Menu Icon

Debt Rattle April 6 2026

Apr 062026
 
 April 6, 2026  Posted by at 9:30 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  31 Responses »


Paul Klee Hammamet with Its Mosque 1914 (feels awkward)


• Time for Europe to Defend Itself (J.B. Shurk)
• EU Acting Like ‘Suicide Ship’ By Keeping Russia Sanctions – Fico (RT)
• US Does Not Rely on Strait of Hormuz Oil, but Impact Still Hits Pump Prices (ET)
• Trump Tells Iran ‘Time Is Running Out’ — and Then It Does (Robert Spencer)
• ‘Open The F**kin’ Strait’: Trump Threatens To ‘Blow Everything Up’ (ZH)
• Trump’s Address to the Idiocracy (Alexander Dugin)
• Battle for Bulgaria: The EU Opens a New Front in its Election War (RT)
• Providence Destroys Mural to Murder Victim as too “Divisive” (Turley)
• Forced Mobilization Failing To Stop Ukraine’s Manpower Collapse (RT)
• Only Strength Matters (Alexander Dugin)
• Asst Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon Campaigns Hard to Replace Pam Bondi (CTH)
• Czech Government Imposes Fuel Price Cap and Cuts Diesel Tax (RMX)
• ICE Use the DMV as Bait to Lure Illegal Alien Truck Drivers? (Tim O’Brien)
• Pfizer Cancels COVID Vaccine Trial for Lack of Interest (JTN)

 


 

 


 

 


 


“Americans shouldn’t fight for a suicidal continent.”

• Time for Europe to Defend Itself (J.B. Shurk)

]Four years ago, the Biden administration was working with the United Kingdom and the European Commission to pay for diminutive comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s war with the Russian Federation over territories where supermajorities of the population identify as Russian. We were told that the Russian-speaking people of Ukraine “belonged” to Ukraine and that the only way to “preserve democracy” was to deny those people a democratic vote to join the Russian Federation. “Democracy” also apparently requires the installation of a Ukrainian dictator, a complete crackdown on an independent press, widespread censorship of public debate on social media, the denial of religious freedom, and a brutal campaign of press-ganging men into military service to die as cannon fodder for a corrupt Ukrainian regime that launders money from U.S. and European taxpayers into the bank accounts of the West’s political and financial elites.


Just as globalists in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and across Old (and increasingly Islamic) Europe turned the “Reign of COVID Terror” into an opportunity to bilk taxpayers, enrich elites, and grow the totalitarian national security State, the same globalist scum quickly turned the Ukraine conflict into another “emergency” requiring more taxes, censorship, and public sacrifice. All of a sudden, anything criticizing the official public policies of Western governments was labeled “Russian disinformation.” If you disagreed with whatever the West’s vaunted “experts” said, you were dismissed as “Putin’s puppet.” Pro tip for information warfare enthusiasts: When government authorities identify dissent as “propaganda,” that’s propaganda!

The COVID propaganda project gave us a chorus of World Economic Forum buffoons posing as national leaders all singing, “We must ‘Build Back Better.’” When that schtick got old — or, rather, when ordinary citizens across the West started to show signs of resistance against their imperial rulers — the West’s globalists turned Ukraine’s Chief Munchkin into a “freedom fighter” battling the pernicious authoritarianism of Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The same yahoos — Biden, Trudeau, Macron, Queen Ursula, and the rest of the WEF’s rump-kissing claque — who screeched like wounded cockatoos, “Build Back Better,” now all huffed in unison, “Ukraine! Ukraine! Ukraine!” It never ceases to amaze me that the day after Canada’s “Freedom Convoy” protests against COVID “vaccine” mandates came to an end, the official launch of the new hit television drama, “WAR: Ukraine,” began.

It’s almost as if Western globalists yank us commoners along by the leash from one spectacular production of nonsense to the next (just to see how much money they can steal from our pockets when their hands aren’t busy groping small children). Some people in the U.S. and Europe were made to really care about a country that has long been considered so incorrigibly corrupt that other corrupt countries can’t help but blush. Lemmings who had been walking around with multiple paper masks over their faces to magically protect themselves from viruses that don’t fear masks all of a sudden waved Ukrainian flags with gusto as if they could identify Dwarf-King Zelenskyy’s money-pit-proto-nation on a map!

Nobody wanted to admit that the same übermenschen from sub rosa groups such as Bilderberg and the Trilateral Commission — who have made a financial killing from “green energy” and mRNA “vaccines” over the years — had simply returned to their favorite investment of all: actual killing. War brings new taxes, new regulations, new forms of censorship, new military investment, and new ways to exploit asymmetric information for financial gains. In short, wars bring profits! And what better place for corrupt globalists to make tons of money than to take advantage of the corrupt swindlers putatively governing the traveling circus known as Ukraine!

The United Kingdom (still smarting from its misadventures in the Crimean War one hundred and seventy years ago) demanded that Russia hand back Crimea to its MI6-managed Ukrainian friends. Queen Ursula of the pan-European (and increasingly Islamic) empire demanded that Russia respect the right of Europeans to overthrow any Ukrainian governments that Brussels doesn’t like (see the U.S.-E.C.-organized 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine, or what Western propagandists still shamelessly call the “Revolution of Dignity”). BlackRock and other multinational investment firms selflessly volunteered to help finance the war, purchase Ukraine’s assets on the cheap, and invest heavily in the subsequent reconstruction projects of a destroyed nation. Google and Facebook promised to censor all public debate averse to globalists’ interests as “Russian propaganda.”

Read more …

Absolutely.

And they can’t stop now: Von der Leyen, Starmer, Macron etc., they all bet against Putin. And their people will pay a steep price.

The only normal people are in eastern Europe. That’s the next battleground.

• EU Acting Like ‘Suicide Ship’ By Keeping Russia Sanctions – Fico (RT)

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has urged the EU to lift the sanctions on energy exports from Russia and resume dialogue, comparing the bloc’s policies to a “suicide ship.”Since the beginning of the US-Israel war with Iran in late February, oil prices have risen by 60% and gas prices by 70% in the EU, according to European Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen. The bloc previously experienced price hikes after deciding to phase out deliveries from Russia due to the Ukraine conflict. In a post on Facebook on Saturday, Fico blasted the EU for “ideological blindness and incompetence” and accused Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky of exacerbating the crisis.


“I am not calling for anything else – only for a return to common sense. The whole EU, and especially the European Commission, are beginning to look like a suicide ship when it comes to energy security,” Fico wrote. He called on the EU to lift “the absurd sanctions” and take “vigorous steps” to restore flows via the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline, which delivers Russian oil to the EU through Ukraine.Kiev, which has long tried to pressure Slovakia and neighboring Hungary to abandon energy supplies from Russia, claimed that the pipeline was rendered inoperable by a Russian strike. Zelensky said last month that Ukraine would repair it if the EU prevents Hungary and Slovakia from blocking a $104 billion loan to Kiev.

Earlier this week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that the bloc could face “one of the most severe economic crises in its history” unless the sanctions on Russian energy are lifted. The bloc’s energy commissioner, Dan Jorgensen, has ruled out the easing of sanctions, despite warning on Friday of a potential “long-lasting” energy shock that could force member states to ration fuel.

Read more …

Asia.

• US Does Not Rely on Strait of Hormuz Oil, but Impact Still Hits Pump Prices (ET)

The Strait of Hormuz has been called the jugular vein of the world’s oil supply, and as Operation Epic Fury continues, Iran continues to have a chokehold on the critical supply route.


About one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas is typically shipped through the narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea. But Iran’s attacks on commercial vessels have brought traffic through the strait to a virtual standstill since the start of the conflict on Feb. 28. In March, just 220 vessels transited the strait, according to data from maritime analytics platform Marine Traffic. Prior to the war, thousands of ships traversed the waterway each month. These actions have caused oil and gas prices to surge. Brent, a global benchmark for oil prices, has risen firmly above $100 a barrel overseas. The average gas price in the United States has surged past $4 per gallon.

President Donald Trump has threatened to launch strikes on Iran’s oil wells, power plants, and critical oil infrastructure on Kharg Island unless the strait is reopened. He delayed the strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure until April 6, pending talks with the regime. Here’s a look at how much oil travels through the Strait of Hormuz and where it goes. An average of 20 million barrels of oil and refined products flowed through the narrow gateway between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran each day in 2025. That’s roughly 25 percent of the world’s sea-borne oil trade, according to a February analysis from the International Energy Agency. The strait is only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, with shipping lanes just two miles wide in each direction.



The vast majority of crude oil and condensate—a natural gas byproduct—went to Asia (91 percent), according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration analysis based on Vortexa tanker-tracking data from the first half of 2025. Of those Asian nations, China and India absorbed about half of the crude moving through the strait—37 percent and 14 percent, respectively—followed by Japan and South Korea at 12 percent each. Sixteen percent went to other countries in Asia and Oceania. The United States and Europe remained marginal buyers, receiving just 3 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

Roughly three-quarters of crude oil travel by tanker ship through the strait came from Saudi Arabia (38 percent), Iraq (22 percent), and the United Arab Emirates (14 percent). Iran shipped just 11 percent. Additionally, the strait accounts for nearly 20 percent of the global liquefied natural gas trade. Qatar, the world’s largest gas exporter after the United States, represents 93 percent of that volume. In 2025, Asia received almost 90 percent of the liquefied natural gas flowing through the strait. Europe received just over 10 percent. Of Asian countries, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan sourced almost two-thirds oztheir total liquefied natural gas supplies via the Strait of Hormuz last year.

Read more …

The American people will not let them send ground troops. He’s got to win without them.

• Trump Tells Iran ‘Time Is Running Out’ — and Then It Does (Robert Spencer)

On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump gave the surviving rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran another ultimatum: “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”’This follows the president’s announcement on March 26: “As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time. Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”


Just a few hours after he issued the Saturday morning ultimatum, however, Trump wrote: “Many of Iran’s Military Leaders, who have led them poorly and unwisely, are terminated, along with much else, with this massive strike in Tehran! President DONALD J. TRUMP.” It was unclear whether this meant that the 48-hour ultimatum was still in place or not, but the “massive strike” certainly removed any lingering doubt that Trump was in earnest.

And so what will the rulers of the Islamic Republic do now? A great deal is riding on whether the rulers of Iran, whoever exactly they may be in the continued absence of the putative new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, decide to acquiesce to a deal with Trump. An agreement, any kind of agreement, between the mullahs and/or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the United States will not only end the present conflict. It will also ensure, at least for the immediate future, that the Islamic Republic will survive.

As much as its own people detest it, and as inhuman as it is toward them, the Islamic regime in Tehran has all the guns. The Iranian people, on the other hand, have neither weapons nor a leader, for anyone within Iran who dares to stand publicly against the regime is taking a tremendous risk, and anyone who looks as if he could emerge as the leader of a resistance movement is swiftly imprisoned and often killed.

Then there is the question of whether there is any real possibility that the Islamic Republic’s top dogs would honor the terms of an agreement with the United States even for a brief period. As The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran explains, the Islamic concept of taqiyya, lying to deceive one’s enemies, is a particularly Shi’ite concept, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is a Shi’ite nation, although a startling 2020 survey showed that a majority of Iranians are so disgusted with Islam itself after 47 years of the Islamic Republic that they don’t consider themselves Muslim anymore.

The doctrine of taqiyya was formulated in the middle of the eighth century, when the Sunni caliph al-Mansur was persecuting the Shi’ites. Taqiyya allowed Shi’ites to pretend to be Sunnis in order to protect themselves from Sunnis who were killing Shi’ites.

This was necessary because Sunnis were in the majority almost everywhere, and would not infrequently take it upon themselves to cleanse the land of those whom they referred to as Rafidites, or rejecters: those who rejected the caliphates of Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman, the first three successors of Muhammad, all of whom were chosen over the man Shia believe Muhammad chose for the job, Ali Ibn Abi Talib. Until the conversion of Persia to Shi’ism, taqiyya was an indispensable tool for the very survival of the Shi’ites. Sunnis practice it as well, as it is based upon the Qur’an (3:28), but the Shi’ites raised it to the level of a precisely and elaborately articulated theological concept.

Read more …

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.”

• ‘Open The F**kin’ Strait’: Trump Threatens To ‘Blow Everything Up’ (ZH)

Shortly after President Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,” the president spoke with Fox News reporter Trey Yingst for 15 minutes early Sunday. Trump provided Yingst with new details on the behind-the-scenes negotiations with the Iranians and what would happen if Iran does not reach a good-faith deal. Yingst said Trump told him, “If they don’t make a deal, and fast, I’m considering blowing everything up and taking over the oil.”


The reporter went on to say that the president added that if there is no deal, bridges and power plants will go down all over the country. Yingst asked the president about the possibility of an agreement with the Iranians. The president said those negotiating on behalf of Tehran have been granted amnesty for now so they can continue the talks. The reporter noted that Trump thinks a deal can be reached by Monday. Trump said, “I think there’s a good chance tomorrow. They’re negotiating now.”


International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol told the Financial Times this weekend that governments must avoid panic hoarding and refrain from imposing fuel export bans as the Gulf energy shock ripples outward to Asia, Africa, Europe, and eventually reaches the US West Coast.”I urge all countries not to impose bans or restrictions on exports,” Fatih Birol emphasized in the interview. “It is the worst time when you look at the global oil markets. Their trade partners, their allies and their neighbors will suffer as a result.”

The FT noted that Birol was “careful not to name China directly,” but made very clear his warning was likely aimed at Beijing, which has already moved to restrict exports of critical refined products, including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. Birol said that “major countries in Asia who hold major refineries” should reconsider their current bans, adding, “If those countries continue to restrict or totally ban exports, the impact on the Asian markets will be dramatic.”

Birol’s hoarding warning in Asia comes shortly after the IEA’s coordinated release of 400 million barrels from emergency reserves. Such hoarding by major countries would directly undercut efforts to stabilize global energy markets. He also warned that if the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz persists, losses of crude and refined products in April could reach roughly double the levels seen in March.Early in the US-Iran conflict, energy economist Anas Alhajji joined UBS analysts on a call in which he warned of panic hoarding risks in the oil market. He said that he questioned back in January why the Trump administration was hoarding Venezuela’s oil after the Maduro raid, instead of bringing it to market.

Alhajji noted then, “I’m not talking about conspiracy theories. We were criticizing the Trump administration, companies, and trading houses that bought Venezuelan oil, and asking why they weren’t able to sell it to end users and why they were hoarding it. Now we know.” He was implying that this hoarding was in preparation for Operation Epic Fury.Asia has been hit hardest so far. JPMorgan’s top commodities expert warned about the falling dominoes of how the energy shock transmits from Asia, then spreads to Africa and Europe, before reaching the US, especially California, shortly thereafter.

“Unfortunately, we see that some countries are adding to their existing stocks during our coordinated oil stock release,” Birol said. “They are stocking up. This is not helpful. In my view, this is a time for all countries to prove they are responsible members of the international community.” Jeff Currie of Carlyle recently outlined the hoarding risks in a note titled “A Crude Awakening”: “The physical shortfall is the trigger; the behavioral response is the multiplier.”

Earlier on Easter morning, President Trump unleashed a fierce message on Truth Social: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.” Is the pressure building on Trump from the rest of the world (and domestically) to end this ‘operation’? And/or are we getting closer to quagmire-inducing boots on the ground?

Read more …

“We must rely on our own strength and actively support our real allies. There are no such allies in the West. None.”

• Only Strength Matters (Alexander Dugin)

In the current situation, Russia needs to act much more firmly. The enemy does not understand nuance, hints, or the refined language of diplomacy. They consistently read our politeness as weakness. That is how they see it—nothing more. And they are preparing for a full-scale, frontal war against us, one they will launch when they believe they are ready. The US and Israel are currently focused on their war with Iran and Shiite forces in the Middle East. But the EU, Britain, and the Democrats in the United States are oriented specifically towards a conflict with us. If we behave in ways they interpret as weakness, there will be no chance of avoiding war. Only strength matters. This is a moment for strength: direct, credible, visible, and unmistakable.


It is also essential to disabuse them of the notion that they will choose when to start the war while we simply wait and comply.We must act with clarity and resolve, and we must act now. In global politics, a true sovereign is the one who shapes events and initiates decisive processes, rather than fitting into those set in motion by others. After the geopolitical disaster of the 1990s—the collapse of the USSR—the West concluded that we had lost our sovereignty. They have treated us accordingly ever since. There is no reason to expect any consistent logic from Trump’s behavior. c

Read more …

PCR: “Alexander Dugin on the clown emperor and the delusional war machine.”

“A war machine driven by decay and delusion “

• Trump’s Address to the Idiocracy (Alexander Dugin)

Trump delivered his address to the nation. It was brief. He appeared pitiful and broken. His cheeks sagged; his eyelids were swollen. He had clearly deteriorated. Yet at the same time, he threatened Iran with a continuation of the war. The timeline has shifted; now it is a matter of several years. A ground operation is more than likely, though Trump has not yet openly declared it. For now, using almost the exact same wording Hillary Clinton once used about Libya, he promised to “bomb Iran back into the Stone Age, to which it belongs.” It is difficult to say to which “age” the civilization of Jeffrey Epstein belongs, especially since in the West great epochs and periods of total decline seem to have been confused and rearranged.


Most of all, what we are seeing now resembles an idiocracy. Comments on Trump’s speech across social media are largely mocking, sarcastic, and negative, aside from desperate attempts by bots to soften the epic failure, repeating identical and crudely constructed praise. The overwhelming majority of Trump’s former supporters openly claim that “the old man has lost it” (“he’s gone”). Short videos comparing Trump to Boris Yeltsin—portraying Trump as a disgrace to America and Yeltsin as a disgrace to Russia—are appearing more and more frequently; in them, both seem to be dancing and gesticulating. At the same time, to give Trump his due, he does not drink alcohol. Only Diet Coke. His vices are of a different nature. Many in the United States are convinced that, having been caught in those very vices by Epstein and Israeli intelligence services, he became a victim of blackmail and therefore initiated the war with Iran, which he is now compelled to pursue against all odds, despite the American public’s complete lack of desire to fight.

Trump also stated that healthcare, the cost of living, and food security are not his concern. His concern is war. Such is this “president of the whole human world.” He was elected on promises that were strictly the opposite. In summary, Trump’s speech amounts to a complete political and psychological fiasco against the backdrop of an escalating major war. It increasingly resembles a Third World War. The United States (represented by Trump alone and the group of Zionist maniacs surrounding him) seeks to wage war for Israel against Iran, while European leaders aim their efforts against Russia. NATO is fractured, yet peace seems to have been forgotten by nearly all parts of the cracked—if not shattered—collective West.

Whether we want it or not, we too are participants in this world war—on our Ukrainian front. In a large-scale war, one must never underestimate the opponent, no matter how pitiful he may at times appear. One’s own strength must be increased rapidly and by any means. However degraded Trump himself may seem, the United States remains a powerful military force. And the European countries of NATO are still a fairly serious opponent. Therefore, for Russia, despite all our peaceful intentions, there is no other option but to fight—truly fight, not half-heartedly. Our enemies (if not these, then others) intend to wage war for a long time and with great ferocity, including against us. This cannot be ignored, and any talk or dreams of peace should be postponed to an indefinite future.

Peace or war, peace or war, peace or war? War!

Freedom or death, freedom or death, freedom or death? War!

— Egor Letov

(Translated from the Russian)

Read more …

The EU conquers its own territory.

• Battle for Bulgaria: The EU Opens a New Front in its Election War (RT)

Though the Hungarian election is only a week away, another threat is already manifesting for the EU’s elite: This time in Bulgaria, where left-wing populist and former President Rumen Radev wants to shut off the money tap to Ukraine, and his opponents want Brussels’ censorship machine to save them. Here we go again.On April 19, Bulgarians will vote in the country’s eighth parliamentary election in five years. Called after the resignation of Rosen Zhelyazkov following street protests in November, the election pits centrist Boyko Borissov – a former prime minister – and his pro-EU GERB-SDS coalition against the emerging left-leaning Progressive Bulgaria coalition, headed by Radev.


Who is Bulgaria’s Rumen Radev?
Radev served as Bulgaria’s president from 2017 until his resignation this January. He frequently clashed with Borissov during the latter’s tenure as prime minister, accusing him of incompetence and corruption – allegations substantiated in 2020 when an image of Borissov lying half naked on a bed next to a pile of money and a handgun spread on social media.The Radev-Borissov rivalry would not concern Brussels if Radev wasn’t a vocal opponent of the EU’s Ukraine policy.

Radev has opposed the bloc’s “self-destructive” sanctions on Russia since 2022, views a Ukrainian victory as “impossible,” opposes military aid to Kiev, and has declared that “ending the war in Ukraine requires more diplomacy and negotiations with Russia.” For a country with four NATO military bases and a ten-year defense deal with Ukraine, the issue is critical for Kiev’s backers.With two weeks to go, Progressive Bulgaria is leading Borrisov’s GERB-SDS by ten points, according to a polling aggregate compiled by Politico. Faced with this outbreak of popular democracy that challenges its fundamental policy positions, the Bulgarian establishment has called for EU reinforcements.

Is the EU meddling in the Bulgarian election?
The playbook will be familiar to anyone following our ‘Battle for Hungary’ series, with one difference: Brussels’ censorship tools are being deployed in Budapest to oust the incumbent Viktor Orban; in Sofia, they’re being used to squash a rising anti-establishment political force. Last week, caretaker Bulgarian Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov requested that the EU activate its ‘Rapid Response System’ (RRS), claiming that Russia is interfering against Borissov. Activated in Hungary last month, the RRS empowers EU-approved ‘fact-checkers’ to flag online content as ‘disinformation’ and request its removal from social media platforms such as TikTok and Meta.

Platforms that refuse to comply are liable to fines under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force in 2022. The EU has activated the RRS in five elections since 2024 – in France, Germany, Hungary, Romania, and non-EU member Moldova – and in every case, an investigation by the US House Judiciary Committee this year found that fact-checkers “almost exclusively targeted” right-wing and populist candidates and organizations. “Moreover, the requirement that these fact-checkers be approved by the European Commission creates a clear structural incentive for the participants to censor Euroskeptic opinion and content,” the committee noted.

An EU spokesperson told Politico this week that it was ready to take action in Bulgaria, “in particular via the Rapid Alert System for real-time information exchanges.” Not to be confused with the Rapid Response System, the Rapid Alert System allows the EU to compile information about supposed ‘disinformation campaigns’, so that more severe measures, including the RRS, can then be taken.

How the EU is outsourcing its dirty work – again
Gyurov’s government is already preparing the proof the EU needs. Last week, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry set up a temporary unit to “counter disinformation and combat hybrid threats,” which will be “advised” by former Bellingcat investigator Christo Grozev. Grozev, whose allegations of Russian poisoning plots were considered too outlandish by even Vladimir Zelensky’s officials, is a wanted man in Russia over his role in encouraging Russian fighter pilots to defect to Ukraine with promises of money and EU citizenship. According to the ministry, Grozev will “assist the organization with specific information exposing malicious influences,” which will then “be able to be addressed both at the national and European levels through mechanisms developed by the European Commission.”

If Grozev’s research is not enough, the Center for the Study of Democracy – an EU-funded think tank – has already published a report alleging that Bulgaria “faces sustained Russian information manipulation pressure,” and that certain “high-risk narrative pressure points” must be tackled. These include online content “framing leaders as corrupt,” “framing candidates as warmongers dragging Bulgaria toward conflict,” and “Promoting the claim that sanctions harm Bulgaria (and the EU) more than Russia.” The report explicitly calls for the activation of the RSS and the punishment of online platforms on which this content is posted.

Working hand in hand with the Bulgarian government, the EU is paying researchers to justify the use of its own censorship tools, in order to stifle legitimate political speech that harms its broader geopolitical agenda. This will come as no surprise to anyone who’s been following the Hungarian election. There, the activation of the RSS was justified by a report alleging that Russian President Vladimir Putin had dispatched a team of “political technologists” to Budapest to rig the election for Orban. The report was published by an EU-funded opposition journalist, and quoted anonymous EU spies. Tails are wagging dogs in the EU, and the “request” for Grozev’s involvement could easily be seen as another such case.

Read more …

Shameless freaks. That image will haunt me for the rest of my days. But will I ban it from my view? This girl was seconds away from being brutally slaughtered when the picture was taken. And that’s too divisive? What part of it is?

• Providence Destroys Mural to Murder Victim as too “Divisive” (Turley)

John Adams once wrote: “America … the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant.” Unfortunately, this week, the “grand scene and design in Providence [R.I.]” “illuminated” rather than eliminated the ignorance of our times. Liberals in that city, including the mayor Brett Smiley, demanded the removal of a mural in the memory of Iryna Zarutska, a young woman murdered on a train. Unlike memorials to figures like George Floyd or others, a memorial to the young white woman was deemed triggering and “divisive.”


On Aug.22, Zarutska was stabbed to death in a random and unprovoked attack on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina. Shocking surveillance video of the incident showed suspect Decarlos Brown Jr. allegedly stabbing Zarutska in the neck before walking away. Brown has a long record in the criminal justice system with more than 14 arrests and prison stints of five years.Iryna Zarutska pictured moments before her death cowering in her seat on a Charlotte commuter train The mural was set on the exterior of The Dark Lady, an LGBT bar in Providence. The bar immediately became the focus of a cancel campaign and eventually caved.

Providence’s Democrat Mayor Brett Smiley then joined the mob and denounced the mural to Zarutska, calling it “divisive” and saying that it “does not represent Providence.” He seemed to strike out at artist Ian Gaudreau and said that the city would “support local artists whose work brings us closer together rather than divide us.” Providence is not the only place where these memorials have been defaced or destroyed. In Chicago, a mural to Zarutska was defaced. Gaudreau lashed out at the campaign and the local politicians who destroyed his artwork as an attack on free expression. Smiley and other Democrats, however, piled on the artist and the work as an attack on minorities and a message of white victimization.


Smiley told WPRI that memorializing this young woman is an effort of right-wing billionaires, and it found its way to our community.” Smiley suggested the usual claim that “I support diverse opinions but just not this one”: “I didn’t stifle anyone’s speech, it was his decision whether to continue with it or to take it down, but it certainly wasn’t bringing us together as a community…so I don’t think we’re a stronger, more united community because of this mural, and so I thought the best thing to do was just to take it down.”

What is most striking is how hypocrites like Smiley actively fuel this rage while insisting that they are the voices of tolerance. He and other liberals in Providence cannot tolerate even the image of a murdered young woman in their city. This is a city that loves to repeat its motto, “What cheer, Netop,” the greeting from 1636 from early interactions with local Native Americans, meaning “Greeting Friend.” It seems the faux welcoming culture doesn’t extend to those with opposing views or different values.

Read more …

Money laundering.

• Forced Mobilization Failing To Stop Ukraine’s Manpower Collapse (RT)

Ukraine’s military is sliding deeper into a manpower crisis, as a chronic shortage of volunteers forces authorities to rely on increasingly aggressive mobilization. Vladimir Zelensky’s vehement opposition to withdrawing troops from Donbass – which voted to join Russia in 2022 – remains a key roadblock in negotiations. Russia, and reportedly the US, is demanding that Kiev pull its forces out and open the way to a peace deal. But Zelensky, encouraged by his European backers, is choosing to continue fighting, apparently hoping that Ukraine can maintain its foothold in the region.


As warnings grow louder – including from within Ukraine – about the critical state of the army, teams of conscription officers have been unleashed to hunt down potential recruits. Violent confrontations repeatedly break out as people resist, and deaths have been reported both among the hunters and hunted. Meanwhile, morale among those sent to the front against their will is practically non-existent. Desertion has become a widespread phenomenon, reaching tens of thousands each month.

Many soldiers have spent years on the front lines with little or no rotation. With losses mounting, attention is turning to new sources of manpower. Officials are increasingly pushing to draft women and public campaigns have been launched with such an aim. However, critics say life on the front lines has brought nothing but abuse and misery for female personnel.

Read more …

Trump needs arrests.

• Asst Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon Campaigns Hard to Replace Pam Bondi (CTH)

AAG Harmeet Dhillon, DOJ head of the Civil Rights Division, is campaigning hard to be the person President Trump and Susie Wiles select to replace Attorney General Pam Bondi. Mrs Dhillon has a significant personality and political trait-parallel with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and that likely explains why many of the alligator emojis are supporting her not-so-subtle bid to gain the position.

Read more …

Only the first.

• Czech Government Imposes Fuel Price Cap and Cuts Diesel Tax (RMX)

The Czech government has moved to cap fuel prices and slash diesel taxes in an effort to curb rising costs due to the ongoing international energy crisis, announcing a system that will see the state set maximum daily prices for fuel across the country. Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the intervention follows concerns that fuel retailers were charging excessive margins, despite earlier pressure from the government to bring prices down voluntarily. Under the new system, the Ministry of Finance will determine a maximum fuel price each day, applying to all gas stations nationwide. Officials estimated that diesel, if the cap came into force on Thursday, would currently be capped at 46.43 Czech crowns per liter, or around €1.89.


“We monitored the margins and at the beginning of the conflict they were within the norm, but gradually they became excessive,” Babis said, adding that negotiations with distributors had only partially reduced prices. “We decided to intervene.” The government will also introduce a cap on retailer margins, setting the maximum allowable profit at 2.50 crowns (€0.10) per liter for both petrol and diesel.Alongside the price controls, ministers approved a targeted tax cut on diesel fuel. Excise duty will be reduced by 1.939 crowns per liter, equivalent to 2.35 crowns (€0.10) including VAT, in a move officials say is permitted under EU rules. The Ministry of Finance estimates the measure will cost the state budget around 1 billion crowns (€40.8 million).

Finance Minister Alena Schillerová said the combined approach of price caps and tax cuts was designed to immediately lower costs while preventing excessive pricing behavior in the market. “It is calculated as the average of wholesale indices from Cepro, Orlen, and MOL, plus a margin of 2.50 crowns and VAT,” she said, outlining how the daily maximum price will be set. The ministry will publish the price each weekday at 2 p.m. for the following day. Schillerová added that the margin cap was based on historical data adjusted for inflation, with the aim of eliminating what she described as disproportionately high pricing by retailers. The measures will formally take effect on April 8.

Read more …

Joe Biden’s 10+ million illegals.

• ICE Uses the DMV as Bait to Lure Illegal Alien Truck Drivers (Tim O’Brien)

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may have dropped off the radar a little bit after things settled down in Minneapolis, but a flurry of arrests just outside Pittsburgh suggests that ICE is as active as ever and addressing a problem that’s been a long time coming. ICE arrested a reported 13 people at a driver’s license center in a quiet, rural location 40 miles north of downtown Pittsburgh on April 3.


According to WPXI-TV, the local East Franklin Police Department placed calls to ICE “after concerned citizens reported an abnormally large amount of individuals outside the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) driver licensing center in Kittanning, Pennsylvania.” The center, which is normally only open two days a week, was “overrun” by fighting-age young men from other countries applying for driver’s licenses and seeking other services. Witnesses said the center was filled with long lines.

When ICE arrived, federal agents were able to arrest 13 illegal aliens from countries including Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. At least one person allegedly resisted arrest and reportedly assaulted a law enforcement officer. Local residents praised ICE for its quick response to the situation and for taking their calls seriously. Jason Koontz, a DHS spokesperson, said, “Residents thanked ICE for investigating their concerns and responding to their calls.” This was more than your usual roundup of illegal aliens. These individuals may have been involved in more illicit activity. Here is more from Koontz:

The West Kittanning Driver License Center was processing medical form updates for current holders of non-domiciled commercial learner’s permit or driver license holders, which resulted in a large number of customers at West Kittanning today. If you’re wondering what “non-domiciled” means, the U.S. Supreme Court spent a lot of time on that very word when it heard oral arguments in the birthright citizenship case. Non-domiciled people are individuals who don’t live here. Their home is in another country. So, a group of foreign nationals who likely speak little or no English show up unannounced in a sleepy little country town in Pennsylvania, and, if I’m reading this right, they needed to update their commercial learner’s permit — not their driver’s license — as part of the process of updating their medical forms?

PennDOT issued a statement of its own: Pennsylvania uses the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to verify legal presence for all non-domiciled commercial learner’s permit or driver license applicants. That federal system confirms immigration status in real-time. For non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits and driver licenses, we remain under a pause of issuing those documents, as directed by the United States Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Per the direction of FMCSA, no non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits or driver licenses were issued or reissued.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that Armstrong County Sheriff Frank Pitzer said when he forwarded information in the morning on the unusual activity at the driver’s license center, ICE did not give him any indication that it would follow up, visit the site, or arrest anyone. He said the federal agents showed up before 1:30 p.m., without any advance notice, and immediately commenced arresting the suspected illegals. The sheriff said some of the illegal aliens who were at the center when ICE arrived may have fled and may still be hiding in the area. As a result, local law enforcement is on the lookout for these stragglers.

Other reports are that this entire operation was a sting, organized by ICE. More to the point, ICE may have sent notices to commercial truck drivers that their licenses were expiring and instructed them to go to this specific Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) office at the assigned date and time. Apparently, dozens of illegal aliens showed up, and ICE was in the shadows waiting for them. Sting or no sting, the end result is very encouraging, and I’m here for it.

Read more …

Everyone was in on it. So no penalties. They’re all very busy trying to save face. And counting profits,.

• Pfizer Cancels COVID Vaccine Trial for Lack of Interest (JTN)

Five years after their wide deployment, first on a voluntary basis, then under threat of firing for nearly 100 million Americans at the direction of the White House, COVID-19 vaccines for at least low-risk groups may be on the way out amid higher regulatory requirements and indifference to the jabs by the vast majority of Americans. Pfizer and its COVID mRNA vaccine partner BioNTech abruptly pulled the plug on their trial for healthy 50-64 year-olds, telling trial investigators in a March 30 letter they were coming up short on the 25,000-30,000 enrollment needed to generate enough data to evaluate the jabs, Reuters reported, citing a letter it viewed.


Friday was the last day that Pfizer was scheduled to monitor trial participants for signs of COVID illness, the letter reportedly said. “Two sources from companies” that manage 9% of trial sites told the wire service that Pfizer told them in writing weeks earlier to stop recruitment. “This study is not ending as a result of any safety or benefit-risk concerns,” Pfizer and BioNTech told the wire service, citing their “inability to generate relevant post-marketing data” with lagging enrollment. They said they already told the Food and Drug Administration, which did not answer a query from Just the News, they were throwing in the towel.

Pfizer appears to see more dollar signs in the first serious vaccine candidate for Lyme disease since GSK’s vaccine reportedly crashed and burned in 2002 due to relatively low efficacy and strain coverage, no testing in children and widespread reports of serious adverse events. The drug maker is planning to seek regulatory approval with its partner Valneva for the Lyme vaccine despite admitting the trial missed its “primary endpoint” because not enough people got the tick-borne illness. Pfizer made the same big bet on its pricey COVID antiviral Paxlovid, which did no better than a placebo against “long COVID.”

Pfizer is also losing a purported ally in the Trump administration, Attorney General Pam Bondi, who before being fired last week was trying to tank clinical trial whistleblower Brook Jackson’s False Claims Act lawsuit against Pfizer for allegedly using fraudulent data to obtain emergency use authorization for its COVID vaccine and a related massive payout from taxpayers. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard arguments in December, is expected to rule in the case “any Friday now,” Jackson wrote on X Thursday. “You can’t certify a lie. So what is an FDA authorization built on fraud?”

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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