Forces responsible for the arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles, literally the “troops of the apocalypse” – responsible for firepower capable of causing a global catastrophe. Of course, the RVSN was involved in all the major nuclear tensions of the Cold War, including the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Norwegian Incident. Although it has remained on high combat alert several times, no actual military engagement has occurred until now. NATO, however, exceeded all expectations of escalation in its provocations against Russia and succeeded in turning the Ukrainian conflict into the most dangerous security crisis in history.
After the Western-Ukrainian side ignored repeated Russian warnings to cease long-range strikes against the Federation’s undisputed territory, Moscow had no alternative but to call in its most feared troops and authorize an unprecedented operation. The target chosen was a military equipment factory in Dnepropetrovsk. The weapon used was a new missile, previously untested in real situations – nicknamed ‘Oreshnik’. Luckily for the Ukrainians, no nuclear warhead was attached to the missile, which worked as a conventional weapon despite its surprising speed and high lethality. There are two main points to be understood from the attack on Dnepropetrovsk: on the one hand, this was a test for Moscow, which had the opportunity for the first time to use the Oreshnik missile technology in a real combat situation, confirming its absolute effectiveness. On the other hand, the attack was a kind of “last chance” for the enemy, as well as a major warning to Ukraine.
Moscow could have responded to the Ukrainian strikes on Bryansk and Kursk with nuclear weapons, as such a decision would have been fully in line with recent reforms in the Russian Nuclear Doctrine. However, once again mercy and a desire for de-escalation prevailed in the Kremlin’s decisions, leading to a warning being delivered to both NATO and Ukraine before the “final solution”. For NATO, the message was clear: there is no military technology available that can stop Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles. If the decision to go nuclear is taken, the targets will be hit without the Atlantic alliance and its proxies being able to do anything to prevent it. For Ukraine, the warning was even deeper: Moscow made it clear that no one would “help” the neo-Nazi regime. Obviously, the Russian attack was noticed by the Americans in time.
There are thousands of observers involved in various monitoring projects whose specific task is to see such maneuvers and prepare a response in time for the event of a nuclear crisis. In other words, Washington saw that the attack was happening and did nothing. Perhaps the US held back from reacting out of fear. Perhaps it held back from reacting because it assumed the target would be Ukrainian. But in any case, there was no reaction. Washington did not issue an emergency plan for nuclear retaliation, even without any confirmation, until minutes after the targets were hit, that the Russian warheads contained nuclear material or not. In other words, the US, faced with dangerous uncertainty, chose to remain silent.
The American inaction was the best warning that could have been given to the Ukrainians. The Americans made it clear that they would do nothing to protect their proxy. If Russia launches nuclear weapons against Ukraine, Kiev will have to deal with the consequences alone. More than that, it must be emphasized that the Americans had no way of predicting whether the Russian strikes would target NATO or not, which is why the lack of an immediate retaliatory operation has an even deeper significance and calls into question even the “collective defense” of the Western alliance.
“..an average of 1,000 people join the army each day.”
• Mobilization Out Of Question – Kremlin (Sp.)
Russia is not considering another mobilization round as the country continues to rely on a strong stream of volunteers willing to join the military, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. Russia announced a partial mobilization in the fall of 2022, calling up some 300,000 reservists to man the Ukraine conflict front line. Despite rumors circulating in recent months of a new mobilization campaign, none have been announced while Russian officials have repeatedly insisted that there is no need for such measures. In an interview with RIA Novosti on Saturday, Peskov reiterated “that there is no talk of mobilization at all… There is no need.” He noted that Russian citizens “are very actively signing contracts with the Defense Ministry,” adding that the government has developed a program that provides substantial payments for those willing to enlist.
“These people are numerous – hundreds sign contracts every day and join the special military operation,” Peskov said, adding that volunteers undergo rigorous training before being sent to the front. The Kremlin spokesman was interviewed by Faina Savenkova, a 16-year-old intern journalist from the Russian city of Lugansk. At the age of 12, she was added to the notorious Mirotvorets “enemies of Ukraine” list after she urged the UN to protect children in Donbass from Kiev’s artillery strikes. In August, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted a significant increase in volunteers willing to defend the country after Ukraine launched its large-scale incursion into the border Kursk Region, during which multiple attacks on civilians were recorded. In July, the Defense Ministry said that more than 190,000 citizens had signed military contracts in 2024 alone, adding that an average of 1,000 people join the army each day.
“..sprint efforts to preserve the “legacy” and “productive” work of outgoing US President Joe Biden..”
• White House Promises ‘Sprint’ to Protect Biden’s ‘Legacy’ From Trump (Sp.)
The White House promises sprint efforts to preserve the “legacy” and “productive” work of outgoing US President Joe Biden, who failed to win re-election for a second term and spent more than a third of his first term in country residences and on the beach. “President Biden is focused on ensuring the remainder of his term is as productive as any other period in the last four years,” the White House press service said in a statement. It notes that the remainder of the current administration’s time “is a sprint to build on the historic progress we’ve made under his presidency.” According to the White House, Biden plans to work hard on a program to invest in the US, seek confirmation of judicial nominees, and “continue to strengthen our Alliances and partnerships.” The press service cites American media outlets that report on the administration’s efforts to preserve and protect Biden’s “legacy” from the incoming Republican administration.
Biden’s opponents counted the days he spent outside the White House, in suburban or beach residences, throughout his tenure. According to these data, the US president spent about 40% of his time in office on vacation. His term will be remembered for many embarrassments, slips of the tongue, and falls. Biden, who was planning to run for a second term, dropped out of the race only after a disastrous performance in the debates with Trump in the summer, but this decision was also caused by massive pressure from fellow party members; experts noted that Biden did not want to give up the fight, since he was sensitive to his place in history and the legacy he had left behind. The Democrats failed to retake the White House after Biden’s “productive period.” Donald Trump, who won the election, will take office on January 20.
It’s not about Biden.
• Biden Vows to Arm Ukraine as Much as Possible Before Trump Inauguration (Sp.)
US President Joe Biden is trying to strengthen Kiev as much as possible during his remaining time as head of the country before Donald Trump, who won the election, comes to power in late January, Bloomberg reported. This intention explains Biden’s latest decisions in the Ukrainian direction, including permission to use long-range missiles and approval of sending anti-personnel mines, the publication said. At the same time, the agency acknowledged that Biden’s options were very limited, since most of the remaining money for Kiev could only be used for weapons that are already at the Pentagon’s disposal. Thus, too much cannot be allocated, otherwise it will jeopardize the defense capability of the United States itself. According to the agency, the Biden administration considered a possible public call for an official invitation to Ukraine to join NATO, but decided that the likelihood of this call being successful would be too low.
Instead, the current US authorities are considering a number of bilateral agreements with Kiev in the security sphere. Russia believes that arms supplies to Ukraine hinder the settlement and directly involve NATO countries in the conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that any cargo containing weapons for Kiev would become a legitimate target for Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised speech on Thursday that Ukraine fired US-supplied ATACMS missiles and the UK’s Storm Shadows at facilities in the Kursk and Bryansk regions on November 19. Russia responded by launching a combined strike against a defense industry complex in Dnepropetrovsk on Thursday using the Oreshnik missile.
“If NATO merely “stops fanning the flames of war in Ukraine, this conflict can be ended with no expenses for humanity. No new expenses, at least..”
• Medvedev Tells How To End Ukraine Conflict (RT)
The conflict between Moscow and Kiev could be swiftly ended with no additional loss of lives if only NATO came to its senses and abandoned its belligerent policy towards Russia, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Al Arabiya in an interview published on Friday. Allowing Ukraine to use long-range Western weapons for strikes into internationally-recognized Russian territory has made the US-led bloc a direct party to the conflict, said Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council. Kiev has launched several such strikes using US-made ATACMS and HIMARS systems, as well as British-made Storm Shadow missiles. Moscow responded by striking a military industrial facility in the Ukrainian city of Dnepropetrovsk (known as Dnipro in Ukraine) with a new intermediate-range ballistic missile equipped with a conventional warhead.
On Saturday, Paris officially confirmed that it had given Kiev the green light to use French-made SCALP-EG cruise missiles in long-range strikes against Russian territory. “The NATO member states have essentially got fully engaged in this conflict,” Medvedev said, commenting on the developments. The former president said that such nations should “understand” that they are currently at war on the Ukrainian side. “They are at war with the Russian Federation.” Not only do Western nations supply Kiev with weapons and financial aid, but they also provide targeting for Western-made missiles, Medvedev stated. Moscow has insisted that such systems cannot be successfully operated without the involvement of specialists from the nations that produced them. Under such circumstances, no developments can be ruled out, Medvedev warned, pointing to Russia’s recently updated nuclear doctrine that allows a nuclear response to a conventional attack by a non-nuclear state supported by a nuclear power, including a missile strike against Russian territory.
“Everyone who is currently stirring up the war hysteria, primarily within NATO, the US, and other states, should think about it,” the former president warned. When asked to elaborate on the potential use of nuclear weapons by Russia, he described it as a “realistic” possibility. At the same time, he said that Moscow would very much like to avoid that option. “There are no madmen in the Russian leadership,” he stated, explaining that the nation’s nuclear doctrine had been updated in accordance with modern deterrence needs. According to Medvedev, the Ukraine conflict could be swiftly and easily ended with no need for any additional losses. If NATO merely “stops fanning the flames of war in Ukraine, this conflict can be ended with no expenses for humanity. No new expenses, at least,” he said.
“What they’re trying to do is start a war that Donald Trump can’t stop..”
• Putin Must Be ‘Adult In The Room’ On Ukraine Conflict – Jimmy Dore (RT)
Russian President Vladimir Putin should continue exercising “restraint” in his responses to the US-led proxy war against Russia waged by the Kiev regime, Jimmy Dore, political commentator and host of the Jimmy Dore Show, has warned. According to the progressive pundit, it is imperative that Putin wait until US president-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House in January before making decisions that could kick-start World War III. In an interview with Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi broadcast on RT on Saturday, Dore was commenting on the latest decision by outgoing US President Joe Biden’s administration to greenlight Kiev’s use of long-range US-supplied weaponry for strikes on undisputed Russian territory.
Moscow sees the US decision as an escalation that makes the US a direct party to the fighting. Remarking on the situation earlier this week, Vladimir Putin said that the “regional” Ukraine conflict has now “assumed elements of a global nature,” and warned of a backlash if tensions escalate further. “Joe Biden and the neo-cons in his administration have been constantly escalating war… What they’re trying to do is start a war that Donald Trump can’t stop,” Dore said, warning that the end-result of their actions could be a new world war. “The only hope we have is that Putin shows restraint, that he is the only adult in the room and that he can hold off somehow until Donald Trump becomes president,” he stated. Trump will be inaugurated in late January and has pledged to swiftly end the Ukraine conflict upon assuming office.
“That is why the establishment hate Trump… why they accused him non-stop of being a traitor and working with Putin – it was the only card they had to play, because he got elected on ending our foreign regime-change interventionist wars,” Dore said. “Trump is not a warmonger… He likes to find deals. He might be corrupt, but he’s New-York-city-real-estate-corrupt, not neo-con-warmongering-kill-people-for-money-corrupt,” the pundit claimed. Dore suggested that together, Putin and Trump would be able to bring an end to the Ukraine conflict, but cautioned that things could go wrong if the current US administration continues to take steps to escalate it. “Putin is a rational actor, but you never know how much NATO, Joe Biden and his neo-con administration is going to poke the bear,” Dore added.
Pony
This pony working up the courage to jump this tiny step is everything. pic.twitter.com/ZPC98Bwt31
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) November 23, 2024
Catsnake
Dünyanın en etkili avıları olan kedilerin refleks süreleri 20-70 milisaniye arasında değişirken yılanlarda 50-90 milisaniyedir.pic.twitter.com/vkjthiMujT
— Serkan Tanyildizi (@srkntnyldz) November 22, 2024
6 months apart
https://twitter.com/i/status/1860432009538965964
Horns
Size of the horns
The Texas Longhorn is an American breed of cattle, characterized by its long horns, which can span more than 8 ft (2.4 m) from tip to tip
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) November 24, 2024
Balance
https://twitter.com/i/status/1860426778604417208
Voice over
https://twitter.com/i/status/1860015220577698006
Freefall
https://twitter.com/i/status/1860311805844725931
Only girls
https://twitter.com/i/status/1860339965076320427
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