Aug 022025
 


Samuel Colman The Edge of Doom 1836-38

 

Trump ‘Prepared’ For Nuclear War With Russia (RT)
Trump Moves Two Nuclear Subs Closer To Russia After Medvedev Tweets (NYP)
White House Makes Trump Nobel Peace Prize Claim (RT)
The Artificial Demon (James Howard Kunstler)
The BRICS Hit Back: Trump’s Old Tricks Meet New World (Sibal)
Chuck Grassley Releases Declassified John Durham Annex (CTH)
Durham Annex Bombshell Exposes New Twist in Russian Collusion Hoax (Margolis)
Sitting US Senator Now Implicated in Russia Hoax Cover-Up (Margolis)
Orban Hammers ‘Weak and Ridiculous’ EU (RT)
The Art of the Defeat: Kamala ‘Writes’ Memoir About 2024 Campaign (Margolis)
Marco Rubio Discusses Current Geopolitical Events and Russia Hoax (CTH)
Why Western Education Is Doomed (Marsden)
Ghislaine Maxwell Is Quietly Moved To Cushy New ‘Club Fed’ Prison (NYP)
Rule by Quacks (Paul Craig Roberts)
Pediatricians Organization Says Eliminate Vaccine Exemptions for Children (Dick)
CDC Recommended Vaccine Schedule 1986 vs. 2019 (CHD)
‘Dead zone’ In Gulf of America Shrank Sharply In 2025 (JTN)

 

 

Sachs

Ritter

Tuberville

CBDC
https://twitter.com/JimFergusonUK/status/1951190664194171030

MAGA
https://twitter.com/MAGAVoice/status/1951101868865675361

Brennan

 

 

The next time you dislike your life, remember it’s all about perspective. I have a friend who reads 2-3 books a week, works out twice a day, has no financial worries, and has people who want to have sex with him all the time. And yet he constantly complains about how much he hates prison.

 

 

 

 

“Well, you just have to read what he said. He was talking about nuclear. When you talk about nuclear, we have to be prepared. And we’re totally prepared..”

Why does Trump react to tweets? He can just as easily ignore them.

Trump ‘Prepared’ For Nuclear War With Russia (RT)

President Donald Trump has said he cannot treat any talk of nuclear weapons lightly and that the US must always be “totally prepared” for any potential confrontation, responding to what he described as an inappropriate “threat” made by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump explained his alleged order to deploy two nuclear submarines closer to Russian waters, saying the move was necessary to ensure national security. “Well, we had to do that. We just have to be careful. A threat was made, and we didn’t think it was appropriate,” Trump said. “So I do that on the basis of safety for our people. A threat was made by a former president of Russia, and we’re going to protect our people.”

Earlier on Friday, Trump announced in a post on Truth Social that he had ordered the deployment of two US nuclear submarines to what he called “the appropriate regions,” in reaction to remarks made by Medvedev on social media. Trump condemned the former Russian leader’s rhetoric as “foolish and inflammatory,” warning that “words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences.” The dispute escalated after Trump referred to Medvedev as a “failed” leader and warned him to “watch his words.” Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, responded with a scathing message warning against provoking Moscow too far, referencing the legendary ‘Perimetr’ automatic nuclear retaliation system, which dates back to the Soviet era and is presumed to still exist in Russia.

“And about India’s and Russia’s ‘dead economies’ and ‘entering very dangerous territory’ – well, let him remember his favorite movies about ‘the walking dead,’ as well as how dangerous the fabled ‘Dead Hand’ can be,” Medvedev wrote. Though Russia has never officially confirmed the existence of the system, it is widely believed by Western analysts to serve as a last-resort deterrent in the event of a decapitating strike on the Russian leadership. The White House and the Pentagon have not provided any further comments, and Trump’s claim about the submarine redeployment remains impossible to verify, since the exact locations and patrol areas of US nuclear submarines are among the military’s most closely guarded secrets.

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“Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin. The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn’t care..”

Trump Moves Two Nuclear Subs Closer To Russia After Medvedev Tweets (NYP)

President Trump said Friday he had ordered two nuclear submarines moved closer to Russia in response to “highly provocative statements” by a top Kremlin official. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, had taunted Trump directly in a recent post on X, saying “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war.” “I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, without revealing the location of the vessels. “Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances,” he added. The Pentagon referred requests for additional information to the White House, which declined to comment on the record.

Medvedev, a close ally of Putin and deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, taunted Trump in a series of posts on X. Trump had threatened Russia with secondary sanctions if Moscow does not stop its ongoing war on Ukraine by Aug. 8. Medvedev wrote in his post that Trump “should remember two things” as he issues his threats on Moscow — that “Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran” and that “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country.” “Don’t go down the Sleepy Joe road!” Medvedev mocked. The former Russian president often makes aggressive remarks on social media and is less diplomatic toward the US than Putin in his public comments. Medvedev served as president from 2008 to 2012 and was widely seen as a puppet of Putin, who at the time was only allowed to serve two terms in a row.

While the Russian president has held off on commenting on Trump’s upcoming sanctions, Medvedev has taken to X numerous times to directly condemn the threat. “Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin. The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn’t care,” Medvedev wrote on July 15. Medvedev, 59, was even more belligerent under former President Joe Biden, arguing in November of 2024 that if the US were to send nuclear weapons to Ukraine, then Russia would have grounds to respond with an atomic attack. He also raged against Trump directing the US military to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities, writing on June 22, “at this rate, Trump can forget about the Nobel Peace Prize — not even with how rigged it has become. What a way to kick things off, Mr. President. Congratulations!”

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As the kids are dying in Gaza. Can the Nobel really sink any lower?

White House Makes Trump Nobel Peace Prize Claim (RT)

US President Donald Trump should have received a Nobel Peace Prize years ago, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has claimed, citing his role in multiple international peace agreements. Despite several nominations during his first presidency, Trump has not won the award. At a briefing in Washington on Thursday, Leavitt said Trump had intervened in conflicts such as the Thailand-Cambodia dispute by threatening to withhold US trade deals, which she claimed had led to a swift ceasefire. “We had about one peace deal every month,” Leavitt stated. Trump has repeatedly argued he deserves the award, saying in June that he has been overlooked because “they only give it to liberals.”

Several foreign leaders have recently nominated the US president for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu handed Trump a nomination letter earlier this month, crediting his role in mediating a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Before any ceasefire talks began, however, the US launched a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities in June, aiming to cripple Tehran’s capabilities. Trump later said he didn’t want to cite Hiroshima or Nagasaki as examples, but claimed that just as those bombings had ended World War II, the 2025 strike had ended the Iran conflict. The comment drew sharp criticism from Japanese officials, who called it morally reckless and offensive.

Cambodia’s deputy prime minister also nominated Trump for his role in calming a border dispute with Thailand earlier this year. The Pakistani government publicly backed his nomination, highlighting his involvement in the India-Pakistan ceasefire talks. India, however, has firmly rejected claims of US involvement in the ceasefire, dismissing the notion of any third-party mediation. Trump had vowed to end the Ukraine conflict within 24 hours if re-elected – a promise he later walked back, suggesting a 100-day timeline instead and calling the original claim “a little bit sarcastic.” In July, his administration approved advanced arms deliveries to Ukraine, including Patriot missiles funded by EU NATO allies. Russia condemned the move as a provocation and accused the US of escalating the conflict under the guise of support.

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“With apologies for bluntness, the mainstream press fucked around, now the mainstream press is finding out.” —Matt Taibbi

The Artificial Demon (James Howard Kunstler)

By now, it must be kind of obvious that Mr. Putin of Russia was staged-up into a demon for the convenience of Hillary Clinton — resulting in a decade of deformed US foreign relations that has dragged us to the edge of a third world war. Nice work, Democratic Party! I will proffer a harsh truth to you: the best outcome in Ukraine would be for Russia to win the war as expeditiously as possible, neutralize and disarm the place, change-out its illegitimate government, and let it revert to being the frontier backwater it was for eight decades previous, when it was not a problem for the other nations of the region. Mr. Putin has put up with our country’s psychotic nonsense with remarkable patience. The idea that he seeks to conquer western Europe was a preposterous confection of the neocon crazies in our State Department and Intel “community.”

The long game for the neocon crazies has been to use NATO as the instrument to break up Russia and gain control of its resources. This was after Secretary of State James Baker told Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990, in discussions over German reunification, that “not an inch of NATO’s present military jurisdiction will spread in an eastern direction.” Starting in 1999 with the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, sixteen additional nations were induced to join NATO, encroaching on Russia’s borders, with new military bases and missiles. It was a stupid game.

And it failed. Ukraine was the final gambit. The US destabilized it on purpose in 2014, installed a series of governments we could control, made it a ward of US taxpayers, sprinkled it with bio-weapons labs and money laundries, and gave Mr. Zelenskyy the go-ahead to start shelling the Donbas provinces adjacent to Russia. After years of that, Mr. Putin moved to stop it in 2022. The development of drone weapons, along with US-based satellite targeting tech, has prolonged the war. But, of course, the Russians, too, have modernized their own weapons arsenal to match that. The current state of things is a slow Russian grind to defeat a Ukraine that has run out of available fighting men and is apparently short of all weapons besides its drones.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump promised to end the Ukraine war in a New York minute. That proved more difficult and complicated than he realized. He said lately in so many words that he has “lost patience” with Mr. Putin for failing to join a ceasefire as a prelude to peace talks. Accordingly, Mr. Trump set a fifty-day deadline and then shortened it to twelve-days, running out on August 8-9 (accounting for time zones). Failure to comply will cause Russia to suffer a new round of sanctions. Mr. Putin has shrugged off that threat, saying that time has proven Russia to be sanction-proofed.

Some kind of game is afoot in all this. Neither Trump nor Putin could possibly want to turn this fiasco in Ukraine into a greater war that will destroy what’s left of Western Civilization. You might find this startling, but for all our efforts to anathemize Russia, it is still a part of Western Civ. After its soviet experiment failed, Russia wanted above all to reintegrate economically with Europe, but the neocons here and the globalists of Europe would not allow that. They became determined instead to wreck Russia — a vicious ethos likely to have emanated from the UK, with its lingering imperial delusions. (For Germany, it has brought only economic suicide.)

You might suspect that Mr. Trump has to pretend to be tough with Russia to counter the still-lingering suspicion — germinated by the Hillary Clinton campaign a decade ago — that he is “Putin’s puppet.” By coincidence, strange or not, that trope is now unraveling with the release of the RussiaGate intel archive that the rogue DOJ and FBI squirreled away since the Trump 1.0 term in office. Mr. Patel found a trove of documentary evidence in a burn-bag in a back room at FBI headquarters. DNI Tulsi Gabbard retrieves more previously-hidden evidence by the day from the vast NSA data base. It ought to be clear now that the initial Hillary Clinton campaign prank metastasized into the worst perversion of abusive government power in our country’s history, and is yet on-going.

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“Trump positions himself as a peacemaker and openly aspires to win a Nobel Peace Prize, while at the same time bombing Iran and assisting Israel in perpetuating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”

The BRICS Hit Back: Trump’s Old Tricks Meet New World (Sibal)

US President Trump has rattled Washington’s ties with New Delhi to an unexpected degree. Countries, including, India were prepared for rough diplomatic weather after Trump won his second term, but did not anticipate the kind of onslaught he has unleashed on the global system and diplomatic norms. Trump’s latest attack on India and the BRICS countries explains this underlying dynamic. The BRICS aspire to play a greater political, economic and financial role in global affairs. This aspiration is based on shifts of economic and concomitant political and financial power towards the so-called emerging powers or middle-income countries. BRICS countries have already begun to use their national currencies in trading with each other as much as possible. The use of draconian financial sanctions on Russia by the West has accelerated this process.

Today, almost all trade operations between Russia and China are conducted in rubles and yuan. India too is encouraging the use of its national currency in payment transactions with select countries. A significant portion of the trade between India and Russia is now settled using a rupee-ruble mechanism. Washington cannot use secondary sanctions to prevent countries, including India, from using the US dollar to trade with Russia and then oppose de-dollarization if these countries are compelled to use alternative payment mechanisms. If the US continues to weaponize the dollar, it will inevitably lead to the very “de-dollarization” that Trump is concerned about. India has officially disowned any de-dollarization agenda – not the least because the US is its biggest trade partner in goods and services. India seeks more investments and technology transfers from the US. In many ways, New Delhi’s ties with Washington are the most important for achieving its growth and developmental goals.

But that does not preclude India from establishing other partnerships to reduce over-dependence on one country, balance its external relations and hedge against the excesses of US foreign policy. Trump has exacerbated the disruptions caused by Washington’s frequent use of sanctions as a political weapon by also weaponizing tariffs. He is convinced that by imposing arbitrarily determined tariffs on imports from other countries he will compel them to enter into negotiations with the US to obtain relief by lowering their high tariffs on American products. But India on Wednesday sent a clear message: it is determined to protect the interests of its own businesses, farmers and people. Trump’s use of tariffs as lever, like in the case of Brazil, where he has cited President Lula’s treatment of his predecessor Bolsanaro as reason for imposing 50% levies, is being closely monitored by the world’s governments.

Trump has repeatedly targeted BRICS since his return to the Oval Office. He had threatened the countries with tariffs if they contonie to pledge to create a new common currency or support any alternative to the US dollar. Trump appeared to harbor the illusion that BRICS was ”dead” following his threats – which have now materialized into action. In reality, the BRICS summit held in Brazil this July showed no visible signs of intimidation. On the contrary, such overt displays of American economic coercion may well drive more countries toward alliances that seek to challenge the dominance of any single global power. The administration in Washington appears to lack realism in its assessment of global trends. Trump positions himself as a peacemaker and openly aspires to win a Nobel Peace Prize, while at the same time bombing Iran and assisting Israel in perpetuating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

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“Obviously, the DNC and the people running the Open Societies Foundation (Soros) knew what the Clinton campaign was doing; they also knew the FBI was assisting the Clinton campaign.”

Chuck Grassley Releases Declassified John Durham Annex (CTH)

The FBI, CIA, ODNI and DOJ declassified the annex to the John Durham investigation of the origin of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax. The declassified annex was released today by Senator Chuck Grassley. First, the basic outline. The John Durham Annex outlines how the CIA received information in mid-2016 from a “credible foreign source,” talking about Hillary Clinton’s campaign working with the FBI to manufacture a Trump-Russia conspiracy, as an October surprise. Beginning in 2014 and continuing through 2016, Russian hackers gained access to the email accounts and main accounts of the Soros Foundation/Open Societies Foundation who was working with the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign. What the hackers discovered was a trove of information showing how the Clinton Campaign was constructing a smear job against Donald Trump with the manufacturing of a fraudulent Trump-Russia conspiracy.

The emails and communication showed the Clinton Campaign was directly working with the FBI to create the smear. A CIA source gained custody of the Russian analysis of the information. The information was then shared with the CIA, who evaluated the Russian framework as “authentic” and “valid.” The CIA then shared that information with the FBI, who said the information was “unreliable.” Obviously, the FBI held a conflict of interest because the information received outlined their misconduct. So, the FBI claimed the information gained from the hack was false and likely Russian propaganda. However, the CIA deemed it credible because it was clearly happening in real time. Additionally, this information was then used in the summer of 2016 by CIA Director John Brennan to brief President Obama on what the Russians knew about the Clinton Campaign working with the FBI to create this false political narrative.

Part of what the Russians knew from their intercepts was that President Obama would not support the Clinton campaign directly, but Obama had instructed Attorney General Loretta Lynch to assist Hillary Clinton’s efforts. Lynch would work with FBI officials to exonerate Hillary Clinton from her email server scandal and then greenlight the FBI to assist with the Trump-Russia smear. The 29-page annex then goes into details about who was communicating with whom and what the joint Clinton-FBI agenda was. The information inside the Durham Annex is remarkable in that it shows the planning of the Clinton Campaign to use Fusion GPS and the FBI to smear Donald Trump with the false Trump-Russia narrative.

The declassified Annex has two central components. First, it walks through the evidence against Clinton and the FBI organizing the operation. Second, it then takes a rather remarkable look at how the FBI manipulated the information around Carter Page to support the Clinton/FBI operation. All of the information contained within the declassified annex is not entirely new; however, the clear and compelling evidence it provides highlights the operation as it unfolded. Obviously, the DNC and the people running the Open Societies Foundation (Soros) knew what the Clinton campaign was doing; they also knew the FBI was assisting the Clinton campaign.

The term “special services” in this context is the FBI.

Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect would then push the Trump-Russia narrative into the media. That’s exactly what happened.

I strongly suggest everyone to take the time to read carefully the 29-page declassified Annex. The entire outline of the operation to discredit candidate Donald Trump is within it. CIA Director John Brennan then briefs President Obama to tell him the Russians’ are aware of the op. The Obama administration then begins making moves to target Russia, as both an enhancement to the Clinton operation and as a defensive move to protect themselves from discovery as the operation continues.

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“..explosive allegations that the FBI may have been doing George Soros’ bidding during Operation Crossfire Hurricane.”

Durham Annex Bombshell Exposes New Twist in Russian Collusion Hoax (Margolis)

In a bombshell development that should rattle every American, newly declassified documents confirm what conservatives have said all along: the Trump-Russia collusion narrative wasn’t just baseless; it was a deliberate political hit job that the highest levels of the Obama administration orchestrated, with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign at the helm and the FBI eagerly playing along. But it gets worse. Buried in a classified annex to John Durham’s report, which is finally seeing the light of day after the Biden administration kept it under wraps, are explosive allegations that the FBI may have been doing George Soros’ bidding during Operation Crossfire Hurricane.

This intel, which Durham acquired and shared with a Senate committee, was reportedly so sensitive that whistleblowers say it never saw daylight until now. The hoax wasn’t just a smear campaign. It was a weaponized operation, and the American people were the targets. After Tulsi Gabbard declassified the annex, Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley released it to the public this morning. And buckle up because if the testimony witnesses provided to Durham is accurate, the Soros Foundation wasn’t just tangentially involved in this political hit job; it was knee-deep in it. We’re talking elbows-in, fingerprints-all-over level involvement in what now looks like one of the most brazen abuses of power in modern political history. Just the News has the details:

“Newly-declassified so-called Clinton Plan intelligence included intercepted communications from a George Soros ally which suggested that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign against Donald Trump was plotting a “long-term affair to demonize” Trump by linking him to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and that the Clinton campaign expected that “the FBI will put more oil into the fire.” The revelations, including intercepted purported communications from Leonard Benardo, a top official at George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, and communications by Clinton foreign policy adviser Julianne Smith, provide new insight into information that the U.S. intelligence community received in July 2016 – just before the FBI launched its politicized Crossfire Hurricane investigation. The bombshell allegations about a plot to falsely link Trump to Putin in an effort to distract from Clinton’s classified emails scandal are found within a formerly classified but now largely-unredacted appendix from special counsel John Durham’s 2023 report on the origins and conduct of the Russiagate investigation.”

According to the newly declassified annex, U.S. intelligence, including the FBI, received information suggesting that Clinton personally approved a scheme to link Donald Trump to Russian hackers in order to distract from her own email scandal. And it was a Hillary-approved plan. “HRC [Hillary Rodham Clinton] approved [Campaign adviser Julie’s] idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections,” the email read. “That should distract people from her own missing emails.” The plot outlined how a Clinton adviser pushed a long-term plan to “demonize Putin and Trump,” using media outlets, CrowdStrike, and ThreatConnect to launder the narrative under the guise of cybersecurity analysis. Durham concluded that there’s credible evidence that the Clinton campaign’s plan to tie Trump to Russian hackers was real and that the campaign followed through with it.

“The office’s review of certain communications involving Smith provided possible additional support … to the notion that the Clinton campaign was engaged in an effort or plan in late July 2016 to encourage scrutiny of Trump’s purported ties to Russia, and that the [Clinton] campaign might have wanted or expected the FBI or other agencies to aid that effort (‘put more oil into the fire’) by commencing a formal investigation of the DNC hack,” Durham’s classified annex reads.These are not wild conspiracy theories. The documents have shattered the illusions of even the most stubborn deniers.

“Based on the Durham annex, the Obama FBI failed to adequately review and investigate intelligence reports showing the Clinton campaign may have been ginning up the fake Trump-Russia narrative for Clinton’s political gain, which was ultimately done through the Steele Dossier and other means,” Sen. Grassley said in a statement. “History will show that the Obama and Biden administration’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies were weaponized against President Trump. This political weaponization has caused critical damage to our institutions and is one of the biggest political scandals and cover-ups in American history.”

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“..Sen. Warner’s involvement marks a turning point. This scandal no longer stops with the intelligence agencies; it now reaches deep into Congress..”

Sitting US Senator Now Implicated in Russia Hoax Cover-Up (Margolis)

In recent weeks, a scandal of epic proportions has come to light, confirming that the Obama administration rigged intelligence to concoct the Russia collusion narrative against Donald Trump, and the conspiracy went all the way to the top: Barack Obama himself. This is no longer hearsay, thanks to two explosive document releases from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. They reveal a conspiracy coordinated between the highest levels of America’s intelligence community and the White House — an open assault on the presidency in retaliation for Trump winning the election. Barack Obama personally ordered the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment to rely on the notorious, unverified Steele Dossier, an opposition research hit job that even career analysts derided for its lack of credibility.

The dossier’s only real value was its utility: fueling Democratic cries of collusion and giving the legacy media a weapon to batter the new administration. Inside the agencies, voices of dissent were crushed. Analysts warned the dossier was junk, but their objections were overruled. The process became not about facts but about constructing a narrative at any cost. Amid this corruption, a senior analyst tried to do the right thing. He witnessed former CIA Director John Brennan warping intelligence and sought to raise the alarm. But speaking the truth in a rigged game is a recipe for punishment. When the analyst tried to report his concerns, he was promptly silenced by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), then the Democratic chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, whose interest in oversight seemed to depend on political expedience.

Then, intimidation from the very top set in. According to notes obtained by The Federalist, then-DNI James Clapper’s right-hand man threatened the analyst’s career, making it clear that professional advancement hinged on parroting the party line. “The notes made public for the first time today recount a conversation the top analyst in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) had with an unnamed superior who worked closely with the then-Director James Clapper, according to sources familiar with the document,” explain Margot Cleveland and Mollie Hemingway. According to a person familiar with the notes, the analyst documented his recollection of the conversation on March 31, 2023 — more than six years after the conversation occurred.

The delay, The Federalist’s source explained, occurred because the analyst’s efforts to share his concerns, first with the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (IC), and then later with Special Counsel John Durham and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, proved unsuccessful. Only later did the analyst receive an inquiry for more information about his claims, leading to the drafting of the summary of his recollections. Those notes capture the analyst claiming in early January that his supervisor told him, “There is reporting you are not allowed to see,” adding that “if you saw it, you would agree” with the ICA. After noting he concurred “with varying confidence with most of the 2017 ICA’s Key Judgements,” the analyst explained that he “would need to review any reporting myself in order to consider it.”

“You need to TRUST ME on this,” Clapper’s crony countered, stating to the analyst he “would need to demonstrate [his] ability to ‘outgrow’” his refusal to sign off on assessments he did not share, in order to be recommended for a promotion. The analyst remained firm, according to the notes, which led his exasperated superior to reply, “I need you to say you agree with these judgements, so that DIA will go along with them!” Unlike the left’s celebrated whistleblowers, this analyst was ignored, stonewalled, and silenced for daring to expose the truth. Despite him raising concerns with the IC Inspector General, John Durham, and even Sen. Warner, no one listened — because his story threatened the power structure in Washington. For over six years, the same institutions that claim to protect democracy worked to bury his warnings. Now, the documents show something far worse than mere misconduct: a deliberate scheme to weaponize U.S. intelligence against a sitting president and subvert the will of the voters.

The Russia hoax wasn’t a mistake; it was a slow-motion coup dressed up as national security. And unless the people behind it face real consequences, there can be no restoring trust in the intelligence community. The evidence is now overwhelming that senior Obama officials didn’t just manufacture the Russia collusion hoax, but they actively worked to suppress anyone who challenged it. With the help of a sitting U.S. senator, they silenced a whistleblower to keep their deception buried. Sen. Warner’s involvement marks a turning point. This scandal no longer stops with the intelligence agencies; it now reaches deep into Congress. Lawmakers weren’t merely complicit; they played an active role in a coordinated plot to mislead the American people and undermine a duly elected president.

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“We are what we are. Weak, ridiculous, loud-mouthed. We educate others, but we have no strength when it comes to negotiating. We show neither talent nor ability. So it’s the worst combination.”

Orban Hammers ‘Weak and Ridiculous’ EU (RT)

The European Union’s recent dealings with the US have reinforced Brussels’ image as a weak yet overconfident partner prone to lecturing others, according to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Speaking on Friday during his regular interview on Kossuth Radio, Orban took aim at European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for her handling of trade negotiations with US President Donald Trump. He claimed she had failed to secure a balanced agreement and made side commitments – such as pledging to purchase US arms, presumably for Ukraine – that she had neither the authority to offer nor the capacity to fulfill.

Orban described the resulting trade arrangement as “an economic own goal,” and suggested the EU had lost ground in a trade dispute that remains unresolved. The Hungarian leader, a frequent critic of Brussels, said the bloc’s foreign policy approach was incoherent and ineffective, painting a picture of dysfunction at the top. “We are what we are. Weak, ridiculous, loud-mouthed. We educate others, but we have no strength when it comes to negotiating. We show neither talent nor ability. So it’s the worst combination.”

He likened EU diplomacy to “a little hamster huddling in the corner, hissing at everyone, arguing with everyone, humiliating ourselves, and then still thinking we are in a position to lecture others about human rights, democracy, and behavior.” Orban was commenting on a perceived diplomatic slight toward top EU officials during their visit to Beijing earlier this week. Members of the delegation, led by von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa, were seen exiting shuttle buses at the airport upon arrival before eventually being offered individual transportation. The footage shown by Chinese media prompted speculation that the reception was not in line with the dignitaries’ rank.

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“There are currently no details about what kind of advance she got for the book, which probably means it was really small.”

The Art of the Defeat: Kamala ‘Writes’ Memoir About 2024 Campaign (Margolis)

It looks like Kamala Harris isn’t fading away into the sunset just yet. Brace yourselves; she’s writing a book. After tanking so spectacularly in the 2024 election that her future in public office is all but shot, she’s chosen the classic liberal consolation prize: the post-defeat memoir. Harris has announced a memoir about her failed presidential campaign, titled “107 Days.” The video announcement, which she delivered with all the forced earnestness we’ve come to expect from the former vice president, attempts to reframe her presidential campaign as something noble, inspirational, and worth commemorating. You can already tell this book will be 300-plus pages of agonizing prose, blaming everything and everyone for her defeat, except Harris herself.

Even the title, “107 Days,” feels like a not-so-subtle attempt to plant the idea that she never really had a fair shot. It’s not her fault she burned through over a billion dollars and lost every swing state; it was just “the circumstances” that made victory impossible. The whole thing reads like a preemptive excuse masquerading as a reflection. “Just over a year ago, I launched my campaign for President of the United States,” she said. “107 days traveling the country fighting for our future, the shortest presidential campaign in modern history.” Apparently, Harris has spent her post-office time reminiscing about those three and a half months of political mediocrity, cobbling together what she calls a “journal” into a book. “Since leaving office, I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on those days,” she said, explaining she was “pulling my thoughts together… in essence writing a journal that is this book.”

Of course, she insists the book offers more than just an extended therapy session. She promises a “behind-the-scenes account” and insists it’s filled with “candor and reflection,” which in Harris-speak likely means recycled talking points and plenty of passive voice. “I believe there’s value in sharing what I saw, what I learned, and what I know it will take to move forward,” Harris added, though she neglected to explain how losing to Donald Trump by a landslide in 2024 qualifies her to lecture anyone on how to “move forward.”In other words, it’s the spiritual sequel to Hillary Clinton’s “What Happened?” She goes on to claim that one “truth” kept coming back to her while supposedly writing this book. That truth? “Sometimes the fight takes a while.” A poetic way of saying: I lost, but I’m still pretending it mattered.

Finally, Harris assured her dwindling fan base, “I will never stop fighting to make our country reflect the very best of its ideals, always on behalf of the people.” Translation: I’m not done chasing relevance. In what feels like the latest stop on Kamala Harris’s never-ending farewell tour minus the applause, “107 Days” is shaping up to be yet another entry in her growing library of hollow slogans and forced gravitas. “I cannot wait for you to read this,” she declares, which is ironic, because most Americans won’t. Simon & Schuster is publishing the book, which comes out in September. There are currently no details about what kind of advance she got for the book, which probably means it was really small.

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“..an evaluation of the Ukraine-Russia conflict and the frustration of the Trump administration to find a way to settle the issues..”

Marco Rubio Discusses Current Geopolitical Events and Russia Hoax (CTH)

Secretary of State/National Security Advisor, Marco Rubio, appears for an interview with Brian Kilmeade to discuss recent events in the world of geopolitics in addition to the events now surfacing with the declassification of the Trump-Russia hoax documents. The beginning of the conversation starts with an evaluation of the Ukraine-Russia conflict and the frustration of the Trump administration to find a way to settle the issues. The second subject is the status of U.S-India relations now that trade negotiations have stalled. The conversation then moves to the ongoing declassification of information. At 07:30 of the interview Rubio is asked about his previous SSCI investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Rubio talks about his prior role as Chairman of the SSCI and the efforts of the Intelligence Community to manipulate public opinion.

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Try woke spelling.

“Shur, whi not rite a sentins like this won, wear awl the wurdz sound rite but luk lyke they flunked owtta speling skool?”

Why Western Education Is Doomed (Marsden)

In France, the attempt to institute a similar post-knowledge educational system has seen middling results. High school math classes were ditched entirely in 2019 under President Emmanuel Macron. But the outcome was such a disaster that it was reversed for the 2023/24 school year. This year’s French final standardized exams for high schoolers and middle schoolers, which have just taken place, saw the French media publish a bunch of instructions that were given to the test graders to dummy things down for France’s future Nobel Prize hopefuls. “The first is to not deduct points for spelling or grammar mistakes. What matters is not compliance with the spelling code, but intelligibility,” said France’s RTL.

Oh, so something like this, you mean? “Shur, whi not rite a sentins like this won, wear awl the wurdz sound rite but luk lyke they flunked owtta speling skool?” Because that fits the stated criteria. Imagine an email from that colleague when he or she gets into your workplace.mnnApparently, graders were also told not to remove all points when a student is asked to conjugate a verb – and then gets the root of the same verb that was just listed wrong. Maybe the verb they replaced whatever was right in front of their eyes with doesn’t even exist, but the ending is right. Only half the points are taken away for that.

The final philosophy exam had to explain the meaning of the word “preponderant,” because it was apparently considered too hard for kids about to head off to university, RTL reports. The media outlet also pointed out that graders of the oral exam, read from a text that the student has 20 minutes to prepare, were only to focus on the student’s performance at the end of the session, to account for nerves. This may or may not have been read off a student’s page:

“Hai, my naym is Sam. I hav two bruthurs and wun sistur. We lyk to play soker togethur. My mum cuks gud fud and my dad lukes to wach mooviz wif us. I lyk drawin and playin vidyo gayms. Thansk for lisnin! Do I pas high skool now?” Oui, oui! A+. Every day seems to bring a new revelation about how the West’s Wokémon Academy is doing. In a world where feelings outrank facts and spelling is optional, it’s anyone’s guess what our ‘graduates’ will actually know and be equipped with for real life. But hey, at least their safe spaces are well-furnished.

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This is after talking to Deputy AG Todd Blanche for 9 hours this week.

”Maxwell is supposed to be locked up until 2037. Yet inmates “typically only go to a camp if you have just a couple years left,”

Ghislaine Maxwell Is Quietly Moved To Cushy New ‘Club Fed’ Prison (NYP)

Notorious sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has quietly been moved to a cushy Texas prison camp known as Club Fed as she tries to hash out a deal to divulge her sordid secrets about late pedophile ex Jeffrey Epstein. The 63-year-old convicted child sex trafficker was transferred from a lockup in Florida to the minimum-security prison camp in Bryan, Texas, the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) confirmed to The Post on Friday. No reason was given for the move, but it comes days after she met Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche twice while trying to seek immunity and a deal to spill her secrets about Epstein. The notorious madam — who is serving 20 years for helping Epstein groom and abuse underage girls — will now be neighbors with white-collar criminals, including Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced fraudster convicted of ripping off investors in her now-defunct blood-testing company Theranos.

“It’s one of the best prisons for anyone to go to,” Josh Lepird, regional vice president for the prison officers’ union that includes Maxwell’s new camp, told the Houston Chronicle on Friday. “When you hear people say ‘Club Fed,’ they’re talking about places like FPC Bryan. ”Maxwell is supposed to be locked up until 2037. Yet inmates “typically only go to a camp if you have just a couple years left,” Lepird told the outlet. “But if someone is a cooperating witness, they can request a lower security level.”

Her unexpected move from Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee was handled directly by BOP officials, rather than US Marshals, according to the New York Sun, which said it included a “brief stopover” in FCI Oakdale in Louisiana. No reason was given for the unexpected move. Maxwell’s lawyer, David Oscar Marcus, also declined to elaborate, saying, “We can confirm that she was moved but we have no comment.” However, the sudden transfer comes a week after Blanche — the DOJ’s second-in-command and formerly President Trump’s defense lawyer — huddled with the disgraced British socialite and her lawyer at the US Attorney’s Office in Tallahassee.

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“Sit down with a double martini to help keep you calm, and try to think of even one American institution that serves a public interest..”

Rule by Quacks (Paul Craig Roberts)

Adam Dick of the Ron Paul Institute reports that the American Academy of Pediatrics last Monday called for mandated vaccinations of children for the full plethora of vaccines and the elimination of all exceptions. The irresponsible American Academy of Pediatrics served as despicable shills for Big Pharma’s murder for profit of children by insisting that every child be infected with the spike protein from the Covid vax. The academy’s support for mandatory vaccination of children with the 54 shots, many known to be toxic and dangerous and the cause of the extraordinary increase in childhood illnesses since the mass vaccination, fortunately for me after my generation, was imposed on naive parents, is proof that the American Academy of Pediatric is a collection of incompetent quacks on the take from profit-driven Big Pharma.

In my opinion, every member of the academy should be arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced for conspiracy to commit murder. American doctors are so indoctrinated by Big Pharma’s control over medical education and research that Americans can no longer trust their doctors. Americans can’t trust their hospitals either. Reports are emerging of hospitals harvesting for profit the organs of patients before they are dead. The value of money has replaced the value of life in American health care. We see it everywhere. For example, cancer cures such as Ivermectin and Fenbendzole are being suppressed in order to save the high profit chemotherapy and radiation treatment. It seems the entire purpose of medical research, 70% of which is funded by Big Pharma grants, is to protect Big Pharma’s control of health care practice.

Sit down with a double martini to help keep you calm, and try to think of even one American institution that serves a public interest. The health system serves profit. The educational system serves left-wing ideology by teaching white kids that they are racists and born into the wrong body and by replacing a merit-based society with DEI ideology. The military serves the power and profit of the military/security complex. Take it from here and extend the list. Is there any way short of massive violence for Americans to regain control over their lives?

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“Shots mandates for children are already widespread in America. But, that is not good enough for AAP. It appears determined to eliminate the ability of almost all parents to opt their children out of the mandates.”

Pediatricians Organization Says Eliminate Vaccine Exemptions for Children (Dick)

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) distinguished itself as an obsessive shots pusher and freedom theatener during the coronavirus crackdown. It was admonishing that children — who were at very minimal risk from coronavirus — be subjected to the quack practices of masking and social distancing to protect them until they became “fully vaccinated” with experimental coronavirus “vaccine” shots. The AAP was also calling on pediatricians to evangelize for giving these dangerous and ineffective shots to nearly all children in the age groups for which the United States government had approved the shots. Luckily for many American children, their parents resisted the AAP supported effort. But, many other parents, placing confidence in pediatricians that peddled the AAP line, went along.

While the coronavirus crackdown has receded into the past, the AAP, an organization claiming 67,000 members, is still pushing shots and threatening freedom on a grand scale. The latest example is the policy statement the AAP issued on Monday titled Medical vs Nonmedical Immunization Exemptions for Child Care and School Attendance. In the policy statement, the AAP endorses the presence of laws and regulations requiring children to receive “immunizations” as a prerequisite for attending school or daycare. Further, the AAP supports eliminating philosophical and religious based exemptions from such mandates — the means by which the vast majority of parents who have opted out across America have been able to protect their children from receiving some or all of the plethora of shots listed in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) childhood vaccination schedule.

The only exemption basis, declares the AAP in its policy statement, should be “medically indicated exemptions to specific immunizations as determined for each individual student.” As this phrasing from the policy statement indicates, this medical exemption route turns out to deny exemption for most children and can even limit the applicability of medical exemptions that may be granted to just one or some of the mandated shots. Showing a child has already been hurt by shots is part of one of the limited routes to maybe obtain a medical exemption. Such an exemption will, by definition, be too late. As I wrote in April of 2023, the medical exemption for vaccines “could more accurately be called the mirage exemption” given that it is unavailable to almost all children.

The AAP policy statement further says that, even once granted, medical exemptions should have hanging over them the possibility of being revoked at any time. The policy statement directs that “all pediatric health care providers” should “recertify the need for these exemptions on a regular basis.” Here today, gone tomorrow. The AAP also appears to want to shut the door on any doctors who try to grant medical exemptions in any but the most stingy manner. The policy statement declares that “states and territories should develop policies to ensure that any medical exemptions are appropriate and evidence based.” It is not the doctor’s determination after all. Big Brother will be there to crack down on any doctor who swims against the current. Shots mandates for children are already widespread in America. But, that is not good enough for AAP. It appears determined to eliminate the ability of almost all parents to opt their children out of the mandates.

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Who finds this a good thing?

CDC Recommended Vaccine Schedule 1986 vs. 2019 (CHD)

In the early 1980s, children received three vaccines for seven illnesses—two combination vaccines (diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis and measles-mumps-rubella) and a polio vaccine—totaling two dozen doses by age 18. In the decade following 1989 (beginning soon after the NCVIA’s implementation), the CDC packed multiple doses of several more vaccines into the childhood schedule, including those for Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), hepatitis B (on the day of birth) and varicella (chickenpox), as well as a rotavirus vaccine (withdrawn a year after its introduction)

Next, in the first decade of the 2000s, the CDC recommended an even larger batch of new vaccines, going after not just children but also adolescents and adults: hepatitis A, HPV, meningococcal conjugate, pneumococcal conjugate, rotavirus (again) and zoster (shingles), along with an adult tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis booster (Tdap) and a massive expansion of influenza vaccine recommendations for all ages . At present, the childhood vaccine schedule requires almost six dozen doses through age 18 for sixteen diseases.

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We’re not all used to ‘Gulf of America’ yet.

‘Dead Zone’ In Gulf of America Shrank Sharply In 2025 (JTN)

The Gulf of America’s “dead zone” has shrunk significantly this summer, with scientists measuring a hypoxic area of just over 4,400 square miles — roughly a third smaller than last year and far less than the long-term average, federal officials announced Wednesday. The dead zone, a stretch of oxygen-depleted water that forms annually off the Louisiana and Texas coasts, is caused primarily by excess nutrients washing into the Gulf from the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin. This year’s zone, measured during a July 20–25 survey aboard the research vessel Pelican, was 4,402 square miles — 21% smaller than NOAA’s early-season estimate and the 15th smallest on record, according to NOAA-supported scientists from LSU and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium.

“This year’s significant reduction in the Gulf of America’s ‘dead zone’ is an encouraging sign for the future of this area,” said Laura Grimm, acting NOAA administrator. “It highlights the dedication and impactful work of NOAA-supported scientists and partners, and serves as a testament to the effectiveness of collaborative efforts in supporting our U.S. fishermen, coastal communities, and vital marine ecosystems.” The measured area is equivalent to roughly 2.8 million acres of bottom habitat temporarily made unavailable to marine life such as fish and shrimp due to low oxygen levels. That marks a 30% drop from 2024, when the zone spanned a massive 6,703 square miles — more than 1.3 times the long-term average and nearly 3.5 times larger than the target goal of 1,930 square miles set by the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force.

Despite this year’s improvement, the five-year running average remains high at 4,755 square miles—still more than double the federal benchmark. Dead zones emerge when excess nutrients — mostly nitrogen and phosphorus from upstream agriculture and wastewater — fuel algae blooms. As algae die and sink, their decomposition consumes oxygen in bottom waters. Without sufficient oxygen, marine species must flee or perish.= In 2024, the area west of the Mississippi River experienced heavy hypoxia with extremely low oxygen readings and little water mixing, according to NOAA. “The stratification of warmer surface water over cooler, saltier bottom water was strong enough to prevent oxygen replenishment,” researchers wrote in a followup report.

Some bottom waters saw oxygen drop across the lower five meters of the water column. Even with relatively low chlorophyll readings — indicating modest live algae near the surface — researchers noted high concentrations of degraded algae and organic detritus near the seafloor, still enough to drive significant bacterial oxygen consumption. The Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force, a coalition of federal and state agencies, has worked for over two decades to reduce nutrient pollution flowing into the Gulf. The EPA established a dedicated Gulf Hypoxia Program in 2022 to accelerate these efforts.

“The Gulf of America is a national treasure that supports energy dominance, commercial fishing, American industry, and the recreation economy,” said Peggy Browne, acting assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Water. “I look forward to co-leading the work of the Gulf Hypoxia Task Force to assess evolving science and address nutrient loads from all sources.” So far, nitrogen loading from the Mississippi River has not declined since the 2001 adoption of the Hypoxia Action Plan, scientists noted. NOAA’s June 2025 forecast, which had predicted a dead zone of 5,574 square miles, was based on U.S. Geological Survey nutrient data from spring river flows and fell within model uncertainty ranges.

NOAA’s Coastal Hypoxia Research, Ocean Technology Transition, and Uncrewed Systems programs are working to improve monitoring and prediction tools. This year, several autonomous surface vehicles were deployed alongside ship-based crews to compare mapping methods. Researchers said ASVs may provide a more cost-effective way to track dead zones in the future. NOAA also partners with the Northern Gulf Institute and Gulf of Mexico Alliance to expand observational capabilities and state-level technical support.

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DOGE: regulations

IVM
https://twitter.com/newstart_2024/status/1951236472314450127

Pelosi
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1950982971533439364

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Jul 212023
 


Hayami Gyoshu Tea bowl and fruits 1921

 

RFK Jr: from Camelot to Conspiracy-Mongering (G. Ed.)
China Complicit In Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine, Says MI6 Chief (G.)
New EU Grant To Ukraine Means Years More Of Fighting – Hungary (TASS)
Ukrainian Counteroffensive Stumbles Over Russian Minefields (Scott Ritter)
‘Vast’ Russian Minefields Zapping Morale Of Ukrainian Troops (Sp.)
‘My Mates Have Died And Are Dying’ in Ukraine – Australian Mercenary (Sp.)
UK Intel ‘Freelancers’ Helped Ukraine Target Crimean Bridge – The Grayzone (RT)
Repairing Damaged Ukrainian Military Hardware Would Be Nightmare for West (Sp.)
Kuleba Urges EU To Expand Opportunities For Export Of Ukrainian Grain (Az.)
Grassley Releases Bombshell FBI Doc Discussing $10MM Biden Bribe
Rep. Dan Goldman Demolishes Biden Defense in Whistleblower Hearing (Turley)
A Catastrophic Debt Implosion Can Be Incredibly Quick (Von Greyerz)
Freedom Flyers (Martin Armstrong)

 

 

At first I thought of RFK: don’t let them come at you with these antisemitism charges. But after seeing him yesterday in the House, I think maybe he is looking for this. That way he can show everybody that he’s not afraid. Everybody including his own party, who tried to silence/censor him there. Not the GOP, but his own party!

 

 

 

 

MASSIE: “Wow, the irony and cognitive dissonance from the other side of the aisle is deafening… This is a hearing on censorship that began with an effort, with a formal motion from the other side of the aisle to censor Mr. Kennedy”

 

 

 

 

RFK fires back

 

 

Morris

 

 

 

 

Putin 2009
https://twitter.com/i/status/1682198027056865284

 

 

 

 

The Guardian is not done with RFK yet. An actual editorial this time.

“The lawyer trades on his family’s image while spreading dangerous ideas. No wonder Republicans hype his bid for the Democratic nomination..”

“Voters, including independents, are not giving Mr Biden credit for the improving the economy or other achievements. That may not be fair. But it’s a fact.”

RFK Jr: from Camelot to Conspiracy-Mongering (G. Ed.)

Robert F Kennedy Jr, campaigning to be the Democratic nominee for the presidency, likes to call himself a “Kennedy Democrat”. His own siblings disagree. His uncle’s presidency, like his namesake father’s career and presidential campaign, had an aura of hope and responsibility as well as glamour. RFK Jr talks vaguely of overcoming divisions, but in reality trades upon a peculiar blend of “cynicism and credulity”, as one commentator notes. Most recently he claimed that “Covid-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese,” in comments reported by the New York Post. However jarring the remarks – he partially backtracked later – they sit comfortably with his long history of fomenting conspiracy theories and his nonsensical, anti-scientific views. He has falsely linked childhood immunisations to autism and wifi to cancer and “leaky brain”, claimed that HIV does not cause Aids, and suggested that chemicals in drinking water could make children transgender.

One of his sisters warned that his latest comments put people’s lives in danger. So much for the Kennedy legacy. Nor does he look like much of a Democrat. He is being hyped by billionaires and rightwing broadcasters such as Sean Hannity, and has gained traction among Republicans rather than Democrats. Some see his campaign primarily as a vehicle for his ego and brand, which may be less damaging to President Biden’s chances than a possible third-party bid by Democratic senator Joe Manchin and Republican former governor Jon Huntsman’s No Labels group. A poll this month suggested that a “moderate, independent third-party candidate” could gain about 20% of the vote and result in a second term for Donald Trump. But talk up Mr Kennedy enough and he might have a marginal effect in denting President Biden.

Others suspect that Mr Kennedy wants the Republican vice-presidential slot. Steve Bannon and Roger Stone have both floated the idea of a Trump-Kennedy ticket. None of this has prevented him finding up to 20% support among Democrats in polls. Camelot nostalgia and the celebrity factor have clearly played a large part in that. Mr Kennedy has never run for any public office, still less held it, but boasts that he’s “been around” politics since he was a little boy. The lack of enthusiasm for the sitting president is also potent: most Democrats do not want him to run again, although they indicate that they would vote for him over Mr Trump. Voters, including independents, are not giving Mr Biden credit for the improving the economy or other achievements. That may not be fair. But it’s a fact.

Mr Kennedy’s appeal goes deeper, however. He has found a home in the world described by a new book, Conspirituality, where new age spirituality and the “wellness” industry overlap with the politics of paranoia, as well as alongside the Trumpian right. Distrust of institutions, suspicion at the marriage of state and corporate power, and fear and sadness at the despoliation of the environment are in themselves reasonable concerns. But the political ambition that feeds upon and mutates them into more poisonous beliefs is unpalatable.

RFK disinformation dozen

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More Guardian. Make war not peace.

China Complicit In Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine, Says MI6 Chief (G.)

The head of MI6 has accused China’s government and its leader, Xi Jinping, of being “absolutely complicit” in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in a rare public address in Prague. Sir Richard Moore, who has been chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service since 2020, also offered comment on the extraordinary mutiny in June by the mercenary Wagner group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin. Shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine, Xi and Vladimir Putin signed a “no limits” partnership between their countries. After the war began, China’s government sought to present itself as a neutral peacemaker, and there have been signs of Xi’s dissatisfaction with events, but in practice Beijing refused to publicly censure or discourage Russia, and senior officials often expressed direct support.

“When Putin invaded Ukraine, the Chinese very clearly supported the Russians,” Moore said at the event hosted by Politico on Wednesday. “They have completely supported the Russians diplomatically, they’ve abstained in key votes at the United Nations, they’ve absolutely cynically repeated all the Russian tropes, particularly in places like Africa and Latin America – [by] blaming Nato and all of this stuff.” Moore said MI6 now devoted more resources to China than any other mission, which “reflects China’s importance in the world and the crucial need to understand both the intent and capability of the Chinese government”. His comments are likely to spark an angry response from Beijing, and follow a recent speech and essay by Bill Burns, in which the CIA director warned of Beijing’s “actions” accompanying its powerful rise:

“Russia’s aggression poses a formidable test. But China is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to do so.” Moore said the balance of power between Russia and China had shifted in the latter’s favour, and this had hurt Putin’s prestige in Russia. Putin’s power had also been affected by the Wagner group revolt in June, Moore suggested. “You don’t have a group of mercenaries advance up the motorway towards Moscow and get to within 125km of Moscow unless you have not quite predicted that was going to happen,” he said. “Prigozhin was his creature, utterly created by Putin, and yet he turned on him.”

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“..The question is, how many people will die in these four years, while we finance the supply of arms for 20 billion euros..”

New EU Grant To Ukraine Means Years More Of Fighting – Hungary (TASS)

The EU leadership’s proposal to allocate 20 billion euros in military assistance to Ukraine over four years will prolong hostilities in the country for years to come. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto voiced this opinion on Thursday. He was taking part in a meeting with his colleagues from the EU countries in Brussels. Szijjarto said that EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell proposed to allocate 20 billion euros to finance arms supplies to Ukraine over a period of 4 years. “This practically establishes the military regime for years,” Szijjarto said at a meeting with Hungarian reporters during a break in the session.

“So now you should not think about peace [in Ukraine], not only in the short term, but also in the long term,” the Hungarian Foreign Minister stressed. His press conference was broadcast on his Facebook page (banned in Russia, owned by the Meta corporation, recognized as extremist in Russia). sSpeaking about the meeting of the EU Council at the ministerial level, Szijjarto said: “To sum up briefly what has been said in recent hours, I can tell you that they don’t really want to talk about peace.” “What does the European Union say? It will be a war zone [in Ukraine] for four years.”

“Such a proposal is shocking. The question is, how many people will die in these four years, while we finance the supply of arms for 20 billion euros. And how many Hungarians [from the Transcarpathia region] will die in these four years?” the Foreign Minister said. In his opinion, the last 500 days have proven that the Ukrainian conflict cannot be resolved on the battlefield, and the more weapons that are delivered there, the more dead there will be. “Therefore, we are asking Brussels, Berlin, Paris and Washington to bring peace, not weapons, to our neighboring country,” Szijjarto said.

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Also check video ‘Agent Zelensky’ – Part 2.

Ukrainian Counteroffensive Stumbles Over Russian Minefields (Scott Ritter)

Doctrinally speaking, Russian air and artillery fires do not become decisively engaged until an attacking force reaches the first line of prepared defenses, after which both air and artillery will be brought to bear on pre-designated “fire sacs” which the attacker is pushed into by a combination of minefields and defensive positions. Even here the Russians avoid decisive engagement, pulling back to a second line of defenses likewise defined by obstacle barriers consisting primarily of minefields. Russia has been fighting this way since the 1980’s, when the Soviet Ministry of Defense moved away from the “fight until you die” approach of holding on to a defensive position to adapt their tactics and operations to the reality of the modern battlefield. Any officer who has studied Soviet and/or Russian operational art is knowledgeable of this fact.

The problem is that for the past 20 years, the United States military and NATO have not been focused on fighting the Russian threat, but rather dealing with low-intensity combat in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. Therein lies the source of General Zaluzhny’s frustration—the NATO trainers who ran the Ukrainian forces earmarked for the ongoing counteroffensive through there paces in the training grounds of Germany were anything but experts on the subject they were teaching—the reduction of a fortified position in depth. Too many assumptions were made about the viability of untested NATO mine-sweeping technology, while too little attention was paid to the reality of Russian defensive warfare and the role played by mines in impeding any advance.

Old school Cold Warriors, especially those who participated in the last major breaching assault against a heavily mined fortified defensive position—the Iraqi forces dug in along the Kuwaiti border with Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm in February 1991, understand what it takes to methodically clear a minefield that is covered by enemy direct and indirect fire. The answer is firepower that meets or exceeds that available to the enemy. Ukraine possesses nothing close to the fire support available to Russia. {..] There is no easy way to clear a minefield. It is slow, dangerous, laborious work that must be undertaken by properly trained and properly equipped forces who are protected from enemy fire by the overwhelming application of friendly suppressive fires. Ukraine lacks this capability, and General Milley knows it. The fact that General Milley fails to admit this, and encourage the Ukrainians to stop their lemming-like appointment with death, is an indictment of his lack of professionalism as a soldier, and the United States as a society totally lacking in humanity.

Scott Ritter Investigation: ‘Agent Zelensky’ – Part 2

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“We can push with 10 brigades but it won’t work because the mines are everywhere, every half a meter there are mines..”

‘Vast’ Russian Minefields Zapping Morale Of Ukrainian Troops (Sp.)

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu earlier said that since the start of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in early June, Russia has wiped out more than 26,000 Ukrainian soldiers, while also obliterating over 1,200 enemy tanks. “Vast and dense” minefields laid by Russian forces proved to be the most “daunting obstacle” for Ukraine’s counteroffensive, a UK newspaper has reported. According to the paper, these minefields “are destroying NATO-supplied armor, wounding soldiers and zapping morale.” As an example, the news outlet quoted a Ukrainian special forces unit commander as saying that the Russian landmines are having a devastating effect on Ukraine’s attempts to push forward. “We can push with 10 brigades but it won’t work because the mines are everywhere, every half a meter there are mines,” the commander, who was only referred to by his first name Sultan, told the newspaper.

Referring to a “painfully slow” offensive, the newspaper cited unnamed “frontline” Ukrainian soldiers as blaming Russia’s minefields, calling them “a hidden threat that has become a psychological torment.” The media outlet pointed out that Ukrainian troops have to tackle “miles of open fields littered with thousands of mines: anti-tank, anti-personnel, improvised explosive devices and an array of booby traps.” The publication added that even though the US-made Bradley fighting vehicles and German Leopard 2 battle tanks provided some protection, mine strikes finally “put many vehicles out of commission, halting advances, and leaving the [Ukrainian] troops to trek on foot through minefields while under fire.”

Ukrainian military leaders have, meanwhile, urged their Western allies to supply more mine-clearing equipment to Kiev, such as M58 Mine Clearing Line Charge systems (MICLICs). The US has already provided Ukraine with “some” of this equipment, “but not to the extent that was promised,” according to the newspaper. Ukraine’s much-hyped counteroffensive kicked off on June 4 after months of delays over a lack of military supplies from Western donors.

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“a lack of confidence in the leadership of some commanders of the Legion is a pervasive problem, with devastating effects.”

‘My Mates Have Died And Are Dying’ in Ukraine – Australian Mercenary (Sp.)

Moscow earlier recalled that all those foreigners, who are fighting on the side of Ukraine in the special operation zone, remain legitimate targets of the Russian military, “who successfully obliterate them.” Foreign mercenaries in Ukraine are threatened with repercussions for spreading information about some “incompetent” Ukrainian commanders, who are putting them in danger, a former Australian soldier currently serving with the Ukrainian International Legion has told an Australian radio station. The former Aussie serviceman, who was only referred to by the call sign “Bush,” singled out the leadership incompetence of some Ukrainian commanders, adding that some mercenaries have been threatened with jail for trying to leave Ukraine.

“The simple fact is that it is a meat grinder out there. My mates have died, and are dying. This is a matter of life and death and this needs to be solved, pronto,” he pointed out. The Australian soldier of fortune admitted that he “has seen things out here that, from a military perspective, are beyond unacceptable and are unfortunately hurting Ukraine.” He also argued that some mercenaries had not been paid at all for their service in Ukraine. When asked whether he fears for his safety in speaking out, the man said, “Absolutely, 100 percent.” The Australian radio station also referred to a recent recorded exchange, in which “the Bush” reportedly tells a Ukrainian commander about a broken system that made it impossible “to do tasks as simple as transferring men from one unit to another.”

In the recording, “The Bush” also bemoans the fact that his mates’ concerns about particular commanders within the Ukrainian International Legion are being ignored. “We will not continue to serve in a military that mistreats us,” he was heard telling the commander, who reacts by admitting that Legion members are angry and frustrated, according to the Australian radio station. Separately, the media outlet cited “the Bush” as saying that although some Australian members of the Ukrainian International Legion are more experienced in operating the Australian-made Bushmasters armored personnel carriers that were recently delivered to Kiev, they are prevented from using these vehicles.“We have been expressly ordered that we cannot use this equipment — only the Ukrainians can use it.” the former Australian soldier said.

“The Bush” was echoed by former Australian Army officer Glenn Kolomeitz, who told the Australian radio station that foreign mercenaries in Ukraine “are threatened with jail and all manner of nonsense,” if they ask to leave.
Kolomeitz described some of the threats received by Ukrainian International Legion members as “horrendous” and “shocking.” He also accused Ukrainian commanders of “disregarding the planning and just sending troops in, Ukrainians and Westerners, into these battles without the benefit of these operational plans.” According to Kolomeitz, “That’s seeing a lot of people being killed to little effect, to little battlefield effect.” The Australian radio station quoted both Bush and Kolomeitz as saying that “a lack of confidence in the leadership of some commanders of the Legion is a pervasive problem, with devastating effects.”

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They can deny they’re NATO.

UK Intel ‘Freelancers’ Helped Ukraine Target Crimean Bridge – The Grayzone (RT)

Ukraine’s drone attack on the Kerch Bridge was most likely planned by former British military intelligence agents who signed a contract with Kiev in 2022, the independent outlet Grayzone has reported citing leaked documents. A “cabal of British military-intelligence freelancers” led by Chris Donnelly has worked with the Odessa office of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) since April last year, Grayzone said in a report published Wednesday evening. The outlet had published leaked documents proving their partnership in October 2022, after the first attack on the Crimean Bridge. “A review of leaked files previously revealed by The Grayzone provides a solid basis for again blaming Donnelly’s cabal,” the outlet noted in reference to Monday’s drone attack that killed two civilians and orphaned a 14-year-old girl.

Donnelly is described as “a senior intelligence operative and former high ranking NATO advisor.” He is allegedly using a “transnational nexus” involving companies such as Prevail Partners and Thomas in Winslow, to manage “London’s contribution to the proxy war at arm’s length.” The two companies signed a “technical support” agreement with the Odessa branch of the SBU in April 2022, according to Grayzone, which included the use of surveillance drones to “monitor coastline and Russian movement” and access to satellite imagery to assist military and black operations. A “geospatial intelligence” specialist at Prevail provided the SBU with a presentation titled “Kerch Bridge info pack,” which laid out various plans to blow up the bridge built in 2018 to connect Crimea to the Krasnodar Region on the Russian mainland.

“One speculative plot involved detonating a vessel containing ammonia nitrate directly under the bridge,” according to Grayzone. The proposal “approvingly cited as an example to emulate” the August 2020 explosion in Beirut, which killed at least 214 people and devastated the Lebanese capital. According to Grayzone, the British advisers have also provided Kiev with assistance in targeting alleged “Russian collaborators” in territories under Ukraine’s control. Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, boasted to Western media in October 2022 that intelligence services were “shooting them like pigs.”

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This is how bad the equipment situation has become. Setting up repair shops.

Repairing Damaged Ukrainian Military Hardware Would Be Nightmare for West (Sp.)

Hundreds of Western-made Ukrainian armored vehicles have already been damaged or destroyed by Russian forces amid Kiev’s counteroffensive, which continues to show no signs of succeeding. The US and its allies’ “main effort” for Ukraine is currently shifting from delivering military hardware to “repairing and sustaining” it, an American media outlet has reported. The outlet cited the Pentagon’s acquisition and sustainment chief, William LaPlante, as saying that the US Department of Defense (DoD) is now in the process of setting up repair facilities in Europe. “We’re translating [training and repair] manuals, we have to do much more together so there’s going to be more of a focus on that” by partner nations, LaPlante, who is also at the helm of a working group to deal with repairing damaged Ukrainian military equipment, added.

The outlet noted in this vein that “while the sustainment working group has made strides, the realities of national politics and government bureaucracy also have a say.” As an example, the outlet mentioned a botched plan by Berlin and Warsaw to create a joint repair center in Poland for Ukrainian Leopard 2 tanks. The plan reportedly fell apart due to disagreements over the cost of the work, “leaving some damaged tanks to sit unused as they await repair.” “There’s so much [damaged Ukrainian] equipment that is lying around on the battlefield that will probably be repaired on the one hand. And they’ve got stockpiles of it and they don’t know what to do with it,” Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst in the Office of the US Secretary of Defense, told Sputnik.

According to him, this reflects “the most obvious” problem that the US is “running low on new equipment to get to the destination.” “But I perceive that there will be other nightmares as a result of trying to come up with repair stations and moving the damaged equipment in and out of locations, the costs for repairs, [and] the availability of parts,” Maloof pointed out. He warned that tackling these issues might prove difficult given that “Ukraine relies almost entirely on different types of equipment from different countries coming into the country”. When asked how feasible for Western countries would be to synchronize all the processes related to repairing the damaged Ukrainian military equipment, the ex-NATO analyst said that “the process would be a nightmare.”

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Can’t use the Black Sea anymore. Looks like checkmate. And this was your own move. Maybe if you ask Putin nicely…

Kuleba Urges EU To Expand Opportunities For Export Of Ukrainian Grain (Az.)

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on the European Union (EU) members to urgently expand all available opportunities for the export of Ukrainian grain, Report informs via RBC-Ukraine. According to the minister, while Russia “destroys the grain initiative”, strikes at Ukrainian ports and tries to make money on rising food prices, Ukraine and the European Union should make every effort to simplify food exports from Ukraine. In particular, by maximizing the capacity of the alternative transport corridors “Ways of Solidarity”. Kuleba said that with such steps, the Russian side is trying to eliminate Ukraine from the market as a competitor, forcing end buyers, consumers in Asia and Africa, and “finance the Russian military machine.”


According to him, the ideal scenario would be a complete cessation of the naval blockade of Ukrainian ports. This will be possible when Ukraine receives the first F-16 squadron, which will be able to patrol the sky and sea lanes. Kuleba also expressed gratitude to those EU countries that are already making an active contribution to the aviation coalition, and called for the implementation of all procedures as soon as possible. “At present, Ukraine has proposed to the UN and Türkiye to continue the work of the grain corridor in a trilateral format, including ship inspections at the Joint Coordination Center. We are awaiting their response. I urge you to support our request in your engagement with the UN and the Secretary-General,” the minister noted.

Putin grain deal
https://twitter.com/i/status/1682032069206216704

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FD-1023

Grassley Releases Bombshell FBI Doc Discussing $10MM Biden Bribe

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has released a bombshell FBI document dated July 30,2020, in which a respected confidential human source (CHS) alleged that then-presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden received $10 million in bribes. The document, a FD-1023 form, also alleges that the boss of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy firm which employed Hunter Biden to the tune of $80,000 per month, thought Hunter was a moron. Hunter Biden “was stupid, and his (Zlochevsky’s) dog was smarter,” but the Burisma boss “needed to keep hunter [sic] Biden (on the board) “so everything will be ok.”” As the Epoch Times notes, the CHS said he traveled to Burisma’s office in Ukraine in 2015 or 2016 with a man named Oleksandr Ostapenko.

During the meeting, Vadim Pojarskii, chief financial officer of Burisma, told the source that the company hired Hunter Biden “to protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.” Burisma contacted the source to seek assistance in buying an American company to merge with in the hope that it could go public in the United States. After an investigation of Burisma by Ukraine Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin was disclosed in 2016, the source told Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of Burisma , that the disclosure would have a negative impact on the prospective initial public offering. Mr. Zlochevsky replied that Mr. Hunter Biden “will take care of all of those issues through his dad,” according to the document. Mr. Zlochevsky was also cited as saying that it cost $5 million to pay one Biden, and $5 million to pay another Biden.


The source replied that payments to the Bidens would complicate matters and the Bidens did not have experience with the oil and gas sector, according to the document. Mr. Zlochevsky said his dog was smarter than Mr. Hunter Biden but that he needed to keep him on the board “so everything will be okay.” Both Mr. Hunter Biden and Mr. Joe Biden had told Mr. Zlochevsky that Hunter Biden needed to remain on the board, Mr. Zlochevsky said. Around the same time, Mr. Joe Biden, the U.S. vice president at the time, was pressuring Ukrainian officials to fire Mr. Shokin. “We’re leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor’s not fired, you’re not getting the money,” Mr. Joe Biden said at a public event about the interaction, referring to a $1 billion loan guarantee he threatened to withhold. “Well, son of a [expletive]. He got fired.” Mr. Shokin has said that the threat was cited when he was ousted. He said in a sworn statement that then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko “asked me to resign due to pressure from the U.S. presidential administration, in particular from Joe Biden.”

Poro

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“..most lawyers would have reversed engines out of troubled waters, but Goldman plowed full speed ahead..”

Rep. Dan Goldman Demolishes Biden Defense in Whistleblower Hearing (Turley)

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) often goes where wiser members fear to tread. On this occasion, Goldman may have delivered one of the most damaging moments for the Democrats. In the course of just a few minutes, the freshman New York congressman seemed to demolish the defense of President Biden. Goldman was trying to get the witnesses to say that there is no evidence that President Biden was personally involved in the alleged felonies of his son. He raised the shocking WhatsApp message that Hunter had allegedly sent to a Chinese official with foreign intelligence contacts. In the message, Hunter wrote: “I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”

Most Democrats have avoided the message, which is incredibly damaging and seems to contradict the President’s long denial of any knowledge or involvement in his son’s dealings. Goldman pressed veteran IRS investigator Gary Shapley about his suggestion that Joe Biden discussed the foreign dealing with his son. Shapley eagerly said that he would be happy to explain but Goldman cut him off and said that he did not have time for such explanations. At this point, most lawyers would have reversed engines out of troubled waters, but Goldman plowed full speed ahead. He said that the references to Joe sitting next to his son does not mean that they actually discussed his business. Goldman then went even further and raised a “lunch where Joe Biden came to say hello at the Four Season’s hotel to a lunch that he was having with CEFC executives.”

He then reads from the record in how Biden associate Rob Walker described the origins of the meeting with the Chinese officials to get his dad to stop by: “Hunter told his Dad that ‘I may be trying to start a company or try to do something with these guys.’ “ Goldman then pounced and said slyly “Now let me ask you something, that doesn’t sound much like Joe Biden was involved in whatever Hunter was doing with the CEFC if Hunter Biden is telling him that he is trying to do business with them, does it?” That is when Shapley stated the obvious: “No, but it does show that he told his father that he was trying to do business and . . . ” Goldman finally hears the train whistle and tries to get off the track: “OK, well that is true that Hunter Biden does try to do business, that is correct.”

Too late. Goldman was citing the testimony of Walker that Joe Biden not only came to a lunch on Hunter’s foreign dealings, but did so after being told that Hunter wanted to lay the foundation for such a deal. This is the same Joe Biden who has repeatedly told the American people that he never discussed any of Hunter’s deals and had no knowledge of such deals. He has maintained that denial as evidence has mounted contradicting him. Even when he flew his son to China where Hunter cut lucrative deals, he insists that they never mentioned that deal.

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“..we are now looking at peak cheap energy at a time when asset markets are in bubble territory with debts and deficits at levels which can only result in an implosion..”

A Catastrophic Debt Implosion Can Be Incredibly Quick (Von Greyerz)

Coming back to Dante’s Inferno, the 9 circles of hell are: 1. Limbo – where there is no god, 2. Lust, 3. Gluttony, 4. Greed, 5. Wrath, 6. Heresy, 7. Violence, 8. Fraud, and 9.Treachery. Many of the 9 sins in Dante’s Inferno apply to today’s world but maybe Gluttony is one of the more fitting to a self indulgent Western world. Cerberus, the three-headed beast of hell, guards the gluttons mauling and flaying them for eternity. (Sounds pretty horrible. A more modern version might be the song “Hotel California” by the Eagles – “You can check out any time but you can never leave”.) Also Homer wrote about Cerberus. What we do know is that in this final phase that probably started in 1913 with the foundation of the Fed and accelerated from 1971 when Nixon closed the gold window we have seen the required excesses or gluttony that inevitably lead to a severe punishment.

We have seen historical bubbles in all asset markets whether in Stocks, Bonds, Property and many others. We have also seen debt explode, especially since 1971. As always in the final stages of an empire, real growth first slows down and then stops. The primary driver of economic growth since the second half of the 1700s has been the discovery and use of energy on an industrial scale, starting with the industrial revolution. The growth of the economy is not driven by money but by energy. As Tim Morgan of Surplus Energy Economics states:“The economy is a surplus energy equation, not a monetary one, and growth in output (and in the global population) since the Industrial Revolution has resulted from the harnessing of ever-greater quantities of energy. But the critical relationship between energy production and the energy cost of extraction is now deteriorating so rapidly that the economy as we have known it for more than two centuries is beginning to unravel.”

The dilemma is that the Energy Cost of Energy is constantly increasing. In 1990 that cost was 2.6% of fossil fuels and is estimated to be 12% in 2025. According to Dr Morgan, with the current Energy Cost of Energy, the real economy as well as prosperity has started to decline and that trend will continue for several decades. Fossil fuels still represent 83% of all energy globally and renewable energy is unlikely to make any significant difference in the next few decades. So we are now looking at peak cheap energy at a time when asset markets are in bubble territory with debts and deficits at levels which can only result in an implosion. Again let me emphasise that cheap energy is a prerequisite for economic growth.

So, what are governments doing about this? They are clearly aware of the risks and this is why they invent all kinds of events that will enable them to control the people. This includes Covid lockdowns, forced vaccinations, climate control, CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies), wars and unlimited rules, regulations and laws. The US for example now has over 300,000 laws controlling all aspects of daily life and making everyone a likely daily felon.

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“..They do not want people to afford a home because then there would be no need for 15-minute cities..“

Freedom Flyers (Martin Armstrong)

Have you ever noticed a decorative eagle plaque above a home in America? This was once a popular symbol back in the day to symbolize freedom from mortgage payments. Homeowners would adorn their houses with this symbol to indicate that they were free from the bank and owned their home free and clear. Around 40% of owner-occupied homes have been paid off, further adding to the housing inventory crisis. The 2022 Federal Housing Finance Agency reported in 2022 that 84% of outstanding mortgages locked in a rate below 5%, while 63% secured a rate at or below 4%. Mortgage rates surpassed 8% last week and those who own are unlikely to sell. While some point to double-digit mortgage rates in the past, it was not difficult for buyers to put down 40% upfront since housing prices were low in comparison to wages.


This was also a time when the cost of living supported a traditional lifestyle where only one partner was required to work. Although COVID and low rates created strong demand, the underlying issue is the Great Reset. Institutions are set to own 40% of all single-family rentals by 2030, precisely on time for Agenda 2030. Regular buyers have been outbid by institutions coming in with cash payments. BlackRock is now the largest landowner in America. This is all by design. They do not want people to afford a home because then there would be no need for 15-minute cities, and forever renters living in ADUs. The inventory issue will not recover because no one can outbid the institutions who do not need to borrow money.

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Elijah

 

 

 

 

Mantis
https://twitter.com/i/status/1682018991781412866

 

 


Mercator projection

 

 

Raven

 

 

 

 

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Nov 052018
 
 November 5, 2018  Posted by at 9:55 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  5 Responses »


Jean-Francois Millet The Young Shepherdess 1870-73

 

Iran Vows To ‘Proudly Bypass’ US Sanctions (AFP)
China Says Its Lawful Trade With Iran Should Be Respected (R.)
Iran Hardline Cleric: We’ll “Instantly” Create $400 Oil By Seizing Tankers (ZH)
The Global US Squeeze On Iran Has Started (EM)
Trump’s War on the Fed (Ellen Brown)
David Stockman: Epic Downturn Is Here, Brace For 40% Market Plunge (CNBC)
The Challenge for Deutsche Bank (Whalen)
The Real Economic Gamble Is Too Little Government Borrowing (Ind.)
Theresa May’s Chances Of Striking Irish Border Deal ’50-50′ – EU (G.)
1,400 UK Top Lawyers Call On May To Give Voters Final Say On Brexit Deal (Ind.)
Saudi Sent ‘Cover-Up Team’ To Dispose Of Khashoggi Body (AFP)
Khashoggi’s Sons Appeal For Return Of His Body (R.)
2nd Kavanaugh Accuser Admits She Lied (ZH)
Senate Judiciary Republicans Say No Evidence Found Against Kavanaugh (Hill)

 

 

Iran remembers the sjah, and US involvement in his reign, and the Savak. Americans forget at their own peril. Painting Iran as the aggressor while siding with the Saudi’s against it is not 100% credible, to say the least.

Iran Vows To ‘Proudly Bypass’ US Sanctions (AFP)

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic republic “will proudly bypass sanctions” by the United States that took effect on Monday targeting the country’s oil and financial sectors. “I announce that we will proudly bypass your illegal, unjust sanctions because it’s against international regulations,” Rouhani said in a televised speech. “We are in a situation of economic war, confronting a bullying power. I don’t think that in the history of America, someone has entered the White House who is so against law and international conventions,” he added. The measures described by Washington as “the toughest sanctions ever” follow US President Donald Trump’s controversial decision in May to abandon the multi-nation nuclear deal with Tehran.

The latest tranche aim to significantly cut Iran’s oil exports – which have already fallen by around one million barrels a day since May – and cut it off from international finance. The United States has given temporary exemptions to eight countries – including India, Japan and Turkey – to continue buying oil in a bid to avoid disturbing their economies and global markets. But US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed to push Iran’s oil sales to zero. “Watch what we do. Watch as we’ve already taken more crude oil off the market than any time in previous history,” he told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.


Iranian General Qasem Soleimani posted this

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Clear and concise.

China Says Its Lawful Trade With Iran Should Be Respected (R.)

China said on Monday its lawful trade cooperation with Iran should be respected and expressed regret that the United States re-imposed sanctions on the Middle Eastern country. Speaking at a daily news briefing in Beijing, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying did not directly comment on whether China had been granted exemption from the Iran sanctions by the United States. The restoration of U.S. sanctions on Monday targeting Iran’s oil sales and banking sector is part of an effort by U.S. President Donald Trump to force Iran to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes outright, as well as its support for proxy forces in conflicts across the Middle East.

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“The UAE and Saudi Arabia will be destroyed in 60 minutes. After 90 minutes the U.S. will have nothing in this country. And we haven’t even started with Israel. Beware of the day we go after Israel, too.”

Iran Hardline Cleric: We’ll “Instantly” Create $400 Oil By Seizing Tankers (ZH)

Powerful Shia cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda is the Friday Prayer leader in Mashhad, considered Iran’s spiritual capital and among the holiest places in Shia Islam, and sits on the government’s “Assembly of Experts” but has no formal government role or decision-making ability. However, he’s a powerful leader and chief spiritual force behind Iran’s conservative faction who has long been at odds with President Hassan Rouhani. Iranian opposition sources report that Alamolhoda told his followers during his Friday prayer sermon: “If we reach a point that our oil is not exported, the Strait of Hormuz will be mined. Saudi oil tankers will be seized and regional countries will be leveled with Iranian missiles.”

The cleric is further reported to have declared that Iran has the power to “instantly” create conditions for $400 a barrel oil prices if it decides to act in the Persian Gulf. He said as reported in regional opposition media: “If Iran decides, a single drop of this region’s oil will not be exported and in 90 minutes all Persian Gulf countries will be destroyed. The UAE and Saudi Arabia will be destroyed in 60 minutes. After 90 minutes the U.S. will have nothing in this country. And we haven’t even started with Israel. Beware of the day we go after Israel, too. That’s why they want us to round up our missiles.”

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“General Qassem Soleimani has said to President Hassan Rouhani: “You walk and we stand ahead of you. Don’t respond to Trump’s provocations because he is insolent and not at your level. I shall face him myself“

The Global US Squeeze On Iran Has Started (EM)

Today the harshest and highest level economic and energy sanctions that can be imposed on any country are being imposed unilaterally on Iran. The US establishment will try its best to bring the Islamic Republic to its knees and Tehran will do its best to cross the US minefield. Whatever the outcome, Iran will never submit to Washington’s twelve conditions.Iran is not a fledgeling country ready to collapse at the imposition of the first tight sanctions, nor will Iran allow its oil exports to be frozen without reacting. In fact, US and UN sanctions against Iran date to the beginning of the Islamic Revolution and the fall of the Shah in 1979.No doubt the Iranian economy will be affected. Nevertheless, Iranian unity today has reached new heights.

President Trump has managed to bring reformists and radicals together under the same umbrella! Iranian General Qassem Soleimani has said to President Hassan Rouhani: “You walk and we stand ahead of you. Don’t respond to Trump’s provocations because he is insolent and not at your level. I shall face him myself”. Rouhani believes “US policy and its new conspiracy will fail”. All responsible figures in the Iranian regime are now united under the leadership of Imam Ali Khamenei against the US policy whose aim is to curb the regime. Under the previous worldwide sanctions regime, Iran began developing missile technology and precision weapons. Iran has never yielded in support of its allies because these alliances are an integral part of its ideology.

Today, Tehran is not standing alone against the US and is waiting to see what course global sanctions will take before reacting. Officials in Tehran, convinced that Trump will win a second term, are preparing for a long siege. Sayyed Ali Khamenei said his country will never strike any deal with the US and won’t be a party to any future agreement because the US is fundamentally untrustworthy. Iran relies on the unity of its own citizens and on the support of its partners in the Middle East, Europe (a crucial strategic ally), and Asia.

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End the Fed. Is that Trump’s endgame?

Trump’s War on the Fed (Ellen Brown)

[..] perhaps the president’s goal is not to subtly affect Fed behavior so much as to make it patently obvious who is to blame when the next Great Recession hits. And recession is fairly certain to hit, because higher interest rates almost always trigger recessions. The Fed’s current policy of “quantitative tightening”—tightening or contracting the money supply—is the very definition of recession, a term Wikipedia defines as “a business cycle contraction which results in a general slowdown in economic activity.” This “business cycle” is not something inevitable, like the weather. It is triggered by the central bank. When the Fed drops interest rates, banks flood the market with “easy money,” allowing speculators to snatch up homes and other assets.

When the central bank then raises interest rates, it contracts the amount of money available to spend and to pay down debt. Borrowers go into default and foreclosed homes go on the market at fire-sale prices, again to be snatched up by the monied class. But it is a game of Monopoly that cannot go on forever. According to Elga Bartsch, chief European economist at Morgan Stanley, one more financial cataclysm could be all that it takes for central bank independence to end. “Having been overburdened for a long time, many central banks might just be one more economic downturn or financial crisis away from a full-on political backlash,” she wrote in a note to clients in 2017. “Such a political backlash could call into question one of the long-standing tenets of modern monetary policy making—central bank independence.”

And that may be the president’s endgame. When higher rates trigger another recession, Trump can point an accusing finger at the central bank, absolving his own policies of liability and underscoring the need for a major overhaul of the Fed. Trump has not overtly joined the End the Fed campaign, but he has had the ear of several advocates of that approach. One is John Allison, whom the president evidently considered for both Fed chairman and treasury secretary. Allison has proposed ending the Fed altogether and returning to the gold standard, and Trump suggested on the campaign trail that he approved of a gold-backed currency.

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At some point David will be right.

David Stockman: Epic Downturn Is Here, Brace For 40% Market Plunge (CNBC)

David Stockman warns a 40 percent stock market plunge is closing in on Wall Street. Stockman, who served as President Reagan’s Office of Management and Budget director, has long warned of a deep downturn that would shake Wall Street’s most bullish investors. He believes the early rumblings of that epic downturn is finally here. It comes as the S&P 500 Index tries to rebound from its worst month since 2011. “No one has outlawed recessions. We’re within a year or two of one,” he said Thursday on CNBC’s “Futures Now.” He added that: “fair value of the S&P going into the next recession is well below 2000, 1500 — way below where we are today.” This is far from the first time he’s issued a dire warning. But this time, he suggests the latest leg down is an early tremor of the pain that lies ahead.

“If you’re a rational investor, you need only two words in your vocabulary: Trump and sell,” said Stockman, in a reference to President Donald Trump. “He’s playing with fire at the very top of an aging expansion.” According to Stockman, Trump’s efforts to get the Federal Reserve to put the brakes on hiking interest rates from historical lows is misdirected. “He’s attacking the Fed for going too quick when it’s been dithering for eight years. The funds rate at 2.13 percent is still below inflation,” he said. Stockman cited the trade war as another major reason why investors should brace for a prolonged sell-off. “The trade war is not remotely rational,” he said. If the dispute worsens, it “is going to hit the whole goods economy with inflation like you’ve never seen before because China supplies about 30 percent of the goods in the categories we import.”

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The world’s fattest zombie?!

The Challenge for Deutsche Bank (Whalen)

When we first heard news reports about a new investor in Deutsche Bank (DB), we of course assumed that this meant the purchase of new shares and thus an increase in capital. But no, it was merely an “activist investor” taking a stake in existing shares. Is this really news or merely a sign of a top in large bank stocks? The DB common is trading a hair over $10 or just 0.3x book value and has a beta of 1.5. Douglas Braunstein, founder and managing partner of Hudson Executive Capital and J.P. Morgan’s former CFO, said in an interview with CNBC that the firm has taken on the stake over the last few months after studying the stock for a year. We’ve been following DB for a lot longer than that and have great difficulty constructing a bull case for the name. But let’s take a look anyway.

First on the list of concerns is profitability. DB has been struggling for years to find a business strategy to deliver consistent profitability, the key measure of stability for any bank. Through the first nine months of the year, DB delivered net income of less than a €1 billion compared with €1.6 billion a year ago. For the full year 2017 the bank lost €750 million. As yet, no one on the management team – if we may so dignify DB’s executives – have been able to articulate a coherent plan to move forward. Second is capital. DB has just €61 billion or 4% capital to total assets of €1.5 trillion, one of the lowest simple leverage ratios of any major bank worldwide. The bank tries to hide this capital deficiency behind calculations that exclusively use “risk weighted “assets” of just €354 billion. In the bank’s non-GAPP disclosure, there is just €54 billion in tangible capital disclosed for a leverage ratio closer to 3%.

In the Q3 ’18 earnings call, when CEO Christian Sewing said that “we committed to conservative balance sheet management and maintaining a CET1 ratio above 13%,” he was referring to risk weighted assets, not total assets. If one assumes that the entire Basel III/IV framework is a confused mess when it comes to describing risk, then the leverage ratio is what matters. Risk weighted assets is a way to pretend that the rest of the banks in Europe and Asia are solvent. To be fair to DB, most European banks play the game of only referring to “risk weighted assets” in their financial disclosure to investors. The EU bank regulators are entirely complicit in this charade. Indeed, since the end of 2017 DB’s total capital has actually fallen 4%.

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Italy knows. Austerity is under justified pressure. With Merkel leaving, and Juncker too.

The Real Economic Gamble Is Too Little Government Borrowing (Ind.)

With his dad jokes and fetish for spreadsheets, Philip Hammond does not fit the stereotype of a “gambler”. But the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) nevertheless argues that the chancellor rolled the dice in last week’s Budget and took a rather risky wager. Instead of using his lower borrowing projection “windfall” from the official independent forecaster to reduce the deficit more rapidly, Hammond essentially spent it all on the health service, while leaving the overall path of government borrowing more or less unchanged. He could have had a projected budget surplus in five years’ time, but instead there’s still set to be around £20bn of borrowing in 2023-24.

Virtually the entire UK news media took up this “gambler” theme in their headline coverage of the aftermath of the Budget. Yet we should be extremely wary of this framing. Because it obscures the crucial truth that, in economics, the gamble is sometimes borrowing too little, not too much. The IFS, to be fair, was using the phrase in a narrow sense of the chancellor jeopardising his chances of meeting his own self-imposed fiscal rules. Those Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) borrowing downgrades – whose origins remain mysterious given the official forecaster hasn’t upgraded its nominal GDP or growth forecasts which would be the most obvious explanations for higher than expected tax receipts lately – could very well be reversed in future budgets.

Since 2010, most underlying borrowing revisions have been negative (implying more borrowing than previously expected) rather than positive for the public finances. What the lord of forecasting (in this case OBR director Robert Chote) giveth, he can also taketh away. He even warned as much last week. And what would happen then?

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if only she gives in she can have a deal yesterday.

Theresa May’s Chances Of Striking Irish Border Deal ’50-50′ – EU (G.)

The chances of Theresa May striking a deal with Brussels on the Irish border that she can sell to the cabinet and parliament are said by EU officials to be “50-50” as the fraught talks enter their final stretch. The British negotiating team and the European commission’s taskforce, led by Michel Barnier, are to enter a secretive phase known as the “tunnel” this week, but senior EU figures involved in the talks warned the competing redlines remain “incompatible” in key areas. The British government has set out its stall to make “decisive progress” on the issue of the Northern Ireland backstop by Friday, in the hope that Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, could then call an extraordinary Brexit summit for the end of the month to seal the deal.

One Whitehall source said, should sufficient ground be made in the coming days, a tentative new date of 22 November is being floated for a meeting of the EU’s heads of state and government. Downing Street has insisted it does not have a deal ready for signoff, in response to reports over the weekend of there being an agreement in the making. “We are not sitting on powder keg knowledge that we have signed a secret deal,” the No 10 source said. “We are not on the cusp of some seismic shift.” Some at the highest levels of government fear that, unless progress is agreed by Tuesday when May sees her senior ministers and parliament breaks for recess, the cabinet may not have a direct input before a summit announcement is made.

“The reality is that we need a November summit more than the EU do,” a government source said. They suggested that a December deal would mean not only a later parliamentary vote but would require spending on no-deal planning and changes to the roles of hundreds of civil service.

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Hard to see how May can avoid a Final Say.

1,400 UK Top Lawyers Call On May To Give Voters Final Say On Brexit Deal (Ind.)

Fourteen hundred of the UK’s top lawyers have urged Theresa May and MPs to back a second Brexit referendum, saying that democratic government “is not frozen in time”. Labour peer Baroness Kennedy QC, former Court of Appeal judge Konrad Schiemann and David Edward, a former judge of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, are among those who have called for a people’s vote on EU membership. In a letter to Mrs May, they say parliament should not be bound by the 2016 vote any more than it should be by the 1975 referendum that took Britain into the EU, especially when there are question marks over its validity.

They wrote that voters are entitled to know what they are voting for, and said: “There was a key difference between 1975 and 2016. The earlier referendum was held after negotiations were complete, so voters knew what they were voting for. “In 2016, the nature of the negotiation process and its outcome were unknown. Voters faced a choice between a known reality and an unknown alternative. “In the campaign, untestable claims took the place of facts and reality.” Human rights specialist Jonathan Cooper, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, said: “The current state of the Brexit negotiations is worrying people throughout the UK and the legal profession is no exception to that. “We represent people from across industry and society and we see every day the way the prospect of a catastrophic Brexit deal is already causing real harm.

Read more …

First team of 15 to kill him, 2nd team of 11 to get rid of the body 9 days later. Question: what happened during those 9 days? The Turkish probably know.

Saudi Sent ‘Cover-Up Team’ To Dispose Of Khashoggi Body (AFP)

Saudi Arabia deployed a chemist and toxicology expert to Istanbul after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in an attempt to cover up evidence of the killing, a Turkish newspaper reported on Monday. The murder of the Saudi royal-insider-turned critic inside Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul has provoked widespread international outrage. Turkish authorities have released gruesome details of a killing that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said was a targeted hit. While Riyadh officials have admitted the murder was planned, they have so far declined to release details of the whereabouts of the 59-year-old journalist’s missing body.

According to Turkey’s pro-government Sabah daily, Saudi Arabia sent an 11-member “cover-up team” to Istanbul on October 11, nine days after the Washington Post contributor vanished after entering the diplomatic compound to obtain paperwork for his marriage. The paper said chemist Ahmad Abdulaziz Aljanobi and toxicology expert Khaled Yahya Al Zahrani were among “the so-called investigative team”, which visited the consulate every day until October 17, before leaving Turkey on October 20. Saudi Arabia finally allowed Turkish police to search the consulate for the first time on October 15.

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That might be a tad difficult. you know, between the bone saw and the acid…

Khashoggi’s Sons Appeal For Return Of His Body (R.)

The sons of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Sunday issued an appeal for the return of their father’s body and said they wanted to return to Saudi Arabia to bury him. In an interview with CNN, Salah and Abdullah Khashoggi said that without their father’s body, their family is unable to grieve and deal with the emotional burden of their father’s death. “It’s not a normal situation, it’s not a normal death at all. All what we want right now is to bury him in Al-Baqi (cemetery) in Medina (Saudi Arabia) with the rest of his family,” Salah Khashoggi said. “I talked about that with the Saudi authorities and I just hope that it happens soon.”

[..] Khashoggi’s body has not been recovered, and Saudi authorities are conducting an official investigation. Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, an international businessman, said on Sunday that the probe will exonerate the country’s leader. Salah Khashoggi on Oct. 24 met in Riyadh with the crown prince and King Salman to receive condolences along with other Khashoggi family members. Salah departed for Washington a day later, and his CNN interview was his first public comments since then. He said King Salman assured him that those involved in Jamal Khashoggi’s murder would be brought to justice.

“We just need to make sure that he rests in peace,” Salah Khashoggi said of his father. “Until now, I still can’t believe that he’s dead. It’s not sinking in with me emotionally,” he said, adding that there has been a lot of “misinformation” about the circumstances of the death.

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At some point we must ask ourselves: what have we been watching?

2nd Kavanaugh Accuser Admits She Lied (ZH)

A Kentucky woman who accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of rape has been referred to the Department of Justice after she admitted that she lied. The woman, Judy Munro-Leighton, took credit for contacting the office of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) as “Jane Doe” from Oceanside, California. Jane Doe claimed – without naming a time or place – that Kavanaugh and a friend raped her “several times each” in the backseat of a car. Harris referred the letter to the committee for investigation. “They forced me to go into the backseat and took 2 turns raping me several times each. They dropped me off 3 two blocks from my home,” wrote Munro-Leighton, claiming that the pair told her “No one will believe if you tell. Be a good girl.”

Kavanaugh was questioned on September 26 about the allegation, to which he unequivocally stated: “[T]he whole thing is ridiculous. Nothing ever – anything like that, nothing… [T]he whole thing is just a crock, farce, wrong, didn’t happen, not anything close.” The next week, Munro-Leighton sent an email to the Judiciary committee claiming to be Jane Doe from Oceanside, California – reiterating her claims of a “vicious assault” which she said she knew “will get no media attention.” Upon investigation, the Judiciary Committee investigators found that Munro-Leighton was a left wing activist who is decades older than Judge Kavanaugh, who lives in Kentucky. When Committee investigators contacted her, she backpedaled on her claim of being the original Jane Doe – and said she emailed the committee “as a way to grab attention.”

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“The witnesses that Dr. Ford identified as individuals who could corroborate her allegations failed to do so, and in fact, contradicted her..”

Senate Judiciary Republicans Say No Evidence Found Against Kavanaugh (Hill)

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee late Saturday released a 414-page report in which the panel members say they found no supporting evidence for any of the allegations of sexual misconduct made against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh ahead of his confirmation. “Committee investigators spoke with 45 individuals and took 25 written statements relating to the various allegations made in the course of the #SCOTUS confirmation process,” the Senate Judiciary Committee tweeted Saturday. “In neither the committee’s investigation nor in the supplemental background investigation conducted by the FBI was there ANY evidence to substantiate or corroborate any of the allegations.”

The committee investigators “found no verifiable evidence that supported” Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed in the early 1980s and attempted to remove her clothes while covering her mouth with one hand. “The witnesses that Dr. Ford identified as individuals who could corroborate her allegations failed to do so, and in fact, contradicted her,” the report notes. It also states that committee investigators “found no verifiable evidence” to support Deborah Ramirez’s claim that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party when they were both at Yale. The report additionally dismisses allegations from Julie Swetnick, forwarded by lawyer Michael Avenatti.

“Indeed, the evidence appears to support the position that Julie Swetnick and Mr. Avenatti criminally conspired to make materially false statements to the Committee and obstruct the Committee’s investigation,” the report writes. Avenatti and Swetnick have both been referred to the Department of Justice for potential criminal investigations into their behavior during Kavanaugh’s confirmation process. Avenatti has been referred a second time.

Read more …

Oct 262018
 


Ernst Haas Greece 1952

 

Expect a “Lost Decade”, Stock Market Rout “Only Just a Start” (Mish)
Asian Stocks Hit 20-Month Lows, S&P Futures Slide As Investors Flee Risk (R.)
Friday Hasn’t Even Started Yet, But It’s Already Ugly (WS)
ECB Keeps Rates On Hold But Reaffirms QE Exit Plans (CNBC)
UK Labour Pledges To Reverse Cuts And ‘End Austerity’ (G.)
Grassley Refers Avenatti And Swetnick For DOJ Investigation (G.)
World’s Billionaires Became 20% Richer In 2017 (G.)
Twitter Bans Former Asst. Treasury Secretary Paul Craig Roberts (ZH)
Judge Says Assange Hearing Needs A Translator Fluent In ‘Australian’ (RT)
Canadian Doctors To Start Prescribing Museum Visits (AFP)
Entire Great Barrier Reef At Risk Of Bleaching And Coral Death (G.)

 

 

So what’s the net effect of QE?

Expect a “Lost Decade”, Stock Market Rout “Only Just a Start” (Mish)

October has been a terrible month for equities. Yet, this is only a start of what’s to come.

Despite the rout, the S&P is just barely down for the year.

Expect a “Lost Decade”

Why?

The Shiller PE Ratio also known as “CAPE”, the Cyclically Adjusted Price-Earnings Ratio, is in the stratosphere. It’s not a timing mechanism, rather it’s a warning mechanism. The main idea is that earnings are mean reverting. On that basis, stocks are more overvalued than any time other than the DotCom era. But that is misleading. In 2000 there were many sectors that were extremely cheap. Energy was a standout buy then. So were retail and financials. It’s difficult to find any undervalued sectors now other than gold.

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Another Reuters headline says: “World stocks head for worst losing streak in over half a decade..”

Asian Stocks Hit 20-Month Lows, S&P Futures Slide As Investors Flee Risk (R.)

Asian shares skidded to 20-month lows, S&P futures fell sharply and China’s yuan weakened at the end of a turbulent week for financial markets on Friday, as anxiety over corporate profits added to lingering fears about global trade and economic growth. The gloom enveloping Asia was at odds with a bounce on Wall Street overnight, highlighting fragile investor confidence, as shares of tech titans Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc fell sharply after the closing bell on disappointing earnings. In Friday’s Asian session, S&P E-mini futures slumped 0.88 percent, setting up a potentially rough session for U.S. markets which had crumbled on Wednesday on concerns about earnings and sent global equities into a tailspin.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 1.04 percent, erasing tiny gains made in the opening hour and hitting its lowest level since February 2017. Not helping was a slide in the Chinese yuan past a key level, refocusing market attention on slowing growth in the world’s second-biggest economy. Shares in Europe are seen following Asia down, with London’s FTSE expected to open 0.9 percent lower, Germany’s DAX off 1 percent and France’s CAC 40 down 1.2 percent, according to David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK. “There’s no question that the weight of sentiment has been building,” said James McGlew, executive director of corporate stockbroking at Argonaut in Brisbane, highlighting in particular rising geopolitical tensions including Brexit, and “internal financial tension” in China.

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Big tech big losses.

Friday Hasn’t Even Started Yet, But It’s Already Ugly (WS)

So far in October, the S&P 500 has booked 13 losing days, including October 10, when the index dropped 3.3%, and October 24, when it dropped 3.1%. Then came today, with the feel-good moment of a boisterous 1.9% gain. And then came after-hours trading, and nearly everything went to heck, particularly the FANGMAN stocks that weigh so heavily on the index with their $4-trillion market cap. And Friday morning looks already ugly.

All of the FANGMAN stocks were in the red in late trading:
Facebook [FB]: -2.3%
Amazon [AMZN]: -7.4%
Netflix [NFLX]: -2.8%
Google’s parent Alphabet [GOOG]: -3.7%
Microsoft [MSFT]: -1.5%
Apple [AAPL]: -0.4%
NVIDIA [NVDA]: -2.8%

There were some standout reasons: Amazon plunged after it reported record profit but missed on revenues and guided down Q4 expectations for sales and profits, a sign of slowing revenue growth. It was down as much as $150 a share, or almost 9%. Google’s parent Alphabet reported that revenues grew 22%, which missed expectations. Earnings beat, but a considerable slice – $1.38 billion! – of those earnings came from the gains in its portfolio of equity securities. CFO Ruth Porat warned that traffic acquisition costs would increase further as consumers are shifting search activity from desktop computers to mobile devices. Shares plunged up to 5%.

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Can Draghi stop purchasing Italian bonds?

ECB Keeps Rates On Hold But Reaffirms QE Exit Plans (CNBC)

The European Central Bank (ECB) took no action on Thursday, leaving its benchmark interest rates unchanged. However, the ECB confirmed that its plan to end monetary easing by the end of the year remains on track. “Regarding non-standard monetary policy measures, the Governing Council will continue to make net purchases under the asset purchase programme (APP) at the new monthly pace of 15 billion euros until the end of December 2018,” the ECB said in a statement. “The Governing Council anticipates that, subject to incoming data confirming the medium-term inflation outlook, net purchases will then end,” the bank added.

The decision takes place as concerns mount over Italy’s fiscal policies and their potential impact over the stability of the euro area. The end of the ECB’s massive crisis-era stimulus program could be a challenging moment for European bonds, given that the ECB will no longer be in the market purchasing sovereign paper and providing some sort of backstop. This could add further pressure, mainly on Italy, given the widespread concerns over its debt pile.

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There’s a taste of Italy here, though political leanings are very different.

UK Labour Pledges To Reverse Cuts And ‘End Austerity’ (G.)

The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has said Labour would reverse cuts made by the government since 2010 as Labour highlighted more than £108bn needed to “end austerity”. Labour’s pre-budget review said it would take £42bn to reverse departmental spending cuts. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) had already highlighted another £19bn needed to stop further cuts to government. Some £33.5bn would be required to reverse cuts to social security and social care, Labour said. McDonnell pledged to increase spending on the National Health Service, adult social care, and schools, at a speech in London to business and trade union representatives.

Earlier this month the prime minister, Theresa May, also said she would end the policy of austerity instituted by her predecessor David Cameron and continued by the current government. May told the Conservative party conference: “After a decade of austerity, people need to know that their hard work has paid off.” However, policy experts have highlighted that the government’s pledge leaves room for manoeuvre. The £19bn bill calculated by the IFS, a non-partisan thinktank, would be needed to prevent further cuts in spending to government departments whose budgets are not protected, under one definition of “ending austerity”.

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Why invite more of the same?

Grassley Refers Avenatti And Swetnick For DOJ Investigation (G.)

Chuck Grassley, the chair of the Senate judiciary committee, has referred the lawyer Michael Avenatti and Julie Swetnick, one of Brett Kavanaugh’s accusers, for criminal investigation. In a statement, Grassley said he was referring the two to the justice department for a “criminal investigation relating to a potential conspiracy to provide materially false statements to Congress and obstruct a congressional committee investigation”. Swetnick, who was represented by Avenatti, came forward in late September to allege that Kavanaugh took part in efforts to gang-rape women at drunken parties. She said she too was gang-raped at one such party, but did not directly accuse Kavanaugh of being involved.

Kavanaugh categorically denied the accusations calling them “a joke” and “a farce” in his testimony before the Senate. Avenatti has become an increasingly high-profile opponent of Donald Trump after coming to prominence as the lawyer of Stormy Daniels, a porn star who claims she had an affair with Trump. Avenatti has been an outspoken critic of Trump on cable TV and social media. He is also mulling a run for the White House in 2020. Swetnick was the third woman to come forward to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct during his confirmation process for the supreme court. The Senate approved Kavanaugh’s nomination by a 50-48 vote in early October.

Grassley accused Swetnick and Avenatti of knowingly misleading the committee. “That’s unfair to my colleagues, the nominees and others providing information who are seeking the truth,” said the Iowa Republican. “It stifles our ability to work on legitimate lines of inquiry. It also wastes time and resources for destructive reasons. Thankfully, the law prohibits such false statements to Congress and obstruction of congressional committee investigations. For the law to work, we can’t just brush aside potential violations. I don’t take lightly making a referral of this nature, but ignoring this behavior will just invite more of it in the future,” Grassley said.

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Inequality has become a dangerous game, but greed wins the day every day.

World’s Billionaires Became 20% Richer In 2017 (G.)

Billionaires made more money in 2017 than in any year in recorded history. The richest people on Earth increased their wealth by a fifth to $8.9tn (£6.9tn), according to a report by Swiss bank UBS. The fortunes of today’s super-wealthy have risen at a far greater rate than at the turn of the 20th century, when families such as the Rothschilds, Rockefellers and Vanderbilts controlled vast wealth. The report by UBS and accountants PwC said there was so much money in the hands of the ultra-rich that a new wave of rich and powerful multi-generational families was being created. “The past 30 years have seen far greater wealth creation than the Gilded Age” the UBS Billionaires 2018 report said.

“That period bred generations of families in the US and Europe who went on to influence business, banking, politics, philanthropy and the arts for more than 100 years. With wealth set to pass from entrepreneurs to their heirs in the coming years, the 21st century multi-generational families are being created.” The world’s 2,158 billionaires grew their combined wealth by $1.4tn last year, more than the GDP of Spain or Australia, as booming stock markets helped the already very wealthy to achieve the “greatest absolute growth ever”. More than 40 of the 179 new billionaires created last year inherited their wealth, and given the number of billionaires over 70 the report’s authors expect a further $3.4tn to be handed down over the next 20 years.

“A major wealth transition has begun,” the report said. “Over the past five years, the sum passed by deceased billionaires to beneficiaries has grown by an average of 17% each year, to reach $117bn in 2017. In that year alone, 44 heirs inherited more than a billion dollars each.

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Completely insane.

Twitter Bans Former Asst. Treasury Secretary Paul Craig Roberts (ZH)

Twitter has suspended noted anti-war commentator, economist and former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Paul Craig Roberts. Roberts, 79, served in the Reagan administration from 1981 to 1982. He was formerly a distinguished fellow at the Cato Institute and a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, and has written for the Wall Street Journal and Businessweek. Roberts maintains an active blog. He’s also vehemently against interventionary wars around the world, and spoke with Russia’s state-owned Sputnik news in a Tuesday article – in which Roberts said that President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty was a handout to the military-security complex.

The former Reagan administration official clarified that he does not think “that the military-security complex itself wants a war with Russia, but it does want an enemy that can be used to justify more spending.” He explained that the withdrawing from the INF Treaty “gives the military-security complex a justification for a larger budget and new money to spend: manufacturing the formerly banned missiles.” [..] The economist highlighted that “enormous sums spent on ‘defense’ enabled the armaments corporations to control election outcomes with campaign contributions,” adding that in addition, “the military has bases and the armaments corporations have factories in almost every state so that the population, dependent on the jobs, support high amounts of ‘defense’ spending.”

“That was 57 years ago,” he underscored. “You can imagine how much stronger the military-security complex is today.” -Sputnik. Roberts also suggested that “The Zionist Neoconservatives are responsible for Washington’s unilateral abandonment of the INF treaty, just as they were responsible for Washington’s unilateral abandonment of the ABM Treaty [in 2002], the Iran nuclear agreement, and the promise not to move NATO one inch to the East.”

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So Assange still doesn’t have his internet back, but he does talk to an Ecuador court via video link.

Judge Says Assange Hearing Needs A Translator Fluent In ‘Australian’ (RT)

The presiding judge in WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange’s case against the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry has reportedly said that the court made a mistake by appointing an English translator who doesn’t speak Australian. The anecdote was reported by Bloomberg on Thursday and allegedly took place at the first hearing of Assange’s lawsuit against the ministry. Speaking via video link, Australian-born Assange complained to the court that his state-appointed translator from English to Spanish was not cutting it. It’s unclear what exactly the issue was, but Judge Karina Martinez apparently thought Assange’s Australian accent was thick enough to warrant a dedicated expert.

While Australian English is the most spoken dialect Down Under, it is by no means a separate language. The Australian dialect originated in the late 18th and early 19th century from convicts who were the first British settlers to arrive in New South Wales. Admittedly, the Australian vernacular is quite distinct, has rich slang, and peculiar terms. Differences in pronunciation and vocabulary can at times leave an average British or American English speaker perplexed. Assange’s accent, however, is far from the thickest around. Last week, he filed a lawsuit against Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Jose Valencia, accusing the government of violating his “fundamental rights and freedoms” with a set of new rules.

The government files released by an Ecuadorian opposition lawmaker last Tuesday outline the efforts of the Latin American country to prevent Assange from engaging in activities that “could be considered political or interfering with the internal affairs of other states.” They also limit Assange’s visitation rights, force him to pay his own medical bills, and even threaten to take away his cat if he doesn’t look after it properly. Assange’s lawyer, Baltasar Garzon, has accused Valencia of “isolating and muzzling” the fugitive, himself an Ecuadorian citizen since December 2017. Garzon said Assange still has no access to the internet, despite Ecuador’s earlier announcement it would restore communications.

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Worth a try.

Canadian Doctors To Start Prescribing Museum Visits (AFP)

A group of Canadian doctors are to begin prescribing trips to an art gallery to help patients suffering a range of ailments become a picture of health. A partnership between the Francophone Association of Doctors in Canada (MFdC) and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) will allow patients suffering from a number of physical and mental health issues, along with their loved ones, to take in the benefits of art on health with free visits. The pilot project is unprecedented globally, according to its organizer. The project will see participating physicians prescribe up to 50 visits to the MMFA during treatment, each pass valid for up to two adults and two minors.

So far 100 doctors have enrolled to take part over the course of a year, Nicole Parent, head of the MFdC, told AFP Thursday. The numbers offer proof that doctors have “a sensitivity and openness to alternative approaches if you want” Parent said, citing scientifically proven benefits of art on health. The benefits are similar to those patients can get from physical activity, prompting the secretion of a similar level of feel-good hormones, and can help with everything from chronic pain to depression, stress and anxiety. The pilot program will allow organizers to gather data and analyze results, allowing for the development of protocol for identifying patients.

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This summer (which starts Dec 20).

Entire Great Barrier Reef At Risk Of Bleaching And Coral Death (G.)

Mass bleaching and coral death could be likely along the entire Great Barrier Reef this summer, according to a long-range forecast that coral experts say is “a wake-up call” for the Australian government. The US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) has forecast a 60% chance that the entire Great Barrier Reef will reach alert level one, which signals extreme heat stress and bleaching are likely. The forecast period covers November 2018 to February 2019 and the risk extends to the southern Great Barrier Reef, which escaped the mass mortality seen in the middle and northern parts of the reef in 2016 and 2017.

“This is really the first warning bells going off that we are heading for an extraordinarily warm summer and there’s a very good chance that we’ll lose parts of the reef that we didn’t lose in the past couple of years,” said marine biologist Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, the director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland. “These are not good predictions and this is a wake-up call.” Hoegh-Guldberg said it was particularly worrying that the long-range forecasts were already showing high chances of bleaching and mortality before March, which is the main month of the year for bleaching events.

He said if the models proved accurate it would mean the entire Great Barrier Reef would be damaged by climate change and coral populations would trend towards very low levels, affecting the reef’s tourism and fishing industries and the employment they support. “To really have the full picture we’re going to have to wait for those projections that cover the main part of bleaching season,” he said. “Given sea temperatures usually increase as we get towards March, this is probably conservative.”

Read more …

Sep 222018
 
 September 22, 2018  Posted by at 9:21 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,  3 Responses »


René Magritte Memory of a voyage 1955

 

Rosenstein Proposed Secretly Recording Trump, Invoking 25th Amendment (ZH)
NY Times, McCabe Give Trump Perfect Cover To Fire Rosenstein, Sessions (Hill)
Grassley Extends Deadline On Kavanaugh Accuser’s Decision To Testify (Pol.)
Ding Dong…. (Jim Kunstler)
Theresa May Demands European Leaders Show UK Respect (Ind.)
Legal Action To Revoke Article 50 Referred To European Court Of Justice (G.)
UK PM May Facing Ministerial Resignations Over Brexit Plan (R.)
Russia, Turkey Agree Borders Of Syria Demilitarised Zone (AFP)
Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans To Track Search Users In China (IC)
French Court Orders Psychiatric Assessment of Marine Le Pen (Sp.)
Russia’s Secret Plan To Help Julian Assange Escape From UK (G.)
Ecuador Pledged to Not Kick Out Assange – Lawyer (RT)
Ecuador Reportedly Mulled Sending Assange As A Diplomat To Russia (RT)

 

 

The New York Times now helps Trump, or do they think this hurts him?

Rosenstein Proposed Secretly Recording Trump, Invoking 25th Amendment (ZH)

[..] the NYT recounted on Friday an aborted mutiny attempt organized by Rosenstein, who allegedly tried to organize members of Trump’s cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment to oust Trump from office. In an attempt to persuade the clearly reluctant members of Trump’s cabinet, Rosenstein suggested that he or other officials should secretly tape Trump “to expose the chaos” he said was engulfing the West Wing. According to NYT, the sources were either briefed on Rosenstein’s plans, or learned about it from the files of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was fired after being disgraced by an inspector general investigation. ABC News, which also reported the story, cited sources familiar with McCabe’s files. A grand jury is also weighing whether to press charges against McCabe for allegedly misleading the inspector general.

“Mr. Rosenstein made the remarks about secretly recording Mr. Trump and about the 25th Amendment in meetings and conversations with other Justice Department and F.B.I. officials. Several people described the episodes, insisting on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The people were briefed either on the events themselves or on memos written by F.B.I. officials, including Andrew G. McCabe, then the acting bureau director, that documented Mr. Rosenstein’s actions and comments. None of Mr. Rosenstein’s proposals apparently came to fruition. It is not clear how determined he was about seeing them through, though he did tell Mr. McCabe that he might be able to persuade Attorney General Jeff Sessions and John F. Kelly, then the secretary of homeland security and now the White House chief of staff, to mount an effort to invoke the 25th Amendment.”

[..] Mr. Rosenstein disputed this account. “The New York Times’s story is inaccurate and factually incorrect,” he said in a statement. “I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and are advancing their own personal agenda. But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.”

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Yeah, strange things are happening…

NY Times, McCabe Give Trump Perfect Cover To Fire Rosenstein, Sessions (Hill)

It has been a year of ironies: President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, once said he would take a bullet for Trump and now seeks to destroy him (and to do so pro bono). Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) once denounced Trump for suggesting Cruz’s father was a presidential assassin but now politically relies on and praises the man who called him “Lying Ted.” The greatest irony of all, however, could be how the newspaper that Trump loves to call “the failing New York Times” succeeded in delivering to him what he has long wanted: a clean shot at firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and then installing a new AG to oversee special counsel Robert Mueller.

To make this more bizarre, Trump could rely for all this on the man he publicly called on to be fired and possibly prosecuted — former FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe. The Times dropped a bombshell story late Friday that Rosenstein discussed secretly recording Trump and seeking cabinet support to force him out of office as being incapacitated under the 25h Amendment. Rosenstein denies the story as “inaccurate and factually incorrect,” insisting “there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.” However, McCabe reportedly wrote memos stating that Rosenstein did discuss the possibility of taping and entrapping the president. Trump has previously referred to McCabe’s memos as “fake.”

At least one source has said the comments about secret taping were made in jest. Of course, joking about secretly taping your boss or forcing him from office is not a huge improvement, particularly when you are technically controlling a special counsel’s investigation of the president. Even in jest, it fulfills Trump’s long narrative of a Justice Department set against him from the outset. So how could the Times clear the way for Trump to clean house at Justice and end up with Mueller directly controlled by an attorney general of his choosing? Simple.

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The Kavanaugh story tries hard to be even more absurd than the Rosenstein one.

Grassley Extends Deadline On Kavanaugh Accuser’s Decision To Testify (Pol.)

[..] late Friday, Grassley tweeted: “Five times now we hv granted extension for Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w her desire stated one wk ago that she wants to tell senate her story Dr Ford if u changed ur mind say so so we can move on I want to hear ur testimony. Come to us or we to u.” Minutes later, he added: “Judge Kavanaugh I just granted another extension to Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w the statement she made last week to testify to the senate She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her. I hope u understand. It’s not my normal approach to b indecisive.”

Grassley followed with a candid lament that he was being outmaneuvered by Democrats: “With all the extensions we give Dr Ford to decide if she still wants to testify to the Senate I feel like I’m playing 2nd trombone in the judiciary orchestra and [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer is the conductor.” Grassley and other Republicans want Ford to appear on Wednesday, though Ford has requested a Thursday appearance. They accepted some of Ford’s requests after holding a conference call on Friday morning such as allowing one camera in the room, making sure Kavanaugh and Ford aren’t in the same hearing room at the same time and giving Ford breaks during testimony as well as security from the U.S. Capitol Police.

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“Fourth Turning horror show with whipped cream and a cherry on top…”

Ding Dong…. (Jim Kunstler)

This might come as a shock to readers, but the time is not far off when the remaining not-insane cohort of adult Americans gets good and goddamn sick of political sex bombing. Especially given this case of shuck-and-jive. Consider that the same CNN this week produced an entire segment about the shape and size of the President’s generative organ (as reported by an expert in these matters, the porn star and prostitute known as Stormy Daniels). It must be a subject of extraordinary interest to CNN’s Anderson Cooper. On the other flank of the news this week is the much more perilous showdown between the Department of Justice (and the FBI), and Mr. Trump, the cis-hetero-white Golem who happens to be president.

He has ordered these agencies to produce a set of un-redacted documents pertaining to the long-running Russia investigation, set into motion by personnel at these very places. It’s his prerogative under the constitution to do that. In turn, these agencies are being egged on by possibly culpable characters in this melodrama, such as former CIA Director John Brennan and Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Cal), to stonewall the Golem. If I were president — and I may get there yet — I’d send federal marshals into Rod Rosenstein’s office to seize these documents before they are mysteriously “lost.” A tremendous tension hangs over this transaction. Imagine the awful possibility that Mr. Trump may have to declare some kind of martial law to roust out these seditious rascals and clean up their departments. There’s your Fourth Turning horror show with whipped cream and a cherry on top.

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There are plenty other plans. She just doesn’t like them.

Theresa May Demands European Leaders Show UK Respect (Ind.)

Theresa May has demanded EU leaders show Britain respect, branding their public rejection of her Brexit proposals “not acceptable”. In a statement at Downing Street, the prime minister hit out at the way European Council President Donald Tusk discarded her plans without giving a detailed explanation or offering alternatives. Ms May said neither of the options previously offered by the EU were acceptable, stated that talks are now at an “impasse” and underlined her willingness to walk away if needs be – finishing with the words “we stand ready”. But the prime minister also made a new pledge to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living and working in the UK, even in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Her intervention won approval from cabinet Brexiteers and to an extent from MPs on Conservative benches, steadying a volatile political situation which hours earlier had seen critics predicting the collapse of her strategy. Mr Tusk had surprised British officials by making an unexpectedly strong statement at the end of a summit in Salzburg this week, saying Ms May’s proposals for Brexit “will not work” and following it up with a social media post mocking her negotiating strategy. With pressure mounting, Ms May acknowledged from inside No.10 that Mr Tusk said the UK proposals would undermine the single market, but added: “He didn’t explain how in any detail or make any counter-proposal. So we are at an impasse.”

She said: “Throughout this process, I have treated the EU with nothing but respect. The UK expects the same. A good relationship at the end of this process depends on it. “At this late stage in the negotiations, it is not acceptable to simply reject the other side’s proposals without a detailed explanation and counter proposals. “So we now need to hear from the EU what the real issues are and what their alternative is so that we can discuss them. Until we do, we cannot make progress.”

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Someone in Scotland’s been digging into the law.

Legal Action To Revoke Article 50 Referred To European Court Of Justice (G.)

A legal action to establish whether the UK can unilaterally stop Brexit has been referred to the European court of justice by the court of session in Edinburgh. The case was brought by a cross-party group of six Scottish MPs, MEPs and MSPs, who want the ECJ to offer a definitive ruling on whether the UK can halt the article 50 process without needing the approval of all other 27 EU member states. Rejecting the argument put forward by lawyers for the UK government, that ministers have repeatedly made it clear they have no intention of stopping the Brexit process, even if there were no deal with the EU, Scotland’s most senior judge, Lord Carloway, said: “It seems neither academic nor premature to ask whether it is legally competent to revoke the notification and thus to remain in the EU.”

Carloway, one of three judges to consider the case on appeal after it was initially rejected in June as “academic and hypothetical”, noted that the Commons would be required to vote on whether to ratify any Brexit deal before 29 March 2019, “a date which is looming up”, and that a judgment from the ECJ would “have the effect of clarifying the options open to MPs in the lead-up to what is now an inevitable vote”. Lord Menzies said: “There will have to be a vote, and it appears to me to be legitimate for those who are involved in that vote to know, by means of a judicial ruling, the proper legal meaning of article 50, and in particular whether a member state which has given notification of its intention to withdraw from the EU may revoke that notification of intention unilaterally before the expiry of two years after the notification.”

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Monday could be good. New plans are demanded, but there’s no time for them.

UK PM May Facing Ministerial Resignations Over Brexit Plan (R.)

Some of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s ministers will demand a “Plan B” on her Brexit proposal next week and could quit if she does not change course, the Telegraph newspaper reported late on Friday, citing unnamed sources. Ministers will demand an alternative plan to her “Chequers” proposal at a Cabinet meeting on Monday, the Telegraph said. That plan had already been savaged by European Union leaders in Salzburg earlier in the week, prompting May to defiantly challenge leaders of the bloc to come up with its own plans. Pro-Brexit members of May’s party on Friday had welcomed her defiant tone, but her Chequers proposal has many domestic critics, too.

The Telegraph said there was “speculation” that work and pensions minister Esther McVey might walk out of Monday’s meeting if no new proposal was presented, while international development minister Penny Mordaunt was also tipped as a possible resignation candidate, though the newspaper said friends denied she would resign. Earlier on Friday, Mordaunt said that the EU’s attitude was increasing support within Britain for an exit from the bloc, even if it meant leaving without a deal. .

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Let’s hope Russia got this one right.

Russia, Turkey Agree Borders Of Syria Demilitarised Zone (AFP)

Russia and Turkey have agreed on borders of a demilitarised zone in northern Syria, Russia’s top diplomat said Friday, part of a deal that could check an assault on the last rebel enclave in Idlib. “Just yesterday or the day before, the militaries of Russia and Turkey agreed the concrete frontiers of the demilitarised zone,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with his Bosnian counterpart Igor Crnadak. Moscow says the demilitarised zone would help stop attacks from Idlib on Syrian army positions and Russia’s military bases in the region. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed the establishment of the 15 to 20 kilometre (9.3-12 miles) buffer zone on Monday after talks that lasted more than four hours.

Security in the zone, which includes parts of Idlib and neighbouring provinces including the city of Aleppo, will be overseen by Turkish contingents and Russian military police. The agreement will prevent military action against the city of Idlib, Russia’s defence minister said. “It’s an intermediate step… but a necessary step,” Lavrov said of the zone. “By mid-October, all (fighters of the Al-Nusra Front) must leave this demilitarised zone, and all heavy military equipment must be pulled out of there,” he said.

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Practising for the west?

Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans To Track Search Users In China (IC)

Google bosses have forced employees to delete a confidential memo circulating inside the company that revealed explosive details about a plan to launch a censored search engine in China, The Intercept has learned. The memo, authored by a Google engineer who was asked to work on the project, disclosed that the search system, codenamed Dragonfly, would require users to log in to perform searches, track their location — and share the resulting history with a Chinese partner who would have “unilateral access” to the data. The memo was shared earlier this month among a group of Google employees who have been organizing internal protests over the censored search system, which has been designed to remove content that China’s authoritarian Communist Party regime views as sensitive, such as information about democracy, human rights, and peaceful protest.

According to three sources familiar with the incident, Google leadership discovered the memo and were furious that secret details about the China censorship were being passed between employees who were not supposed to have any knowledge about it. Subsequently, Google human resources personnel emailed employees who were believed to have accessed or saved copies of the memo and ordered them to immediately delete it from their computers. Emails demanding deletion of the memo contained “pixel trackers” that notified human resource managers when their messages had been read, recipients determined.

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For posting ISIS execution pictures.

French Court Orders Psychiatric Assessment of Marine Le Pen (Sp.)

The request is connected with a series of images she posted on Twitter showing Daesh* executions. France’s National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen took to Twitter to express her anger with the court order. “I thought I had been through it all: well, no! For denouncing the horrors of Daesh (Isis) with tweets, the “justice system” has referred me for a psychiatric assessment. How far will they go?!” she said. “This regime is really starting to be frightening,” Le Pen added. Le Pen noted that, contrary to French media reports, the procedure was not customary. According to a decision made on September 11, which Le Pen posted on Twitter, the purpose of the psychiatric assessment was to answer the question: “Can she [Le Pen] understand the statements and answer the questions.”

In the list of questions given to the experts, there were eight points, among which were: “whether she acted under the influence of forces or circumstances of force majeure” as well as “is she in a dangerous state from the standpoint of psychiatry or forensic science, and what is the forecast,” among others. The National Assembly (lower house of parliament) of France in November 2017, at the request of the Nanteré Prosecutor’s Office, deprived Le Pen of parliamentary immunity in connection with the publication on Twitter. If the French court finds her guilty, the leader of the party may face up to three years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros.

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More Guardian smear, sources that are known have long been discredited, Mueller’s allegations have been keelhauled, anonymous sources are suspect.

Russia’s Secret Plan To Help Julian Assange Escape From UK (G.)

Russian diplomats held secret talks in London last year with people close to Julian Assange to assess whether they could help him flee the UK, the Guardian has learned. A tentative plan was devised that would have seen the WikiLeaks founder smuggled out of Ecuador’s London embassy in a diplomatic vehicle and transported to another country. One ultimate destination, multiple sources have said, was Russia, where Assange would not be at risk of extradition to the US. The plan was abandoned after it was deemed too risky. The operation to extract Assange was provisionally scheduled for Christmas Eve in 2017, one source claimed, and was linked to an unsuccessful attempt by Ecuador to give Assange formal diplomatic status.

The involvement of Russian officials in hatching what was described as a “basic” plan raises new questions about Assange’s ties to the Kremlin. The WikiLeaks editor is a key figure in the ongoing US criminal investigation into Russia’s attempts to sway the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Robert Mueller, the special counsel conducting the investigation, filed criminal charges in July against a dozen Russian GRU military intelligence officers who allegedly hacked Democratic party servers during the presidential campaign. The indictment claims the hackers sent emails that embarrassed Hillary Clinton to WikiLeaks. The circumstances of the handover are still under investigation. According to Mueller, WikiLeaks published “over 50,000 documents” stolen by Russian spies. The first tranche arrived on 14 July 2016 as an encrypted attachment. Assange has denied receiving the stolen emails from Russia.

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Very promising.

Ecuador Pledged to Not Kick Out Assange – Lawyer (RT)

Despite widespread speculation a few months ago that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may be kicked out of the Ecuadorian embassy by the country’s new leadership, his asylum seems to be safe for now, his lawyer told RT. In July, there were numerous reports that Ecuador’s president, Lenin Moreno, may revoke the political asylum given to Assange by his predecessor, Rafael Correa, as part of an effort to establish closer ties with the US. The threat never materialized, but his long-time lawyer said “anything could happen at any time.” “Ecuador has made it clear in the past few months – after this wide-spread speculation that he would be forced to leave – that they will respect the asylum,” she said.

Assange remains cut off from all communications and kept in what is effectively solitary confinement with no access to outdoor areas. His health is deteriorating, and the UK authorities have made sure that he won’t get treatment without leaving the embassy, she said. Assange was granted asylum in August 2012, skipping bail in the UK justice system. At that time, he was fighting extradition to Sweden, where he faced prosecution over a now-closed case over alleged sex offenses. He said he had to seek Ecuador’s protection because if forced to go to Sweden, he could be extradited to the US and face serious charges over his actions as WikiLeaks founder.

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Would have been a good solution.

Ecuador Reportedly Mulled Sending Assange As A Diplomat To Russia (RT)

London refused to grant WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange diplomatic immunity so he could escape the confinement of the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK and relocate to Russia, Reuters reports, citing government communications. The persona of Julian Assange has become a thorn in Ecuador’s president Lenin Moreno’s side and, ever since assuming office in May of last year, Moreno has made every effort to make sure the Australian’s stay at Ecuador’s embassy in London comes to an end as soon as possible. To shift the responsibility for Assange’s protection against US persecution, Ecuador allegedly mulled offering the WikiLeaks founder a diplomatic post in Russia, which the country hoped would enable him –protected by diplomatic immunity– to finally leave the embassy after six years of arbitrary detention.

London, however, refused to honor Moreno’s move to authorize “special designation” for 47-year-old to carry out diplomatic functions in Moscow, and declined to grant the whistleblower a free passage out of the country, Reuters reports, citing a letter by Ecuador’s foreign ministry to opposition legislator Paola Vintimilla. According to the letter, Quito abandoned its idea to relocate the whistleblower to Moscow after the UK Foreign Office refused to recognize Assange’s special status, or any privileges and immunities awarded under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The “special designation” status awarded by the Ecuadorian president would allow Assange to hold diplomatic posts abroad even if the whistleblower is not career diplomat. However, under English law, the 47 year-old can only enjoy diplomatic privileges, such as immunity, only if his credentials are accepted by the Foreign Office.

[..] Citing at least four, traditionally anonymous, sources, the Guardian wrote that Moscow was plotting to smuggle Assange out of London on Christmas eve last year, but dropped the plan because it was “deemed too risky.” The paper, claimed that Ecuador’s former London consul, Fidel Narvaez, was in talks with Russian diplomats and in constant contact with a ‘Russian businessman’ who coordinated the proposed operation with the Kremlin. It took the newspaper a mere five paragraphs of its 1,000-word report to bring up “questions about Assange’s ties to the Kremlin” in the context of the notorious Mueller probe and alleged ‘Russian hacking’ of the US elections.

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