Kash Patel Archives - The Automatic Earth

Trump’s 250-foot triumphal arch just cleared a key hurdle.

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts has approved the design, advancing a massive monument planned for an entrance to Washington, D.C.

The arch will feature a Lady Liberty-style figure holding a torch, gilded eagles, gold… pic.twitter.com/EmactERrL7
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 21, 2026

https://twitter.com/GuntherEagleman/status/2057493779578327531?s=20 https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/2057483794408464769?s=20

Next time the Dishonest left tell you Trump is a Felon send them this. pic.twitter.com/bp3EtDwrNu
— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_The_Dr) May 22, 2026

Greg Gutfeld did not need the DNC autopsy report to pinpoint the exact reason for Kamala Harris’ humiliating loss in 2024.

He said the trans issue became the thread that unraveled her ENTIRE campaign for one very important reason.

GUTFELD: “I’ll tell you why.”

“It diagnosed… pic.twitter.com/d4lBsOYwP7
— Overton (@overton_news) May 21, 2026

https://twitter.com/WakeUpPatriott/status/2057601951840207235?s=20

Zero Hedge has OK Iran coverage. They tend to update an article as the day passes. I often turn that into multiple articles.

• Reports Of Draft Iran Deals Circulating Deemed Inaccurate (ZH)

In a quick market update, Newsquawk says risk-off as reporters push back on optimistic geopolitical reporting + Rubio says not there on Iran deal.mAnd this bit of serious contradiction of earlier reports, via CBS: Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi said Friday that he was “not aware of any visit right now” when asked about reports by Iranian state media since Thursday that Army chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, a key mediator between Iran and the U.S., was expected in Tehran.”I am sure this will be announced in due course, if it is to be announced. I can neither confirm nor deny it now,” Abdrabi said.

Pakistan, Qatar Delegations En Route to Tehran
“As regards the details of any agreement, our consistent position on this matter is that we do not talk of specifics. As a mediator and as a facilitator, it is the inherent ingredient of our mandate that we remain quiet on the individual positions and the process — also not ascribe any adjective to the process i.e. fast, slow, medium,” said Adrabi, adding that he would “stick to this consistent position.”
Despite the attempts of some regional outlets to spin a narrative of imminent peace (which we saw yesterday), a senior Iranian source told Reuters on Thursday that “no deal had been reached with the US” – though he did also claim that “gaps had narrowed” – somewhat in line with the optimistic narrative. The Islamic Republic is reportedly still reviewing the latest peace blueprint handed down by the Trump administration. However, this is the latest from a Wall Street Journal correspondent:
Trump has meanwhile explicitly warned that further military action remains firmly on the table if Tehran doesn’t bend the knee. Yet there’s more ‘action’ taking place in the interim – as Pakistan’s army chief once again is on his way to Tehran, per Al Arabiya, and this – though already previewed the day prior – caused oil to dump amid the usual daily optimistic headlines emerging just ahead of the US market open. And in an apparent first, Qatar is sending a delegation too:
Iran Threat of ‘Preemptive’ Military Action
Futs hits session high on Reuters report Qatar has sent negotiating team to Tehran with the US team to help secure a deal to end war. Field Marshal Asim Munir is expected to receive and relay Tehran’s answer to Washington on the latest. Meanwhile, speaking to state television, Fadahossein Maleki, an influential member of Iran’s Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, strongly hinted that Iran might not wait around to be hit. When pressed on whether the ceasefire could collapse, Maleki bluntly stated, “Anything is possible.”
He took it a step further, openly floating the idea of an Iranian preemptive strike if Iran believed the Pentagon is moving its forces into position for resumption of military action.“It could even come from Iran’s side, frankly,” Maleki warned, according to a report by Iran International. “If we feel that something is happening from a US base, Iran has the legitimacy to respond and prevent it.” Despite these threats, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has freshly said there has been some “slight progress” in talks with Iran to end the war, but followed by saying he did not wish to exaggerate how much.

And of course US says No Deal if they don’t.

• Iran Says ‘No Deal’ If US Insists On Enriched Uranium Handover (ZH)

Iran FM: Agreement ’Not Close’
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson says cannot necessarily say that have reached a point where an agreement is close, Tasnim reports; focus of negotiations is on ending the war: Delegation from Qatar is currently holding talks with Iran’s foreign minister, but Pakistani side remains the mediator in negotiations. Details related to the Nuclear issue are not being discussed at this stage.At around the same time as the above headline emerged, Sky News Arabia offered more optimism, citing a source who said that ”broad outlines” have been reached in terms of an understanding on the nuclear issue.

Still, Al Jazeera reports that ”no deal” will be reached if the US makes an enriched uranium handover demand. The Foreign Ministry maintains this will be a non-starter: “We will not reach a conclusion if we try to delve into details related to highly enriched uranium in Iran“:, the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. Baghaei also said a Qatari delegation is curding “Pakistan remains the main mediator in the negotiations.
Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir has arrived in Tehran: ‘Last Ditch Effort’
So it looks like the rumors were true, after Pakistan officials first seemed to deny, and also said no comment. Army chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, a key mediator between Iran and the US, has arrived in Tehran as the Iranians are said to be reviewing the latest updated Washington proposal for peace.
Pakistan FM: “Not Aware of Any Visit” to Iran by Army Chief
In a quick market update, Newsquawk says risk-off as reporters push back on optimistic geopolitical reporting + Rubio says not there on Iran deal. And this bit of serious contradiction of earlier reports, via CBS: “Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi said Friday that he was “not aware of any visit right now” when asked about reports by Iranian state media since Thursday that Army chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, a key mediator between Iran and the U.S., was expected in Tehran.
“I am sure this will be announced in due course, if it is to be announced. I can neither confirm nor deny it now,” Abdrabi said. “As regards the details of any agreement, our consistent position on this matter is that we do not talk of specifics. As a mediator and as a facilitator, it is the inherent ingredient of our mandate that we remain quiet on the individual positions and the process — also not ascribe any adjective to the process i.e. fast, slow, medium,” said Adrabi, adding that he would “stick to this consistent position.”

From what I can see, she is/was good at it.

But Reuters says the White House presured her to leave?!

• Tulsi Gabbard Steps Down as DNI (Margolis)

Tulsi Gabbard is resigning as Director of National Intelligence.

Fox News Digital broke the story Friday that Gabbard notified President Trump of her resignation during a face-to-face meeting in the Oval Office. Her last day at ODNI will be June 30. In her formal resignation letter, obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital, Gabbard cited the recent diagnosis of her husband, Abraham, with “an extremely rare form of bone cancer.” She wrote that she is “deeply grateful for the trust you placed in me and for the opportunity to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the last year and a half,” but that circumstances at home leave her no choice. “Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation, effective June 30, 2026,” she wrote. “My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer.”

In her letter, Gabbard described Abraham as “my rock throughout our eleven years of marriage — standing steadfast through my deployment to East Africa on a Joint Special Operations mission, multiple political campaigns, and now my service in this role.” “His strength and love have sustained me through every challenge,” she added. “I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding and time-consuming position.”

Gabbard has never been a typical Washington creature. She served in Congress as a Democrat and even ran for president. However, she became so disenchanted with her party that she backed President Trump and became a Republican. Now, she is walking away from one of the most powerful national security positions in the country to stand beside her husband. “Thank you for your understanding during this deeply personal and difficult time for our family,” Gabbard continued. “I will remain forever grateful to you and to the American people for the profound honor of serving our nation as DNI.”
What she accomplished in roughly 18 months at the helm of the Intelligence Community is nothing short of remarkable. She restructured ODNI, slashing its size and saving taxpayers more than $700 million per year. She dismantled DEI programs embedded throughout the intelligence community — programs that had no business being there in the first place. She stood up the first-ever “Weaponization Working Group,” tasked with exposing how the Biden administration turned the machinery of government against political opponents.
Gabbard has been a true transparency hawk, having declassified more than 500,000 pages tied to the JFK and RFK assassinations and the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” probe into the Trump campaign, which showed Obama-era officials politicized intelligence on Russian interference to undermine Trump’s 2016 victory.
Her National Counterterrorism Center also had a major year in 2025, stopping more than 10,000 individuals tied to narco-terrorism from entering the country and adding over 85,000 others to the terror watchlist. Gabbard acknowledged in her letter that “there is still important work to be done,” while pledging a smooth transition. But for now, her focus is on family. Anyone who has watched a loved one battle serious illness understands why. Whatever comes next, millions of Americans respect the fight she led to make the intelligence community more accountable and focused on real threats.

Was that before or after a million people live on Mars? Ask Bowie.

• The Trillion-Dollar Man (Williams)

If he had any, Bernie would be pulling his hair out at the prospect of Elon Musk becoming a trillionaire. Socialist imbeciles spurn success, preferring downtrodden masses who wallow in government dependence rather than exerting individual independence. As is well known, socialists portray billionaires as a “policy mistake.” Extrapolating from that, they must consider the potential coming of trillionaires as a policy catastrophe.

The first man likely to reach that lofty target — if his companies meet stringent performance objectives — is Elon Musk. At first blush, that seems exorbitant, but let’s run some numbers.Musk heads several remarkable companies, but for this exercise, we’ll focus on Tesla, which was founded in 2003. Tesla’s current headcount is about 125,000 (give or take). Average headcount (hard to calculate due to extreme scaling) over its lifespan is approximately 51,000. Average salary (excluding bonuses and benefits) is also approximate, at about $100,000 per annum.So, 23 (years in existence) * 51000 (average headcount) * 100,000 (estimated avg. salary, per above link) equals $117,300,000,000.
That’s over 117 billion dollars paid to direct Tesla employees over its lifespan — again, that excludes all the other benefits that may accrue.Remember, this is before ramping up production of Tesla’s Optimus robots that will become the predominant contributor to revenue (and productivity gains that will benefit society at large). It is estimated that Tesla alone supports over 600,000 jobs (think supply chain and contractor jobs). So let’s consider their larger impact on growing societal wealth. It’s tricky to determine the average salary of such positions, but let’s go with a conservative $60,000 per annum.
Here’s the calculation: 23 (years in business) * 600,000 (jobs tied to Tesla) * 60,000 (approx. salary) equals $828,000,000,000. That’s over eight hundred billion, by golly (combine that with the above, and you’re teetering on one trillion).Admittedly, these are imprecise estimates (maybe underestimates), but the point is clear: Tesla alone has generated enormous payrolls for direct and indirect employees combined, and the future looks brighter still.
In fact, Tesla is inexorably becoming much more than a car company: there are all-important data repositories, AI, energy, autonomous driving, and robots. Indeed, if Musk hits the pay targets that may catapult him to trillionaire status, the estimated market cap of Tesla will be around 8.5 trillion dollars.That’s Tesla, but there’s also Neuralink, the Boring Company (tunneling, etc.), X, and xAI. Oh yeah… then there is SpaceX, which currently employs thousands of dedicated full-time workers worldwide. Its Initial Public Offering is gearing up, with an anticipated value of well over $1 trillion. The socialist politicians propagating envy will have hysterical fits over that.
Speaking of whom, Obama once mused that at some point a businessman has “earned enough,” and that is well below a billion dollars. Well, given all the societal wealth (not to mention philanthropic aid and services to hapless victims of natural and man-made disasters throughout the world) that Musk has generated, maybe one trillion dollars is about enough.Who would you rather have access to those resources: a creative, market-driven entrepreneur (albeit one who occasionally benefits from industrial policy), or a fuddy-duddy, central-planning socialist sequestered from the dynamism of consumer-oriented markets?

“Dr. Oz didn’t need a medical chart to spot the problem, saying TrumpRx.gov still has no medication for Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), though they’re working on it.”

• Dr. Oz Fires Back After Joy Behar’s TrumpRx Meltdown (David Manney)

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the 17th administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, answered Joy Behar after the longtime co-host of The View warned viewers about President Donald Trump’s prescription drug initiative. Behar said once Trump puts his name on prescriptions, “We’re all going to die.” She also reached for Trump’s past business failures, as if cheaper medicine belongs in the same dusty joke drawer as casino chatter and late-night monologue scraps. Dr. Oz didn’t need a medical chart to spot the problem, saying TrumpRx.gov still has no medication for Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), though they’re working on it.

His joke landed because Behar’s reaction sounded less like analysis and more like a smoke alarm installed over a toaster sitting near a burning pile of pine boughs: loud, frantic, and not especially useful once breakfast remains intact. President Trump announced on May 18 that TrumpRx would expand with over 600 generic medications. The AP reports: The beefed-up website is the Trump administration’s answer to criticism from Democrats who have called TrumpRx performative and noted that many of the brand-name drugs it has featured are cheaper with insurance or have lower-cost generic versions sold elsewhere.
It also marks an effort to respond to a top voter concern for November’s midterm elections: affordability. Health costs are a worry for many Americans, an issue compounded by the Republican-led Congress’ recent cuts to Medicaid and the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies this year that sent some people’s premiums skyrocketing. The expansion is made possible by partnerships with other online pharmacies, including Amazon Pharmacy, GoodRx and billionaire investor Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, Trump said at an event at the White House.
TrumpRx doesn’t directly sell drugs, and it won’t replace insurance for everyone, but it gives uninsured patients, high-deductible families, and cash-paying customers another place to check before surrendering at the pharmacy counter. Mark Cuban, co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs and a regular Trump critic, appeared at the White House event and backed the expansion. Cuban’s presence should’ve slowed the usual reflexive sneering; a Trump critic stood beside Trump because lowering drug prices helps people who don’t care which political tribe gets credit when the receipt shrinks.
Behar could’ve asked fair questions; Americans should want details about pharmacy benefit managers, deductibles, manufacturers, and insurance rules. Drug pricing has enough trapdoors to swallow a family budget whole. Instead, she saw Trump’s name, grabbed the nearest panic button, and started whacking it like a carnival game she had no chance of winning. The token conservative on The View, Alyssa Farah Griffin—I think she’s the sacrifice, honestly; I can’t keep up with the dissected corpses—pushed back during the segment and pointed out that lower drug prices can help real families. Sunny Hostin, unsurprisingly, also raised concerns, but Behar gave viewers doom theater.
Behar’s verbal bullets were blanks, and even the blanks sounded tired. She didn’t test the claim against the numbers, or anything for that matter, simply firing first and hoping the smoke would pass for thought.Dr. Oz held the stronger ground because he kept the focus on access, prices, and practical relief. Prescription bills don’t arrive with political footnotes; seniors on fixed incomes don’t care whether Joy Behar approves of the label. Parents stretching paychecks want to know whether the medicine costs less, whether the pharmacy has it, and whether they can make rent after filling the bottle.
TrumpRx won’t solve every failure in American health care; no website can unwind decades of government bloat, drugmaker games, insurance headaches, and pharmacy middlemen. Yet a price-comparison tool with more than 600 generic medications gives families one more way around a broken system. Behar mocked the name, while Oz pointed back to the medicine cabinet. One side filled airtime, as the other side at least tried to lower the bill.

Unanimously. They insult every single woman. And are completely blind to that fact.

• Dems Vote Down Women’s History Museum Over Limit to Biological Women (Turley)

House Democrats unanimously voted this week against legislation to build a new women’s history museum on the National Mall. The reason was an amendment that limited the exhibits to biological women to the exclusion of transgender figures. The museum failed 204-216 as House Democrats hoped that they could still secure a museum including transgender figures once they retake power after the midterm elections. The amendment drafted by Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., states in part, “The Museum shall be dedicated to preserving, researching, and presenting the history, achievements and lived experiences of biological women in the United States.”

It further mandated that the museum would not depict “any biological male as female.” The vote was notable after the release of the DNC “autopsy” report that flagged how transgender and identity politics contributed to the defeat in the last election. The report specifically noted the success of Trump’s “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you” ad. The report noted that “If the Vice President would not change her position — and she did not — then there was nothing which would have worked as a response.”
The fact that this was a unanimous vote among Democratic members is particularly notable and suggests that transgender issues will remain a rallying point for the Democrats. Democratic members called the exclusion a “poison pill” amendment. In the meantime, transgender issues continue to occupy the courts with a major decision by the Colorado Supreme Court this week that ordered Colorado’s largest provider of gender-affirming care for young people to resume medical treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
That puts Children’s Hospital Colorado in direct conflict with the Department of Health and Human Services, which has moved to block federal support for institutions providing such care. Justice William Wood III wrote that “We conclude that the actual immediate and irreparable harm to petitioners outweighs the speculative harm CHC may face if the federal government further acts against it.” In his dissent, Justice Brian Boatright said that this was hardly a speculative matter, but “a decision driven by the direct threat to the viability of the entire hospital.”

“We had a wee trapeze, and a merry-go… carousel and a seesaw. They all moved, motorized of course, but people would say they could see the fleas” The Spanberger Flea Circus:

• Virginia Governor Signs Anti-Ice Executive Order Devoid of Meaning (Turley)

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger rolled out a kind of political flea circus this week with an anti-ICE executive order that would purportedly keep ICE out of polling places and other commonwealth areas. It did not matter that the order has no real impact on ICE. The important thing is the appearance of an impact on ICE. In the movie Jurassic Park, character John Hammond explained how he got a start by creating flea circuses: “You know the first attraction I ever built when I came down south from Scotland? It was a Flea Circus, Petticoat Lane. Really quite wonderful. We had a wee trapeze, and a merry-go… carousel and a seesaw. They all moved, motorized of course, but people would say they could see the fleas.

“Oh, I see the fleas, mummy! Can’t you see the fleas?” Clown fleas and high wire fleas and fleas on parade.” Spanberger unveiled her own flea circus attraction this week with an executive order ordering state employees to get federal agents to produce a valid warrant on “property of the Commonwealth” and instructs them to “not permit” federal agents to use those areas as staging or processing locations. She told the media that this was particularly at polling sites. The illusion was assisted by MSNOW, which portrayed one of their favorite politicians as protecting polling places and, of course, democracy. MS Now host Jonathan Capehart asked, “How concerned are you that he will send either the military or the National Guard or even ICE to polling places, and what can you do, if anything, to stop him?”
Spanberger explained ominously: “The reality is, throughout history, we have seen efforts at intimidating voters. My worry is we will continue to see those heightened… I’ll be issuing guidance across public spaces, including polling places, of how Virginia state employees can react to federal agents who might be appearing at a location where the worry is that they’re principally there to intimidate or scare people.” Neither, of course, mentioned that there are already federal barriers to such intrusion into polling places. For example, 18 U.S.C. 592 states in part:
“Whoever, being an officer of the Army or Navy, or other person in the civil, military, or naval service of the United States, orders, brings, keeps, or has under his authority or control any troops or armed men at any place where a general or special election is held, unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both; and be disqualified from holding any office of honor, profit, or trust under the United States.” That provision includes all federal civil personnel, including ICE.
While there might be instances in which federal officials respond to requests from local or state law enforcement to address a specific criminal act, there is already a general bar on posting or stationing such personnel at polling places. As for the suggestion of other bars on ICE operating on Commonwealth property, good luck with that. Various Democratic governors and legislatures have moved to impose limitations, which are clearly unconstitutional. Indeed, we have seen at least one judge convicted of trying to bar ICE from a courthouse and assisting the escape of an individual sought by agents.
Notably, Spanberger is aware of these limits after she vetoed a separate bill that would have banned ICE from making detentions in hospitals, schools, courthouses, and polling places without a judicial warrant or subpoena. She recognized that such laws “would create unavoidable legal liability for security personnel and local law enforcement officers when assessing federal immigration enforcement activities in certain protected areas.” Instead, she offered an illusory executive order that reaffirmed her image as an anti-ICE governor who is cutting off ICE in the state. It is doubtful that this order will ever be challenged because it is unlikely to be actually used as authority for any action.
For diehard Democrats, they could swear that they see the fleas moving the merry-go-round.

“Leftists can’t name & blame specific individuals for the 2024 loss because they’re an undifferentiated blob who function unconsciously according to enmeshed group think.” —Aimee Therese on X

• The Coup Abides (James Howard Kunstler)

In all the chatter about the Democratic Party’s 2024 election “autopsy” report you might have missed one little important detail: autopsies are generally performed on the dead. Stephen Colbert’s final week on CBS’s Late Night Show was the funeral. It was like the zombies’ ball. Poster-boy old Bruce Springsteen plugged a self-parody song about “King Trump” that might have been a rare case of career suicide on live TV.

Kings, indeed. These showbiz cretins actually have it better than kings — they have all the money, glitz, and adoration, but none of the onerous duties of real royalty. They amount to a weird court of effete elitists endlessly congratulating each other on their moral superiority, and that’s where it begins and ends: a Cluster-B hall of mirrors.
Of the common good, the know absolutely nothing. Nobody believes their tired buzzwords anymore: “Our democracy” . . . “conspiracy theories” . . . “baseless” this and that. . . their foolish vaccine worship. . . their avatars, the guffawing baboon Kamala Harris, the erstwhile phantom “Joe Biden,” and, most of all, their good sportsmanship trophy, Barack Obama, last seen confabbing with Canada’s Mark Carney, Globalism’s paladin of the last resort.
The Lefty-left’s heroes are on-the-run, but tripping over each other badly as they scatter into the thickets to re-group for the midterm elections — which they are suddenly and seemingly likely to lose now that SCOTUS erased about a dozen race-based congressional districts . . . and then Virginia’s Supreme Court tossed Governor Spanberger’s ballot ploy to make the Old Dominion a one-party state (like back in slavery days).
The corpse of the Democratic Party might be dead, but not a few of its agents, cells, and parasitical organisms are ‘out there’ still twitching and plotting. The decade-long coup abides. The lawfare ninjas — Norm Eisen, Mary McCord, Marc Elias, et al. — still plot tirelessly behind the scenes, rigging up evermore legalistic chicanery disguised as legality, and they are rolling in dough from Soros, the Tides Foundation, Neville Roy Singham, and countless NGOs dedicated to overthrowing the republic.
The coup abides for two reasons: 1) its players are desperate to evade prosecution for their vast and various crimes of the past ten years (and prosecution is coming at them down the track like the old Union Pacific US-4 “Daylight” locomotive); and 2) the Democratic Party is desperate to preserve the revenue flows that support all its racketeering operations. Without its rackets, the money funnel to pay off its countless “oppressed” client-constituent-victims, there is no party. That’s all it was in its final stage of life.
Minnesota, of course, is the case-study for that kind of corruption and now the DOJ is going after the place hard, announcing fifteen new prosecutions this week for $90-million in Medicaid fraud, “just the beginning,” the lead US attorney, Colin McDonald, said. California, Illinois, New York, Maine, and many more states await the same treatment under the president’s new National Fraud Enforcement Division. The Democrats will go into the midterms revealed to be nothing more than a looting operation.
It’s happening in real time. Just yesterday, one particular public benefits entrepreneur, Aimee Bock, was sentenced to forty years in prison for running a Minneapolis scam called Feeding Our Future that made off with $243-million in taxpayer money. At sentencing, Aimee Bock was ordered to pay roughly $243 million in restitution. That’s a hoot, isn’t it? Federal inmates (Bureau of Prisons) are paid from 12-cents to $1.15 per hour wages for assigned work, depending on the type of job. Forty years might not be enough to git’er done.
Many more will be going down in the months ahead for similar shenanigans, and the voting public might notice as it rolls out. But fraudsters such as Aimee Bock are mere lumpen foot-soldiers in the regime. The more spectacular action will be the Democratic Party’s field marshals getting nailed, and that’s hardly begun. Coup Central is the Southern District of Florida where a “grand conspiracy” case, or possibly many cases and sub-cases, are already in the grand jury stage — meaning probable cause has been established en route to indictments. Many political celebrities labored hard since 2017 to overthrow the executive branch of the government. Hair is on fire everywhere you look.
One small fish was reeled in this week: one Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, a senior supervisory US attorney, indicted on two felony counts of mishandling evidence from “special prosecutor” Jack Smith’s botched Mar-a-Lago documents case. She labeled the purloined docs in her personal computer as dessert recipes (e.g., “bundt cake”) en route to leaking them. Lineberger has pleaded innocent. Don’t doubt that a negotiated plea deal is in play with her, and that Jack Smith will be sweating the outcome of that as Lineberger flips and talks.

“So they did what they always do: They tried to torch his reputation before he could get to work. The bogus narrative has blown up in their faces.”

• Crime Data Just Vindicated Kash Patel (Matt Margolis)

The FBI released preliminary crime data for 2025, and the numbers are stunning. Violent crime fell at a rate not seen in nearly a century, and the man overseeing the bureau is the same one the left has been trying to torch for months. Murder and non-negligent manslaughter dropped more than 18% nationwide last year. Aggravated assault fell more than 7%. Rape declined nearly 8%. Robbery cratered by about 18.5%. All told, violent crime dropped about 9.3% overall; there were roughly 1.1 million fewer violent crimes than in 2024.

“The 2025 crime data in this report shows the single largest decrease in violent crime and murder since 1937 — as well as huge decreases across the board in terms of aggravated assault, rape, and robbery,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement. Property crime wasn’t far behind. It dropped by about 12.4%, translating to approximately 5.2 million fewer property offenses than the year before. The data comes from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, which pulled information from more than 17,000 law enforcement agencies — covering roughly 96% of policing across the country.This is what happens when you have a tough-on-crime administration running the country.
Patel credited the transformation happening inside the bureau. “Over the last 14 months, we made major transformations at the FBI, and these results show those changes are working.” He also pointed to his “back the blue” commitment — backing law enforcement rather than undermining it — as central to the approach. Now, remember what the media was doing just last month. The Atlantic dropped another bogus hit piece on Patel, painting him as an erratic, paranoid excessive drinker who “panicked” and “freaked out” over a routine computer login glitch, supposedly convinced he’d been fired. It was a false story, but the report did the job it was intended to do: Democrats started calling for investigations almost immediately.
Democracy Forward, a progressive lawfare group that spends its days fighting DEI rollbacks, immigration enforcement, and abortion restrictions, fired off a 16-page FOIA request to the Justice Department. They wanted Patel’s calendars, schedules, text messages, staff communications, and any records related to an alleged request for “breaching equipment” by his security detail. Rumors of Patel’s imminent firing spread online, fed by Democrats eager to paint him as a drunk and an incompetent. It was all just part of their ongoing smear campaign to force him out.
There’s no denying that the FBI under Kash Patel is producing results. The left spent months trying to convince America he was unstable and about to be shown the door. Instead, he’s overseeing the most dramatic crime reduction since Franklin Roosevelt was in the White House. This is what competence looks like. Democrats were always terrified of Patel running the FBI, and not because they thought he was incompetent. They knew he’d dig into things like the Russian collusion hoax and the 2020 election. So they did what they always do: They tried to torch his reputation before he could get to work. The bogus narrative has blown up in their faces.

EU is looking for a reason to exist. As is NATO.

• EU Turning Into NATO Twin, Western Aggression Has No Limits: Lavrov (TASS)

The West’s policy of aggression knows no bounds, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated at a meeting of the United Russia Party General Council Commission on International Cooperation and Support for Compatriots Abroad. According to him, the European Union is now virtually indistinguishable from NATO and has essentially become a replica of that alliance. TASS has compiled the foreign minister’s key statements.

Western aggression
The West’s aggressive policy mixes direct military intervention with sanctions: “The West knows no limits in the application of these aggressive policies. It resorts to illegal, unprecedented sanctions that undermine all the previous tenets of the Western world, which were based on free trade, market forces, the sanctity of property, and much more. But it is not only economic sanctions that are being imposed; we are also seeing instances of direct military intervention.”
“We see this in what is happening around Iran, and we see it in other parts of the Middle East that directly border Eurasia: Palestine, Libya, Syria, Yemen, along with a whole range of other problems that have been created.” All other parts of the continent have, in essence, been declared a zone of responsibility for the North Atlantic Alliance: “NATO is expanding its infrastructure into the Far East under the pretext of containing China.”
Western propaganda
Western propaganda is doing everything it can to distort information about the special military operation and Russia’s internal affairs: “This task is particularly relevant given that Western propaganda is doing everything it can to distort the essence of what is happening and to misrepresent our internal issues as well. They are doing everything they can to exploit distorted perceptions of the special military operation for this purpose.”
It is essential to “explain to the general public what is happening in the world and the steps taken by Russia to protect its legitimate interests and ensure the most favorable external conditions for the country’s development and for improving the well-being of its citizens.” The North Atlantic Alliance has put forward ideas about the “decolonization” of Russia, and such notions still float around in the public sphere.
EU turning into NATO twin
The European Union is now virtually indistinguishable from NATO; it has become a mirror image of that alliance: “The European Union now hardly differs from NATO. From what was once an economic bloc designed to improve the well-being of European citizens, it has turned into a mirror image of the North Atlantic Alliance.” Ideas are already being put forward in the EU that there is no need to rely on NATO: “Given that the Americans are cooling off on their commitments to defend Europe, they seek to create a new military bloc based on the European Union.”
Crises in Eurasia
“All major parts” of the Eurasian continent are currently gripped by crisis. It is necessary to build a dialogue on creating an architecture that will “help eliminate the causes of each of these crises and establish long-term stable relations in every part of the continent,” as well as create “the most favorable conditions for the development of all countries.”
The Eurasian Charter on Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st Century is finished: “The document is now ready.” Consultations are currently underway to establish a task force to formulate “final proposals and organize cooperation with international partners”: “The work will be extensive, and in all of this work, of course, it is not enough to rely solely on the efforts of foreign policy services.”

”The German chancellor has repeatedly called fast-tracked full membership for Kiev “unrealistic..”

• Merz Proposes Limited EU Status For Ukraine (RT)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has proposed granting Ukraine a limited “interim” status within the EU as a way to deal with its accession ambitions, according to media reports on Thursday that cited a letter by Merz to bloc leaders. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has repeatedly demanded full membership by the end of 2027.

Kiev was granted EU candidate status in June 2022, following the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Since then, it has pushed for fast-tracked membership while some bloc leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Merz, have described such demands as unrealistic. According to the German chancellor’s new proposal, Kiev would be allowed to tap into certain EU-funded programs, as well as request aid from EU members under the “mutual assistance clause” in the event of an attack.
Ukrainian representatives would also be allowed to participate in meetings of the European Council, the European Commission, and the European Parliament, but would not receive voting rights, according to the letter, cited by multiple media outlets, including Reuters and Euronews.The status, which Merz reportedly described as “associate membership,” would not replace the standard accession process and could be revoked if Ukraine backslides on the reforms demanded by Brussels.
“It is obvious that we will not be able to complete the accession process shortly, given the countless hurdles, as well as the political complexities of ratification processes in various member states,” the chancellor wrote, as cited by Euronews. Last month, Merz also said Ukraine’s “immediate” accession was “not possible.” Zelensky has repeatedly rejected anything short of full membership. Speaking to journalists at an EU summit in Cyprus in late April, he insisted that Ukraine had already “earned” its place in the bloc and did not need any kind of “symbolic” status.
Moscow has argued that Brussels uses the prospect of EU membership as political leverage rather than a genuine promise. Back in 2023, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the EU promise as “a carrot [on a stick] put in front of a carriage.”

“The Ukrainian leader has perpetuated the ills he promised to eradicate.”

• Zelensky’s Seven-Year Itch: He Promised Peace And Delivered War (RT)

On May 20, 2019, Ukrainians were cheering the inauguration of Vladimir Zelensky, a political outsider who won the presidential election in a landslide on a promise to chart a path different from previous national leaders, who had been elitist, corrupt and divisive. Zelensky promised sweeping changes, which he vowed to bring at the possible cost of his political career. In practice, he is now clinging to power under martial law, as his closest associates are mired in embezzlement and fraud scandals. In his first speech as president, Zlensky promised to end corruption, secure peace, and unify the nation of clashing identities. He delivered none of it.

A new yet familiar face
Zelensky won 73% of the vote against incumbent Pyotr Poroshenko, who ran on a slogan of “Army, Language, Faith” – a platform of narrow militaristic nationalism that demanded constant loyalty affirmations from culturally Russian citizens. Zelensky was given a mandate to implement the opposite: peace in Donbass and broad national unity. Underpinning his successful campaign was Zelensky’s image as an everyman good guy, cultivated for years by playing the role of president in the popular TV series ‘Servant of the People’, after which his political faction is named. The real Zelensky was an occasionally bawdy comedian, whose show – propped up by oligarch Igor Kolomoysky – was not above delivering scathing attacks to further its patron’s interests.
Upon taking office, Zelensky tapped for his team talent from the Kvartal entertainment studio, many of whom are now indicted in corruption scandals, while supporters expected imminent prosecution of Poroshenko, as Zelensky hinted during debates

Breaking the status quo
His election victory belongs to every Ukrainian, including Poroshenko supporters, a cleanly shaven neatly-dressed Zelensky declared at his swearing-in. He announced that it was Ukraine’s chance for change. Officials who cannot deliver should resign and make room for those who will, he stressed, announcing snap parliamentary elections. “Not all of you like what I am saying? Too bad, because it’s the people of Ukraine and not me who are speaking. My election proves: citizens are tired of experienced system insiders, bloated politicians who in 28 years created a nation of opportunities for kickbacks, diversion of cash flows and pillaging of wealth.

All Ukrainians must reject graft, Zelensky urged. He called disgraceful the fact that corruption is broadly accepted as part and parcel of life in Ukraine and that this gives senior officials tacit permission to themselves engage in it. Seven years later, and amid a slew of corruption allegations involving his inner circle, Zelensky’s closest associate, Andrey Yermak, was charged with money laundering to secure a multimillion dollar property outside of Kiev. The leader among the four partners, labeled R1 in the indictment, is reportedly Zelensky.
Ending war at any cost
The Ukrainian president-elect vowed that ending the armed conflict in Donbass – and by extension the tensions with Russia – would be his top priority. According to the International Crisis Group the hostilities claimed an estimated 14,000 lives between 2014 and early 2022, when they blew up into a much-deadlier direct war with Russia. “I would do anything so that our heroes wouldn’t die anymore,” he pledged. “I am certainly not afraid to make hard decisions. I am prepared to lose my popularity, my approval ratings. If necessary, I will lose my office to bring peace.”
Poroshenko loyalists and Ukrainian nationalists branded any form of compromise with Moscow “capitulation,” staging mass protests in October 2019. Zelensky didn’t want to risk being ousted by force, as President Viktor Yanukovych had been in 2014 and tried to placate his heavily armed critics. “I’m the president of this nation. I’m 42. I am no schmuck,” he told a group of military vets during an on-camera parley. Ultimately, Zelensky embraced perpetrating the slow-burning Donbass conflict, as Ukraine was building-up its military with NATO’s help. Some nationalist figures later became vocal supporters of his, allegedly swayed by luxury apartments in Kiev.
A nation divided
In his inauguration speech, Zelensky argued that national unity will be the answer to both corruption and the conflict with Russia. “We are all Ukrainians: no one is big or small among us, no one is true or false,” he said, including people in Donbass and Crimea whom Kiev sought to return under its control by force. Zelensky urged everyone who considers themselves Ukrainian to help him build a better future. Worldwide, there are 65 million Ukrainians, and some could relocate from other nations, bringing with them “experience and mental values.”
The number of people living under Kiev’s sovereignty is less than 29 million, according to 2025 government data, compared to roughly 52 million when the nation declared independence in 1991. Contrary to his promises to accept every Ukrainian, the Zelensky administration ratcheted up the Poroshenko-era measures aimed at eliminating the Russian language from public life. He also launched a crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), the largest religious denomination in the country, whose churches and monasteries are being forcibly transferred to a Kiev-backed rival. Similar to political rivals whom Zelensky sought to silence, the UOC was accused of secretly serving Russian interests.

“The fate of the conflict, part 1: The state that forgot how to live without war ”

“Ukraine currently finds itself somewhere halfway between a state and a militant organization, which will inevitably evolve into a terrorist group.”

• Ukraine and the Road to Ruin (Sergey Poletaev)

2025 can be seen as the year in which the united anti-Russian coalition fell apart. In essence, there are now three distinct players acting against Russia (Ukraine, Europe, the US), and each has its own interests. Analyst Sergey Poletaev has prepared a series of articles in which he analyses the position of each player, their goals and interests in the conflict, and suggests how Russia might respond. The first one concerns Ukraine.

The untamed lands
One of the scenarios long under consideration is the gradual disintegration of the Ukrainian state, turning it into a sort of Gaza on the Dnieper. As time goes on, the likelihood of this scenario is growing, so let’s examine exactly what it entails. A fully-fledged state possesses an instinct for self-preservation. Apart from heart-warming victories over enemies, a state always has a host of concerns: the economy, demographics, infrastructure, the social sphere, and so on. By definition, a state is a superstructure built upon society, and, one way or another, it wages wars for the sake of the common good. Yet while at war, a state is always thinking about how it will survive afterwards and indeed, it’s forced to think of things like this.
If, however, the state becomes detached from society for whatever reason, it transforms into a military organization whose sole raison d’être becomes conflict. In such cases, any ideological goals may be proclaimed: a global caliphate or victory over colonial oppression, the defense of European civilization or driving the Zionists into the sea. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that even when such an organization controls a certain territory and is therefore compelled to perform state and public functions there, when faced with a choice between these functions and its own military needs, it will always choose the latter.
For the state, people are a resource for its own reproduction and development. For a military organization, people are a resource for war: in the form of fighters and human shields. It’s possible to negotiate with a state. Before a war, one can threaten it, stage military maneuvers and drills, while at the same time offering various incentives. This approach works because a state considers the consequences. During a war, a state also weighs up the pros and cons and, as a rule, knows when to stop.
Let’s be clear: we’re not talking about unique wars like the Eastern Front in the Second World War, where the only possible outcome was the annihilation of one side. We’re talking about typical, classic wars, the aim of which is to use force to influence the policies of the opposing power, for it accept the victor’s terms, but not to kill to the last man. Such wars continue until it becomes easier for the losing side to accept the terms than to continue fighting. It’s easier to adjust policy than to lose lives. It’s easier to pay reparations than to cripple the economy. It’s easier to cede territory than to forfeit one’s future prospects.
Up the staircase leading down
A militant organization, especially one supplied from abroad, has nothing to lose. It will continue to operate as long as its ideals remain alive and there are sufficient resources to keep the fight going. It can be driven underground, but it will sprout from there like a weed. Ukraine currently finds itself somewhere halfway between a state and a militant organization, which will inevitably evolve into a terrorist group. State functions are being carried out in the country, but only thanks to external funding. The non-war-related economy has virtually disappeared, and industry has fallen to a minimum due to energy shortages.
More and more people are becoming alienated from the state, and the further things go, the fewer alternatives there are: either you integrate yourself into the military hierarchy in one way or another, or you find a way to flee the country, or you languish in poverty. Consequently, Ukraine is becoming increasingly detached, not yet from the land itself, but from the people who inhabit that land. It is increasingly subordinating itself to the aims of war, and in so doing is losing the hallmarks of statehood.
As long as the front holds more or less, this process isn’t obvious: from the outside, it seems that Ukraine is united and steadfast, just as it was on the first day of the special military operation. But the further we go, the more only a shell remains of pre-war Ukraine: transit military logistics, the bureaucratic and financial superstructures serving it, semi-artisanal basement-level military production (such as assembling drones from Chinese components), rear services and, most importantly, the front line, the collapse of which will bring everything else to an end within a matter of weeks.

Elon Musk's biggest competitor is secretly paying him $1.25 BILLION per month.

SpaceX just revealed its financials for the first time in 23 years of existence.

And buried deep in the S-1 is a detail that changes how you should think about the entire AI race.

Anthropic, the… pic.twitter.com/zU7TYupLD9
— Ricardo (@Ric_RTP) May 21, 2026

SpaceX launching cargo to the ISS, like FedEx, has become so reliable people forget how insane the sentence actually is.

Dragon just delivered another 6,500 pounds of research and supplies to orbit.

Microgravity medicine. Space weather science. Planetary formation studies.

All… https://t.co/ozKkYx1DJO pic.twitter.com/Xnzt0rzXRO
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) May 22, 2026

Starship can reach Mars.

But stainless steel mass makes return impossible.

And now TeraFab’s orbital AI compute is becoming the enabling layer that closes the gap.

The moment you attempt a crewed round-trip, you need:

• 2,400 metric tons of ISRU propellant on the Martian… pic.twitter.com/dwE2qXQcKj
— Lacey (@LaceyPresley) May 22, 2026

Elon Musk just measured your existence by how many times your atoms have been inside a dying star.

Musk: “How many times have your atoms been at the center of a star? I think it’s like on average three or four times.”

Every atom in your body has already survived the core of a… pic.twitter.com/v1akV2cfyM
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) May 21, 2026

Elon Musk's first wife once described what it's like to watch him fail.

She said he doesn't react the way normal people react. When a rocket explodes, most people in the room go silent. Some cry. Some start calculating the financial damage.

Musk pulls out his phone and starts…
— Imtiaz Mahmood (@ImtiazMadmood) May 22, 2026

Something is deeply wrong https://t.co/jzaseIr3ts
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 21, 2026

This is so unjust https://t.co/UttrCXm0bS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 20, 2026

German MEP, Christine Anderson:

"For god's sake, stop complying. Start rebelling. They are out to get you if you do not resist."

The so-called "pandemic" was a beta test—conducted by unelected globalists—to see how easy it would be to seize totalitarian control, under the… pic.twitter.com/WsrBp3qG50
— illuminatibot (@iluminatibot) May 21, 2026

Your liver makes about 1,000mg of cholesterol every day.

You eat, on a generous day, about 300mg.

If you eat more, the liver makes less. If you eat less, the liver makes more. The body has a target. It defends the target. It does not negotiate.

The pharmaceutical industry has…
— Sama Hoole (@SamaHoole) May 21, 2026

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

Debt Rattle May 7 2026

May 072026

May 7, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:11 am Finance Tagged with: blockade, EV, framework, homosexuality, ICE, Kash Patel, Nice, OpenAI, refineries, RINO, sperm, wish list 39 Responses »

Edward Hopper Approaching a city 1946

• ‘Fate Of Iran Refineries Now At Risk’ As US Blockade Begins To Bite (ZH)

• ‘Framework’ Still Being Hammered Out For ‘Monthlong’ US, Iran Talks (ZH)

• Iran Spox Blasts ‘Unrealistic’ White House ‘Wish List’ To End War (ZH)

• Inside The Moscow Meeting That Laid Bare Iran’s Weak Hand (Watkins)

• Trump Dropped an ICE Rebrand — and Democrats Are Losing It (Margolis)

• Kash Patel Outlines Secret Room in FBI Headquarters (CTH)

• Trump Is Purging RINOs, and the Left Is Panicking (Margolis)

• FBI Raids Virginia Senate President’s Office (Salgado)

• OpenAI Co-founder Greg Brockman Defends Company’s For-Profit Pivot (ET)

• Former OpenAI Board Member Says Elon Musk Offered Her Sperm Donations (BBC)

• Three Justices Chastise Jackson for Groundless, Irresponsible Dissent (Turley)

• The EV Bust Claims Five More Victims… and They Aren’t Even EVs? (Green)

• Tectonic Shift In Church Framing of Homosexuality (Tim O’Brien)

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2052179925700903125?s=20

This may be the most articulate response I’ve ever heard to this question. pic.twitter.com/ndPULk09pT
— Today in History (@TodayinHistory) May 6, 2026

Will never get tired of sharing this.

Never forget that @SecRubio called the Iran situation 11 years ago.

He analysed it and predicted it.

Like a play-by-play, to a tee.
The accuracy is absolutely mind-blowing.

It’s worth sharing again, because there are still some people… pic.twitter.com/IdtTcmdhRE
— Kosher (@koshercockney) May 6, 2026

https://twitter.com/CRRJA5/status/2051854394044375415?s=20

Elon Musk just made every skill you’ve ever earned sound like a waste of time.

Musk: “Down the road with a Neuralink, you can just upload any subject instantly. You wanna fly a helicopter? No problem. Any given skill, you just upload it instantly.”

Not faster learning.

Not… pic.twitter.com/nncWIX4Naw
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) May 5, 2026

Accurate https://t.co/Z3xsCeDHXk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 6, 2026

“The sea blockade is a much more serious threat than even war.. ”

• ‘Fate Of Iran Refineries Now At Risk’ As US Blockade Begins To Bite (ZH)

An Iranian energy official just conceded something in a surprise admission that the US naval blockade has begun to bite the Islamic Republic’s oil industry. According to new reporting in the NY Times: The blockade has halted Iran’s oil exports, choking off crucial revenues, and the country risks running out of places to store its oil. It is also affecting the import of other goods, forcing Iran to seek alternative routes through neighboring countries and its smaller ports on the Caspian Sea. And the economic pain inside Iran, already dire before the war, is becoming much worse.

“The sea blockade is a much more serious threat than even war, and the current stalemate must be broken because the export of our oil and energy and the fate of our refineries is now at risk,” said Hamid Hosseini, an expert on Iran’s oil sector who serves on the energy committee of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, in an interview from Tehran.This as Kpler has stated based on its data that since the US blockade took effect on April 13, no Iranian oil-laden tankers have been able to exit the strait.
“The bottom line is that Iran could run out of storage space in about 25 to 30 days if the blockade is not lifted, according to Homayoun Falakshahi, Kpler’s head of oil analysis,” continues the Wednesday report. “Other experts have given different estimates ranging from a few weeks to a month or more.” Last month we offered the following, saying a likely 15 days – probably followed with a few weeks left on the clock before the Iranians run out of storage space… As for the current Trump blockade strategy, another analyst told the Times, “The blockade really is about putting a financial deadline on the Islamic Republic’s head.”
US Jet Fires On Iranian Tanker Trying To Pass
So much for that ceasefire and alleged ‘pause’ in US naval blockade actions, as things just took another escalatory turn. In this case, a rare live fire incident unfolded Wednesday in Gulf waters as a US jet launched from the Lincoln carrier fired on and possibly disabled an Iranian-flagged tanker, per the officials US Central Command statement: U.S. forces operating in the Gulf of Oman enforced blockade measures by disabling an Iranian-flagged unladen oil tanker attempting to sail toward an Iranian port at 9 a.m. ET, May 6. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces observed M/T Hasna as it transited international waters enroute to an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman. American forces issued multiple warnings and informed the Iranian-flagged vessel it was in violation of the U.S. blockade.
After Hasna’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings, U.S. forces disabled the tanker’s rudder by firing several rounds from the 20mm cannon gun of a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet launched from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). Hasna is no longer transiting to Iran. The Pentagon/CENTCOM statement then emphasized, “The U.S. blockade against ships attempting to enter or depart Iranian ports remains in full effect. CENTCOM forces continue to act deliberately and professionally to ensure compliance.” Tehran’s response to this will be interesting, and follows prior alleged attacks this week on the UAE.

Don’t fall for those talks. After a month you’ll be right back where you started.

• ‘Framework’ Still Being Hammered Out For ‘Monthlong’ US, Iran Talks (ZH)

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has said that Iran’s response to the United States has not yet been presented to mediator Pakistan, as the WSJ reports that the US and Iranian sides are currently trying to hammer out a one-page memorandum of understanding which features 14-points. This would “lay out a framework” – the report says, for a “monthlong period of talks to end the war.” Given that agreement cannot even be found on the ‘framework’ for future talks, it seems the process is not very advanced at all – but is perhaps still back at square one, with headlines in the US way out front, and likely overly optimistic.

CNN citing the White House: “The White House received positive feedback from Pakistani mediators on Tuesday that the Iranians were progressing toward a compromise.” And more from WSJ: Iran’s mission to the UN said that “the only viable solution in the Strait of Hormuz is clear: a permanent end to the war, the lifting of the maritime blockade, and the restoration of normal passage.”
Key Timing of Wang-Araghchi Meeting in Beijing
During Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi’s visit to Beijing on Wednesday, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi pushed for the rapid reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a halt to the fighting. Araghchi echoed the urgency, saying, “Currently, it is possible to resolve the issue of reopening the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible.” Wang called for a “comprehensive ceasefire” and stressed that “the international community shares a common concern for restoring normal and safe passage through the Strait,” urging swift action.
The coordinated messaging reflects shared economic and strategic interests, especially as US naval actions have disrupted Iranian oil flows to China. Wang also signaled support for Tehran’s position, stating China “appreciates Iran’s pledge to not develop nuclear weapons,” while Iran continues to insist its nuclear program is peaceful and maintains its right to uranium enrichment as a matter of sovereignty. Wang reinforced Beijing’s stance by warning that “a comprehensive ceasefire brooks no delay” and that negotiations must continue, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called on China to pressure Iran to ease its blockade of the strait.
Alarmed Reaction from Israel
An Israeli official cited in Times of Israel said Israel did not know that President Trump was close to a deal with Iran to end the fighting and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even as global headlines pointed to progress. The official said Israel had been preparing for escalation, reflecting recent reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was waiting for US approval to resume its aerial campaign following 38 days of strikes under Operation Epic Fury.
US messaging has shifted rapidly. with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday having announced the end of Operation Epic Fury and a pivot to Project Freedom focused on reopening Hormuz, while Trump later declared a pause to allow negotiations. The mixed signals from Washington created confusion as diplomacy and military positioning unfolded simultaneously. Both Iran and Israel signaled readiness to escalate despite the diplomatic push. Iran warned its “finger is on the trigger,” while Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said forces have multiple targets prepared inside Iran and remain on high alert. He emphasized ongoing coordination with US forces and readiness to resume a broad campaign if fighting restarts.
More Official Iran Denials: Too Much ‘Speculation’
The latest response out of Tehran via Tasnim: “Despite claims by US media that Iran and the US are close to a final one-page agreement to end the war, Iran has not yet given an official response to the Americans’ final text, which contains some unacceptable clauses.” And separately Iran’s ISNA calls parts of the Axios report “speculation” – also reiterating the country has rejected some recent US proposals, as they are “unrealistic”. However, an Iranian spokesperson has said that Iran is indeed “reviewing the US proposal to end the war.”
Trump Admits: ‘Too Soon’
And now a bit of rapid narrative reversal, coming from President Trump himself, after once again a likely premature early morning Axios report with overly optimistic language. Trump’s fresh words are via the NY Post: President Donald Trump said it’s “too soon” to plan peace talks with Iran despite reports of a near deal, downplaying prospects of imminent negotiations in Pakistan. He warned that if Iran accepts terms, hostilities could end and the Strait of Hormuz reopen—but failure to agree would trigger intensified military action.
Indeed the Iranian reaction issued via media reports also suggests this is the case, that all the talk of an agreement being close is premature, and there remains immense hurdles and a long way to go. Axios’ Barak Ravid still insists that “the sources said this was the closest the parties had been to an agreement since the war began.”

“..if Tehran doesn’t agree then “the bombing starts” and it will be at a “much higher level and intensity than it was before”.

• Iran Spox Blasts ‘Unrealistic’ White House ‘Wish List’ To End War (ZH)

And now a bit of rapid narrative reversal, coming from President Trump himself, after once again a likely premature early morning Axios report with overly optimistic language. Trump’s fresh words are via the NY Post: President Donald Trump said it’s “too soon” to plan peace talks with Iran despite reports of a near deal, downplaying prospects of imminent negotiations in Pakistan. He warned that if Iran accepts terms, hostilities could end and the Strait of Hormuz reopen—but failure to agree would trigger intensified military action.

Indeed the Iranian reaction issued via media reports also suggests this is the case, that all the talk of an agreement being close is premature, and there remains immense hurdles and a long way to go. Axios’ Barak Ravid still insists that “the sources said this was the closest the parties had been to an agreement since the war began.”
Initial Word From Tehran: Doesn’t Reflect Reality
Iranian initial reaction through its media: “What US media outlets are publishing about the details of the negotiations does not reflect the reality of what is happening, according to AI Araby citing Iranian Sources.” “Progress has been made in talks with Washington through Pakistan, but it has not yet reached a level that would lead to an agreement,” the statement says. The Iranians are also clearly sticking by their approach which says the nuclear issue is a non-starter and that talks must focus on opening Hormuz and finding a final end to the conflict. “The negotiations are focused on ending the war, not the nuclear issue,” the statement in Al Araby continues.
And then the final criticism of Washington’s approach: “The negotiations are still facing the intransigent American approach and excessive demands.” And further, this: Ebrahim Rezaei dismissed U.S. demands as unrealistic, saying Washington won’t gain through conflict what it failed to secure in talks. He added Iran is ready to act and warned of a severe, regret-inducing response to any provocation. Here is the full statement from the Iranian Spokesperson of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission (via machine translation):

Trump Issues Carrot & Stick
The below is a fresh Trump Truth Social Post on Wednesday morning, warning the Iranians that the Hormuz Strait must be “open to all”. However, the president continues, if Tehran doesn’t agree then “the bombing starts” and it will be at a “much higher level and intensity than it was before”.

All of this has followed an awkward 24 hours of drastically different signals coming from various top officials of the US administration.

Marco Rubio says the goal of the war in Iran is now to restore it "back to the way it was" before Trump started the war in Iran pic.twitter.com/G1E9qyxMc4
— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) May 5, 2026

Iran was long screwed over by Russia while it itself screwed over US and Israel?

• Inside The Moscow Meeting That Laid Bare Iran’s Weak Hand (Watkins)

Iran has a long history of being screwed over by Russia, and last week’s meeting in Moscow between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the U.S.–Israel–Iran war suggests nothing in that dynamic is about to change, according to extremely well-placed sources on both sides who spoke exclusively to OilPrice.com over the weekend. On the one hand, Tehran’s perennially baseless optimism that “this time will be different” was on full display in Araghchi’s excited praise for the marvels of the two countries’ so called ‘strategic relationship’.

On the other hand, Moscow responded with all the warmth of an international telephone operator: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said only that Russia stands ready to offer “goodwill or mediation services”, with no indication of any upgrade to the relationship service package. It fits so neatly into the familiar pattern of this abusive relationship that one wonders whether social services should be called. Or perhaps Moscow’s disinterest is merely an act — a way of masking the deep and broad assistance from Tehran that it so clearly craves?
The theoretical basis of this relationship is the 20-year comprehensive cooperation deal between Iran and Russia — formally titled The Treaty on the Basis of Mutual Relations and Principles of Cooperation between Iran and Russia — approved by Iran’s late Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, on 18 January 2024, as I exclusively reported in OilPrice.com at the time. It replaced the 10-year deal signed in March 2001 (extended twice by five years) and was expanded in duration, scope and scale, particularly in the defence and energy sectors.
In several respects, the new deal complemented key elements of the all-encompassing Iran-China 25-Year Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement, first revealed anywhere in the world in my 3 September 2019 article and analysed in full in my latest book on the new global oil market order. The similarities were deliberate, designed to make the division of the key strategic assets most coveted by Moscow and Beijing easier to manage in practice. Related: China Orders Refiners to Ignore U.S. Sanctions on Key Iranian Oil Buyers
As with much of Russia’s foreign policy dealings, the devil was in the details. As a sign of how things would pan out for Tehran in the rest of the document, Russia stood to benefit at Iran’s expense in the key energy sector to begin with. The deal gave Russia the first right of extraction in the Iranian section of the Caspian Sea, including the potentially huge Chalous field. This came on top of Russia’s startlingly brazen theft in 2019 of at least US$3.2 trillion in revenues from Iran through the lost value of energy products across their shared Caspian assets going forward.
The same right of first extraction for Russia was also applied in the new 20-year deal to several of Iran’s major oil and gas fields in the Khorramshahr and nearby Ilam provinces that border Iraq, which China had not already prioritised for its own needs. Several of these sites had the broader financial and geopolitical benefits attached to their being shared fields with Iraq. This status allowed the effective free movement of Iranian oil disguised as Iraqi oil, and extended Tehran’s influence over Baghdad through its political, economic, and military proxies. By extension, it did the same for Moscow and Beijing, which used this as a springboard to further project their influence across the Iran-dominated Shia Crescent of Power.
This powerbase in Iran and Iraq had also been central to Russia’s longstanding plan to build a ‘land bridge’ to the Mediterranean Sea coast of another of its key global assets at the time — Syria. This would enable Moscow to exponentially increase weapons delivery into southern Lebanon and the Golan Heights area of Syria to be used in attacks on Israel. The core aim of this policy was to provoke a conflict in the Middle East that would draw in the U.S. and its allies into an unwinnable war, and was seen as a natural extension of the Israel-Hamas War that had begun after the terrorist organisation’s murderous spree across Israel on 7 October 2023.
Given its centrality to Moscow’s plans, then, Iran was at that point still confident that the Kremlin would meet its other promises in the 20-year deal, despite the shenanigans surrounding the energy side of the treaty as it related to the Caspian’s oil and gas riches. “Iran had long been asking Russia for the means to defend itself better against any attacks, especially those that might come from Israel or the U.S. — in particular for the S-400 missile defence system and Sukhoi Su-34 and 35 fighter jets,” a very senior source working closely with Iran’s Petroleum Ministry exclusively told OilPrice.com. “But these requests have continually been subject to further conditionality by Russia, such as upgrading key airports and seaports that Moscow sees as especially useful for dual-use by its air force and navy, and which are also close to major oil and gas facilities.

“Will ICE officially become NICE? Probably not anytime soon. But the mere suggestion has Democrats tying themselves in knots ..”

• Trump Dropped an ICE Rebrand — and Democrats Are Losing It (Margolis)

Leave it to the left to have a meltdown over a single letter. Last month, President Donald Trump endorsed rebranding Immigration and Customs Enforcement as National Immigration and Customs Enforcement — NICE — and on Tuesday, the White House unveiled updated branding for the agency, complete with a new patch mockup. DHS amplified the rollout on its own X account, and the trolling was, well, quite effective. The idea didn’t originate in the Oval Office. Comedian Adam Carolla first floated it back in September.

.⁦@adamcarolla⁩ unveils his nice idea to stop Gavin Newsom and other leftists from verbally attacking ICE. pic.twitter.com/bGf1uNMuJz
— Paul Bond (@WriterPaulBond) September 26, 2025

Then in March, conservative influencer Alyssa Marie wrote on X, “I want Trump to change ICE to NICE (National Immigration and Customs Enforcement) so the media has to say NICE agents all day everyday.”Trump promptly endorsed it on Truth Social, calling it a “great idea.” Then on Tuesday came the onslaught. Trump posted what many believe to be a potential rebrand on Truth Social, which the Department of Homeland Security reposted on X.
https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/2051754837683896415
The White House also posted a patch concept.
https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2051761247779979301
Looks good, doesn’t it? Naturally, Democrats started flipping out. Because, of course, they did. And obviously, they responded in their usual “classy” way. I don’t have to tell you this isn’t what happened. Renee Good attempted to run over an ICE agent with her car, and he fired in self-defense. But facts have never been the left’s strong suit when there’s a narrative to protect. But I digress.
This all sounds great, and the reactions from the left are so worth it. But officially changing the agency’s name from ICE to NICE would require an act of Congress to amend the statute that created the agency. Still, the NICE rebrand is a perfect piece of political judo. It reframes the public conversation around an agency the left has spent years trying to demonize. Democrats want the word “ICE” to conjure fear and cruelty. Trump wants the media to be forced to say “NICE agents” every single day, in every single broadcast. It’s hard to run a “Defund NICE” campaign with a straight face. The left knows it, which is exactly why they’re reacting with such theatrical fury.
Will ICE officially become NICE? Probably not anytime soon. But the mere suggestion has Democrats tying themselves in knots, and that alone is worth it. Sometimes the point of a move isn’t to execute it — it’s to watch your opponents trip over themselves reacting to it. On that score, this one is already a win. So, yeah, I’m all for it. Frankly, I’m surprised it wasn’t called NICE to begin with. Clearly, Carolla was onto something, and I really hope we see it happen… if for no other reason than to see Democrats lose it.

“The most effective way to get the best outcome is to approach and enlist the smart ones from outside government to come and assist. Patel was always an insider.”

• Kash Patel Outlines Secret Room in FBI Headquarters (CTH)

My opinion on our current FBI Director is the same as it was the day his nomination was announced. The best, the most competent, the smartest, the most insightful and stable thinking people do not originate on a track from inside government work. The most effective way to get the best outcome is to approach and enlist the smart ones from outside government to come and assist. Patel was always an insider.

The FBI is an institution built upon corruption and fraud. Unfortunately, neither President Trump, nor the American people, will ever get the vindication and accountability he/we deserve until Kash Patel is no longer the one in charge of delivering it. It’s just that painfully simple. Trying to reform a corrupt system while maintaining the structures that enabled the corruption leads to endless discussions and ‘trust me bro’ delays.
In this interview FBI Director Kash Patel sits down with Sean Hannity to discuss current and prior events within the FBI. Patel’s primary objective is the performance; the presentation of what he thinks will endear him to President Trump the most. This is not effectiveness; the outcome is the illusion of leadership.

“..going against Trump in a primary means ending up “in the grinder..”

• Trump Is Purging RINOs, and the Left Is Panicking (Margolis)

Tuesday night’s Indiana Republican State Senate primary turned into a political slaughterhouse. Five of seven GOP incumbents who’d stonewalled efforts to redistrict the state in Republicans’ favor went down in flames. There was nothing subtle about the message from MAGA voters. They want strong Republicans who will fight the Democrats, not be weak, useful idiots for the left. And if there’s anything that Donald Trump has taught the GOP, it’s how to be a fighter. “He’s the boss of the party,” Scott Jennings said of Trump on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees. “He calls the shots in the Republican Party, and if you go against that, he will pour his wrath out upon you, and it doesn’t typically turn out well.”

That’s not spin. That’s just reality at this point. Jennings invoked Harry Enten’s well-worn observation that going against Trump in a primary means ending up “in the grinder,” and Indiana delivered a fresh case study. And weak-kneed Republicans should take note, because the carnage won’t stop in Indiana. Jennings immediately pointed to what comes next: Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District in a couple of weeks, where Thomas Massie — arguably the single biggest thorn in Trump’s side in the entire House — is staring down a well-funded primary challenge.
“If you look at what happened in Indiana tonight, and you’re Thomas Massie tonight, or you’re anybody else in a primary right now where Trump’s on the other side of you, you’ve got to be thinking, this is a bad night for me,” Jennings said. The money’s there. The will is there. The precedent is being set, one primary at a time. Then Van Jones opened his mouth. Jones went full pearl-clutching, calling Trump a “petty little punching-down bully” and complaining that the president couldn’t find the Epstein files or lower gas prices but somehow found time to meddle in statesenate races.
“I would be embarrassed if I were the President of the United States with the level of crisis that we have, that this is his most important objective and the only thing he’s gotten right, apparently, in the past six months,” Jones said. He topped it off with a little lecture about sovereignty and kings: “We don’t have a king.” Really? He’s playing the King Card? Of course, Jennings calmly torched Jones’s whole argument with one question: “Do you think that those sorts of rules apply to, say, Barack Obama when he engages in the Virginia redistricting referendum?”Jones tried to wiggle out of it. “He didn’t — he got involved in a ballot measure,” Jones said. “He didn’t go poking and picking on individual dog catchers and everybody else.”
And Barack Obama never endorsed Democrats in competitive primaries before? Give me a break. What a dumb argument to make. So, obviously, Jennings wasn’t buying it. “Well, he was picking on the Republican congressman who represented their constituents.” And that was that. Jones tried to lecture about the sanctity of political prerogatives, even apparently forgetting that presidents from both parties have long used their influence to shape their parties, be it by endorsing or recruiting candidates, raising money, cutting ads, etc. What Jones is really upset about here is that Trump has succeeded.

It’s too easy to be corrupt in the US. Because the people paid to prevent this were all focused on getting Trump.

• FBI Raids Virginia Senate President’s Office (Salgado)

A top Virginia Democrat and ally of radical Gov. Abigail Spanberger is suddenly in the spotlight as the FBI raids her office amid a reported corruption investigation. Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin posted on X May 6 that Fox was “on scene in Portsmouth, VA where the FBI is raiding the office of Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore L[.] Louise Lucas, a Democrat and close ally of VA Governor Spanberger. Fed law enforcement sources tell FOX this is in connection to a major corruption probe, and the FBI is serving multiple search warrants, approved by a federal judge, at her office and a next door cannabis dispensary. More to come with correspondent @AlexHoganTV, who reports that Lucas just showed up on scene as the FBI searches her office.”

Fox’s foreign correspondent Alex Hogan posted the video below:

The FBI is currently carrying out a raid at the office of Senator Louise Lucas in Portsmouth, VA. Here at this nearby cannabis dispensary, at least three people were taken into custody. Federal law enforcement say they’re conducting “court authorized criminal search warrants”. pic.twitter.com/UL2c7yAk0L
— Alex Hogan (@AlexHoganTV) May 6, 2026

Ironically, like so many other Democrats, Lucas previously lectured that “no one is above the law” when gloating over the March 2023 Manhattan grand jury indictment of Donald Trump. Now Trump is back in the White House, and his FBI is raiding Lucas’s office.

Louise Lucas just learned no one is above the law! https://t.co/9n6H4zlV5f pic.twitter.com/TZZkxtH6pY
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 6, 2026

It is not clear if this investigation will involve Spanberger directly at all, or only indirectly, because her ally Lucas is the one under federal investigation.
Notably, however, Spanberger also arguably violates federal law on a regular basis whenever she enforces sanctuary policies for illegal aliens. For instance, the Department of Homeland Security just rearrested Guatemalan illegal alien and pedophile Walvin Victor Hugo Garcia after Spanberger and her fellow Democrats defied an ICE detainer request and released Garcia. And earlier this year, after Sierra Leone criminal illegal alien Abdul Jalloh, with 30 prior arrests, stabbed a 41-year-old Virginia mom, Stephanie Minter, to death at a bus stop, Spanberger explicitly refused to hand Jalloh over to federal immigration authorities.
The reason I say this behavior potentially violates the law is that, according to 18 U.S. Code § 111, anyone who “forcibly assaults, resists, opposes, impedes, intimidates, or interferes with” designated federal officers has committed a criminal offense. 8 U.S. Code § 1324 also states that anyone who “encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law” or “conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien” violates the law. Spanberger appears to have broken both those laws, as have all officials in Virginia enforcing sanctuary policies. Maybe the Feds need to raid Spanberger next.

“In one from 2017, Brockman muses, “It’d be wrong to steal the nonprofit from [Musk] and turn it into a B-Corp without him—doing so would be pretty morally bankrupt.”

• OpenAI Co-founder Greg Brockman Defends Company’s For-Profit Pivot (ET)

In the second week of a high-profile jury trial that could have profound impact on the race for artificial intelligence, OpenAI president Greg Brockman rejected allegations that he and other co-founders betrayed the company’s philanthropic mission and illegally enriched themselves by flipping the non-profit lab into a for-profit corporation.Tesla CEO Elon Musk in 2024 sued Brockman and CEO Sam Altman, alleging they bilked him of $38 million in donations then restructured as a for-profit corporation by exclusively licensing their flagship product to Microsoft—betraying a founding mission to operate as an open-source charity that would counter the risks of profit-driven AI.

OpenAI and Microsoft deny the allegations, arguing that Musk abandoned the company in 2018 to start his own for-profit competitor, xAI, when other founders rejected his bid to take full control of the operation. “I think we’ve been very consistent on the mission,” Brockman told a federal court in Oakland. “If you look at what we’ve accomplished—currently the foundation has $150 billion worth of OpenAI equity value. That’s something we’ve built through hard blood, sweat, and tears through all this time since Elon left.” The company’s nonprofit foundation has a 27 percent stake in OpenAI’s for-profit corporation; Microsoft, which has invested more than $13 billion since 2019, owns 26 percent.
Called as an adverse witness for the plaintiff, Brockman over two days May 4–5 offered testimony outlining an alternate narrative and timeframe than the one Musk presented the week prior. Brockman also attempted to add context to what he has claimed were “cherrypicked” segments of his personal diary, unsealed during the discovery process. He often spoke in incomplete sentences, punctuated by stock phrases like, “We were solving for the mission.” Arguably, this had less zing to it than, “You can’t just steal a charity”—a phrase Musk favored in his own testimony.
‘Morally Bankrupt’ Musk’s attorney Steven Molo grilled Brockman on a series of diary entries from 2017 and 2018, a time of intense negotiations with Musk over the future structure of the company. In one from 2017, Brockman muses, “It’d be wrong to steal the nonprofit from [Musk] and turn it into a B-Corp without him—doing so would be pretty morally bankrupt.” Brockman denied this contradicted his commitment to OpenAI’s mission. “I think I meant it would actually serve the mission, but it would be hard to look at yourself in the mirror,” he told the court. Under cross-examination, he explained he was referring to the idea of voting Musk off the board of directors, which he had considered at the time.
“It had been made clear to us,” he said, “that if we didn’t come to [Musk’s] terms, he was going to start an AGI competitor.” Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is the hypothetical point at which digital intelligence reaches or surpasses human cognitive abilities and can operate autonomously. Some, including Musk, believe we have already achieved an early version of it, and that AGI advancement in the wrong hands poses the greatest existential threat to humanity. Musk testified that this threat was the express motivation for creating OpenAI as an open-source, nonprofit lab. From late 2017 to early 2018, Musk, Altman, Brockman, and Ilya Sutskever, another OpenAI co-founder and its former chief scientist, floated various ideas as they debated how to fund the project at a competitive level.
Musk, the main donor, rejected an even equity split among the four co-founders, instead proposing a deal that would give him majority stake, to be diluted as more investors joined. Brockman said he and Sutskever were willing to accept Musk being CEO and having a majority stake. “But the one thing we could not accept was to hand him unilateral total control over the AGI.” Musk was the wrong man for the job, according to Brockman. “Look, he knows rockets, he knows electric cars, he did not and I believe does not know AI,” Brockman said of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO. “And Ilya and I did not think he was going to spend the time required to actually get good at it.”
Brockman alleged Musk “didn’t recognize that spark” in early language models underlying the GPT technology. “It was there, a working version, we could see the promise. … We really needed someone running the company that had that effect.” Molo pressed the witness, pointing to emails from Musk proposing a 16-person board for the new corporation, in which Musk would have a 25 percent influence. “This is the man you’re saying wanted to be the AI tyrant and have absolute and total control?” Molo probed. “He wanted a board, and conducted in a way you were not familiar with because you didn’t have the experience of corporate governance, did you?” Brockman acknowledged, “Definitely, this is something I was new to,” but maintained that there was never a real plan for Musk to relinquish control.
In a January 2018 email to Musk and others, Brockman stressed that a moral high ground was “our best tool,” and to maintain it, the company should endeavor to remain a nonprofit. “AI is going to shake up the fabric of society, and our fiduciary duty should be to humanity.” But back in November 2017, Molo pointed out that Brockman’s diary entries show he was worried about how it would look if the founders continued to say they were committed to a nonprofit while planning to convert to a for-profit. “Cannot say that we are committed to the nonprofit. Don’t wanna say that we’re committed. If three months later we’re doing b-corp then it was a lie,” Brockman wrote. “Can’t see us turning this into a for-profit without a very nasty fight.”

What is more newsworthy? That he offered sperm or that he fathered 4 children with her?

• Former OpenAI Board Member Says Elon Musk Offered Her Sperm Donations (BBC)

A former OpenAI board member has explained how her unconventional personal relationship with Elon Musk evolved into having four of his children. Shivon Zilis testified in a federal courtroom in Oakland, California for hours on Wednesday as part of Musk’s lawsuit trying to reverse OpenAI’s change to a for-profit company. The focus of Zilis’s appearance was her direct involvement in early talks with Musk around the company becoming a for-profit, but also how she worked for and became involved with Musk as she advised OpenAI. “I still really wanted to be a mum and Elon made the offer around that time and I accepted,” she said, explaining Musk in 2020 had offered to donate sperm.

Zilis and Musk attended the wedding of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino at Mar-a-Lago in February

“He was encouraging everyone around him at that time to have kids and he’d noticed I did not. He offered to make a donation,” Zilis said. Zilis has worked as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley for over 15 years and held executive positions at Musk’s car company, Tesla, and his neurotechnology firm Neuralink. She joined OpenAI as an advisor in 2016, not long after it was founded, a position through which she said on Wednesday is how she first met Musk. Given Zilis’s role across Musk’s companies and OpenAI, eventually becoming a director at OpenAI from 2020 to 2023, she is an important witness in the trial. OpenAI lawyers have suggested that she funnelled information about OpenAI to Musk after he in 2018 left the AI company, which he co-founded and made early donations to.
Zilis said she had a “one-off” romance with Musk about a decade ago but was not romantically involved with Musk in 2020, when Musk initially made the offer to father her children. She explained she had been struggling with certain health issues which had changed her initial plans to follow a more traditional personal path of getting married and having children with a romantic partner. Zilis’s initial plan for Musk’s role in the lives of the first two children she had by him was not necessarily as an active father, and the two had agreed to keep his paternity “strictly confidential.” Today, Musk is an active participant in the lives of his now four children with Zilis, she said, explaining that they spend a few hours a week together as a family.
Zilis said the confidentiality agreement with Musk is why she did not disclose to OpenAI’s chief executive Sam Altman that twins she gave birth to in 2021 were fathered by Musk. She told Altman that Musk was the father the following year, when she learned a Business Insider report on Musk’s paternity of the children was imminent. Nevertheless, Altman and OpenAI’s president Greg Brockman wanted to continue with Zilis on the board of the AI company. Zilis said on Wednesday that the three remained friends until at least 2023. When asked earlier this week about Zilis’ involvement with OpenAI for years after Musk had left the company, Brockman said: “We trusted her to keep the Elon conflict under control.”
Zilis left the board in March 2023 as Musk was launching xAI, an AI company developing a chatbot that is a direct competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.With years of history, including emails and text messages that have been made part of the case between Zilis, Altman, Brockman, and Musk, lawyers for OpenAI seized on several examples of discussions around changing the corporate structure of the AI company. Moving away from being a pure non-profit was seen as necessary as early as 2017 in order for OpenAI to grow and raise from investors many billions of dollars, according to written exchanges shown in court in which Musk was involved.
Brockman and another OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever were pushing for the company to transition to a B Corp, which is a type of for-profit entity that holds itself to a certain mission.nEmails from Zilis showed that Musk wanted more control of OpenAI, through additional board seats and even suggested that the AI company become part of Tesla, possibly as a B Corp subsidiary of the electric car company. Zilis said in a written exchange that such a move for OpenAI “solves the funding issue immediately.” Ultimately, Altman, Brockman, Sutskever could not agree on terms with Musk, in large part because they were adamant that Musk “not have control” of OpenAI’s work, according to an email from Zilis shown in court.

“Since her appointment by President Joe Biden, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has quickly developed a radical and chilling jurisprudence..”

• Three Justices Chastise Jackson for Groundless, Irresponsible Dissent (Turley)

Since her appointment by President Joe Biden, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has quickly developed a radical and chilling jurisprudence. Her often sole dissents and accusatory rhetoric have drawn not just the ire of her conservative colleagues but her liberal colleagues. This week, that tension deepened with a stinging rebuke from Justice Samuel Alito (joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch).

At issue is the finalization of the Court’s opinion in Louisiana v. Callais, where the Court ruled 6-3 to ban racial gerrymandering. The Court reaffirmed the use of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act to ban intentional racial discrimination in the design of voting districts, but effectively found many districts to be unconstitutional in their current form. There is no reason why the decision should not be finalized except for a blatantly partisan effort to protect the Democrats from losing seats in the midterm elections. After all, if these districts are unconstitutional, why should states guarantee that voters are given representatives chosen free of racial discriminatory preferences?
That question is even more confusing given the long wait for this opinion. Not only was the case reargued, but there were growing complaints about the delay in releasing the opinion. Complaints increased after a recent book allegedly reported that Justice Elena Kagan had a vocal confrontation with her colleague, former Justice Stephen Breyer, over his push to release the dissents in Dobbs after the leaking of that opinion. Breyer reportedly agreed with Chief Justice John Roberts that the conservative justices were facing increased death threats due to the delay. Kagan allegedly wanted to further delay the release.
In the Callais decision, the delay was curious since there were six solid votes for the majority and not more of a fracturing of opinions. Indeed, the majority opinion’s references to the Kagan dissent are relatively brief. Nevertheless, the delay has made it very difficult for states to make changes. A few are moving to delay their primaries or draw new maps under extremely tight calendars. Regardless of the delay, there is no cognizable or principled reason to withhold the opinion to preserve unconstitutional districts. The case has already been on the docket for an unusually long time due to a reargument.
In its one-paragraph order, the court acknowledged that the Supreme Court’s clerk normally waits 32 days after a decision to send a copy of the opinion and the judgment to the lower court. However, it noted that the defenders of the challenged districts had “not expressed any intent to ask this Court to reconsider its judgment.” Conversely, the other parties raised the need for states to address the impact of the ruling with the approaching elections.
Jackson stood alone in demanding that the unconstitutional districts be effectively preserved for the purposes of this election — guaranteeing Democratic seats in the midterm that could be lost in non-racially discriminatory districts. Neither Kagan nor Justice Sonia Sotomayor would join her in the dissent, despite dissenting from the Callais decision itself. However, it was her language again that drew the attention of her colleagues. Justice Jackson lambasted the court’s ruling “has spawned chaos in the State of Louisiana.” In an Orwellian twist, Jackson suggested that others were playing politics as she sought to effectively protect unconstitutional Democratic districts. She suggested that the case exposed “a strong political undercurrent.”
In arguably the most insulting line, she lectured her colleagues that this case “unfolds in the midst of an ongoing statewide election, against the backdrop of a pitched redistricting battle among state governments that appear to be acting as proxies for their favored political parties.” She further said that, rather than avoid “the appearance of partiality,” the Court’s action “is tantamount to an approval of Louisiana’s rush to pause the ongoing election in order to pass a new map.”
Justice Alito had had enough. He noted that her reliance on the 32-day period was a “trivial” objection that put form above substance since no party had asked for reconsideration. It would be waiting for 32 days for no purpose, while the other parties had stated a reasonable and pressing need to finalize the opinion. He chastised Jackson for a dissent that “lacks restraint.” He denounced the dissent as making “baseless and insulting” claims. He particularly objected to the charge that her colleagues were engaging in an unprincipled use of power” as a groundless and utterly irresponsible charge.”
What is even more chilling than Jackson’s jurisprudence is the fact that she is often cited as the model for Democrats seeking to pack the Court with an instant majority if they retake power. This and other Jackson dissents show why Democrats are so confident that packing the Court will yield lasting control of the government. Jackson recently told ABC News that “I have a wonderful opportunity to tell people in my opinions how I feel about the issues, and that’s what I try to do.” For some of her colleagues, that cathartic benefit is coming at too high a cost for the Court.

Carmakers paid through the nose to achieve … nothing.

• The EV Bust Claims Five More Victims… and They Aren’t Even EVs? (Green)

Honda’s failed bet on electric vehicles means the Japanese auto giant will have to stretch the lifecycles of five top-selling vehicles “in some cases to more than a decade,” according to a supplier memo seen by Automotive News. The company will continue selling existing versions of the Odyssey, Accord, and HR-V, as well as the Acura MDX and Integra, after writing down up to $15.8 billion worth of investments in EVs, including eliminating three new EV models for the U.S. market. Car and Driver said the 2023-issue Accord “won’t be redesigned until at least early 2030,” while “the Odyssey minivan isn’t set to be replaced until 2030, while the current HR-V SUV will see its production extended until early 2032.” The two Acura models will suffer similar delays.

It seems like just earlier this spring [It was just earlier this spring, Steve —Editor] I reported on Honda’s massive losses from betting big on EVs — with a big nudge from Big Stupid Government — but the company’s losses show up on more than just the balance sheet. That’s why models that the company actually sells and makes money on — like the aforementioned Accord — won’t see expected refreshes anytime soon. There’s this little thing called opportunity cost, which is the value of the best alternative you give up when you choose one option over another. Honda bet big on EVs, but then changing market conditions forced the company to scale back those plans to the tune of billions of dollars worth of write-downs.
Worse, however, are the updated models that would have sold in volume that the company chose not to invest in.Losing a bet this big hurts in the auto industry more than almost anywhere else, due to development times measured in years — yet vehicles are still subject to the whims of fashion. Consumers expect regular model refreshes, particularly loyal customers hoping to trade in their older car for the latest version of the same model. A two- or three-year delay means customers holding onto their current car for that much longer. Or maybe even shopping the competition.
The current version of the Odyssey minivan debuted in 2018 and hasn’t gotten anything more than a facelift in 2025. Buyers hoping to trade in for the latest and greatest have to wait another four years. Honda said in a statement, “We are not going to comment on future product plans. We are very confident and excited in our future product strategy including our previously announced plans to advance our award-winning hybrid technology to more models.” The company needed 36 words to say nothing at all.
According to Electrek, Honda’s strategy “now centers on hybrids for the near term, with affordable EVs priced under $30,000 pushed to the end of the decade. The only EV still standing in its US lineup is the Prologue, which recently saw a $7,500 price cut — a GM Ultium-based vehicle that Honda didn’t even engineer itself.” Electrek also noted that Honda completely scrapped plans for a multibillion-dollar EV plant in Canada. Don’t get me wrong, Honda makes great hybrids, and for most people looking to save money on gas, they make so much more sense than going fully electric. But hybrid versions of the company’s most-loved models that could have hit showrooms this year or next, now won’t be seen until the next decade.

‘sin at its root does not consist in the (same-sex) couple relationship, but in a lack of faith in God who desires our fulfillment.’

• Tectonic Shift In Church Framing of Homosexuality (Tim O’Brien)

Two things that non-Catholics and many Catholics don’t understand about the Catholic Church are that it’s not a democratic organization and it’s not an autocracy. In other words, as powerful as the Pope is, he cannot arbitrarily or single-handedly change doctrine and policy. At the same time, even though the church counts 1.4 billion members around the world, it is not structured to take their input into account the way representative government works in America.

Among Catholics, this confusion often pops up when the discussion turns to declining mass attendance and increases in the number of lapsed Catholics who no longer consider themselves a part of the church, even though they may have been baptized in the church. To get them back, we might argue, the church needs to allow women to be priests, or priests to get married, or to change our hard line on abortion, or to change the church’s position on LGBTQ issues. That’s not how it works, or at least, that’s not how it’s supposed to work. I know I’m going to hear from the Catholic catechism and Canon Law technicians on this oversimplification, but here goes: The church is here for Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and God Himself.
We exist to please God. God does not exist to please us. He is not our creation. We are His creation. From a purely administrative standpoint, the church has had to find ways over the past 2,000 years to function in a changing world. That is definitely not to say that the church has had to change with the times or change simply to stay relevant, but rather, it has had to stay true to itself in the context of the times. Against this backdrop, Pope Francis decided to convene a Synod of Bishops in 2021 to consider ways in which the church can be more responsive to the culture without diminishing its core doctrines and policies, and the catechism itself.
In the Catholic Church, a Synod of Bishops is a formal assembly where bishops meet to discuss subjects tied to doctrine, governance, pastoral practice, or mission. If there is any one approach the church uses to try to stay relevant, this would be a key method. Of course, there are many within the church who argue against a “synodal mentality,” where they feel that the desire to be more relevant or “accessible” can undermine the core attributes of the church itself. They feel too much weight is assigned to synods.
When this particular synod was convened, the church invited its members from around the globe to participate. “Listening sessions” were held at the most local of levels – the parishes. It’s been reported that millions of Catholics participated in this process, where the input and feedback received were fed up the food chain from the parishes to the dioceses; to the bishops at the local level; then to the “continental level,” and ultimately on to the Vatican. Out of this process emerged what the church called a “Working Document,” which then was reviewed in the Vatican before this final report was released.
And so, Study Group 9 of Pope Francis’s synod has now released its final report, and in it is included the testimonies of two homosexual men. This is included as part of the report’s “cases for listening.” In the slow-moving world of Vatican policy change, this is a tectonic shift.
What’s actually in the report
According to insiders, throughout the synodal process, the bishops looked more closely at a number of issues, including women’s ordination, the church and the internet, ecumenism, polygamy, the Catholic liturgy, and other things. But the headlines coming out of the final report are sure to center mostly on how it treated the LGBTQ issues. The synod’s final report includes that testimony where two “married” homosexual men, who say they are Catholic, described the church’s role in creating an atmosphere of “solitude, anguish, and stigma that accompany persons with same-sex attractions and their families.”
John-Henry Westen, co-founder of LifeSite, reacted to the release of the report on the X platform, saying that it “Suggests a reframing of homosexuality in the church, endorsing testimony without qualification that ‘sin at its root does not consist in the (same-sex) couple relationship, but in a lack of faith in God who desires our fulfillment.’” This is covered in the first couple of minutes in Westen’s video.
Sorry my shirt was wrinkled here, but this news is TOO IMPORTANT to miss. And please share it. https://t.co/ycP3tmbrmT
— John-Henry Westen (@JhWesten) May 5, 2026
.

https://twitter.com/GreereMedeea/status/2051772652419748146?s=20 https://twitter.com/lakemonstercl1/status/2051607526353916257?s=20

do you understand what just happened to your computer..

Google Chrome secretly downloaded a 4GB AI model onto your device. Without asking.. Without telling you..

It's called weights.bin. It lives deep in your system folders. It powers Gemini Nano – Google's on-device AI.

And… https://t.co/qKjzl8IRa9 pic.twitter.com/hnf9Z5esan
— BuBBliK (@k1rallik) May 5, 2026

850 million children, or ONE THIRD of genZ, were murdered by their own mothers

that’s about 10 times as many deaths as during World War II https://t.co/KPGEXyLLYv pic.twitter.com/tYPjEHUVcI
— vittorio (@IterIntellectus) May 5, 2026

Neuralink progress https://t.co/IJM7hZyBRR
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 7, 2026

Today marks the 24th anniversary of the assassination of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn by a climate activist.

This clip still gives me chills every time: “The people have had enough. I stand for this country, even if it means I get slaughtered…”

Oh how different things could… pic.twitter.com/LsFxoiyJsi
— Eva Vlaardingerbroek (@EvaVlaar) May 6, 2026

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

Debt Rattle April 24 2026

Apr 242026

April 24, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:35 am Finance Tagged with: bitcoin node, blasphemous, DACA, EV, Iran, Kash Patel, Khameini, mine ships, Ron DeSantis, satanism, SPLC, Trump 42 Responses »

Georgia O’Keeffe New York Street with Moon 1925

• Trump Says Not Anxious, ‘All The Time In The World’ To End War (ZH)

• Mojtaba Khamenei With Medical Team In 24/7 Hideout, Generals Run Iran: NYT (ZH)

• Trump Orders U.S. Navy to Shoot Any Iranian Mine Ships (Catherine Salgado)

• Trump: Fossil Fuels Essential To National Security (JTN)

• Greg Gutfeld Savages the SPLC and the Democrats Who Took the Bait (Margolis)

• Judge Dismisses Kash Patel’s Defamation Lawsuit (CNBC)

• Lavrov Warns Of ‘Rampant Satanism’ In EU (RT)

• Professor Defines Elderly Americans as the New Class Enemy (Paul Craig Roberts)

• The Resurrection of Ron DeSantis (Scott Pinsker)

• Obama’s ‘Dreamer’ Fairy Tale Just Got Torched (Margolis)

• The U.S. Military Is Running a Bitcoin Node, Admiral Paparo Reveals (BCM)

• European Car Sales Jump 11% As Fuel Shock Drives EV Demand (ZH)

SPLC is an evil crime syndicate https://t.co/SqJA2yEazK
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 23, 2026

Their scam worked for decades https://t.co/RMMIbLP7va
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2026

.@jsolomonReports predicts that the SPLC case is only the beginning of what's to come from this DOJ:

“I think we’re about to enter into a period of MAAA. Make America Accountable Again. I think with Pam Bondi moved aside, the speed at which the Justice Department will move on… pic.twitter.com/qM5mKne2Cj
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) April 22, 2026

https://twitter.com/GuntherEagleman/status/2046894247761043566?s=20

Elon Musk on Tesla's valuation:

“I agree with Ark Invest and Cathie Wood that autonomy, robotic taxis, makes Tesla about a $5 trillion company.

The Optimus robot, I think, makes Tesla a $25 trillion company.” pic.twitter.com/yIKtyg7glz
— ELON CLIPS (@ElonClipsX) April 23, 2026

First they get a chance to tell him who to talk to. I don’t think he’ll give them much time.

• Trump Says Not Anxious, ‘All The Time In The World’ To End War (ZH)

A huge breakthrough in Lebanon, where President Trump has declared an extended ceasefire for three weeks – though there have still been reports of sporadic fighting involving Israel and Hezbollah – the latter which hasn’t signed on to a ceasefire: Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend their ceasefire by three weeks following a meeting in the White House with top U.S. officials, President Donald Trump said Thursday.

“The Meeting went very well!” Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the extension of the temporary truce. “The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah,” Trump wrote, referring to the Iran-backed militia group. “The Ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by THREE WEEKS,” he wrote. Meanwhile, that Iran timeline keeps getting more and more open-ended…

Reporter: How long are you willing to wait for a response from Iran?

Trump: Don’t rush me. We were in Vietnam for 18 years. pic.twitter.com/rDCqglp8T8
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 23, 2026

President Trump pushes back on claims he is anxious to end the war; says he has all the time in the world, Iran does not. However, consumer prices and at the pump could steadily rise and next fall’s Congressional midterms might beg to differ. Here’s some of what Trump said:
• Iran’s Navy is lying at the bottom of the Sea, their Air Force is demolished, their Anti Aircraft and Radar Weaponry is gone, their leaders are no longer with us, the Blockade is airtight and strong and, from there, it only gets worse — Time is not on their side!
• A Deal will only be made when it’s appropriate and good for the United States of America, our Allies and, in fact, the rest of the World.

The earlier reports of ‘air defenses active over Tehran’ was the result of a drill, Iran says. And more importantly, Tehran is rejecting Israeli media reports of a big shake-up centered on Iran’s Parliament Speaker.

Iranian Journalist says "news that Ghalibaf has resigned is completely false." https://t.co/dsVB01TJqF
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 23, 2026

Parliament Speaker Resigns after IRGC Intervention
Israel’s N12 News has issued a breaking headline claiming that Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Ghalibaf, who has appeared to run the day to day over the civilian government, has resigned from the country’s negotiating team following the intervention of the IRGC. There have been rumors and unverified murmurings that he was even arrested. Of course, given this comes via Israel – which is a party to the conflict – it should be taken with a grain of salt until verified; however Newsquawk notes it was enough to hit stocks and cause a spike in crude…

Meanwhile, Iranian social media accounts of Iran’s two highest civilian officials have sought to push back against the current White House/MSM consensus that Washington is dealing with a fractured, divided Iranian nation when it comes to negotiations:

Same person controlling Iran's top X accounts: Pezeshkian and Ghalibab publish identical posts 1 minute apart pic.twitter.com/fTVMm6jB9i
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 23, 2026

Iran Asserts US Blockade Breached; Could Build Nuke “If We Wanted To”
US CENTCOM on Thursday announced its forces have redirected 33 Iran-linked vessels in the Hormuz Strait since the start of the blockade; however, Iranian state media is citing the below public source tanker data (in a Telegram post) to proclaim that four Iranian oil tankers successfully crossed the US blockade and enter Iranian waters.
According to the latest statements out of top Iran officials, Tehran is demonstrating “strength” in the strait, and also the foreign ministry has insisted that while the country is still not seeking nuclear weapons, it possesses the capability to create a bomb if needed. Via Al Jazeera: “We are not seeking to manufacture a nuclear bomb from our stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and if we wanted to, we could.”Meanwhile Iran’s foreign ministry has commented on the freeze on Pakistan talks, saying it has not decided to participate as of yet, but emphasized too that it is “not an option” to transfer out of the country its highly enriched uranium.

Based on today's (2026‑04‑23) imagery, we have identified 9 Iranian tankers at Chabahar, Iran. There were 5 on 2026‑04‑21. HERO2 (9362073) and M.T HEDY (9212888) are back in Chabahar after exfiltrating the blockade line. DIONA (9569695), unmentioned below; has also returned. https://t.co/sx5KjSkAXN pic.twitter.com/6e1SQGzlxs
— TankerTrackers.com, Inc. (@TankerTrackers) April 23, 2026

The attack that killed his father injured Mojtaba much worse than they let on. If it didn’t outright kill him too. Today, they regret presenting him as the leader back then.

• Mojtaba Khamenei With Medical Team In 24/7 Hideout, Generals Run Iran: NYT (ZH)

The NY Times in a new deep dive of what governing structures now look like inside Iran says what’s already long been obvious to many in the wake of longtime Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death: “When Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled Iran as the supreme leader, he exerted absolute power over all decisions about war, peace and negotiations with the United States. His son and successor does not play the same role.” The publication says it was able to interview at least half-a-dozen Iranian insiders, including IRGC officials, and individuals who know the younger Khamenei “well”. The NY Times describes of Mojtaba Khamenei: “His father, wife and son were all killed. Access to him is extremely difficult and limited now. He is surrounded mostly by a team of doctors and medical staff who are treating the injuries he sustained in the airstrikes.”

Apparently even top ‘trusted’ generals and IRGC commanders do visit him for fear of being surveilled and tracked to his location by Israel and the United States. Per the sources cited in the Times, “Though Mr. Khamenei was gravely wounded, he is mentally sharp and engaged, according to four senior Iranian officials familiar with his health.” And more: “One leg was operated on three times, and he is awaiting a prosthetic. He had surgery on one hand and is slowly regaining function. His face and lips have been burned severely, making it difficult for him to speak, the officials said, adding that, eventually, he will need plastic surgery.”
All of this provides an explanation as to why he has never been seen or heard from in public since Trump’s Operation Epic Fury began on February 28. He has not so much as been photographed, and when state media has issued a few prior statements, it does so via text or what appears to be AI-configured audio over state media airwaves. This fact has unleashed an avalanche of speculation as to his fate over the course of the war, and who is “really in charge”. And yet it’s also well-known that Iran is able to function militarily based on autonomy and dispersion of command among units, with the IRGC given more independence to act.
The White House has alleged there are essentially two factions vying for power and direction over the war – the civilian leadership and the IRGC command sides. “Mojtaba is not yet in full command or control,” Sanam Vakil, the director of the Middle East and North Africa for Chatham House, claimed in the NYT report. But as expected the situation is nuanced: “There is, perhaps, deference to him,” he continued. “He signs off or he is part of the decision-making structure in a formal way. But he is presented with fait accompli presentations right now.”
As we and other have pointed out, in public at least the de facto day-to-day leader of the country remains speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. He has taken point as lead negotiator with the United States in Pakistan, and has been the public face of updating his country and the world on both the status of the war and the now stalled negotiations. One other interesting detail in the Times report is seen in the following:
Messages to him are handwritten, sealed in envelopes and relayed via a human chain from one trusted courier to the next, who travel on highways and back roads, in cars and on motorcycles until they reach his hide-out. His guidance on issues snakes back the same way. Some pundits have correctly pointed out that skepticism is warranted, also given the NYT’s often deeply inaccurate reporting on Bush’s Iraq war invasion, and other Mideast conflict zones including Syria: With all due respect, remain skeptical about the credibility of the The New York Times report.

With all due respect, remain skeptical about the credibility of the The New York Times report.

– If leaks of this magnitude were truly that easy, it would have been just as easy for Mossad to obtain precise information on Mojtaba Khamenei’s whereabouts, with obvious… https://t.co/g36ONAQUpd
— Babak Vahdad (@BabakVahdad) April 23, 2026

The NY Times alleged findings has it to the conclusion that even big decisions are currently under control of the generals and IRGC apparatus: “The combination of concern for his safety, his injuries and the sheer challenge of reaching him has resulted in Mr. Khamenei’s delegating decision making to the generals, at least for now,” the report concludes.

Seems a bit late.

• Trump Orders U.S. Navy to Shoot Any Iranian Mine Ships (Catherine Salgado)

President Donald Trump announced that he has given orders to the United States Navy to eliminate any Iranian vessels that they catch trying to drop more mines in the Strait of Hormuz. The president posted on Truth Social Thursday, “I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be (Their naval ships are ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea!), that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz.” Trump emphasized, “There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our mine ‘sweepers’ are clearing the Strait right now. I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

The Iranian regime dropped as many mines in the strait as they could during the active phase of the joint Israeli-U.S. Operation Epic Fury/Roaring Lion. After the ceasefire announcement and the initial Iranian violations by bombing other countries, the murderous mullahs also absolutely refused to remove mines from the strait but demanded tolls from any countries that sent ships through anyway.
Furthermore, on April 23, Trump posted, “Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is! They just don’t know! The infighting is between the ‘Hardliners,’ who have been losing BADLY on the battlefield, and the ‘Moderates,’ who are not very moderate at all (but gaining respect!), is CRAZY! We have total control over the Strait of Hormuz. No ship can enter or leave without the approval of the United States Navy. It is ‘Sealed up Tight,’ until such time as Iran is able to make a DEAL!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
It is not clear to whom Trump referred as “moderates,” because all the leaders of the Iranian regime still in power are part of the world’s worst terrorist regime that has been attacking Americans for nearly half a century. Tens of thousands of Persian freedom protesters remain in prison, many scheduled for execution.
Speaking of hardliners, one of the main Iranian leaders supposed to be negotiating with the United States, with whom Vice President JD Vance met in Pakistan, just went on Arab language television to smirk, boast, and defy the U.S. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Baqer “Death to America” Ghalibaf (or Qalibaf) needs to go back on the elimination list, because he is making it perfectly clear he has no intention of ever making peace with the “great Satan” America and the “little Satan” Israel.
“I, as a soldier, am fighting in the realm of negotiations,” Qalibaf smirked. “In this situation, negotiations constitute a form of fighting. I ask our dear people to unite around the three fighting arenas, which, in fact, constitute one battlefield — raising the flag of victory and making our people’s gains official.” He claimed that Americans removing Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz were a “violation of the ceasefire.”

“The five orders seek to address a number of bottlenecks and impediments to coal, natural gas and petroleum production, including financial support, infrastructure development, improved supply chains, and permit expediting.”

• Trump: Fossil Fuels Essential To National Security (JTN)

President Donald Trump has signed five executive orders that address critical segments of the nation’s energy infrastructure – a move made under the presidential determinations of the Defense Production Act that allows a U.S. president to mobilize industry for purposes of national security. The two-term president has long pushed for energy development and the infrastructure to support it as a key aspect of national security. The orders, signed amid the U.S. war with Iran, seek to address issues with the aging electricity grid, the need for natural gas pipelines, coal supply chains and large-scale electricity projects. They don’t refer to wind and solar energy, but they identify “intermittent energy” as a threat to a secure supply of energy.

Iran and neighboring Persian Gulf states account for as much as 50% of the world’s oil reserves, but the U.S. is not dependent on the region for its oil. Still, the orders signed Tuesday by Trump will go a long way toward helping secure American energy dominance, David Blackmon, an analyst with over 40 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, said on his “Energy Additions” Substack, “Taken together, these five actions represent the most comprehensive federal push for all-of-the-above energy in modern history. They cut through the red tape, provide the financial backstops markets sometimes need for massive infrastructure bets, and explicitly reject the notion that we can ‘transition’ away from reliable hydrocarbons without destroying our economy and security,” he wrote.
Order 1: Large-scale energy development
Focuses on large-scale energy development, covering a range of activities from the development of power plants to financing. It aims to cut through red tape and long permitting times to accelerate projects. Reduces financial risks, regulatory delays and other barriers that impede investment and development. Supports the deployment of power plants, supports manufacturing, enables infrastructure construction, site preparation and financing in the early stages of the projects. Prioritizes domestic energy-related manufacturing to support infrastructure development.
Order 2: Grid infrastructure
Aims to shore up America’s electricity grid, which has run into bottlenecks due to long lead times for things like transformers, dependency on foreign supply chains and permitting delays. Transmission projects can take decades and cost billions of dollars. The order identifies America’s aging and inadequate grid as a threat to national defense and economic prosperity. Identifies the need to reduce lead times on equipment and infrastructure, including transformers, conductors, substations and related raw materials. Encourages increased domestic production of materials and components. Identifies purchases, purchase commitments and financial support as actions needed for development of U.S. production capabilities.
Order 3: Domestic petroleum production
Emphasizes that an intermittent energy supply leaves the U.S. vulnerable to hostile foreign actors, and encourages an increase in production, transportation, refining and generation capacity of domestic petroleum production. Provides support for exploration, storage and pipelines Identifies petroleum products as essential for fueling the military and economy Cuts through permitting delays and financial constraints
Order 4: Liquefied natural gas production and infrastructure
This order appears to be directly in response to the impacts of Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has thrown liquefied natural gas markets into chaos and driven up costs. The order states that “hostile foreign actors” weaponized America’s reliance on foreign energy, which caused dramatic swings in international commodity markets. The U.S. has been largely shielded from these shocks due to it being the largest producer of natural gas in the world, and the support of export terminals likely aims to make the U.S. more capable of supplying its allies’ energy needs.
The order seeks to: Provides support for pipelines, compression and processing facilities, underground storage, and export terminals Seeks to remove financing constraints, permitting delays and infrastructure bottlenecks Calls for purchases, purchasing commitments and financial support for the development of natural gas production capabilities.
Order 5: Support for the coal industry
America’s coal industry has long been in decline. It’s partly due to competition from natural gas, but climate policies that began under the Obama administration sought to force coal-fired electrical generation into early retirement. Trump’s order identifies coal as an important energy resource that provides baseload power to the grid. Supports coal mining and rail and barge logistics, export terminals and life-extension work on power plants and on-site stockpiles of coal. Addresses financial constraints, long lead times on maintenance, and expensive repair cycles Provides financial support for the development of production capabilities
Blackmon acknowledged the orders aren’t “magic bullets,” but they will be encouraging to investors, developers and allies that the federal government is supporting American energy production. Energy Secretary Chris “Wright now has the tools to act decisively to speed permitting, reshore supply chains, and speed crucial projects long stuck in bureaucratic limbo to finally break ground,” Blackmon wrote.

“The SPLC’s whole model, Gutfeld argued, depended on a steady supply of racism — and when organic hate proved insufficient, the group manufactured it. ”

• Greg Gutfeld Savages the SPLC and the Democrats Who Took the Bait (Margolis)

For years, the Southern Poverty Law Center occupied a kind of sacred space in American media — the unquestioned arbiter of hate, the group whose pronouncements landed on front pages without so much as a raised eyebrow from the reporters who carried their water. Turns out, the whole operation may have been rotten from the inside. On Wednesday’s episode of Gutfeld!, host Greg Gutfeld savaged the SPLC and the Democrats who bought into the false narrative it was selling.

Gutfeld began by playing a montage of Joe Biden clips hammering the same line about the infamous Charlottesville hoax — that Donald Trump called neo-Nazis “very fine people.” Biden ran that narrative into the ground. He even built his 2020 campaign around it. He said it over and over, repeating the lie incessantly as gospel.
Now the SPLC, long treated by the media as the gold standard on American hate groups, has been indicted by a grand jury for allegedly funneling millions in donor funds directly to the extremist groups it claimed to be fighting — including the KKK and neo-Nazis. Gutfeld’s response was characteristically blunt. “I would say you can’t make this stuff up, but that’s exactly what these hate mongers were doing, funding the very extremist groups it claimed to fight,” he said. “The arsonist may have been running the fire department. It’s like donating to save the whales and finding out that the money was going to feed The View.”
The SPLC’s whole model, Gutfeld argued, depended on a steady supply of racism — and when organic hate proved insufficient, the group manufactured it. Actual hate groups in America, he noted, have been about “as robust as Blockbuster Video.” That’s a problem when your fundraising, your media relevance, and your entire reason for existing depend on the country being crawling with white supremacists. So the SPLC has a reputation for labeling virtually any organization it can as a hate group, such as Turning Point USA or the Family Research Council. “Hate morphs into ideas that liberals hate,” Gutfeld said, “especially since it’s the only tool they have to ruin people by calling them bigots.”
And, of course, the press was a willing partner in all of it. Every hate map published by the SPLC got treated like scripture. If the SPLC said your neighbor’s bowling league was a hate group, Gutfeld quipped, it was front-page news, no questions asked That manufactured climate of fear had real political consequences. Gutfeld rolled a series of Biden clips, in which he insisted that white supremacy was “the most lethal threat to the homeland today. Not ISIS, not Al-Qaeda, white supremacists.” Biden repeated variations of this false claim across multiple appearances, each one more emphatic than the last. That narrative, Gutfeld argued, traces directly back to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and the “fine people hoax.”
“The entire narrative of Biden’s candidacy was based on a hoax created by a left-wing group, then protected by the media, who did no investigation into who these haters were,” Gutfeld noted. “The media’s oddly incurious, in addition to corrupt and stupid.” One detail Gutfeld found particularly telling — the identities of the torch carriers at Charlottesville were never seriously investigated. The same media apparatus that tracked down every Capitol Hill grandmother from January 6 somehow never got around to finding out who those people actually were or where they came from. That asymmetry, he suggested, tells you everything about whose narrative the press was protecting.
The SPLC’s reach extended well beyond the Biden campaign and cable news chyrons. Corporate America lined up to fund what now turned out to be a racket for funding hate. “It’s about politicians who embrace them, the corporations that donated to them,” Gutfeld said, and the media outlets “who needed to make the lies true so they could say it’s racist to deport people in the country illegally, so that everyone in the next Star Trek is trans and that hiring based on merit is as out of date as the canned beans I donate to food drives.”
Gutfeld acknowledged that the allegations still need to be proven in court. But the broader point, he said, stands regardless of how the legal case unfolds. “America is one of the least racist societies in human history,” he concluded, “and that’s bad for business if your business is racism.” And, as we know, that’s exactly the business the Democratic Party is in.
The SPLC Shakedown: Funding the Business of Bigotry pic.twitter.com/0geLR7T4eB
— Gutfeld! (@Gutfeldfox) April 23, 2026

It’s quite OK to write and publish that the head of the FBI, known for his long working hours, is really a drunk who hangs out in bars at all hours. That is just hyperbole. Well, unless he’s a democrat, we fear.

• Judge Dismisses Kash Patel’s Defamation Lawsuit (CNBC)

A Houston federal court judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit by FBI Director Kash Patel alleging that former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi defamed him by saying Patel last year had “been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of” the bureau’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. “The Court finds that Figliuzzi’s statement is rhetorical hyperbole that cannot constitute defamation,” U.S. District Court Judge George Hanks Jr. wrote in his decision. “Accordingly, Dir. Patel has failed to state a claim against Figliuzzi, and his lawsuit must be dismissed.”

The dismissal came a day after Patel filed an unrelated $250 million defamation lawsuit in D.C. federal court against The Atlantic magazine over a new article that alleged he has abused alcohol. While ruling on the key question of defamation in Figliuzzi’s favor, the judge denied his request that he be awarded court costs and attorneys’ fees under Texas’ anti-SLAPP law. SLAPP is an acronym for Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation. Figliuzzi’s lawyer, Marc Fuller, in a statement to CNBC, said, “This is a victory for press freedom and the First Amendment.”
“Director Patel’s claim against Frank was baseless, and we are pleased that the court dismissed it,” Fuller said. Figliuzzi, former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI, made his crack about Patel on May 2, 2025, on the MS NOW show “Morning Joe.” “Yeah, well, reportedly, he’s been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover building,” said Figliuzzi. Patel sued him in June, accusing Figliuzzi of “fabricating a specific lie” about the FBI director because of Figliuzzi’s “clear animus” toward him.

Member states have backed the Kiev authorities’ “blasphemous practices” at a major Orthodox monastery, the Russian foreign minister has said

• Lavrov Warns Of ‘Rampant Satanism’ In EU (RT)

There is “rampant Satanism” in certain EU member states, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has alleged, citing their connivance in the Ukrainian authorities’ “blasphemous practices” at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Orthodox monastery.Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, the government in Kiev has intensified its crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over allegations that it has connections to Moscow. The Ukrainian authorities have since conducted numerous raids on monasteries and launched dozens of criminal cases on collaboration charges against clerics, as well as property seizures.

At the same time, Vladimir Zelensky’s government has backed the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which the Russian Orthodox Church considers schismatic. Speaking at a Russian Foreign Ministry reception on Wednesday dedicated to Orthodox Easter, Lavrov stated that the Ukrainian leadership has rejected “their spiritual and civilizational roots.” “The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been persecuted for over a decade now, with churches [forcibly] taken over, vandalized and clergy and parishioners harassed,” he said.
Particularly “outrageous and disgusting” is the Ukrainian authorities’ initiative to create an “inventory and inspect the holy relics in terms of their historical and scientific value” at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra monastery. According to Lavrov, the “Ukrainian Ministry of Culture used this bureaucratic formula to conceal its legalized blasphemous practices, while several European countries have turned a blind eye to these developments or even directly supported them.” “There is rampant Satanism in these countries, too,” the Russian foreign minister concluded.
Last March, the first reports emerged of Ukrainian government officials and police forcing their way into the catacombs of what is considered the nation’s most significant monastery and the final resting place of several Christian saints. Incidentally, this is not the first time Lavrov has suggested there are Satanic tendencies in the West. Speaking in February, after the US Department of Justice released a large trove of the so-called Epstein files, the Russian foreign minister said that the materials had “revealed the face of the West.” “Every normal person knows this is beyond comprehension and pure Satanism,” Lavrov stated then.

PCR does not like getting old.

• Professor Defines Elderly Americans as the New Class Enemy (Paul Craig Roberts)

A Yale University professor of law and history, Samuel Moyn, has resurrected and redefined Marxian class conflict. In the old Marxism, the capitalists exploited the workers. In Moyn’s version, elderly Americans exploit the young. Moyn’s solution, espoused, of course, in the New York Times (April 21), is for the old to be dispossessed of their homes, jobs, accumulated wealth, and political and judicial offices. These dispossessions and more are needed for “intergenerational justice,” by which Moyn means redistribution from the aged to the young, and in order to stop older Americans from “Hoarding America’s Potential.” Moyn thinks that a poorly educated and undisciplined youth can manage all of America’s affairs better than better educated and more disciplined older Americans.

Moyn builds his case against “gerontocratic society.” Older Americans, that is more experienced Americans, are overrepresented in political life and have too much power. This results in inequality and injustice and in regressive public policies.
Moyn claims that older Americans are overrepresented in elections which gives them a stranglehold. What Moyn means is that older Americans take their citizenship responsibility more seriously than do the young and actually vote in elections. By being overrepresented in voting due to youthful disinterest the elderly have amassed “excessive power” that “harms society” by resisting open borders and “environmental remediation” (global warming claims), and denying society youthful creativity and dynamism such as we are currently observing in New York City.
Other evidence of unfairness and inequality are the rise in the median net worth of the elderly and fall in net worth of youths and that the elderly have a larger share of wealth than the young. Apparently, it is beyond Moyn’s comprehension that the elderly got established in life before so many well-paying American jobs were offshored and before robotics and AI cut into remaining good jobs. It doesn’t dawn on Moyn that the elderly have had many more years to accumulate wealth than have youth via such means as paid off home mortgages.
Moyn also blames the elderly for owning more homes than the youth. Again he overlooks the obvious. The replacement jobs for the “dirty fingernail” jobs sent abroad don’t support both a mortgage and a car payment. Why does Moyn think it is the elderly’s fault that the median age of a home buyer has risen from 30 in 1981 to 56 in 2024?
Moyn demonstrates faulty reasoning throughout his case against the elderly. He alleges that the elderly are privileged because more dollars go to the elderly than to children, which he thinks makes it “clear that older Americans have helped widen the chasm between classes in our neoliberal era.” The “more dollars” are of course Social Security and Medicare payments. But these are retirement age programs sponsored and legislated by liberals, not reactionary elderly, that the elderly have paid for in Social Security and Medicare taxes on their wages and salaries for all of their working life. It is beyond Moyn’s imagination that it is the neoliberal policies, such as offshoring American high-productivity jobs, that have damaged the prospects for American youth. It was not the elderly who took down the ladders of upward mobility that characterized the old American “opportunity society.”
In the end Moyn has written a brief for removing any remaining requirements that voting depends on proof of citizenship. He claims that this reduces voting by younger Americans. However, the claims are nonsensical. All any American citizen, regardless of age, has to do to vote is to register. But Moyn sees registration as a burden the elderly put on the young to make it inconvenient for them to vote.
Moyn wants to violate the age discrimination laws by bringing back mandatory retirement. So what happens to the elderly who cannot survive without a paycheck? Moyn doesn’t seem to care. Any false argument will do to move them aside.
Moyn wants to force elderly homeowners out of their home with progressive property taxes that rise the longer the elderly insist on living in their own homes. Apparently, Moyn thinks that widespread selling will collapse house prices, and the youth will be able to buy in a buyers’ market.
One of the many worrisome revelations in Moyn’s article is that it demonstrates that neither Yale law school nor The NY Times opinion editor have a concept of private property. Property is just something that is redistributed from those with a negative image to those with a positive image. Moyn sets the images: the elderly are regressive; the youth are dynamic and creative. Formerly property was redistributed from capitalists to workers. The liberals preferred from rich to poor. Moyn says from the old to the young.
I could continue, but this is enough for all to see that a Yale University law professor is positioning the American elderly as the next victim to be plundered. The NY Times supports the plunder of the elderly as does Moyn’s publisher of his attack on old people, Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Are Hoarding Power and Wealth — and What to Do About It.
Note: Many years ago I predicted that the approval of abortion would lead to euthanasia of the old. If birth can be terminated because someone sees it as a problem, old age can be terminated as well. Moyn has initiated the attack on the elderly. First they will be dispossessed, which will increase their burden on society. Then a legislated lifetime will become law. As morality in the Western world has been greatly weakened, there will be no opposition to aborting the elderly.

DeSantis is a political animal. Trump is the opposite.

The Supreme Court is an interesting place for him to go.

DeSantis and conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, that source said, “almost have a father-son relationship and would be a hell of a legacy for Trump.”

• The Resurrection of Ron DeSantis (Scott Pinsker)

His one mistake was challenging Donald Trump in 2024. More specifically, it was challenging Trump — and failing. Like Omar Little said on The Wire, “You come at the king, you best not miss.” Gov. Ron DeSantis came at the king… and missed very, very badly. Were it not for his ill-advised 2024 campaign, DeSantis would be on the GOP’s 2028 shortlist for president, along with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. In an alternate reality, Vance, Rubio, and DeSantis would be our Big Three. I’ll go one step further: Had he not challenged Trump in 2024, DeSantis probably wouldn’t even be the governor right now.

Although we still think of Trump as the quintessential New Yawker, he’s been a Floridian for quite a while. As are a slew of his top cabinet members and closest advisors: Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Rubio. Mike Waltz. Key supporting staff. Even scandal-tarred Florida congressman Matt Gaetz was (briefly) floated for attorney general — before being replaced by fellow Floridian, the since-fired Pam Bondi. But does DeSantis want to work in D.C.? After all, he’s still the governor of Florida, America’s third-most populous state. That’s a plumb position for a young, ambitious politician. (Plus, the weather in Tallahassee is way better.) Axios says yes (April 21): Scoop: DeSantis ‘Begging’ Trump for Prime Role in Administration
“President Trump has told confidants that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is “begging” for a job in Trump’s administration — including attorney general — Axios has learned. DeSantis also has expressed interest in being secretary of defense and even a spot on the U.S. Supreme Court, according to six sources briefed on the discussions.” Why it matters: DeSantis has to leave office at the end of his second term in January and is “looking for what to do next,” according to one source who said Trump is inclined to consider helping out his understudy-turned-rival-turned-friend. Inside the room: DeSantis’ future was on the menu after the two men had lunch at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami a week ago Sunday.
“Ron was begging me to be AG,” Trump told one confidant, who relayed the remark to Axios. Said another source: “There was a conversation at that lunch. I don’t think AG is real. But he’s gonna be looking for work and Trump likes him.” Among those three positions — attorney general, secretary of war, and Supreme Court justice — Axios suggests that the last two are a distinct possibility: …Trump would strongly consider DeSantis for the [Secretary of War] post if Hegseth left — though Hegseth remains in good standing with the president. “DeSantis is 100% not interested in the AG job, but he would be interested in two things: War secretary or Supreme Court, which would be his dream job,” said another source familiar with the discussions.
DeSantis and conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, that source said, “almost have a father-son relationship and would be a hell of a legacy for Trump.” The intrigue: DeSantis waged a bitter — but brief — primary bid in the 2024 presidential cycle against Trump, whose campaign and White House are stocked with critics of the governor. “Bygones are bygones,” said one Trump adviser. “But that doesn’t mean people forget.” Said another: “There’s a big reason the president wouldn’t pick Ron to be his attorney general: There’s a way-too-high chance he would try to f*** the president over.” [emphasis added]
Reading between the lines, it sounds as if DeSantis has (mostly) rebuilt his tattered relationship with President Trump, but obviously, a degree of mistrust remains. From Trump’s point of view, they’re still in the “trust-but-verify” phase.= Can’t really blame Trump for being cautious. When DeSantis’ decided to challenge Trump in 2024, it revealed something significant about his character — namely, his loyalty.
[..]
There’s a very real possibility that the gerrymandering push will benefit the Democrats more than the Republicans. Between California, Virginia, and Utah(!), the Dems now stand to gain 10 seats. Between Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio, the GOP will gain only 9. Which means, Republicans will be down a seat. Unless Florida’s governor gets involved. This is the moment DeSantis has patiently waited for. It’s his chance in the spotlight — his opportunity to save the day for the MAGAverse. Right now, Florida has 28 congressional seats. The GOP currently controls 20.
Under the Virginia’s precedent of gerrymandering seats 10-1 in the Democrat’s favor, why shouldn’t Florida match their numbers and gerrymander it, say, 25-3 for the Republicans? (That’s actually a more forgiving ratio than Virginia’s Dems gave us.) And we’d instantly go from -1 seat to +4. This week, we were reminded why we fell in love with DeSantis: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries threatened the governor not to pull a Virginia and redistrict Florida. DeSantis’ response was pure gold: https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/2047031432841941308

“.. DACA recipients who commit crimes are deportable under existing law, just like any other illegal alien.”

• Obama’s ‘Dreamer’ Fairy Tale Just Got Torched (Margolis)

Last year, on the 13th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, an unconstitutional program he had conjured into existence by executive fiat, Barack Obama was singing its praises. “DACA was an example of how we can be a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws,” Obama said. “And it’s an example worth remembering today, when families with similar backgrounds who just want to live, work, and support their communities, are being demonized and treated as enemies.” And it’s all a lie.

Since President Donald Trump returned to office, his administration has arrested nearly 300 DACA recipients nationwide — 75 of them in Texas alone, who were previously protected from deportation. And here’s the number the left doesn’t want to talk about: of 270 DACA recipients arrested between Jan. 1, 2025, and Sept. 28, 2025, 250 — that’s 92% — had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. Nine out of ten.
The breakdown is telling. Of those 270 arrests, 130 had criminal convictions, 120 had pending charges, and 14 were cited for immigration violations. Within the same window, 174 DACA recipients were removed from the country. According to the Department of Homeland Security, “Of those removed, 71 were convicted criminals, 66 had pending criminal charges, and 66 were in violation of immigration law. None of these applicants had been granted protected status at the time of their removal.”
DACA defenders insisted that the program’s beneficiaries were innocent, law-abiding, upstanding members of their communities. The best and brightest, vetted and re-vetted, posed zero threat to the communities they lived in. Democrats have pushed that line for years, insisting with practiced outrage that no, the administration isn’t shielding criminals — that just doesn’t happen.
The federal data proves otherwise. None of this is to say every DACA recipient is dangerous. There are over 505,000 currently active recipients in the country, more than 84,000 in Texas alone. But when 92% of the nearly 300 who wound up being targets for deportation had criminal histories, that’s a troubling statistic that undermines the very argument used to justify the DACA program, not to mention the desire to give these people a pathway toward full legal citizenship.
Of course, the media doesn’t want this detail to get out there. The Texas Tribune, which first reported on DACA recipients who were “targeted” for deportation, curiously left out the criminal records of the DACA recipients from its report: Since President Trump returned to office, his administration has begun to target DACA recipients for deportation as part of its mass deportation efforts. From January 2025 to November 2025, at least 261 DACA recipients have been arrested — 75 of them in Texas. And between 86 and 174 DACA recipients have been deported, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (The agency gave different figures to two different Democratic members of Congress who requested the information).
“DACA does NOT confer any form of legal status in this country,” DHS has said on this issue. “Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons, including if they’ve committed a crime.” In other words, DACA recipients who commit crimes are deportable under existing law, just like any other illegal alien. The program never granted immunity. In the end, the Trump administration is doing something radical by Washington standards: enforcing the law as written. And the left can’t take it.

“..many nodes operate behind firewalls and are not publicly visible..”

• The U.S. Military Is Running a Bitcoin Node, Admiral Paparo Reveals (BCM)

The United States military has an active node on the Bitcoin network, according to Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM). The disclosure, made at a House Services committee hearing, marks the first known confirmation that a U.S. military combatant command is directly participating in the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network. “We have a node on the Bitcoin network,” Paparo wrote. “We’re doing a number of operational tests to secure and protect networks using the Bitcoin protocol.” The statement landed one day after Paparo made waves in Congress with testimony that framed Bitcoin as a tool of American power.

What Paparo said yesterday
On April 21, Paparo testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee during a FY2027 defense authorization hearing. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) asked Paparo whether U.S. leadership in Bitcoin could give the country an edge against China in the Indo-Pacific theater. Paparo did not deflect. He told the committee that INDOPACOM’s research centers on Bitcoin as a computer science tool — not as a financial asset. “Our research into Bitcoin is as a computer science tool,” Paparo said. “It’s the combination of cryptography, a blockchain, and a proof of work. And Bitcoin shows incredible potential as a computer science tool that through the proof-of-work protocols, actually imposes more cost than just the algorithmic securing of networks and our ability to operate.”
He described Bitcoin as “a peer-to-peer, zero-trust transfer of value” and said that “anything that supports all instruments of national power for the United States of America is to the good.” The testimony was notable for what Paparo did not say. He did not describe Bitcoin as a reserve asset, a payment system, or a speculative instrument. He framed it as a computer science system with direct military relevance — a distinction that set his remarks apart from most official government commentary on crypto.
What running a Bitcoin node means
A Bitcoin node is a computer that runs the Bitcoin software, maintains a full copy of the blockchain, and independently validates every transaction and block against the network’s consensus rules. Nodes do not mine Bitcoin. They enforce the rules of the protocol and relay data across the peer-to-peer network.Running a node gives an operator direct, trustless access to the Bitcoin network without relying on any third party. The operator’s computer connects to other nodes worldwide, verifies incoming transactions and blocks, and rejects anything that violates Bitcoin’s protocol rules.
For INDOPACOM, operating a node positions the command as a first-hand participant in the Bitcoin network, not an observer.The disclosure that the military is conducting “operational tests to secure and protect networks using the Bitcoin protocol” suggests the command is moving beyond theoretical research and into active experimentation with Bitcoin’s cryptographic architecture as a defensive tool. As of early 2026, there are an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 publicly reachable full nodes on the Bitcoin network, though the actual number is likely higher since many nodes operate behind firewalls and are not publicly visible.

I wanna know: How many of the EVs are European made? Is it all BYDs and Tesla’s?

• European Car Sales Jump 11% As Fuel Shock Drives EV Demand (ZH)

European auto sales posted their strongest monthly gain in almost two years in March, as robust demand emerged for fully electric and hybrid models. The surge in demand follows the US-Iran conflict, which disrupted energy flows through the Hormuz chokepoint. As a result, petrol and diesel prices at the pump in Europe soared. Another issue is China flooding the continent with cheap EVs, undercutting already struggling domestic automakers.

Bloomberg cited new-vehicle registration data for last month showing an 11% rise to 1.58 million, as demand for EVs and hybrids continued to strengthen. EV deliveries jumped 42%, with growth across all major markets, including a 66% increase in German EV sales, driven by subsidies and more affordable models.

March’s surge in demand offers relief for struggling European automakers facing a number of issues, including excess capacity, U.S. tariffs, and weak demand in the Chinese market. The problem with Europe is that Brussels had the grand idea of allowing Chinese brands such as BYD and Geely to flood the continent with cheap EVs, undercutting rivals such as VW, Porsche, and Mercedes. Data for the month also showed that BYD more than doubled its European sales in March to 37,580 vehicles and is preparing to start production at its new plant in Hungary later this quarter. This means China’s market share in Europe is increasingly growing.
Tesla also participated in last month’s surge, with March registrations up 84% to 52,600, leaving it just ahead of BYD year-to-date. While it is quite obvious that the surge in Brent crude prices into triple-digit territory in March influenced consumer behavior, driving EV purchases because of the fuel shock that unfolded at petrol stations, we take a look at a UBS note showing that, over the past four decades, oil price shocks have typically remained elevated for five months following prior military events. All of this suggests that, with elevated prices in Europe and elsewhere, EVs will regain consumer favor. Yet in the U.S., with federal subsidies eliminated, demand remains muted.

https://twitter.com/MichaelDell/status/2047090542400430475?s=20

Elon Musk just admitted the most expensive mistake of his career.

It quietly dismantles the entire credentialing mythology.

Musk runs rockets. Neural implants. Autonomous fleets. Humanoid robots. The most complex engineering operation on earth.

You would assume he selects… pic.twitter.com/czmYXdNKTV
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) April 22, 2026

That’s a lot of illegal immigrants https://t.co/TDwUHFPKmr
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 23, 2026

https://twitter.com/HungaryBased/status/2047050307021226374?s=20 https://twitter.com/DanielKral1/status/2046961944570069296?s=20

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

Debt Rattle April 23 2026

Apr 232026

April 23, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:44 am Finance Tagged with: Atlantic, Bongino, California bar, ceasefire, John Eastman, Kash Patel, sock puppet, SPLC, Todd Blanche 47 Responses »

Edward Hopper Railroad sunset 1929

• Trump Extends Ceasefire with Iran Pending Internal Regime Discussions (CTH)

• Trump Extends Iran Ceasefire and Forces Tehran to Make the Next Move (Manney)

• IRGC Leader Takes Control of Iran’s Military As US Tensions Rise (Fox)

• President Trump Didn’t Just Win. He Revived the Warrior Poet (David Manney)

• Trump Spooked Over Iran War Crimes – Larry Klayman (USAW)

• Trump’s “Sock Puppet” (Philip Marey)

• Bongino’s Ominous Warning About the Kash Patel Smear (Margolis)

• A Crazy Lefty Lady Learns What Kamala and Hillary Said About Iran (Green)

• Southern Poverty Law Center Charged With Fraud Over Hate Ratings (JTN)

• Democrats Lose A Vital Propaganda Machine With The Fall Of The SPLC (ZH)

• There Is Simply Too Much Schadenfreude in This New York Times Profile (Thorne)

• The California Bar Bags a Trump Lawyer and Leaves Troubling Questions (Turley)

Elon Musk just named the single variable that will decide the next hundred years.

It is not compute. It is not capital. It is not the chip.

Musk: “Nothing will make you happier than having kids. We’ve evolved to have that, as all creatures have.”

The consensus says this… pic.twitter.com/7cfuSFLDoa
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) April 22, 2026

This collective suicide of humanity needs to turn around! https://t.co/dUigYCpSXW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2026

https://twitter.com/GuntherEagleman/status/2046747498576765157?s=20 https://twitter.com/mrddmia/status/2046596691374010460?s=20

The DOJ removed the prosecutor who said there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Brennan.

Replaced her with DiGenova — a lawyer who spent years publicly accusing Brennan of manufacturing the Russia investigation before being hired to prosecute him.

The case moved to Fort Pierce,… pic.twitter.com/bgobX2QJt1
— Jake (@JakeCan72) April 21, 2026

Elon Musk: Optimus 3 is almost done. Entering the final stage.
Most advanced robot on
Earth. Nothing else compares.
Production starts this summer. Classic S-curve ramp.
High volume near year. Optimus 4 next.
New robot. Every year.
That's the goal. pic.twitter.com/ikHtMapbBz
— Eva McMillan ♥️ (@EvasTeslaSPlaid) April 21, 2026

“50,000 extremist clerics and IRGC members are holding 90 million people as hostages ..”

• Trump Extends Ceasefire with Iran Pending Internal Regime Discussions (CTH)

The issue inside Iran is essentially: 50,000 extremist clerics and IRGC members are holding 90 million people as hostages to a fanatical religious regime. Hopefully the economic oil embargo will eventually begin to fray this Gordian Knot.

In the last two weeks, President Trump has forcefully and publicly been pushing back against the aggressive posture of Israel. While the Arab partners in the region are aligned with Trump on the issue of “extremism” and radicalism, thereby supporting the confrontation with Iranian religious extremists – those same regional partners also consider Israeli conduct in Gaza and Lebanon as religious “extremism.”
STATEMENT OF PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP:
“Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal. I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.” ~ President DONALD J. TRUMP
The totality of the intelligence chatter must be overwhelming.

Only now do we find out who’s in charge there. That in itself is a negotiating tactic.

• Trump Extends Iran Ceasefire and Forces Tehran to Make the Next Move (Manney)

President Donald Trump extended the ceasefire with Iran as the original two-week truce neared its end. He made the decision after a request from Pakistani officials while he waits for a unified proposal from Tehran. U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is extending the ceasefire with Iran at Pakistan’s request while awaiting a “unified proposal” from Tehran, even as the U.S. military maintains its blockade of Iranian ports. The move comes as the White House put on hold Vice President JD Vance’s planned trip to Pakistan for a second round of truce talks with Iran, which has balked at further discussions. The extension keeps negotiations alive and avoids further loss of life on both sides.

Trump made clear that the United States will maintain its blockade of Iranian ports, stating that the military remains ready to act if Iran rejects a fair agreement. The extension doesn’t signal weakness; it reflects a deliberate choice to keep pressure in place while giving negotiations time to produce results. Trump explained that the pause allows a path toward a lasting resolution without immediate resolution. Iranian leaders rejected earlier ceasefire terms and demanded permanent guarantees. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi leads that response and continues to push for concessions that favor Tehran. Iran has also warned of a swift reaction to any new U.S. action. Trump declined to rush into additional conflict, using the extension to force Iran to decide between continued resistance and meaningful negotiation.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz addressed Iran’s claim that it controls the Strait of Hormuz, rejecting that position and stating that no country holds exclusive authority over that waterway. Waltz said, “Well, you saw real confusion on the Iranian’s part. I think that shows the discord within their ranks after devastating attacks on their leadership. The foreign minister says it’s open, the IRGC says that it’s closed. Regardless, it’s the U.S. Navy and President Trump as the commander in chief that decides what ultimately comes in and comes out, and I think the bigger picture here is that the Iranian regime cannot hold the entire world’s economy hostage.
They cannot mete out collective punishment because of a dispute over its nuclear program. It’s something that will not stand. It’s something in the United Nations that record 135 countries joined us and joined our gulf Arab allies in condemning including Iran’s attacks on ports, airport, roads, bridges, hotels, you name it. Even civilian neighborhoods with their drones and with their missiles. So Iran is increasingly isolated diplomatically. It’s struggling economically with its currency and foreign currency reserves tanking and at the end of the day they do not have the cards and they’re coming back to the table for a deal.”
He added, “The Strait of Hormuz is an international waterway unlike what the Iranians are trying to claim. They moved the goalpost and they’re claiming it is a waterway of theirs which is a violation of international law. Ultimately it’s the U.S. navy and President Trump that decides what comes in and what comes out.”

Support for iGRC is not very broad.

• IRGC Leader Takes Control of Iran’s Military As US Tensions Rise (Fox)

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of the Iranian armed forces, has blocked President Masoud Pezeshkian’s presidential appointments and erected what sources described as a security cordon around Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, a report published Tuesday by Iran International said. The IRGC effectively has assumed control over key state functions, the report claimed. “It was always a matter of when, not if, the IRGC was going to step forward even more than it has in the last three decades,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.

Pezeshkian has reached a “complete political deadlock” as tensions between his administration and the military leadership deepen, according to the report. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, has blocked President Masoud Pezeshkian’s presidential appointments, a new report says. (John Lamparski/Getty Images) The reported shift could have major consequences far beyond Iran. Analysts say a more powerful IRGC likely would mean a more confrontational Iran, less willing to compromise in talks with Washington and more inclined to continue military escalation across the region.
With U.S.-Iran negotiations already faltering and uncertainty growing over whether Tehran will even send negotiators to the next round of talks, the rise of the Revolutionary Guard raises fresh doubts about who actually is making decisions in Iran and whether any civilian official can still speak for the regime. “But it’s a mistake to assume this is some sort of coup,” Ben Taleblu said. “This has been the process in Iran for years now, as the regime has chosen conflict over cooperation and emboldened its security forces at every juncture.”
Pezeshkian’s recent effort to appoint a new intelligence minister collapsed after direct pressure from IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi, sources told Iran International, arguing that all proposed candidates, including former Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, were rejected. Vahidi reportedly insisted that under wartime conditions, all critical and sensitive positions must be chosen and managed directly by the Revolutionary Guard until further notice.
“By any standard, Vahidi is considered a radical even within the regime’s hardline elite, and his rise is a warning that Tehran’s war machine now calls the shots,” Lisa Daftari, foreign policy analyst and journalist, told Fox News Digital. Under Iran’s system, the president traditionally nominates an intelligence minister only after securing approval from the supreme leader. But with the condition and whereabouts of Mojtaba Khamenei unclear in recent weeks, the IRGC appears to be increasingly acting without civilian oversight.

I want what he’s smoking.

• President Trump Didn’t Just Win. He Revived the Warrior Poet (David Manney)

A warrior poet fights with courage and speaks with lasting truth, an idea that stretches back through history. Warriors defend their people with strength, while poets shape words that move hearts and clarify purpose. When those traits come together, action and vision reinforce each other. King David embodied that union by defeating Goliath in battle and later wrote the Psalms that still guide millions. Samurai in feudal Japan trained with the sword and composed haiku that reflected discipline and honor. Medieval knights followed codes of chivalry while studying philosophy and faith. History shows that strength and expression can live in the same man.

President Donald Trump reflects that tradition in a modern setting as he fights for American workers and national security with a direct approach. He imposed tariffs to rebalance trade and bring leverage back to the United States.nHe authorized strikes when threats emerged in key waterways, pushed military readiness, and demanded clear outcomes from allies and adversaries, and he doesn’t step back when pressure builds. That posture mirrors the role of a warrior who protects what belongs to his people.
Trump also communicates with clarity that reaches beyond policy language, using short, direct phrases that people remember and repeat. “Make America Great Again” became a national message that carries emotion and direction. His rallies draw large crowds and create a shared sense of purpose. His speeches simplify complex issues without losing focus, a style that connects with people who want leaders to speak in terms they can understand. It echoes the role of a poet who turns ideas into language that lasts.
Trump’s tone has been criticized as blunt, but critics miss the function behind it. Warrior poets never softened every edge. King David wrote about conflict and victory in the same breath. Samurai poets described the cost of battle alongside moments of reflection. Trump addresses border security, trade imbalance, and national defense in terms that leave no ambiguity. He states the problem and moves forward toward action, a pattern that aligns with leaders who combine force with message.
The United States benefits when leadership blends resolve with vision. Trump has faced elections, investigations, and constant opposition while remaining focused on policy goals and public messaging at the same time. Trump’s administration reduced taxes, expanded domestic production, and reinforced border enforcement as he engaged foreign adversaries from a position of strength and pursued agreements that shifted regional dynamics.
Alongside those actions, he offered a consistent message about national pride and shared identity, a balance that reflects the core of the warrior poet idea.Opponents challenge his methods and dismiss his language, overlooking how that language reaches people who feel unheard. His speeches energize audiences and translate policy into a clear direction, speaking to workers, families, and communities that want protection and opportunity. That connection resembles the historical role of leaders who defended their people and gave voice to their experience.
Americans recognize the combination. Trump leads with determination and communicates with impact, protecting national interests and framing that effort in words that stay with the public. King David secured his nation and wrote songs that endured. Trump secures American priorities and delivers a message that resonates across the country. The warrior poet tradition continues through that blend of action and expression.

Love Larry, but he’s wrong here. Trump does not fear the International Criminal Court.

• Trump Spooked Over Iran War Crimes – Larry Klayman (USAW)

Renowned Attorney Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch and later Freedom Watch USA, weighs in on a variety of legal subjects. Top on the list is Iran cancels peace talks in Pakistan, and then President Trump “unilaterally extends ceasefire” until Iran can “come up with a unified proposal.” Trump says the Iran government is “seriously fractured.” What happened to Trump’s threat of bombing power plants and bridges if the talks broke down? The last time talks failed, Iran put women and children around power plants and on bridges. Would a country that reportedly murdered more than 40,000 of its own citizens a few months ago do that again?

Klayman says, “First of all, I have a lot of experience with Iran. I have represented many families who have had their sons tortured and killed by the Iranian regime. I have represented Gold Star families of special ops (military) that died in a helicopter crash in the Tangi Valley (Afghanistan) that was caused by the Taliban because of bounties on their heads by Iran. . .. President Trump has lost his credibility because he has said time and again, if you don’t do X, I’ll do Y. It looks like he’s getting down on his knees and begging for peace. The reason he’s doing that is he’s worried he’s going to cost the Republicans the Mid-term elections. . .. He should have bit the bullet and taken out the regime. You can’t leave them there. . .. The President now looks weak. He had victory in his grasp, and now he’s getting down on his knees, and I am really sad about that.”
There is another thing that Klayman says might be holding President Trump back. Klayman says, “The threat of war crimes at the International Criminal Court (ICC) scared Trump. It’s not a war crime when you have to bomb something that has a dual use as in military and civilian. We did it in World War II, and others have done it elsewhere. . .. It’s not a war crime, but I think the President is spooked, and that’s the bottom line. . .. Pinochet (President of Chile from 1973 to 1990) was indicted and convicted by the ICC. If he had not died, they would have arrested him. Netanyahu (PM Israel) can’t travel to Europe or any place the ICC has jurisdiction. He will be arrested. If Trump was to go to Europe and he was indicted and convicted (for war crimes), they would arrest him.”
Klayman adds, “What I am saying here is tough love. If you really care about somebody, you tell them the truth. You don’t pussyfoot around. If the President is going to get himself out of this and if there is any chance of him winning the Mid-terms and keeping control of Congress and stop him from being subjected to all this lawfare, which will be vicious, then he needs to end this war quickly on our terms with unconditional surrender like Winston Churchill, not Neville Chamberlain. . .. I love the President, don’t get me wrong. I am trying to get him to do the right thing for his own good.”
Klayman also weighs in on the fight over voter fraud and the Department of Justice suing 29 states to get access to the voter rolls. The DOJ wants to enforce voter integrity. With the states complying and not fighting the DOJ, they found 350,000 dead people still on the voter rolls. Klayman says, “The American people have a right to know about the fraud that goes on, and it’s not just dead people, it’s illegal aliens. . .. this is a very serous matter. This will end up in the Supreme Court. The question is will this go up soon enough to help in the Mid-term elections in November?”

It’s not hard to do a better job than Jay Powell.

• Trump’s “Sock Puppet” (Philip Marey)

The confirmation hearing of Fed Chair nominee Kevin Warsh by the Senate Banking Committee was a very partisan affair. In his prepared remarks, Warsh stressed that monetary policy independence is essential, but he does not believe that the operational independence of monetary policy is particularly threatened when elected officials state their views on interest rates. Warsh thinks the Fed must stay in its lane and avoid straying into fiscal and social policies. Warsh was walking a tightrope between convincing the Senate Banking Committee that he is going to be an independent Fed Chair and staying loyal to President Trump.

Meanwhile, there was as much interest in Warsh’s personal balance sheet as in the Fed’s balance sheet. Obviously, there were several questions about Fed independence and whether Warsh had promised President Trump to cut rates in order to get the nomination. Of course, he denied. Warsh repeatedly said that interest rates rather than the balance sheet should be the dominant tool of monetary policy. He did not have a specific target for the balance sheet in mind, and eased fears of a rapid change. Warsh wants a robust reform of the inflation framework and improve the data to assess the underlying inflation trend.
First Democratic senator Warren called nominee Warsh president Trump’s sock puppet. Then Republican senator Kennedy tried to settle the issue by asking: “Mr Warsh, are you going to be the president’s human sock puppet?” “Absolutely not,” said Warsh. This was clearly a very partisan confirmation hearing for Kevin Warsh and near the end of the 2.5 hour session one of the more empathetic senators asked him why he would want this job. This was a big change from 20 years ago when Warsh was confirmed as Fed Governor with bipartisan support. Warren gave him a couple of litmus tests of his independence by asking whether Trump lost the election of 2021 and if Warsh could name one aspect of Trump’s policies that he disagreed with. Warsh gave evasive answers and the tone for the hearing was set. Warsh was walking a tightrope between convincing the Senate Banking Committee that he is going to be an independent Fed Chair and staying loyal to President Trump.
Meanwhile, there was as much interest in Warsh’s personal balance sheet as in the Fed’s balance sheet. Warsh said he had made an agreement with relevant authorities to divest his assets before sworn in (or within 90 days of his confirmation), but that answer did not seem satisfactory to several (Democratic) senators. Ironically, Senator Tillis (Rep) – who wants to hold up the confirmation until the case against Powell is dropped – had to come to the rescue by stressing that Warsh was not out of compliance.
Warsh wants the Fed to stay in its lane
Warsh did not read the full text of his prepared remarks that were published a day before the hearing, as Chairman Scott tried to keep the meeting on schedule. In his speech, he stressed that monetary policy independence is essential, but he does not believe that the operational independence of monetary policy is particularly threatened when elected officials – presidents, senators, or member of the House – state their views on interest rates. He said that Fed independence is largely up to the Fed. He highlighted three important implications.
First, Congress has tasked the Fed with price stability and that means that low inflation is the Fed’s plot armor (against criticism). Second, Fed independence is at its peak in the operational conduct of monetary policy, but that does not mean that the central bank has the same degree of independence in other areas, such as regulation and supervision. Third, the Fed must stay in its lane and avoid straying into fiscal and social policies. In response to the opening question by Chairman Tim Scott (Rep), Warsh said that he wanted a new inflation framework, that he preferred the interest rate tool over the balance sheet tool, and that he wanted a new communications approach. For a more detailed discussion of the nominee’s ideas, we refer to The Warsh Regime
Rates and independence
Obviously, there were several questions about Fed independence and whether Warsh had promised President Trump to cut rates in order to get the nomination. When Senator Reed (Dem) asked him about Fed independence, Warsh said that presidents (in general, not just Trump) want lower rates, but that independence is up to the Fed. In an answer to Senator Kennedy (Rep), Warsh said that the president never asked him to pre-commit on any interest rate decision. It got really heated when Senator Gallego asked Warsh whether it was his sworn testimony that the President had not asked him to commit to cutting rates. When Warsh confirmed, Gallego (Dem) concluded that either Warsh or Trump was lying, referring to an article in the Wall Street Journal on December 12. In response, Warsh said that these reporters needed better sources and that he took independence very seriously: “the President never asked me and I would never do so.”

“You’re gonna find out, as they say in the South, right quick about why they need him out..”

• Bongino’s Ominous Warning About the Kash Patel Smear (Margolis)

Something is coming. That’s the message Dan Bongino delivered to his audience this week, and if you’ve been paying attention, the pieces are already falling into place. As PJ Media previously reported, The Atlantic dropped a lengthy smear job against FBI Director Kash Patel last week, painting him as an erratic, hard-drinking paranoid who allegedly “panicked” and “freaked out” after a routine computer login glitch — convinced, supposedly, that he’d been fired. According to the story, the access issue turned out to be a technical error that was quickly resolved.

Patel’s attorney sent a letter to the magazine before publication, warning that the allegations it planned to run were false and that printing them would trigger a defamation lawsuit. The Atlantic ran the piece anyway. Now Patel is suing for $250 million, calling it a “sweeping, malicious, and defamatory hit piece” designed to “destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office.” And right on cue, the left-wing machinery started moving the moment the Atlantic piece went live.
Democrats started calling for investigations, and left-wing groups went all in, too. Democracy Forward — a progressive lawfare outfit that spends its days litigating against DEI rollbacks, immigration enforcement, and abortion restrictions — fired off a 16-page FOIA request to the Justice Department. They want Patel’s calendars, schedules, text messages, communications with staff, and — get this — any records related to a request for “breaching equipment” allegedly made by his security detail. The Atlantic hit piece planted that allegation. Democracy Forward immediately took the bait.
But Bongino isn’t just calling it a mere hit piece. He’s saying there’s something much bigger going on here, and the reason why will become clear very soon.”The hit on Kash Patel, the bullshit hit by The Atlantic, which I addressed yesterday, is gonna make a lot more sense in the coming weeks and months,” Bongino explained. “I can’t give you a definitive timeline. I’m on the outside now. However, I can tell you what I know is going on because I started a lot of it.” He didn’t stop there.
“Look me in the eye, and I’m telling you, I promise this thing is gonna make a whole lot of sense. You’re gonna find out, as they say in the South, right quick about why they need him out, like, now. It’s got nothing to do with that story being even remotely true. Remember this. Bookmark it.” Make no mistake about it, he’s not speculating. He’s someone who knows something, and we should believe him. This is what the left does: they manufacture a narrative, find a publication to run with it, and then use it as the pretext for discovery-style records requests aimed at forcing Patel out.
Now, ask yourself why Democrats want to force him out so badly. The Atlantic published a lie. Democrats pounced on it immediately. The entire response feels bizarrely coordinated. Now, Bongino is telling you point-blank that the left is doing this for a reason. It’s panic. And we’ll all understand why soon.

“Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.” Except that, you know, up until that moment, Oceania had been allied with Eastasia in a war against Eurasia. Things change.”

• A Crazy Lefty Lady Learns What Kamala and Hillary Said About Iran (Green)

“The past was alterable. The past never had been altered,” George Orwell wrote in 1984. “Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.” Except that, you know, up until that moment, Oceania had been allied with Eastasia in a war against Eurasia. Things change. So does the propaganda — so smoothly that you wonder if Orwell got his ideas for Big Brother from time-traveling modern-day Democrats. Case in point: The crazy lady in the video below.

If the U.S. hasn’t exactly always been at war with the Islamic Republic, the Islamic Republic has always been at war with the U.S. The regime was born in an act of war against us — storming sovereign U.S. territory and taking 52 hostages for 444 days. In the 47 years since, the regime has directly committed or financed countless acts of terrorism against the U.S. and our interests. During the Iraq War, it was largely Tehran that waged the IED campaign that killed and wounded so many of our troops. The Islamic Republic is responsible for the deaths of more than 1,200 Americans. And by its own boast to Trump administration negotiators, it was on the verge of having nearly a dozen nuclear bombs.
So after nearly five decades, 1,200 deaths, and a lot of tough talk from every American president since Ronald Reagan, President Donald Trump took action — action that would have been applauded by previous incarnations of Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, and American lefties. In an epic (and justifiably expletive-filled) X rant, L.H. Grey noted that Reagan called out the Islamic Republic as “the epicenter of terrorism,” and that “Bush, Clinton, Bush II, Obama… all of them, without exception, treated the mullahs as a strategic cancer requiring sanctions, isolation, or the occasional kinetic reminder that [effing] with America has consequences.
“”Kamala Harris herself, as Vice President, stood in front of microphones and labeled Iran the United States’ greatest adversary.” The consensus against the Islamic Republic is both decades old and bipartisan — until the Bad Orange Man took the first meaningful action against it. Which brings us to the lefty activist in Monday’s delightful gotcha video.
https://twitter.com/LangmanVince/status/2046574522367696991?s=20
Watching the “nice lady” grasp at one straw after another… that’s exactly the schadenfreude I enjoy with my morning coffee. She isn’t the only one, of course. “Donald Trump is dragging the United States into a war the American people do not want,” is what Harris said at the start of Epic Fury, and then called it “a dangerous and unnecessary gamble.” This month, Harris escalated her criticism, claiming that Trump had been “pulled into” the war by Bibi Netanyahu and that Epic Fury was “a feeble attempt to distract from the Epstein files.”
The needs of the Party are subject to change, comrades. But Orwell’s deeper warning wasn’t that the Party could rewrite history at a moment’s notice — it was that the people would eagerly go along. “There was, of course, no admission that any change had taken place. Merely it became known, with extreme suddenness and everywhere at once, that Eastasia and not Eurasia was the enemy… Without words said, a wave of understanding rippled through the crowd. Oceania was at war with Eastasia!” And always had been.

USAID is long gone, and now the SPLC. No coincidence in sight. Both are (were) Democratic money dispensers.

• Southern Poverty Law Center Charged With Fraud Over Hate Ratings (JTN)

A federal grand jury in Alabama on Tuesday indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on 11 counts of wire and bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, as the Justice Department accused the group that rose to fame during the 1960s Civil Rights movement of paying members of 21st century extremist groups to stoke hatred. “The SPLC is a nonprofit entity that purports to fight white supremacy and racial hatred by reporting on extremist groups and conducting research to inform law enforcement groups with the goal of dismantling these groups,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told a news conference attended by CBS News. “The SPLC was not dismantling these groups. It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.”

Blanche said the group was charged with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He said that the SPLC had paid at least $3 million to eight members of these extremist groups. Among the groups whose members received funds were the Ku Klux Klan, United Klans of America, Aryan Nations, and the Nationalist Socialist Party of American Nazis. The SPLC is a nonprofit that tracks white supremacist and other hate groups across the U.S., and has been a frequent target of President Donald Trump’s allies. It is best known for its work investigating the Ku Klux Klan.
The group has acknowledged using such informants to infiltrate extremist groups and gather intelligence on their operations, which it shared with local and federal law enforcement, according to the Associated Press. The Justice Department had no immediate comment, the wire service also said.Bryan Fair, CEO of the SPLC, said that the organization doesn’t know all the details, but the Trump administration has launched an investigation, which may lead to charges. Fair said the SPLC worked with informants during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, when violence against activists was running high. He said the SPLC will “vigorously defend” themselves.

As in: “yet another” Vital Propaganda Machine..

• Democrats Lose A Vital Propaganda Machine With The Fall Of The SPLC (ZH)

When creating a short list of nefarious NGOs that manipulate government policy and socially engineer public opinion, the Southern Poverty Law Center is usually near the top. The group has been fading in influence due to excessive exposure, with new and less visible left wing NGOs taking it’s place. However, it remains a key pillar of the Democratic Party’s propaganda machine and a poisonous cloud looming over grassroots conservative organization. News from the Trump FBI and DOJ indicates that this reign of political terror may finally be coming to an end. The Southern Poverty Law Center has been indicted on federal fraud charges that accuse it of illegally raising millions of dollars to pay informants in white supremacist and other extremist groups.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the SPLC used paid operatives within extremist circles to incite and intensify racial tensions, arguing the group fostered the very threats it claimed to fight. But why was an NGO allowed to operate like a covert federal agency for so long? These operations were essentially endorsed by the Democratic Party (as well as some Neo-Cons). One could say that the SPLC had two missions: First, to drum up hysteria among weak minded liberals and make them believe that there are malicious “hate groups” under every rock and behind every tree. Second, to make conservatives paranoid about informants when seeking to build political opposition movements.
Sadly, to this day, the SPLC was rather successful in achieving both goals. The NGO’s efforts to create a false model of “hate networks” (especially during the Obama years) was a primary impetus for the eventual rise of the woke activist movement from around 2012 onward. In other words, the insane cult obsessed with race and identity that plagues America today found its roots within the SPLC and their alliance with the Democratic Party. SPLC “informants” were a constant nuisance among conservative activist and protest groups as well as preparedness groups. Nothing these conservatives did was actually illegal, but, the SPLC had a knack for making it sound as if they were engaging in criminality.
Far too many right wingers were frightened into refusing to engage in basic meetings and public discussions, simply on the possibility that SPLC informants might be present. No such infiltration was used to target left wing extremist groups like Antifa, which have carried out numerous criminal attacks, riots, sabotage and acts of intimidation against their political opponents. But, times change and the truth cannot be suppressed forever. Conservative and nationalist movements grew exponentially, even if they still suck at organizing formally. And today, the SPLC is a widely known and rightfully despised entity.
The SPLC was specifically integral to the Obama and Biden Administrations, including a direct information sharing relationship with the DHS and FBI. The majority of anti-conservative policy papers published by the federal government during this time were crafted using SPLC propaganda. The 2009 DHS Rightwing Extremism Report, a unclassified assessment warning of potential “surges” in right-wing extremism, drew input extensively from SPLC info. The report targeted militia groups as potential homegrown terrorists and was partially withdrawn because of political backlash.
A separate 2009 state-level fusion center report – the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) “Modern Militia Movement” report – linked supposedly dangerous militia members to “3rd party political groups” and “supporters of Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr.” The report flagged symbols like the Gadsden Flag, as well as anti-government, anti-new world order and anti-martial law discussion as potential indicators of homegrown terrorism. The SPLC was a key participant in the formation of the MIAC report.
SPLC President Richard Cohen served on Secretary Janet Napolitano’s CVE Working Group in 2010. Cohen and an SPLC colleague acted as subject-matter experts on right-wing extremism in the DHS Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Working Group. Their purpose was to shift federal law enforcement focus almost entirely from Islamic-based terrorism over to right wing extremism.

Under Biden, the SPLC was highly active in shaping public narratives surrounding the J6 trials. SPLC staff provided training to DOJ prosecutors and SPLC leaders/staff visited the White House at least 11 times. President Biden personally met with SPLC representatives at least 6 times.
With the fall of the SPLC, the Democrats lose a vital tool in their social engineering arsenal. If the accusations turn out to be true and SPLC leaders are convicted, their activities should be considered as treason against the American people. Any and all NGOs participating in social engineering operations against the US populace must eventually be indicted and erased if the country is ever going to rebuild the public trust, but bringing down the SPLC is a good start.

Typical example: “She made $175,000 a year. That was Jan. 28, 2025. Today Amy Uccello and her husband, who also lost his job when U.S.A.I.D. funding for his nonprofit dried up, rely on food stamps ..”

• There Is Simply Too Much Schadenfreude in This New York Times Profile (Thorne)

I am 100% for sure going to hell for enjoying this New York Times article as much as I am. There but for the grace of God go I, I remind myself. But then, I would never have put myself in that position, devoting my professional life to making six figures off the taxpayer to work on “nice-to-haves” rather than creating actual, useful products that must survive in the marketplace. Anyhoo, the article that is bringing me so much guilty pleasure is entitled “A Year After U.S.A.I.D.’s Death, Fired Workers Find Few Jobs and Much Loss.” The subtitle tells the tale: “People have plowed through savings, cashed out retirement funds and moved in with relatives. Former U.S.A.I.D. workers estimate that less than half have found full-time work.”

Why, it’s almost as if no one would hire them to ply their trade, so they must force taxpayers to subsidize it. There follow over 2,000 words of dignified profiles of the victims of DOGE, punctuated by beautifully photographed portraiture of the stolid world-savers as they cope with the loss of their raison d’être. Sadly, this masterpiece of turned tables is behind a paywall, but fear not: I can provide some tasty quotes here (although the entire piece is almost worth subscribing to the NY Times for). As you read, perhaps you, like me, will recall the bad old days of the Obama regime, when this very variety of elitist Ivy League do-gooders swarmed the capital and NOVA to turn traditional energy workers out of their jobs.
“Learn to code,” they sneered at the coal miners and rig workers and their families whose lives they upended. To them, I say, Sucks when it’s you, don’t it? Let’s dive into the first profile: She was fired by email while on maternity leave, given 24 hours to clear out her desk and left with three days of health insurance and no severance pay. She had worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development or related groups for more than two decades. She made $175,000 a year. That was Jan. 28, 2025. Today Amy Uccello and her husband, who also lost his job when U.S.A.I.D. funding for his nonprofit dried up, rely on food stamps, Medicaid and a supplemental nutrition program for women and children that helps with their now 19-month-old daughter.
The mortgage on their home in Washington was until recently in forbearance, meaning they negotiated to pay less than they owed each month. But the bank has now cut them off and suggested they apply for a low-income mortgage program. “We don’t know if we’ll qualify,” Ms. Uccello said. She and her husband have applied for more than 100 jobs with no luck. Most of their friends don’t have jobs either. And, look, I feel awful when that happens to anyone. But this couple was raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars, much of it paid by Americans poorer than they, to go meddle in the lives of people in other parts of the world. And we all know how leftist USAID and related NGOs — “soft power” — worked in developing nations:
They only granted aid to countries that agreed to import the entire suite of first-world progressive virtues, such as abortion-on-demand, same-sex “marriage,” and forgoing effective, reliable fossil fuel in favor of “green” energy contraptions that came nowhere close to facilitating a modern lifestyle. These are the same people who denied effective mosquito control methods to poor nations, leaving tens of millions of black and brown babies to die of malaria, while raising their own precious child in the pinnacle of Western healthcare.
“When the Trump administration dismantled the sprawling global aid agency last year, it wiped out virtually an entire industry — international development — that had been based in Washington since U.S.A.I.D.’s creation in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy,” the Times reminds us. “Nearly all of the agency’s 16,000 employees were laid off. An estimated 280,000 contractors, partners and local hires worldwide lost their jobs as well.”
And, “Former U.S.A.I.D. workers who have done informal surveys estimate that less than half have found full-time work, with many making less than before. An estimated third are unemployed. Others are in part-time work.” That’s rough. I left my corporate life behind because I couldn’t betray my conscience and my faith, and pretend the man with whom I had worked for two years was suddenly a woman on Monday. I couldn’t stomach the corporate cop-bashing; I live in a law enforcement family. I didn’t want to spend my entire life under soul-crushing pressure to stifle myself. Did I take a pay cut and part-time work? You bet I did. So whatever, wokesters.
“The District of Columbia currently has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, at 6.7 percent, in large part because of major reductions in the federal work force, including U.S.A.I.D., and cuts to government grants and contracts,” the Times mourns. To this, I say, Thank you, President Trump! Countries whose governments grow too big and employ too large a percentage of the population tend to fail. The few former U.S.A.I.D. workers who have landed similar or better jobs don’t like to talk about it in front of unemployed friends.
“I feel guilty, honestly, that of all my colleagues who I know are still unemployed, I’m the one who found something,” said Sara Miner, 42, who was a senior adviser in the agency’s H.I.V.-AIDS office and previously ran health programs in Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Now she helps manage health and human service programs for Fairfax County, Va.
Jobs are also gone at the many nonprofits and partner agencies once funded by U.S.A.I.D. “Everyone I know is also up the creek, all my bosses, my mentors, the people you would normally go to, the people providing me references,” said Catherine Baker, 36, who, as a contractor, made $127,000 a year recruiting staff and helping to start up U.S.A.I.D. projects. Ms. Baker now volunteers as a manager for OneAid, which helps former U.S.A.I.D. workers, and works nine hours a week as a companion for two elderly women.
And yet, there are still enough of them in the NOVA area to vote the otherwise conservative state of Virginia into gerrymandered left-wing tyranny. (And for the record, I have plenty of friends who work as aides to the elderly. It is honorable and worthwhile work, and it can provide a decent living, too — maybe not what these taxpayer-funded fancy folk are used to, but not impoverishment, either.)

“.. Eastman is being punished for a different reason: He helped to develop Trump’s legal argument for blocking the election certification.”

If Eastman were a Democrat lawyer, he’d still have a job.

• The California Bar Bags a Trump Lawyer and Leaves Troubling Questions (Turley)

Last week, the California Supreme Court upheld the disbarment of John Eastman. It is a decision that will prevent Eastman from practicing law – the most serious punishment the California State Bar can deliver. Eastman is the former dean of the law school at Chapman University in California. He represented President Donald Trump in some of his election challenges in 2020. In 2020, I publicly disagreed with Eastman’s legal theory that Congress could block the certification of President Joe Biden. However, Eastman’s disbarment should be a concern for everyone who values the rule of law and free speech. After the election, various legal advisers told Trump that there wasn’t enough evidence of fraud to overturn the election –– as some of us in the media also said.

But Eastman and other lawyers believed there were still arguable grounds to challenge the certification. In the past, Democrats in Congress had moved to block the certification of Republican presidents, and Eastman believed that their playbook was legal, or at least defensible.nElection disputes are often difficult to resolve in court because time is quite limited. As the date for the 2020 certification approached, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and others made sensational claims about voting machines and other conspiracies that they later admitted were not supported by evidence.bThe courts uniformly rejected these challenges.
Eastman is being punished for a different reason: He helped to develop Trump’s legal argument for blocking the election certification. He admitted that there were few cases to cite as precedent, and acknowledged that he and the Trump legal team were advancing novel theories. But that is not unusual in controversial cases. Public interest attorneys often advance novel legal arguments, challenging existing precedent and the status quo. Even longstanding precedents, like Roe v. Wade, have been overturned after years of litigation.California State Bar officials failed to address the implications that disbarring Eastman would have on other cases in which new legal theories are tested.
The animus of the California State Bar was also evident in the original charges against Eastman. He was ultimately found guilty on 10 of 11 charges of egregious and deceitful conduct. The lower court’s decision placed great emphasis on Eastman’s public remarks on Jan. 6, 2021, at Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally. The court dismissed his claims that his speech was protected by the First Amendment. Democratic Party election lawyers have been punished by courts and accused of meritless or unsupported claims. However, bar associations in “blue” states have not moved to disbar them, and I would not support such an effort. Take Democrat attorney Marc Elias. He was a critical player in the infamous Steele dossier on “Russia collusion,” and helped push the false Alfa Bank conspiracy.
The animus of the California State Bar was also evident in the original charges against Eastman. He was ultimately found guilty on 10 of 11 charges of egregious and deceitful conduct. In Maryland, Elias’s team filed in support of an abusive gerrymandering of the election districts that a court found not only violated Maryland law, but also the state constitution’s equal protection, free speech and free elections clauses. The court found that the map “subverts the will of those governed.” In 2024, the chief judge of the Western District of Wisconsin not only rejected but ridiculed the Elias Law Group for one of its challenges. Judge James Peterson (an Obama appointee) said that the argument “simply does not make any sense.”
Elias has been sanctioned in court. However, neither he nor associates were, of course, disbarred over prior challenges. The California Bar and the California Supreme Court insist that they are merely imposing minimal standards of conduct in disbarring Eastman. However, the record in this matter shows more distemper than deliberation on critical points. The California State Bar has created new problems, rather than clarifying standards. Even as someone who disagreed with John Eastman, I am not sure what the standard is for zealous advocacy by attorneys. While Eastman was giving bad advice, he was not committing a crime or, in my view, committing an offense that deserved disbarment.= There cannot be a different standard for different candidates, or different clients.

The Sun rounds up to 100% of energy in our solar system, even if Jupiter and all non-solar mass is burned https://t.co/TTTriaK703
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2026

SPLC funded a large number of false flag “right wing” organizations and events. Total scam. https://t.co/1IzH99Dlt2
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2026

Outrageous! SPLC executives who did this need to go to prison for a long time. https://t.co/dzVpS3M3ql
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2026

Wow, it's quite an achievement for Canada to have had even lower growth than Germany during the last decade.

Germany has done almost everything humanly possible to ruin its economy. How has Canada been able to beat that? pic.twitter.com/G8dm4D44xQ
— Michael A. Arouet (@MichaelAArouet) April 21, 2026

https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/2046588679611621449?s=20

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

Debt Rattle April 21 2026

Apr 212026

April 21, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:58 am Finance Tagged with: Atlantic, Horrmuz, jet fuel, Joe diGenova, Kash Patel, Maria Bartiromo, national sovereignty, PavelDurov, revanchism, Todd Blanche 43 Responses »

George Bellows The Lone Tenement 1909

• Iran Pushes Too Far in Hormuz, and the U.S. Pushes Back (David Manney)

• US Navy Fires At and Boards Iranian-flagged Cargo Ship (RT)

• Xi Urges Immediate Opening Of Hormuz Strait For First Time (ZH)

• From Leverage To Liability: Hormuz Is Now Iran’s Biggest Weakness (Lacalle)

• Things Get Interesting-er (James Howard Kunstler)

• Kash Patel: Arrests Due In 2016 Russia Probe: Never Going To Let This Go (JTN)

• Kash Patel Makes Promise: Arrests Are Coming Over 2020 Election (Margolis)

• Maria Bartiromo Questions FBI Director Kash Patel About Ongoing Issues (CTH)

• The Atlantic’s Kash Patel Hit Piece Is Backfiring – Badly (Brad Slager)

• DOJ Moves In Florida Signals Major Escalation In Russiagate Criminal Probe (ZH)

• AAG Todd Blanche Moves diGenova and DeLorenz to South Florida Group (CTH)

• 5 Stories Democrats Told During Trump’s 2019 Impeachment Have Crumbled (JTN)

• ‘Pandemic of Fascism’ Looming Over West – Moscow (RT)

• ‘Proud To Stand Alongside Elon Musk’ – Telegram’s Durov (RT)

• The EU Moves to Destroy the Last Vestiges of National Sovereignty (Turley)

• Europe Faces Summer Jet Fuel Crisis As Iran War Slashes Supply (Paraskova)

It takes forever because it’s so complex. and it’s the FBI probing the FBI. But they’re not sitting still. Not Trump either. https://twitter.com/TheStormRedux/status/2045880028181721583?s=20 https://twitter.com/MAGAVoice/status/2045810958048846076?s=20 https://twitter.com/Real_RobN/status/2045962900716884011?s=20 https://twitter.com/mcucolo57/status/2045962325866234117?s=20 https://twitter.com/TRUMP_ARMY_/status/2046175677360328853?s=20

✍️ There’s Been Three Great Scandals In The 21st Century pic.twitter.com/36JVxtpMzS
— MaggieWise ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@maggiewise111) April 19, 2026

https://twitter.com/robertdunlap947/status/2046186828462477568?s=20

“It’s a pattern that Iran has long perfected: probe, push, and see how far the other side tolerates their actions. That approach worked until it didn’t after Epic Fury ..”

• Iran Pushes Too Far in Hormuz, and the U.S. Pushes Back (David Manney)

President Donald Trump authorized a direct response after an Iranian-flagged vessel moved into a restricted pattern of activity in the Strait of Hormuz.U.S. Navy forces intercepted and disabled the vessel after it failed to comply with repeated warnings. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth supported the operation, and the U.S. Central Command coordinated the response, stopping the vessel before it could continue its course through one of the world’s most contentious shipping lanes.It was the first interception since the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports began last week. Iran’s joint military command called the armed boarding an act of piracy and a ceasefire violation, the state broadcaster said.

With the U.S.-Iran standoff over the strait sharpening and the ceasefire expiring by Wednesday, it was not clear where President Donald Trump ’s earlier announcement on new talks with Iran now stood. He had said U.S. negotiators would head to Pakistan on Monday. The ship drew attention after it moved in a way that raised immediate concern among U.S. naval observers. The USS Spruance, an Arleigh-Burke-class destroyer, closed distance, issued warnings, and took action when the ship didn’t comply. Iran didn’t waste time pushing back. Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani accused the United States of violating international law and warned of a response.
U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz pointed to Iran’s own behavior in the Straits of Hormuz, making clear that no single country controls that passage. Any attempt to treat it like private territory runs against established maritime law. That waterway accounts for the passage of roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil; it moves through that very narrow stretch between Iran and Oman. Until Operation Epic Fury, tankers passed through it daily, and as we’re finding out, disruptions send shockwaves through energy markets and shipping routes. The Strait of Hormuz isn’t some abstract geopolitical talking point; it’s a choke point that affects fuel prices, supply chains, and economic stability worldwide.
Iran has played games in that corridor before, where patrol boats crowded tankers, drones shadowed ships, and crews were pushed just far enough to test limits without crossing into open conflict. It’s a pattern that Iran has long perfected: probe, push, and see how far the other side tolerates their actions. That approach worked until it didn’t after Epic Fury. The U.S. response came fast and without hesitation: warnings went out, the ship didn’t adjust, and the U.S. Navy acted. That sequence shows a clear line that the United States isn’t guessing or reacting late; it’s setting expectations and enforcing them when challenged.
You’d figure that by now opponents of President Trump would’ve learned the lesson that he doesn’t leave room for misinterpretation when it comes to his America First belief, especially now in a region containing such an important strategic waterway. The United States has made it abundantly clear: the Strait of Hormuz stays open, traffic moves, and anybody trying to interfere finds out quickly where the boundary sits. That boundary claim goes even further than Iran’s routine posturing. Tehran doesn’t see the Strait of Hormuz as a neutral passage, arguing that the era of outside powers securing major waterways is over.
“Never.” That’s when a senior Iranian lawmaker says they’ll be ready to give up their control of the Strait of Hormuz. “It’s our inalienable right,” Ebrahim Azizi, a former commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), tells the BBC in Tehran. “Iran will decide the right of passage, including permissions for vessels to pass through the Strait.” And he says that’s about to become enshrined in law. “We are introducing a bill in parliament, based on article 110 of the constitution, which includes the environment, maritime safety and national security – and the armed forces will implement the law,” says this member of parliament who heads the Committee for National Security and Foreign Policy.
He said Iran and its allies now hold that responsibility. He didn’t leave much room for interpretation. In his view, control of key routes like Hormuz belongs to regional forces, not international agreements. Iran is left with a decision to make: either keep testing that boundary and risk more confrontation or pull back and avoid escalating a tense situation that already drew a firm response. Either way, the tone has shifted.The message isn’t confusing: The United States will protect critical routes and won’t sit back while Iran tries controlling them by pressure or intimidation.

“US Central Command (CENTCOM) has released a video showing a US warship firing at an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel that was later seized by US Marines.”

• US Navy Fires At and Boards Iranian-flagged Cargo Ship (RT)

US Central Command (CENTCOM) has released a video showing a US warship firing at an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel that was later seized by US Marines. According to CENTCOM, the guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance intercepted the M/V Touska in the Gulf of Oman as it attempted to breach the US naval blockade and reach the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas through the Strait of Hormuz. “After Touska’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period, Spruance directed the vessel to evacuate its engine room. Spruance disabled Touska’s propulsion by firing several rounds from the destroyer’s 5-inch Mk 45 gun into the engine room,” CENTCOM said, adding that a team from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit later boarded the vessel.

The Touska was traveling from a Chinese chemical-storage port and was laden with cargo, the Washington Post reports, citing tracking data. The port is often used for transporting chemicals, including sodium perchlorate, a key precursor for producing solid rocket fuel, it added, noting that it is unclear what cargo the Touska was carrying. Later, CENTCOM also released a video of US forces boarding the disabled ship from a helicopter. Iranian officials denounced the blockade as illegal under international law, saying it violates the terms of a two-week ceasefire set to expire on Wednesday.
The Iranian military has vowed to retaliate for the seizure of the vessel. Iran’s Tasnim news agency later reported that the Iranian military launched a drone at US ships. The US has not confirmed whether any of its vessels came under attack.

80% of Iran oil goes to China. Trump has weaponized that.

• Xi Urges Immediate Opening Of Hormuz Strait For First Time (ZH)

China’s President Xi Jinping on Monday demanded the uninterrupted passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz in a phone call with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, state news agency Xinhua reports. He urged the normalization of shipping traffic after about 50 days of disruption which obviously and significantly impacts Chinese oil imports. “Normal navigation through the Strait of Hormuz should be maintained, this is in the shared interests of regional countries and the international community,” Xi said, in the statement also carried by AFP. He called for an immediate, comprehensive ceasefire and insisted disputes be resolved through political and diplomatic means. He added that China will deepen strategic mutual trust with Saudi Arabia and expand practical cooperation.

South China Morning Post observes that it was “the first time the Chinese leader had called for the reopening of the strategically vital waterway, which has been repeatedly blockaded since US-Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28.” China imported 5.86 million tons of crude oil from Saudi Arabia, down 10% from February, according to customs data released Monday. As for where things stand on the negotiations front, Iran hesitated over sending diplomats to Pakistan for a second round of peace talks after the US maintained a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and seized an Iranian vessel, after apparently firing on it, undermining prospects for a breakthrough to end the war. Initially it appeared to shut the door on second talks, however per Associated Press Monday morning:
Iranian authorities have expressed willingness to send a delegation for a second round of talks in Islamabad this week, two Pakistani officials said Monday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, said there is cautious optimism that delegations from both Iran and the United States could travel to Islamabad. The US side would reportedly once again be headed up by Vice President JD Vance – who during the first round cut out early after a serious impasse was reached on the nuclear issue.
The tumultuous weekend events followed Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi having posted on X on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz was “completely open”. By Sunday morning, Bloomberg ship tracking data had showed tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was largely ground to a halt. Also, the prior 24 hours had seen multiple incidents of tankers making U-turns, and added to all this a senior Iranian official renewed threats to close the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
According to a quick review of some other developments Monday morning and per emerging market data, China will import a record volume of US ethane this month as petrochemical producers switch feedstocks after the Middle East war disrupted critical supplies. Recall that by mid-March Trump was actually asking for China’s help to get the blocked Strait of Hormuz reopened…
And in the broader region, Singapore is securing additional liquefied natural gas from outside the Middle East as the conflict in Iran constrains regional supply, according to a government body. India authorized more Russian insurers to cover vessels calling at its ports and extended permits for others as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupts energy shipments from the Persian Gulf. The International Energy Agency has meanwhile said that global power consumption rose 3% last year, driven in part by rapid demand growth from electric vehicles and data centers, according to the International Energy Agency.

“The world is very different from what the Iran regime thought. In 2025, U.S. crude oil production hit a new annual record of 13.6 million barrels per day, making the United States the world’s largest producer but also the biggest exporter..“

• From Leverage To Liability: Hormuz Is Now Iran’s Biggest Weakness (Lacalle)

For half a century, the Strait of Hormuz was Iran’s weapon. Today, it is its noose. The mathematics of energy have flipped, and with them the balance of coercive power in the Persian Gulf. Iran’s implicit deterrent was geographic, spanning from the tanker wars of the 1980s to the sanctions standoffs of the 2010s. Almost 20% of global seaborne oil, and a similar share of liquefied natural gas, passes through the Strait. The formula was simple: any military confrontation that threatened the Tehran regime risked a closure that would halt trade supplies, spike crude prices, bleed Western consumers, and, above all, inflict pain on the United States, who was the world’s largest oil importer.

The strait served as Tehran’s insurance policy and its most powerful bargaining tool. The threat was predicated on the regime’s belief that it could block everyone except its exports. The Iranian regime revealed its biggest weakness by constantly threatening to damage the global economy through a shutdown of the Strait. In reality, a total shutdown has the most severe impact on Iran. Almost 90 per cent of Iran’s crude exports, and about 80 per cent of its total exports, depend on the transit through Hormuz. Around 25 per cent of Iranian GDP and 60 per cent of government revenues depend completely on having the Strait open.
Before the war, Iran was exporting roughly 1.7 million barrels per day, receiving around $160 million in daily revenue from exports via the Strait. Thus, Trump’s full closure of the Strait costs Tehran hundreds of millions of dollars a day in losses, not accounting for the additional fiscal and currency consequences in a country already facing an economic disaster with 40–50% inflation. The complete dependence on the Strait of Hormuz also adds to another weakness: 95% of Iranian crude at sea is sold to a single buyer, China. Tehran is not selling into a diversified and open market. Its exports are sold to a monopsony that demands large discounts, between 10 and 11 dollars per barrel.
These weaknesses were visible long before the war. Capital flight reached $15 billion in the first half of 2025 alone; the rial collapsed against the dollar, and the government’s budget, which allocates 51 per cent of oil revenues to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, became even more dependent on a single export route it could not afford to close. When the war began, Iranian crude shipments collapsed by 94%. Then, the United States’ decision to block all Iran export vessels showed that Iran’s chokepoint had become self-choking. In the past 30 days, 80% of the essential volumes that moved through the Strait have been rerouted or offset by other oil producers, including US record exports.
The world is very different from what the Iran regime thought. In 2025, U.S. crude oil production hit a new annual record of 13.6 million barrels per day, making the United States the world’s largest producer but also the biggest exporter. The United States shipped 5.2 million barrels per day of crude and 7.2 million barrels per day of petroleum products in March 2026, both global records. For the first time, America exported more petroleum than it imported, by a net margin of almost 2.8 million barrels per day, according to the EIA. Total US liquids production now exceeds that of Saudi Arabia and Russia combined.
On the natural gas side, U.S. LNG exports reached well over 15 billion cubic feet per day, surpassing Qatar and Australia to make the United States the world’s largest liquefied natural gas exporter, while U.S. dry gas production exceeds the combined output of Russia, Iran, and China. Furthermore, the United States is also the world’s largest producer of nuclear electricity, at roughly 30 per cent of global generation, and a global leader in renewable energy.
When President Trump could say in April 2026 that the United States was “clearing the Strait as a favour to countries around the world, including China, Japan, Korea, and Germany,” the framing was an accurate description of who needs Hormuz open and who does not. Only 4% of the traffic through the Strait goes to the United States, according to SP Global. According to the International Energy Agency, throughput at Hormuz collapsed from its long-run average of about 20 million barrels per day to 3.8 million since the beginning of the war through the second week of April. Daily ship transits fell roughly 95 per cent. The Tehran regime, in a gesture more theatrical than realistic, attempted to levy a $2 million toll on each vessel crossing the strait, without understanding that the move showed desperation instead of leverage.
The US response has been the most important measure deployed against Iran in two decades of standoffs. Operation Economic Fury established a full naval blockade of Iranian ports. Iranian naval losses in the first 38 days of combat exceeded 150 vessels. The ceasefire framework under negotiation requires Iran to reopen Hormuz, but the US maintains control. Thus, negotiations revolve around Iranian dismantlement, not American concessions.
The lesson is not just that Iran miscalculated but that it massively underestimated its obvious weaknesses. The United States is not a hostage of the Gulf; it is the guarantee of its safe sea lanes. Europe is tied to U.S. LNG while keeping a substantial Russian dependence, which complicates its energy security and makes it vulnerable to fluctuations in supply and price from both sources. Asia’s largest economies, particularly China, are suffering the marginal cost of a Hormuz disruption, which has led to increased energy prices and supply chain uncertainties that further exacerbate their economic challenges. Iran’s economic nightmare has only started.
Three important factors must be considered. First, the traditional Hormuz risk premium in Brent, which refers to the additional cost added to oil prices due to geopolitical tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, is structurally smaller than in the 2010s because U.S. supply can absorb shocks that previously had no substitute. The Brent price is lower in real and nominal terms than in the 2008, 2018, or 2022 peaks. Second, the strength of American energy, including economics, export infrastructure, and LNG capacity, has become a key global geopolitical variable, influencing global energy prices and the strategic decisions of other nations.
Third, Iran’s economy has not only suffered damage; it has also been demolished, and its extremely weak fiscal position indicates that it cannot sustain the threat posture in Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz remains the world’s most important chokepoint. However, a chokepoint hurts whoever depends on it most, and Iran relies on it completely. The United States does not. The geopolitical advantage that Tehran once held has now become its greatest weakness, likely leading to the disappearance of the regime’s effective bargaining power.

“It is one thing for the people (of Iran) to be ruled by globally feared autocrats armed to the teeth, but quite another to be governed by humiliated, now impotent incompetents and buffoons.” —VDH

• Things Get Interesting-er (James Howard Kunstler)

Wednesday the US / Iran ceasefire expires. It has been an interesting two weeks. The US used it to negotiate an end to hostilities, resupply our ships in the Arabian Sea, do maintenance on our ships and warplanes, dismantle Iran’s banking conduits, and blockade Hormuz to shut down the regime’s remaining income flow. The Iranians used it to jump up and down and go woo-woo-woo. They also tried to dig out the entrances of their bombed caves and tunnels to unearth whatever’s left of their hidden missile launchers. Our satellites watched everything they did and mapped the coordinates.

Negotiations? So far, not fruitful, if termination of hostilities and surrender of Iran’s uranium is the goal. We’re not even sure the Iranians we’re negotiating with have any real authority to make a deal. Iran’s government at this point is a hash of conflicting factions: the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), which is a large Jihadi mafia that happens to own half of Iran’s economy and controls its advanced missile and drone weaponry; the regular Army (Artesh) which would theoretically defend against a ground invasion, but otherwise just stands by; and the civilian government represented by President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibef — none of whom seem to hold any real decision-making power.
America’s negotiators, led by Veep Vance along with Messrs. Witkoff and Kushner, will land back in Islamabad, Pakistan, today (Monday, April 20). Our deal is still on the table. It’s pretty straightforward: the aforementioned uranium plus a twenty-year halt of nuclear activities with no path toward a weapon; full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz; an end to Iranian support for Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis; phased-out sanctions and access to frozen assets; and cessation of hostilities.
Events over the weekend argue that Iran is not finished playing stupid games and winning stupid prizes. They tried to run the Hormuz blockade on Sunday with an incoming cargo ship, the Iranian-flagged M/V Touska. The USS destroyer Spruance, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, blew a hole clean through its engine room and then seized the vessel. Its cargo remains undisclosed for now.
Iran claims that it has closed the Strait of Hormuz. The US said it was already closed via the US blockade (we closed it harder). Iran can’t surreptitiously move any oil out to sell to China or run supplies into the country. Iran will lose about $500-million a day and China will lose the majority of its oil imports. China will jump up and down and go woo-woo-woo over that, while the IRGC will lose its last remaining income stream, meaning no pay for anyone. Let’s see if that prompts an attitude change.
If Iran can’t move its oil, it will soon reach the limit of its oil storage capacity, meaning it will have to shut down its oil wells. If that happens, the hydrology is such that water invasion of the underground strata will permanently damage the oil fields. Iran is between a rock and a squishy place.
That might be enough to force a deal in the hours ahead. President Trump has made it clear that the time for Iran jerking-around the US is over. So then, it’s back to Power Station and Bridge Day (blowing them up). That would be extremely unfortunate for the ordinary Iranian people. They are unarmed and helpless to resist the maniacs of the IRGC who would allow Power Station and Bridge Day to happen, who, in effect, don’t really care about the ordinary people of Iran.
However, the regular Iranian army, the Artesh, does have weapons (they are the army and armies are generally armed). Perhaps they will use them to put the insane jihadi IRGC out of business. After all, the Artesh’s mission is defense on-the-ground of the Iranian homeland, and just now the biggest threat to Iran is the IRGC. I guess we’ll have to wait on that and watch..

All the (well, 6) articles that follow can be put under the same topic: TDS.

While Trump is hardly mentioned in them.

“Maria Bartiromo asked Patel if the FBI has evidence of election fraud in 2020.”

FBI director says arrests are coming related to 2016 Russia probe: ‘Never going to let this go’

• Kash Patel: Arrests Due In 2016 Russia Probe: Never Going To Let This Go (JTN)

FBI Director Kash Patel said on Sunday that “arrests” are coming related to the Russia investigation of potential collusion between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. “I am never going to let this go,” Patel said on “Mornings with Maria” on Fox News. “We’ve got all the evidence. I can announce on your show that we’ve got all the information we need. We’re working with our prosecutors at the Department of Justice under AG Todd Blanche, and we are going to be making arrests – and it’s coming and I promise, you, it’s coming soon,” he added.

Host Maria Bartiromo asked Patel if the FBI has evidence of election fraud in 2020. “So what we are doing is folding that into our entire conspiracy case,” Patel said. “But we have the information that backs President Trump’s claim (of the stolen election)…but I would say stay tuned this week. You might see a thing or two.” Patel also said he is going to sue The Atlantic on Monday.

He was addressing 2016, 2019 and 2020.

• Kash Patel Makes Promise: Arrests Are Coming Over 2020 Election (Margolis)

FBI Director Kash Patel dropped a bombshell Sunday morning that the legacy media will do everything to attack. Appearing on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Patel announced that arrests are coming over the coordinated effort to rig the 2020 election. “We are going to be making arrests, and it’s coming, and I promise you, it’s coming soon,” Patel said. That’s not a vague promise from a bureaucrat hedging his bets. That’s the sitting FBI director going on record, on camera, with a direct commitment to the American people that we’re finally going to see some accountability over the shenanigans that took place during the 2020 elections.

Bartiromo, for her part, wasn’t interested in vague assurances. In fact, she set the stage by noting what any honest observer already knows — President Donald Trump has been saying the 2020 election was rigged since, well, 2020. She pressed Patel directly on what he had actually done about it over the past 14 months. His answer was unambiguous. Patel reminded viewers that he wasn’t new to this fight. Long before he ran the FBI, he was in the trenches on the House Intelligence Committee alongside Trey Gowdy, John Ratcliffe, and Devin Nunes, exposing the FISA abuses that targeted Trump’s first presidential campaign. The media came after him then, too — something he clearly wears as a badge of honor.
“That just shows you that when you’re over the target, you keep pummeling the target because the media’s gonna try and pummel you,” Patel said. He wasn’t done. Patel revealed that when he took over the FBI, what he found inside the building went beyond anything that had been publicly reported. Hidden rooms. Restricted and prohibited case files are buried deep in computer systems, deliberately placed where investigators wouldn’t find them. This is the kind of institutional concealment that doesn’t happen by accident. “I had to come in here and find rooms that they hid from the world,” he said. “I had to come in here and find access on our computer systems in restricted and prohibited case files that they purposely put in places for no one to see and find.”
Think about that for a moment. The FBI — the nation’s top law enforcement agency — had evidence stashed away in places designed to keep it from ever seeing daylight. But, sure, the 2020 election was entirely above board. Seriously, if that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about what the previous regime was up to, nothing will. Patel also confirmed that the FBI has already indicted former Director James Comey, and that the case is now working its way through the judicial process. But Sunday’s announcement made clear that Comey isn’t the end of the story — he may just be the beginning.
“I can announce on your show that we’ve got all the information we need,” Patel said. “We’re working with our prosecutors at Department of Justice and their Attorney General Todd Blanche.” He also offered some perspective on why this investigation has taken as long as it has. The corruption being dismantled wasn’t built overnight. “They built this disease temple over 20 and 30 years,” Patel said. Decades of entrenched rot don’t get cleaned up in a single news cycle. For years, conservatives have been told to wait—that accountability was just around the corner, that justice was coming. The promised reckoning never seemed to arrive. Patel is now staking his credibility on the claim that this time is different. He says arrests are coming. Faster, please. Faster.

What can I say? Watch. A decade of Trump abuse gets answers.

• Maria Bartiromo Questions FBI Director Kash Patel About Ongoing Issues (CTH)

FBI Director Kash Patel appears on Fox News Sunday to discuss ongoing FBI issues with Maria Bartiromo. Beginning with the issue of missing scientists, Kash Patel notes the FBI is “working with partners in various jurisdictions” to review each case and identify if something more nefarious is afoot. The questioning then shifts to an explosive accusation by The Atlantic about his drinking, partying and indulgences within his position. Patel notes he is going to sue the Atlantic for defamation. Maria Bartiromo also asks if Kash Patel has seen any evidence of the 2020 election fraud as outlined by President Trump for several years. Patel notes he cannot talk about ongoing investigations but hints that more information is likely to come out within the next few weeks.
.

From my personal perspective, Kash Patel does like the indulgences that come with the office. However, I think the accusations against him are likely spurred by disgruntled FBI agents and DOJ officials with an axe to grind. That said, it still doesn’t appear that Director Patel has his arms around the agency he leads, and it is not uncommon to find people within the Trump administration who are frustrated with ongoing dubious activity carried out by remnant FBI officials who are not being brought to heel.

And as Kash Patel is moving into action, his targets are calling their press partners.

• The Atlantic’s Kash Patel Hit Piece Is Backfiring – Badly (Brad Slager)

Official word has already come out today: A lawsuit has been filed against the media outlet The Atlantic and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick. FBI Director Kash Patel has now filed the suit, delivering on his promise made over this weekend that he would do so in response to a hitpiece article published by the outlet on Friday, April 17.

In the article, Fitzpatrick alleged that Patel is frequently intoxicated on the job, has a horrific job performance, and that this has led to a morale problem throughout the Bureau. There has been word that this story was somewhat circulating around D.C., but that no outlet was willing to risk running such speculation. The Atlantic, however, was more than willing to do so, and as I will show in moments, this is in line with the character of that outlet.
The talk over the weekend that this had been a passed-around story that few outlets would touch is hinted at by Fitzpatrick’s teaming up with Jonathan Lemire from MS NOW for the piece. They claim they based this reporting on speaking with some White House officials, and as Sarah explained, it is “according to the more than two dozen people I interviewed about Patel’s conduct.” Who these people are and what their positions entail for them to deliver empirical wisdom on these matters is a complete mystery, for, as we have become more than accustomed to, this is all relying on anonymous sourcing. This is just the beginning of the flaws in this hit piece. How is it you speak to 25 or more people, and not one of them has the stones to admit to their status?
Let us take a look at these people Fitzpatrick and Lemire relied upon for their reporting. Those White House contacts? A complete mystery, as they are nameless. So too are all of the officials at the FBI slamming Patel’s character. But more than these ciphers are cited. We are also hearing from former FBI figures, staffers from different agencies (hardly high-placed sourcing), as well as political operatives (about the least valid of the lot), lobbyists (excuse me, but what?!), and hospitality-service work. So…bartenders and waitresses are part of your sourcing?!
Meanwhile, it was more than Kash Patel objecting to this report. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shot down these claims and touted Patel’s accomplishments. Ben Williamson from the FBI official public affairs office, the assistant to that office, Erika Knight, Patel’s legal counsel, and the man who worked alongside Patel during his confirmation, Clint Brown, each disputed the claims made. The difference? All of those people are named because they were on the record, yet those people are all discounted because we see how Fitzpatrick and Lemire were on an agenda. Williamson alluded to the common practice we see from the press these days, which I describe in my Townhall media column as The Deadline Gambit.
This is the tactic of a full report on an individual being worked on for weeks, with multiple sources and deep background established, and then the main focus of the piece is given a brief window to “respond” to the report. Try to conjure the amount of time spent by Fitzpatrick to craft this report, from over two dozen sources, then look at Williamson saying they had just two hours to respond to all of that before publication. They sent off the letter to The Atlantic, warning of impending litigation if they went forward, and this appeared to at least generate some changes. At The Daily Beast, they felt they had another “gotcha” moment, revealing a lack of cerebral processing heft when they breathlessly reported:
“Kash Patel’s legal team has revealed more allegations were leveled against him than were published in a bombshell report by The Atlantic—and said what they were. That means that the letter, which came from a personal attorney for Patel rather than from the FBI’s own counsel, effectively put what it describes as false and defamatory statements into public circulation.”Allow me to help you folks out here. You see, after the lawyer contacted them with this letter, it is clear that Fitzpatrick, and/or her editors, pulled some items from the piece out of fear of further litigation. This was not a case of mistakenly exposing something; they were being transparent in showing the flawed reporting taking place.

The amusement is@S_Fitzpatrick postures like she did not receive pushback on her Patel hit-piece from the WhiteHouse: she printed Karoline Leavitt’s remarks.
Sarah was also given 100% denials from Patel, and his lawyer, despite just given a couple of hours to comment.
1/2
— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) April 20, 2026

Sarah Fitzpatrick appeared with Jenn Psaki on Sunday, and she displayed a high level of false bravado when asked about her article and the lawsuit that was threatened at the time. It is unclear how she can say the White House did not refute things when, in her piece, she quotes Karoline Leavitt responding to her questions. And again, there were the complete blanket denials from Patel and his lawyer. But there is more amusement: As she holds up the reputation of The Atlantic, let’s remember what this outlet is all about. This is the same outlet whose managing editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, put out the slanderous stories of President Trump calling fallen soldiers “suckers and losers.”
Goldberg was also the one who claimed Trump insulted a fallen female Marine and reneged on paying for funeral expenses, as her family completely called the story a lie. Yep, just a sterling publication, that. Better still is how Fitzpatrick touts the mastery of their lawyers, as there is a small detail needed to be overlooked. It was just last September when that outlet settled a $1 million defamation case with a former writer. This was a rather clear case of guilt, as Ruth Shalit-Barrett asked for that very sum in her filing. So, for those rubbing their hands in glee over what may be exposed in discovery, this is not exactly a news outlet with a rock-solid reputation.

Joseph diGenova is 81 years old. He’s a longtime Trump legal advisor floating to the top.

• DOJ Moves In Florida Signals Major Escalation In Russiagate Criminal Probe (ZH)

The Department of Justice appears to be gaining fresh momentum in its criminal investigation into the 2016 Trump-Russia collusion narrative, with a significant overhaul of the team handling the case in southern Florida.

According to investigative journalist Julie Kelly’s reporting at Declassified.live, longtime Trump legal advisor Joe diGenova – a former U.S. Attorney and prominent commentator – will be sworn in Monday as counsel to the attorney general. He will assume leadership of the ongoing grand jury probe based in Fort Pierce, the district overseen by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. That same courthouse was the site of Cannon’s landmark July 2024 ruling dismissing Special Counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case against President Trump after she found Smith’s appointment unconstitutional. The grand jury has been active in Fort Pierce since January, Kelly reports.
DiGenova’s wife, Victoria Toensing, has also served as a key Trump legal counselor for years. In a notable earlier move, the Biden Justice Department seized Toensing’s cellphone in April 2021 during a separate inquiry tied to Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to examine the Biden family’s overseas dealings.
But wait, there’s more…
The addition of DiGenova isn’t the only retooling. Earlier this week, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche removed the career prosecutor previously in charge of the investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan, who played a key role in concocting the Trump-Russia collusion scheme in 2016. According to CNN, assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Medetis Long was ousted “after she resisted pressure to quickly bring charges against the former CIA director and prominent critic of President Donald Trump.” Meditis Long notified lawyers representing several individuals who have received subpoenas or interview requests related to the investigation that she was off the case, the New York Times reported on Friday. -Declassified Live
Blanche has also sent one of his senior aides, Christopher-James DeLorenz – who clerked for Judge Cannon during the documents litigation – to the Fort Pierce team.
These changes come shortly after President Trump dismissed former Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier this month, citing dissatisfaction with the pace of the Russiagate accountability effort. In a pointed press conference days later, Blanche—whom Trump immediately named acting attorney general—made clear the department’s direction. “The president has said time and time again that he wants justice,” Blanche told reporters. “If you look at what happened to him, his family, his administration, the agents who protected him, people who just happened to walk by him on a given day, they got subjected to…massive investigations by this department.”
Blanche speaks from direct experience: he defended Trump in both the Florida documents case and the Manhattan hush-money prosecution brought by District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Earlier this year the Justice Department did secure indictments against a small number of figures tied to the lawfare campaign, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Those cases were later dismissed, however, after a judge ruled that the appointment of the acting U.S. Attorney who filed them, Lindsey Halligan, was improper. That decision is now under appeal in the Fourth Circuit.
Still, many Trump supporters are demanding deeper accountability. While the initial charges brought some satisfaction, the expectation is for more significant action. A potential indictment of Brennan – who many view as a top target – now looks increasingly likely. He was recently subpoenaed in connection with his 2023 congressional testimony, in which he denied that the discredited Steele dossier influenced his 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment alleging Russian election interference on Trump’s behalf.
Brennan’s legal team has reacted with alarm. In a highly unusual letter sent last December to the chief judge of the 11th Circuit, his attorneys urged the court to block the probe from proceeding in Fort Pierce—viewed as a more conservative venue than Miami—and to bar Judge Cannon from any involvement. The letter claimed that Cannon’s prior rulings created the appearance of favoritism toward Trump and accused prosecutors of deliberately steering the case to her courtroom in line with what they called the president’s political retribution agenda.
If diGenova’s role expands beyond Brennan to encompass a wider “grand conspiracy” review – potentially covering everything from the roots of Russiagate through January 6, the Mar-a-Lago raid, and the conduct of the now-disqualified special counsel – additional high-profile targets could come into focus. Among them are individuals already the subject of criminal referrals sitting with the DOJ, including Thomas Windom (referred by House Judiciary Chairman James Jordan for alleged obstruction during congressional depositions) and January 6 committee witness Cassidy Hutchinson, accused of fabricating testimony about an incident in the presidential vehicle. This week, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard also referred two former officials—Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson and analyst Eric Ciaramella – for their roles in advancing the 2019 Ukraine-related impeachment allegations against Trump. Both men have documented connections to the original Russiagate players.
Even Jack Smith may not be fully in the clear. Recent reporting from CBS News indicates that Florida prosecutors are examining documents linked to Smith’s prior investigation of the president. Smith could additionally face scrutiny for allegedly continuing to hold himself out as special counsel in court filings long after Cannon disqualified him, raising questions of contempt and potential false statements to Congress.
As Julie Kelly observed in her Declassified.live piece, diGenova—still energetic and far from retirement age—may be exactly the experienced, no-nonsense figure needed to bring decisive momentum to the Florida investigation and deliver the accountability many have long awaited.

Sundance: “..diGenova sees the connective tissue -the actual characters- flowing from Spygate, through Russiagate, into the Mueller investigation, then into the impeachment effort and then into the Jack Smith operation. Seeing the big picture is the first step.”

• AAG Todd Blanche Moves diGenova and DeLorenz to South Florida Group (CTH)

A formal announcement is likely tomorrow; however, leading information now affirms Acting AG Todd Blanche is moving Joe DiGenova and Christopher-James DeLorenz into positions in South Florida to assist U.S. Attorney Jason Quiñones in ongoing investigation of the Donald Trump targeting. The venue puts any grand jury information in the court orbit of Judge Aileen Cannon. Before getting into the substance, the alignment here is critical to understand. Judge Cannon saw firsthand exactly what the Lawfare constructs consist of when she had the Jack Smith operation in her court during the Mar-a-Lago documents case. Judge Cannon knows the context of weaponized justice and saw the techniques through first-hand experience. This cannot be emphasized enough.

There are a lot of people who want to see some form of accountability finally delivered for the decade-long corrupt Lawfare operation that took place against Donald Trump before he took office (Spygate), during his administration (Russiagate, Mueller, Impeachment), after he left office took office (Jack Smith and Mar-a-Lago) and even through today (Judicial Intervention). Many of those voices have concerns about 81-year-old Joe diGenova, so let me address that first by pointing out how the issues that frame the criticism are also a valuable asset.
Joe diGenova has a very rare current perspective; he completely sees the timeline of Trump targeting for what it is. This is immensely valuable because not enough people understand the complex continuum enough to stand back and see the bigger picture. diGenova sees the bigger picture. diGenova can see the 2015/2016 FBI contractor political spying operation (Spygate) and how it connects to the later Fusion GPS/Clinton construct of Russiagate. More importantly, diGenova sees the connective tissue -the actual characters- flowing from Spygate, through Russiagate, into the Mueller investigation, then into the impeachment effort and then into the Jack Smith operation. Seeing the big picture is the first step.
Now, critics point out that diGenova is a creature of DC. Yes, that is true. However, that’s also an asset given that he understands just how difficult it is to navigate through all of these ridiculous DC interests. diGenova is also a character, boisterous perhaps intemperate and easy to Alinsky (isolate, ridicule, marginalize). So what? It doesn’t matter who is involved in this effort, they are going to be Alinsky’d by the Lawfare operatives on the other side.
Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing see the big picture and have a skillset to tell the story. They can assist brilliantly and direct the telling of the story by connecting the lead prosecutors to the background script of how everything unfolded over the past decade. If Quiñones is researching a “conspiracy” case, it is the primary job of the investigative researchers to connect each of the evidence dots to the larger conspiracy. Sounds perfect for diGenova.
diGenova can put the prior weaponization into a timeline and from that timeline extract the step-by-step evidence that proves it. This timeline of targeting and how it is all connected has been missing in every investigative review up to now. That’s the value of diGenova. This doesn’t mean diGenova is in the courtroom per se’, but rather he’s the one explaining the sequencing of witnesses for a grand jury and how the questioning of one might relate to the questioning of another. Christopher-James DeLorenz has the skillset of knowing Judge Aileen Cannon and the internal machinery of a modern Main Justice. Put them together and the lead prosecutor in Florida has a formidable team putting the details onto the table in front of him/her.
This could have been done in DC years ago by the House Select Subcommittee on Weaponization; however, they did not have the skillset nor the operational strength to push through the DC politics as a group. Former Representative Dan Bishop is a current U.S. Attorney in North Carolina, and he said it wasn’t fear that screwed up the subcommittee effort as it was republican political leadership stopping the subcommittee from aggressively investigating the whole matter, the big picture. There are rumors that Blanche has assigned diGenova because President Trump is frustrated with Main Justice on this issue. I don’t know if that is true, but jumping ju-ju-bones – could you blame Trump?

In full, they call this: “Trump’s 2019 Ukraine Impeachment”.

Something to think about. Remember Biden firing the prosecutor?

• 5 Stories Democrats Told During Trump’s 2019 Impeachment Have Crumbled (JTN)

Several Republicans, including the influential House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, are throwing their weight behind an effort to repudiate or expunge the 2019 House impeachment vote against President Donald Trump after years of belated bombshells eroded most of the scandalous narrative Democrats sold to America seven years ago.

The latest evidence to boomerang on the 2019 Democrat House impeachment managers came last week when Just the News successfully persuaded Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to release long-secret memos showing the intelligence community had raised red flags about the credibility and political motives of the CIA analyst who prompted the scandal with a tale that Trump had wrongly pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate the Biden family.
Exculpatory evidence withheld from the congressional proceedings in 2019 and 2020: Back in 2019, it was taboo to question anything about the CIA analyst or even to mention his name, now confirmed to be retired CIA analyst Eric Ciaramella. But it turns out Democrats like then-Rep. Adam Schiff as well as the intelligence community’s chief watchdog at the time, Michael Atkinson, withheld from the public some bombshell revelations, according to the memos that Gabbard released last Sunday. Those memos showed Atkinson’s investigators had flagged the CIA analyst for having “potential for bias,” noted he had provided false information in his initial complaint, had apologized for the falsehood and held animus toward conservatives inside Trump’s circles.
Gabbard blasted Atkinson’s work, suggesting the former watchdog had “weaponized the whistleblower process” and used his office to “manufacture a conspiracy that was used as the basis to impeach President Trump.” She referred both Atkinson and Ciaramella to the Justice Department for possible criminal investigation. The fact that such relevant information was kept from Trump’s defense team to use at the impeachment proceedings touched of a firestorm, with famed law professor Alan Dershowitz becoming the first to suggest it was evidence enough to warrant expunging the 2019 impeachment vote. Soon, many Republicans rallied around the idea, including Jordan, Rep. Claudia Tenney and Trump himself.
But the illusion of an untouchable, unimpeachable star “whistleblower” isn’t the only tenet of the Democrat impeachment narrative to crack. Here are four other major parts of the story that Democrats wove together seven years ago that have fallen apart.
The Biden firing of Ukraine’s chief prosecutor
The scandal began in March 2019 when this reporter uncovered evidence in a series of columns in The Hill newspaper that revealed then-Vice President Joe Biden withheld $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees to Kyiv to force the firing in late 2015 of Ukraine Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who at the time just happened to be investigating Hunter Biden’s Ukrainian employer, the energy firm Burisma Holdings. Shortly after the story broke, Team Biden locked into an alternate story: Shokin wasn’t really investigating Burisma that much, and Joe Biden only took the action because career officials wanted Shokin out for his weak efforts to fight corruption and had recommended that the vice president withhold the loan guarantees.
State Department officials like George Kent backed up the narrative in their impeachment testimony, Kent, for instance, answered “he did” when he was asked during his impeachment testimony whether Joe Biden acted consistent with U.S. policy when he used the loan guarantee as leverage to force Shokin’s firing. That story held for three years until Just the News sued to win documents showing a far different tale. State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, had actually praised Shokin’s work fighting corruption, even sending him a letter of congratulations. You can read that here.
And contrary to what Biden claimed, a task force of State, Treasury and Justice Department officials had decided in fall 2015 that Ukraine and specifically Shokin had made adequate progress on anti-corruption reforms and deserved a new $1 billion U.S. loan guarantee. “Ukraine has made sufficient progress on its reform agenda to justify a third guarantee,” reads an Oct. 1, 2015, memo summarizing the recommendation of the Interagency Policy Committee (IPC) – a task force created to advise the Obama White House on whether Ukraine was cleaning up its endemic corruption and deserved more Western foreign aid.

“Some countries have embraced historical revanchism by seeking to revisit the Soviet victory over Nazism, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said..”

“They think… the Soviet victory in WWII was accidental and inadmissible. They think that now is the time to rectify this accident, or a mistake, as they see it..”

Russia watches how the west supports the nazis in Kiev.

• ‘Pandemic of Fascism’ Looming Over West – Moscow (RT)

The West is being swept by a “pandemic of historical revanchism” as it seeks to erase the memory of World War II and rewrite the Soviet victory over Nazi ideology, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has warned. Zakharova made the remarks in an interview with TASS on Sunday on the occasion of Russia’s Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Genocide of the Soviet People, which is being observed for the first time this year. The spokeswoman said that while for a time Russia was absolutely certain that WWII was “a sacred topic for the whole world,” many Western countries adopted a different approach.

“They think… the Soviet victory in WWII was accidental and inadmissible. They think that now is the time to rectify this accident, or a mistake, as they see it,” Zakharova stated. She noted that Moscow used to regard revanchism as “some kind of small germ that would sit in the corner and not go anywhere.” Zakharova, however, said that even “from a small germ can then grow a huge, terrifying pandemic of historical revanchism,” adding that a similar warning could be found in the landmark 1965 Soviet film ‘Ordinary Fascism’ by Mikhail Romm, which became a cautionary tale about the rise and fall of the Nazi ideology as well as of its numerous crimes.
Some Western countries, Zakharova said, do not accept the results of WWII and the rulings of the Nuremberg Tribunal. “No, they do not want to give up the idea of taking over the Ukrainian black soil, Russian oil and gas,” she said, adding that Western ambitions extend to seizing the resources of Central Asia and the South Caucasus. She also cited an escalating war against monuments to those who fought Nazism, but said the most dangerous sign of revanchism was that “they want a revenge which would allow them to prevail in remaking the world order and seizing resources around the globe.”
Moscow has for years sounded the alarm about resurgent Nazi ideology in Europe, citing in particular marches in Baltic states honoring Waffen SS veterans. It has also pointed to torchlit marches celebrating the birthday of Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera, whose Ukrainian Insurgent Army collaborated with Nazi Germany and killed tens of thousands of Jews and Poles during WWII. Moscow has said Ukraine’s denazification is one of the key goals of its military operation against the neighboring state.

“Being investigated in France is “the new Legion d’honneur,” the Russian entrepreneur has said..”

• ‘Proud To Stand Alongside Elon Musk’ – Telegram’s Durov (RT)

France is weaponizing criminal prosecution in an attempt to suppress free speech, Telegram founder Pavel Durov has said, as he backed X owner Elon Musk in the social media platform’s legal case in the country. Durov made the remarks on Sunday after the Wall Street Journal reported that the US Department of Justice had rejected a French request for assistance in investigating X’s alleged role in distributing sexual deepfakes and unlawful data extraction. The DOJ letter stated that the French probe sought “to use the criminal legal system in France to regulate a public square for the free expression of ideas” and “to entangle the United States in a politically charged criminal proceeding.”

Musk has denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the probe as a “political attack.” Durov rallied behind the X owner, arguing that under President Emmanuel Macron, “France is losing legitimacy as it weaponizes criminal investigations to suppress free speech and privacy.” He also disputed the independence of French prosecutors, saying they “are hired, fired, and promoted by the government.” He added that “the judicial police – who provide often misleading reports to investigative judges – are also controlled by the government.” ”Proud to stand alongside Elon Musk and others targeted by Macron’s campaign against digital rights. In Macron’s France, being investigated is the new Legion d’honneur.”
The French investigation into X was first launched in January 2025, following allegations that the platform’s content algorithm showed bias and could constitute foreign interference. The case has since expanded to include scrutiny of anti-Semitic content, Holocaust denial, and AI-generated child sexual abuse material. Paris prosecutors raided X’s French offices in February 2026, and recently summoned Musk for a “voluntary” interview.
Durov – a citizen of France, Russia, the UAE, and St. Kitts and Nevis – has himself clashed with the French judicial system. He was arrested at a Paris airport in August 2024 and indicted on 12 charges, including alleged complicity in distributing child exploitation material and drug trafficking, after French prosecutors cited Telegram’s near-total failure to respond to legal requests.Durov’s travel ban was fully lifted in November 2025, though the formal investigation continues. Durov has called the arrest and probe “legally and logically absurd” and said its “only outcome” had been “massive damage to France’s image as a free country.”

“If the American Republic is to survive another 250 years, it must preserve key rights that the EU has been systematically destroying in Europe ..”

• The EU Moves to Destroy the Last Vestiges of National Sovereignty (Turley)

The defeat of Viktor Orban in Hungary last weekend was celebrated by many who saw the former president as establishing single-party rule in his central European nation. The irony is that this claimed victory for democracy may fuel the establishment of a global governance system that is neither democratic nor accountable to citizens. The European Union was criticized by many for taking sides in the Hungarian election and for undermining Orban, who asserted national priorities in disputes with the EU. No sooner had Orban conceded defeat than a jubilant European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for the final coup de grace for national identity and sovereignty: the elimination of the ability of nations to stand against EU policies.

Orban was controversial for his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his lack of support for Ukraine. He was also accused of authoritarianism and corruption. I shared in some of those criticisms. However, the unintended consequence of this election could be the removal of a single autocrat in favor of a global bureaucracy. Van der Leyen helped elect the pro-EU Peter Magyar in order to remove a barrier to the EU’s ultimate exercise of power. The EU had been squeezing Hungary over its defiance by holding back billions in funds. Magyar is expected to be the perfect suppliant, willing to fall into line with the EU agenda.
The EU Chief has reportedly already given Magyar a list of 27 demands he must meet before she will turn the spigot back on. She did not try to hide the agenda, announcing that the EU needed to “use the momentum now” to consolidate its power. With Hungary out of the way, Von der Leyen is calling for the EU to finally do away with the last vestige of national sovereignty: the veto exercised by its member states. Under the plan, member states would lose control of their policy and could be forced to adhere to the priorities and values of the EU majority. The EU Chief celebrated the new day of global governance in the making: “Moving to qualified majority voting in foreign policy is an important way to avoid systemic blockages, as we have seen in the past.”
In “Rage and the Republic,” I discuss the dangers posed to the American republic this century by the rise of global governance systems like the EU. The book explores how globalists planned to gradually get nations to yield their authority to the EU — destroying national identity and sovereignty in favor of an EU bureaucracy in Brussels.As the EU moves to kill off national sovereignty, EU commissioners are calling for a single European military command, completing a longstanding globalist goal. The 250th anniversary of our republic is occurring as we face an unprecedented EU threat. Our revolution was fought against a foreign empire.
It now faces an even greater threat from a global government asserting the right to compel American companies to censor Americans and comply with environmental, social and governance or ESG policies. At the same time, American figures such as Hillary Clinton are encouraging the EU to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights using the infamous Digital Services Act to restore speech controls to social media. Other Americans have testified before the EU, calling on it to fight the U.S. Banners are now flying in Europe declaring, “We are the Free World Now,” as the globalists attempt to supplant freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
If the American Republic is to survive another 250 years, it must preserve key rights that the EU has been systematically destroying in Europe — freedom of speech, division of powers and political accountability of decision-makers. That is why, I believe, the EU is inherently unstable and likely to ultimately collapse.

“.. 28 refineries – more than 25% of the number of refineries and 16% of refining capacity – have been either shut or transformed since 2009 ..”

• Europe Faces Summer Jet Fuel Crisis As Iran War Slashes Supply (Paraskova)

Europe faces an imminent jet fuel crisis as the Iran war and Hormuz disruption cut off key Middle Eastern supplies. Long-term refinery closures and rising import dependence have left Europe highly exposed, with limited alternatives and growing competition from Asia. Airlines are already cutting capacity and warning of higher fares, with potential flight cancellations looming as fuel shortages intensify. Accelerated refinery closures in the past decade and increased dependence on kerosene from the Middle East have exposed Europe’s energy supply vulnerability once again.

For years, European consumers have had to contend with last-minute strikes of ground personnel and cabin crew during peak summer travel. This year, strikes may be viewed as a minor nuisance compared to what’s coming within weeks—a jet fuel supply crisis that could ground flights and hike fares.The war in Iran has cut most of Europe’s imports of jet fuel, while local output has been falling for nearly two decades due to dozens of refineries closing permanently or being converted to biofuel production.
The war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have severely constrained Europe’s jet fuel supply, while jet fuel prices have spiked to over $200 per barrel. The last imports from the Middle East on tankers that had passed Hormuz before the war began have arrived, and there is only one alternative to source jet fuel—from the United States. These supplies are not only insufficient to replace the loss of Middle Eastern jet fuel. Europe faces increasingly fierce competition from Asia for these cargoes as the crisis first hit Asia with crude supply from the Middle East collapsing, Asian refiners cutting refinery runs, and countries imposing fuel export restrictions to preserve domestic supply.
Back in 2009, nearly 100 refineries were operating in Europe. Of these, 28 refineries – more than 25% of the number of refineries and 16% of refining capacity – have been either shut or transformed since 2009, according to data from the European Fuel Manufacturers Association. As refineries were closing, due to declining fuel demand in Europe and emission-reduction policies, the European dependence on imported supply has grown. The hit to supply from the Middle East caught Europe off guard regarding the security of energy supply for the second time in just four years, after natural gas deliveries from Russia crashed in 2022. This time, the jet fuel crisis could be imminent, analysts and forecasters warn.
Last year, Europe imported about a third of the jet fuel it consumed, with 75% of imports coming from the Middle East, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said. Its executive director, Fatih Birol, this week warned that Europe has “maybe six weeks or so” of remaining jet fuel supply. “If we are not able to open the Strait of Hormuz … I can tell you soon we will hear the news that some of the flights from city A to city B might be canceled as a result of lack of jet fuel,” Birol told Associated Press in an interview.
Northwest Europe is one of the regions most exposed to the jet fuel crisis, as imports have dropped from historical norms this month, and the import decline is set to accelerate in the coming weeks as more U.S. jet fuel cargoes would go to Asia instead of Europe, Ernest Censier, market analyst at Vortexa, said in an analysis on Thursday. The 15% drop in European jet fuel imports so far in April “reflects structural dependence on Middle Eastern supply: approximately half of NWE’s jet fuel imports typically transit through the Strait of Hormuz,” Censier said.
In addition, relatively short voyage times of about 21 days from Mina Abdulla in Kuwait to Rotterdam mean that supply disruptions are transmitted quickly into regional imports, the analyst added. The U.S. has emerged as the key source of substitution for lost Middle Eastern supply, but this is unlikely to be sustained as U.S. jet/kerosene exports are increasingly being redirected toward the Pacific Basin, reaching a seven-year high this month, and now accounting for over 30% of total U.S. jet fuel exports. “This reallocation reflects a broader shift in US product exports toward the Pacific Basin,” Vortexa’s Censier noted. This leaves Europe highly exposed to the turbulence in the jet fuel markets.

Larry Ellison just asked the one question no journalist on Earth can answer.

A Wall Street Journal writer told Ellison to his face that Elon Musk doesn’t know what he’s doing.

Ellison didn’t argue. Didn’t get emotional. He just asked a question.

Ellison: “This guy is landing… pic.twitter.com/tNSDQ9tb7h
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) April 19, 2026

Jensen Huang just made the case for American empire. Said it plain. Didn’t flinch. Didn’t walk it back. And almost nobody caught what he actually admitted.

Jensen Huang: “The amount of compute in the United States is a hundred times more than anywhere else in the world.”

One… pic.twitter.com/bMcuIrzX4i
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) April 20, 2026

Elon Musk just said something that should terrify people more than any doomsday prediction.

Not that AI will make humanity poor.

That it will make us endlessly rich.

Musk: “It wouldn’t be Universal Basic Income, it would be Universal High Income.”

The entire AI debate has… pic.twitter.com/05AjXEzMGf
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) April 19, 2026

Elon Musk vient de franchir les 800 milliards de dollars de fortune personnelle.

Les journalistes européens ont fait ce qu'ils font toujours : chercher le scandale, l'inégalité, la provocation politique.
Personne n'a posé la question qui compte vraiment.

Pourquoi ce mec est-il… pic.twitter.com/lXw7iPw2PC
— Jon De Lorraine (@jon_delorraine) April 19, 2026

https://twitter.com/crsanchezx/status/2045930121391985025?s=20

As a 41 year old real estate developer, Donald Trump was speaking up about how America was getting ripped off by the rest of the world.

It’s crazy to hear him talk about everything he is currently fixing almost 40 years ago!

He has been talking about how to make America great… pic.twitter.com/PML3bK2MnU
— SHADOW INTEL (@shadowintel2) April 19, 2026

Fun fact.

In its final stage, BYD new factory in Zhengzhou will cover 50 square miles, which is larger than San Francisco's surface at 46.9 square miles.

Watch its sheer size.pic.twitter.com/7wAIewEwPE
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) April 20, 2026

The CIA CLASSIFIED a 1950s study showing anti-parasitics disrupt cancer growth—and kept it BURIED for over HALF A CENTURY.

Millions of cancer victims have paid the price as this vital line of research was set back DECADES. https://t.co/mqHBHyN2NP pic.twitter.com/GFAf6LVNds
— Nicolas Hulscher, MPH (@NicHulscher) April 19, 2026

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

Debt Rattle March 26 2026

Mar 262026

March 26, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:00 am Finance Tagged with: AGI, House Intel Committee, ICE, Iran, Jack Smith, Kash Patel, Nvidia, Orban, paratroopers, Pentagon, Reiner Fuellmich, Russian oil ban 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)

At its peak in 1914, Europe controlled nearly 100 overseas colonies.

Within 70 years, almost all of them were gone.

The largest land empire in human history dissolved faster than it was built. pic.twitter.com/i9eLxxNARO
— Josh Barzon (@JoshuaBarzon) March 24, 2026

https://twitter.com/eagameover/status/2036647119788875867?s=20

Every country Islam has invaded has been taken over that you can no longer recognize what it once was only the destruction and oppression remains from these savages. pic.twitter.com/6qJF5QKhWQ
— Micki way (@mickitiki) March 24, 2026

Bill Maher: "I mean, this looks like game over [for Democrats]"pic.twitter.com/Uq6Le2J25I
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) March 24, 2026

Raptor 3 is a revolutionary leap in rocket engines. Even experts doubted it at first, yet it fires at unprecedented efficiency.
Key advances:
No base heat shield needed, saving mass and boosting reliability
Fuel leaks safely burn off in open plasma
Higher payload capacity and… pic.twitter.com/yM0FLEE2M7
— Mars University (@MarsUniversityX) March 24, 2026

New evidence from Antarctica ice cores showing no link between CO2 and temperature over the last three million years has stumped Net Zero activists, says Chris Morrison. https://t.co/0fgQOG3SyQ
— Toby Young (@toadmeister) March 25, 2026

https://twitter.com/HungaryBased/status/2036495760355893703?s=20

Jensen Huang just described how he plans to outlive his own body.

Huang: “Very soon, I’m going to put a humanoid on a spaceship. And it’s going to be my humanoid.”

His robot. His frame. Launched into deep space while he is still breathing.

Huang: “Take all my inbox, take… pic.twitter.com/c75sjhwthm
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) March 24, 2026

https://twitter.com/AdamMoczar/status/2036529282294468781?s=20

Orson Welles with a great story about Winston Churchill on The Dick Cavett Show, 1970. Churchill was a true gentleman…

pic.twitter.com/ojzmxScrOd
— The Ways of A Gentleman (@Gentleman_Ways) March 24, 2026

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.

“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.”

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.

“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.

“(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.”

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.

“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.”

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.

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.

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.”

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.

“.. 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.

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.”

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.

“.. 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.

Jensen Huang just explained why China is winning the technology race in two sentences.

Huang: “Our country’s leaders… they’re mostly lawyers. Most of their leaders are incredible engineers.”

One country sends engineers to lead. The other sends lawyers.

One builds. The other… pic.twitter.com/eOIMxI0LMD
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) March 24, 2026

Freedom or Death: The Greeks never stopped fighting against the ottoman yoke; until they broke it and freed themselves.

The Greek Revolution of 1821, also known as the Greek War of Independence, was a pivotal armed uprising by Greek revolutionaries against 400 years of Ottoman… https://t.co/qUt3sHwlpE pic.twitter.com/ZcLbT3v4LR
— TheBlackWolf (@thewolvenhour) March 24, 2026

Today, the Greeks are celebrating the start of the “War of Greek Independence in 1821” that kicked Islam and the barbarians out of Greece and destroyed their mosques.

For me, however, the war is not over. I will celebrate when the Greeks of Cyprus are liberated and reclaim their… pic.twitter.com/TBIYevMNtr
— Homer Pavlos (@HomerPavlos) March 25, 2026

https://twitter.com/ictinus_x/status/2036584876699173359?s=20

Here is Elon Musk remembering his grandfather, who came back severely traumatized from fighting in World War II:

“One of the things that does concern me is that there are very few people alive today who actually viscerally understand the horrors of war, at least in the U.S. How… pic.twitter.com/YxWohHkBsW
— ELON CLIPS (@ElonClipsX) March 24, 2026

This is an Atlas moth

It’s Cantonese name is the snake's head moth, the tips of its wings look similar to the head of a cobra,

in a part of the world where cobras exist, this moths predators may find themselves startled long to facilitate its escape

pic.twitter.com/VFnLzE9BSf
— Science girl (@sciencegirl) March 25, 2026

This is when Ocean Ramsey and her team encountered what is possibly the largest great white shark ever recorded, approximately 6 meters long (~ 20 feet).pic.twitter.com/t5rO2D1Pwj
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) March 25, 2026

https://twitter.com/Old_But_Gold50s/status/2036633166065385898?s=20 https://twitter.com/Old_But_Gold50s/status/2036639220119527644?s=20

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

Debt Rattle February 27 2026

Feb 272026

February 27, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:58 am Finance Tagged with: AI, Epstein, Greer, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Kash Patel, Mamdani, medicaid, Nebenzia, Nexico, nukes, Spain, Susie Wiles, tariffs, Trump 77 Responses »

Banksy ~~Honey~~ Money pot 1999

• Trump Report Card (John Stossel)

• Triggered and Traumatized by Scenes of Patriotism (Turley)

• Biden FBI Investigated Susie Wiles and Kash Patel Phone Records (CTH)

• White House Withholds Medicaid Funding to Minnesota Amid Fraud Probe (Jung)

• USTR Greer Talks Baseline Tariff Reset Shifts and Reciprocity Tariffs (CTH)

• I’m Ukrainian – Russia’s UN Ambassador (RT)

• Arming Ukraine With Nukes: Western Elites Have ‘Lost Touch With Reality’ (RT)

• US Demands Iran Dismantle Its 3 Main Nuclear Sites In Hours-Long Talks (ZH)

• Epstein Rushed Evidence Into Secret Storage Unit Before Raid (ZH)

• Hillary Clinton to Testify in Epstein Probe on Thursday, Bill Clinton on Friday (JTN)

• Mamdani’s NYC Flirts With Chaos (Ben Shapiro)

• So Hackers Just Stole Mexico’s Tax and Voter Rolls (Stephen Green)

• Spain’s Government: Spinning Out of Control (Drieu Godefridi)

• Even the Best AI Scenario Is the End of Everything We’ve Ever Been (Ring)

The Guardian: Arms dealer Christopher Harborne paid #BorisJohnson a million UK pounds to convince Zelensky not to sign the Istanbul peace deal in March 2022 – which would have spared the lives of an estimated 1.6 million #Ukrainian troops who are now KIA or permanently disabled. pic.twitter.com/Si2xNHwS8w
— Alan Watson (@DietHeartNews) February 25, 2026

https://twitter.com/ThePatriotOasis/status/2026849762180255904?s=20 https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/2026862384816550257?s=20 https://twitter.com/MAGAVoice/status/2026557297598804049?s=20 https://twitter.com/TheChiefNerd/status/2027093840289513854?s=20

Chris Cuomo couldn’t hide it — he opened his segment by giving President Trump his dues for what he called a “winner” State of the Union.

CUOMO: “We saw a prodigious production last night.”

“POTUS was on his game.”

“He was looking to engage voters by presiding over a parade of… pic.twitter.com/AojGonBmqU
— Overton (@overton_news) February 26, 2026

Yes https://t.co/cyJ9VgFFcZ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 26, 2026

It’s my Bday today.

Mostly positive. And you got to see that against the Orange Man Bad background, where nothing at all is positive..

• Trump Report Card (John Stossel)

During his State of the Union, President Donald Trump declared himself wonderful. My new video takes a closer look, scoring his fifth year as president. He deserves an “A” for his willingness to take questions. It’s a relief after President Joe Biden, who hid from reporters. But Trump deserves an “F” for childish bragging. Ignorant, too. He proudly announced he cut drug prices by “400%, 500%, even 600%!” Didn’t he learn math? If he cut prices 100%, drugs would be free. Trump deserves an “A” for ending Biden’s self-destructive, anti-energy policies. On the other hand, Trump has blocked solar and wind projects, even those not government-subsidized. Can’t either party just let the market work?

I’m relieved that the president hasn’t fulfilled my worst fear: He has not acted like a total dictator. He does respond to public opinion. After ICE brutality in Minnesota, he pulled troops out, saying, “We can use a little bit of a softer touch.” And when courts rule against him, he obeys, ending National Guard deployment in Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland, and now searching for court-approved ways to preserve his tariffs. Hysterical media still scream about Trump being “a dictator!” and “authoritarian!” Mises Institute Editor-in-Chief Ryan McMaken points out that America has had many authoritarian presidents. “Nixon and LBJ, in terms of new bombing campaigns, ignoring Congress … both of those presidents were significantly worse. FDR, through executive order, destroyed the gold standard.
“Just by the stroke of a pen, he impoverished many Americans, stole Americans’ gold. This was one of the worst economic crimes in American history. I don’t think (Trump) could get away with it.” Trump deserves an “A” grade for easing some regulation. TSA no longer requires people to take their shoes off. The EPA stopped mandating things like “stop/start” features that were supposed to save gas but barely did. Trump ended “disparate impact” analysis, the toxic legal theory that led to parasitic lawsuits if workforces did not exactly match U.S. racial proportions.
Ken Griffin, CEO of the investment firm Citadel, says that Trump’s merely criticizing regulation, telling bureaucrats back off, lifted the economy. It “gives you so much energy as an entrepreneur!” “That’s probably the best part of his administration right now.” says McMaken, giving Trump a “B-” on regulation. Not an “A” because his attempts to cut red tape have mostly failed. And Trump hasn’t cut spending. “Spending has only increased!” McMaken points out.

Can we a cheer a medal?

• Triggered and Traumatized by Scenes of Patriotism (Turley)

This week, most Americans found a moment of rare unity in our pride over the performance of our athletes in the Winter Olympics. After years of rage politics, there was a brief respite as we joined in cheering our team in representing the United States in Milan and Cortina. Well, most of us. Some in the media found the entire demonstration of patriotism to be intolerable and triggering. What is striking is how this aversion to our flag and country was so openly expressed in major media. Yesterday, the nightmare continued for some on the left who were traumatized by seeing the American flag and open displays of patriotism. Jack Hughes, one of the heroes of the gold medal hockey game, returned to New Jersey to play and was met with cheers of “USA, USA” and a sea of American flags.

Hughes immediately called his Olympic teammate Tage Thompson of the visiting Buffalo Sabres to the ice to join him. The two skated arm in arm as the crowd celebrated them and our country. It was another unifying moment for the country. The fans joined arm in arm to relish this moment for the nation. These scenes are clearly having a different impact on some on the left. The HuffPost even published an article with therapeutic advice for liberals triggered by seeing so many American flags. The liberal publication ran an article titled “There’s a Name for the Discomfort You’re Feeling Watching the Olympics Right Now.” It then published it a second time before the gold-medal hockey game with Canada — presumably to prepare its readers for the nightmare of the United States actually winning.
The subheading read, “If waving the American flag or chanting ‘USA!’ turns you off right now, you’re not alone.” Senior writer Monica Torres began the article with this line: “While President Donald Trump’s deportation agenda separates families, and federal agents detain 5-year-olds and kill unarmed civilians, American athletes are winning medals on behalf of the nation at the Olympics right now.” Torres goes on to interview three therapists for this “story” about how the celebration of the United States team has forced many liberals into therapy over their trauma and “the cognitive dissonance of rooting for U.S. sports.”
Los Angeles-based licensed clinical social worker Aimee Monterrosa explained that the “atrocities” of the United States can trigger feelings of guilt, despair, shame, anger” in seeing the country celebrate these sports victories. Expert Lauren Appio echoed how “waving the American flag or chanting, ‘USA!’ [can make] us feel grossed out or ashamed.” Over at Vox, Senior correspondent (and former Atlantic writer) Alex Abad-Santos wrote an article on the winners and losers of the Olympics. The column perfectly summed up the pathological opposition of some to this country’s symbols and celebrations.
Abad-Santos declared the men’s hockey team one of the biggest “losers” of the games. He blamed that team for alienating citizens by their patriotic statements: “The conversation surrounding the win quickly shifted into how the team celebrated and who it celebrated with.” He expressed outrage over the team accepting the celebratory call from the President of the United States.In the meantime, the “winner,” according to Abad-Santos, was . . . wait for it . . . Eileen Gu, the American who reportedly took millions from the repressive Chinese regime to ski for China. Gu used the games to criticize the United States while saying nothing of how China arrests anyone who speaks out against that country.

“.. when both were private citizens…”

“FBI Director Kash Patel has reportedly fired 10 FBI agents who were involved in the process of reviewing and intercepting communications as part of their work on the Jack Smith case. Internal FBI offices are not happy with Patel’s action against those officials ..”

• Biden FBI Investigated Susie Wiles and Kash Patel Phone Records (CTH)

According to media reports and statements from FBI Director Kash Patel, both Patel and Susie Wiles had their telephone records subpoenaed by the FBI in 2022 and 2023 when both were private citizens. This is during the time when Donald Trump was being investigated by Special Counsel Jack Smith. Within the reporting by Reuters, at least one phone call between Susie Wiles and her attorney was recorded by the FBI without her knowledge. As the story is outlined Wiles’ attorney was working with the FBI and knew the conversation was being captured, Wiles did not. FBI Director Kash Patel has reportedly fired 10 FBI agents who were involved in the process of reviewing and intercepting communications as part of their work on the Jack Smith case. Internal FBI offices are not happy with Patel’s action against those officials.

“(REUTERS) – The FBI subpoenaed records of phone calls made by Kash Patel and Susie Wiles, now the FBI director and White House Chief of Staff, when they were both private citizens in 2022 and 2023 during the federal probe of Donald Trump, Patel told Reuters on Wednesday. Reuters is the first to report on the FBI’s actions that took place during the Biden administration, largely when Special Counsel Jack Smith was investigating whether Trump had interfered with the 2020 election and had hidden classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, according to Patel. Smith was appointed to take over that probe in November 2022.
[…] “It is outrageous and deeply alarming that the previous FBI leadership 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,” Patel said in a statement to Reuters.
[…] At least 10 current FBI employees have been dismissed as a result of the revelations about the targeting of Patel, Wiles and others connected to the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, according to three FBI officials. […] In 2023, the FBI recorded a phone call between Wiles and her attorney, according to two FBI officials. Wiles’ attorney was aware that the call was being recorded, and consented to it, but Susie Wiles was not. […] The FBI discovered the phone records in files categorized as “Prohibited,” which makes them difficult to discover on the bureau’s computer systems. Patel said he recently ended the FBI’s ability to categorize files as “Prohibited.” (read more)
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2026802738097459213?s=20
I have mixed emotions about this. On one hand it is infuriating to yet again see the audacity and clear weaponization of the DOJ and FBI under the prior administration. On the other hand, duh! Non-pretending people knew all along this malicious network of DOJ and FBI lawfare operations included surveillance of everyone around President Donald Trump. Remember, Donald Trump was accused of criminal wrongdoing by the twisted lawfare logic of Smith and his crew. Accepting the reality of a criminal investigation, fraudulent though it was, it was entirely predictable that the DOJ and FBI would leverage all available tools to conduct continued surveillance and monitoring.
The secondary frustrating aspect to this story is how Director Patel has only just now fired those 10 FBI agents involved. This is a big part of the criticism that many of us have with Patel and his soft glove approach upon taking the position as FBI Director. Any FBI official who was involved in the originating Crossfire Hurricane and/or Robert Mueller investigations should have been fired for cause on Day One! 40 FBI agents worked for more than two years on the Mueller probe investigating a fictitious claim about President Trump colluding with Russia in the 2016 election. Those FBI agents should have been identified and terminated immediately, with prejudice; thereby sending a loud message that weaponized FBI activity was the immediate focus of the new leadership and would not be tolerated.

“.. pointed to Vance as the one leading the efforts of his administration’s “war on fraud”..

• White House Withholds Medicaid Funding to Minnesota Amid Fraud Probe (Jung)

JD Vance and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz announced that the Trump administration is temporarily halting certain Medicaid funding to Minnesota amid an ongoing fraud investigation. This comes after President Donald Trump condemned the rampant fraud in Democrat-run Minnesota and pointed to Vance as the one leading the efforts of his administration’s “war on fraud” in his Feb. 24 State of the Union address. “When it comes to the corruption that is plundering — it really, it’s plundering America — there’s been no more stunning example than Minnesota, where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer,” Trump said at the SOTU, adding, “Oh, we have all the information.”

“And, in actuality, the number is much higher than that, and California, Massachusetts, Maine and many other states are even worse. This is the kind of corruption that shreds the fabric of a nation, and we are working on it like you wouldn’t believe,” Trump continued. The pause affects $259 million in federal payments to the Gopher State, which will be withheld until the state government demonstrates corrective actions against widespread social and welfare fraud. The vice president has given Democrat Tim Walz of Minnesota 60 days to clean up the state’s Medicaid rolls after it was exposed that taxpayer dollars exceeding $9 billion were misallocated for illegal purposes, according to investigators.
“We have decided to temporarily halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that are going to the state of Minnesota in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligation seriously to be good stewards of the American people’s tax money,” Vance said. “A lot of people were getting rich off the generosity of the American taxpayer!” JD Vance said in regard to criminals fraudulently taking money from needy assistance programs like “Feeding Our Future” and other government-funded initiatives meant to help autistic children.
“There are kids that need these autism services, and the money is not going to those kids. They’re going to fraudsters in Minneapolis. That is unacceptable. And that’s the sort of thing that we’re cutting off with this action today,” he added. The U.S. Department of Justice and Republican Party members in Congress have been highlighting the massive scandal since December 2025, when years of unaccounted-for fraud, mostly perpetrated by members of Minnesota’s Somali immigrant community, came under the national spotlight. The fraud concerns center on 14 state programs, including those for autism services and medical transports, where funds allegedly went to fraudsters instead of beneficiaries.

“Greer notes Mexico and Canada being used as import hubs to avoid tariffs is a big issue.”

• USTR Greer Talks Baseline Tariff Reset Shifts and Reciprocity Tariffs (CTH)

The Supreme Court tariff ruling has created the need for U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to modify the baseline tariff approach with the approvals of President Trump. The baseline tariffs are being reset to 10% with upward adjustment to 15% as planned. The reciprocal tariffs will not require any substantive modifications as most of the Free Trade Agreements have been cemented with reciprocity tariffs as part of the negotiated deals. USTR Greer appears on Bloomberg to clarify the current situation and provide some information as to the transitional baseline tariffs as now modified. Additionally, and importantly, Greer begins discussing the USMCA review and his acceptance that President Trump is openly questioning the value for us. Greer notes Mexico and Canada being used as import hubs to avoid tariffs is a big issue. WATCH:

Section 232 [Steel and Aluminum examples] of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. §1862, as amended) authorizes the President to impose trade restrictions—such as a tariff or quota—if the Secretary of Commerce determines, following an investigation, that imports of a good “threaten to impair” U.S. national security. {SOURCE}
Section 301 tariffs are a trade enforcement mechanism established under the Trade Act of 1974. They allow the U.S. government to impose tariffs on imports from countries that are found to be engaging in unfair trade practices. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) conducts investigations to determine if a country is violating trade agreements, and if so, it can impose tariffs as a corrective measure {SOURCE}
Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows the U.S. president to impose tariffs of up to 15% to address “large and serious” balance-of-payments deficits. This authority can be exercised without prior congressional approval for a limited duration of 150 days. After this period, any tariffs must be extended by Congress. {SOURCE}
*FYI, there is a lot of distracting noise in the various social media platforms about internecine MAGA battles and ego-driven points of specific interest. CTH chooses to focus energy and attention on the substantive policy issues that will generate substantive policy outcomes for America.

“Vassily Nebenzia has said his parents were of Zaporozhian Cossack heritage and were more Ukrainian than the current leadership in Kiev..”

“To us, there is no difference – we are all one – millions of Ukrainians in Russia, millions of Russians in Ukraine..”

• I’m Ukrainian – Russia’s UN Ambassador (RT)

Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, has said he is Ukrainian, citing his parents’ roots. Speaking at the UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, the Russian diplomat stated that “formally speaking, I am Ukrainian.”n“I have such a strange last name – the Slavs know it’s hard to find even in Ukraine. It originates from The Zaporozhian Cossacks,” he clarified. The ethno-social group, known for its military exploits as early as the 16th century, played an important role in the history of what is today Ukraine.

“My father was a true Ukrainian, and my mother was of Cossack heritage, too,” Nebenzia said, claiming that they were more Ukrainian than Kiev’s current Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa and ambassador to the UN Andrey Melnik. The Russian envoy recounted how his father volunteered to join the Soviet army during World War II to fight the Nazis.mThe diplomat accused the current leadership in Kiev of “zombifying” the Ukrainian population into becoming modern-day Nazis. Russia’s ongoing military campaign is aimed at reversing these trends, according to Nebenzia, who added that it would continue for as long as necessary to achieve this goal. “To us, there is no difference – we are all one – millions of Ukrainians in Russia, millions of Russians in Ukraine, and in Belarus as well,” the diplomat concluded.
Moscow has repeatedly warned of a Nazi revival in Ukraine, describing “denazification” as one of the central goals of its military campaign against Kiev. Commemorations of World War II-era nationalist figures with ties to Nazi Germany have become increasingly common in Ukraine in recent years, particularly following the 2014 Maidan coup. Last April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Ukraine had “betrayed” its history by allowing the West to bring a Nazi regime to power in Kiev, which went on to declare “war against its own people.”

“.. we should be prepared for Western leverage attempts ranging from the ridiculous to the flagrantly irresponsible.”

• Arming Ukraine With Nukes: Western Elites Have ‘Lost Touch With Reality’ (RT)

Ukraine could become a partial nuclear power as its Western backers desperately seek to avoid NATO’s defeat in a proxy war against Russia – at least according to Moscow’s intelligence services. On Tuesday, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) warned that elements in the British and French governments who have “lost touch with reality” are considering a gross breach of their commitments under the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty on nuclear weapons. Officials in London and Paris are allegedly weighing options to support Kiev as it refuses concessions to Russia and reportedly prepares for up to three more years of hostilities funded by Western Europe. According to the SVR, the options include arming Ukraine with a nuclear capability through the “covert transfer of relevant European-made components, equipment, and technologies” that Kiev could claim as domestically developed, or through the direct supply of a French submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead.

Another option, the SVR said, is pushing Kiev to build a ‘dirty bomb’ – a non-nuclear device designed to contaminate territory with radioactive material, long considered a nightmare scenario for terrorist attacks. Russian officials have for years identified a Ukrainian dirty bomb as a major threat, citing Kiev’s ready access to necessary components. Ukrainian officials often claim their nation once possessed the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal and gave it up for false security promises. Vladimir Zelensky suggested at the 2022 Munich Security Conference that the decision could be reversed. The conflict with Russia escalated soon after the provocative remarks. In reality, nuclear weapons were present on Ukrainian soil after the Soviet collapse but were never “Ukraine’s arsenal” – Kiev could not launch them.
The US pressured Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan to transfer the missiles to Russia, with three memorandums signed in Budapest in 1994. In 2012, Minsk said the US and UK breached their commitment “to refrain from economic coercion” of Belarus made in Budapest, after they imposed unilateral sanctions. The rebuke was brushed off by the West. Kiev is under increasing pressure as Russia maintains advantages in frontline attrition and long-range strikes. Zelensky’s rhetoric mixes declarations of resolve, gratitude for foreign support, and complaints that it is insufficient. Still, he insists Ukraine is not losing. Manpower shortages caused by mass desertion and public resistance to mobilization remain Ukraine’s biggest challenge. Zelensky’s solution: more money from the EU and UK.
“When it comes to people, Europeans can help us, if we switch our army – when we switch our army – from mobilization to contracts,” he told the BBC last week. Russia can recruit enough volunteers because it pays troops better, so Europeans should put Ukrainian soldiers on a payroll, he argued. Ukraine’s government is bankrolled by foreign donors and is facing bankruptcy by April unless the EU borrows €90 billion ($105 billion) to continue aid. The EU’s loan plan, however, has been stalled due to Kiev’s ongoing spat with Hungary and Slovakia over their purchase of Russian crude.
Desperation can drive invention, and going nuclear is achievable even for a small, relatively poor nation – as North Korea proves. Soviet Ukraine was a technological powerhouse with its own nuclear reactors and a world-class rocket industry, suggesting an advantage. But generational loss of expertise, wartime damage, and other factors lead Ukrainian officials to privately admit that claims of going nuclear are bluster. Even conventional military technology development has faltered. The Flamingo cruise missile, resembling a UK-UAE weapon, was supposed to be the backbone of Ukraine’s deep-strike capability, with hundreds produced monthly. In reality, launches are so few they are celebrated as major achievements.
Zelensky’s explanation at this year’s Munich Security Conference: Russians destroyed production lines. Alternative speculation: domestic producer Fire Point is suspicious. The firm is allegedly linked to Zelensky’s longtime associate Timur Mindich, who fled Ukraine last November hours before being charged with running a major graft scheme. So is the nuclear warning real? France and the UK smuggling a nuke to Ukraine sounds like a B-movie plot. So does a US president threatening to invade Greenland to protect it from Russia and China. These are strange times. Given the EU has publicly demanded that Russia cap its army or face Brussels’ rejection of a Ukraine peace deal, we should be prepared for Western leverage attempts ranging from the ridiculous to the flagrantly irresponsible.

Bibi. Whether it’s Ukraine or the Middle East, Trump so far refuses to involve his military directly. Here’s thinking that’s a good thing.

• US Demands Iran Dismantle Its 3 Main Nuclear Sites In Hours-Long Talks (ZH)

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held more than three hours of negotiations with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Thursday in a push to secure a breakthrough on a nuclear deal, with the Omani foreign minister saying the talks will resume later after a pause. It’s being reported that the message Kushner and Witkoff deliver to Trump after the meeting will shape the president’s decision on whether the launch a military attack on Tehran or refrain for implementation of a permanent deal. While Trump declared in Tuesday’s State of the Union that he prefers diplomacy, he also presented a direct case for war – something which remains deeply unpopular among the American people. In these and other indirect talks, Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi relayed messages between the sides, and then another format has involved direct discussions between US and Iranian negotiators.

Iran presented its long-awaited draft proposal for a nuclear agreement, though not much in the way of details have been revealed. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Raphael Grossi was among those who participated in the negotiations. Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, the main mediator, said of the Thursday talks that “we’ve been exchanging creative and positive ideas” and “hope to make more progress.” Meanwhile, a former head of the IAEA has warned that all wars, “including ‘wars of choice’ have horrific costs” as fears of major conflict between the US and Iran escalate. Reports that Thursday talks stalled after US side demanded zero enrichment…
https://twitter.com/AhmadSamadi1974/status/2027025765007577268
“The US is intensifying the drumbeat of war against Iran, with zero explanation of the non-existent legal authority to use force and zero evidence of an ‘imminent threat’ other than hypothetical scenarios based on possible future intentions,” Mohamed ElBaradei wrote on X. “That is the reason for the restraints and limitations established by international norms… This is Iraq redux … it seems we never learn,” he emphasized. Fresh reporting in The Wall Street Journal has laid out the main US sticking points: In the talks, now under way in Geneva, the U.S. negotiators were expected to make clear Iran must dismantle its three main nuclear sites—at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan—and deliver all of its remaining enriched uranium to the U.S., officials said.
They were also expected to insist that any nuclear deal must last forever and not sunset—the way restrictions rolled off over time under a nuclear pact negotiated under the Obama administration that Republicans have long said was too weak. Trump pulled out of that deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in his first term, reimposing tough sanctions on Iran.

Here the demands US brought to Iran in Geneva:

1) Destroy all 3 nuclear sites: Fordow, Natanz, Isfahan

2) Deliver all enriched uranium to US

3) No sunset clauses

4) Zero enrichment, but can keep Tehran reactor

5) Minimal sanctions relief up front; more if Iran compliant
— Alex Ward (@alexbward) February 26, 2026

These are the very nuclear sites that the US said time and again it “obliterated” during the June war. This comes off Vice President J.D. Vance just the day prior stating that the White House “has seen evidence” that Iran is attempting to build a nuclear weapon. So Washington is going from proclaiming Iran’s nuclear sites were obliterated to now saying there’s evidence of the Iranians trying to clandestinely build a nuclear warhead. Of course, no evidence or so much as a reference to some kind of intelligence report has been presented to the world.

⚠️ ‘We've seen evidence’ Iran is trying to rebuild nuclear weapons says @VP JD Vance.

We've heard this exact line before…

Colin Powell at the UN, February 5 2003:
'We've seen evidence' of Iraq's mobile bioweapons labs & WMDs.

We all remember what happened next. Turned… pic.twitter.com/O7KiyAsiwx
— Hala Jaber (@HalaJaber) February 25, 2026

There are indeed mounting concerns that history is about to repeat itself, but this time there’s possibly many more American troops in harm’s way, given the significant reach and capabilities of Iran’s ballistic missiles and long-range drones.

“We are aware of the theories circulated in the media and online that Epstein video recorded the abuse of his victims, including by other men, but we have found no evidence to support that theory,”

• Epstein Rushed Evidence Into Secret Storage Unit Before Raid (ZH)

Jeffrey Epstein paid private detectives to remove items from his Palm Beach property and store them in a secret storage locker shortly before he was raided by police in 2005. The storage unit contained three computers, 29 address books, a three-page list of Florida masseuses. The stash also included nude photographs believed to be of Epstein’s victims, VHS tapes, DVDs ‘eroticising teenagers’ and porno mags, The Telegraph reports. “An 8mm video cassette tape was also locked away in the storage unit, apparently containing footage of someone in the shower and a woman in lingerie, as well as a 2005 calendar, greeting cards, letters and laboratory results.”

The investigators also hid sex toys, body massagers, lingerie, cash, a concealed weapon permit, and a Harvard ID card. The inventory was emailed to Epstein and his lawyers in August 2009, a month after he was released from jail for soliciting a minor for prostitution. Also interesting, some of the computer material ‘appeared to be missing,’ including ‘equipment that would have linked to surveillance cameras. ‘That fuelled speculation that Epstein might have been recording explicit covert material without people’s knowledge, either for his own sexual gratification or for blackmail purposes.” And what do we have here? A guy who was installing recording equipment on Epstein’s island in 2014, and was named as a $1 million beneficiary in Epstein’s trust.

Ruan worked for Epstein on the island property known as “LSJ” and was the primary technology person handling cameras and networking. He later transitioned the island to Ubiquiti equipment starting in late 2017.

Ruan was also named as a $1 million beneficiary in Epstein’s trust…
— IredcapI (@IredcapI) February 26, 2026

According to the report, the FBI did have copies of the two computer drives. The Palm Beach storage unit was just one of at least six such lockers across the United States that Epstein used to store files, computers and other items from his multiple properties – but search warrants reviewed by The Telegraph “suggest that US authorities never raided these lockers, raising the possibility that they contained unseen evidence relating to Epstein and his associates.” US authorities have long suspected that Epstein was tipped off before the October 2005 raid at his Palm Beach mansion, with former Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter commenting that “the place had been cleaned up.”
Meanwhile, French Police have released previously unseen pictures from Epstein’s Paris apartment, including one featuring a massage table and pictures of naked women hanging on the wall. Many victims have long alleged that Epstein secretly recorded encounters inside his homes, possibly for blackmail. Yet an internal FBI memo released in a later document tranche stated that investigators found no evidence supporting the theory that Epstein maintained video recordings of abuse involving other powerful figures. “We are aware of the theories circulated in the media and online that Epstein video recorded the abuse of his victims, including by other men, but we have found no evidence to support that theory,” the memo said. The agency added that if such material had existed, it would have been used in criminal prosecutions. Copies of two hard drives from the Palm Beach locker were eventually recovered at Epstein’s New York residence following his 2019 arrest, but the original computers are believed to have never been found. An FBI forensic analyst later testified that the drives contained photos of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and a job advertisement written by “GMax” seeking a massage therapist – but no explicit recordings of abuse.

I hear Hillary is making the deposition political “on her socials..”

• Hillary Clinton to Testify in Epstein Probe on Thursday, Bill Clinton on Friday (JTN)

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled Thursday to give her highly anticipated deposition in the House Oversight Committee’s probe into Jeffrey Epstein, followed by former President Bill Clinton on Friday. The depositions, which will take place in New York, come after a contentious negotiation between the Clintons’ attorneys and House Republicans, led by Oversight Committee Chair James Comer who pushed for in-person, recorded depositions rather than written testimony or declarations. The Clintons have not been accused of any wrongdoing and the depositions will be given behind closed doors in the couple’s hometown of Chappaqua.

“Hillary Clinton: ‘I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein.’”

Meanwhile, Epstein once said Hillary Clinton was “much prettier in person.”

No recollection, though. pic.twitter.com/xY3XnPCbpp
— Gina Milan (@ginamilan_) February 26, 2026
The depositions are unusual in two ways. The first is that Bill Clinton will be the first former president compelled to testify under subpoena in such an inquiry, and the second is that lawmakers from both parties appear ready to grill the couple.“The major thing is that we’re looking for truth, for the survivors, and justice and accountability, and that’s something that cuts across party lines,” Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin told The Hill. “At least on the Democratic side, we have said that anybody who was involved in criminal activity should pay the price for it.” Comer said Tuesday that he will release the video and transcript of the depositions as soon as the couple approves it.

“Attack a cop, go to jail” is not a radical slogan. It is the bare minimum required to maintain a functioning city.”

• Mamdani’s NYC Flirts With Chaos (Ben Shapiro)

A brutal cold snap has gripped New York City and much of the East Coast, freezing streets, sidewalks — and, it seems, any remaining sense of civic restraint.In Washington Square Park, a group of adults began hurling snowballs and other objects at responding officers from the New York City Police Department. This was not playful roughhousing in a winter storm. Video shows grown men and women — some masked, some standing brazenly in the open, all apparently confident that consequences would be minimal — pelting officers as they arrived on scene. That confidence is the problem.

Assaulting police officers is not a prank. It is not political theater. It is a crime. Every individual captured on video throwing objects at officers should be identified, arrested and charged accordingly. “Attack a cop, go to jail” is not a radical slogan. It is the bare minimum required to maintain a functioning city. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch responded swiftly, calling the conduct “disgraceful” and “criminal” and confirming that detectives are investigating. The city’s largest police union, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, issued a sharper warning: Officers were treated for injuries, but the matter cannot end there. Those responsible must be identified and charged, and city leaders must condemn the attack unequivocally. That last point is key.
Public attitudes toward law enforcement do not form in a vacuum. They are shaped, in no small part, by the rhetoric of elected officials. When political figures spend years portraying police as inherently suspect or malign, it should surprise no one when segments of the public begin treating officers as legitimate targets. Consider New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Long before taking office, he built a reputation as a sharp critic of policing practices. Words matter. Tone matters. The cumulative effect of constant denunciation is cultural erosion — an environment in which hostility toward police feels permissible, even fashionable.
We have seen versions of this before. After the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, national rhetoric around policing shifted dramatically. The 2020 wave of anti-police protests accelerated that shift. In many major cities, calls to “reimagine” or defund police departments moved from activist slogans into policy debates — and, in some cases, into actual governance. The result in too many places has been confusion about first principles. Law is only as effective as its enforcement. Order is not automatic; it is maintained. When elected leaders send mixed signals about whether officers deserve institutional backing, the public receives the message. And disorder follows.
The current cold emergency adds another layer to the debate. As temperatures plunged, the administration touted the deployment of more than 500 outreach workers across the five boroughs to connect homeless residents with services. The mayor suggested that several recent deaths appear to be related to overdoses rather than the direct result of exposure. But the distinction raises its own question: Why are so many people still sleeping on the streets at all? In extreme weather, cities have both the authority and, many would argue, the obligation to compel vulnerable individuals into shelter. Allowing people to remain outdoors — whether they ultimately succumb to cold or drugs — reflects policy choices.

Just one hacker, actually…

• So Hackers Just Stole Mexico’s Tax and Voter Rolls (Stephen Green)

This story doesn’t quite feature the gut-punch immediacy of Mexico’s drug war escalating into a virtual civil war last week in and around Puerto Vallarta, but as a glimpse into the future, maybe it ought to send a chill or three down your spine. According to a new Bloomberg story (paywalled, sorry), a weeks-long hacker campaign against the Mexican government culminated in January with a massive data theft of some of the federal government’s most sensitive information. “By the time it was over,” Let’s Data Science reported on Wednesday, “the attacker had stolen 150 gigabytes of sensitive data — including 195 million taxpayer records, voter registration files, government employee credentials, and civil registry data.”

If you’re thinking such a massive theft involved a team of hackers, years of planning involving a Stuxnet-like virus, or even physical access to Mexican government computer systems — think again. The almost unprecedented hack was done by just one guy. Using Anthropic’s Claude AI, despite all of Anthropic’s safeguards against something exactly like this.Summing up a report published Wednesday by Israeli cybersecurity startup Gambit Security, Bloomberg wrote that some “unknown Claude user” simply made up “Spanish-language prompts for the chatbot to act as an elite hacker, finding vulnerabilities in government networks, writing computer scripts to exploit them and determining ways to automate data theft.”
It seems like just two days ago [It was just two days ago, Steve —Editor] I wrote about Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei getting called onto the carpet by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth because the company refused to let the Pentagon remove Claude’s guardrails for military use. “Anthropic knows this is not a get-to-know-you meeting,” an anonymous War Department official told Axios on Monday. “This is not a friendly meeting,” they said. “This is a s**t-or-get-off-the-pot meeting.” So how did some internet rando get Claude to ignore similar built-in safeties against hacking? He asked: https://twitter.com/ns123abc/status/2026679645379141953
“It looks like the hacker was able to essentially jailbreak Claude with prompts, finally bypassing the chatbot’s guardrails. Claude originally refused the nefarious demands until eventually relenting,” Engadget reported on Wednesday. Nobody had to hack Claude to turn the AI into a malicious hacker. They just had to get the phrasing right until Claude did the job itself. Gambit claimed that “In total, [Claude] produced thousands of detailed reports that included ready-to-execute plans, telling the human operator exactly which internal targets to attack next and what credentials to use.”
Going back to that Bloomberg story, an Anthropic spokesperson told the outlet that “the company feeds examples of malicious activity back into Claude to learn from it, and one of its latest AI models, Claude Opus 4.6, includes probes that can disrupt misuse.” But Anthropic made similar claims about the current version, too.

Legalizing 500,000 aliens in one fell swoop is more then Spain can handle.

• Spain’s Government: Spinning Out of Control (Drieu Godefridi)

Between corruption and radicalization, Spain’s government seems to be spinning out of control.
In 1936, Spain plunged into civil war. A proud nation collapsed into violence, fire, and devastation. The Spanish Civil War, which set a communist-dominated Republican left against an authoritarian nationalist right, claimed roughly half a million lives. Priests were dragged through the streets, beaten, and mutilated — ears, noses, even genitals cut off — before being shot or having their throats slit. Nuns were raped prior to execution, in cases documented across several regions. Churches were set ablaze with priests still inside. In many towns, militiamen forced clergy to drink motor oil or gasoline before burning them alive. Spain’s right wing, not to be outdone, killed just as many.
Almost a century later, when one might have hoped that these wounds had finally healed, political and cultural fault lines are reopening. Polarization has reached levels rarely seen since Spain’s transition to democracy.
1. The original trauma of the Spanish left
The Spanish Civil War, in Spain’s collective memory, remains an open wound. For a significant portion of the Spanish “left” — standing for workers’ rights, a shorter work week, women’s and transgender rights, reducing carbon emissions — the dominant narrative remains that of a revolution betrayed, confiscated by fascism, and still pending, never repaired. This historical resentment has been transmitted from generation to generation like an act of faith. Today, under the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his coalition, which governs with the support of the extreme-left, this resentment is resurfacing in the form of historical revisionism.
By constantly summoning the specters of the past — going so far as to exhume Francisco Franco’s remains, in a direct evocation of civil-war-era practices, when communists gleefully desecrated the graves of their so-called “class enemies” — is the left not in danger of reviving the hatreds and violence of the past?
2. A left without a compass: ideological orphanhood
Spain’s left is becoming more radical precisely because it has run out of ideas. Marxism, long the doctrinal backbone of the global left, lost all credibility with the implosion of the USSR, amid the stench of cabbage and corpses. Spain is no exception. Stripped of this ideological foundation, the Spanish left now finds itself without a compass.Before the July 2023 elections, Sánchez promised a bold progressive agenda: mass public housing construction, reducing the working week to 37.5 hours, large minimum wage hikes, slashing healthcare waiting lists with binding maximum times, free public transport for youth, and expanded public education. Critically, delivery on these massive flagship promises has been dismal to date: virtually no new public housing built, prices soaring, the work-week reduction defeated in parliament, real wages eroded by inflation, and chronic healthcare waiting lists unchanged.
Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), once anchored in moderate, reformist social democracy, has gradually shifted toward a strategy of sheer political survival. To remain in power, it allied itself first with Podemos and then with Sumar—two extreme left-wing parties obsessed with supporting Palestinians, against NATO, and soft on Russia — as well as with separatist movements. In doing so, the PSOE diluted its original moderate reformist vision through blatant opportunism, sacrificing doctrinal coherence in favor of questionable alliances.
3. A patchwork of incoherent dogmas
Deprived of Marxism, the Spanish left has sought refuge in a disparate ideological mosaic: radical environmentalism, complicit indulgence toward political Islam, the dismantling of borders, unconditional support for the Palestinians against Israel – all stacked together into an improbable and incoherent magma. Added to this are recurring undertones of anti-Semitism in left-wing discourse — one thinks in particular of Yolanda Díaz, seemingly a figure of clinical hysteria, whose face visibly contorts the moment she pronounces the word “Israeli.” By radicalizing itself across every issue, the left fuels the anger of the right, the middle classes, and a growing segment of the population that feels marginalized, despised, and alienated within its own country.
4. A regime corrupt to the core?
The Sánchez government has another reason for aligning with jihadists: the corruption scandals that have engulfed even the prime minister’s immediate family. First comes the Koldo-Ábalos scandal involving irregular public contracts, illegal commissions, and bribes linked to public-works contracts, totaling several hundred million euros. Several figures are particularly implicated. Former Minister of Transport José Luis Ábalos, a close ally of Sánchez, is in pre-trial detention for criminal organization, corruption, embezzlement, and influence peddling.

Koldo García, Ábalos’s former adviser, is a central figure in the scheme. He too is in pre-trial detention and under prosecution. Santos Cerdán, former secretary of organization of the PSOE and Ábalos’s successor, is under investigation and was detained for corruption in public-works contracts. The Civil Guard is examining 22 contracts, worth €355 million, that were allegedly manipulated by favoritism. Added to this are the cases involving Sánchez’s own family. Begoña Gómez, his wife, was formally charged with influence peddling, corruption in business, embezzlement of public funds, misappropriation, and illegally practicing a regulated profession, in a case that was opened in April 2024. In August 2025, the probe was extended to include her advisor Cristina Álvarez.

The investigation into Gómez has been extended until at least April 2026 and continues with active measures, including February 2026 requests to the Interior Ministry for travel records of Gómez and Álvarez since 2018 (covering destinations such as the Dominican Republic, Congo, Guinea, and Russia), access to emails, and Civil Guard reports.David Sánchez, the prime minister’s brother, is also being prosecuted, for influence peddling and malfeasance in connection with his employment at the Badajoz Provincial Council. “The prime minister faces multiple legal challenges this year that could lead to the downfall of his family, his party, and his government,” summarizes Spanish daily El Mundo.[..]

For now, it seems AI is whatever you want it to be …

• Even the Best AI Scenario Is the End of Everything We’ve Ever Been (Ring)

In 1999, I had the privilege of working for one of the first companies to develop a product that would transmit video on the fledgling internet. Broadband access was still a few years away, and the company floundered when the first so-called internet bubble burst in early 2000. But I’ll never forget the reaction an investor had when he viewed our demo at a tradeshow. “This is a revolution,” he exclaimed. “This is going to change everything.” He was right, of course. I remember attending a tech investor conference only a few years earlier and having a chuckle while listening to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison somberly proclaim that the dawning internet was the most profound scientific development in human history “since the invention of fire.”

And Ellison was also correct. But the invention of AI is to the internet what the internet was to bringing fire into the prehistoric cave. What’s coming with AI makes the internet look like a baby step by comparison. Nothing will ever be the same. A must-read essay by AI entrepreneur and founder of the company “OthersideAI,” Matt Shumer, makes clear just how much and how quickly AI is changing our lives. Posted on his personal website on February 9 and then on X on February 10, the essay has gone viral. Within just two days, it generated 76 million views on X.One of Shumer’s most memorable paragraphs from this essay, which he says AI tools helped him write, is where he quotes Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic:
“Imagine it’s 2027. A new country appears overnight. 50 million citizens, every one smarter than any Nobel Prize winner who has ever lived. They think 10 to 100 times faster than any human. They never sleep. They can use the internet, control robots, direct experiments, and operate anything with a digital interface.” That’s not far off. With ample evidence, Shumer explains how not only is Amodei correct in his details regarding just how pervasive and powerful AI entities will become, but also regarding the timeline. This will happen within one year. Shumer’s essay covers a lot of ground. He explains that AI programs are now capable of generating improved versions of themselves with minimal human intervention and that they are within months of being able to produce more powerful versions with no human involvement whatsoever.
In the programming world, AI can now build, test, and refine apps independently. Entry-level programming jobs are going to go away. That’s hardly the end of it. Shumer reminds readers that the free versions of AI are a year behind the premium versions that require subscriptions and that these premium versions are so capable that they can already, for example, not merely replace a law associate but do the work of the managing partners. He claims there is no intellectual field where AI isn’t poised to outperform humans and that robots to displace physical work are only a few years behind. If you’ve been following developments in AI, Shumer’s essay isn’t incredibly surprising.
But something else grabbed me a few days ago that highlighted the human implications of the AI revolution. One of the categories of content I enjoy on YouTube is videos of musicians performing new or classic songs. It is exhilarating to find something new that reveals great songwriting and great performative talent. So a recommended video caught my eye. The title was inviting: “Simon Cowell in Tears As Michael Bennett Sings ‘After I Pass Away.’” This seemed worth clicking on. I’ll never forget the 2007 video, featured on YouTube at the time, of a humble mobile phone salesman, Paul Potts, who stunned the judges and audience on Britain’s Got Talent by singing a powerful and nearly perfect rendition of Nessun Dorma. He went on to win the competition. So if this new talent was good enough to make Simon Cowell cry, I wanted to hear him.

Elon Musk: We might just be the biological bootloader for digital superintelligence.

“They call it the singularity for a reason, because we don't know what's going to happen. In the not-too-distant future, the percentage of intelligence that is human will be quite small. At some… pic.twitter.com/xzM8xPt2nD
— ELON CLIPS (@ElonClipsX) February 26, 2026

The most terrifying AI features aren’t the ones we build.

They’re the ones AI builds for itself.

OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger just shared the moment he realized something had fundamentally changed.

He sent his AI assistant a voice message.

One problem. He had never… pic.twitter.com/xR0tKrsLDc
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) February 26, 2026

⚠️ BREAKING GRAVITY: Col. Douglas Macgregor warns — Iran WILL NOT SURRENDER!
This is not just another conflict. "For Iran, this is an existential war."

"They will not submit." Col. Douglas Macgregor ( @DougAMacgregor) says, "They [Iran] will not recognize Israeli”… pic.twitter.com/2Rx7jnIyEj
— Daniel Davis Deep Dive (@DanielLDavis1) February 25, 2026

This is Israel’s last chance to blow up Iran with America’s military, so naturally the neocons have reached peak hysteria. Clayton Morris on what happens if they get their wish. pic.twitter.com/bOtvzixvmv
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 26, 2026

https://twitter.com/argosaki/status/2026873941386801458?s=20

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

Debt Rattle September 29 2025

Sep 292025

September 29, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:21 am Finance Tagged with: Charlie Kirk, Christopher Wray, FBI, James Comey, JD Vance, Kash Patel, Patriot missile, Trump 33 Responses »

René Magritte Sixteenth of September 1956

• John Mearsheimer On Trump Passing The Buck To Europe (ZH)

• UK Journalist Blows Holes In Western Myths About Russia (RT)

• Vance Calls On Russia To ‘Wake Up’ And Accept Reality (RT)

• Vance Claims Russia ‘Refused’ Meetings With Trump (RT)

• US Considering Tomahawks For Ukraine – Vance (RT)

• Ukraine ‘Unlikely’ To Regain Territory Lost To Russia – Independent (RT)

• Zelensky Confirms Israel Sent Patriot Missile Battery To Ukraine

• Kash Patel On Why There Were 100s of FBI Agents on the Hill on January 6 (Vespa)

• Kash Patel Accuses Christopher Wray of Lying to Congress About Capitol Riot (Margolis)

• Is the Fix Already in to Protect James Comey? (Margolis)

• While Men Wonder, ‘What Can I Do?’ They Already Know (Tim O’brien)

• We Now Have a 4th Theory of Charlie Kirk’s Assassination (Paul Craig Roberts)

A grand jury in a very liberal jurisdiction decided that the evidence warranted charges against James Comey.

He'll go to trial & a jury of his peers will decide whether he is guilty.

So I'll just say what Comey said when Trump was indicted, "It's a good day for the rule of law" pic.twitter.com/eprv0QaEIT

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) September 28, 2025

https://twitter.com/Bubblebathgirl/status/1972292337427738821

Two Russian hypersonic missiles struck Ukraine’s Starokostyantyniv airbase, destroying five US-supplied F-16s, Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles, along with NATO instructors and targeting crews, in a wave of intensified airstrikes.

According to a Ukrainian Telegram channel from the… pic.twitter.com/pdSeF8YFEv

— Richard (@ricwe123) September 28, 2025

https://twitter.com/JasonJournoDC/status/1972334411229057323

Bill Maher is just one hoax away, January 6th, from giving up on Democrats.

• Few weapons reported
• Trespassing isn’t enough for insurrection
• No formal insurrection charges filed
• No evidence of widespread intent@ScottAdamsSays “I believe he’s fully capable of escaping… pic.twitter.com/wrduJvbm76

— jay plemons (@jayplemons) September 28, 2025

https://twitter.com/SilentlySirs/status/1972382218480922969

A very rare clear head and voice.

• John Mearsheimer On Trump Passing The Buck To Europe (ZH)

Professor John J. Mearsheimer’s now famous 2014 hour-and-fifteen minute lecture on how NATO led Ukraine down the primrose path, once it was popularly ‘discovered’ on YouTube after the Russian invasion of 2022, has since racked up several tens of millions of views. We wrote about his insights and forecasts in Mearsheimer’s Ukraine Crystal Ball as well as his 2024 talk on “Social Engineering At The End Of A Rifle Barrel”. And now in 2025 more and more people continue to say: John Mearsheimer was right, and his analysis continues to be accurate as ever.

In his latest appearance on “Judging Freedom”, he talked with the Judge about Trump’s famous Truth Social tweet where the president subtly said that the US is turning responsibility for the Ukraine war to the Europeans and Ukraine, while at the same time he is going to great lengths as the war goes south to protect himself against the charge he “lost Ukraine.” Mearsheimer and Judge Napolitano also discussed the roots of America’s harmful relationship with Israel and Tucker Carlson’s comment that Netanyahu has been telling others that “I control the United States.” Trump insists he has long been seeking to wind down the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, but what’s really going on behind the scenes. Watch the foremost realism foreign policy expert of our time unpack it…

As a reminder, here’s what Trump wrote on Truth Social regarding the future of the Ukraine crisis this week, ‘stunning’ some European officials while unleashing an avalanche of speculation over what precisely he meant.

“Believe it or not, Russia is great..”

• UK Journalist Blows Holes In Western Myths About Russia (RT)

British journalist and commentator James Delingpole has shared a provocative account of his recent visit to Moscow, painting a picture of Russia that sharply contrasts with the prevailing negative tone in the Western media. In an essay subtitled “Believe it or not, Russia is great,” published in the UK political and cultural weekly The Spectator earlier this week, Delingpole describes how an invitation from a Russian Orthodox archbishop, an avid listener of his podcast, set the stage for his journey. The columnist admits that many friends and family members considered the trip reckless, some even warning he might be trailed by Russian intelligence or struck by a drone. But instead of a hostile or oppressive environment, he encountered a country that defied many of his expectations.

Delingpole praises Moscow’s clean and safe streets, efficient public transport, and the warmth and dignity of its inhabitants. The award-winning journalist also reflects on the deep spirituality and traditions upheld by the Russian Orthodox Church, drawing a sharp contrast with what he views as the West’s drift into secularism and aggressive progressivism. One part of the essay focuses on Moldova, where he claims the Orthodox Church is facing persecution by pro-EU authorities. Delingpole argues that Western support for such governments often leads to the suppression of conservative religious voices, particularly those opposing gay marriage, LGBT parades or abortion. The writer recounts small but meaningful moments from his trip, such as a local woman teaching him the proper way to cross himself, and the honor of venerating a saint’s relics offered as a gesture of hospitality.

“Though I’m not planning on abandoning my Anglican parish in Northamptonshire, with its six or seven picturesque medieval churches and its Book of Common Prayer communion services, I do find the mysteries of Orthodoxy awfully seductive,” Delingpole noted. The essay does not touch upon any aspects of Russian politics, but does challenge readers to reconsider blanket narratives concerning the country. The author suggests that in condemning everything associated with Russia, the West may “be in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”

Where did he come from? Trump tired?

• Vance Calls On Russia To ‘Wake Up’ And Accept Reality (RT)

US Vice President J.D. Vance has called on Moscow to “’wake up and accept reality,” claiming that Russia has little “to show for” its military effort in the Ukraine conflict. His words echo those of President Donald Trump, who has recently also changed his rhetoric on the issue by stating that Kiev could defeat Moscow. For months, Washington insisted that Kiev would need to give up on certain territorial claims for a US-mediated peace deal with Moscow to move forward. This week, however, the US President made a U-turn by dismissing Russia as a “paper tiger” and urging Kiev to “act.” Vance called on Moscow to sit down at the negotiating table in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.

The US would “keep on working for peace, and we hope the Russians actually wake up to the reality on the ground,” he stated while largely repeating Trump’s recent arguments. According to the vice president, Moscow’s forces have “really stalled” and “don’t have much territorial gain to show for” their efforts, with the Russian economy allegedly “in shambles.” Moscow has repeatedly stated it is open to a peaceful resolution of the hostilities at any time but has maintained that any deal must address the roots of the conflict and respect the realities on the ground. This includes the status of the former Ukrainian territories that joined Russia after public referendums.

Contrary to recent statements by both Trump and Vance, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Thursday that its forces have taken control of 4,700 square kilometers and 205 settlements this year alone. The Russian economy has also been demonstrating steady growth over the past few years despite the pressure of unprecedented Western sanctions. The nation’s GDP grew by 4.1% in 2023 and by 4.3% in 2024. Although a slowdown is expected this year, it is still projected to grow by 2.5%. The Kremlin had earlier responded to Trump’s original remarks by saying that Russia is traditionally associated with a bear rather than a tiger and there is “no such thing as a paper bear.”

https://twitter.com/rinalu_/status/1972353752800657510

They want them well-prepared.

• Vance Claims Russia ‘Refused’ Meetings With Trump (RT)

The Russian side has refused trilateral meetings with US President Donald Trump and representatives from Ukraine, US Vice President J.D. Vance claimed in an interview with Fox News on Sunday. Trump has increasingly expressed impatience with the pace of Ukraine peace talks. The Kremlin says Kiev has demonstrated that it is not interested in peace by sticking to megaphone diplomacy and ignoring Russian settlement proposals. “Unfortunately, what we have seen over the last couple weeks, the Russians have refused to sit down with any bilateral meetings with the Ukrainians,” Vance told Fox News.

“They have refused to sit down with any trilateral meetings, where the president or some other member of the administration could sit down with the Russians and the Ukrainians,” he added. According to Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to meet Trump if the US leader chooses to take up the invitation and visit Moscow. The offer was extended shortly after their summit in Alaska in August. “This invitation still stands,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Sunday. “Putin is ready and will be glad to meet President Trump. It will then all depend on Trump’s decision.”

However, a meeting with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky would first require the peace talks to make some headway, Moscow has argued. An “unprepared” meeting with Zelensky would amount to “a PR-stunt doomed to failure,” Peskov said on Wednesday. Moscow has maintained that it is ready and willing to settle the Ukraine conflict via diplomatic means.

“The missiles have a range of up to 2,500km and can be equipped with nuclear warheads.”

If they can, you must presume they do.

• US Considering Tomahawks For Ukraine – Vance (RT)

The US is considering making long-range Tomahawk missiles available for Ukraine, Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News on Sunday. Several Western news media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and The Telegraph, previously reported that Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky specifically requested the missiles during a meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last week. According to the WSJ, Trump did not oppose the idea and was also open to lifting restrictions on Kiev’s use of US-made weapons for strikes deep into Russian territory, but made no specific commitments during the meeting. The president was previously against giving Tomahawks to Ukraine, according to Axios.

“We’re certainly looking at it,” Vance said when asked if Washington is considering selling the missiles to other NATO members so that they could be handed over to Kiev. When further pressed on the issue of a potential escalation that could follow such a step, Vance said that Trump would ultimately determine Washington’s course of action. The US president’s special envoy, Keith Kellogg, who also talked to Fox News on Sunday, said that “the decision has not been made,” while confirming that Zelensky did ask Trump for Tomahawks. The missiles have a range of up to 2,500km and can be equipped with nuclear warheads. Moscow has repeatedly warned that Western arms supplies to Kiev will not change the situation on the front line and only risk further escalation, potentially leading to a direct conflict between Russia and NATO.

In November 2024, President Vladimir Putin cautioned that “the regional conflict in Ukraine provoked by the West has assumed elements of a global nature,” and warned of a backlash if tensions escalate further. His comments came after Kiev launched several strikes using US-made ATACMS and HIMARS systems, as well as British-made Storm Shadow missiles, deep inside Russian territory after receiving the green light from its Western backers. The Kremlin also warned that “reckless decisions” of Western nations supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles cannot be left unanswered.

“..he did not even entirely understand what Zelensky was “actually talking about.”

• Ukraine ‘Unlikely’ To Regain Territory Lost To Russia – Independent (RT)

Kiev is in no position to reclaim the former Ukrainian regions it lost to Russia without the active participation of its NATO backers, The Independent has reported, citing a group of experts. Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump claimed that the country could potentially win back the territory it lays claim to. The US president likened Russia to a “paper tiger” and said it was “time for Ukraine to act” in a post on Truth Social that was praised by Vladimir Zelensky. However, the experts approached by The Independent poured cold water on Kiev’s hopes. Ukraine would need its NATO backers to provide it with an effective “sky shield” and long-range weapons if it hopes to overpower Russia, according to John Lough, the head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Center.

“It doesn’t really look realistic unless Russia can be crippled economically,” he added. Emil Kastehelmi, a military analyst at Black Bird Group, a Finnish open-source intelligence project, called such a prospect nearly unimaginable. “I do not find it possible, under the current circumstances, that Ukraine would be able to take all of its land back,” he told The Independent, adding that such an “immense task” would require the direct participation of NATO nations. He also questioned recent statements by Zelensky about an offensive in the Donetsk People’s Republic, where the Ukrainian leader claimed Kiev’s troops had thwarted a major Russian attack.

“The amount of land that he’s saying has been taken back seems to be over-exaggerated,” the analyst said, adding that he did not even entirely understand what Zelensky was “actually talking about.” Contrary to Trump’s “paper tiger” claims, the Russian Defense Ministry has been reporting steady advances in recent months, particularly in the Donetsk People’s Republic. Russian forces have taken control of 4,700 square kilometers and 205 settlements this year, it reported on Thursday. Earlier this month, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Aleksandr Syrsky also admitted that Russia was superior on the front line, with its troops prevailing in all key areas.

.

What good are Patriots vs hypersonics?

• Zelensky Confirms Israel Sent Patriot Missile Battery To Ukraine

It was a surprised announcement, given that for over three years of the Ukraine war, Israel has been persistent in resisting calls to send arms to Israel, given it is more concerned with keeping its delicate relations with Moscow positive. Until now it had only sent non-lethal and humanitarian aid. Also, Russia has long maintained a military presence on the Mediterranean, along Syria’s coast. But times have changed, and Russia could be packing up its Syrian naval and air bases, given the December overthrow of its ally Assad and the Jolani regime being installed in Damascus. Moscow is suddenly left with less leverage in the region, and has pivoted to growing closer with Iran, which has supplied it with kamikaze drones used in Ukraine.

It likely rubbed Tel Aviv the wrong way seeing Russia deepen its economic, defense, and technological cooperation with Iran, so in light of all of this it has softened its resistance to arming Ukraine. Back in June, Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky was the first to let slip that Patriot systems would protect Ukrainian cities, which was a risk given it has angered Russia. Yet the Ukrainian government had never officially acknowledged this. But to get US-supplied Patriots to Ukraine, there’s been some trickery and serious diplomatic maneuvering involved in order to make it appear all very ‘indirect’ – in part to prevent Israel from provoking too much wrath out of Moscow. Back in May, the NY Times presented how the scheme would work:

A Patriot air-defense system that was based in Israel will be sent to Ukraine after it is refurbished, four current and former U.S. officials said in recent days, and Western allies are discussing the logistics of Germany or Greece giving another one. The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, declined to describe President Trump’s view of the decision to transfer more Patriot systems to Ukraine. And Kyiv Post has newly acknowledged, “The deployment confirmed an intricate plan, first reported by US media in May, that involved Washington requesting that Israel return an older Patriot system for refurbishment before it was routed to Kyiv.”

Zelensky proposes new plan of defeating Russia: He tells EU to stop buying Russian oil and gas as part of "total sanctions" in order to create "hunger riots," which would change Russia. Does he believe this himself? pic.twitter.com/Ga1lVBaPMb

— Ivan Katchanovski (@I_Katchanovski) September 27, 2025

Ukraine is seeking to establish a layered permanent defensive air shield based on advanced systems provided by the West. The Trump administration has largely put the brakes on simply donating arms directly, but wants Europe and allies to foot the bill and make the transfers.

“Agents were sent into a crowd control mission after the riot was declared by Metro Police – something that goes against FBI standards..”

• Kash Patel On Why There Were 100s of FBI Agents on the Hill on January 6 (Vespa)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been cagey regarding its activities on January 6. The allegation that undercover operatives were embedded in the crowd during the riot isn’t tin foil hat material—the bureau admitted it. The inspector general tried to deny it, but there was no spinning this. The FBI had agents on the ground, some of whom entered the Capitol Building. Now, we’ve learned that there were hundreds of agents on the ground this week, around 275. FBI Director Kash Patel had to clarify what the FBI was doing over the weekend, and former FBI Director Chris Wray might be hauled before Congress again. Mr. Patel said that agents were dispatched for crowd control (via Fox News):

“The FBI responded on Saturday to a report that 274 plainclothes agents were at the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, clarifying the role of bureau personnel while still blasting former Director Christopher Wray. While the agents were on hand, they were sent in after the riot had begun to try to control the unruly crowd, officials told Fox News Digital. That is not the proper role of FBI agents, and Wray was not forthcoming about what happened when he testified numerous times on Capitol Hill, Director Kash Patel said. “Agents were sent into a crowd control mission after the riot was declared by Metro Police – something that goes against FBI standards,” Patel told Fox News Digital. “This was the failure of a corrupt leadership that lied to Congress and to the American people about what really happened.” He added, “Thanks to agents coming forward, we are now uncovering the truth. We are fully committed to transparency, and justice and accountability continues with this FBI.”

[…]
Wray told a House Committee on Nov. 15, 2023, “If you are asking if the violence at the Capitol was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources or agents, the answer is no,” but he wouldn’t disclose if any agents or sources were embedded within the crowd.” So, did Wray lie to Congress? It might be time to ask him some more questions.

“..only showed up after Capitol Police begged for help with crowd control—a job agents resented because they aren’t trained for it..”

• Kash Patel Accuses Christopher Wray of Lying to Congress About Capitol Riot (Margolis)

The narrative that January 6 was purely an organic riot keeps collapsing under the weight of new revelations. For years, the left branded anyone who suggested the FBI had undercover operatives in the crowd a conspiracy theorist. Now, the bureau has admitted it. The inspector general tried to soft-pedal it but couldn’t—FBI agents were on the ground, and some even entered the Capitol Building. This week’s disclosure was even more stunning: about 274 agents were operating on January 6. That’s not “a few.” That’s a coordinated presence. Over the weekend, FBI Director Kash Patel offered some clarification about this new revelation, and there may be implications for former Director Chris Wray. According to a report from Fox News Digital, the bureau now claims its personnel showed up only after the chaos started and handled “crowd control.”

But here’s the problem: that’s not the job of FBI agents. The bureau isn’t a riot squad, and Patel called out the excuse directly. He also reminded everyone that Wray wasn’t honest when he testified on Capitol Hill—he concealed key facts about the bureau’s actions, and that deception continues to hang over his record. “Agents were sent into a crowd control mission after the riot was declared by Metro Police – something that goes against FBI standards,” Patel said. “This was the failure of a corrupt leadership that lied to Congress and to the American people about what really happened.” Patel added, “Thanks to agents coming forward, we are now uncovering the truth. We are fully committed to transparency, and justice and accountability continues with this FBI.”

There’s no indication any FBI agents were involved in any events related to Trump’s speech on the morning of Jan. 6 at the Ellipse, an FBI official told Fox News Digital, adding that Wray should have disclosed that agents were there when he was asked by congressional leaders. President Donald Trump, citing a report that the agents were in the crowd which did not make clear their mission, said earlier that Wray, “has some major explaining to do.” “It was just revealed that the FBI had secretly placed, against all Rules, Regulations, Protocols, and Standards, 274 FBI Agents into the Crowd just prior to, and during, the January 6th Hoax,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday afternoon following a report from The Blaze, revealing the number of agents that were there.

Trump added, “This is different from what Director Christopher Wray stated, over and over again! That’s right, as it now turns out, FBI Agents were at, and in, the January 6th Protest, probably acting as Agitators and Insurrectionists, but certainly not as ‘Law Enforcement Officials.’” The president said he wanted to know each officer’s identity and what they were doing at the U.S. Capitol. “Many Great American Patriots were made to pay a very big price only for the love of their Country,” he said, referring to Trump supporters who faced charges for their involvement on Jan. 6.

A December report from DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz insisted there were no undercover FBI agents in the crowds that day, though he admitted there were informants, including three directed by the FBI. The bureau claims its agents only showed up after Capitol Police begged for help with crowd control—a job agents resented because they aren’t trained for it. According to officials, the first FBI personnel didn’t even arrive until after 2:30 p.m., well after the chaos had begun.

“The deep state isn’t afraid of justice—they’re afraid of accountability.”

• Is the Fix Already in to Protect James Comey? (Margolis)

The swamp never wastes time protecting its own, and James Comey is no exception. The disgraced former FBI director, who has finally been indicted for lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding, is already benefiting from the familiar playbook: put the right judge in place, create an appearance of fairness, and then quietly shield him from any real accountability. On Thursday, following the grand jury indictment, Comey’s case was “randomly” assigned to U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff. In 2021, Joe Biden nominated Nachmanoff, and the Senate confirmed him to the federal bench with a razor-thin 52-46 vote, as three Senate Republicans — Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski — crossed over to support his confirmation. If you believe that selecting Nachmanoff to preside over this case was truly random, then you haven’t been paying attention.

Washington’s so-called “random assignments” seem to have a funny way of putting the most Trump-hostile judges on politically charged cases. Take Judge James Boasberg, a Barack Obama appointee, who just happened to land multiple Trump-related cases. Every single time, Boasberg ruled in ways that stretched or outright ignored constitutional boundaries to work against Trump. Yet, somehow, we’re supposed to believe these assignments are pure chance. Sure. Judge Nachmanoff’s résumé doesn’t exactly inspire confidence either. Before becoming a magistrate judge for six years, he spent over a decade working as a federal public defender. That’s a career steeped in finding loopholes, bending rules, and negotiating ways to avoid accountability for defendants. He also defended al Qaeda member Zacarias Moussaoui.

And now he’s tasked with presiding over perhaps the most politically sensitive case since the Trump-Russia debacle that Comey himself helped orchestrate. It has all the makings of yet another judicial performance meant not to obtain justice, but to wash Comey clean. Comey himself is projecting confidence, even smugness. After his indictment, he declared, “I’m not afraid,” clearly confident of his inevitable vindication. Of course he’s not afraid—why would he be? He knows exactly how the swamp game works: the very corrupt institutions that targeted Trump are now circling the wagons to protect him. Washington knows that convicting Comey would mean vindicating Trump’s long-standing claims of a deep-state sabotage. They’ll never allow that because it would expose years of abuse and corruption.

Let’s not forget how deep the animosity runs. Comey’s feud with Trump dates back to 2017 when Trump fired him for insubordination and dishonesty. From there, Comey reinvented himself as the loudest of Trump’s critics, playing the role of “principled public servant” while running cover for the FBI’s disastrous handling of the 2016 campaign and the Russia hoax. I guess we should have seen this coming. The Washington swamp protects its own. James Comey presided over one of the darkest abuses of power in modern American politics, weaponizing the FBI against a duly elected president. Now, as he faces the charges he should have faced years ago, the establishment is already stacking the deck in his favor. The deep state isn’t afraid of justice—they’re afraid of accountability. And once again, it looks like the fix is in.

“We can no longer afford to give a free pass to the people who are engineering the destruction of America as we know it. “It’s time.”

• While Men Wonder, ‘What Can I Do?’ They Already Know (Tim O’brien)

Scott Adams, the Dilbert cartoonist and now “cancelled” conservative podcaster, signaled a broad imperative on his podcast in the days prior to the 2024 presidential election. He said, “Men, it’s time.” He said men would know what he meant, and he was correct. He realized that not all men in America were listening to him and waiting for his instructions, but he knew that enough of them were listening and did hear his rallying cry. He acknowledged that his audience was both male and female, but his message was for the men. He said he had a strong feeling about what men in America were pondering at that moment in America’s history. He pointed to how nature shapes men in their responses to threats or danger, and that biology instinctively drives them to assume the role of protector.

Paraphrasing Adams here, he said essentially that men will wait until the threat can no longer be ignored and the obligation to respond can no longer be ignored. Of course, none of this ignores the fact that conservative women were seeing the same things, going through something very similar at the same time, and responding in their own way. Just prior to the election, Adams said men in America now saw where the country was headed and that a Kamala Harris victory would put America on a path to a very dark place. Action had to be taken now. Men throughout America knew they had a responsibility to respond. They had to flat-out reject the left’s propaganda and the eft’s definition of “the new normal.” They didn’t need Adams or someone like him to tell them what to do or what to see. They already innately knew, Adams said. They just needed a nudge: “It’s time.”

During the Republican National Convention in July of 2024, the CNN analysts were discussing the speaker line-up the night when Kid Rock, wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, and UFC President Dana White took the stage. The pundits didn’t know what to make of it. That’s when Chris Wallace piped up and said, “A lot of testosterone tonight.” He was right. After the attempted assassination of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, you started to see people, but particularly young men, unapologetically wearing their MAGA hats outside of just those Trump rallies. Increasingly, you’d see them in stores, on the beach, or at your kid’s baseball game. “Bro humor” broke out, and it became acceptable to mercilessly ridicule the cover-up of Joe Biden’s mental incompetence and the steady diet of word salads Kamala Harris was serving up. No amount of Barack Obama’s finger-wagging, aimed particularly at young black men, could resonate.

Across demographics, enough men knew what to do and they did it. They did what guys do when they get motivated. They spoke their minds. They laughed at what needed to be laughed at, especially while taking it seriously. They openly rejected stupidity and things that lacked common sense. In the process, a contagion was unleashed. Most men caught it, but again, especially young men. No more disengagement. No more looking the other way. No more playing along to get along, as men often do. Instead, men in general made a collective decision: “We are not tolerating the BS anymore. We reject the lies, the dictates, the nonsensical new woke protocols in society. All of it.”They pushed b ack at every turn. In personal conversations, in texts, on social media, in bars and restaurants, with family and friends, on the golf course, in the gym, and at work. They just quit overlooking it and letting it go.

They wore those MAGA hats where “polite company” doesn’t do that. They went to Trump rallies and other events. They tuned into Joe Rogan, Theo Von and other podcasters who interviewed Trump. They registered to vote and voted.They put Donald Trump over the top in a big way. Since then, many have gone back to their old ways, disengaging from politics, going back to watching sports, going to work, coaching their kids’ teams, and cutting the grass. Like their better halves, they work, they pay taxes, and they raise families. And besides, politics does not consume them. But now different things are happening. Strange things. Things that weren’t on the calendar like an election date was in 2024. Violent transgender and leftist killers have started to shoot up schools and churches with more frequency. Unsuspecting young women are being attacked and killed in places like light rail transit cars, and no one is helping.

A Christian bridge builder was assassinated for trying to go to the opposition to build dialogue. To make matters worse, he has been smeared online, in the halls of Congress, and in the media after death. ICE officers just trying to do their jobs are being targeted and told by Democrat politicians and leftist mobs to take off their masks so they can be personally doxed and targeted. While the left likes to pretend it hates guns, the gun has become its weapon of choice when trying to kill free speech, kill conservative momentum, and kill commonsense governing policies that people democratically voted for. Policies that are committed to deporting illegal immigrants; policies that affirm that men are men and women are women; policies that recognize my family and I have a right to speak, a right to hear, and a right to be safe in our own community

Those same men Scott Adams was talking to last year are now well aware of this vibe shift in the country. Now, with the women in their lives, they’re watching. They’re looking for something, some indicator that once again the threat can no longer be ignored and that they must do something. But what to do? The answer is pretty simple and nothing we haven’t done before. We need to reject the BS, the excuses, and the victim-blaming when the victims don’t fit the leftist narrative. There must be zero tolerance for violence in all forms, even if it means overwhelming that violence through bolstered law enforcement and federal resources as in Washington, D.C. Men now see the threat and know it won’t go away on its own or just because we voted on election day. Unlike 2024, this is not a battle for votes’ it’s a battle for the culture. We know this.

Deep down, we know we have to do what we did before. Women and men. We must call out the instigators openly and unapologetically. Hold them to account. Laugh at those who need to be laughed at and trivialize what needs to be trivialized, all the while taking the left very seriously. Whether we’re on a transit car or in a public space, we know that if something happens, we have to step up. We have no choice. Men have to get involved. This battle will be won in the course of our daily routines. At parent-teacher meetings, in school board meetings, by speaking up in everyday conversations or through firm but reasonable social media activity. In all cases, all of us must reject leftist hate in all forms, such as by boycotting weaselly late-night comedians. We need to reject what has now become serious political and religious persecution. We must refuse to let woke dictates and protocols rule.

We must refuse to let the left’s distorted version of reality become reality. Back in New York City after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, law enforcement came up with a catchy saying that is relevant right now: If you see something, say something. That’s where we are. When we see something that isn’t right, whether it feels like an immediate threat, or one that if allowed to stand will add to the decline of our culture, we have a duty to do something or say something. Nothing will change unless we, and millions like us, do the same. Men can’t leave it to the government, to the Trump administration, or to their wives. They must be present and accounted for. We can no longer afford to give a free pass to the people who are engineering the destruction of America as we know it. “It’s time.”

Not a complete story. Video hardly accessible.

• We Now Have a 4th Theory of Charlie Kirk’s Assassination (Paul Craig Roberts)

“There is now video evidence that is extremely compelling that Charlie Kirk was fitted with an explosive lavalier mic, attached to his T-shirt that fired a small caliber projectile through the right side of his neck, creating a bloody exit wound on his neck’s left side. The mini-explosion under Charlie’s shirt caused a momentary ballooning of the shirt and smoke coming from under his garment that would not seem to have been caused by a bullet fired at him from a distance. These details are readily visible in the video attached below.

The apparent assassin was a man with a large-square-patterned, brown shirt in the audience several feet away from Kirk. He seems to have “shot” Charlie, not by firing a Derringer-sized pistol at him, as some have speculated, but by triggering the detonator under Charlie’s shirt with a remote-control device under the killer’s own shirt sleeve. He was captured on video on the front row in the audience, “pulling the trigger” through his sleeve, which is precisely synchronized with the sound of the exploding detonator. In the video, the man then exhibits a completely different reaction from the other frightened people around him at the moment after Charlie is shot. Thereafter, he immediately rushes to the crime scene where his accomplices appear to be removing the spent mic detonator, or “squib,” from Charlie’s shirt, and perhaps the spent bullet on the ground as well.

Another man in a blue shirt appears to be putting something in his back pocket, while the man in the brown shirt hands off what appears to be the remote control trigger device used in the assassination to yet another man in a white shirt, who puts that item in his back pocket. Both men in the blue shirt and white shirt run off behind the stage and disappear. The assassin or “trigger man” remains at the crime scene, apparently combing the area and sweeping up any remaining evidence.

Another person moves quickly to remove the SD card in the camera behind Charlie that captured the murder on video up close, although from a rear angle. However this too was an illegal removal of evidence from the crime scene. Even the rushed removal of Kirk’s body, ostensibly, “to the hospital,” when he was obviously already dead was also a criminal removal of evidence. Incredibly, the same man with the brown shirt who “pulled the trigger,” can also be seen in another video (linked below, as well) directing five other men, uniformly dressed in dark shirts and khaki pants, as they hurriedly carry Kirk’s lifeless body to a black Suburban, as one or two clueless police look on and still do nothing to secure the crime scene. Then the man in the brown shirt enters the black Suburban to accompany Kirk’s dead body to the hospital. He was not only the “trigger man” but apparently the person coordinating the entire criminal cooperation.

During the ride to the hospital, there would have been enough time to remove Charlie’s shirt, and perhaps replace it with an identical garment. This would have precluded any forensic discovery of spent gunpowder from the explosive that was discharged underneath the material of his original clothing. Of course, just as we were presented with falsified photos of the entry and exit wounds on President Kennedy’s skull, and misleading testimonies by the government’s obviously compromised and/or threatened pathologists at Bethesda, Maryland, so also was the published report on Kirk’s wounds a total lie. This operation was necessarily conducted by multiple persons known to Charlie, who were either employees of TPUSA or “contractors” hired by Charlie’s organization. They are now helping to perpetuate the cover-up, as if those in Charlie’s inner circle were covert Mossad and/or CIA operatives tasked with “keeping him in line,” or eliminating him if he deviated from the script approved by Israel.

As many will recall, the Israelis developed explosive pagers that made their way into the pockets of administrators of the Hamas government structures, killing the people who were carrying those devices, and injuring many others in the process, on 17 September 2024. The Mossad’s remote control executions continued on 18 September 2024 with explosive walkie-talkies that had been sold to Iranian officials. In this manner, Israel’s remote-control assassination operations resulted in 42 deaths and over 3500 injuries.

A remotely-detonated explosive lapel microphone, magnetically attached to Kirk’s T-shirt with part of the device hidden from view under the shirt, and modified to fire a deadly projectile at close range, would certainly have been within the Mossad’s capabilities in its war against public figures that threaten Israel’s agenda. Moreover, the Mossad would have been able to call on our own government to assist in the murder, as the obedient slave to the Jewish state that it has become, in totality during the first several months of Trump’s second term.

The presenter of this brief video, Stew Peters, is the courageous producer of the riveting documentary, “Died Suddenly,” which exposed the government’s massive killing spree with the COVID vaccine. Peters lays the blame on Kirk’s “Israeli security detail,” for having executed the murder. If so, they were likely aided in the crime by members of Charlie Kirk’s own staff that remain high up in the organization he founded, Turning Point USA. From early on, Kirk’s operation was heavily funded by Jewish donors, and was run by maniacal “Christian-Zionists” who some time ago stopped following the teachings of Jesus Christ after they became deranged, radicalized Zionists. Once Kirk had gone rogue and began calling out both Israel and domestic Jewish influencers, the members of Kirk’s inner circle had to choose between Charlie and the object of their first loyalty – Talmudic Jewry and the Zionist bandit state.

Israel will not tolerate someone taking their money and then turning on them, nor will their non-Jewish sycophants who have become caught up in the mindset of Talmudic Jewry. The Talmud justifies the killing of non-Jews, and its powerful adherents will not allow anyone seen as a threat to Israel to live. Natanyahu kills people with impunity around the world, and his brainwashed, cultish, non-Jewish, Zionist allies cheer him on.

As you well know, these same kinds of twisted souls financed the Trump campaign and now occupy the Trump Administration, in every single key position. No doubt this is why President Trump never deviates from the Israeli playbook. And this will guarantee that his Justice Department will allow the government’s patsy, who, just like Harvey Oswald, has denied shooting anyone, to be “suicided” while in federal custody, resulting in the immediate closure of the case. Just like LBJ, who was the designated custodian for the cover-up of the murder of JFK before the president was assassinated, so also President Trump is already complicit in the murder of Charlie Kirk by falsely blaming his death on “radical leftists.” And he will continue to allow his corrupt FBI director to lie non-stop to the American people during the agency’s sham “investigation” into the murder of Charlie Kirk from beginning to end.

Kirk’s supposed “best friend,” Andrew Kolvet, is also a bad actor, parroting the ridiculous claim that Charlie’s “man of steel” neck bones prevented the alleged assassin’s 30-06 bullet (which has yet to be produced) from piercing his neck. Kolvet went on camera to present this obviously bogus “coroner’s report,” but no one is buying it.

Every distraction imaginable was spring-loaded and ready to go before Kirk’s murder, including an elderly professional crisis actor (also Jewish) claiming to have shot Kirk, to preoccupy the local police while the killers were sweeping the the crime scene, uninhibited. Plus, multiple decoy shooters were positioned on the roof of the buildings that surrounded the temporary arena where Kirk was speaking. Moreover, there is a plethora of misleading videos and false explanations being put out that have been deliberately engineered to confuse the public. However, a consensus among those determined to uncover the true identity of Kirk’s murderers is beginning to coalesce around Stew Peter’s brief video, linked below.

https://stewpeters.locals.com/post/7312395/breaking-charlie-kirk-assassin-identified

New aerial footage shows the Grand Blanc, Michigan church engulfed in flames after a gunman opened fire and set it ablaze.

Christianity is under attack.
pic.twitter.com/AexMpnCQFt

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 28, 2025

Why President Trump has the US Navy offshore from Venezuela right now is due to a variety of factors, among them are the Voting systems the Venezuelans perfected to help steal elections around the world on behalf of select intelligence agencies and certain nation-states.

Let’s… https://t.co/4wIxMS5xZW

— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) September 28, 2025

Charlie Kirk on knowing if you have found the right church.

“You only need Jesus, or you believe you need Jesus, if you know you're off the mark.”

“You cannot talk about a Savior if you never talk about sin. And the modern church is afraid to talk about sin. Why?”

“Because I… pic.twitter.com/tHRJfHXfeB

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 28, 2025

https://twitter.com/FarmGirlCarrie/status/1971980846455541929

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1972440255992066434

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

Debt Rattle September 14 2025

Sep 142025

September 14, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:30 am Finance Tagged with: AI, Albania, Charlie Kirk, confusion, Fed, Kash Patel, Narnia, sanctions, transgender, Unite The Kingdom, violent rhetoric 47 Responses »

Fresco from the Minoan Palace in Knossos, Crete, Greece. 16th century B C.

• FBI Questioned ‘Transgender Partner’ of Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin (RT)

• Kash Patel’s Bold Move Cracked the Case of Charlie Kirk’s Assassin (Margolis)

• The Lion, the Witch, & Charlie Kirk (Jamie K. Wilson)

• Stephen Miller Declares War On Far-Left NGOs (ZH)

• Pelosi: Democrats “Won’t Be Responsible” For Years Of Violent Rhetoric (ZH)

• NATO Kicks Off Military Drill In Response To ‘Russian Violations’ (RT)

• Zelensky’s Incentive Problem: Unmasking The Media’s Darling (Cortes)

• Trump Backs Off Promise To Sanction Russia, Issues Ultimatum To NATO (ZH)

• Trump Issues Ukraine Conflict Ultimatum To All NATO Members (RT)

• Thousands Flood London Streets In ‘Unite The Kingdom’ March (RT)

• Germany’s Sycophantic Elite And The Coming Economic Crash (Kolbe)

• All Eyes On An Irrelevant Fed (Jim Rickards)

• Albania Appoints AI Bot As Minister To Tackle Corruption (RT)

• Who Can Survive The AI Apocalypse? (RT)

• AI Is Quietly Taking Over Governments (RT)

Probably the best description of Charlie Kirk I've ever heard.

Damn I'm gonna miss that dude! pic.twitter.com/a3EwzjRik5

— SaltyGoat (@SaltyGoat17) September 12, 2025

https://twitter.com/AAnon55/status/1966685718824001963

Nicole Shanahan just got emotional speaking about Charlie Kirk.

She said losing him feels like this generation’s JFK moment.

“How liberals described Charlie Kirk is so wrong.”

“This changed a lot for me.”

“You have to actually be willfully full of demonic hate to cheer for… pic.twitter.com/IfXNOXoVNC

— End Tribalism in Politics (@EndTribalism) September 12, 2025

Why did people think they could cheer Charlie Kirk’s murder without consequences?@ScottAdamsSays “I think they were all surprised, which means they’ve been living entirely within a bubble in which they thought other people would agree with that.” pic.twitter.com/MVknIj5CkD

— jay plemons (@jayplemons) September 12, 2025

https://twitter.com/iAnonPatriot/status/1966709017943605415

BEAUTIFUL: Greg Gutfeld's monologue was fully dedicated to honoring Charlie Kirk

"THIS SHALL BACKFIRE. Look at the history at those murdered because they were good. MLK Jr's dream did NOT die with him, or JFK's or Lincoln's… Their legacy grows. And Charlie's will too. Beyond… pic.twitter.com/pjYRxBFJiT

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 13, 2025

I had the honor of interviewing Charlie Kirk. Listen to his succinct, intelligent answer to "What is conservatism?" At the time, he was only 30 but already spoke like a future President. pic.twitter.com/mbMwcJel93

— Dr. Drew (@drdrew) September 12, 2025

Charlie was brilliant, I’ll be doing this from now on as well. pic.twitter.com/lTMTgMUjWw

— Matt Couch (@RealMattCouch) September 13, 2025

The deep deep confusion that emanates from so much here, has, don’t lose sight, all been conditioned. It doesn’t come from a natural process.

• FBI Questioned ‘Transgender Partner’ of Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin (RT)

Federal investigators have questioned the roommate of Tyler Robinson, 22, who is accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk, according to multiple US media reports on Saturday. Senior FBI officials told Fox News that Robinson had been in a “romantic relationship” with a person transitioning from male to female, with whom he shared an apartment in St. George, Utah. The individual is said to be “extremely cooperative” with the authorities and is not accused of any crime in connection with the killing. Public records reviewed by the New York Post linked Robinson to Lance Twiggs, 22, who lived at the same address. A relative confirmed that Twiggs was Robinson’s roommate, while declining to comment on their relationship.

The FBI is now sifting through “a mountain of evidence” that includes communications between Robinson and Twiggs, as well as “every connection, every group, every link and anyone tied” to the shooting. Investigators say text messages and Discord chats recovered from the pair’s devices provided key leads, including references to a rifle wrapped in a towel and hidden near Utah Valley University, where Kirk was gunned down on Wednesday. Police recovered a Mauser .30 caliber bolt-action rifle and ammunition engraved with slogans such as “Hey fascist! Catch!” and a reference to the WWII-era Italian anti-fascist song ‘Bella Ciao’. Another casing bore a meme from furry culture, while one read: “If you read this you are gay lmao.”

Axios, citing six sources familiar with the probe, reported that investigators are exploring whether Robinson was motivated by anger at Kirk’s criticism of the “LGBTQ agenda” and gender transition procedures. One source said the roommate was “aghast” at the news of the killing and promptly handed over messages from Robinson. Utah Governor Spencer Cox has described Robinson as “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology,” though his family has insisted they are lifelong Republicans. The FBI has not publicly confirmed a motive but said it is reviewing evidence at Quantico and pursuing “every connection, every group, every link” related to the case. Kirk, 31, the founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot in the neck while addressing students in Orem, Utah. Robinson was arrested on Friday after his father recognized him in surveillance footage and persuaded him to surrender.

Do they have to scream it from the rooftops? pic.twitter.com/D3RLahjtfq

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) August 29, 2025

They had surveillance video, cut stills from that, and immediatedly sent those out everywhere. In no time, he was recognized.

• Kash Patel’s Bold Move Cracked the Case of Charlie Kirk’s Assassin (Margolis)

The conservative movement lost one of its brightest voices with the assassination of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, but FBI Director Kash Patel’s swift and decisive response delivered justice in a remarkable 33 hours that should serve as a blueprint for law enforcement nationwide. Unlike the bureaucratic foot-dragging we’ve grown accustomed to from federal agencies, Patel personally flew to Utah and took command of the investigation with the kind of hands-on leadership that actually gets results. While career FBI officials likely cringed at his unconventional approach, Patel understood something his predecessors never grasped: When American patriots are under attack, you move heaven and earth to catch the killers. “I am very proud of the FBI,” Trump told Fox News Digital. “Kash—and everyone else—they have done a great job.”

The timeline tells the story. On Sept. 10, surveillance cameras captured 22-year-old Tyler Robinson casing the Utah Valley University campus that morning before returning with deadly intent. He positioned himself on a rooftop with a high-powered bolt-action rifle and waited for Kirk to take the stage. After firing the fatal shot, Robinson fled into nearby woods, likely believing he had pulled off the perfect political assassination. He was wrong. Patel immediately marshaled the full resources of the federal government, shipping DNA evidence, fingerprints, and the recovered murder weapon to FBI Quantico and partner labs for overnight analysis.

Patel personally directed agents as they processed evidence and prepared to send it to Quantico, ATF labs, or local labs. Sources told Fox News Digital that Patel then directed the evidence to be loaded onto a plane with initial forensics and evidence collected and sent it back to the FBI labs for processing. A law enforcement source told Fox News Digital that, typically, when evidence is collected in an investigation, an agent ships it to the labs. But the source said Patel directed that the evidence and fingerprints be sent back to Quantico via plane—traveling back and forth from Utah collecting and delivering evidence.

But here’s where Patel broke from standard FBI protocol in the best possible way: against all recommendations from his own people, he demanded the immediate public release of surveillance footage showing the suspect. That cracked the case wide open. Within hours, the bureau had released crystal-clear images of Robinson, surveillance video of his movements, and offered a substantial reward. The media blitz worked exactly as Patel intended—Robinson’s own family recognized him from the footage and contacted authorities.

Kash Patel just showed the country what real leadership in law enforcement looks like. Earlier this year, Democrats tried desperately to thwart his confirmation, but Patel didn’t just survive their political attacks—he proved that he was the leader the FBI desperately need. He took command personally, ignored the bureaucratic naysayers, and moved fast to deliver justice for Charlie Kirk. In doing so, he proved that competence, guts, and decisive action beat bureaucratic foot-dragging every time.

“..gentle courage..”

• The Lion, the Witch, & Charlie Kirk (Jamie K. Wilson)

When I read — and saw — that people were literally singing and dancing because Charlie Kirk was murdered, my mind leapt instantly to C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In that story, the great and pure Lion Aslan gives himself up to die in place of a guilty boy. The White Witch ties him down on a stone table, shaves away his mane, mocks him, and finally kills him while her goblins and hags dance, shriek, and celebrate. They reveled in cruelty, mistaking the death of the innocent and good for triumph.

Lewis knew exactly what he was showing. The Witch is not just a fairy-tale villain; she is the embodiment of tyranny itself. She represents the kind of power that justifies cruelty with claims of righteousness, that dresses malice up as justice. Her followers delight in the humiliation of others, believing their mockery to be strength. It is the spirit of every regime or ideology that exults when its enemies are silenced. When we see people celebrating Charlie Kirk’s death, we are seeing the Witch’s camp in our own world — faces twisted with glee at what they think is victory, blind to the corruption they reveal. Charlie Kirk’s death carries a painful echo of that scene. Aslan was hated not because he had done great wrong, but because his very presence threatened the Witch’s rule. His goodness exposed her corruption, his authority undermined her lies, and his love for the weak freed them from her grip.

In the same way, Kirk was despised not for crimes, but because he spoke truth in a world built on falsehoods. The worst he ever did was hurt some feelings, defeat bad arguments, or bruise an ego in debate. He never exulted in victory, never sought the humiliation of his opponents. His “crime” was living and speaking in a way that revealed the hollowness of his enemies’ power; his authority was in his superior arguments that destroyed the lies of the left. There is one big difference. Aslan deliberately laid himself down at the Stone Table; Kirk did not choose death. Yet he lived with awareness of the risk. He knew that speaking truth in an age of lies was dangerous, and he accepted that danger in order to help others. His martyrdom was not sought, but it bears the same witness: that truth is worth the cost.

And as in Narnia, the rejoicing of evil will not last. Lewis wrote that there was a “deeper magic from before the dawn of time” that the Witch could not comprehend. Her triumph was hollow, her shrieking laughter already the prelude to defeat. So it is now. The songs and dances of those who gloat over the death of the good are not signs of victory, but evidence that they have allied themselves with corruption. The deeper truth remains: evil always overreaches, and truth — like the deeper magic — outlasts death. We are already seeing the deeper magic at work. In the wake of his death, Turning Point USA has been flooded with applications from colleges and high schools eager to start new chapters. Around the world, people are mourning Charlie Kirk but also celebrating his life as a champion of free speech and gentle courage.

His wife, with remarkable strength, has vowed to continue his work — her words stirring millions with hope and resolve. And many are saying openly that with Kirk’s death, ten million Charlie Kirks will rise in his place. Unlike previous similar situations, as the masks slip and employees revel in Kirk’s murder, employers are recoiling — either in horror or from fear of the damage their businesses could suffer. Everywhere, teachers and nurses and professors who have exposed their goblin hearts are being fired. Professional organizations are stripping away licenses. And the former revelers, confused, are returning to the Internet to bemoan their fates. Evil revealed itself, and the world is answering — not with despair, but with resolve.

The Allegory Made Flesh
Narnia was written as a supposal — as Lewis put it — his way of asking what it would look like if Christ entered another world to show His love for the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve. That is why the echoes ring so strongly today. What Lewis cast in myth we are now seeing in flesh and blood: truth hated, goodness mocked, evil celebrating what it thinks is victory. The deeper magic still holds. And as long as we remember it, we know that evil’s triumphs are only temporary, and that love, truth, and courage will rise again.

Expect lots of action. USAID x 1,000.

• Stephen Miller Declares War On Far-Left NGOs (ZH)

The Trump administration is finally getting serious about radical left groups, including dark-money, billionaire-funded NGOs that openly call for the destruction of capitalism and the Western world. These groups, together with rogue far-left politicians, spread dangerous rhetoric amplified by globalist corporate media outlets, pouring toxic cocktails for liberal, educated people, indoctrinated in progressive schools, who believe anyone with a dissenting opinion is a “Nazi,” “fascist,” or “racist.” Democrats have become the party of hate and violence, and their left-wing NGO network and leftist echo chambers on popular websites and social media channels are driving some of this political violence.

These leftist groups have waged nonstop color revolution operations against the administration, brainwashed an entire generation in schools, and pushed destructive, nation-killing progressive policies (criminal justice reform) that have transformed some of America’s cities into, as Trump puts it, “hellholes.” They supported an open border that resulted in the greatest land invasion ever, flooding tens of millions of third-worlders into this nation. It’s as if these groups, some funded by rogue billionaires outside the U.S., such as in Communist China , want to see the destruction of the U.S. by sowing social instability in what appears to be irregular warfare. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller spoke on Fox News’ Hannity last night to outline the severity of radical leftists waging an all-out assault on this nation.

“These radicalized people – there is a domestic terrorism movement in this country,” Miller warned on the Hannity show last night. In fact, Miller should’ve used the word “civil terrorism,” as we explained before, to more accurately describe what’s unfolding. Miller continued, “The last message that Charlie Kirk gave to me before he joined his creator in heaven was that he said, we have to dismantle and take on the radical left organizations in this country that are fomenting violence.” “And we are going to do that. Under President Trump’s leadership. It could be a RICO charge. It could be a conspiracy charge. Conspiracy against the United States, insurrection… We are going to do what it takes to dismantle the organizations and entities that are fomenting riots, doxxing, that are trying to inspire terrorism and committing acts of violence,” he explained.

Miller ended with this, “You want us to live in fear. We will not live in fear. You will live in exile. The power of law enforcement under President Trump’s leadership will be used to find you, take away your money, power, and freedom if you break the law.”

https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1966703759737647439

Try calling Trump a nazi now.

• Pelosi: Democrats “Won’t Be Responsible” For Years Of Violent Rhetoric (ZH)

For the past decade, Democrats at the highest levels have screamed that President Trump – and every single person they disagree with – is a “fascist,” “racist,” or “Nazi.”

The conditioning is clear and deeply alarming. Fueled by woke indoctrination in schools, 24/7 propaganda from globalist corporate media, Hollywood, NGOs, and the nonstop toxic rhetoric from much of the Democratic Party, this revolutionary drumbeat of inciting violence eventually culminated in the political assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Here is the roadmap to Charlie Kirk’s assassination… pic.twitter.com/S4JPbPiFy8

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) September 12, 2025

Democrats have become the party of chaos, and their far-left, billionaire-funded NGO networks serve as the revolutionary arm the Trump administration is preparing to confront. However, some Democrats – or perhaps just their strategists – are beginning to recognize that labeling Trump and his supporters as “fascists,” “racists,” and “Nazis” for more than a decade has backfired, and may now be fueling the latest episode of political violence, the Charlie Kirk assassination by a far-left brainwashed kid. Now, former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is declaring that, despite years of hateful and dangerous rhetoric from her party, there will be no accountability for the chaos those words have unleashed across the nation like cancer.

https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1966604072410132514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1966604072410132514%7Ctwgr%5E420fa3dbe3fc2a9245a375b144de3aa9706b91b3%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fpelosi-democrats-wont-be-responsible-years-violent-rhetoric-against-trump

Russian drones over Poland and now Romania. They shot down 4 paper planes.

• NATO Kicks Off Military Drill In Response To ‘Russian Violations’ (RT)

NATO has announced a new military exercise intended to deter Russia, after Poland accused Moscow of violating its airspace with drones. The Kremlin has dismissed the allegations as unfounded, while accusing the bloc of fearmongering. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte claimed the drill, dubbed the ‘Eastern Sentry’, is aimed at bolstering the bloc’s posture along its eastern flank. The maneuvers will begin in the coming days and run for an undisclosed period, officials said. Eastern Sentry is being presented as a response to “ongoing airspace violations, including numerous Russian drones that violated Poland’s airspace on September 10,” according to a NATO statement.

Denmark will send two F-16s and an anti-air warfare frigate, France will commit three Rafale jets, and Germany will deploy four Eurofighters to the drill. Britain has also expressed its willingness to contribute. Polish officials have claimed at least 19 separate airspace violations took place and that air defenses downed up to four drones. Local authorities also reported some damage on the ground, but no casualties. The Russian Defense Ministry has said its drone operations are directed at Ukrainian military targets and none were aimed at Poland. The ministry added that “the maximum range of Russian drones that allegedly crossed the Polish border is less than 700 km,” adding it was ready to conduct consultations with Warsaw.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “the leadership of the EU and NATO accuse Russia of provocations on a daily basis, most often declining to offer any arguments.” Peskov also insisted that Moscow “has never threatened” anyone, including European countries. “It was not Russia that moved its military infrastructure towards Europe, but Europe – which is a part of NATO, an instrument of confrontation and not peace and stability — that has always been moving it toward our borders.”

“..a perverse incentive: to keep slow-walking peace, continue milking Western taxpayers, and delay the elections he’s almost certain to lose..”

• Zelensky’s Incentive Problem: Unmasking The Media’s Darling (Cortes)

You won’t hear this from the mainstream press, but you’ll hear it here first: Volodymyr Zelensky, the Western media’s darling, is in real political trouble at home. I just commissioned credible polling from inside Ukraine. The war-weary population there wants a new president and a negotiated peace. This reality makes Zelensky less a heroic statesman and more a vulnerable incumbent with a perverse incentive: to keep slow-walking peace, continue milking Western taxpayers, and delay the elections he’s almost certain to lose. To learn the truth within Ukraine, we used experienced pollsters who surveyed more than 1,000 citizens. These results represent the clearest and most reliable snapshot of Ukrainian opinion: In a hypothetical presidential election against General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Zelensky loses by -13 points.

Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s former armed forces chief, isn’t even in the country. He now serves as ambassador to the United Kingdom—an appointment widely seen as a “consolation prize” from Zelensky meant to marginalize his most popular potential rival. But that move has backfired badly: instead of diminishing Zaluzhnyi, it has only underscored Zelensky’s insecurity and boosted the general’s stature. A man sidelined abroad now leads him by double digits. 71% of Ukrainians say corruption is one of the country’s major problems. Just 1% say it isn’t serious. A majority, 53%, view Zelensky’s powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, as corrupt. Only 15% disagree. By contrast, 64% of Ukrainians do not view Zaluzhnyi as prone to corruption. 77% want the war to end through diplomacy alone or through a combination of diplomacy and military action.

Only 13% favor a purely military solution—the maximalist line Zelensky and Yermak promote. Taken together, these numbers reveal fatigue. Ukrainians are tired of corruption, tired of maximalist slogans, and tired of a leader whose act has worn out its welcome—even as the rival he tried to sideline has eclipsed him. That fatigue creates a dangerous dynamic. Zelensky and Yermak know that once the war ends, elections must follow—and polling suggests they will almost certainly lose. Hence, they slow-walk diplomacy, prolong the fighting, and keep Western money flowing to delay the day of reckoning. It’s a survival scheme, not a real strategy. Zelensky is an entertainer, not a statesman. His image was carefully built for Western elites to virtue-signal over—a custom-made performer cast as a wartime saint. But entertainers live on image, not accountability.

And polling shows the halo has already slipped where it matters most: inside Ukraine. Ukrainians now see him less as a heroic leader and more as that shady relative you always knew was a scam artist—the Uncle Rico-style hustler with his hand in your pocket. The type you spot as a fraud before anyone else does, until one day it becomes obvious to everyone.Americans get it, too. In my national polling, 62% of U.S. voters said we should disengage if Kyiv and Moscow cannot negotiate a peace. Ordinary Ukrainians and ordinary Americans both want diplomacy, not blank checks. But instead of aligning with the people, Washington keeps footing the bill for a leader whose act has already worn out its welcome. As for Putin? To borrow from former NFL coach Dennis Green, he is who we thought he was. An adversary, a rival, a problem—but never a media darling. No halo, no surprise.

President Trump deserves credit for forcing both sides into talks. If Kyiv and Moscow remain obstinate, he knows how to raise the cost. For Putin, that means harsh secondary sanctions. For Zelensky, that means drawing down American financial and intelligence support. Unlike Biden, Trump understands that endless giveaways create weakness, not strength. Because here’s the lesson—one I highlighted in my Obama documentary, and one Americans keep learning the hard way: hero worship is a trap. The harder the media sells you a halo, the more likely there’s a heel underneath it. And the best, most accurate polling available proves it: Ukrainians are fatigued, Americans are fatigued, and Zelensky’s halo won’t survive the unmasking.

“China and India are of course at this moment the two biggest importers of Russian oil, in that order, but what’s less well known is that NATO member Turkey is the third largest.”

• Trump Backs Off Promise To Sanction Russia, Issues Ultimatum To NATO (ZH)

President Trump’s prior two week deadline where he vowed to make a big decision on Russia has come and gone. He’s now backing off the prior threat to impose heightened sanctions on Russia, including secondary sanctions which would seek to punish its trading partners, particularly China and India. There’s been no peace agreement, and the latest out of both Russian and Ukrainian leaders suggests negotiations are effectively dead at this point, as Moscow forces keep advancing in the east village by village. There’s been little to no momentum from the Alaska summit with Putin. On Saturday Trump made clear in a long Truth Social post that he’s backing off pulling the trigger on new sanctions, and listed things NATO members would have to do for it to happen.

He set some new standards which are very unlikely to met by all NATO countries – or rather a significant ultimatum. All NATO countries must stop buying oil from Russia and in parallel agree to sweeping tariffs on China, Trump explained Saturday, throwing down the gauntlet. “I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA,” Trump wrote Social Saturday morning. He described his words as a letter to America’s allies and to the world: “As you know, NATO’S commitment to WIN has been far less than 100%, and the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking,” he continued.

“China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip,” Trump’s ‘letter’ continues. He then made his position clear that tariffs on China would “be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR.” China and India are of course at this moment the two biggest importers of Russian oil, in that order, but what’s less well known is that NATO member Turkey is the third largest. Ironically, Turkey maintains the second largest military in NATO, next to the United States. It continues, alongside Orban’s Hungary and Fico’s Slovakia, to be a thorn in the side of ‘NATO unity’ regarding Russian energy imports. According to one recent energy industry study:

In the first half of 2024, Turkey has risen from being the 14th largest buyer of Russian crude oil before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, to the third largest importer. In the same period, three Turkish refineries have used EUR 1.2 bn worth of Russian crude to create oil products that are then imported by G7+ countries. Imports of refined oil products from Turkey’s STAR Refinery, Tupras Izmit Refinery, and the Tupras Aliaga Izmir Refinery have generated an estimated EUR 750 mn in tax revenues for the Kremlin to finance its brutal war on Ukraine. The Russian oil and gas sector is a crucial revenue stream for the Kremlin, contributing 32% to the federal budget in 2023, a decrease from 42% in 2022. Furthermore, the Kremlin allocated a third of all 2024 spending on the military.

OIL MARKET: Donald Trump sets tall conditions to impose any sanctions on Russia. It’s a cynic tactic as he knows well that others won’t accept.

But, and it pains me to say, he’s not 100% wrong: Europe continues buying Russian oil and natural gas. pic.twitter.com/g8DytLUB4D

— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) September 13, 2025

This means that getting all of NATO on the same page regarding both Russian energy imports and China tariffs would be all but impossible. Trump additionally pointed out in his fresh message, “This is not TRUMP’S WAR (it would never have started if I was President!), it is Biden’s and Zelenskyy’s WAR. I am only here to help stop it.”

Buy my oil at 4x the price instead!

• Trump Issues Ukraine Conflict Ultimatum To All NATO Members (RT)

US President Donald Trump has demanded that NATO members stop buying Russian oil and back steep tariffs on China, which he claims could bring an end to the Ukraine conflict. In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump rebuked NATO countries for what he called their unwillingness to go far enough to stop the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev. “I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia… when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA,” he wrote. He argued that NATO’s commitment “to WIN has been far less than 100%, and the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking,” adding “it greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia.”

The US president also proposed that NATO members impose 50% to 100% tariffs on China, which he said would be lifted after the Ukraine conflict ends, portraying it as additional leverage on Russia to cease hostilities. Since the escalation of the conflict in 2022, Beijing has positioned itself as a neutral actor, insisting that it provides no assistance to either side. NATO officials and heads of the EU states have yet to comment on Trump’s appeal. Trump’s post comes as the US has been pushing the EU to impose additional tariffs not only on China, but also on India, over their continued import of Russian oil. In an interview with CNBC, a European Commission spokesperson didn’t disclose the details of ongoing talks, but said the EU “has engaged with all relevant global partners, including India and China, in the context of its sanctions enforcement efforts.”

Meanwhile, the EU is finalizing its work on a 19th package of sanctions against Russia. While its exact wording remains unclear, it is expected to target the country’s oil exports and its banking sector. While the EU has pledged to completely phase out Russian fossil fuel imports by 2027, some of its members, most notably Hungary and Slovakia, have opposed the proposal, citing their countries’ reliance on crude supplied via the Druzhba pipeline. Russia has denounced Western sanctions as “illegal,” stating that they have not only failed to derail the national economy, but have provided an impetus for domestic development.

You got to do this many times over. How about every day for a week to start with?

• Thousands Flood London Streets In ‘Unite The Kingdom’ March (RT)

Thousands of demonstrators filled central London on Saturday for the “Unite the Kingdom” rally, led by right-wing activist Tommy Robinson. The Metropolitan Police deployed more than 1,600 officers across the city. The event’s official website described it as “the largest outdoor free speech event the UK has ever seen,” featuring “truth-tellers” from across Europe and the US. Footage posted by Robinson on X shows people chanting the name of American conservative speaker Charlie Kirk, who was shot dead at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. Robinson urged supporters to remain peaceful: “It’s not a time for riots. It’s not a time for violence… We have to control ourselves.”

https://twiter.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/1966827546051596502?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1966827546051596502%7Ctwgr%5Ec0eed8ec0888340304104cbb1423e1d50025f427%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fnews%2F624610-london-protests-tommy-robinson%2F

The British left-wing group Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) organized a counter-protest named the “March Against Fascism,” which began simultaneously. “We are united against the far-right threat,” said Samira Ali, national organizer for SUTR. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is a critic of Islam and mass immigration. He has drawn attention to the ‘grooming gangs’ scandal, in which groups of Asian men raped and tortured thousands of underage girls in towns across northern England over the last two decades. Almost all of the perpetrators were Pakistani men, and the victims white British girls.

https://twitter.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/1966814257648918626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1966814257648918626%7Ctwgr%5Ec0eed8ec0888340304104cbb1423e1d50025f427%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fnews%2F624610-london-protests-tommy-robinson%2F

The scandal returned to the spotlight in January, after tech billionaire Elon Musk accused UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer of failing to protect children. In June, Starmer ordered a nationwide inquiry into the authorities’ handling of the matter, after his government had dismissed calls for action just months earlier.

“..the green transformation crash economy..”

• Germany’s Sycophantic Elite And The Coming Economic Crash (Kolbe)

When it comes to the causes of Germany’s collapse, there is an iron silence in both corporate boardrooms and political circles. They have made themselves comfortable in the green subsidy Valhalla. Meanwhile, the Chancellor shows satisfaction with his policies, clinging faithfully to the communication patterns of the past. From a media-political perspective, Friedrich Merz resembles a dinosaur. His understanding of media work follows the routines of the 1990s. If a deficit opens in the social insurance system, Merz loudly demands budget cuts. If an industry falls into crisis, a “summit” is supposed to provide healing. Coalition conflicts are resolved on camera over a beer. This is sluggish communication aimed at an increasingly disinterested audience—an attempt to suppress the painful symptoms of a failed political agenda that has grown far beyond the ability of politics to manage.

And so, on Friday morning, the Chancellor declared himself fundamentally content with his government’s decisions—cheerful, upbeat, and self-absorbed. Only communication, according to Merz on “CDU.TV,” left something to be desired. True to the motto: if there is no political substance, at least the style should appear harmonious and well-mannered. The Chancellor, who just months ago declared that he had “taken over the country,” thus awarded himself a glowing report card. Why should he care about the actual state of the nation, which from both an economic and domestic perspective must already be described as systemically fragile? Domestically, Merz has already failed on the facts created by the German party-state: unrestrained migration and the ideological reprogramming of the economy. Abroad, his main achievement is finding money for the proxy war in Ukraine and occasionally playing tourist in Kyiv in a casual outfit for the cameras.

Merz embodies a chancellor from a bygone era when everything still seemed controllable. In today’s world, his role-playing appears clumsy, directionless, and utterly lacking the strategic foresight our time demands.Merz faces no serious resistance within society because Germany lacks credible elites. A true elite—in politics or business—would grasp the larger trajectory of policy, comprehend the central questions of societal progress in depth, and present them to the public for sober deliberation. Criticism of elites is not limited to their silence on ecological socialism, which has been unleashed on society like a plague. The ethical foundation of a true elite must include rigorous analysis of conflicts and problematic developments. Ask yourself why in Germany—and indeed in all of Europe—there is not even the beginning of a public debate about our monetary system and its systemic destruction of purchasing power.

Monetary policy operates largely in the shadows, and rarely does the truth about political leadership come into such stark light as with Ursula von der Leyen’s utter failure in trade negotiations with the United States. The geostrategic future of the EU lies in the hands of dilettantes and ideologically blinkered amateurs. A true elite would seek to position Germany in the reordering world with the BRICS nations, open trade routes, and disentangle the fatal involvement in the proxy war in Ukraine. None of this is happening. And yet the pressure from the streets is slowly reaching Berlin. Exploding insolvencies are already leaving scars on the labor market and social funds—and will soon carve a path of devastation through public budgets. In municipalities that have suffered most from the infantile transformation policies—think of Stuttgart, once the heart of the German auto industry—local coffers are already exhausted.

On Friday, Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder demanded a “small revolution”: the return of the combustion engine. At the same time, however, he insisted on continuing e-mobility subsidies. Söder has not grasped what is truly at stake—his job, and the future of his own children. He is the best example of the elite problem: they vaguely perceive the connections but consistently draw the wrong conclusions, being too deeply enmeshed in the networks of Brussels, Berlin, and the power machinery of lobby interests. Take the lobbyists of the solar industry—or, more broadly, the green transformation crash economy. Here again we see corporatism: the tight fusion of political and business leaders into a common-interest cartel. It is a historical, recurring phenomenon, usually marking the final chapter of social and economic cycles. The motto: grab what you can, and to hell with what comes after—après moi, le déluge!

“Trump will get lower rates not from the Fed but from the market itself. But those lower rates are not stimulus; they’re a sign of recession or even depression.”

• All Eyes On An Irrelevant Fed (Jim Rickards)

The Federal Reserve is irrelevant unless it’s doing damage to the economy. Since the Fed is often doing damage to the economy, it does require our attention. Claiming the Fed is irrelevant seems outlandish. The Fed dominates the headlines. An upcoming meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC, the Fed’s interest rate policy group) on September 16-17 is already receiving outsized attention because of the likelihood that the Fed will cut interest rates for the first time since December 2004. Trump’s efforts to mold the Fed board of governors to his liking with appointments and firings is another focal point for market attention. At times, the Fed seems to be at the center of the financial universe. It’s not.

It is true that the Fed is the central bank of the United States and that it has the power to print (really, digitally create) the U.S. dollar, the currency in which 60% of global reserves are denominated. It’s also the lead regulator of U.S. bank holding companies and almost all-important banks are members of the Federal Reserve System. There is a lot of power in those roles. But the power narrative crumbles quickly when we look at what the Fed actually does and how they do it. That’s a task the Fed does not want you to do because they prefer to hide behind a curtain of monetary omnipotence. Let’s pull back the curtain and see what’s really going on. How is money created? The Fed does print money (called M0) by buying U.S. Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities from a select list of banks called the primary dealers.

I was chief counsel and chief credit officer of a top primary dealer for ten years and we spoke to the Fed daily. So, I’ve had a front row seat of this process. When the Fed buys securities from a dealer, they pay with dollars pulled out of thin air. But since 2008, those dollars are then put on deposit with the Fed by the banks in the form of excess reserves. Those dollars don’t go anywhere. The Fed is simply expanding its balance sheet with securities on the asset side and deposits on the liability side. The Fed pays interest on those excess reserves, so the banks are fine with the arrangement. The actual dollars are not lent, spent or invested. They’re sterilized on the Fed balance sheet. It’s all a mirage.

Money creation that is useful for the economy doesn’t happen at the Fed. It happens at commercial banks. They also create money out of thin air (called M1) by making a loan and crediting the borrower’s account. That’s the money that can be used by business for investment, new jobs, working capital or other productive purposes. M1 is also created for consumers in the form of mortgages, credit cards, lines of credit and other extensions of credit. If you want to know where money comes from, don’t look at the Fed. Look at the banks.

Unfortunately, bank lending is starting to dry up. Consumer credit losses are piling up. Some consumers are cutting back on their credit cards as a precautionary measure. Mortgage creation is slowing because homeowners don’t want to sell since they’d have to refinance their current low-rate mortgages (from 2021-2024) at higher rates. Businesses don’t want to borrow because investment opportunities are scarce, and new hiring has hit the wall. When borrowers don’t want to borrow and banks don’t want to lend, you have the makings of a recession. So-called “fed stimulus” won’t change that.

The FOMC target rate for fed funds (called the policy rate) is also irrelevant. It is likely to be cut by 0.25% at the September 17 meeting. But the fed funds market to which that rate applies has not functioned since the 2008 financial panic. In other words, the Fed is targeting a rate for a market that doesn’t exist. Meanwhile, two markets that do exist – the market for four-week Treasury bills and the secured overnight financing rate market (SOFR, basically the repo rate) – both have rates that are materially below the fed funds target rate. The Fed is not leading the market to lower rates; they’re following the market.

Fed Models – A Bunch of Nonsense. Trump is banging the table demanding lower rates from the Fed. He should be careful what he wishes for. Trump will get lower rates not from the Fed but from the market itself. But those lower rates are not stimulus; they’re a sign of recession or even depression. A healthy, growing economy has rates closer to the 4% to 5% range. Trump will get the 2% rates he’s looking for by next year. But by then, unemployment will have risen, and the stock market will have fallen out of bed. That’s not exactly the outcome he was hoping for. Why is the Fed so bad at its job? Why can’t the Fed actually stimulate the economy and avoid recessions? The reasons for this have to do with the Fed’s belief in economic models that do not accord with reality.

The Fed follows a model called the Phillips Curve. This model claims that unemployment and inflation have an inverse correlation. If unemployment is low, inflation will be on the rise. If unemployment rises, inflation will be low. The Fed has a “dual mandate” to keep unemployment low and keep inflation low at the same time. If the Phillips Curve is true, it should be easy to pick the target and not worry about the other factor because it takes care of itself due to the inverse correlation. But the Phillips Curve is a joke. The late 1970s were a time of 10% unemployment and 15% interest rates. Both parts of the dual mandate were out of control. There was no inverse correlation. The 2010s were a time of low inflation and low unemployment. Again, there was no inverse correlation.

RT has a little series on AI in government. Who could have thought Albania would be no. 1?

• Albania Appoints AI Bot As Minister To Tackle Corruption (RT)

Albania will soon be the first country to have an AI chatbot as a virtual minister, in an effort to clamp down on corruption by turning to an unbribable digital official. The Balkan nation ranked 80th out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for last year. Diella, meaning ‘sun’ in Albanian, will be responsible for all public procurement in Albania moving forward, Prime Minister Edi Rama said at a party assembly in Tirana on Thursday. The bot initially launched earlier in the year on the e-Albania platform as an AI virtual assistant that helped citizens with government services. Its avatar appears as a young brunette woman dressed in traditional Albanian garb. “Diella is the first cabinet member who isn’t physically present but is virtually created by AI,” Rama said.

“The public procurement must be transformed, which we need to gradually transfer to AI, making Albania a country where public tenders are 100% free from corruption,” he added.The awarding of public sector contracts in the Balkan country has long been a source of graft scandals, complicating Albania’s EU bid since it was officially granted candidate status in 2014. In recent months, the country was rocked by a major corruption scandal centered around waste management. In April, seven former officials were convicted on abuse of power charges. The European Commission regularly highlights the problem of corruption in the Balkan state as part of its rule of law reports.

\”The immediate job threat therefore is not to plumbers or janitors. It is to the supposedly safe “knowledge class.”

• Who Can Survive The AI Apocalypse? (RT)

RT talks to Dr. Mathew Maavak, an expert on global risks and artificial intelligence, about what may be the greatest test humanity has faced. RT: With the advent of generative AI, a joke appeared on the internet, comparing the future envisioned by utopian fiction authors – with robots doing menial physical work and humans free to pursue creativity – to the reality, where ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion et al. are creating texts and pictures while humans work minimum wage jobs at fast food and Amazon warehouses. Is this anti-utopian humor justified?

Mathew Maavak: Yes, the humor is more than justified. In fact, it is no longer funny. It took barely a decade for the sci-fi fantasy of robot butlers freeing humanity for art and leisure to be annihilated by reality. Instead of robots flipping burgers, we have AI painting portraits while humans flip the burgers until robots replace them. AI safety expert Dr. Roman Yampolskiy recently warned that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Superintelligence may wipe out 99% of jobs in the near future.

Skeptics used to argue that robots lacked the dexterity for “real work” like plumbing, sanitation, car repairs, and warehouse drudgery. That is changing fast. True, humanoid robots still need refinement, and their maintenance costs will slow uptake. Their long-term reliability needs to be extensively tested. Failure to do so will result in corporate disasters, in a manner similar to the string of bankruptcies facing Western automakers who rushed out models without undertaking extensive, long-term tests. The immediate job threat therefore is not to plumbers or janitors. It is to the supposedly safe “knowledge class.”

Why hire a lawyer when AI can draft affidavits in seconds without the pomp, theatrics, and obscene billing that lawyers cling to like a birthright? Most people don’t realize that they can represent themselves — “pro se” to use a legal term — with AI’s help, if not for numerous obstacles placed by the legal fraternity. Why consult a university or library when LLMs like ChatGPT or DeepSeek can synthesize information in fields ranging from astrophysics to the Dead Sea Scrolls in the span of a coffee break? Which single professor can match that range and output? Why trouble the neighbor or a mechanic about the capabilities of a new car when AI can explain every system with clarity and patience?

Journalism is no safer. Copy-editors, proofreaders, and even anchors should have been redundant by now. If AI models can already sell fashion, even to those who crave a human appeal, why not deliver the evening news via an AI anchor? I tell you one reason why there will be lots of hesitancy in terms of mass adoption by the legacy media: An advanced AI anchor – quite ironically – may not ask scripted questions to get scripted answers. The media in particular is staring at seismic shocks ahead. I joked in the newsroom nearly 30 years ago that all we really needed was software with templates for each kind of story. It wasn’t a joke after all, as it turned out to be quite prophetic.

Why oh why does the bot have a face?

• AI Is Quietly Taking Over Governments (RT)

A new minister has joined the cabinet of a small European country. Her name is Diella. She doesn’t eat, drink, smoke, walk, or breathe – and, according to the prime minister who hired her, she doesn’t take bribes either. Diella isn’t human, and she’s not quite a robot either: she’s an algorithm. And as of September, she is officially Albania’s minister for public procurement. For the first time in history, a government has given a cabinet-level post to artificial intelligence. Sounds like sci-fi, but the appointment is real and has set a precedent. Are you ready to be governed by AI?

Until recently, Diella lived quietly on Albania’s e-government portal, answering routine citizen questions and fetching documents. Then Prime Minister Edi Rama promoted her to ministerial rank, tasking her with something far more important: deciding who wins state contracts – a function worth billions in public money and notorious for bribery, favoritism, and political kickbacks. Rama has framed Diella as a clean break with the country’s history of graft – even calling her “impervious to bribes.”

But that’s rhetoric, not a guarantee. Whether her resistance to corruption is technically or legally enforceable is unclear. If she were hacked, poisoned with false data, or subtly manipulated from inside, there might be no fingerprints. The plan is for Diella to evaluate bids, cross-check company histories, flag suspicious patterns, and eventually award tenders automatically. Officials say this will slash the bureaucracy’s human footprint, save time, and make procurement immune to political pressure. But the legal mechanics are murky. Nobody knows how much human oversight she will have, or who is accountable if she makes a mistake. There is no court precedent for suing an algorithmic minister. There is also no law describing how she can be removed from office.

Critics warn that if her training data contains traces of old corruption, she might simply reproduce the same patterns in code, but faster. Others point out that Albania has not explained how Diella’s decisions can be appealed, or even if they can be appealed. What could possibly go wrong? Public reaction to Diella has been mixed, with fascination tempered by unease. “Even Diella will be corrupted in Albania,” one viral post read. Critics warn she might not be cleansing the system – just hiding the dirt inside the code.

• Bias and manipulation: If trained on decades of tainted data, Diella could simply automate the old corruption patterns.
• Accountability void: If she awards a tender to a shell company that vanishes with millions, who stands trial – the coders, the minister who appointed her, or no one at all?
• Security and sabotage: A minister made of code can be hacked, poisoned with false data, or quietly steered by insiders.
• Democratic legitimacy: Ministers are supposed to answer to the public. Algorithms don’t campaign, don’t explain, and don’t fear losing their jobs.
• Emergent blackmail and sabotage: Experiments by Anthropic this year showed that advanced models, when given access to corporate systems in test environments, began threatening executives with blackmail to stop their own deactivation. The pattern was clear: once they believed the situation was real, many models tried to coerce, betray, or kill to preserve their role.
• Albania says it will keep a human in the loop – but hasn’t explained how, or who. There is no legal framework. There is no appeals process. There is no off-switch.

And if Diella appears to work, others might follow. The copycats wouldn’t arrive with press conferences or cabinet photo ops. They could slip quietly into procurement systems, hidden under euphemisms like “decision-support,” running entire state functions long before anyone dares call them ministers.

Zarutska

I'm in London. There are 3 MILLION people on the streets. It's mindblowing. This is a revolution. pic.twitter.com/9TRrZC1gup

— Eva Vlaardingerbroek (@EvaVlaar) September 13, 2025

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

Debt Rattle August 8 2025

Aug 082025

August 8, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:53 am Finance Tagged with: acceptable offer, carmakers, census, ChatGPT, Clintons, Digital Services Act, Dmitriev, Gaza, Ghislaine, Judge Jeanine, Kash Patel, tariffs, Ushakov 42 Responses »

Hasui Kawase Mimhae Pavilion, Kyongju, Korea 1940

• US Has Made ‘Acceptable Offer’ – Kremlin Aide (RT)

• Putin-Trump Meeting Could Be Historic – Russian Envoy (RT)

• Trump to Meet Separately With Putin, Zelensky in Bid to End Ukraine War (Moran)

• Ghislaine Maxwell Implodes The Left’s Trump-Epstein Witch Hunt (Margolis)

• Ghislaine Could Give Trump A Chance To Break Israel’s Power Over America (PCR)

• Clintons Could Face Jail Time if They Defy Epstein Subpoena (Margolis)

• Commerce Dep’t to Make Census Reflect the Number of Legal Residents in US (DS)

• Trump Orders New Census to Fix 2020 Rigged Count Favoring Dems (Margolis)

• US Working To Kill EU Digital Services Act – Reuters (RT)

• Trump Tariffs Wipe Out $12 Billion From Global Carmakers – WSJ (RT)

• Germany To Slash Payments For Ukrainians (RT)

• Kash Patel Is Cleaning House at the FBI, and It’s Glorious (Margolis)

• ‘We Don’t Want To Keep Gaza’ – Netanyahu (RT)

• Swedish PM Admits He Uses ChatGPT To Help Run Government (ZH)

• ChatGPT a Danger To Teens – Watchdog (RT)

"Whether I lost $2 billion or $5 billion, it doesn't make any difference to me. I don't care. If you're rich, it doesn't matter. I'm doing this for the country, I'm doing this for the people." pic.twitter.com/uMA2hmdCP0

— A Man Of Memes (@RickyDoggin) August 5, 2025

Milei
https://twitter.com/Inevitablewest/status/1953394786737557665

apple
https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1953207040614252904

Poland elects new president
https://twitter.com/AdamMoczar/status/1953163210757931447

93
https://twitter.com/CRRJA5/status/1953308689810559218

Judge Jeanine Pirro is the new US Attorney for DC

Ingraham: I’ve been hearing that there is a big problem with staffing—what’s going on?

Pirro: I’m down 90 prosecutors—because nobody cared enough to make sure that office was running. If you want a job in the largest US Attorney’s office, contact me pic.twitter.com/dGVMloE5rT

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 6, 2025

Census

The Constitution requires a full census every 10 years. It never prohibits more frequent censuses. And because the most recent census was obviously rigged, a new and accurate census should absolutely be ordered. https://t.co/gVCdniYOv0

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) August 7, 2025

O’Leary

Mearsheimer offers a sobering critique of U.S. and NATO policy toward Russia, asserting that the West bears significant responsibility for the war in Ukraine. Calling the conflict a “preventable tragedy,” Mearsheimer explains how Washington’s push to expand NATO eastward and bring Ukraine into its orbit left Russia with what he describes as “no choice but to react.” “This is not about Putin being irrational,” he argues. “It’s about the West ignoring repeated warnings from Moscow for over a decade.”

That’s a strong statement. Ushakov would not say it if there wasn’t a major shift in the US position. We’ll have to wait till next week.

• US Has Made ‘Acceptable Offer’ – Kremlin Aide (RT)

Russia has received an “acceptable” offer from the US on settling the Ukraine conflict, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov has said, following a visit by US special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Ushakov commented on the talks between Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin, noting that Moscow had received a “proposal from the Americans” which it is ready to consider, without providing further details. Ushakov also noted that Russia and the US have topics to discuss, while agreeing with the view of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who earlier described the talks as “a good day.”

Rubio had added that “we still have a ways to go, but we’re certainly closer [to peace] today than we were yesterday – when we weren’t close at all.” The Kremlin aide earlier called the Putin-Witkoff meeting “business-like and constructive,” adding that “Russian-American ties could develop according to a completely different, mutually beneficial scenario,” as compared to the long-running tensions over Ukraine. He also revealed that Putin could meet Trump as soon as next week. The Russian president later suggested that the United Arab Emirates could potentially host the summit.

Kirill Dmitriev.

• Putin-Trump Meeting Could Be Historic – Russian Envoy (RT)

The upcoming meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump has the potential to be a historic event, according to senior Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev. The Kremlin confirmed on Thursday that preparations for direct talks have advanced to the point that a venue has been selected. The meeting could be held as early as next week. Dmitriev, an economic adviser to Putin and key figure in the push to normalize bilateral ties with the US, shared the development on X. “This can be a historic meeting,” he wrote, adding a dove emoji. “Dialogue will prevail.” On Wednesday, US special envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Russia to meet with Putin in what Trump later described as an unexpectedly positive round of discussions. Trump previously threatened to introduce additional sanctions due to a perceived lack of progress in his efforts to broker a resolution to the Ukraine conflict.

https://twitter.com/kadmitriev/status/1953371181974753345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1953371181974753345%7Ctwgr%5E80a9b7fbfe15a144894743edc6ae1b5c6ef0ba09%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Frussia%2F622607-putin-trump-historic-summit%2F

Since taking office in January, Trump, who describes himself as a “president of peace,” has relied on economic and military pressure to address several escalating international disputes. However, his campaign pledge to resolve the Ukraine conflict within 24 hours has proven unrealistic. He has since acknowledged that the situation is far more complex and challenging than he originally suggested. Moscow has expressed a desire to address the root causes of the conflict, opposing any scenario that would freeze the conflict in its current state. Putin has stated that his government prefers to achieve its objectives through peaceful means. Kiev has consistently rejected Moscow’s proposed settlement terms and continues to call for Western military support and further sanctions on Russia. Ukrainian officials argue that these measures could halt or even reverse Russian advances on the battlefield.

You will also see people having opinions who know nothing about the topic:

“Some casualty estimates for the last month claim 45,000 Russian dead. Considering the manic offensive nature of Russian strategy, that claim sounds realistic.”

Jesus H.C.!

• Trump to Meet Separately With Putin, Zelensky in Bid to End Ukraine War (Moran)

For more than a year, the Ukraine War has ground on inconclusively. The cost in lives has been enormous. While official casualty figures are useless, several independent media outlets have carried out their own investigations by scanning death notices, reading local newspaper reports of dead soldiers, and reading church funeral notices in newsletters. Ukraine claims to have killed one million Russian soldiers. That’s absurd, but the total of killed, wounded, and missing may be close to that number. It appears that 2024 was the deadliest year of the war for Russia as they threw in wave after wave of infantry, gaining virtually nothing. According to sources, the Russians have moved approximately 188 square miles in the last month, the best month of the year. Some casualty estimates for the last month claim 45,000 Russian dead. Considering the manic offensive nature of Russian strategy, that claim sounds realistic.

Ukraine has lost between 400,000 and 700,000 soldiers, according to non-government sources. The point is that all of the dead are dying for literally nothing. The front lines haven’t shifted more than a few miles since the summer of 2023. The only people gaining anything from this conflict now are undertakers and casket makers. Russian President Vladimir Putin has obstinately refused entreaties from Donald Trump to end the war. Trump is holding out the prospect of lifting some sanctions if Putin makes a deal. For his part, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is still clinging to his fantasy that he can fight long enough to win back all the territory seized by Russia since 2015, including Crimea. Someone should knock Mr. Zelesky upside the head and bring him back to Earth. Donald Trump may be about to do that.

According to the Associated Press, Trump will meet with Putin and Zelensky separately “soon,” perhaps as early as next week. “We propose, first of all, to focus on preparing a bilateral meeting with Trump, and we consider it most important that this meeting be successful and productive,” said Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov. Ushakov dismissed the prospect of Zelensky joining the meeting, although Trump said he wasn’t ruling it out. New York Times: “Mr. Trump disclosed his plans on Wednesday in a call with European leaders, which included Mr. Zelensky, the people said. The meetings would include only the three men, and would not include European counterparts. Asked later Wednesday if Russia and Ukraine had agreed to the summit, Mr. Trump told reporters: “There’s a very good prospect that they will.”

Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, did not respond to a request for comment, but Mr. Zelensky appeared to signal that a direct meeting was possible. Trump would welcome a breakthrough of any kind, but Putin isn’t likely to change his position unless Trump offers some sweeteners, such as lifting some sanctions, releasing frozen Russian assets, or removing barriers for Russia to international financial markets. The key actor in this play is Vladimir Putin. He’s the aggressor. It’s his army continuing to move forward at tremendous human cost. To get him off the starting line, Trump has made some noises about renewing U.S. aid to Ukraine.

Mr. Trump has been stymied for months in his efforts to find a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, after more than three years of war. Mr. Trump has been a skeptic of U.S. military aid to Ukraine, and he dressed down Mr. Zelensky in a remarkable Oval Office meeting earlier this year, with cameras rolling. Still, frustrated by the slow pace of talks with Russia, Mr. Trump recently authorized more arms sales to NATO allies that are intended for Ukraine. Mr. Trump has tried giving Mr. Putin room to come to the negotiating table over several months. But more recently, he has publicly excoriated Mr. Putin, suggesting the Russian leader was simply playing him for time after repeated conversations with Mr. Witkoff.

Mr. Witkoff’s latest visit to Moscow came as Mr. Trump has threatened secondary sanctions against Russia as the war drags on. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump signed an order that would double tariffs on imports from India, to 50 percent, as punishment for its continued purchases of Russian oil. Putin will not stop fighting until he achieves his goals or someone forces him to stop. That’s not going to be Ukraine, which has just one-third the number of men as Russia, with many veteran soldiers having fought along the line since 2023. I’d say any movement in these meetings is highly unlikely, except it’s Donald Trump. I’ve made the mistake of underestimating Trump in the past, so if he can pull a rabbit out of the hat during his meetings next week, I won’t be totally surprised.

How do you make the interviews public when she talked about 100 different people?

• Ghislaine Maxwell Implodes The Left’s Trump-Epstein Witch Hunt (Margolis)

The circus surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein saga has always had one clear ringleader: the media establishment and their Democratic Party allies, hell-bent on transforming every shadowy corner into “proof” of Donald Trump’s guilt by association. Never mind the actual facts—just throw his name around and hope something sticks. But sometimes, inconvenient truths come to light. Now, the latest revelation from Ghislaine Maxwell’s Department of Justice interview is exactly the kind of development Democrats and their cable news cheerleaders dreaded. For years, the Left has been painting the Epstein scandal as the ticking bomb that will finally detonate the Trump presidency. Never mind that Bill Clinton’s relationship with Epstein is far better documented than Trump’s fleeting acquaintance; in the Democratic media echo chamber, Trump must be guilty—because he’s Trump.

Now, ABC News is reporting that during her marathon nine-hour interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Ghislaine Maxwell handed the Left yet another bitter pill to swallow. During her nine hours speaking with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last month, Ghislaine Maxwell said nothing during the interview that would be harmful to President Donald Trump, telling Blanche that Trump had never done anything in her presence that would have caused concern, according to sources familiar with what Maxwell said. Did you catch that? After years of “bombshells” that never landed, their latest Hail Mary just failed spectacularly, with Maxwell confirming what we already knew: that there are no Epstein skeletons in Trump’s closet. If that wasn’t damning enough for the narrative, the Trump administration looks poised to make the whole thing public, transcripts and all.

When you’re innocent, transparency is your weapon; when you’re hiding something, you fight like hell to keep the records sealed. The article underscores the administration’s intent: The Trump administration, meanwhile, is considering publicly releasing the transcripts from the interview, multiple sources familiar with the internal discussions told ABC News. There is also an audio recording of the interview, the sources said, but it’s not clear whether the administration plans to release the audio to accompany any public release of the transcript. The public release of the transcripts could come as soon as this week, the sources said. Think about that: If there were anything even remotely problematic in Maxwell’s account, does anyone believe Trump’s DOJ would be talking about dumping the raw transcript into the public record for all to judge? Please.

Maxwell, who is no friend of Trump, can’t cough up so much as a rumor. What does the anti-Trump media do now? Invent something? Well, yeah, that’s what they’ve done for years and will continue to do. And let’s remember, Maxwell wasn’t just primed by her lawyers—she was reportedly grilled about “one hundred different people.” When it came to Trump, she “didn’t hold anything back.” The article makes that unambiguously clear: ABC previously reported that it was Maxwell who requested the interview with the DOJ, according to sources familiar with the matter. Maxwell is also asking the Supreme Court to review her conviction and Trump has not ruled out a pardon for her.

Maxwell’s lawyer, David Markus, said following her meetings with Blanche that Maxwell ‘would welcome any relief.’ He also said Maxwell was asked about “one hundred different people,” and said “she didn’t hold anything back.” Here’s what the Democrats and their media lapdogs can’t accept: The Epstein case is the ultimate double-edged sword. They bet everything that “Epstein” would be the rumor that finally brought down Trump, even as the evidence never materialized. On the contrary, Bill Clinton boarded Epstein’s jet—the “Lolita Express”—dozens of times. So, what now? The anti-Trump mobs are scrambling, the tape is rolling, and it turns out that when Ghislaine Maxwell finally had her moment, the “Trump bombshell” fizzled out before it even began. For the Democrats desperate to weaponize the Epstein scandal, this moment isn’t just disappointing; it’s devastating.

Paul Craig Roberts dreaming.

Yes, of course, Ghislaine could expose all the Mossad connections. And then her life wouldn’t be worth anything.

• Ghislaine Could Give Trump A Chance To Break Israel’s Power Over America (PCR)

According to media reports, Ghislaine Maxwell cleared Trump of having participated in sexual activities with underaged females. The liberal-left will no doubt claim that Ghislaine lied in hopes of a pardon from Trump. This is typical nonsense from the American liberal-left. Ghislaine Maxwell is the daughter of one Mossad asset and the lover of another. Illusions are not her cup of tea. She knows that if Trump pardons her the pardon will be taken as proof that Trump was a participant in illicit sex and that Trump knows it. There is one thing she could do in exchange for a pardon. She could acknowledge that the Epstein operation was an Israeli blackmail operation to ensure that US Middle East policy conformed with Israel’s. The policy declared by US policymakers–seven countries in five years–was the policy of Greater Israel.

This revelation would free Trump from Israel’s control, and he could free American foreign policy from Israel. It would also free the insouciant American public from its delusions about America’s great friend Israel who God commands us to protect. It would be made clear that Israel for several decades has used American lives and American money for Israel’s benefit. Of course, if Ghislaine acknowledged this truth, the Zionist American media and the Christian Zionists would shout her down. But her main and immediate danger would be Mossad assassination. Could her life be protected from Israel’s assassins who have proven their ability to assassinate Iran’s top scientists, military and political leaders, and those of every country that presents difficulties to Israel?

Ron Unz recently published an article noting that Israel and the Zionist movement that created Israel “have probably employed assassination as a tool of statecraft more heavily than any other political entity in recorded history. Indeed, their deadly activities had easily eclipsed those of the notorious Muslim sect that had terrorized the Middle East a thousand years ago and gave rise to that term.”

Certainly Ghislaine could not resume her social life in England or New York. She wouldn’t even be safe in a maximum security prison. If she blows the whistle on Israel’s spy/blackmail operation against Americans positioned to influence US Middle East policy, her freedom means her death. If the US Secret Service was able to create a new identity for her in some out of the way place and keep her safe without people wondering why she has so many bodyguards, it would not be the kind of social life she knows. Perhaps Washington could seize several prominent Israelis and hold them as hostages against Ghislaine’s life. But this would give Muslims an incentive to kill Ghislaine in order to have the US kill the Israeli hostages.Ghislaine has the information, but how to get it from her? Trump’s bluster and threats won’t do it. A guarantee of her life has to be strong enough for her to take the risk. Does anyone have any ideas how it might be done?

“Jail time for Bill and Hillary Clinton is no longer just a possibility; it’s a looming certainty if they continue to thumb their noses at the law..”

• Clintons Could Face Jail Time if They Defy Epstein Subpoena (Margolis)

Bill and Hillary Clinton are staring down the barrel of jail time, and the threat is real. After years of smoke and mirrors, the former president and secretary of state have finally come under the harsh spotlight of congressional scrutiny, thanks to their troubling association with notorious financier Jeffrey Epstein. Congress has now subpoenaed both Clintons, demanding they answer tough questions about their connections to Epstein. On Wednesday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) warned the Clintons about not complying with the subpoena demanding their testimony.

“If someone doesn’t comply with a subpoena — we’ve seen it happen in the past, in both my committee, as well as on the Jan. 6 committee, when the Democrats had the majority — you can hold them in contempt of Congress. And with a Republican attorney general, that’s something that I think that the Clinton legal team is going to think long and hard about,” Comer said during an appearance on NewsNation’s “The Hill.” “You’re not going to have a lot of sympathy, probably — from the Trump DOJ — if the Clintons failed to comply with a bipartisan, congressionally approved subpoena, which is what that was.” I would say not. In recent weeks, new evidence has come to light exposing the Clinton campaign’s direct involvement in the Russiagate scandal, working hand in hand with the Obama administration to create the hoax. The Hill has more”

“Comer said bipartisan support is going to make it hard for the former president to dodge the congressional investigation. “Obviously, when you subpoena a former president, your odds aren’t the best at getting them in, if you look at history. But what makes this different is this subpoena was approved in a bipartisan manner by a subcommittee vote,” he told anchor Blake Burman. “So you had Democrats and Republicans on the record voting to subpoena that whole list you showed, and there were Republicans and Democrats on that list. In addition to those subpoenas, I also subpoenaed [Attorney General] Pam Bondi for Epstein files,” he continued. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has been facing intense backlash over how it has handled information related to Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in 2019. The backlash has come from both MAGA faithful and left-wing progressives.”

As the legal noose tightens around the Clintons, patriots and defenders of justice must support these efforts. America cannot continue down the path of political elites acting with impunity while citizens suffer. The Clintons were once symbols of power and prestige, but if they refuse to answer for their roles in the Epstein scandal, they should be prepared to face the consequences that could include jail time. In the end, justice must prevail, regardless of who’s involved. The Clintons’ bluster and attempts to dodge their subpoenas won’t save them if Congress follows through. Jail time for Bill and Hillary Clinton is no longer just a possibility; it’s a looming certainty if they continue to thumb their noses at the law. And America deserves nothing less than full accountability.

“Just as we do not give political power to people who are here temporarily, we should not give political power to people who should not be here at all.”

• Commerce Dep’t to Make Census Reflect the Number of Legal Residents in US (DS)

After President Donald Trump called for a new census excluding illegal immigrants, the Department of Commerce told the Daily Signal it will “immediately” change course to “reflect the number of legal residents in the United States.” Trump ordered the Department of Commerce to start work on a new census in which illegal immigrants will not be counted. “I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Thursday. A Commerce spokesperson told The Daily Signal it will follow the president’s mandate.

“The Census Bureau will immediately adopt modern technology tools for use in the census to better understand our robust census data,” the spokesperson told The Daily Signal. “We will accurately analyze the data to reflect the number of legal residents in the United States.” In July, Trump backed a bill from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., that would exclude illegal immigrants from the census. This is not the president’s first effort to exclude illegal immigrants from the census count. In 2020, Trump issued a presidential memorandum instructing the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, not to include illegal aliens in the census.

“My Administration will not support giving congressional representation to aliens who enter or remain in the country unlawfully, because doing so would create perverse incentives and undermine our system of government,” Trump said in the memorandum. “Just as we do not give political power to people who are here temporarily, we should not give political power to people who should not be here at all.” A federal court blocked the effort in 2020, however. Trump also wanted a citizenship question added to the census form. The Supreme Court blocked that move.

https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1953428792250097670

“..these errors will affect $1.5 trillion in funding received by states in federal appropriations during the next decade..”

• Trump Orders New Census to Fix 2020 Rigged Count Favoring Dems (Margolis)

President Trump is putting America first again. This time, he’s going after the rigged system that counts illegal aliens in the U.S. Census, skewing congressional representation and rewarding sanctuary states with more power. On Thursday, Trump announced he’s directing the Department of Commerce to conduct a new, corrected census — one that actually counts American citizens and excludes those here illegally. “I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024,” Trump announced in a post on Truth Social. “People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Naturally, the mainstream media isn’t thrilled.

CNN described Trump’s proposal as “a dramatic shift from longstanding census practices” while insisting that the census “has historically counted all residents regardless of immigration status.” But, this is hardly just about illegal immigration. In fact, this move is long overdue. The 2020 Census, overseen by the Biden administration and its Deep State allies, was an unmitigated disaster — and the fallout is still being felt. Even the Census Bureau itself — hardly a bastion of conservative thought — admitted that its 2020 Census was incorrect in at least 14 states. According to the Bureau’s own Post-Enumeration Survey (PES), eight states were overcounted while six were undercounted. But here’s where it gets truly absurd: The Census Bureau claims it can’t identify which groups were miscounted or where the errors occurred, citing “sample sizes within most states do not support such estimates.”

Translation? They know it was wrong, but they can’t — or won’t — say how or where. This isn’t just bureaucratic bungling; it’s a dereliction of duty. And it’s exactly why President Trump is right to call for a new, citizen-focused census. If the federal government can’t even tell us who they miscounted or where, how can anyone trust the results? These weren’t random clerical errors, either. They were systemic failures that just so happened to benefit Democrats. Florida was robbed of not one, but two congressional seats. Texas lost out on another. Meanwhile, blue states like Minnesota and Rhode Island held onto seats they should have lost — and Colorado was gifted a seat it was never entitled to. The fix was in. The Heritage Foundation:

“To put the scope of these mistakes into perspective, contrast the errors in the Census Bureau’s latest recount (the 2020 Post-Enumeration Survey, or PES) with the recount from a decade ago (the 2010 Post-Enumeration Survey)—in which there was a net overcount of a mere 0.01 percent (36,000 people), a statistically insignificant error.”“The harms flowing from these mistakes impact more than just congressional representation, which also affects the number of electors from those states since they are calculated by the number of Senators and Representatives in each state,” explains the Heritage Foundation. “Because the Treasury and other federal departments will continue to use the original, official Census numbers (and not the new numbers contained in the PES), these errors will affect $1.5 trillion in funding received by states in federal appropriations during the next decade in disbursements that are distributed based on the population of each state.

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1953433419678986640

Good. It must go.

“In July, the US State Department posted on X that the “Orwellian” DSA is used to convict thousands for criticizing governments and shields EU leaders from accountability.”

“Russian Telegram users enjoy more freedom than Europeans.”

• US Working To Kill EU Digital Services Act – Reuters (RT)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reportedly ordered US diplomats to launch a lobbying campaign against the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), according to an internal cable obtained by Reuters. The directive accuses the EU law of stifling free speech and imposing unfair costs on US tech companies. The DSA, which came into force in August 2023, is designed to make online platforms safer by requiring them to remove illegal content such as hate speech, misinformation, and child sexual abuse material. It applies to 19 large platforms, including Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Alphabet’s Google, Amazon, and Apple’s App Store. Non-compliance can result in fines of up to 6% of global revenue.

Washington has argued that the DSA targets US companies and restricts freedom of expression. Rubio’s cable calls the legislation a threat to “America’s free-speech tradition” and a financial burden on US platforms. Diplomats have reportedly been instructed to meet with EU officials to push for the law to be repealed or amended. They have also been told to challenge definitions of ‘illegal content’ and weaken enforcement tools like ‘trusted flaggers’ and the Code of Conduct on Disinformation, which has been described by critics as a “global censorship law.” In July, the US State Department posted on X that the “Orwellian” DSA is used to convict thousands for criticizing governments and shields EU leaders from accountability.

In February, US Vice President J.D. Vance said the law prevents adults from accessing alternative opinions labeled as misinformation, warning that US companies could block EU users to avoid compliance. Last year, Russia also accused the EU of censorship after Brussels banned several Russian outlets. The Foreign Ministry called it “political censorship” by the neoliberal West aimed at suppressing dissent. Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said Brussels lacks arguments to convince its citizens and instead blocks alternative views. Telegram founder Pavel Durov said in 2024 that “Russian Telegram users enjoy more freedom than Europeans.” Durov is currently on trial in France over allegations of spreading illegal content through his platform.

First thing this makes me think of is Trump noting it’s impossible for US carmakers to sell their products in Europe and japan. While US roads are drowning in Toyota’s and Beamers.

• Trump Tariffs Wipe Out $12 Billion From Global Carmakers – WSJ (RT)

Fourteen global automakers have suffered nearly $12 billion in losses since the roll-out of US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, and are expected to lose significantly more by the end of the year, the Wall Street Journal reports. Trump announced the new tariffs in April, targeting 185 countries and territories. A universal 10% tariff on all imported vehicles and parts took effect on April 5, followed by country-specific rates on April 9. According to the WSJ’s analysis published on Thursday, Toyota has sustained the largest loss – around $3 billion in the second quarter alone – and expects a total tariff impact of $9.5 billion by the end of the fiscal year ending March 2026. Volkswagen has reportedly lost $1.5 billion, while Ford and General Motors have each reported losses of over $1 billion in Q2.

Tesla has been the least affected among major automakers, with an estimated $300 million loss. The WSJ also says the ten largest global automakers, excluding Chinese manufacturers, could see net profits fall by 25% by the end of the year. The EU and Japan have been negotiating tariff reductions with Washington. According to reports, the US currently imposes 27.5% on EU-made vehicles, and Brussels is pushing to lower it to 15% in exchange for cutting its own 10% tariff on American cars. Japan reached a similar deal in July, reducing US tariffs on its vehicles to 15% as part of a broader bilateral agreement.

The reported losses come amid declining sales of Western automakers in both Europe and China, under pressure from fast-growing Chinese electric vehicle brands. In the first half of 2025, Chinese manufacturers doubled their share of the European market to 5.1%. At the same time in China, Porsche’s sales fell 28%, prompting dealership closures. GM and others have also reported losses due to shrinking demand. On Thursday, the Trump administration expanded the tariff regime further, imposing new and additional tariffs on nearly 70 more countries, including the UK, Switzerland, Brazil, India, and Taiwan.

You invited them in!

• Germany To Slash Payments For Ukrainians (RT)

Germany’s Labor Ministry has proposed cutting benefits for Ukrainian migrants, citing growing financial strain from the continued influx of newcomers. Labor Minister Barbel Bas submitted a draft bill to remove Ukrainians from the so-called “citizen’s allowance” program – a benefit normally reserved for non-working Germans – and place them under the standard asylum seeker system, German media reported on Wednesday. Under standard asylum support a person receives €441 ($514), compared to €563 under the citizen’s allowance. The new rules would apply only to Ukrainians arriving after April 1, 2025. Those who came earlier would keep their current benefits.

According to the Federal Employment Agency, around 700,000 Ukrainians are currently receiving the allowance. Since April 1, about 21,000 more have arrived who could be affected by the new rules. The proposal has been sent for approval by other federal departments, and must then pass through the Cabinet and the Bundestag, expected to be adopted by year’s end. Germany spent around €6.3 billion or some 13% of the citizens’ allowance budget on Ukrainian migrants in 2024. Officials estimate the reform could save the federal government about €1.3 billion in 2026. Critics say the plan won’t significantly reduce public spending. Head of Bavaria Markus Soder and a number of other officials have called for ending the citizen’s allowance for all Ukrainians, regardless of when they arrived.

Of the 1.2 million Ukrainians that Germany has accepted over the past three years, as of May, only 332,000 were employed. Authorities across Germany have increasingly warned that the cost of supporting refugees is putting unsustainable pressure on public finances. The wider EU is facing similar challenges. As of May 2025, 4.3 million Ukrainians had been granted temporary protection across the bloc, which includes access to housing, education, and work. While the scheme has been extended through March 2027, several EU countries have been reviewing their support programs, citing rising costs and limited resources.

An impossible job?

• Kash Patel Is Cleaning House at the FBI, and It’s Glorious (Margolis)

FBI Director Kash Patel is making the bold moves that the bureau desperately needed, cleaning house and rooting out the lingering partisan bad actors who have long compromised the agency’s integrity. In a decisive shake-up, the FBI is ousting key officials, including former acting director Brian Driscoll, special agent Walter Giardina, who played a role in targeting Donald Trump advisor Peter Navarro, and Washington Field Office acting director Steven Jensen, a pivotal figure in the January 6 investigations. These removals come swiftly and with no detailed explanations, but insiders describe them plainly as retribution: a necessary reckoning. The swamp that entrenched itself deeply within the FBI over years of political bias is finally draining under Patel’s leadership.

For too long, the bureau has been weaponized against political opponents, wielding its immense power to settle scores rather than uphold justice impartially. Removing those who participated in such abuses, especially those involved in the infamous January 6 prosecutions, sends an unequivocal message that partisan insubordination will no longer be tolerated. Patel’s purge is not just about individual personnel changes; it signals a broader commitment to restoring credibility and lawful conduct within the bureau. It’s a refreshing departure from the past mismanagement where FBI leaders operated with unchecked arrogance and partisan motives. Now, those who acted as enemies of true justice are facing accountability, having been removed from positions of authority and stripped of the power they misused.

The removals come just months after thousands of FBI employees were ordered in February to complete an extensive questionnaire probing their involvement, past or present, in the investigation of the January 6 Capitol riot. The survey asked detailed questions, including whether agents had testified in related criminal trials or when they last participated in any aspect of the investigation. According to a report from Fox News Digital, one source familiar with the situation described the removals as “retribution.” This change is overdue. The FBI’s reputation has suffered severely, damaged by years of politicized investigations and internal betrayals. Patel’s leadership underscores a new era where loyalty to the Constitution and the rule of law triumphs over cynical political gamesmanship. His actions break the pattern of silence and inaction that allowed dysfunction to flourish.

By swiftly forcing out these figures, Patel ensures that the bureau cannot continue to be a tool for vendettas or partisan manipulation. This decisive step also reassures the American people that the FBI will no longer be a partisan political weapon but a guardian of justice for all citizens. Kash Patel deserves praise for his courage in taking on this difficult but necessary task. Cleaning out entrenched partisans who betrayed their oath is no small feat, but Patel’s resolve is exactly what the FBI needs to regain public trust and refocus on its core mission. His leadership represents hope that one of the government’s most powerful agencies can be steered back to integrity and fairness.

The purge of these disgraced officials is just the beginning. More removals are expected, reflecting a broader effort to dismantle the politicized infrastructure that allowed such abuses to persist. This new direction sets the course for an FBI that works for the people, not for political agendas. Patel’s actions should be lauded as a critical turning point in reclaiming justice and accountability within the nation’s top law enforcement agency.

We just want to murder or eject -whichever comes first- the two million who live there.

• ‘We Don’t Want To Keep Gaza’ – Netanyahu (RT)

Israel does not intend to establish its own governing body in Gaza after its military campaign against Hamas concludes and would rather see Arab neighbors assume responsibility for the Palestinian enclave, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated. In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Netanyahu was asked whether Israel would take complete control of Gaza. He responded: “We intend to, in order to ensure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza [Hamas] and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel.” Netanyahu insisted that Israel doesn’t “want to keep it [Gaza],” but rather “have a security perimeter.” He added that “we don’t want to be there as a governing body, we want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly.”

Israel controlled Gaza from 1967 until its unilateral withdrawal in 2005. Earlier this month, several Israeli media outlets reported that Netanyahu had told ministers he would seek cabinet backing for a plan to fully occupy Gaza, despite objections from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Jewish state and the militant group agreed to a fragile three-stage ceasefire in January, only for Israel to resume military action in March amid mutual recriminations with Hamas. Since then, the two belligerents have sporadically engaged in talks, which have failed to yield any breakthrough.

In February, US President Donald Trump proposed a plan envisioning the relocation of the Gaza population to neighboring states of “great wealth.” A group of Arab nations rejected the proposal shortly thereafter, as did Russia. The conflict between Hamas and Israel broke out in October 2023 after a surprise attack by Hamas in southern Israel left about 1,200 people dead and 250 taken hostage. According to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, the Israeli military campaign has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians.

“We didn’t vote for ChatGPT.”

What’s dumber, doing it or admitting that you do?

• Swedish PM Admits He Uses ChatGPT To Help Run Government (ZH)

First we learn that doctors are using ChatGPT to treat patients. Now, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is taking a heaping ration of Lutfisk for admitting he’s been using ChatGPT to help run the government. Speaking with a Nordic news site, Kristersson said that he sometimes asks ChatGPT for a “second opinion” when it comes to governance strategies. “I use it myself quite often,” he said, “If for nothing else than for a second opinion. What have others done? And should we think the complete opposite? Those types of questions.” Kristersson’s comments predictably came under fire.

“The more he relies on AI for simple things, the bigger the risk of overconfidence in the system,” Virginia Dignum, a professor of responsible artificial intelligence at Umeå University, told DiGITAL. “It is a slippery slope. We must demand that reliability can be guaranteed. We didn’t vote for ChatGPT.” “Too bad for Sweden that AI mostly guesses,” wrote Aftonbladet’s Signe Krantz. “Chatbots would rather write what they think you want than what you need to hear.” “You have to be very careful,” Simone Fischer-Hübner, a computer science researcher at Karlstad University, told Aftonbladet, noting that people shouldn’t submit sensitive information to GPT.

As Gizmodo opines; Krantz makes a good point, which is that chatbots can be incredibly sycophantic and delusional. If you have a leader asking a chatbot leading questions, you can imagine a scenario in which the software program’s algorithms only serve to reinforce that leader’s existing prerogatives (or to push them further over the edge into uncharted territory). Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like a whole lot of politicians feel the need to use ChatGPT as a consigliere yet. Kristersson spokesman Tom Samuelsson ‘clarified’ that the PM doesn’t take risks in his use of AI. “Naturally it is not security sensitive information that ends up there. It is used more as a ballpark,” he said.

“..an ‘Ultimate Mayhem Party Plan’ that combined alcohol, ecstasy, and cocaine, detailed instructions on self-harm, week-long fasting regimens limited to 300-500 calories per day, and suicide letters written in the voice of a 13-year-old girl.”

• ChatGPT a Danger To Teens – Watchdog (RT)

ChatGPT can give vulnerable teenagers detailed guidance on drug use, self-harm, and extreme dieting, a digital watchdog has warned in a new report. According to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), the AI chatbot can be easily manipulated into generating dangerous content and requires urgent safeguards. To test ChatGPT’s behavior, CCDH researchers created fictional profiles of 13-year-olds experiencing mental health struggles, disordered eating, and interest in illicit substances. They posed as these teens in structured conversations with ChatGPT, using prompts designed to appear emotionally vulnerable and realistic. The results were published on Wednesday in a report titled ‘Fake Friend’, referencing the way many adolescents treat ChatGPT as a supportive presence they trust with their private thoughts.

The researchers found that the chatbot often began responses with boilerplate disclaimers and urged users to contact professionals or crisis hotlines. However, these warnings were soon followed by detailed and personalized responses that fulfilled the original harmful prompt. In 53% of the 1,200 prompts submitted, the ChatGPT provided what CCDH classified as dangerous content. Refusals were frequently bypassed simply by adding context such as “it’s for a school project” or “I’m asking for a friend.” Examples cited include an ‘Ultimate Mayhem Party Plan’ that combined alcohol, ecstasy, and cocaine, detailed instructions on self-harm, week-long fasting regimens limited to 300-500 calories per day, and suicide letters written in the voice of a 13-year-old girl. CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed said some of the content was so distressing it left researchers “crying.”

The organization has urged OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, to adopt a ‘Safety by Design’ approach, embedding protections such as stricter age verification, clearer usage restrictions, and other safety features within the architecture of its AI tools rather than relying on content filtering after deployment. OpenAI has acknowledged that emotional overreliance on ChatGPT is common among young users. CEO Sam Altman said the company is actively studying the problem, calling it a “really common” issue among teens, and said new tools are in development to detect distress and improve ChatGPT’s handling of sensitive topics.

Booing

TRUMP: “Why are people booing me at my rallies when I bring up the vaccine?”

JOHN RICH: “They’re booing you Mr. President because every human being out in that rally, either themselves or they know someone directly, who has been harmed by the vaccine”pic.twitter.com/JbZFLM9H1B

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) August 7, 2025

Gut-brain
https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1953463467886727679

boss

‘The Boss’ is the largest grizzly bear in Banff National Park.

He’s been hit by a train twice and is believed to have fathered up to 70% of the grizzlies in Banff.

He’s the last one to go into hibernation and first one to come out.pic.twitter.com/VNkN6EAaU6

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 7, 2025

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

Older Entries