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Debt Rattle March 26 2026

Mar 262026
 
 March 26, 2026  Posted by at 10:00 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,  94 Responses »


Pablo Picasso Woman Sitting Near a Window (Marie-Therese) 1932 (sold in 2021 for $103.4 million)


• Trump Sends 2,000 Paratroopers, Iran Dares Them To Come Closer (RT)
• Iran Caves to Trump (Matt Margolis)
• US Sends 15-Point Peace Plan To Iran Amid Conflict In The Middle East (JTN)
• The Pentagon Has a ONE POINT FIVE TRILLION DOLLAR Wish List (Stephen Green)
• Trump Stole One of My Ideas. Unfortunately, Iran Stole the Other (Pinsker)
• EU Shelves Russian Oil Ban As Iran War Rattles Energy Markets (RT)
• Iran’s War-Winning Track, Russia’s Dog & Pony Trick (Helmer)
• House Intel Committee Releases Hidden Transcript (CTH)
• Jack Smith Subpoenaed Records on Kash Patel (ET)
• Docs Show Expansive FBI Surveillance Of Trump Allies, Possible Illegality (JTN)
• ICE Airport Deployment ‘Test Run’ For 2026 Elections – Steve Bannon (RT)
• Hungary Suspends Gas Supplies To Ukraine — Orban (TASS)
• Nvidia CEO: “I Think We’ve Achieved AGI” (ZH)
• If Lord of the Rings Isn’t Dead, Stephen Colbert Can Finish It Off (Green)
• Free Reiner Fuellmich (Paul Craig Roberts)

 


 

 


 


How many troops would Iran have? Half a million … give or take…? And then you send 2,000?

• Trump Sends 2,000 Paratroopers, Iran Dares Them To Come Closer (RT)

The Pentagon has officially issued orders for approximately 2,000 elite troops from the army’s 82nd Airborne Division to deploy within “striking distance” of Iran, according to US officials cited by the Washington Post and the New York Times. The contingent reportedly includes the division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, the core part of the Immediate Response Force trained to deploy within 18 hours for missions including seizing airfields, reinforcing embassies, and enabling evacuations.


An additional 2,500 marines are scheduled to arrive later this week to reinforce any potential ground operation, which the media has long speculated could include seizing Iran’s main oil export hub on Kharg Island.Tehran’s senior military adviser, Ali-Akbar Ahmadian, has previously dared American soldiers to just “come closer,” warning that Iranian armed forces have “trained in asymmetrical warfare” for decades. In the meantime, US President Donald Trump is reportedly seeking an “offramp” from the war with a list of 15 peace proposals – while Tehran has rejected holding any backchannel talks with Washington.

Here are the latest developments:
• President Trump claimed the US has already “won” and ongoing diplomatic talks with Iran are the reason why he postponed military strikes on Iranian power plants for five days.
• Israel’s Channel 12 has reported that Trump’s 15-point proposal demands that Iran dismantle its nuclear and missile programs, abandon its regional proxy network, and open the Strait of Hormuz to unrestricted maritime passage. In exchange, Tehran would allegedly receive a full lifting of international sanctions, assistance with its civilian nuclear program, and the removal of the “snapback” sanction mechanism.
• “We negotiate with bombs,” US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said about the Pentagon’s role in the alleged behind-the-scenes talks.
h • Tehran has denied tat talks with the US are taking place, with Iran’s parliamentary speaker saying such claims are “fake news” and are being “used to manipulate financial and oil markets.” Oil prices fell more than 5% on Wednesday morning.

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“It starts with no nuclear weapons, and they’ve agreed to that. … They’re not going to have enrichment — any of those things. … We are in about the best bargaining position. We’re way ahead of schedule.”

• Iran Caves to Trump (Matt Margolis)

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced that Iran has agreed to permanently abandon its nuclear weapons program as a central condition for ending U.S. military strikes on Tehran. “They’ve agreed,” he said. “They will never have a nuclear weapon. They’ve agreed to that.” Trump added, “We’re actually talking to the right people, and they want to make a deal so badly, you have no idea how badly they want to make a deal.” There is, however, a catch. Iran is still denying talking to the United States. Tehran has not stated that publicly — and denied even talking to the US. But Trump has made clear that the no-nukes demand is necessary for the US to stop its military campaign.


The president’s comments came as the US and Iran are preparing for another round of negotiations in an attempt to bring a ceasefire to the war — while also gearing for a major combat operation if talks fall apart. I’m trusting Trump on this. Trump’s optimism is clear, and it sure sounds like he thinks a deal is possible. He even described Tehran as “talking sense.” “They’re talking to us and they’re talking sense,” Trump said. Trump has been clear he wants Iran to give up its nuclear materials — down to the “nuclear dust,” as part of the ongoing peace talks. “We want the nuclear dust. We’re going to want that,” he told reporters as he left Florida on Monday, referring to the enriched uranium.

Meantime, the Department of War is gearing up to send thousands of troops from the Army’s 82nd Infantry Division to deploy to the Middle East, according to a source familiar with the plan. The Pentagon is expected to announce the deployment of a 3,000-person brigade combat team from the elite North Carolina-based unit in support of the US and Israel’s war on Iran, the Wall Street Journal first reported. Trump also revealed on Tuesday that there was also a“significant prize” tied to the Strait of Hormuz. “They’re going to make a deal. They did something [Monday] that was amazing, actually. They gave us a present,” Trump said. “The present arrived today, and it was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money.”

Trump said he could not disclose what the gift was, but said it was “oil and gas-related” and was connected to the Strait of Hormuz.,The Iranian regime was previously charging some tankers millions of dollars to pass through the global shipping choke point, according to a report from Iran International. Trump added the unspecified present was “very significant.” “That meant one thing to me — we’re dealing with the right people,” Trump said. “… It was a very nice thing they did. … They said they were going to do it, and it happened. And they’re the only ones that could have done it.” When asked about control of the Strait of Hormuz, he said the U.S. will “have control of anything we want.”

“They can’t have certain things,” Trump said. “It starts with no nuclear weapons, and they’ve agreed to that. … They’re not going to have enrichment — any of those things. … We are in about the best bargaining position. We’re way ahead of schedule.”

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They said no…

• US Sends 15-Point Peace Plan To Iran Amid Conflict In The Middle East (JTN)

The United States reportedly proposed a 15-point peace plan to Iran Tuesday as it looks to negotiate an end to the nearly month-long conflict in the Middle East. The proposal’s main focus is on Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs, which the U.S. has targeted with missile strikes during the conflict, according to the New York Times. President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday that Iran has already agreed to never develop a nuclear weapon, marking a significant victory for the United States and Israel after Trump bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities last year.


“They’ve agreed,” the president said. “They will never have a nuclear weapon. They’ve agreed to that.” Iran has not publicly confirmed that it agreed to permanently stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons. One source told the New York Times that the plan also discusses maritime routes, which comes as Iran blocks ships from using the Strait of Hormuz. The plan comes the same day Trump said Iran has given the United States a “present” related to gas and oil, which he claimed signaled the U.S. is negotiating and working with the “right people” in Iran. “

They gave it to us, and they said they were going to give it, so that meant one thing to me: we’re dealing with the right people,” Trump said. “We have, really, regime change. You know, this is a change in the regime, because the leaders are all very different than the ones that we started off with that created all those problems.” The U.S. is also hoping that Iran will agree to a one-month ceasefire while the two sides negotiate the peace plan, according to the New York Post.

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“We don’t produce enough artillery shells, bullets, drones, and everything else we need for a comparatively simple air war against a third-rate power like Iran. Against China? Fuggidaboudit.”

• The Pentagon Has a ONE POINT FIVE TRILLION DOLLAR Wish List (Stephen Green)

Following President Donald Trump’s Truth Social statement in January, the Pentagon will soon unveil a “generational investment” defense budget totaling a whopping ONE POINT FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS. Nevertheless, Aviation Week recently reported, “there are still hard decisions to be made.” You might think that a trillion-and-a-half bucks would buy the military everything we need it to have, but the “stuff” isn’t the problem; it’s the manufacturing. Stick a pin in that. Right now, we have six major acquisition programs — aside from the now well-established F-35 and Virginia-class subs — that might be performing better than you believe. They are:


• Ford-class aircraft carriers (10)
• Columbia-class nuclear missile submarines (12)
• F-47 sixth-generation fighters/loyal wingman stealth drones (~185)
• B-21 Raider heavy bomber (145)
• Sentinel ICBM (400 operational, plus 200+ spares/test units)

The Fords are late and over-budget, but the teething problems and overruns seem to be largely behind us with the John F. Kennedy due to be delivered to the Navy next year. Keep making Fords, but keep options open for smaller drone carriers. There’s a similar story with the Columbia SSBNs. The first one will be late and enormously expensive. The rest of the class should do better. Now that Trump finally forced the Air Force to settle on an F-47 design, work should move forward about as well as these things ever do. I’d like things to move faster, but the first F-47 units ought to be combat ready in the early 2030s.

The Air Force just upped its request for B-21 stealth bombers from 100 to 145, yet that’s only a down payment on our actual requirement. The number we actually need — since the Raider will serve as conventional bombers and as our airborne nuclear deterrent — is probably 300. Then there’s the Sentinel ICBM, which I doubt we even need, provided we buy an additional 8-10 Columbia SSBNs. That program is ridiculously over-budget, mostly because the other half of the program — the underground silos to house them — is a hot mess. Figure it out, fellas, or let the Navy have all the heavy nuclear missiles.

I’d also note that the Virginia-class attack sub program is freakin’ amazing. The new Block V models are basically attack subs and guided-missile boats, all wrapped into one deadly package. We will and ought to throw more money at increasing their production rate and the total buy. There are two more programs almost in limbo. The Navy needs large numbers of small frigates and smaller numbers of larger destroyers/cruisers. If it takes an act of Congress to force a final design for both down the Navy’s stupid, stubborn throat, then do it. We don’t need gold-plated stealth ships; we just need tough, reliable surface combatants with plenty of missile cells.

It would also be nice to get at least four Trump-class battleships. But if you’re like me, that ONE POINT FIVE TRILLION DOLLAR figure made you gasp at first. On reflection, it shouldn’t. For perspective, President Ronald Reagan’s Cold War-winning defense budgets peaked in 1986 at $304 billion — or roughly $800 billion in today’s dollars. Dollar for dollar, that’s a little less than we’ll spend this year on defense, but in fairness, 40 years ago each defense dollar bought a lot more combat power. That’s because America’s most vital combat arm — our private sector’s ability to manufacture the best stuff and make it in quantity — either got outsourced or M&A’d into oblivion.

Among the “hard decisions,” if necessary I’d cut the Army to the bone — a rapid-reaction force able to tip the balance for our allies — and put even more money into revitalizing our defense manufacturing base. The cold, hard truth is that armies can be raised in a hurry should the terrible need arise, but manufacturing takes time. We don’t produce enough artillery shells, bullets, drones, and everything else we need for a comparatively simple air war against a third-rate power like Iran. Against China? Fuggidaboudit.

We require a defense manufacturing capability that’s both deep and broad — and supply chains that aren’t reliant on rival powers like China or Russia. The bill for more than three decades of unseriousness about our defense needs finally came due. I don’t just mean big-ticket items like aircraft carriers and stealth bombers. The Pentagon’s “generational investment” had better focus bigly on our ability to make the small-ticket items like missiles and shells that our troops rely on.

Going back to Reagan’s Cold War budgets, spending peaked at a little over 6% of GDP during the mid-’80s. Today, that would be $1.7 trillion, give or take — or a significant fraction more than Trump asked for. And yet it feels like such a struggle, such an impossible goal, to spend slightly less than we did four decades ago. I can explain why in exactly two words: health care. A spending item not even mentioned in the Constitution has nearly tripled as a fraction of the federal budget since 1986, ballooning from 10-12% to roughly 30% today.

Just four days of Medicare/Medicaid spending could buy another Ford-class aircraft carrier, cost overruns and all. It’s the same thing with the space program. If NASA had the budget (and the vision!) it had during Apollo, it’d have ten times today’s paltry $30 billion budget — and we’d have another manufacturing base at Moon City Armstrong by now.The hardest choice we must make is whether we want to be a welfare state in long-term decline, or the fit and fearsome America left to us by the Greatest Generation.

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“(If cardboard could talk, Mojtaba Khamenei would’ve denied it, too.) “

• Trump Stole One of My Ideas. Unfortunately, Iran Stole the Other (Pinsker)

On March 19, I recommended that President Donald Trump should lie about holding secret communications with (anonymous) high-ranking Iranian leaders to sow “discord, distrust, and paranoia among the mullahs.” I even said Trump should call one of the leaders a “great guy” and claim that the two of ‘em got along splendidly: Why, he might even be good enough to run the country! Which, of course, would trigger a manic Game of Thrones in Iran, where every mullah with Supreme ambitions jockeys against the other. After all, tactically:


What we can’t decapitate, we ought to lobotomize. If the purpose of warfare is to break our enemy’s will to fight, turning Iran’s leaders against one another is our most logical next step. The PR benefit is huge — but far more importantly, it also signals to the Iranian people AND the mullahs AND the Iranian military/police that the current regime is on borrowed time. We know it, you know it — and they know it, too. That’s why they’re abandoning ship like rats off a sinking boat. On March 22, President Trump suddenly canceled plans to bomb Iran’s power plants, citing “very good and productive conversations” in his secret communications with unnamed Iranian leaders. Speaking of one Iranian in particular, the president added, “We’re dealing with the man who, I believe, is the most respected and the ‘leader’.”

The Iranians angrily denied the report, insisting that no one was speaking to Trump. From Al Jazeera: “Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a social media post on Monday that “no negotiations have been held with the US”. “Fakenews [sic] is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped,” Ghalibaf wrote on X. That echoed earlier remarks from Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, who also denied that any discussions with the US had taken place.”

(If cardboard could talk, Mojtaba Khamenei would’ve denied it, too.) Obviously, Iran or America is lying: Either Trump was communicating with one or more high-ranking Iranian leaders or he wasn’t. Because Trump wasn’t just claiming they were communicating. He also crowed about the “secret prize” that Iran just gave to America. If Trump was telling the truth — and America’s war objectives could be secured (and verified) without anyone else dying — then wonderful. The world would be a better, safer place. Take a bow, sign the deal, and let’s bring everyone home. My suspicion, however, is that this was a PR tactic to placate the markets, and a very clever tactic at that: It also put the Iranians on serious tilt.

From Iran International: “[Trump] is using ambiguity as a political and psychological weapon inside the Islamic Republic. By saying he has been talking to a very senior Iranian figure without naming that person, he is planting doubt and suspicion among what remains of the leadership. In current conditions, that matters. Iran’s leaders are living in hiding. Command centers are disrupted. Communications are limited out of fear of interception and assassination.mMeetings are difficult, if not impossible. In that setting, a statement like this will be deeply unsettling. Each senior figure will now be asking: Who is talking to Washington? Who is looking for an off-ramp? What is being hidden from the others?

By naming no one, Trump makes everyone in Tehran wonder who is talking to Washington. This does not affect only the top. Lower-ranking officials also hear the same message. If they begin to believe that some of their leaders are quietly searching for a way out, they will become more uncertain, more demoralized, and more open to defection.”

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C’mon Ursula! Finish them off!

• EU Shelves Russian Oil Ban As Iran War Rattles Energy Markets (RT)

The EU has put plans on hold for a complete ban on Russian oil imports, news outlets have reported. The move comes amid renewed turbulence in energy markets driven by the war in the Middle East. The draft law, part of the REPowerEU roadmap to phase out Russian fossil fuels by 2027, had been tentatively scheduled for April 15 but has now been removed from the European Commission’s published work calendar, Euronews and Reuters reported on Tuesday. An unnamed EU official was quoted as saying the delay was because of current geopolitical developments. Commission energy spokesperson Anna Kaisa Itkonen said she had no new date to give.


Coordinated US-Israeli strikes on Iran and subsequent Iranian retaliatory attacks across the region have led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz to Western shipping, triggering a rally in oil and gas prices. Benchmark Brent has climbed to around $120 per barrel. The chokepoint normally carries around a fifth of the world’s daily oil supply. The IEA has warned that disruptions could potentially last months or years. The EU was already grappling with the fallout from its decision to cut energy ties with Russia following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, as well as the costs of its green transition policies. Consumers across the bloc have since faced higher fuel and power bills, adding to broader cost of living pressures.

The price rally has prompted Washington to ease sanctions on Russian oil. Some European leaders have begun hinting at a rethink of their own. The oil blockade of the Druzhba pipeline by Ukraine, which had halted Russian supplies to heavily dependent Hungary and Slovakia, has exacerbated tensions within the bloc. mThe EU’s energy policies have repeatedly come under fire. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has described the REPowerEU scheme as suicide. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has warned that unless the bloc lifts sanctions on Russian energy, it will deal an extremely deep blow to the European economy.

Russian officials say the latest turmoil exposes deeper flaws in EU policy. Rosatom chief Alexey Likhachev told RT that the Iran war has revealed decades of mistaken decisions and an oversimplified approach to the energy transition. Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev has warned of an “oil and gas price tsunami ” for the EU after it rejected Russian supplies.

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“Russia is well positioned for the predicted and emerging Era of Extreme Scarcity.” [..] EU bureaucrats will soon be forced to recognize this reality, acknowledge their strategic blunders, and atone.”

• Iran’s War-Winning Track, Russia’s Dog & Pony Trick (Helmer)

“Sergei Victorovich”, President Vladimir Putin said behind his hand to his Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov (lead image, left). “Do me a favour. When you’re talking to the Iranians, promise whatever they need to keep fighting and deter Trump. But keep it secret. And in public, waffle. Your job is to reassure the Americans we are powerless — you are powerless — I’m impotent.”


Just after lunch on Monday, Lavrov spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who had initiated the call with urgency. The published Russian communiqué said: “The situation in the Persian Gulf zone, which was degraded by the United States and Israel, was discussed. Sergei Lavrov pointed to the categorical unacceptability of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, including the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which create unacceptable safety risks of Russian personnel and are fraught with catastrophic environmental consequences for all countries of the region without exception.

Mutual concern was expressed about the dangerous spread of the conflict provoked by Washington and Tel Aviv to the Caspian Sea. The Russian side noted the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a political settlement, taking into account the legitimate interests of all parties involved, primarily Iran. This position Russia will be guided by the UN Security Council. A.Araghchi thanked the Russian leadership for the significant diplomatic and other support provided to the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the supply of humanitarian assistance.” Araghchi has omitted to publish a record of what was really discussed.

“Pishka”, Putin said to Dmitry Peskov, his spokesman (centre). “When you’re asked questions about Iran, do me a favour — say nothing. Your job is to convince our people at home who vote for me that I know best, and that I won’t be getting them into more trouble than we already have.” Peskov hadn’t eaten his lunch on Tuesday when local reporters asked him to clarify the President’s attitude towards the Israeli Air Force attack on the Iranian Caspian Sea port, Bandar Anzali, through which Iran and Russia run heavy-cargo ship deliveries in both directions, both civil and military. “As for these reports”,he said, “we haven’t seen them. To be honest, I don’t have any information on the matter.” Peskov was following Putin’s order, if clumsily, because what he said was an obvious lie.

Four days before, Lavrov’s spokesman had confirmed the Caspian port attack. “The US-Israeli coalition continues pouring fuel on the flames of the war they have unleashed in the Middle East, which could cause this war to spread even further. On March 18, a bomb attack was carried out against the Iranian port of Bandar Anzali on the Caspian Sea. That major Caspian port is an important trade and logistics hub that is actively used in Russian-Iranian trade, including for food deliveries. The strike has affected the economic interests of Russia and the other Caspian states that maintain transport communications with Iran via that port. The regional countries and the international community have always regarded the Caspian Sea as a safe zone of peace and cooperation.

The aggressors’ reckless and irresponsible actions pose a threat of dragging Caspian states into an armed conflict. We once again firmly call for the immediate cessation of hostilities and resuming efforts to achieve a political settlement of the situation in the Middle East, which is increasingly affecting neighbouring regions.” In these private moments, deep behind the Kremlin wall, what Putin means to say is that Russia has now gone into recession, and the timing is very bad for the coming State Duma elections. Putin is asking his spokesmen to put up a smokescreen, an alibi for the difference between what the General Staff and intelligence agencies are doing and what he doesn’t want domestic voters or the Trump White House to blame him for.

Instead, he is counting on his spokesman for oligarch capital and Trump bribery, Kirill Dmitriev, to tweet several times a day on the fidelity of Russia as a strategic partner. “As the largest holder of natural resources in the world and a top-3 producer of most commodities, “ according to Dmitriev a few hours ago, “Russia is well positioned for the predicted and emerging Era of Extreme Scarcity.” “Russian energy is indispensable to easing the world’s largest energy crisis. EU bureaucrats will soon be forced to recognize this reality, acknowledge their strategic blunders, and atone.”

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We’re still talking about Ciaramella years later.

• House Intel Committee Releases Hidden Transcript (CTH)

For the past several years I have been advocating for ‘sunlight as the best disinfectant.’ Since September of 2025 I have been working through a painfully slow and convoluted process to share research, assist truth tellers and guide those who have the authority to deliver the sunlight. Today, I can happily report on progress. In 2019 an impeachment effort against President Trump was triggered when a member of the National Security Council named Alexander Vindman coordinated with a member of the National Intelligence Council named Eric Ciaramella to fabricate a false claim that President Trump leveraged his power and authority to demand Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy release information on Joe and Hunter Biden’s corrupt financial dealings in Ukraine.


At the time of the 2019 impeachment construct Eric Ciaramella was working for the CIA as an analyst within the National Intelligence Council (NIC). [SIDEBAR: In 2025 Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, working with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, removed the NIC from inside the CIA. To provide greater overall transparency within the intelligence community, the National Intelligence Council was moved into the purview of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)]. Two years prior to the 2019 impeachment construct, in January 2017, the same CIA analyst, Eric Ciaramella, had worked on the fraudulent Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), at the behest of CIA Director John Brennan.

Key point: Eric Ciaramella was one of the key analysts who constructed the fraudulent ‘Russian interference ICA’ (2017) and later the fraudulent impeachment effort (2019). Eric Ciaramella became the “anonymous CIA whistleblower” in the 2019 impeachment effort. Before 2019, CIA analysts weren’t allowed to anonymously make claims against political officials. Because of the sensitive information they handled, any allegation of wrongdoing based on intelligence had to be made with their name attached. Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson changed or modified the ICIG rules permitting Ciaramella to remain anonymous and make a claim that ultimately led to an impeachment effort.

Eric Ciaramella allegedly fabricated intelligence information, shared it with Congress and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), and then remained anonymous. HPSCI Chairman Adam Schiff was said to have assisted him. On October 4, 2019, as part of the House impeachment inquiry, Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson gave closed-door testimony to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) as part of their impeachment investigation. One of the key questions to ICIG Atkinson surrounded the authority of his office changing the CIA whistleblower rules that permitted Eric Ciaramella to remain anonymous.

During later questioning by then-Congressman John Ratcliffe, as part of the House impeachment effort, it came to light that Inspector General Michael Atkinson testified CIA analyst Eric Ciaramella, the anonymous ‘whistleblower’, had lied about key details when questioned by Atkinson. WATCH VIDEO:

[The look on Dan Goldman’s face during that questioning was both priceless and insufferable. John Ratcliffe is now CIA Director]

Because the anonymous whistleblower complaint by Ciaramella was the cornerstone of the impeachment effort, Chairman Adam Schiff sealed the transcript of ICIG Atkinson testimony, classifying it under the guise of national security interests and burying it in the HPSCI control system. It’s worth reemphasizing that Eric Ciaramella was both the analyst behind the disputed 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment for Director Brennan and, later in 2019, involved in the contested impeachment effort. Both operations involved impeding and targeting President Donald Trump.

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Is there anyone who thinks this is normal?

• Jack Smith Subpoenaed Records on Kash Patel (ET)

The team behind the Arctic Frost investigation subpoenaed years’ worth of records on Kash Patel, who now heads the FBI, according to documents released on March 24. Former special counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed Verizon for Patel’s phone records from October 2020 through February 2023, the documents, made public by Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, showed. Patel was part of the Trump administration from 2019 through January 2021. After the Biden administration took office, Patel began a nonprofit foundation and worked as a consultant, frequently appearing in media to back Trump and his policies.


The subpoenas asked for various details about Patel’s accounts, including financial information and text messages, the records showed. Text and call logs were among the requested details. Patel disclosed the subpoenas in February, describing them as “outrageous and deeply alarming. He said that previous FBI leaders “secretly subpoenaed my own phone records”- along with those of now White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles- , using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight.

Arctic Frost started in 2022. The effort, which involved Smith and FBI officials, featured subpoenas involving more than a dozen Republican members of Congress and the seizure of a phone used by President Donald Trump, whom prosecutors ultimately charged with interfering with certification of the 2020 presidential election for alleging that voter fraud took place. The case was dropped when Trump in 2024 won a second term in office.

Smith has defended the investigation, telling lawmakers in January that he properly investigated “attempts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power” and that the subpoenaed records were acquired “to understand the scope of that conspiracy, who they were seeking to coerce, who they were seeking to influence, who was seeking to help them.” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, first obtained records on Arctic Frost and released them in early 2025.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the committee’s Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, said during a hearing on Tuesday that Arctic Frost was “a modern Watergate” that targeted lawmakers and people involved with Trump’s reelection efforts, including Patel and Wiles. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said that the subpoenas of Patel made sense, because the FBI director “made himself a fact witness in that investigation” by making comments on podcasts. Whitehouse said that Patel’s grand jury testimony should be made public.

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Democratsgate?!

• Docs Show Expansive FBI Surveillance Of Trump Allies, Possible Illegality (JTN)

Newly released records in the Senate investigation into the weaponization of government raise questions about whether the FBI went on a fishing expedition targeting Trump advisors who were never charged with crimes and whether Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prior testimony to Congress was truthful. The documents were made public by Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, before a Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee hearing into alleged abuses by the Biden-era FBI and Justice Department in their investigations into then ex-president Donald Trump before and during the 2024 presidential election during its probe code-named “Arctic Frost.” Just the News previously reported that Biden’s FBI paid anti-Trump ‘Sedition Hunters’ as informants in the Arctic Frost probes.


Cruz: It is a modern Watergate”
If Watergate taught us anything, it is that even a single abuse of power carried out by a handful of individuals can shake the foundations of our Republic, said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., Chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights. “What we confront today, the Biden administration’s Arctic Frost scheme, is not a single act, he continued in his opening remarks. “It is a modern Watergate trading a break-in at one office for a digital sweep into approximately 100,000 private communications, more than a dozen senators and 1000s of individuals lives. Cruz said that ultimately, ” just like Watergate, the judges, FBI and Justice Department officials involved should be “investigated, tried, impeached, and brought to justice.”

The scope of Smith’s probe, which centered on Trump’s challenge to the 2020 election results and the events of January 6, 2021, was truly expansive. Grassley previously released records showing that Smith’s office issued nearly 200 subpoenas in his sweeping Arctic Frost-linked case, secretly seeking records on more than 400 Republican personalities and groups. This included more than 160 Republicans–many closely connected to Trump. The Arctic Frost was one of four separate probes that targeted Trump and his allies stretching from summer 2016 to January 2025. The other probes were code-named Crossfire Hurricane, Round River, and Plasmic Echo, Just the News reported earlier this month.

As FBI Director, Patel has personally led the effort to review those probes, uncovering evidence of a far-reaching dragnet that in some cases may have been predicated on false, misleading or uncorroborated justifications, officials previously told Just the News. The newly-disclosed records show that the FBI ordered two sweeping subpoenas of FBI Director Kash Patel’s phone records, while he was a private citizen in Trump’s orbit. Each subpoena covered an approximately two-year time frame.

The FBI’s requests for information included demands for highly personal data of Patel’s, including Patel’s addresses (“mailing addresses, residential addresses, business addresses, and e-mail addresses”), a “call detail record” which lists inbound and outbound calls, text messages and voicemail messages, as well as sources of payment for the phone service, including credit card and bank account numbers. The FBI also demanded expansive internet session data including exact IP addresses, the document shows.

The FBI also sought–and was granted–non-disclosure orders (NDOs) from federal judges, shielding the existence of the subpoenas from Patel and his lawyers on the grounds that revealing them could result in his “flight from prosecution, destruction of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses and serious jeopardy to the investigation.”

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Sure he misses the attention.

• ICE Airport Deployment ‘Test Run’ For 2026 Elections – Steve Bannon (RT)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents helping at US airports should be treated as a “test run” for a wider role in the 2026 elections, Steve Bannon, a former White House strategist and prominent MAGA figure, has said. ICE agents have begun assisting the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at airports across the US, after a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) led to staff shortages and long security lines at checkpoints. Speaking on his War Room podcast on Monday, Bannon told conservative lawyer Mike Davis that the airport deployment could be used “as a test run, as a test case to really perfect ICE’s involvement in the 2026 midterm elections.”


Davis replied that ICE agents should be “at the polling places,” noting that it is a federal crime for illegal immigrants to vote in federal contests. “If you’re an American citizen, you should be happy that ICE is there, because you’re not going to have illegal aliens canceling out your vote,” he said. Bannon described the airport ICE deployment as “another 5D chess move from President Trump,” arguing that agents are “trained to, wait for it, check IDs.”On Monday, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations and Homeland Security Investigations units reportedly began supporting TSA staff at multiple airports. White House border czar Tom Homan, who is overseeing the operation, said immigration officers will not screen passengers but will handle entry and exit lanes to free up TSA staff.

TSA and ICE are both part of DHS, but immigration enforcement has been shielded from the funding gap by Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” a 2025 spending package that allocated about $75 billion to ICE through 2029. More than 400 TSA agents have reportedly quit since the partial shutdown started.Democrats in Congress have focused on ICE after its agents fatally shot two US citizens in Minnesota in January, who were allegedly attempting to obstruct a massive immigration crackdown in the state. Democrats have for months demanded that new checks on ICE agents be introduced, such as a requirement to wear identification, body cameras, and a ban on facemasks. Trump has told US media that ICE will assist TSA “for as long as it takes” and that he would consider deploying the National Guard if needed.

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“.. in 2025 Ukraine purchased about 46% of all its imported gas from Hungary.”:

• Hungary Suspends Gas Supplies To Ukraine — Orban (TASS)

Budapest is suspending gas supplies to Kiev until it begins receiving Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. According to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the decision was made at a government meeting.”Until Ukraine supplies oil, it will not receive gas from Hungary. We will protect Hungary’s energy security, maintain fixed gasoline prices and reduced gas tariffs,” Orban said in a video address broadcast by Hungarian television channels.


Until recently, Ukraine not only transited Russian gas to Hungary but also received gas from Hungary via a pipeline capable of operating in reverse mode. According to the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine, in 2025 Ukraine purchased about 46% of all its imported gas from Hungary. These supplies covered 20-30% of its monthly gas needs. The total volume of natural gas exports from Hungary to Ukraine amounted to about 2.5 bln cubic meters in 2025, increasing fivefold since 2022. Hungary transited gas through its territory that was supplied from other sources. Earlier, the Hungarian government warned that in response to Ukraine blocking oil supplies via Druzhba, it could halt gas and electricity supplies to Ukraine.

Russian oil has not been supplied to Hungary and Slovakia since January 27. Budapest is confident the pipeline is operational and that Kiev is blocking supplies purely for political reasons. As a retaliatory measure, Hungary blocked EU funding for Ukraine. Budapest warned it would not approve a 90 bln euro EU loan for Ukraine and would not support any other Brussels decisions in Ukraine’s favor until transit of Russian oil resumes. This position was presented by Orban at the EU summit on March 19.

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Maybe his idea of what AGI is, is different from mine.

• Nvidia CEO: “I Think We’ve Achieved AGI” (ZH)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joined podcaster Lex Fridman for a 2-plus-hour conversation on the future of AI infrastructure, covering everything from chips, racks, and cooling systems to Nvidia’s broader strategy for the next computing era. Jensen spoke about how computers are evolving from retrieval machines into generative AI factories. The discussion also turned to one of the biggest questions in the AI cycle: whether AGI has already arrived. Near the two-hour mark of the conversation, Fridman asked Jensen about the “AGI timeline” and whether it is still five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years away, especially given the recent widespread use of agentic AI tools like OpenClaw.Jensen responded, “I think it’s now. I think we’ve achieved AGI.”



It is worth noting that Jensen has previously stated that the AGI timeline depends on how it is defined. At the 2023 New York Times DealBook Summit, Jensen defined AGI as software capable of exceeding normal human intelligence at a reasonably competitive level. At the time, he said he expected AGI to arrive within five years.Fridman’s question about the AGI timeline was based on a very narrower interpretation, and Jensen framed it this way: AI does not need to build anything lasting. It does not need to manage a complex business. It just needs to make a billion dollars.

“You said a billion,” Jensen told Fridman, “and you didn’t say forever.” Jensen said, for example, that all AI needs to do is create a web service or app that goes viral and is used by a few billion people at fifty cents per user. He pointed to the dot-com era, when some websites were no more sophisticated than what an AI agent can create today. So under that narrower interpretation, Jensen believes: “I think we’ve achieved AGI.”

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Squeeze every last penny out of it?

I was just thinking that ‘Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are two prime examples of what our world can achieve combining fantasy and craftsmaship.

• If Lord of the Rings Isn’t Dead, Stephen Colbert Can Finish It Off (Green)

The Fellowship of the Ring — the opening chapter of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, one of the greatest achievements in movie history — turns 25 this December, and since then, Hollywood has inflicted one indignity after another on Tolkien’s masterpiece. The worst may be yet to come.It’s hard to do worse than what Amazon Prime did to Tolkien with the ill-conceived, miscast, and excruciatingly costly Rings of Power. After spending a quarter of a billion dollars just to secure the rights to certain Tolkien appendices (!!!) from his estate, Amazon then turned Galadriel into a sword-waving girl-boss and Sauron into a likable bad boy. And those are the show’s better features, according to my wife, who keeps trying to watch the thing.


By the time the series comes to a merciful end with Season Five, Amazon will have spent more than a billion dollars on a series with sharply declining viewership, shrinking budgets, and, at best, mixed audience reception. Jackson himself hasn’t exactly covered himself in glory since The Return of the King, returning to the well at least twice too often with his follow-up Hobbit trilogy. He took a kids’ book you can rush through without much effort, and turned it into a bloated eight-hour trilogy filled with comically bad CGI. Even now, Jackson (having turned the director’s reins over to Gollum actor Andy Serkis) is hard at work producing The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.

Because I guess audiences just can’t wait to see every last detail of what happened to the little runt in the cracks between The Hobbit and Fellowship. It’s what I call “strip-mining the IP.” New Line Cinema purchased the rights to The Lord of the Rings almost 30 years ago, and did them such glorious justice with the original movie trilogy. Inevitably, Jackson and New Line set about extracting every last bit of wealth until the original property looked like the Shire after the Scouring. What’s it called when the greedy mining company takes the tailings from its strip mine and runs them through the smelter one more time with all the reckless abandon of Gollum diving after the One Ring into Mount Doom?

Ah, yes — it’s called The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past, and lame-duck late-night host Stephen Colbert will co-write it with his son, screenwriter Peter McGee, for Jackson and Warner Bros, which now owns New Line. Variety reported late Tuesday that Colbert, “a vocal Tolkien fanatic,” and McGee will write a screenplay “from chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring that didn’t make it into Jackson’s 2001 adaptation.” Or as the movie’s official logline put it, “Fourteen years after the passing of Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter, Elanor, has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the War of the Ring was very nearly lost before it even began.” So Shadows of the Past won’t really take us back to 2001 and fill in the missing parts of Fellowship. It will take aging versions of Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin and saddle them with an all-new girl-boss.

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“.. a corrupt German government kidnapped him in Mexico and imprisoned him in Germany after a fake trial on fake charges..”

• Free Reiner Fuellmich (Paul Craig Roberts)

I have written several articles about Reiner Fuellmich who was about to expose the fraudulent and orchestrated Covid Pandemic and to hold those responsible accountable. To prevent this, a corrupt German government kidnapped him in Mexico and imprisoned him in Germany after a fake trial on fake charges. Award-winning documentary film director Philippe Carillo has teamed up with Seba Terribilini to produce a film about the corrupt judicial system of present day Nazi Germany. I encourage readers to watch the two minute trailer and to contribute to the funding to get the documentary publicized. Very few people are willing to stand up and to expose the criminal behavior of governments. Carillo and Terribilina are two such people. It is our responsibility to support them. They are speaking for us.


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