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Debt Rattle August 12 2024

Aug 122024
 
 August 12, 2024  Posted by at 9:05 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , ,  63 Responses »


Vincent van Gogh Green field 1888

 

• Kursk Is ‘Decisive Battle’ – Chechen Commander (RT)
• Ex-Japanese Diplomat Warns Ukraine Of Apocalyptic Scenario (RT)
• Fire Breaks Out At Nuclear Plant After Ukrainian Attack – Governor (RT)
• Kamala Harris Promises to Publish Her Policy Platform Next Week (Sp.)
• ‘Dumb’ Kamala Harris Always Gives The ‘Exact Same Speech’ – Trump (RT)
• “She’s Literally Running Against Herself” (ZH)
• Biden Admits He Was Pressured Out Of Race (RT)
• Pelosi Questions Dropout Letter As Biden Fingers Her In Ouster (ZH)
• America and Europe Need Mass Deportations Now (Skeet)
• Iran Rejects Evidence-Free Claims It Hacked Trump’s Presidential Campaign (Sp.)
• US Offering Maduro ‘Amnesty’ – WSJ (RT)
• Olympics Chief Celebrates ‘Full Gender Parity’ At Paris Games (RT)
• UK Doctors Ordered To Ask Men If They’re Pregnant (RT)

 

 

 

 

Flynn

 

 

DeSantis

 

 

Q

 

 

 

 

“..after this battle, Ukraine will fall,” as well as NATO, Europe, the US, and “all those supporting Ukraine.”

• Kursk Is ‘Decisive Battle’ – Chechen Commander (RT)

The fight in Russia’s Kursk Region is a “decisive battle” which will ultimately lead to Kiev’s collapse, Major-General Apty Alaudinov, the commander of the Akhmat Special Forces from Russia’s Chechen Republic, has claimed. In a video posted on his Telegram channel on Saturday, Alaudinov, who was appointed deputy head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces in April 2024, said it is “inconceivable” that Russia could be defeated on the battlefield. The comments were made with regard to Ukraine’s incursion into the border region of Kursk, the largest assault on Russian territory since the outbreak of the conflict between the neighboring states in February 2022. “I see no reason for you to doubt, to think that we could even lose this battle,” he said, while making an appeal for more people to join the army.

“I urge all of you to make a decision in this battle. The decisive battle,” he said, adding: “Because after this battle, Ukraine will fall,” as well as NATO, Europe, the US, and “all those supporting Ukraine.” He noted that Americans, Poles, English, and French people have been seen fighting for Kiev. “You have no place… in our land, and we will do everything to keep you out,” he said, stressing that “Russia is more united than ever; we are a force that no one can stop.” Since the beginning of the incursion on Tuesday, the Ukrainian military has lost nearly 1,120 soldiers and 140 armored vehicles, the Russian Defense Ministry stated, adding that the advance has been halted. Moscow called the raid a provocation and accused Kiev of targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure in the region.

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“Now is the chance to begin negotiations. If it comes to dividing Ukraine into three parts, then the situation and conditions that exist now will seem like a sweet dream.”

• Ex-Japanese Diplomat Warns Ukraine Of Apocalyptic Scenario (RT)

Former Japanese diplomat Kazuhiko Togo has warned that Kiev’s bargaining position will only deteriorate further, and that any deal it eventually strikes with Moscow will make Russian President Vladimir Putin’s current offer “seem like a sweet dream.” In an interview with Russia’s RIA news agency published on Saturday, Togo identified the US and UK’s refusal to negotiate with Russia as a pivotal decision that “could lead to Ukraine disintegrating into three parts.” “In the next three months, Russia could advance as far as it can, take as much as it can, and make sure that Ukraine never rises again, either under [potential US Presidents] Biden or Harris or under Trump. Then Ukraine could disintegrate into three parts: the eastern part [will go to Russia, the western part to western Europe, and in the middle there will be a small Ukraine with Kiev [as its capital].” Ever since the Ukraine conflict began in 2022, the US has maintained that it will bankroll Kiev’s military until Ukraine is in the best possible position to negotiate peace terms with Russia.

US officials have repeatedly insisted that any negotiations would be premature, even two years into the conflict. Ukraine agreed in principle to a Turkish-mediated peace deal in April 2022, which would have involved Kiev committing to neutrality and restricting its military in exchange for international security guarantees. However, the plan was torpedoed by then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who convinced Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to withdraw from the talks, according to media reports, testimony from former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, and an admission by David Arakhamia, who headed the Ukrainian delegation. Earlier this summer, Putin proposed new ceasefire terms, demanding that Kiev pull its forces from the formerly Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye, and commit to military neutrality before peace talks can begin.

“Putin makes these peace proposals, but Biden and Zelensky say that there is nothing to discuss here, and that Ukraine’s goal is the 1991 borders,” Togo told RIA. “This is absurd, since Ukraine itself rejected the Istanbul agreements, under which it almost received this,” he added. “These words must be taken seriously,” Togo warned. “Now is the chance to begin negotiations. If it comes to dividing Ukraine into three parts, then the situation and conditions that exist now will seem like a sweet dream.” A veteran diplomat, Togo headed the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Soviet bureau in the late 1980s, and served as chief of mission at Japan’s embassy in Moscow in the mid-1990s. He was a key player in preparing for the 2001 Irkutsk summit between Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, and in preparations for the visit to Japan of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991.

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Russia destroying their own property again?

• Fire Breaks Out At Nuclear Plant After Ukrainian Attack – Governor (RT)

The Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has caught fire after being shelled by Ukrainian forces, the governor of Russia’s Zaporozhye Region, Evgeny Balitsky, announced on Sunday. The fire is under control, the official added. The fire broke out following a Ukrainian attack on the nearby city of Energodar on Sunday and affected the plant’s cooling systems, Balitsky said in a statement. The plant’s six reactors were placed in a state of “cold shutdown” as a precaution, the governor continued, adding that there is “no threat of a steam explosion or other consequences.” “Emergency workers are working at the scene of the fire, and the sources of ignition have begun being eliminated,” Balitsky said. According to the governor, radiation levels around the plant are normal and “there is no threat” to people nearby.

The Zaporozhye NPP was seized by Russian forces in 2022, four days into Moscow’s military operation. Six months later, the region of Zaporozhye voted to join the Russian Federation in a referendum. Throughout the first year of the conflict, Russian forces foiled repeated Ukrainian attempts to attack the facility – which sits on the Dnieper River – with landing craft and drones. Kamikaze drones were used in Sunday’s attack, the facility’s communications director, Evgeniya Yashina, said in a statement. According to Yashina, the attack marked the first time that Ukrainian forces were able to seriously damage the plant’s infrastructure. Responding to the incident, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to perform “at least some imitation of work” and ensure the plant’s security.

Zakharova also condemned the shelling of the plant as a “terrorist” act. “The terrorists in Kiev, under the leadership of the collective West, destroyed their country, ruined the people of Ukraine, undermined global energy and food security, and now they have begun the nuclear terror of the continent,” she declared. The IAEA maintains an observer mission at the ZNPP and has condemned the repeated strikes against the plant. However, the UN agency refuses to attribute blame for these attacks, claiming that it does not have “indisputable evidence” of Kiev’s culpability. In a presentation to the UN General Assembly last month, Russia’s deputy representative to the organization, Dmitry Polyansky, displayed wreckage of a Ukrainian drone that hit the facility, accusing Kiev of posing “the only real threat to nuclear facilities in Ukraine today.”

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Will someone try to explain it to her?

• Kamala Harris Promises to Publish Her Policy Platform Next Week (Sp.)

US Vice President and Democratic Party presidential nominee Kamala Harris promised to publish her policy platform next week, which will focus on strengthening the economy and reducing prices. “Next week. And it will be focused on the economy, on what we need to do to bring down costs and strengthen the economy overall,” Harris told reporters of her press pool when asked about the timing of her platform’s publication. Republicans blame the Democratic administration for the rise in inflation and prices, declaring a failed economic policy. According to sociologists, the issue of reducing spending remains the main one for voters.

Incumbent US leader Joe Biden, amid concerns about his health and growing criticism, earlier decided not to seek reelection for a second term and supported his vice president Harris as his replacement. The US presidential election will take place on November 5. Former President Donald Trump has been officially nominated by the Republican Party for the post of head of state. Along with him, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance has been approved as a vice-presidential candidate. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has become the vice presidential nominee in the Democratic team.

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Polls, too, become ideology.

• ‘Dumb’ Kamala Harris Always Gives The ‘Exact Same Speech’ – Trump (RT)

Former US President Donald Trump has hammered Vice President Kamala Harris for refusing to give off-the-cuff interviews, accusing her of recycling the “exact same speech over and over again.” “Since becoming a presidential candidate she has refused to do a single interview. You know why? Because she’s dumb,” Trump told a crowd of supporters in Montana on Friday. “Or hold a single press conference. She won’t do it.” Harris has not held a single unscripted interview or press conference since announcing her campaign last month. Instead, she has embarked on a speaking tour focusing on a number of key swing states, partnering with popular musicians to draw crowds and reading similar remarks from a teleprompter in every location “Kamala gives the exact same speech over and over again,” Trump told the Montana crowd.

“Over and over. The exact same words. One of the people…put six of them up and every single word is the same. I don’t do that, I gotta give you a little bit of variety, right.” Conservative pundits have ripped into Harris for recycling her own speeches. A montage compiled by Fox News this week showed the Democrat telling crowds in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin that “the path to the White House runs right through this state” before reading catchphrases like “I know Donald Trump’s type” and “are you ready to make your voices heard?” from a teleprompter in the same tone and cadence. “We don’t like to read teleprompters, right?” Trump told his supporters. “It’s not as much fun, it’s not as exciting.” While Trump does use a teleprompter for most of his rallies, he frequently goes off script and is known for his unprepared clashes with the media.

Harris, on the other hand, is often mocked by conservatives for delivering rambling answers when put on the spot. Trump and Harris have both agreed to an ABC News debate on September 10, during which neither candidate will have access to a teleprompter. Trump has also agreed to two additional debates with Fox News and NBC News, but Harris has yet to accept or reject these dates. According to an average of multiple polls compiled by RealClearPolitics, Harris is currently leading Trump nationwide by 0.5%. A New York Times/Siena poll published on Saturday showed Harris with a four-point lead over Trump in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, although when the poll’s oversampling of Democrats is taken into account, both candidates are locked in a statistical dead heat.

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“VP Harris is quite literally running against herself by pointing out the ongoing cost of living crisis..”

• “She’s Literally Running Against Herself” (ZH)

Vice President Kamala Harris has been the biggest ‘Bidenomics’ cheerleader over the last 3.5 years. “That is called Bidenomics! Ha ha ha! That is called Bidenomics and we are very proud of Bidenomics!” VP Harris said one year ago. “Bidenomics is working,” VP Harris said at a separate event earlier in President Biden’s first term. Again and again and again. She has raised her leftist pom poms and cheered: “Bidenomics is working” …

You can hear the nervous chuckle when she claims over and over again, “Bidenomics is working.” But in reality, America’s working poor and middle class have been financially devastated by elevated inflation and high interest rates. If you talk with any blue-collar American and bring up supermarket prices, they instantly become enraged. The same goes for auto prices, shelter costs, power bills, insurance rates, pump prices, and on and on and on. The Federal Reserve’s latest monthly consumer credit report shows precisely why Americans are furious about Bidenomics—tens of millions of them have depleted savings and maxed out credit cards and are just a couple of steps away from financial ruin.

Crushing credit card interest rates.


Credit Card Interest Rate 1994-2024

Is the music about to stop for the consumer? So, back to VP Harris. The chuckle in her voice when she mentions Bidenomics possibly signifies that she, too, understands that out-of-control government spending on ‘green’ policies has been one of the main drivers of inflation. And on Friday evening, she addressed a campaign rally in Arizona by saying, “We believe in a future where we lower the cost of living for America’s families … so that they have a chance not just to get by but to get ahead.”

But hold up, wait a second. The whole point of Bidenomics, stated by the White House, was to “rebuild our economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down—and that strategy is working.” VP Harris is quite literally running against herself by pointing out the ongoing cost of living crisis. In other words, she’s admitting Bidenmoics has failed the working poor and middle class. What’s even more troubling, as Michael Shellenberger explained, is that VP Harris’ team has yet to unveil a policy-based agenda on the campaign’s website. Shellenberger explained why: “The reason her campaign is soulless is because the Democrats are out of ideas and the media doesn’t care.”

Let’s be blunt. The same leftist MSM corporate media that fueled misinformation and disinformation campaigns about Covid origins (remember the narrative: seafood market), Hunter Biden’s laptop, Russia-Trump collusion, and President Biden’s mental actuality are the same group of people in their ivory towers (colluding with big tech) who have spent the last several weeks waging an all-out info war against the American public, pushing them to support a candidate (VP Harris) who doesn’t even have a policy agenda listed on her campaign website.

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“Pelosi’s comments opened the floodgates for scores of influential Democrats to demand Biden’s withdrawal..”

• Biden Admits He Was Pressured Out Of Race (RT)

US President Joe Biden has admitted that his fellow Democrats convinced him that he would “hurt them” by staying in the race for the White House, and identified former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a key figure who influenced his decision to quit. Biden suspended his reelection campaign in late July, almost a month after a televised debate with former President Donald Trump exposed his apparent cognitive decline. In the weeks between the debate and his withdrawal, Biden was urged by liberal pundits, Democratic lawmakers, and party donors to end his campaign, as polls showed the 81-year-old incumbent losing ground to Trump. “The polls we had showed that it was a neck-and-neck race, it would have been down to the wire, and what happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and the Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in the races,” Biden told CBS News on Sunday, in his first interview since ending his campaign.

“And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic, you’d be interviewing me about why did Nancy Pelosi say – why did…and I thought it’d be a real distraction,” he added. Pelosi was the first prominent Democrat to publicly question Biden’s mental fitness after the debate. Speaking to MSNBC the following week, she declared that it would be “a legitimate question to say: ‘Is this an episode or is this a condition?’” Pelosi’s comments opened the floodgates for scores of influential Democrats to demand Biden’s withdrawal. Chief among these voices was Biden’s one-time boss, former President Barack Obama. According to the Washington Post, Obama “told people he is concerned that the polls are moving away from Biden, that former president Donald Trump’s electoral path is expanding and that donors are abandoning the president.”

Along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Pelosi relayed Obama’s message to Biden, the newspaper claimed. The former House Speaker denies leading any kind of effort to force Biden out. “He may think that my statement unleashed something…I don’t know, because I haven’t spoken to him since,” she told reporters earlier this week. Pelosi refused to say whether she had directly asked Biden to suspend his campaign, but said that she felt the president “did not have a campaign that was on the path to victory.” Trump has characterized Biden’s withdrawal as a “coup” by the Democratic Party. “They all dumped him, and they said, ‘Either you get out nice or we’re going to go after you.’ And that’s what happened. And he had no choice. There’s no question about it,” he told the New York Post last month.

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“..now Pelosi is overcompensating with absurd suggestions, like adding Biden to Mount Rushmore..”

• Pelosi Questions Dropout Letter As Biden Fingers Her In Ouster (ZH)

In his first interview since he was very clearly ousted from the 2024 race, President Biden specifically mentioned former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) – telling CBS News Sunday Morning that Democrats in the House and Senate thought he would drag down the entire party’s chances of reelection. “A number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in the races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic — you’d be interviewing me about why did Nancy Pelosi say [something] … and I thought it’d be a real distraction,” said Biden.

“When I ran the first time, I thought of myself as being a transition president. I can’t even say how old I am — it’s hard for me to get out of my mouth,” he continued, adding that it was a combination of those factors, along with the priority of “maintaining this democracy,” that steered ‘his’ decision, the NY Post reports. Pelosi, meanwhile, is acting very strange about the whole thing – suggesting that Biden’s letter announcing his withdrawal from the race wasn’t written by him. (duh)

As modernity.news reported last week, it was widely reported that Pelosi told Biden that he could either step down “the easy way” or be removed “the hard way.” Biden is apparently furious with her, as mentioned by interviewer Lesley Stahl in this clip.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1819735050851656046

She didn’t need to call anyone. (She sent emails.) It’s fairly obvious what happened – and now Pelosi is overcompensating with absurd suggestions, like adding Biden to Mount Rushmore.

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Hard to turn back.

• America and Europe Need Mass Deportations Now (Skeet)

Name one advantage that mass immigration from third-world countries has brought to any Western nation, anywhere, at any time. I’ll wait. The riots that engulfed Britain this past week have again shone a spotlight on the issue that the authorities keep insisting is “beneath discussion.” And the issue isn’t racism, xenophobia, white supremacy, or any other scare word. The issue is Western ruling classes importing, against the expressed will of their citizenries, enormous numbers of immigrants who have absolutely no desire to assimilate into Western society or to respect Western values. Following their operating manuals, the political classes and their media eunuchs refer to the British riots, along with any opposition in the Western world to mass immigration, as “far-right.” But for the past 25 years, mass immigration has been THE top concern for a plurality of American voters.

Half of Americans currently view mass immigration as a “critical threat.” Half of Americans, including 42% of Democrats, favor mass deportations of illegals. It does beg the question: If half the country is “far-right,” then what does “moderate right” look like? The Green Party? The Trotskyists? Raul Castro? And when I ask what advantages mass numbers of third-world immigrants bring, I’m talking about tangible benefits, not theoretical paeans to “diversity.” Diversity in and of itself is not a benefit. When I speak of benefits, I’m talking about a raised GDP. Safer neighborhoods and lower crime rates. Higher test scores. Stable labor markets. Respected liberties. Independence from the state welfare apparatus. Successful assimilation. If mass immigration negatively affects all of these advantages, then sensible people will oppose it, irrespective of the argument that these migrants are simply “doing the jobs that Americans won’t do.”

If the cost of maintaining these advantages — necessities, really, for a free people — means that we suck it up and endure the tediousness of maintaining our own yards or paying more money for actual Americans to perform low-skilled labor, then so be it. Diversity is our strength? Whose strength? It doesn’t seem to be strengthening anybody, including the shortsighted “migrants” who, had they not been so immersed in their own chauvinistic, xenophobic, bigoted, and meritless pride, might experience a shred of humility and concede that maybe, just maybe, their unfortunate lot in life is the result of their own society’s cultural shortcomings rather than some ever omnipresent but never detectable “white supremacy.” Though much of illegal immigration to the United States originates from Central and South America, we still experience the same detrimental rot of immigration from more sinister quarters.

The British rioters, in particular, have been accused of targeting “Asian-owned businesses.” Asian, huh? Asia is a big place; care to narrow that down for us? You must mean Korea, right? No? The Philippines? Mongolia? Nepal? India? Are they from the same part of “Asia” as 18 of the 19 terrorists who carried out the September 11 attacks? To suburban white women whose sun rises and sets on the solitary issue of abortion, you would do well to consider what life would be like under a culture in which abortions are allowed and encouraged so long as the fetus is female. Where the Handmaid’s Tale cosplayers would be stoned to death for exposing too much skin. Where teenage girls aren’t encouraged to change their gender but are mandated to have clitorectomies. Where it doesn’t matter whether or not you Believe Her© because women who are raped are they themselves murdered for “dishonoring” the family.

And if you’re banking on your “men” to save you, don’t forget what happened at the École Polytechnique in Montreal. An Algerian-Canadian, Gamil Gharbi, walked into a classroom with a rifle and ordered the fifty men to leave and the nine women to stay. All fifty “men” sheepishly complied, after which Gharbi gunned down the women, killing six of them. Gharbi then calmly left the classroom and walked past all fifty “men,” none of whom did anything other than avoid eye contact. Gharbi spent nearly twenty minutes shooting more women, killing fourteen in total before killing himself. For the record, Gharbi had previously changed his legal name to Marc Lépine. Which name do you think the media used?

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“Iran had purportedly hacked one of his campaign websites, but supposedly retrieved only “publicly available information.”

• Iran Rejects Evidence-Free Claims It Hacked Trump’s Presidential Campaign (Sp.)

The Islamic Republic has faced increasingly hostile rhetoric from the US deep state and Donald Trump’s president’s campaign over the past month, rejecting media claims about a supposed Iranian plot to assassinate him, and disregarding comments by Trump himself that Iran should be wiped “off the face of the Earth” if he was killed. Iran has responded to the Trump campaign’s latest hostile claims, rejecting allegations that it was responsible for the recent hacking of the campaign’s internal communications, including a 271-page dossier on Trump running mate JD Vance’s “potential vulnerabilities.” “We do not accord any credence to the news. The Iranian government has no intent or motive to interfere in the US presidential election,” Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations said in a statement. “The US presidential election is an internal matter in which Iran does not interfere,” the mission said, emphasizing that Iran’s cyber capabilities are “defensive and proportionate to the threats it faces.”

The mission further recalled that Iran itself “has been a victim of various cyber offensive operations against the country’s infrastructures, public service centers and industries.” In a statement Saturday, the Trump campaign blamed Iran for the hack and possible leak to media of sensitive internal materials, but did not provide any evidence of Tehran’s involvement. “These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our democratic process,” campaign spokesman Steve Cheung said. Cheung also warned media receiving the hacked documents not to publish the materials. “Any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want,” he said. Later in the day, Trump took to social media to say that Microsoft had informed his campaign that Iran had purportedly hacked one of his campaign websites, but supposedly retrieved only “publicly available information.”

“Nevertheless, they shouldn’t be doing anything of this nature,” Trump said. “Iran and others will stop at nothing, because our Government is Weak and Ineffective, but it won’t be for long,” he added, without elaborating. US media began reporting on the receipt of the hacked campaign materials on July 22, about a week after Trump survived an assassination attempt, and was officially picked as the Republican nominee for president at the party’s convention in Milwaukee. The materials reportedly included an array of internal documents, including a report on JD Vance’s “potential vulnerabilities,” as well as a “variety of documents from [Trump’s] legal and court documents,” and “internal campaign discussions.”

The ‘Iranian hacking’ claims come in the wake of separate allegations by anonymous US intelligence sources in US media last month that Tehran was out to kill Trump. Those claims came just days after the attempt on his life and the spate of questions from the media, lawmakers and the public about the curious and unprofessional conduct of the Secret Service officers charged with protecting him. Instead of asking questions of his own about who in the US deep state may want him dead, Trump piled onto the Iran story. “If they do ‘assassinate President Trump’, which is always a possibility, I hope that America obliterates Iran, wipes it off the face of the Earth – If that does not happen, American Leaders will be considered ‘gutless’ cowards!” Trump wrote in a social media post on July 25.

The Trump campaign’s hacking allegations and the former president’s response to them are not without a sense of irony, given that Trump himself spent nearly the entirety of his first term in office fending off false claims that Russia had hacked the 2016 election to help bring him to power. Similarly, while US officials, media and intelligence agencies regularly allege that foreign actors like Iran, Russia and China seek to meddle in or otherwise disrupt US elections, they haven’t been nearly as concerned about efforts by Washington’s allies, including Israel and Ukraine, to do the same thing, whether through the use of powerful lobbying groups in Washington, or attempts to dig up dirt on candidates hostile to their corrupt interests.

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China and Rusia support Maduro.

• US Offering Maduro ‘Amnesty’ – WSJ (RT)

American officials have offered to drop “narco-terrorism” charges against Nicolas Maduro if the Venezuelan president transfers power to his political opponents, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Maduro defeated Western-backed opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia by 51.2% to 44.2% in a presidential election last month, securing himself a third term in office. Gonzalez’s supporters, however, claim that the vote was rigged, and the US officially recognized Gonzalez as Venezuela’s president-elect earlier this month. According to the Wall Street Journal’s sources, Washington is now attempting to persuade Maduro to cede power to Gonzalez. In secret talks with confidants of Maduro, the White House has offered to pardon the Venezuelan president and his allies, who are currently wanted in the US on drug charges.

American officials are also trying to convince Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia – whose leftist governments are seen as sympathetic to Caracas – to convince Maduro to accept the deal, the newspaper reported. Meanwhile, Gonzalez’s allies have also offered security guarantees to Maduro if he were to step down. The US Justice Department unsealed indictments against Maduro and more than a dozen Venezuelan political and military leaders in 2020, accusing them of “narco-terrorism,” and implicating them in a plot to “flood the United States with cocaine.”

The State Department announced a $15 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the Venezuelan leader, and rewards of up to $10 million for each of his co-defendants. The charges against Maduro came after previous attempts to dislodge him from power failed. Economic sanctions and veiled threats of military intervention from Washington were insufficient to break Maduro’s grip on power in 2018, while the US’ recognition of opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s ‘interim president’ in 2019 amounted to little more than a symbolic gesture, with Guaido currently living in exile in Miami. With the Venezuelan military and security forces still loyal to Maduro, the WSJ’s sources conceded that the amnesty deal is unlikely to succeed.

A similar deal was offered to Maduro during secret talks in Qatar last year, they said, adding that the Venezuelan leader refused to discuss any arrangement that would involve him leaving office. Maduro’s inauguration is scheduled for January. US officials involved in the secret talks told the WSJ that they hope to strike a deal before then, while the newspaper described the potential return of Donald Trump to the White House as a point of leverage that the US holds over Maduro. Whereas Trump imposed heavy sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry and backed Guaido, President Joe Biden temporarily lifted these penalties last year. However, the WSJ’s sources believe that “Maduro mistrusts Washington, no matter who inhabits the White House.” Maduro said at the beginning of this month that he is willing to restart sanctions-relief and prisoner-exchange talks with the US, on the condition that Washington “should stay out of Venezuela’s internal affairs.”

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The International Boxing Association (IBA) is declared “Russia-linked” for not complying with ‘Full Gender Parity’. Very subtle.

• Olympics Chief Celebrates ‘Full Gender Parity’ At Paris Games (RT)

The outgoing head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) hailed the “gender parity” of the Paris Games during the event’s closing ceremony on Sunday. His comments came after women’s boxing was embroiled in controversy at the Games due to questions over the eligibility of two competitors. In his farewell speech as the Olympic flame was being extinguished, Thomas Bach claimed the event in France was “the first Olympic Games delivered fully under our Olympic Agenda reforms: younger, more urban, more inclusive, more sustainable. The first ever Olympic Games with full gender parity.” The Games were “a celebration of the athletes and sport at its best” and “Seine-sational,” Bach added, in a reference to the river that flows through the French capital.

Two boxers – Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of the Chinese Taipei team – won gold medals in their respective weight categories at the Paris Games. Both were cleared to compete despite being disqualified last year from the World Championships organized by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for failing sex verification tests. Public backlash over their participation in Paris erupted after Italian boxer Angela Carini dropped out just seconds into her bout against Khelif, bursting into tears and stating that she had never been punched so hard. Olympic officials stood by their decision to qualify Khelif and Lin, with Bach stating during a press conference: “if somebody is presenting us with a scientifically solid system how to identify men and women, we are the first ones to do it.” He insisted that the IOC would not “[fall] prey to a defamation campaign by a not credible organization with highly political interest.”

The verbal jab apparently targeted the IBA, which was dismissed as “Russia-linked” by defenders of the two boxers. It is headed by Russian Umar Kremlev and has gone against the tide in international sports by allowing Russian and Belarussian athletes to compete at its events. As well as the IOC, most international sports federations have imposed various bans on Russia and Belarus over the Ukraine conflict. No similar restrictions were applied to nations engaged in hostilities elsewhere in the world during the Olympic Games. On Saturday, Bach announced that he will not seek a new six-year term at the helm of the IOC, after his current one expires next year. He said the organization will be “best served with a change in leadership.”

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‘Full Gender Parity’.

• UK Doctors Ordered To Ask Men If They’re Pregnant (RT)

British health authorities have instructed doctors performing X-ray, CT and MRI scans to ask men whether they are pregnant. The “inclusive pregnancy status guidelines for ionizing radiation” was developed by the Society of Radiographers (SoR). According to The Telegraph, the guidance came in response to an incident in which a transgender man had a CT scan while pregnant. The decision was justified by the fact that the radiation from X-ray, CT and MRI scans can be harmful to unborn babies. Doctors have therefore been told not to assume the gender identity of patients when performing all such procedures and inquiring of all people between the ages of 12 and 55 about pregnancy, including men, transgender, non-binary, and intersex patients. Under the new guidance, patients are asked to fill out a form with a list of questions, including their sex at birth and fertility status.

According to several X-ray specialists who spoke to The Telegraph on condition of anonymity, the questions have already been deemed “invasive” by many patients. Several doctors reported that men have reacted especially angrily to the forms, storming out of appointments at the implied suggestion that their gender was not obvious. Another controversial aspect of the guidance is asking patients by which pronouns they would like to be addressed. Some parents of underage patients have reportedly been “furious” that their kids were asked their preferred names and pronouns – a question that confuses them – while one doctor revealed that a patient started to doubt their own gender identity after filling out the form. Some doctors and human rights campaigners said they considered the new guidelines “humiliating” to patients, and said they have already appealed to the NHS to drop the system and “return to common sense.”

“Given that it is impossible for anyone of the male sex to become pregnant, there is no need to ask male people if they might be pregnant… The proposed radiography guidelines muddy the water by including so-called intersex conditions,” Dr. Louise Irvine told the news outlet. “The SoR’s inclusion policy is among the worst examples of professional bodies losing their senses by prioritizing ideology ahead of biological fact. Putting healthcare staff and male patients through this humiliating farce… is both inappropriate and a shocking waste of time,” Fiona McAnena, the head of campaigns at human rights charity Sex Matters, stated. It was not clear from the report how many UK medical institutions have adopted the new guidelines, but a number of hospitals in London and other cities were reported to have started using the new inquiry forms.

Read more …

 

 

 

Goat

 

 

Fisherman

 

 

Leopard

 

 

Yoga

 

 

New fear

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle August 10 2024

Aug 102024
 
 August 10, 2024  Posted by at 9:07 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  63 Responses »


Vincent van Gogh Café, le soir, Arles 1888

 

• The American Police State Has Murdered the Constitution (Paul Craig Roberts)
• ‘Free Speech Is An Illusion In The US’ – Tara Reade (RT)
• Special Counsel Jack Smith is No Longer in a Hurry (Turley)
• Harris’s Big Gift To Trump… If He Uses It (Victor Davis Hanson)
• US Hypocrisy on Full Display In Dubious FARA Claims Against Scott Ritter (Sp.)
• Maduro Bans X (RT)
• Serbian President Says He Received Coup Warning From Russia (RT)
• Pentagon Refuses To Rule Out Strikes On Moscow (ZH)
• Kiev Regime’s Terrorism Shows Russia Must Go All The Way (SCF)
• Putin Relies on Reason which the West Has Abandoned (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Mexico Responds To Ukraine’s Request To Arrest Putin (RT)
• Australia Being Turned Into ‘51st US state’ – ex-PM Keating (RT)
• Third Year of Record Coral Increase on the Great Barrier Reef (DS)

 

 

 

 

Walz Pelosi

 

 

New president

 

 

Trump=energy
https://twitter.com/i/status/1821717762890186925

 

 

Macgregor
https://twitter.com/i/status/1821987048129229051

 

 

 

 

“I have already noticed that alternative news websites are pulling in their horns. Soon we will know nothing.”

• The American Police State Has Murdered the Constitution (Paul Craig Roberts)

An American, even a former US Marine and UN weapons inspector, who takes issue with official explanations dear to Washington’s heart, will be accused, as Scott Ritter is, of manipulating the American public “on behalf of the Russian government.” In other words free speech, especially if it is true, is now effectively criminalized despite its Constitutional protection. For many years it has been impossible for many truths to be stated in the print and TV media. The official stories of 9/11, “Covid pandemic,” “Covid vaccine,” Washington’s invasions of Afghanistan and the Middle East, immigration, Israel’s takeover of Palestine, the conflict in Ukraine and others are off limits to skepticism. The alternative Internet media is the only source of information, and now it is being closed down by police state intimidation of Tulsi Gabbard and Scott Ritter and by the destruction of the website Vdare.

The assaults on Donald Trump shows us that not even a President in office is secure from fantastic police state charges. Try to imagine what it means that a New York state judge has set a September date for sentencing the Republican nominee for President seven weeks before the election. Here is real election interference, whereas Trump is being sentenced for interfering in an election by allegedly misreporting a business expense. That such total nonsense can occur in an American court with complicity of an American jury proves that the rule of law is dead and buried in America. Now it has gone beyond the law. It is the Constitution itself that is brushed aside in Washington’s fanatical determination to protect its lies. I have already noticed that alternative news websites are pulling in their horns. Soon we will know nothing.

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“We have the illusion of free speech. We have that illusion of a right to travel. But in reality, it is only allowed if we say what the US wants people to say, otherwise you are at risk..”

• ‘Free Speech Is An Illusion In The US’ – Tara Reade (RT)

You’re only free to speak your mind in the US if you are saying what the authorities want you to say, RT contributor and former aide to Joe Biden, Tara Reade, has claimed. Reade appeared live on RT on Thursday to comment on the search carried out by federal agents and state police at the home of former US Marine and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter in New York state on Wednesday. She and Ritter, who is now a journalist, had both been invited to speak at the 27th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in June, but “unfortunately the federal agents took him off the plane and confiscated his passport,” Reade recalled. She said Ritter’s passport was never returned to him by the US authorities. “Usually, that indicates that someone is under investigation because they take away your passport,” she said.

The government in Washington has been “going after Scott Ritter for years” since “he spoke out against the war in Iraq and revealed that… the US government lied about the weapons of mass destruction,” the former Biden aide claimed. The persecution of the journalist and commentator – whose views on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as Israel’s war in Gaza, contrast sharply with those of the White House – is “just a pattern of what you are seeing in the US, which is the surveillance state and authoritative government,” she argued. “We have the illusion of free speech. We have that illusion of a right to travel. But in reality, it is only allowed if we say what the US wants people to say, otherwise you are at risk,” Reade said. She also suggested that, since Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate last month, the party is “going back to the old Russiagate hysteria.”

Ritter, who is also an RT contributor, described the search of his property as an “act of intimidation” against him. The authorities appear to be “primarily concerned” about his “relationship” with RT and the news agency Sputnik, the journalist said in a video message on Telegram on Thursday. The 61-year-old revealed that FBI agents blamed him for working “on behalf of the Russian government” to manipulate the opinions of the American public. Ritter rejected those accusations as “absurd in the extreme.” He insisted that he was “doing nothing wrong,” and was just “an American citizen, holding my government accountable and exercising the rights given to me by the Constitution.”

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“..a neck-breaking change of direction..”

• Special Counsel Jack Smith is No Longer in a Hurry (Turley)

For over a year, Special Counsel Jack Smith has made one element the overriding priority in his prosecution of former president Donald Trump: speed. Smith repeatedly moved to curtail Trump’s appellate rights and demand expedited appeals to try to secure a conviction before the election. In that effort, he found an equally motivated judge in U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who virtually turned her court into a rocket docket to try Trump. Now, in a neck-breaking change of direction, Smith is trying to slow down Chutkan who appears again ready to pull out the stops in this case. After the mandate in the case was returned to her, Judge Chutkan immediately resumed her high-speed scheduling to look at the pre-trial issues after the Court reversed her earlier rulings on the basis of presidential immunity. The past problem with a court making speed the priority is that it does not allow much time to create a record.

The remand will now require Judge Chutkan to do so on the question of what charges and evidence may be barred under the ruling in Trump v. United States. As it has in the past, the Court adopted a three-tiered approach to presidential powers based on the source of a presidential action. Chief Justice John Roberts cited Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer, in which the court ruled against President Harry Truman’s takeover of steel mills. In his famous concurrence to Youngstown, Justice Robert Jackson broke down the balance of executive and legislative authority between three types of actions. In the first, a president acts with express or implied authority from Congress. In the second, he acts where Congress is silent (“the zone of twilight” area). In the third, the president acts in defiance of Congress.

In this decision, the Court adopted a similar sliding scale. It held that presidents enjoy absolute immunity for actions that fall within their “exclusive sphere of constitutional authority” while they enjoy presumptive immunity for other official acts. They do not enjoy immunity for unofficial or private actions. Only hours after receiving the mandate, Judge Chutkin scheduled an Aug. 16 conference to lay out the schedule and issues going forward. The former version of Jack Smith would have been delighted. He did not even see the need for the right for an en banc appeal in previously pushing for a pre-election trial. Now, however, Smith is telling Judge Chutkin to slow down already. Smith told the court that “The Government continues to assess the new precedent set forth last month in the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States. Although those consultations are well underway, the Government has not finalized its position on the most appropriate schedule for the parties to brief issues related to the decision.”

He has asked for a three-week delay to further consider what he wants to do. It is not clear if the press and pundits will now charge Smith with “slow walking” the case. The question is whether Smith is considering a drastic move in light of the calendar and the ruling. There is, of course, always the possibility that he either throws in the towel or opts for a post-election trial. That would certainly go against the grain of Smith, who has always pushed both the law and the calendar to the breaking point. However, as some of us have been arguing for months, he may no longer view a trial as a plausible objective. There is also the possibility that Smith will do something that some of us have discussed over the last year: pare down his case. Smith has always been undone by his appetite. As shown in his 8-0 reversal in his conviction of former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, Smith has rarely shown moderation as a prosecutor.

His overloaded criminal complaints created this disaster for his team. In Florida, Smith unwisely loaded up the prosecution with controversial charges on the retention of classified material. It not only triggered difficult challenges but slowed the case to a crawl as the parties dealt with classification laws. Had he proceeded solely on obstruction charges, he might have secured his trial before the election (and before the recent ruling on immunity). Even if the reduced case was heard by the Court on immunity, an obstruction case would have been far stronger for Smith.

The same is true with the D.C. case. Smith loaded up the case to raise the January 6th speech and other issues. Most were unnecessary, but Smith used his press conference to denounce the January 6th riot. A three-week delay will give Smith ample time (in addition to the weeks following the Supreme Court decision) to deliberate. However, it will take roughly a month off the calendar for just internal debate with the election only three months away. So, even with a judge who appears chomping at the bit to resume the fast track to trial, Smith now wants more time. Even before this request, it was hard to see how a trial could be held before the election. Now it seems a virtual certainty that any trial will have to await the results of the election. As I wrote in 2023, the odds were against a federal trial before the election, which would convert the voters into the largest jury in history.

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“..was Harris terrified of leftwing threats from her base that a Shapiro pick would guarantee her 1968-like riots at her Chicago convention?”

• Harris’s Big Gift To Trump… If He Uses It (Victor Davis Hanson)

Harris’s selection of Walz at least reveals the left’s full-bore agenda, something that previously her handlers seemed at pains to hide: an overt doubling down on the Biden neo-socialist record that will require a far more vigorous stealth 90-day campaign to camouflage the hard-left record of both Harris and Walz. Minnesota under Walz became merely a smaller version of Gavin Newsom’s California – shameless woke pandering, wars against fossil fuels, fiscal nihilism, thousands fleeing the state, high crime, high taxes, poor services, sanctuary city/pro-illegal alien activism, eroding downtowns of once majestic cities, loud-in-your-face, attack-dog denials of reality, a two-tier state legal system, tolerance of BLM/Antifa/Hamas street violence, and on and on. So Walz is a force multiplier of Harris’s vulnerabilities.

His selection (was Harris terrified of leftwing threats from her base that a Shapiro pick would guarantee her 1968-like riots at her Chicago convention?) did not just reveal the now overt anti-Semitic, anti-Israel nature of the Democratic Party (Shapiro would have likely ensured Pennsylvania’s electoral votes). Her pick also reveals the confidence that the Left has in winning what will be the most flagrant, bait-and-switch 90-day campaign in presidential history. So, the real Harris-Walz campaign messaging will be: ‘In 2024 we have to lie and mislead you about who we are and what we did, so that in 2025 we can govern you in ways you will not like.’ What are the challenges for this weirdest of tickets? Harris, in Biden-fashion, cannot finish a coherent thought. So again, like Biden in 2020, she will retreat and outsource her campaign to the media, while counting on outspending Trump 3-1, and radiating feigned moderation.

She is taking heat for neither yet meeting with a real journalist nor speaking impromptu. But in her defense, to do either might at any opportune moment collapse her stealth campaign, given that to listen to her for 60 seconds off script is to prefer her to remain silent and hidden. And she has confidence in absentia that a bankrupt media will praise her nonexistent elegance, fluency, and articulateness. Walz will customarily serve as a designated hit man for Harris. But he is just as much a liability— a shoot-from-the-hip blowhard, while owning an even more embarrassing leftwing record than Harris. And he is even less discreet. This week Walz introduced himself to the nation as a VP candidate by smearing J.D. Vance with the brazen “couch” lie. And then while foolishly beaming, he doubled-down on his crude slur (“See what I did there?”).

So, he even outdid Harris who had recently called Trump a “predator”—just days before it was disclosed that her married husband earlier had once impregnated his own children’s young nanny and tutor and had never disclosed what followed from his predation. Both will either ignore or lie about their joint opposition to fracking and pipelines; their disgraceful pro-BLM/Antifa advocacy during the lethal and destructive 2020 looting and rioting; their support for open borders and illegal immigration; their woke pandering; and their generic leftwing promotion of the usual high taxes, big government, poor services, and ‘who cares if they flee my state’ arrogance.

The Harris-Walz ticket will also collapse if, horribile dictu, the prior Biden-Harris appeasement of Iran, distancing from Israel, weakening of the military, and loss of deterrence in the next 90 days leads to theater-wide wars on the Ukrainian borderlands or in the Middle East and/or to a recession due to cumulative inflation, high interest, stagnant wages and anemic citizen employment, and unsustainable national debt service.In sum, Trump is very much even in the race. He was given a rare gift by the shunning of Josh Shapiro as Harris’s running mate. That leftwing blunder could energize the Trump campaign—if again he sticks to warning the country of who these two are, what they have done, how they are hiding their real agendas, what they will do if elected, and how they differ from his own presidential record and future agenda. Nothing else matters.

And that means Trump should ignore the now inert and evaporating Biden, refrain from attacking any Republican, stop all recriminations about 2020, avoid race and DEI ambushes, and prep hard and in detail for as many debates as he can obtain. Trump should appear magnanimous and above the fray by compromising with Harris on the debates: one debate now by her rules on ABC, and one by his rules on Fox before early voting begins. Rarely have the Democrats so foolishly gone hard left. And when they did in 1972, 1980, and 1988, Republicans used to know how to use those gifts, expose them, and win landslides despite media and institutional bias. They can do it again, but only if they are as adroit, united, and disciplined as their predecessors once were.

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“..The Wednesday raid also came the same week court documents revealed Hunter Biden took in million from Romanian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu..”

• US Hypocrisy on Full Display In Dubious FARA Claims Against Scott Ritter (Sp.)

Under the orders of the US Justice Department, the home of former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter was raided this week under allegations of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. More than two dozen boxes were pulled from his home, including an archive that backed Ritter’s allegations that there were never any WMDs in Iraq in 2003. The US’ latest effort to target Scott Ritter have fully put on display the government’s hypocrisy as it picks and chooses when to stay its hand and when to weaponize the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) against Americans, US attorney John Jackman told Sputnik. The Wednesday raid took place at Ritter’s home in New York as investigators have sought to argue that the former weapons inspector’s journalistic work is being framed at the direction of the Russian government. However, the claims could not be further from the truth.

“FARA, kind of by its very nature, is enforced ambiguously, which leads to very unequal levels of enforcement and basically, you know, there’s potential for it to be weaponized against political speech that the United States, especially our foreign policy establishment, finds problematic,” Jackman told Radio Sputnik’s Fault Lines on Friday. Potential FARA offenders are flagged by the US government if they fall under certain specifications, such as an individual who is documented as having been directed at the sole discretion of a foreign principal. That said, there are exemptions that protect “bonafide” media services, which Jackman noted its exact definition is “somewhat ambiguous.” “I’m looking at the totality of those factors together and these accusations of him acting as a foreign agent and, just on its face, the claims are extremely dubious and uncredible in my view,” Jackman told hosts Jamarl Thomas and Melik Abdul.

“I think this comes down to where they can kind of find these ambiguities in foreign agent laws since it’s been enacted and then also sort of play upon some of the jingoism and fear that the government is really trying to stoke, especially toward Russia but also toward countries in the Middle East as well, which Scott Ritter has been sympathetic to.” Jackman, who also serves as the regular co-host of DD Geopolitics, contrasted the government’s accusations against Ritter to that of the relationship between the Israeli lobby in the US and Congress. “The hypocrisy is so profound,” he said. “The Israeli lobby being able to literally buy [congressional] seats, yet the United States treats all the deference that our media, that our politicians give to Israel, literally the exact propaganda lines that the Israeli government will say to justify, you know, the war and occupation going in Gaza, in the West Bank,” Jackman told Thomas.

“Yet, when it comes to talking about the interests of, you know, other countries or even the sovereign interests of the people in the United States, right, to make sure that our tax dollars are being used in an accountable way that’s going to the infrastructure of this country, rather than going to continue to fuel war and foreign aid in, you know, the tens and hundreds of billions of dollar to countries, like, Ukraine and Israel and Taiwan, for example. So, the hypocrisy to me is just very evident,” the attorney emphasized. The Wednesday raid also came the same week court documents revealed Hunter Biden took in million from Romanian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu in exchange for attempting to exert his influence on the US government during his father’s vice presidency. Additionally, former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway registered as a foreign agent who would be lobbying on behalf of pro-Ukrainian interests.

Unlike in the Biden findings, where evidence shows an agent-principal relationship had been established between the two parties, that isn’t the case for Ritter. “This is one of the meaningful differences with Scott,” Jackman said “At every turn you know Scott is, what he’s talking about when it comes to his commentary on foreign policy and the work that he’s doing, for example, to organize this anti-war rally and draw attention to the specter of nuclear war has been done under his own volition,” he noted. “Due to his own, you know, freedom of thought and freedom of speech which actually, you know, is very tough to do in this country because it cuts against a lot of financial interests that he could potentially be taking advantage of, right?” “It would be a lot easier in this country, for example, to take advantage of a Ukrainian interest who’s willing to pay you to go on the airwaves and spout Ukrainian propaganda. It would be a lot easier to get that into the mainstream than it would to, you know, take the other side of it in this country, which requires just kind of by its very nature – and you all know – a lot of independence.”

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“Maduro accused the tech mogul of “inciting hatred, fascism, civil war, death, [and] confrontation of Venezuelans..”

• Maduro Bans X (RT)

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced a temporary ban on X (formerly Twitter) in the country. The decision followed his war of words with the platform’s CEO, Elon Musk, who has accused Maduro of election fraud. In a televised speech on Thursday, Maduro accused the tech mogul of “inciting hatred, fascism, civil war, death, [and] confrontation of Venezuelans,” as well as violating national laws. The leader added that he has signed a resolution presented by the National Commission of Telecommunications to ban the social media platform for ten days.“Let the plans on social networks to spread violence, hatred… [in] Venezuela from abroad end,” Maduro wrote in a separate post on X. In response, Musk took to the platform to mockingly promise to “singe his [Maduro’s] mustache from space.”

The spat between the Venezuelan leader and the billionaire started in the wake of the country’s presidential election last month, in which Maduro was declared the winner. According to the country’s electoral council, Maduro won about 52% of the vote, while opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez received 43%. The opposition disputed the results, arguing that they didn’t match their own tallies, while their backers, including the US, refused to recognize Maduro’s victory. However, other countries such as China and Russia have congratulated the Venezuelan leader on his reelection. Musk has supported the criticism of Maduro, calling him a “dictator” and accusing him of “major election fraud.” “The people of Venezuela have had enough of this clown,” he added, voicing support for the opposition.

The jab drew a sharp response from the Venezuelan president, who blasted the tycoon for allegedly trying to stage a coup and challenged him to a fistfight – a suggestion Musk accepted. The temporary ban on X comes after Maduro claimed to have deleted his WhatsApp messenger from his phone, saying it was being used to threaten Venezuela and spy on its people. He also claimed that TikTok and Instagram were being used to promote “hate” and promised to regulate their use. Maduro will be serving a third consecutive six-year term, after first taking office in 2013 following the death of President Hugo Chavez. Maduro’s previous reelection, in 2018, was also rejected by the US, along with the EU and several Latin American states.

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They want the lithium.

• Serbian President Says He Received Coup Warning From Russia (RT)

Russia warned Serbia about a potential coup attempt, President Aleksandar Vucic told journalists on Friday. His statement came a day before an expected protest in the nation’s capital. According to Vucic, Serbia’s Security Intelligence Agency (BIA) is already acting on the leads provided by Moscow. “We received official information from the Russian Federation, information transmitted and brought through official channels,” the president said, adding that the authorities “are dealing with it” and there is no reason to worry. Vucic did not elaborate on where the threat could come from or who might be behind the alleged coup plot. He still maintained that those who “dream” of achieving anything in such a way should know that “they won’t.” “Serbia is moving forward and they cannot and will not stop it,” he added.

Earlier, some Serbian news media outlets reported that the Russian security services allegedly warned Vucic about massive riots that are being prepared in Serbia with an ultimate goal of overthrowing the nation’s leadership. A Serbian ‘Vecernje Novosti’ daily stated earlier on Friday that it obtained a “color revolution handbook” supposedly published for the participants of ecological protests that are expected to be held on Saturday. The content of the “handbook” describes methods reminiscent of “color revolutions” in other nations, the media outlet claimed, adding that the protests in the country are likely to be coordinated from some “centers of power” abroad but did not accuse anyone in particular. The news came as the nation braces for possible ecological protests this weekend. In July, Serbia has become an arena for a standoff between groups of eco-activists and the government over a major lithium mine project. Last month, Belgrade granted the Anglo-Australian mining major Rio Tinto a license to develop a lithium mine in the Jadar region in the western part of the country, which is poised to become the biggest one in Europe, according to Reuters.

The project did not sit well with some local farmers and villagers, who argued that the mine would severely pollute the surrounding area. The mine would “free the European Union from reliance on China” in terms of lithium at the expense of Serbians’ health, farmer Zlatko Kokanovic, one of the activists, told Reuters. The government treats the $2.4 billion Jadar lithium project as a major boost for the national economy. The mine could cover 90% of the EU’s needs for lithium, according to Reuters. The protesters demanded the government ban lithium mining in Jadar before August 10 and vowed to announce their next steps at a rally on Saturday. The news came as the nation braces for possible ecological protests this weekend. In July, Serbia has become an arena for a standoff between groups of eco-activists and the government over a major lithium mine project.

Last month, Belgrade granted the Anglo-Australian mining major Rio Tinto a license to develop a lithium mine in the Jadar region in the western part of the country, which is poised to become the biggest one in Europe, according to Reuters. The project did not sit well with some local farmers and villagers, who argued that the mine would severely pollute the surrounding area. The mine would ”free the European Union from reliance on China” in terms of lithium at the expense of Serbians’ health, farmer Zlatko Kokanovic, one of the activists, told Reuters. The government treats the $2.4 billion Jadar lithium project as a major boost for the national economy. The mine could cover 90% of the EU’s needs for lithium, according to Reuters. The protesters demanded the government ban lithium mining in Jadar before August 10 and vowed to announce their next steps at a rally on Saturday.

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“I’m not gonna draw a circular map for you here of where they can and cannot strike.”

• Pentagon Refuses To Rule Out Strikes On Moscow (ZH)

The Pentagon on Thursday was asked by a reporter during the daily briefing whether Ukraine forces’ use of American weapons in its ongoing Kursk incursion is “consistent” with US policy of what Ukraine can and cannot do with US weapons. It has become clear that Ukrainian troops are currently using American weapons to attack Russian territory, troops, civilians, and infrastructure. Spokeswoman Sabrina Singh answered without hesitation that “yes it is consistent with our policy” and explained that Washington has supported the need for “crossfire” from Ukraine back across the border onto Russian positions from which it is being attacked, even if that is on Russian territory. She framed what is happening in Russia’s Kursk oblast—an offensive which has entered day four—as ‘defensive’ in nature.

Singh still tried to point out that it remains US policy for Ukraine to avoid striking deep into Russian territory using American arms; however, when pressed about the scenario of a direct attack on Moscow, she simply said: “I’m not going to put a specific range on it” and thus refused to rule it out. But she did caveat that “we still don’t support long-range attacks into Russia.” Singh additionally explained, “I’m not gonna draw a circular map for you here of where they can and cannot strike.” The Kremlin is likely to remain unconvinced when hearing this clear escalation in rhetoric from the Pentagon where attacking the Russian capital is discussed, even if theoretically. Needless to say we have entered incredibly dangerous times in this major proxy war when the Pentagon’s daily press briefing is openly talking about strikes on Moscow.

The Ukrainian cross-border offensive, which may have involved up to 1,000 men, began early Tuesday morning and was led by fast moving armored vehicles, which were able to penetrate up to 10km into Ukraine. Moscow says that it has observed US-supplied equipment being utilized in the attack on Russian soil. A prior Russian Defense Ministry (MoD) statement said, “Video monitoring data shows that Lancet loitering munitions destroyed a US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, a Kazak armored vehicle, a Ukrainian armored personnel carrier and an infantry fighting vehicle in their firing positions.” Newsweek also confirmed based on video evidence. The MoD further said that dozens of armored vehicles breached the border and were operating inside Russia amid a major response to push out the invaders which has included airpower.

As of Friday, the fighting in Kursk is in its fourth day, which is unprecedented for a Ukrainian military incursion inside Russia. Ukraine has simultaneously stepped up its cross-border drone attacks, reportedly hitting an important military airfield in the Lepetsk region, impacting a facility where glide-bombs are stored. According to the latest: Ukrainian drones struck a key military airfield in Russia’s Lipetsk region, as Kyiv continues its largest offensive on Russian soil since the start of the war. Ukrainian forces targeted the airfield in Lipetsk — roughly 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the border with Ukraine — on Thursday night, hitting warehouses and a number of unspecified objects in the vicinity of the airport, Ukraine’s General Staff of Command said in a Google-translated Telegram post. Earlier in the week, the Ukrainian offensive led to the evacuation of thousands of people and a state of emergency being announced in Kursk.

The timing of this high-risk assault is interesting, happening at a time where Ukraine has been on a slow and steady retreat in the Donbass. Ukraine needed something ‘big’ to both distract Russia’s military command from front line operations and as a blow to Moscow’s morale. And now Kiev is pressing the Biden White House to let it use ATACMS long-range missiles to strike deeper into Russia. “This will give them the leverage they need for negotiations with Russia — this is what it’s all about,” Mikhail Podoliak, a senior advisor to President Zelensky, told The Washington Post. On Thursday, Zelensky himself had said Russia needs to “feel” the consequences of its invasion and war. “Russia brought the war to our land and should feel what it has done,” he said.

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“The Western powers incubated the Nazi virus and unleashed its mutated strain in Ukraine..”

• Kiev Regime’s Terrorism Shows Russia Must Go All The Way (SCF)

Following the atrocities in Kursk and Belgorod this week, Dmitry Medvedev, a senior member of Russia’s national security council, commented on Moscow’s long-term military objectives, saying: “This is no longer an operation to regain our lands and punish Nazis… We should only stop when we consider it appropriate.” That means, presumably, going all the way to demolish NATO’s Reich regime, a regime that seized power illegally in 2014 through a CIA-orchestrated coup d’état against an elected president. Despite Western media distortions, Ukraine is merely an artificial statelet whose so-called independence in 1991 was a legacy of gerrymandering and territorial horse-trading from the Soviet times. Russia has righteous historical claims to Odessa, the city founded by Catherine the Great, Kharkov, Nikolayev, and indeed Kiev in the same way it has to Crimea, the Donbass, Kherson and Zaporozyhe regions.

The congenital treachery of the Kiev regime and its imperialist patrons make them “agreement incapable”. The betrayal and deception over the Minsk Peace Accords (2015) and the trashing of post-Cold War NATO promises of non-expansion show that any treaties that might be derived are worthless. The terrorist nature of the Kiev regime and its ideological roots in collaboration with the Nazi Third Reich in exterminating Slavic people and the systematic warmongering of the U.S.-led NATO bloc from the early days of the post-1945 Cold War, all show that a modus vivendi is impossible. The idea of Russian territories living peacefully alongside a Ukrainian rump Reich is infeasible. As long as a toxic entity of Ukrainian fascism resides and is sustained by NATO patronage there will always be a national security threat to Russia. The history of defeating Nazi Germany by the Soviet Union only for that enemy to be subsequently resurrected by Western imperialism with the remnants of Ukrainian fascists demonstrates that the disease must be eradicated.

Ukraine has the misfortune of being designated as the spearhead for a U.S.-led imperialist confrontation against Russia. The terrorism that was unleashed after the 2014 coup against ethnic Russian people has only metastasized. Attacking Russian civilians in pre-war Russian territory, targeting civilians on beaches with missiles, targeting nuclear power stations, and spreading the tentacles of terrorism to African nations friendly with Russia as recent attacks in Mali have evinced – all attest to the only way to deal with the Kiev regime. It must be vanquished entirely. Its leaders are bandits with Russian blood on their hands. Russia must crush this criminal entity once and for all – and do an immense favor to the Ukrainian people by liquidating this parasitic tyranny imposed on them by Western imperial masters. Ukrainian men are hiding or fleeing en masse from the regime to escape forced conscription – and certain death on the front lines.

Ultimately, the war in Ukraine is not just against a psychopathic NATO proxy. It is against the Western system of global domination and its NATO war machine. History shows that a negotiated detente is only a stepping stone for more aggression further up the road. The Western powers incubated the Nazi virus and unleashed its mutated strain in Ukraine. Not only does the Kiev Nazi virus have to be eradicated. So too ultimately must the Western imperialist disease that is the progenitor. Russia’s territory is the site of a historic, world-changing confrontation. That confrontation goes all the way back to the heroic battles of the Donbass, Crimea and Kursk against the Wehrmacht in 1943-44 culminating in the present against NATO. After this climactic battle is finally won by Russia, there should be never any repetition. That entails a definitive defeat of the Western imperialism that earlier spawned Nazi Germany and today’s U.S.-led NATO.

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“The liberalism in which Putin believes no longer exists in the West. So why is Putin relying on it?”

• Putin Relies on Reason which the West Has Abandoned (Paul Craig Roberts)

Vladimir Putin is an old-fashioned American liberal. He believes in reason, good will, working things out, and agreements despite having zero evidence that any such reciprocating belief exists in the West. Putin’s illusions have caused him and Russia extraordinary difficulties. Russia is currently at war in Ukraine, although Putin still doesn’t seem to realize it, referring to it as a “limited military operation” despite the obvious fact that Russia is at war with NATO which includes the US. It is sad that Putin, a person with good intentions, doesn’t have his counterparts in the Western world. Now it comes to light that the British and Ukrainian governments planned to assassinate both Russia’s President Putin and Defense Minister Andrei Belousov at the Navy Day parade in St Petersburg.

In my columns I have several times mentioned that Putin and Trump are candidates for assassination. The recent attempt on Trump, which has been removed from the “news,” has now been matched by the statement of Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, on Russian national television that Belousov called US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and squashed the assassination plan, explaining, apparently, that World War III would be the result. Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry said: “There is no doubt that the assassination attempt was planned with the participation of the Anglo-Saxon masters of Kiev.” Still, Putin wants to negotiate the end of the Ukrainian conflict. How precisely do you negotiate with people who are trying to assassinate you?

Dmitry Medvedev, President of Russia during the Putin Interregnum, currently deputy chairman of the Russian National Security Council, seems to have come to a clear vision. Here are his latest words, and one wonders if Putin hears them: “From this moment, the special military operation should become openly exterritorial in nature. We can and should go further into what still exists as Ukraine. To Odessa, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Nikolaev. To Kiev and further. There should be no restrictions in terms of recognized borders.” In other words, the nonsensical “limited military operation” should be over and done with. It is time to get serious. The liberalism in which Putin believes no longer exists in the West. So why is Putin relying on it? I raise these questions because it appears that the combination of Washington’s provocations and Russian restraint is leading to a terrible war that is in no one’s interest.

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“We cannot do that..”

• Mexico Responds To Ukraine’s Request To Arrest Putin (RT)

The President of Mexico Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has rejected a request by Ukraine to arrest Vladimir Putin, if the Russian leader were to land in the Latin American country this fall for the inauguration of its new head of state. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin last year in connection with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Mexico is one 124 nations recognizing the jurisdiction of The Hague-based body. “We cannot do that,” Lopez Obrador replied when asked by journalists during a press conference on Thursday if the Mexican authorities are really going to detain the Russian president. “It is not up to us,” he added, as cited by Reuters.

Izvestia newspaper had reported on the previous day that Mexico had invited Putin to the inauguration this October of its new president, Claudia Sheinbaum. According to the Mexican Embassy in Moscow, the Russian leader will decide whether to attend the ceremony himself or send some other high-ranking official to represent the country. The Ukrainian embassy in Mexico reacted to the news by reminding the country’s government that Putin is wanted by the ICC and by asking it to arrest the Russian leader if he comes. “We are confident that the Mexican government would comply with the international arrest warrant by handing the aforementioned person over to the judicial body of the UN in The Hague,” Kiev’s diplomatic mission said in a statement on Wednesday. It also thanked Mexico City for inviting Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to the inauguration.

Mexico has taken a neutral stance toward the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, with Lopez Obrador a critic of US military aid to Kiev and of the sanctions imposed on Moscow by the West. The outgoing president’s successor, Sheinbaum, is a close ally and is expected to continue his policies. In March 2023, the ICC formally accused Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights of “forcible transfer of the population,” referring to evacuations of minors from combat zones amid fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces. Moscow has dismissed the allegations as false, while also accusing the court of being politically compromised. Russia, which never ratified the 1998 Rome Statute that established the ICC, also pointed out that the UN body had no authority over it.

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“..If we did not have an aggressive ally, like the United States, aggressive to others in the region, there would be nobody attacking Australia. We are better left alone..”

• Australia Being Turned Into ‘51st US state’ – ex-PM Keating (RT)

The US is surrounding Australia with military bases under the AUKUS pact, which undermines the country’s sovereignty and makes it a legitimate target for China, former Prime Minister Paul Keating has said. In an interview with ABC on Thursday, Keating, who served as prime minister between 1991 and 1996, voiced strong skepticism about whether his country benefits from being a member of AUKUS – a landmark security partnership between Australia, UK, and the US, which was announced in 2021. The pact, which has been condemned by China, focuses on helping Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines. Keating argued that by allowing the US to “displace our military” and surround the country with bases, Canberra is essentially giving up its right to determine its foreign and defense policy. Australia will “completely lose” its strategic autonomy as a result, he claimed.

“So AUKUS is really about, in American terms, the military control of Australia,” Keating said, adding that the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is “likely to turn Australia into the 51st state of the United States”. The former prime minister added that the expanded military presence makes the country a target from China’s point of view. “We’re now defending the fact that we’re in AUKUS… If we did not have an aggressive ally, like the United States, aggressive to others in the region, there would be nobody attacking Australia. We are better left alone,” Keating said. The US, he argued, is trying to “superintend” China, with tensions between the two being fueled by a power struggle over the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing views as part of its sovereign territory. However, Keating argued that the Taiwan situation “is not a vital Australian interest” while China “has no strategic design” on Australia.

The US attitude to Taiwan is comparable to China deciding that Tasmania needed help breaking away from Australia, he said.The former prime minister’s remarks come after Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong traveled to Washington for talks about the AUKUS pact, and to discuss a new agreement on the transfer of nuclear material to Canberra as part of its push to acquire domestic-built atomic submarines from the 2030s. China has warned that the AUKUS agreement raises nuclear proliferation risks, adding that it was conceived in the “Cold War mentality which will only motivate an arms race.” Russia has also sounded the alarm about the security situation in the Asia-Pacific, insisting that it “has no place for closed military and political alliances.”

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“..evidence from many years of scientific observation suggests the corals often and quickly recover..”

• Third Year of Record Coral Increase on the Great Barrier Reef (DS)

Massive increases in coral across the Australian Great Barrier Reef (GBR) have been reported for 2023-24 making it the third record year in a row of heavy growth. Across almost all parts of the 1,500 mile long reef, from the warmer northern waters to the cooler conditions in the south, coral is now at its highest level since detailed observations began. The inconvenient news has been ignored in mainstream media which, curiously, have focused on a non-story in Nature that claimed “climate change” poses an “existential threat” to the GBR. “The science tells us that the GBR is in danger – and we should be guided by the science,” Professor Helen McGregor from the University of Wollongong told Victoria Gill of BBC News. The existential threat is “now realised” reported the Guardian.

Travelling back from the reality inhabited by the Guardian, it can be reported that last year’s gains were eye-catchingly large. On the Northern GBR, hard coral cover leapt from 35.8% to 39.5%, in the central area it rose from 30.7% to 34%, while in the south it went from 34% to 39.1%. The report is the result of monitoring of hard coral cover reefs from August 2023 to June 2024 by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). The percentage of hard coral cover is a standard measurement of reef conditions used by scientists and is said to provide a simple and robust measure of reef health. Similar reports have been published by the AIMS over the last 38 years.

For the first two years of record coral growth, the narrative-driven mainstream media ignored the recovery story. But this year, the suspicious might contend, something had to be done to blunt the sensational news of the stonking rises. Help has come in the form of a paper just published in Nature which uses proxy temperature measurements and climate models to suggest temperatures around the vast reef area are the highest recorded in 400 years. This time period is the blink of an ecological eye-lid given that coral has been around for hundreds of millions of years during periods when temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide have been markedly different. Nevertheless, this is said to pose an existential threat despite it being known that sub-tropical corals thrive between 24°C-32°C, and in fact seem to grow faster in warmer waters.

Natural bleaching, when the coral expels algae and turns white, can occur with temporary local temperature changes, but evidence from many years of scientific observation suggests the corals often and quickly recover. Long term changes in water temperature – tiny compared to coral’s optimum conditions – pose no threat, but alarmists concentrate on the bleaching events to warn of possible ecological collapse. The Guardian noted a recent fifth mass bleaching in eight years across the reef, driven, it claimed, by “global heating”. So far, its readers are in the dark as to how this squares with the recent record growth. A decade of mass bleaching, relentlessly catastrophised in the interests of Net Zero by activists in the media, academia and politics, does not appear to have done much harm to the recent growth in the Northern GBR.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Babies
https://twitter.com/i/status/1821950104229556548

 

 

Brutal

 

 

Kingfu

 

 

Snow leopard
https://twitter.com/i/status/1821889171444883650

 

 

F(r)ens

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle August 4 2024

Aug 042024
 
 August 4, 2024  Posted by at 9:00 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  36 Responses »


Pablo Picasso Seated woman 1903

 

• Harris Refuses Fox News Debate With Trump (RT)
• Judge Chutkan Denies Trump’s Motion to Dismiss Election Case (ET)
• Are Americans a Totally Conquered People? (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Scott Ritter: Some Swapped Prisoners Were Likely ‘On CIA Payroll’ (Sp.)
• Israel Assassinates Chief Negotiator Across The Table (Cradle)
• Israel Isn’t Crazy, It’s Just MAD (Cradle)
• Europe’s Recipe for Disaster: The Von der Leyen Program (Godefridi)
• Hungary and Slovakia Consider Cutting Electricity Supply To Ukraine (RMX)
• A New Détente: Can Putin and Biden Make A Deal? (Drize)
• Venezuela Could Hand Energy Rights To BRICS – Maduro (RT)
• SpaceX May Save Stranded Boeing Starliner Crew At ISS (ZH)
• Gender-Bending Is The New Doping (Marsden)
• How Unelected Regulators Unleashed the Derivatives Monster (Ellen Brown)

 

 

 

 

Watters SS

 

 

Bidenomics

 

 

Shapiro
https://twitter.com/i/status/1819409849694015608

 

 

Lemon

 

 

Elon Matrix

 

 

Maduro

 

 

Disturbed yet?

 

 

 

 

Hahaha. What a surprise. They want control.

• Harris Refuses Fox News Debate With Trump (RT)

US Vice President Kamala Harris has declined former President Donald Trump’s invitation to take part in a televised debate on Fox News next month, insisting that her presidential opponent stick to a previously agreed showdown on ABC News. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Friday, Trump accepted Fox’s proposal that he debate Harris on September 4 in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Trump was scheduled to debate President Joe Biden on ABC News on September 10, before Biden suspended his reelection campaign and endorsed Harris to run in his place late last month. The ABC debate has been “terminated,” Trump explained, citing Biden’s decision to step down, and his pending litigation against ABC host George Stephanopoulos, which he claimed created “a conflict of interest.”

In a statement on Saturday, Harris’ campaign accused Trump of “running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to.” “He needs to stop playing games and show up to the debate he already committed to,” the statement continued. “The vice-president will be there one way or the other to take the opportunity to speak to a prime-time national audience. We’re happy to discuss further debates after the one both campaigns have already agreed to.” Fox News is generally seen as more sympathetic to Trump, while ABC is perceived as more sympathetic to Harris. Trump debated Biden in June, in a CNN-hosted faceoff in Atlanta, Georgia. Biden appeared frail during the debate and lost his train of thought on multiple occasions, and his lackluster performance set off a crisis within the Democratic Party that ultimately concluded with him suspending his campaign.

Trump maintains that senior Democrats staged a “coup” against Biden, and that former President Barack Obama was instrumental in forcing the president to step aside. “They all dumped him, and they said, ‘Either you get out nice or we’re going to go after you.’ And that’s what happened. And he had no choice. There’s no question about it,” he told the New York Post last month. Writing on Truth Social, Trump explained that he prefers Fox News’ chosen date of September 4, as early voting begins in some states two days later. “I spent hundreds of millions of dollars, time, and effort fighting Joe, and when I won the debate, they threw a new candidate into the ring,” he declared. “Nevertheless, different candidate or not, their bad policies are the same, and this will be strongly revealed at the September 4th debate.”

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3 months before the election, she tries to restart the whole thing. A joint status report by Aug. 9, status conference set for Aug. 13. Next she’ll demand he shows up in person?

• Judge Chutkan Denies Trump’s Motion to Dismiss Election Case (ET)

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has scheduled a mid-August status conference in the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump, while denying his legal team’s motion to dismiss the indictment. The status conference, set for Aug. 13 in a Washington, D.C., federal courthouse, will address procedural matters and help determine the next steps in the proceeding, reads an order signed by Chutkan on Aug. 3. Chutkan ordered both the prosecution and the defense to submit a joint status report by Aug. 9, which will update the court on the progress of the case and can include such information as any agreements or disputes between the parties, as well as completed tasks and upcoming deadlines.

In the same order, Chutkan granted a brief stay on the briefing deadlines for special counsel Jack Smith’s motion seeking to limit the evidence and arguments that Trump’s legal team can introduce during the trial, particularly those that prosecutors argue are irrelevant or prejudicial. Specifically, the government’s motion seeks to exclude evidence related to Trump’s claims of selective prosecution, alleged investigative misconduct, and speculative theories about foreign influence or undercover agents during the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol. Smith has also asked the judge to disallow arguments meant to sway the jury with political rhetoric or potential consequences of a conviction, and to impose limits on cross-examination by the defense, including potential testimony on Trump’s state of mind or belief that the 2020 election was stolen.

Chutkan’s order also denied without prejudice Trump’s motion to dismiss the indictment, which was filed on statutory grounds. Trump attorneys claim in their motion that Smith’s indictment improperly applied legal statutes, while arguing that the charges filed failed to demonstrate any acts of deceit or trickery necessary to establish conspiracy to defraud the United States, a key charge leveled against the former president in the case. Smith’s team charged Trump with four counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and to obstruct an official proceeding, in a case that centers on the former president’s actions after the 2020 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty, arguing that the case is motivated by political animus against him and is designed to thwart his 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump counsel also argued in the motion to dismiss that Trump’s public comments and actions to contest the results of the 2020 election were lawful exercises of his First Amendment rights and do not amount to obstruction of a government function. They also claimed that the indictment lacked the specificity required to support claims of corrupt intent, while arguing that the legal statutes cited by Smith’s team in the indictment should be interpreted more narrowly to avoid criminalizing legitimate political activity. A request for comment sent to Trump counsel regarding Chutkan’s rejection of the motion to dismiss was not immediately returned.

The renewed activity in the case, which had been put on hold pending Trump’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on arguments he was immune from prosecution, occurred after the case was returned to Chutkan on Aug. 2, paving the way for further motions and hearings. The Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that Trump is entitled to some immunity, based on the high court’s finding that presidents have absolute immunity for actions within their “conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority,” presumptive immunity for official acts, and no immunity for unofficial acts. The Supreme Court justices sent the case back to district court, leaving it up to Chutkan to decide how to apply the ruling to the case.

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“When people see that there is no limit on the power of corrupt prosecutors, they fear to go against the system.”

• Are Americans a Totally Conquered People? (Paul Craig Roberts)

The various “investigations” of the Secret Service’s failure to protect Trump are focused on operational and communication failures. The fact that the Secret Service did hardly anything normal procedures required has not yet raised the question whether elements of the Secret Service were involved. The failure is too large to be dismissed without investigation as nothing but a result of a collection of mistakes. The investigation that is needed is one that investigates whether elements in the Secret Service were involved in an assassination attempt on Trump, who is considered to be an existential threat to the ruling establishment. The investigation cannot be conducted by the Secret Service, Homeland Security, and the FBI, because if the assassination attempt was a deep state plot, all else against Trump having failed, these three agencies are the likely ones involved in the plot. A real investigation would have to answer these questions:

1. Was the acoustic evidence examined? 2. Were the fired bullets collected? Did they all come from the same rifle and was it the rifle found 7 feet away from Crooks dead body? Why was the rifle 7 feet away from the person alleged to have shot at Trump? 3. Why was Trump allowed to go on stage when the Secret Service knew Crooks was positioned on the building? 4. Why was the urgent information sent by the Pennsylvania police on the scene to the Secret Service not acted on and shared with Trump’s security detail? 5. Do such unprecedented operational and communicative failures of this magnitude suggest Secret Service complicity in an attempt on Trump’s life? 6. Was Crooks just a patsy whose presence was ignored because the plotters needed a patsy in place? It is unclear that the investigation can be conducted by a Congressional committee as members are dependent on ruling elites for campaign contributions and are vulnerable to threats from executive branch agencies.

The Founding Fathers made Congress weak because they feared “mob democracy.” But the consequence was to leave Congress too weak to hold the executive branch accountable. A real investigation would have to be conducted by credentialed independent experts, but even here independence can be hard to find. So many people rely on government contracts that it is difficult for many to speak freely. The fact that physics departments and universities are dependent on federal money explains why academic physicists avoided taking issue with the 9/11 narrative. Money speaks, and in the corrupt America of the 21st century, money is all that speaks. To understand the difficulty of private expert examination, consider the fate of the experts who proved beyond all doubt that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. That the election was stolen is as clear as day, but those who brought forward the evidence have been ridiculed as “conspiracy theorists,” sued, prosecuted or threatened with prosecution, and some sentenced, if memory serves, to prison for “interfering with an election.”

Even those who merely protested the stolen election were arrested, indicted, and imprisoned as “insurrectionists.” Any who survived the vendetta were bankrupted by their legal bills. Some of Trump’s lawyers were indicted along with him in a RICO indictment by a corrupt black female Atlanta prosecutor, apparently put in office with George Soros’ money and currently under investigation herself for going on vacations with money she paid her lover who she paid $700,000 to prosecute Trump. When people see that there is no limit on the power of corrupt prosecutors, they fear to go against the system.

Even if somehow an objective investigation could be conducted, if the conclusion was unacceptable to the ruling elite, the media would discredit it. The proven charges would lead nowhere. Look how long the US Department of Justice has been able to protect Hunter Biden from the perfectly clear evidence he provided on his laptop. In America today the main result achieved by the enormous sums poured into universities and public schools by taxpayers, corporations, philanthropic foundations such as the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, and by ego-driven businessmen, who want their name to live on forever on a university building, is to teach guilt to white students and to teach hatred of “white racist scum,” one of the most common terms used in American university classes.

The position of white people in American Society today is such that whatever they say, even if fact-based, is dismissed as “white supremacy speaking.” In other words, as white people are “aversive racists,” nothing they say, despite the evidence, can be believed. So, the conclusion in front of our face is that the ruling elite can do whatever it wants, because any challenge to it is impotent and results in the destruction of the challenger by the media, rejection by his family and friends, and if he is a business person the withdrawal of his financing, or his financial destruction by a Democrat prosecutor bankrupting him with the cost of endless producing of documents, as the corrupt NY prosecutor did to the website Vdare. It seems that what we are confronted with is the American people are whatever the ruling elite want them to be, which is insouciant sheep, totally incapable of protecting their freedom and independence. In effect, a totally conquered people.

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“I don’t think US-Russia relations are going to be in a position where such a prisoner swap could have occurred in the next year, maybe the next two years..”

• Scott Ritter: Some Swapped Prisoners Were Likely ‘On CIA Payroll’ (Sp.)

The operation to swap 26 prisoners from seven countries took place in Ankara (Turkiye) on Thursday. As a result, eight Russian citizens, detained and imprisoned in several NATO countries, along with their minor children, were returned to their homeland. All implications are that some of the people involved in the recent prisoner swap between Moscow and several Western countries were CIA espionage assets, Scott Ritter has told Sputnik. The exchange that occurred on August 1 appears to have been “a deal hashed out between the Russian secret services and the American CIA,” noted the former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and ex-UN weapons inspector. Commenting on what is being called the biggest such swap since the Cold War, Ritter pointed out that among the 16 prisoners released by Russia was Evan Gershkovich, “caught red-handed receiving Russian secrets.” The Wall Street Journal reporter was subsequently charged with espionage, found guilty at trial, and meted out a lengthy sentence.

US Marine veteran Paul Whelan was likewise charged with espionage, while self-described Russian political figure Vladimir Kara-Murza, as it turns out, had a US green card. “This implies there was a special relationship between him [Kara-Murza] and the US government that maybe the US government doesn’t want to talk about in public,” Ritter said. Kara-Murza “appears to have been on the CIA payroll as well,” he noted. As for the Russian side, among the eight people released by the US in Thursday’s prisoner swap was Vadim Krasikov, recalled Scott Ritter. The former Russian intelligence officer was arrested in Germany in 2019 and accused by Berlin of terminating Chechen terrorist Zelimkhan Khangoshvili on German soil.

Krasikov was given a life-sentence in German prison for wiping out a warlord, “somebody who had butchered, murdered Russian prisoners of war during the Chechen conflict and, accordingly, was hunted down and killed in Berlin,” Ritter underscored. Looking ahead, the pundit suggested that the latest prisoner exchange taking place in the twilight of Joe Biden’s presidency “may be the best that US-Russian relations are gonna be for some time now.” “I don’t think US-Russia relations are going to be in a position where such a prisoner swap could have occurred in the next year, maybe the next two years. So it needed to happen now, and that’s why it did. The largest prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War. Who knows what the future will hold… Hopefully this is the beginning of a trend of good relations, but probably not,” Ritter concluded.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) stated on Thursday that eight Russian citizens, who were detained and imprisoned in several NATO countries, have been returned to Russia. The exchange took place at Ankara airport (Turkiye) on August 1, 2024, and also included the repatriation of minor children. The security service added that the recently returned Russians were exchanged for a group of individuals who had been acting on behalf of foreign states, compromising Russia’s security.

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“..Today, it is the unifying, pro-resistance qualities of leaders like Haniyeh and Arouri that pose a far bigger threat to Israel.”

• Israel Assassinates Chief Negotiator Across The Table (Cradle)

The assassination of Hamas Political Bureau leader Ismail Haniyeh has killed any chance for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza – on terms favorable to Palestinians – and leaves a huge political vacuum within the resistance movement. The assassination, which took place during an official visit to Tehran for the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, coincided with 300 days of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh was the chief Palestinian negotiator in indirect months-long ceasefire talks with the Israeli delegation, among them Mossad Chief David Barnea, whose organization reportedly executed the shocking kill operation. This targeting of the head of the political movement reflects Israel’s systematic policy of assassinating leaders who can unify ranks and deepen relations with regional and international powers. This also explains the reasoning behind Israel’s 2 January assassination of Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, the key Hamas figure managing relations between Tehran, Ankara, Lebanon, and Doha.

Haniyeh, too, was distinguished not only by his ability to bridge the vision gap between Hamas’ military and political wings but also by successfully liaising with various regional and international powers and playing a major role advancing the interests of the resistance group in its three target regions – Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and abroad. Haniyeh’s assassination has created an urgent need to reorganize Hamas’ internal house – particularly urgent given Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on Gaza – and reconcile the disparate views of its leaders, such as Yahya Sinwar in Gaza and Khaled Meshaal abroad. Today, nothing would suit Israel more than seeing Meshaal, in particular, regain the reins at Hamas. The former Hamas politburo chief, after all, controversially split up Tel Aviv’s biggest regional adversaries – the Resistance Axis – at the start of the Syrian war by turning his back on the only Arab state member of the Axis, Syria.

It has taken Hamas years to fully reintegrate into the Axis after that betrayal, which is often blamed on Meshaal and his cohorts who decamped from Damascus to Doha. It was only through tireless efforts by leaders like Haniyeh and Arouri that Hamas’ relations with the regional resistance were publicly mended. Meshaal has since suffered the indignity of being spurned by Syrian, Iranian, and Hezbollah leaders, so his return to the top would be manna to Israeli ears – even though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had, almost successfully, undertaken to kill Meshaal in 1997. Those were different times, though, and alliances and interests in the region have shifted many times since. Today, it is the unifying, pro-resistance qualities of leaders like Haniyeh and Arouri that pose a far bigger threat to Israel.

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“Today, Israel employs the full spectrum of its MAD strategy in its attacks on Palestinians in Gaza and across the West Bank – rape, murder, amputations, beheadings, torture – with impunity..”

• Israel Isn’t Crazy, It’s Just MAD (Cradle)

During the night hours between 30 and 31 July, Israel targeted two top Resistance Axis officials for assassination, both unprecedented in seniority during this round of conflict. First, top Hezbollah war commander Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli air attack on his residential building in the densely populated Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, leaving several civilians dead and over 70 injured. The second target, at 2 am on 31 July, was Hamas political bureau leader Ismail Haniyeh – a central figure in ceasefire negotiations – who was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s incoming President Masoud Pezeshkian. Within the course of a few hours, Israel managed to strike at three Resistance Axis members: Lebanon, Palestine, and Iran. In doing so, Tel Aviv violated a whole slew of international laws, diplomatic conventions, and customary practices that prohibit political assassinations while glaringly violating the territorial integrity of two UN member states.

Since its war on Gaza, Israel has rapidly gained global pariah status, not just because of its live-streamed genocide that has killed at least 39,000 Palestinian civilians – over 16,000 of them children – but also because of the unprecedented rulings and deliberations still underway at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over Israel’s war crimes. Thus, Tel Aviv’s incendiary actions last night beg the question, is Israel just crazy? Does it not see the global censure brewing, the boycotts expanding, its alliances dwindling, the social media rage, and its growing and glaring isolation? The simple answer is no. Successive Israeli governments have been entirely rational, depending on a single overriding strategy from which the state has not veered. Recognizing its geographic, population, political, and economic shortcomings from the get-go, the Zionist project – very calculatingly – implemented something we can call the ‘MAD strategy’ to attain its objectives and then punch well above its geopolitical weight class.

A weird but effective strategy, MAD actually derives from textbook deterrence theory: Creating a threatening presence by having an aggressive reputation with the touch of madness will prevent your enemies from attacking you. They would not attack a person who takes his enemy with him if he falls. This is the essence of Israel’s strategy with friends and foes alike, and once understood, it is hard to unsee these tactics in all the state’s dealings.After the Palestinian resistance’s 7 October military operation last year – and just as US President Joe Biden was en route to Tel Aviv to lend his support to Israel – the occupation army struck Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, killing hundreds of civilians seeking shelter and medical attention. The hit was by no accident. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deliberately sought those optics. He wanted to corner the US president into displaying support for his policies, no matter how awful the atrocity.

This is a long-practiced Zionist tactic to tame and groom targets to accept and expect Israeli bad behavior. Netanyahu also played this dangerous game with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Syrian war. After every meeting with the powerful Russian head of state, the Israeli premier would launch hard strikes against Syria – again, to tame and groom the Russians to accept and expect Israeli bad behavior. Today, Israel employs the full spectrum of its MAD strategy in its attacks on Palestinians in Gaza and across the West Bank – rape, murder, amputations, beheadings, torture – with impunity. Allies, foes, and global populations are expected to accept the images and data and be ready for even worse scenarios. It is untrue that Tel Aviv acts irrationally. Implementing the MAD strategy is a rational decision for a small entity that needs to impose its oversized will on not only its neighbors but on global powers and international institutions, too.

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“By refusing on principle ever to govern with real right-wing parties, the center-right guarantees that the left remains forever in power..”

• Europe’s Recipe for Disaster: The Von der Leyen Program (Godefridi)

Calculated in terms of purchasing power parity – meaning disregarding the strength of the dollar — the average GDP per capita in the EU as of 2022 is 72% of the average GDP per American. Given that economic growth is higher every year in the United States than in the EU, this gap will only widen. This backwardness is confirmed by the innovation vitality of the American economy. In just one example, compare artificial intelligence, essentially an American innovation, to the lack of creativity in the European economy. NVIDIA’s success is unthinkable in Europe.

Three factors might help to explain Europe’s economic backwardness compared to the United States: the cost of energy, which is five to ten times higher in Europe than in the US; the greater difficulty in Europe of concentrating private capital to invest in R&D and finally, the pull of the “mad legislator”, which is even worse in Europe than in the US. For example, Apple recently settled an EU investigation regarding its restriction on third-party developers accessing its payment technology, which could have led to a fine of 10% of its annual revenue for non-compliance. Apple’s total net sales in 2023 were $383.3 billion, so a 10% fine would amount to $38.3 billion. Given Apple’s operating income in Europe is $36.1 billion, non-compliance with EU regulations could result in fines exceeding its regional earnings.

How is it, when all these facts are known, that von der Leyen was reappointed to her post, while the Greens lost the European Parliament elections, and the right-wing parties of all persuasions won them by a wide margin? Perhaps this seeming paradox can be explained by the fact that the center-right, the largest party bloc in the European Parliament, is ideologically subservient to the left, on two levels: 1) by adhering to most of the dogmas of the left, starting with environmentalism, and 2) by refusing on principle any coalition with real right-wing parties such as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy or, in France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN).

This ensures that, while losing elections, the left can stay in power. The new von der Leyen majority consists of four parliamentary groups: the center-right, the socialists, the left-wing liberals and the far-left environmentalists. Of these groups, the center-right is by far the largest. It would therefore be logical for them to dominate von der Leyen’s program. But that is not what takes place. It is the demands of the smallest group — environmentalists — that dominate: continuation of the Green Deal, total decarbonization by 2050.

European power is a mirror image of its two driving forces — France and Germany — where the center-right parties behave in the same way: ideological submission to the left and a ban on the right governing. In Germany, the right-wing political party Alternative for Germany (AfD), finds itself in a position to govern several regions with the center-right. But everywhere in Germany, the center-right prefers to ally with the left, the environmentalists, sometimes even the communists, than to govern with the AfD. In France, Le Pen’s RN clearly won the European elections, then the first round of legislative elections. The center-right immediately announced that it preferred a victory for the far left and the communists to a victory for Le Pen.

The post-war European citizen has never voted so far to the right. He is harvesting a program that has never been so extremely left-wing. The von der Leyen program owes more to the Greens (53 MEPs) than to the center-right (188 MEPs). By refusing on principle ever to govern with real right-wing parties, the center-right guarantees that the left remains forever in power. When voting no longer serves any purpose, democracy dies.

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“The proportion of electricity coming through Hungary in terms of Ukrainian imports exceeded 40-42 percent during several periods..”

• Hungary and Slovakia Consider Cutting Electricity Supply To Ukraine (RMX)

Roughly 40 percent of Ukraine’s electricity imports pass through the Ukrainian-Hungarian border, which means Hungary is not entirely powerless in the face of a Ukrainian blockade on oil supplies. In fact, Hungary may be forced to cut electricity to its neighbor if push comes to shove. Olivér Hortay, head of Századvég’s climate and energy policy department, noted that Ukraine’s biggest energy problem is the electricity system. Since the start of the war, the country has lost three-quarters of its own electricity generation capacity, leading to Ukrainians having to deal with prolonged blackouts and cuts to production due to a lack of electricity. To deal with Ukraine’s faltering electricity network, the country has been importing energy from neighboring countries. “The proportion of electricity coming through Hungary in terms of Ukrainian imports exceeded 40-42 percent during several periods,” said Hortay, while speaking to Hungarian television channel M1.

As a result, Ukraine may suffer “serious consequences” due to its oil blockade. He notes that the MAVIR station in Szabolcsbáka is one of the main hubs of the European and Ukrainian electricity systems. This is the only Hungarian and EU substation with 750 kV system components. Roughly 40 percent of Ukraine’s electricity imports pass through here. Hungary and Slovakia have both sounded the alarm to Brussels about Ukraine’s action of cutting oil supplies from Russia, which flow through the Friendship pipeline. However, the EU, which is well known for its opposition to the governments in Hungary and Slovakia, has responded cooly to the complaints, saying that Ukraine does not endanger the energy supplies of the two countries. Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó has rejected the EU’s argument and called Croatia, which is supposed to increase supplies in response to the Ukrainian blockade, an unreliable transit country.

Both Hungary and Slovakia rely on Russia for up to 80 percent of their oil supply, underlining the threat to both economies. Olivér Hortay explained that Russia’s Lukoil provides a third of the oil demand of the Hungarian Száhahalombatta refinery and 45 percent of the demand of the Bratislava refinery in Slovakia. Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s Office, called it unfair and contrary to EU agreements that Ukraine is blackmailing Hungary and Slovakia because of its pro-peace stance. Hortay points to an existing association agreement, based on which Hungary and Slovakia initiated proceedings at the European Commission , where “literally it is stated that the parties cannot limit each other’s imports, exports and transit.”

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“..theoretically we can assume that this is the beginning of the process of realigning relations between Russia and the West..”

• A New Détente: Can Putin and Biden Make A Deal? (Drize)

Russia is delighted with Thursday’s prisoner exchange in Ankara, Western media outlets report, citing sources in their countries’ respective agencies. Meanwhile, in Washington and in Western European capitals, the event is being presented as a major diplomatic breakthrough. It may even be a prelude to further talks between Moscow and Washington. It was the largest swap in modern Russian history, not only in terms of the number of people involved, but also in their status. This time, not only foreigners convicted in our country, but also Russian citizens – let’s say critics of the existing state system and its leadership – were released from prison. We don’t need to list them all again. That information is everywhere in news stories and has been repeated many times.

It’s worth repeating that the last time anything like this happened was during the Cold War. So we have yet another indication that history is repeating itself more or less: missiles being placed in Western Europe, nuclear exercises in Russia, the decline in diplomatic relations….. all the signs are there. Nevertheless, this event is positive in terms of the prospect of defusing international tensions and perhaps encouraging a detente. Incidentally, this was a buzz word in the 1970s. Top US officials were in a festive mood. Joe Biden spoke at the White House, surrounded by the families of those transferred. The Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, flew from Houston to Washington to meet them. So, they were received at the highest level.

It also seems that the Kremlin has a lot of doubts about Donald Trump’s chances of victory. That’s the first thing. And secondly, it is no big secret that it’s much easier to come to an agreement with the Democratic Party in general and the Biden-Obama-Harris faction in particular. This is what we are witnessing. We can also recall that one of Biden’s first executive orders after taking office in 2021 was to extend the START treaty. As we know, ‘dear Donald’ refused to sign the document. But ‘Bad Joe’ took it and approved it, and immediately at that. So betting on this team seems quite logical. By the way, it’s also believed that both Iran and China believe it’s better to deal with bad than “very bad,” and they also don’t want Trump to return. But let’s not get sidetracked.

Anyway, an unprecedented agreement has been reached. And often when you manage to make one, it’s followed by a second. That is to say, theoretically we can assume that this is the beginning of the process of realigning relations between Russia and the West. Of course, the main stumbling block here is Ukraine, but it’s not the only one. And this process should take place before the election in the US, i.e. in the shortest possible time frame. The reason is obvious: Trump could win and then we’ll have to start all over again. Some will say: but what about all the hopes and assumptions pinned on him, and why are they being forgotten? Yes, we should not be naive. But events are moving, and moving fast. And time is running out. So what can we do? We can hope for the best, or rather, hope for the prudence of all parties. We don’t want the planet to burn in a fiery hell. So it makes sense to try to somehow avoid that scenario.

Read more …

Do it quickly.

• Venezuela Could Hand Energy Rights To BRICS – Maduro (RT)

Venezuela could transfer the development rights to its vast oil and gas fields that are currently operated by American energy companies to entities from BRICS nations, President Nicolas Maduro warned on Friday during a press conference in Caracas. BRICS originally comprised Brazil, Russia, India, and China before subsequently adding South Africa and, at the beginning of this year, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. Numerous other countries, including Venezuela, have expressed interest in joining the group. “If these people up north and their partners in the world make the mistake of their lives, then those oil blocks and those gas blocks that were already signed up [for US companies] will go to our BRICS allies,” Maduro said, adding that Washington was at the forefront of plans to destabilize his country.

With an estimated 303 billion barrels, Venezuela accounts for approximately 17% of global reserves of crude oil, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which lists the Bolivarian republic as having the world’s largest proven oil reserves. Chevron, the only American energy major still operating in Venezuela, scored a license to pump oil in the country in November 2022, a month after a sanctions waiver was implemented. This came in exchange for the unblocking of some of Caracas’ oil proceeds that had been frozen by US sanctions. Chevron is currently involved in four onshore and offshore projects in Venezuela through a partnership with state-controlled oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). Earlier this year, the US company announced the goal of increasing output by 35% year-on-year by bringing new wells online.

Earlier this week, the White House recognized Western-backed opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election on Sunday, despite the official results showing incumbent Maduro having won. The Venezuelan leader has urged Washington to “keep its nose out of Venezuela,” saying that the protests that erupted in the country after the results were announced were an attempted “coup.” Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Maduro earlier this week on being reelected. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Venezuela’s opposition should admit defeat and congratulate the winner. He added that it is important for Venezuela to avoid attempts at destabilization orchestrated by third countries, and to remain free of outside meddling. Earlier this week, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto confirmed that Maduro had received an invitation to take part in the BRICS summit scheduled for October in the Russian city of Kazan.

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“Boeing is not allowed to ask Elon to save them in an election year.”

“..stranded in space for 2 months, on what was supposed to be a 1 week trip. They were not allowed to take any luggage or change of clothes or personal items, since it was such a short stay.”

• SpaceX May Save Stranded Boeing Starliner Crew At ISS (ZH)

Boeing’s crewed Starliner spacecraft mission to the International Space Station was initially expected to last just a few days, but it has stretched into weeks and now two months. The two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, have been stranded on the ISS following Starliner’s helium leaks and failing thrusters in early June. NASA and Boeing have been working to resolve Starliner’s issues, but progress has been limited. The big story here is that, after two months, Boeing has yet to publicly ask Elon Musk’s SpaceX for help. Optically, this would be a major blow to Boeing’s image, especially considering the series of mid-air mishaps involving its 737Max commercial jets. Additionally, it’s an election year for the Biden administration, which has been on a crusade against Trump and his supporters, but also is very anti-Musk. Any rescue mission by SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is undesirable news flow for Democrats.

However, a new report from Ars Technica, citing various sources, indicates SpaceX could be publicly called up to save the day. Here’s more from Ars Technica: “For a long time, it seemed almost certain that the astronauts would return to Earth inside Starliner. However, there has been a lot of recent activity at NASA, Boeing, and SpaceX that suggests that Wilmore and Williams could come home aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft rather than Starliner.” The report continued: “One informed source said it was greater than a 50-50 chance that the crew would come back on Dragon. Another source said it was significantly more likely than not they would. To be clear, NASA has not made a final decision. This probably will not happen until at least next week. It is likely that Jim Free, NASA’s associate administrator, will make the call.”

On Thursday evening, NASA spokesperson Josh Finch told Ars, “NASA is evaluating all options for the return of agency astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station as safely as possible. No decisions have been made and the agency will continue to provide updates on its planning.” X users are wondering why the stranded Starliner story is not huge news.

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“..there are at least two countries already – Canada and the US – that permit anyone to freely decide the gender that gets listed on their passport.|”

• Gender-Bending Is The New Doping (Marsden)

Ever since the Paris Olympics triggered culture warriors by dumping drag queens all over the opening ceremony like fleur de sel with a faulty cap, they’ve been on high alert for any perceived attempts by the organizers to further a woke, gender-bending agenda. When Algerian boxer Imane Khelif defeated Italian Angela Carini in a fight that lasted just 46 seconds, with Carini taking a punch to the head and reeling from a suspected broken nose, it didn’t take long for social media to pick up on Carini’s cry that the match wasn’t fair. Nor would it take long for a debate to emerge along the usual fault lines around Khelif’s gender and for Khelif to become a Rorschach test. Former competitive swimmer Riley Gaines tweeted that “men don’t belong in women’s sports,” to which X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk replied, “Absolutely.”

Gaines has become an activist against men competing in women’s sports as a result of having to face off against transsexual swimmer Lia Thomas in the NCAA college swimming championships. And Musk has recently expressed upset over one of his children’s own gender transitioning. “The idea that those objecting to a male punching a female in the name of sport are objecting because they believe Khelif to be ‘trans’ is a joke. We object because we saw a male punching a female,” ‘Harry Potter’ author and frequent transsexual issue commentator J.K. Rowling wrote. Yet there isn’t any credible evidence that Khelif has ever undergone any kind of gender transitioning – something that would be unheard of in Khelif’s native Algeria. “This is the purest form of evil unfolding right before our eyes,” boxer and influencer Logan Paul said. “A man was allowed to beat up a woman on a global stage, crushing her life’s dream while fighting for her deceased father. This delusion must end.”

But then Paul deleted the posts. “OOPSIES,” he wrote. “I might be guilty of spreading misinformation along with the entirety of this app.” It’s no wonder everyone’s confused. Two sports governing bodies have faced off over Khelif and another athlete competing in women’s boxing, China’s Lin Yu-Ting. According to the International Boxing Association, the worldwide match sanctioning entity which disqualified both athletes in the 2023 World Championships where they won bronze and gold respectively, “the athletes did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential. This test conclusively indicated that both athletes did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.” Regulations stipulate that proof could be in the form of a DNA test, but no further evidence has been provided to confirm the results – perhaps due to concerns around privacy violations.

In the other corner, the International Olympic Committee calls the IBA’s ruling “sudden and arbitrary,” which can also be true without the results themselves being illegitimate. Accusing its CEO, Chris Roberts (an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to British army boxing), of a unilateral decision, the IOC issued a statement related to the latest controversy, stipulating that “as with previous Olympic boxing competitions, the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport.” That’s hardly a rigorous test, particularly when there are at least two countries already – Canada and the US – that permit anyone to freely decide the gender that gets listed on their passport.

Arguably, the most levelheaded take came from transsexual former Olympic decathlon champion Caitlyn Jenner, who explained in a recent Netflix documentary about Jenner’s sporting career and life that it was Bruce Jenner who won those accolades, not Caitlyn. Bruce also had the integrity to keep the dresses at home and not show up in one to compete in the women’s decathlon – and Jenner does not now support any man who would. Jenner has described Khelif as “the Algerian competitor with XY chromosomes,” referencing the IBA test results, and has argued that the IOC has a duty to protect the integrity of women’s sports. The IOC doesn’t seem too interested in actively doing so, however, preferring instead to just take participants’ and countries’ word for it.

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“.. financial commentators have put it as high as $2.3 quadrillion or even $3.7 quadrillion, far exceeding global GDP, which was about $100 trillion in 2022..”

• How Unelected Regulators Unleashed the Derivatives Monster (Ellen Brown)

“It was not the highly visible acts of Congress but the seemingly mundane and often nontransparent actions of regulatory agencies that empowered the great transformation of the U.S. commercial banks from traditionally conservative deposit-taking and lending businesses into providers of wholesale financial risk management and intermediation services.” – Professor Saule Omarova, “The Quiet Metamorphosis, How Derivatives Changed the Business of Banking” University of Miami Law Review, 2009

While the world is absorbed in the U.S. election drama, the derivatives time bomb continues to tick menacingly backstage. No one knows the actual size of the derivatives market, since a major portion of it is traded over-the-counter, hidden in off-balance-sheet special purpose vehicles. However, when Warren Buffet famously labeled derivatives “financial weapons of mass destruction” in 2002, its “notional value” was estimated at $56 trillion. Twenty years later, the Bank for International Settlements estimated that value at $610 trillion. And financial commentators have put it as high as $2.3 quadrillion or even $3.7 quadrillion, far exceeding global GDP, which was about $100 trillion in 2022. A quadrillion is 1,000 trillion. Most of this casino is run through the same banks that hold our deposits for safekeeping. Derivatives are sold as “insurance” against risk, but they actually add a heavy layer of risk because the market is so interconnected that any failure can have a domino effect. Most of the banks involved are also designated “too big to fail,” which means we the people will be bailing them out if they do fail.

Derivatives are considered so risky that the Bankruptcy Act of 2005 and the Uniform Commercial Code grant them (along with repo trades) “super-priority” in bankruptcy. That means if a bank goes bankrupt, derivative and repo claims are settled first, drawing from the same pool of liquidity that holds our deposits. A derivatives crisis could easily vacuum up that pool, leaving nothing for us as depositors — or for the “secured” creditors who are junior to derivative and repo claimants in bankruptcy, including state and local governments. As detailed by Pam and Russ Martens, publisher and editor, respectively of Wall Street on Parade, as of Dec. 31, 2023, Goldman Sachs Bank USA, JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., Citigroup’s Citibank and Bank of America held a total of $168.26 trillion in derivatives out of a total of $192.46 trillion at all U.S. banks, savings associations and trust companies. That’s four banks holding 87 percent of all derivatives at all 4,587 federally-insured institutions then in the U.S.

In June 2024, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Reserve Board jointly released their findings on the eight U.S. megabanks’ “living wills” – their resolution or wind-down plans in the event of bankruptcy. The Fed and FDIC faulted all of the four largest derivative banks on shortcomings in how they planned to wind down their derivatives. Banks are not just middlemen in the derivatives market. They are active players taking speculative positions. In this century, writes Professor Omarova, the largest U.S. commercial banks have emerged “as a new breed of financial super-intermediary—a wholesale dealer in financial risk, conducting a wide variety of capital markets and derivatives activities, trading physical commodities, and even marketing electricity.” She notes that the Federal Reserve has allowed several financial holding companies to purchase and sell physical commodities (including oil, natural gas, agricultural products and electricity) in the spot market to hedge their commodity derivative activities, and to take or make delivery of those commodities to settle the transactions.

It was not Congress that authorized that expansive definition of permitted banking activities. It was the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), part of the “administrative deep state,” that permanent body of unelected regulators who carry on while politicians come and go. As Omarova explains: Through seemingly routine and often nontransparent administrative actions, the OCC effectively enabled large U.S. commercial banks to transform themselves from the traditionally conservative deposit-taking and lending institutions, whose safety and soundness were guarded through statutory and regulatory restrictions on potentially risky activities, into a new breed of financial “super-intermediaries,” or wholesale dealers in pure financial risk. … Moreover, some of the most influential of those decisions escaped public scrutiny because they were made in the subterranean world of administrative action invisible to the public, through agency interpretation and policy guidance.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Love ya, but

 

 

Baby+dog
https://twitter.com/i/status/1819336132997664797

 

 

Sport
https://twitter.com/i/status/1819484638953529696

 

 

Toy fix
https://twitter.com/i/status/1819646410620280877

 

 

Ref
https://twitter.com/i/status/1819276069972635674

 

 

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Debt Rattle August 2 2024

Aug 022024
 
 August 2, 2024  Posted by at 9:28 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  37 Responses »


Henri Matisse Trivaux pond 1916-17

 

• 2024 Olympics in France – Interpreting Satanic Olympics Inauguration (Koenig)
• Female Boxer’s Olympic Beatdown Sparks Fury (RT)
• West Sees Immigration As A Way Of Getting Rid Of The Nation-State -Orban (RMX)
• US Recognizes Opposition Candidate as Winner in Venezuela – Blinken (Sp.)
• Regime Change In Venezuela Unlikely (SCF)
• Zelensky Says Most Of World Wants Him To Talk To Russia (RT)
• Zelensky Suspends Ukraine’s Foreign Debt Payments Starting Aug 1st (ZH)
• Haniyeh Killed By Bomb Placed In Tehran Guesthouse 2 Months Ago (ZH)
• Harris Only Recently Turned Black – Trump (RT)
• Trump Collapsed US-Russia Arms Control by Scrapping INF Treaty (Sp.)
• INF Treaty Stood in Way of Plans to Militarize Europe, Hold Russia Back (Sp.)
• Lindsey Graham Introduces Bill Authorizing Military Force in Iran (Sp.)
• Netanyahu Playing A Deadly Game Drawing US Into A War With Iran (Jay)
• Houthis Urge ‘Dangerous’ Response to Israel (Sp.)
• Prisoner Swap Was Battle of Self-Control, Moscow Says (Sp.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Larry

Ratings

Italy Court
https://twitter.com/i/status/1819001509314498881

Maduro
https://twitter.com/i/status/1818812107036438993

 

 

 

 

This author seems to get lost in all the different threads in his head, but the main one is obvious: to confuse all people, especially the young, about who and what they are. Until boys are no longer boys, or girls, girls. And what better stage to convey the message than the Olympics, the most televised and watched global event. Which is exactly why it should not happen there. Well, too late.

• 2024 Olympics in France – Interpreting Satanic Olympics Inauguration (Koenig)

“The opening ceremony of the Olympics felt like the closing ceremony of humanity”, posted on “X” (former Twitter) by @KimDotcom. The Satanic symbolism of the inauguration of the French Olympics on 26 July 2024, raised many questions on interpreting them. Those who are behind these diabolical symbols, of course knew what they were doing. In brief, as the Dark Satanic Cult, as it did on many occasions before, they showed us, the People, what they have already done with us, how far they have advanced in their evil endeavor, and that we are at the final stage of the apocalypse, as depicted in the Book of Revelation. With gory details, blasphemous symbolism, a gross display of the United Nations 2030-Woke agenda, transgender, and homosexuality no end, they demonstrated the end phase of the Fourth Horseman of Death.

[..] They are telling us that our last hour has wrung. The three initial phases of the Apocalypse have come and gone and some are being executed in parallel with each other – Conquest, War, Famine… while we are indeed entering the Forth – meaning Death. This, the Fourth Horseman, is meant to tell us. Conquest – almost without humanity noticing, we have been taken over – by the Globalists, those who are pretending to be at the point of establishing a One World Government and a One World digital currency – exerting full control. No kidding. We are not far from this moment – Wake up People!!! War – there is no need even to talk about wars. They are all over. All of them initiated in one way or another by the same elitist Dark Satanic Cult.

First, create unrest by terrorism, infiltrated into a country by the Satanic Cultists, then invade, create an endless war, never to win – and so the industry that fuels it, will earn trillions of fake money, we, the People, work hard for – while the Zuckerbergs et al – buy yachts worth half a billion dollars, irrespective of the CO2 emissions they tell us, the People, to reduce to zero. – Zuckerberg is founder, chairman and CEO of Meta, former Facebook, one of the tech-giants. The latest wealth report, just out, indicates that 1.5% of the world population owns 47.5% of the world’s wealth. Why is that important? – Because Wars, the War Industry, is one of the largest generators of this fake wealth, wealth by death, exactly what the Forth Horseman has in store for us. Wars area also supported directly or indirectly by the tech-corporations, by “Cyber-Valley”, formerly called Silicone Valley. Famine – we are being plunged into an artificial famine, by the false climate change agenda and the overall lie that has been drilled into the human brain — it seems to be irreversible. The “smartest” people believe in it. So, CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases – like farthing cows – are causing the manmade climate change – against any evidence, just propaganda – and we, the People, swallow it. And if We, the People, do not stop it, Climate Change will kill us all.

No word about geoengineering the weather, the climate – so we believe in the “climate” hoax. We are blind, cannot see the white crisscrossing chemtrails on the sky, cannot see that these all-destructive horrendous brush and forest fires are made by Direct Energy Weapons (DEW) – another means of doing away with humanity. Human agriculture, the very base for our lives, giving us the daily nutrition we need, is being killed by the dark Satanic Cult. Farmland is being bought up, for example, by the Bill Gates Foundation, thus, preventing it from being used to produce food. Bill Gates is currently the largest single farmland-owner of the US of A. Why is this important to know? – Because it is all connected – causing famine and misery, and connected to the horrendous death-depicting symbolism of the Olympic Openings. We let it happen. It is our fault – as we are being told. Our Christian culture has brought us up with guilt. We are guilty before we are even born — so, yes, we must suffer.

Some protest, but most don’t. Instead, they prepare themselves for a diet on bugs and maybe grass – a diet towards famine — leading directly to the Fourth Horseman – DEATH. The blasphemously displayed Last Supper of transvestites and gays confirms us death and extinction is on the horizon, as queers will not procreate. – The Woke agenda is just one more step to Human extinction – Death. Death – That is what they want for most of us. A small group of “underlings” cum transhumans, commanded by 5G and soon 6G – no chips needed – will be their slaves. These quasi-robots are happy owning nothing. In case they become unhappy, they can be extinguished remotely – when they become problems, or are no longer needed. That’s it, Folks! They have been very honest – their Olympics symbolism has clearly shown us where we are — they came out in the open with their verdict: See what we can do – there is no return. Wake up People. It is never too late. There is never a moment of NO RETURN – unless we are dead. Never forget this simple phrase: Together we Can.

Read more …

More Satan. In the civilized world, men don’t beat women. Everybody knows. Except, now, at the Olympics, where they hand out medals for it.

• Female Boxer’s Olympic Beatdown Sparks Fury (RT)

A women’s boxing match at the Paris Olympics has triggered international condemnation and questions about the fairness of letting a “biological male” compete in the ring. Italy’s Angela Carini faced off against Algeria’s Imani Khelif on Thursday, in the welterweight (66kg) category, but lasted just 45 seconds. After taking two big punches to the face, Carini threw down her helmet and forfeited the bout, crying “this is unjust!” Carini yanked her hand away as the referee declared Khelif the winner, then dropped to her knees and burst into tears. “I’m used to suffering. I’ve never taken a punch like that, it was impossible to continue,” she said after the match. Carini has faced an outpouring of solidarity from critics of transgenderism around the world, who denounced Khelif as a biological man and protested the bout as unfair.

“This is sickening. This is a travesty. Doesn’t matter what you believe. This is wrong and dangerous,” said Jake Paul, a Youtuber turned professional boxer. “A young female boxer has just had everything she’s worked and trained for snatched away because you allowed a male to get in the ring with her,” author J.K. Rowling told the International Olympic Committee (IOC), adding that the 2024 Olympics “will be forever tarnished by the brutal injustice done to Carini.” American college swimmer Riley Gaines started a hashtag on X (formerly Twitter) “I stand with Angela Carini,” which was endorsed by the platform owner, Elon Musk. “All the competitors comply with the eligibility rules,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams insisted on Thursday. “And, by the way, this is not a transgender issue.”

Khelif had been disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) in 2023 as a biological male. The boxer appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but “withdrew the appeal during the process,” the IBA said on Wednesday. The association protested the IOC decision to allow Khelif to compete in Paris, arguing that its rules “raise serious questions about both competitive fairness and athletes’ safety.” The IOC has ruled that both Khelif and Lin Tu-ting – a boxer representing Chinese Taipei – “are women according to their passports.” The Olympic body has also excluded the IBA from the Paris games, in part because the association is based in Russia.

According to Algeria, Khelif is not transgender at all but a woman affected by a condition known as hyperandrogenism, characterized by a high level of testosterone and the presence of XY chromosomes. “We condemn the unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets,” the Algerian Olympic Committee said in a statement on Wednesday. The Paris Olympics have come under a barrage of criticism over last Friday’s opening ceremony, which included homosexuals, transsexuals and drag queens simulating a Bacchanalia patterned after Leonardo da Vinci’s famous mural ‘The Last Supper.’

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Closely linked to the above.

“..if there are more guests than owners, the home is no longer a home. This risk should not be taken here.”

• West Sees Immigration As A Way Of Getting Rid Of The Nation-State -Orban (RMX)

In Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s speech at Tusványos in Romania, he focuses on the intractable differences developing between the East and West of Europe, with immigration one of the key divisions. He not only rejects the Western view on immigration, but sees it as an agenda with a very specific ideology behind it, which is designed to erode the nation-state entirely. “But Westerners, quite differently, believe that nation-states no longer exist. They therefore deny that there is a common culture and a public morality based on (the nation-state). There is no public morality, if you watched the Olympic opening yesterday, you saw it. So, they also think differently about migration. They believe that migration is not a threat or a problem, but in fact a way of getting rid of the ethnic homogeneity that is the basis of a nation. This is the essence of the progressive liberal international concept. That is why the absurdity does not occur to them, or they do not see it as absurd,” he said.

He said that this contrast between East and West is playing out through war and the movement of peoples, saying that while hundreds of thousands of Christian people are killing each other in the East, “in the West of Europe, we are letting hundreds of thousands of people into a foreign civilization, which is absurd from our Central European point of view.” This dramatic ideological cleavage is not a “secret,” according to Orbán. He said that the documents and policy papers coming out of the EU shpw that the “clear aim is to transcend the nation.” “But the point is that the powers, the sovereignty, should be transferred from the nation-states to Brussels. This is the logic behind all major measures. In their minds, the nation is a historical, or transitional, formation of the 18th and 19th centuries — as it came, so it may go. They are already in a post-national state in the Western half of Europe. It’s not just a politically different situation, but what I’m trying to talk about here is that it’s a new mental space.”

Orbán says that the Hungarian perspective is different, which is why the government is taking measures now to ensure it has a resilient social structure, and the first step is to combat Hungary’s demographic decline. He noted that progress in this area had been made in the preceding years but acknowledged that there has been a standstill and new measures must be taken. “By 2035, Hungary should be demographically self-sustaining. There is no question of a population being replaced by migration. The Western experience is that if there are more guests than owners, the home is no longer a home. This risk should not be taken here.” Orbán notes that not everyone in the West is happy about the demographic transformation taking place in their countries, and in many cases, there are strong majorities against continued mass immigration. This, in turn, has led to a sharp increase in repression against dissenting voices and increasingly undemocratic trends in Western countries.

And finally, the last element of reality is that this post-national situation that we see in the West has a serious, I would say dramatic, political consequence that is shaking democracy. Societies are increasingly resistant to migration, gender, war and globalism. And this creates the political problem of elites and the people, elitism and populism. This is a dominant phenomenon in Western politics today…This means that the elites condemn the people for drifting to the right. The feelings and ideas of the people are labeled xenophobia, homophobia and nationalism. The people, meanwhile, in response, accuse the elite of not caring about what is important to them, but of sinking into some kind of mindless globalism. Consequently, the elites and the people cannot agree with each other on cooperation. I could mention many countries. But if the people and elites cannot agree to cooperate, how can it become a representative democracy? Because here we have an elite that does not want to represent the people, and is proud of not wanting to represent them, and here we have the people who are not represented.”

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They’ve been at it for over 2 decades.

• US Recognizes Opposition Candidate as Winner in Venezuela – Blinken (Sp.)

The United States has determined it will recognize opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez the winner of the Venezuelan presidential election, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press release. “Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election,” Blinken said in the release on Thursday. Blinken called on the Venezuelan parties to begin discussions on a peaceful transition of power in accordance with Venezuelan electoral law. Moreover, Blinken also said that the United States rejects Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s “unsubstantiated” allegations against opposition leaders, including González and María Corina Machado. Machado co-founded the Venezuelan Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Sumate which received significant financial support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

In 2005, she traveled to the White House to meet then-US President George W Bush, a meeting that was described in classified diplomatic cables as “poking [then Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez in the eye,” In 2014, she took a diplomatic position with the government of Panama, which gave her the ability to speak at the Organization of American States (OAS). She used that platform to publicly call for foreign intervention in Venezuela. She has since been banned from running for office. Earlier this week, Maduro said Gonzalez and Machado must face justice. On Thursday, RT journalist Fiorella Isabel reported that a draft resolution for the US House of Representatives was being floated around Washington looking for co-signers. That draft calls for more sanctions on Venezuela and would recognize González as the legitimate president of Venezuela. She added that the draft was authored by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL).

In 2019, the US officially recognized Juan Guaido as the interim President of Venezuela. He was eventually removed as the leader of the opposition from his own party and currently lives in Miami, Florida. The National Electoral Council declared Maduro president-elect for 2025-2031 after the presidential elections were held in Venezuela on July 28. The Electoral Council said Maduro won 51% of the vote. Protests broke out the day after the election, leading to clashes between the police and protesters in Caracas. Protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails at law enforcement officers. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, 77 law enforcement officers were injured; more than 1,000 people were detained on charges of destruction of state infrastructure, incitement of hatred and terrorism. The Venezuelan government said a number of countries interfered in the elections and the people’s right to self-determination.

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“The Bolivarian Revolution was a movement started within the ranks of the Army, with Hugo Chavez’s ideology being extremely popular among Venezuelan soldiers.”

• Regime Change In Venezuela Unlikely (SCF)

As expected, Nicolás Maduro won the elections in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Without major difficulties, the current president defeated all his opponents, being chosen by the majority of the Venezuelan people to govern the country for the third consecutive term. Since Maduro was an efficient leader in managing the nation’s path amidst so many difficulties and sanctions imposed by Western powers, the result does not seem surprising. In practice, Maduro has already proven himself capable of guiding the country even in difficult conditions. However, many Western or Western-aligned countries still insist on denying the reality of Maduro’s victory, avoiding recognizing the results of the elections. Not only that, there are also clear signs of internal sabotage, with anti-democratic protesters carrying out acts of vandalism and various types of crimes to create social instability and impede peace in the post-election period. The groups of protesters are true criminal gangs, willing to do anything for the money of Western recruiters.

Maduro has been strong in combating saboteurs. Ambassadors from hostile countries have been expelled and several criminals – disguised as “protesters” – are being arrested and punished. Not only are regular state forces involved in protecting Venezuela’s legitimate institutions, but there is also widespread popular mobilization against anti-Maduro saboteurs. The protests are mostly being carried out by extremist groups linked to the opposition and foreign intelligence networks that finance the anti-Maduro lobby. There are even videos circulating on the internet exposing drug traffickers declaring their support for the opposition, which shows the nature of the militants against the legitimate government of Venezuela. In practice, the West is literally recruiting criminals, extremists and terrorists to operate national destabilization maneuvers in the South American country.

Many analysts are commenting on the possibility of a color revolution, regime change operation or even civil war on Venezuelan soil. Although all possibilities need to be considered, it seems unlikely that these tragic scenarios will develop, as the situation in Venezuela, although not completely normalized, still appears far from absolute instability. The protests are indeed happening, but they are not as big and relevant as the Western media makes it seem through its propaganda. Local observers have frequently published images showing Venezuelan streets in total peace, without protests or riots. The loyalty of the Venezuelan people to Maduro remains an important factor in neutralizing attempts at illegitimate popular unrest. Furthermore, one of the main points to be emphasized is the strong connection between the Venezuelan government and the country’s military. The Bolivarian Revolution was a movement started within the ranks of the Army, with Hugo Chavez’s ideology being extremely popular among Venezuelan soldiers.

There is no rivalry between the Venezuelan generals and the Maduro government, which reduces the risk of betrayal – and consequently neutralizes the possibility of civil war. In the same sense, even if some generals eventually betray Maduro, the Bolivarian Revolutionary Guard works as a tool to guarantee the legality and ideological principles of the State. If there is betrayal and conflict, the rebel military will face Guard’s troops, who are well trained and prepared to deal with security crisis situations. Without popular support and military betrayal, color revolutions are doomed to failure. For this reason, there are few signs that the current sabotage against Maduro is sufficient to cause significant impacts in the country. These movements, in fact, seem more like an act of desperation on the part of certain agents and specific networks of the American Deep State, with few results in practical reality.

Despite all the difficulties, economic sanctions and political pressure, Maduro seems safe. Having the support of the people and the army, he has the necessary conditions to govern and advance his party’s agenda – which is marked by a type of “pro-Multipolar conservative socialism”, mixing socialist, Christian principles and a sovereignist foreign policy. It is normal and expected for American intelligence and its allied organizations to react to an undesirable election outcome. It does not mean, however, that the reaction to the elections will necessarily be victorious. Most likely, Maduro will be able to neutralize his enemies and consolidate his position as a skilled and charismatic political leader, truly capable of governing the country in current times.

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He’ll come with his stupid demands, they’ll say no.

• Zelensky Says Most Of World Wants Him To Talk To Russia (RT)

The majority of the world believes that diplomatic settlement of the Ukraine conflict is only possible with Russia’s participation in negotiations, and wants to see Moscow take part in a planned second international peace summit scheduled for November, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has told French media. Russia was not invited to the first peace summit, hosted by Switzerland in June; according to Zelensky, it was deliberately excluded from the gathering. Now Moscow should take a seat at the table, the Ukrainian leader said in an interview published on Wednesday. “The majority of the world today says that Russia must be represented at the second summit, otherwise we will not achieve meaningful results,” he said, adding “since the whole world wants them to be at the table, we cannot be against it.” The first conference was snubbed by several countries, including China, which demanded talks that would allow both sides of the conflict to participate.

Moscow has repeatedly said it is open to negotiations with Kiev, but there are issues that must first be addressed for any meaningful conversation to begin, including Zelensky’s legitimacy as head of state. His term ended in May and elections were not held due to martial law. According to Zelensky, by November Kiev intends to prepare a plan based on the results of the first summit that will include “territorial integrity, sovereignty and so on.” Asked whether Ukraine’s return to the borders of 1991 would be a mandatory precondition for peace talks with Russia, Zelensky replied that it is desirable but not obligatory. Last month, the Ukrainian leader signaled that he wanted to end the conflict “as soon as possible,” and was now ready to talk with Russia regardless of who is in charge of the country. In 2022, Zelensky barred his country from any talks with the current leadership in Moscow after four former Ukrainian regions voted overwhelmingly to join Russia in referendums which were summarily dismissed by Kiev and its Western backers.

The first summit mainly focused on Kiev’s ‘peace formula’, demanding that Russia withdraw its troops from all territory claimed by Ukraine. Moscow has dismissed the plan, calling it “detached from reality.” Last week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that signals sent by Kiev about Ukraine’s willingness to resume peace talks with Moscow are not credible. Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced his own peace proposal in June, saying he was ready to start talks once Kiev commits to neutral status and cedes its claims to all six former Ukrainian regions that chose to join Russia in 2014 and 2022. His overture was rejected by Zelensky as an “ultimatum.”

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Broke. Now what? Europeans will pay. Orban, Fico will refuse.

• Zelensky Suspends Ukraine’s Foreign Debt Payments Starting Aug 1st (ZH)

Who could have seen this coming? Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a new law which defers public debt payments until October if necessary, Reuters has confirmed. The bill was signed by Zelensky and returned to parliament on Wednesday. The government now has the authority to postpone payments on external public debt until restructuring negotiations are seen through, which could then see a moratorium held that would formally mark a sovereign default. “It is necessary to introduce, for the period of transactions to change the terms of borrowing, temporary measures related to the servicing and repayment of debt obligations and a moratorium on satisfaction of creditors’ claims,” the bill released by the president’s office said.

The clock is ticking on debt restructure as a payment freeze agreed upon two years ago will soon expire (on Aug.1), and as Reuters notes: “Earlier this month, Ukraine announced a preliminary deal with a committee of its main bondholders to restructure its near $20 billion worth of international debt.” Bondholders must still approve the deal, which is likely, given the plan has the support of foreign governments. Exactly one week ago, Fitch Ratings downgraded the country’s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating from the “CC” level to the lower “C” level. “The reported agreement with external commercial creditors constitutes a distressed debt exchange (DDE) under its sovereign rating criteria,” Fitch said.

Reuters further reviews that the proposal would see “a 37% nominal haircut on Ukraine’s outstanding international bonds, saving Kyiv $11.4 billion in payments over the next three years – the duration of the country’s program with the International Monetary Fund, according to government statements.” It was in February 2022 that Ukraine reached a hasty agreement with its creditors to freeze payments of some 23$ billion till August 2024 amid the backdrop of the Russian invasion. Since then Kiev has been almost completely reliant on foreign aid. This was all long ago predicted, including by EU parliamentarians, given that the longer the war drags on the closer the war-ravaged country is to defaulting… Following what now inaugurates a period of a short-term debt default, private bondholders are likely agree to push Ukraine’s debt payments until 2027, thus seeking to minimize the impact on Ukraine’s ability for long-term borrowing.

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How many more did they plant?

• Haniyeh Killed By Bomb Placed In Tehran Guesthouse 2 Months Ago (ZH)

New details have emerged in the Israeli covert assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was staying in Tehran to attend the country’s presidential inauguration events. Iran and Hamas’ backers considered Haniyeh to be essentially akin to a top foreign diplomat or even head of state, and so at times Haniyeh was known to travel openly in places like Qatar, Iran, or other Gulf states. And yet the bombing that took is life is being widely viewed in Iran as an utterly humiliating security failure for the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was hosting the Hamas leader. The NY Times is reporting Thursday of events the day prior that he was assassinated by “an explosive device covertly smuggled into the Tehran guesthouse where he was staying, according to seven Middle Eastern officials, including two Iranians, and an American official.”

“The bomb had been hidden approximately two months ago in the guesthouse, according to five of the Middle Eastern officials,” the report continues. “The guesthouse is run and protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and is part of a large compound, known as Neshat, in an upscale neighborhood of northern Tehran.” Likely among the “seven Middle Eastern officials” cited as sources for the report include some Israeli intel officials themselves, given the level of specified details. No doubt they are ‘spiking the football’ and want the Iranians and the world to know the astounding level of success they had in penetrating IRGC security and protocol.

For an Israeli asset to be able to access an Iranian diplomatic house in Neshat – the upscale neighborhood of northern Tehran where the bombing took place – and then be able to pinpoint down to the moment the target be in a specific room is almost unbelievable and the stuff of a James Bond spy thriller. “The bomb was detonated remotely, the five officials said, once it was confirmed that he was inside his room at the guesthouse,” NYT continues, nothing that the blast also took out Haniyeh’s bodyguard but left alive Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah, who was literally staying in the next room over. “The explosion shook the building, shattered some windows and caused the partial collapse of an exterior wall, according to the two Iranian officials, members of the Revolutionary Guards briefed on the incident,” the report continues. A widely circulating photograph also appears to confirm this description of events.

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This gets ’em all going. Especially right down in the lion’s den.

• Harris Only Recently Turned Black – Trump (RT)

Former US President Donald Trump has ridiculed Vice President Kamala Harris for talking up her Indian heritage for years until she “all of a sudden…became a black person.” The White House lashed out at Trump in response, stating that the former president has no “right to tell someone who they are.” Trump commented on Harris’ race during a combative panel interview at a National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago on Wednesday. Asked whether he considered Harris a “DEI hire” – someone hired for their race or gender, Trump replied that he thinks the situation “is maybe a little bit different.” “She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” he elaborated. “I didn’t know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she black?”

“You know what, I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way and then all of a sudden she made a turn, she became a black person,” Trump continued, to laughter from the audience. Born in California to an Indian mother and Jamaican father, Harris is often described as the US’ first African American and first Asian American vice president. Around the time of her election to the US Senate in 2016, some American media outlets including the Associated Press, The Hill, and local newspaper the Sacramento Bee described her as “Indian-American,” while others, including ABC and NBC, described her as “African-American.” Both descriptors were used interchangeably by the media during Harris’ time in the Senate, and during her abortive presidential campaign in 2019.

In a 2020 post on X marking India’s independence day, Harris described Indians as “our people.” Responding to Trump on social media, Harris accused her Republican opponent of peddling “divisiveness and disrespect.” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called Trump’s remarks “repulsive and insulting.” Nobody “has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify. That is no-one’s right,” Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday. Seemingly undeterred by this condemnation, Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Friday to share a photograph of a young Harris and her family in traditional Indian dress. “Thank you Kamala for the nice picture you sent from many years ago! Your warmth, friendship, and love of your Indian Heritage are very much appreciated,” he wrote.

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Dumb move. Pompeo and Bolton.

“Almost each of the next 100 days till November 5 elections might bring unexpected events, not all of them bright for America and mankind..”

• Trump Collapsed US-Russia Arms Control by Scrapping INF Treaty (Sp.)

Then-President Donald Trump made a “stupid mistake” by deciding to scrap the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, as the consequences of that fateful decision have been the collapse of strategic arms control policies between the United States and Russia, analysts told Sputnik. The INF treaty, signed between the Soviet Union and the US in 1987, banned the countries from developing and possessing ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges from 500-5,500 kilometers. In 2019, Trump withdrew the US from the treaty, which prompted Russia to suspend its participation in the Cold War-era accord in response. August 2 marks the fifth anniversary of the US’ formal withdrawal from the INF Treaty.

“The consequences have been that strategic arms control policies between Russia and the US/NATO have largely been abandoned and both sides have developed nuclear capable intermediate range missiles that raise the likelihood that they will be resorted to in a potential escalating conflict like in Ukraine,” former CIA analyst, founder and chair of the Council for the National Interest Philip Giraldi said. There were sharp differences of opinion in the Trump administration on whether to retain the treaty, in spite of both sides’ claims that there was “cheating,” Giraldi recalled. “The neocons predictably won the argument.”Back in the 1980s, despite hawkish governments in London and Bonn, popular sentiment across Europe, especially in Germany overwhelmingly favored creating the treaty, Giraldi emphasized.

“Interestingly enough, I was in the CIA German station in Hamburg 1982-5 when the whole issue of intermediate range missiles, which theoretically allowed for no warning devastating nuclear capable attack, was being debated,” he said. “There were huge demonstrations in all German cities against the deployment and in favor of an agreement,” Giraldi reported. “The US Consulate General was located near Hamburg’s central lake, the Alster and thousands of demonstrators would gather along the lakefront and storm the front of the building by crossing the access road that surrounded the lake.” American University in Moscow President Edward Lozansky, a former Soviet nuclear physicist, noted that Trump had heeded his two most influential advisers at the time, CIA chief and then secretary of state Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton, both of whom were determined to kill the treaty.

“One has to look at Trump’s two critical foreign policy and security advisers at the time, Pompeo and Bolton. Trump foolishly appointed them to prove he is tough on Russia. He made many other stupid mistakes for the same reason,” Lozansky said. One can excuse Trump for being a “political novice who miraculously won in 2016 and found himself in an ocean of sharks,” he added. The recent events show that “the Deep State learned the 2016 lessons” and the chances of Trump repeating the miracle of that year are quickly decreasing, at least for now, according to Lozansky. “Almost each of the next 100 days till November 5 elections might bring unexpected events, not all of them bright for America and mankind,” the expert concluded.

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“Unlike in 1987, Russian technological and economic capabilities in this space now exceed those of the United States..”

• INF Treaty Stood in Way of Plans to Militarize Europe, Hold Russia Back (Sp.)

The United States scrapped the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty five years ago with the aim of expanding NATO further eastward, pressing Russia economically and militarily, and cementing America’s global hegemony, veteran Pentagon analyst and retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik. August 2 marks the fifth anniversary of the US’s formal withdrawal from the INF Treaty. “This [the pullout from the treaty] was due to the US desire (led by neoconservatives in the State Department and elsewhere in the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations) to expand NATO eastward, as well to engage militarily on Russia’s European border with both conventional and nuclear arms, specifically via Ukraine,” Kwiatkowski said. The military and economic rise of China, a neoconservative theme for the past 30 years, required in the eyes of hawkish US military planners a nuclear offensive line in Eastern Europe to hold Russia “captive,” Kwiatkowski explained.

“The INF Treaty always stood in the way of this,” she said. Russia had formally complained of continual US violations of the INF Treaty since 2014, but this was information most Americans and Europeans never saw, and most were not even interested in, Kwiatkowski noted. “The consequences have been straightforward and dangerous. First, both the United States and Russia are now actively engaged in an expensive competition in the INF field and other new missile technology arenas,” she said. Unlike in 1987, Russian technological and economic capabilities in this space now exceed those of the United States, Kwiatkowski assessed. “Instead of US-Russia treaties that could engage and limit war preparation, we have NATO expansion, including an attempt to NATO-ize former INF signatory Ukraine,” she said.

After two post-Cold War batch accessions to the NATO alliance in 1999 and 2004, the accessions of six new member countries since 2009 have created a larger “border” between Russia and NATO, Kwiatkowski cautioned. “Peace and diplomacy were now not only verboten, or forbidden but for five years have been institutionally impossible in Europe, thanks in part to the elimination of the INF Treaty and abnormally weak and intellectually impoverished US and NATO leadership over the same time frame,” she concluded. The INF treaty, signed between the Soviet Union and the US in 1987, banned the countries from developing and possessing ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges from 500-5,500 kilometers. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the treaty, accusing Russia of non-compliance. In response to the US decision, Russia suspended its participation in the Cold War-era accord.

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Pompeo and Bolton have a successor.

• Lindsey Graham Introduces Bill Authorizing Military Force in Iran (Sp.)

US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced legislation right before the Congress recess in August that would authorize President Joe Biden to use military force against Iran if he determines that Iran has capabilities that threaten the national security interests of the United States. “The President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against the Islamic Republic of Iran if the President determines that the Islamic Republic of Iran– 1) Is in the process of possessing a nuclear weapon that threatens the national security interests of the United States; or 2) Possesses uranium enriched to weapons-grade level, possesses a nuclear warhead, or possesses a delivery vehicle capable of carrying a nuclear warhead that threatens the national security interests of the United States.”

While the bill specifies that it is limited to Iran’s nuclear program, it is broad enough to potentially authorize Biden to strike Iran as soon as the bill passes. While Iran is not believed to possess a nuclear warhead, it already has an arsenal of missiles that would be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead if Iran were to obtain one. Biden seemingly would be authorized by the bill to strike Iran if he determines that to be a threat. The same day, Graham also introduced a bill that would affirm any “escalation by Hezbollah” will be seen as an escalation by Iran and urges Congress and the President “to use all diplomatic tools and power projection capabilities to hold both parties accountable for their actions,” but stop short of specifically authorizing military force.

On Thursday, Graham posted on X that “it is long past time to start talking about offense when it comes to Iranian threats against Israel, the United States, and the world.” Both bills come as tensions are rising between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel and Iran and Israel. Earlier this week, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran and Hezbollah leader Fouad Shukur was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut. Iran and Hezbollah have promised retaliation. The Senate will go into recess on August 3rd. Unless an emergency session is called, both chambers of Congress will return to Washington on September 9.

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Nobody in the White House to stop him. Just a lame duck and an airhead.

• Netanyahu Playing A Deadly Game Drawing US Into A War With Iran (Jay)

The word escalation is often over used when talking about the conflict Israel is at the centre of as it carries out a genocide on the Gazan people. But if there were ever a moment where Israel and Iran find themselves staring at the abyss it is now, given that the U.S. has shown its full support to Benjamin Netanyahu and that the Biden administration is being run on a caretaker basis by an inept Kamala Harris. Did Netanyahu leave the U.S. and while on the long Atlantic trip come to the conclusion that he will never have an opportunity again to take the U.S. to fever pitch, being pulled into a regional war with Iran? On the 30th and 31st of July Israel carried out two assassinations which have even shocked the usual suspects of regional experts who didn’t see them coming – in particular against the head of Hamas’s Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

While barely Iran’s leaders had a few hours to mourn the death of Hezbollah top official Fouad Shukr in Beirut who is believed to be buried under a mass of rubble, the strike inside Iran is both curious and alarming. The timing is worth noting as the Iran strike in Tehran by Israel coincides with U.S. strikes in Iraq. On the night of July 30, just after Israel’s strike against Shukr, U.S. aircraft bombed a Kataib Hezbollah base in Babil Governorate in Iraq, killing several members of the pro-Iran militia. Just a few days earlier Hezbollah’s bombardment of the occupied Golan Heights which killed a dozen children certainly raised the stakes in the war, which until now was reasonably contained between Hezbollah and Israel. But now this response from Israel takes everything to a new level. Netanyahu is certainly trying to drag the U.S. into a war in the region, which is more or less what he has been dreaming about all his life.

The strike against the Hamas leader in Iran is a provocation which was designed to draw the most wrath from Tehran. Its leaders will be seen as weak if they don’t react soon as politically the elite will draw fire from the masses that the fortunes it spends on a ballistic missile defence system is clearly wasted. And yet the Iranians know this trap so well. While it is true that they will look weak, especially after the last so-called retaliation against Israel was really a political ploy by the West to humour them and their madding crowds, now the game of escalation Tehran is playing with Israel is much more serious. We’re no longer firing blanks. The pressure on Iran to retaliate will be gargantuan and yet it is unlikely that the Supreme Leader will launch such a strike, knowing full well how the trap has been laid for them.

More likely they will carry out a number of mini strikes, which, on aggregate, will add up to the gesture that they need. And so, if Netanyahu’s aim – to provoke Iran into sending a sizeable missile to an Israeli city – is not to be met, then what can we expect next? Almost inevitably, Netanyahu will be planning his next false flag attack, which should worry both the U.S. and the EU – raising the stakes and pressure for those two blocs together to force him to make a ceasefire in Gaza. For some sceptical pundits, the attacks of October 7th were in many ways a ‘false flag’ as there is a growing cabal of Middle East experts who risk losing their credibility by arguing that he already knew of the Hamas attack. Some even believe that he had been pushing Hamas over many years to do what it needed to do – to justify the response which we are seeing now which is most certainly an ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Period.

Once he realises in the coming days and weeks that Harris is not up for a war with Iran, he will begin to look at the false flag options to push her into a corner which she can’t get out of. A direct attack on U.S. forces in the region is the only sure way of making Netanyahu’s sullied plan take effect. The Israeli leader has the sophisticated weaponry and he knows how to use it to look like Hezbollah in Lebanon were responsible for such a strike either against an aircraft carrier or U.S. troops in the region (they are sitting ducks all over the Middle East) that it beggars belief that he has taken so long to play this card. What did Nietzsche say about the abyss staring you back?

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“Europeans are trying to exert political and diplomatic pressure on Iran for its response to Israel to be ‘symbolic..’

• Houthis Urge ‘Dangerous’ Response to Israel (Sp.)

Forces opposing Israel must deliver a “dangerous” military response to the killings of their leaders in Lebanon and Iran, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, said on Thursday. “Europeans are trying to exert political and diplomatic pressure on Iran for its response to Israel to be ‘symbolic,’ as they say, and to the extent that the Israelis want,” he told the Almasirah broadcaster. “However, the position of the Jerusalem axis aimed at resistance is clear: there must be a dangerous military response to the serious crimes and serious escalation by Israel. Weakness will only encourage it to commit new crimes.” On Wednesday, Hamas confirmed that its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, had been killed in an Israeli attack on his residence in Tehran after he took part in the inauguration of newly elected Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian.

Hamas has blamed Israel and the United States for Haniyeh’s death and vowed to retaliate. Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said he had nothing to say about Haniyeh’s death or Israel’s alleged role in it. The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli government had instructed ministers not to comment on Haniyeh’s assassination. On Tuesday night, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out a strike in a southern suburb of Beirut, killing Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.

Read more …

“Self-control of prisoners, self-control of political authorities, self-control of security services..”

• Prisoner Swap Was Battle of Self-Control, Moscow Says (Sp.)

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, commenting on the prisoner exchange between Russia and Western countries that took place on Thursday, called it a battle of self-control. “What many called an ‘exchange’, I would call a battle of self-control. Self-control of prisoners, self-control of political authorities, self-control of security services,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said Thursday eight Russians detained and held in custody in a number of NATO countries had returned to Russia.

The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed decrees to pardon thirteen Russian and foreign citizens exchanged from Russia, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and US Marine veteran Paul Whelan. The largest operation in recent years to exchange 26 prisoners from seven countries took place in Turkey’s Ankara on Thursday with the mediation of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization, the Turkish intelligence agency said in a statement on August 1.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

America First Legal: “Our litigation just exposed that Biden’s FDA recommended approving puberty blockers to minors despite noting that these drugs are associated with an “increased risk of depression and suicidality.”

 

 

What?

 

 

Bit scary?

 

 

Landlord

 

 

Dessert

 

 

Not a dog
https://twitter.com/i/status/1818971194046939639

 

 

Reflexes

 

 

Seal
https://twitter.com/i/status/1819004672763461856

 

 

Boy dog
https://twitter.com/i/status/1819081600271110490

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle August 1 2024

Aug 012024
 
 August 1, 2024  Posted by at 9:22 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  45 Responses »


Vincent van Gogh Portrait of Doctor Félix Rey, Arles. Rey disliked his portrait and gave it away 1889

 

• Kamala Harris: The Soros candidate? (Suchkov)
• Harris Campaign Honeymoon Will Last to Chicago Convention But No Further (Sp.)
• New Secret Service Director Announces Changes in Wake of Trump Shooting (ET)
• FBI: Trump Shooter May Have Posted Far-Right Comments on Social Media (ZH)
• Iran Accuses US Of Complicity In Hamas Chief’s Assassination (RT)
• Israel’s Existence In Danger – Trump (RT)
• Full-Scale Mideast War Only Way to Shaky Peace – Medvedev (Sp.)
• NATO Working On New Russia Strategy – Washington (RT)
• Musk Accepts Venezuelan President’s Offer To Fight (RT)
• Maduro Asks Supreme Tribunal to Probe Alleged Election Meddling (Sp.)
• Russia Legalizes Bitcoin And Crypto For International Trade (BCM)
• US Policy Threatening Dollar – Senator (RT)
• The Economic Situation of the West (Paul Craig Roberts)

 

 

 

 

Trump ad
https://twitter.com/i/status/1818422195464405089

 

 

Kamala staff

 

 

Vivek Kamala

 

 

ABC

 

 

McConnell

 

 

Boom

 

 

Maldonado

 

 

O’Leary

 

 

Rogan Biden
https://twitter.com/i/status/1818383962659750383

 

 

 

 

“..Soros funding her campaign? Well, all his entities are non-profit, so there’s no shame in taking money from Soros..”

• Kamala Harris: The Soros candidate? (Suchkov)

The old joke that a ‘color revolution’ is impossible in the United States because there is no American embassy there no longer seems quite as funny. Especially from anyone who has followed American affairs closely in recent weeks. We’ve had the sudden withdrawal of the incumbent president from the electoral race, hastily organized support for a replacement – who only a few weeks ago was considered an unlikely heir – and the murky story of an assassination attempt on the opposition candidate. Furthermore, as the icing on the cake, the name Soros, a constant presence in all ‘color revolutions,’ has been gaining column inches again. George Soros has long been a household name. But he is now 93 years old and, unlike Biden, he has arranged for the transition of his family business in good time, handing over the major assets to his 38-year-old son Alexander.

The younger man has certainly not been idle. But if his activities abroad are not particularly noteworthy (he continues his father’s work of ‘spreading democracy’ of the Soros kind), Alexander’s vigorous activity inside America has become the object of increased attention against the background of the current election campaign. To show how deeply immersed he is, it suffices to say that the Soros’s, together with the Clintons, were the first to support the replacement of Biden with Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s candidate. Soros Jr. is a frequent presence at the White House – between January 2021 and May 2023 the visitors’ log recorded 20 of his visits. The twenty-first appearance took place on the 31 May. He arrived at the residence of Vice President Kamala Harris in the company of seven major donors to the Democratic Party and a young model named Savannah Huitema. They stayed at Harris’ home from 4pm until midnight.

The details of the conversation have not been revealed. All we know is that they discussed the presidential election. But eight hours in the company of the second most powerful person in the country in the middle of the working week is a lot of time, even for a valued donor. But old friends always have something to talk about. The Soros’s have long been close friends with Harris – George supported Kamala when she was a prosecutor in California. Over the years, from Latin America and the former Soviet Union to the Middle East and Southeast Asia, the Hungarian billionaire has meddled in domestic politics and sponsored changes of government. The US is no exception. But the Americans use a different system, which means that change is better instigated at the county and state level. That’s why Soros’ organisations have invested in local politicians and legislators who are overwhelmingly ‘progressive,’ i.e. on the left of the ideological spectrum.

One of the first to call attention to this practice was the ubiquitous Elon Musk. Discussing Soros’ election funding policy, Musk remarked: “The lowest value for money is a presidential race, then the next lowest value for money is a Senate race, then a Congress. But once you get to sort of city and state district attorneys, the value [is] extremely good.” He pointed to the Hungarian’s tactical insight: “Soros realized that you don’t actually need to change the laws. You just need to change how they’re enforced.” Early in her career, Harris was one of those who Soros thought could apply the law in the right way. It’s not known exactly which of her legal initiatives Soros funded, nor when he began to do so. What is known, however, is that Kamala attended Soros’ flagship conference, Vision 2020, and Soros Sr does not invite unverified people to speak publicly at such an event. In 2020, however, even Soros’ patronage did not help Harris win the Democratic Party’s nomination.

She was left off the presidential shortlist in part because most of her law enforcement initiatives turned out to be highly controversial. In particular, many voters were alarmed by her support for bias training for police officers, initiatives to cut police funding and the Safe Neighborhoods & Schools Act, which would have reduced sentences for a number of previously serious crimes (forgery, counterfeiting) and thefts under $950. The latter caused particular irritation among small shopkeepers, who realized that the thieves they had to deal with would no longer be afraid of the consequences. Many black people were also unhappy. Despite her Jamaican roots, Harris has defended the conviction of African-Americans when there was evidence of their innocence and proof of police misconduct. Perhaps for this reason, one of the most prominent liberal human rights groups, Black Lives Matter, is wary of Harris and has not yet endorsed her nomination.

Kamala’s political biography is full of examples of inconsistent behavior. For example, as district attorney of San Francisco, she opposed the death penalty, but after becoming California’s attorney general, Harris fought to end the moratorium on capital punishment. As a result, Kamala has developed a reputation as someone who possesses two important skills for a modern politician: behind the scenes, she is flexible enough to do what her sponsors want, and in public, she is persuasive enough to justify that decision, even if it means flip-flopping. Indeed, what was a liability for the Democrats in 2020 is being presented as an asset four years later. Now, Harris is a seasoned prosecutor, Trump is a criminal, and the campaign is a public trial. This is the model now being promoted by Democratic political technologists. And the shift from Vice President Kamala to Prosecutor Kamala is a clever move to gloss over Harris’s failures as Biden’s deputy and focus voters’ attention on her merits as a guardian of the law.

“She has prosecuted six ‘sexual predators’. He [Trump] is one. She shut down for-profit colleges that were defrauding Americans. He supported them. He is a puppet of the big banks. As attorney general, she fought America’s biggest banks and forced them to pay homeowners $18 billion,” a campaign video claims. As they say, it’s all about the narrative. Harris’ love affair with the former mayor of San Francisco that launched her career? That’s a young girl thing! Soros funding her campaign? Well, all his entities are non-profit, so there’s no shame in taking money from Soros, unlike another billionaire Peter Thiel, who backs Trump and J.D. Vance!

In July, Alexander Soros announced his engagement to Huma Abedin, 47, a long-time aide to Hillary Clinton, whom she calls her “second daughter”. A practising Muslim with extensive government experience and influential friends in Washington, Abedin has become the ‘bridge’ in the relationship between the Clintons and the Soros’s. “Soros is doing things that erode the fabric of civilization,” warns Elon Musk. Whether Harris is part of this sinister plan or this is just another conspiracy theory by right-wing conservatives, Americans will have to find out, perhaps very soon.

Read more …

“Honeymoons are notoriously short. It’s what the word means..”

• Harris Campaign Honeymoon Will Last to Chicago Convention But No Further (Sp.)

The current wave of support and mainstream media coverage will carry Vice President Kamala Harris through to the Democratic Party national convention in Chicago next month but it is unlikely to last beyond that, US analysts told Sputnik. President Joe Biden chose Harris as his successor right after announcing that he was withdrawing from the Democratic party nomination for a second four-year term in the White House. Since then, mainstream Democratic leaders, including former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have rallied to Harris’ support. Nevertheless, Harris’ current wave of popularity, which has given her a small thought from the overwhelming boost in national opinion polls, will not last beyond the convention in Chicago, financial columnist and former merchant banker Martin Hutchinson said. “This honeymoon can carry her to the convention – not beyond,” Hutchinson said. “Her honeymoon will last till after the Democratic convention.”

Hutchinson pointed out that while Harris has national experience as vice president, her real policies and priorities had yet to be exposed to public scrutiny and success in the race would also depend on whom she chose as her vice-presidential running mate. “Thing to watch is whether she picks a sensible vice president. [Pennsylvania Governor Josh] Shapiro, [Kansas Governor Laura] Kelly, or [North Carolina Governor Roy] Cooper are her best choices, but the Financial Times wants her to pick [Secretary of Transportation Pete] Buttigieg, which would reinforce everyone’s negative view of her,” Hutchinson said. While Harris’ skill as a direct debater might make her a formidable opponent for Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump, her appeal would likely diminish during the prime campaigning season of September and October, Hutchinson said. “I think Trump’s chances remain good though not overwhelming, as air in Harris will slowly deflate in September/October,” Hutchinson added.

California State University Emeritus Professor of Political Affairs Beau Grosscup agreed that Harris was currently benefiting from a wave of adulation that would not last. “Honeymoons are notoriously short. It’s what the word means,” Grosscup said. Nevertheless, Harris brought significant strengths to the Democratic ticket that the aging and obviously infirm Biden had clearly lacked, Grosscup said. “Her prospects against Trump are good. She has solved the age/dementia issue – pointing now to Trump. She should re-rally women/independents on the Dobbs decision [regarding abortion] as Biden left that issue to her,” Grosscup said. The US political landscape unpredictability notwithstanding, Harris’s past record made the flubs and embarrassments inevitable throughout her presidential campaign, Political analyst Charles Ortel said. “Harris is a remarkably undistinguished ‘public servant’ whose track record and policy inclinations are both rash and juvenile,” Ortel said.

Harris’s many allies in the established media would do their best to promote her through the Democratic convention, Ortel added. US constitutional historian and political commentator Dan Lazare recommended election watchers not be misled by the relatively restrained and polite tone of the Harris and Trump campaigns so far. “With something like a hundred days to the election, the process is just getting underway,” Lazare said. “The Harris campaign is indeed in the honeymoon stage, and how much longer it lasts – a few days, a few weeks – is impossible to say. But we can be sure that it will end by some point, and that’s when the real mud wrestling will begin.” Both candidates had yet to reveal their strategies and opening moves but none of the general adulatory coverage of Harris so far had dared to point out the very real drawbacks she suffered from in her professional record, he said.

“Kamala has got a lot of baggage – her law-and-order prosecutor years that are a guaranteed turn-off for liberals, her political shallowness, her demeanor, and that god-awful laugh,” Lazare said. Lazare noted that a major issue for Harris and for most Americans is the US economy. “This a real problem for Harris since if she runs on Bidenomics, she will incur the wrath of all who have been hurt by inflation, that is the entire working-class population, while if she runs away from Bidenomics, she’ll come off as a disloyal opportunist. She’s damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t,” Lazare added.

Read more …

Next time they won’t miss.

• New Secret Service Director Announces Changes in Wake of Trump Shooting (ET)

The Secret Service is making changes in the wake of the failed assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, the agency’s new acting director announced on July 30. Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said he had traveled to the site of the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the former president was shot, allegedly by a man who fired from the roof of a nearby building.Mr. Rowe said what he saw while lying in a prone position on the roof of that building made him feel “ashamed.” “As a career law enforcement officer, and a 25-year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured,” he told two U.S. Senate committees on Capitol Hill. “To prevent similar lapses from occurring in the future, I directed our personnel to ensure every event site security plan is thoroughly vetted by multiple experienced supervisors before it is implemented.”

Mr. Rowe said he believed that agents had plenty of time to plan for the rally and called what happened a “failure on multiple levels.” In addition to former President Trump, whose ear was clipped by one of the bullets fired at him, three others were also struck. Former fire chief Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed while trying to protect his wife and daughter, and the other two shooting victims were hospitalized but have since been discharged.

Mr. Rowe assumed the acting director position after Kimberly Cheatle, the presidential appointee who was serving as director, stepped down on July 23 amid calls for her to resign. Ms. Cheatle, in remarks before Congress before she resigned, said the assassination attempt represented the Secret Service’s “most significant operational failure in decades.” Echoing that acknowledgment on July 30, Mr. Rowe said he had launched an internal investigation and would hold Secret Service employees accountable if they were found to have violated agency protocols. “They will be held to our table of penalties, which will include up to termination,” he said. As of yet, however, no Secret Service employees have been relieved of duty, which Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) questioned.

“Isn’t the fact that a former president was shot, that a good American is dead, that other Americans were critically wounded—isn’t that enough mission failure for you to say that the person who decided that that building should not be in the security perimeter probably ought to be stepped down?” Mr. Hawley asked during one particularly heated exchange. Mr. Rowe replied that he would prefer to allow the investigation to play out before taking that kind of action. “I will not rush to judgment,” the acting director said, vowing to hold employees accountable “with integrity.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) agreed with Mr. Hawley that accountability would likely require more than just an investigation. “I think we need individual accountability here and people need to be held responsible—in fact, lose their jobs, if necessary—to send a message,” Mr. Graham said.

Sen. John Kennedy

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They couldn’t find any internet presence. Now an account with 700 comments. Get serious.

• FBI: Trump Shooter May Have Posted Far-Right Comments on Social Media (ZH)

A top FBI official made a point of testifying that President Trump’s would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks may have espoused far-right extremist viewpoints on an unnamed social media account five years ago, but forgot to mention that Crooks may have shared pro-Biden viewpoints on Gab more recently. Both accounts have not yet been fully verified as belonging to Crooks. FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate told senators on Capitol Hill Tuesday that a social media account believed to be Crooks’ appears to have shared antisemitic, anti-immigrant, and “extreme in nature” posts in 2019 and 2020. Crooks would have been 14 to 15-years-old in that time frame. “There were over 700 comments posted from this account,” Abbate testified before a joint Senate Judiciary Committee and Homeland Security Committee hearing entitled “Examination of the Security Failures Leading to the Assassination Attempt on Former President Trump.”

“Some of these comments, if ultimately attributable to the shooter, appear to reflect antisemitic and anti-immigration themes to espouse political violence and are described as extreme in nature,” Abbate added. The deputy director said while the FBI was still verifying that the account belonged to Crooks, the Bureau felt it was important to detail the social account’s nature because of the “general absence of other information” establishing Crooks’ “motive and mindset.” GAB CEO Andrew Torba, however, shared plenty of information on X last week about a GAB account the FBI appeared to believe was Crook’s, saying the content of the posts “UNEQUIVOCALLY” reflected a “pro-Biden and in particular pro-Biden immigration policy.” The Gab founder said on July 24, he received an Emergency Disclosure Request (EDR) from the FBI for the Gab account “EpicMicrowave,” and said based on the request, the FBI appeared to believe the account was associated with Crooks.

Torba said “as a courtesy to enforcement,” he would not post the contents of the entire request on social media, but did post the first page on X. Torba said he was unable to confirm that the account in question, which posted a total of nine times on the site, actually belonged to Crooks. The account appeared to only be active for a short period of time in January and February of 2021. “As far as we are aware, the account did not use the site to send any direct messages,” Torba wrote on X. The majority of EpicMicrowave’s posts supported Joe Biden’s policies, particularly, his COVID lockdowns, border policies and executive orders. “To the best of Gab’s knowledge, as of 2021, Crooks was a pro-lockdown, pro-immigration, left-wing Joe Biden supporter,” Torba said.

Read more …

Killing a guest on your territory. Unacceptable.

• Iran Accuses US Of Complicity In Hamas Chief’s Assassination (RT)

The US bears partial responsibility for the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. The Palestinian movement’s chief was assassinated in a missile strike on his residence Tehran earlier in the day. The ministry accused Israel of carrying out the strike, calling it part of the Jewish State’s hunt for Palestinian leaders, and a “terrorist act” targeting Iran’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Haniyeh was in Iran for the inauguration of the country’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian. The ministry statement said Tehran reserves the right to “respond appropriately to this aggressive action.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran emphasizes the responsibility of the US government as a supporter and accomplice” of Israel, including in “committing this heinous act of terrorism,” the statement read. According to Tehran, Israel seeks to destabilize the Middle East, and Wednesday’s attack poses a “serious threat” to regional and international peace and stability. Washington has denied any role in the incident. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Singapore-based news network CNA that the US was “not aware of or involved in” the assassination. Israel has not commented on the strike, but national media have claimed, citing unnamed Iranian officials, that the missile that struck Haniyeh’s residence may have been fired from within Iran’s borders. Israel has previously vowed to eliminate the leaders of Hamas.

The development comes as the conflict between Israel and the Gaza-based Palestinian militant group approaches nine months. Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has repeatedly pledged to destroy Hamas in response to its deadly October 7 raid that claimed the lives of some 1,100 people. More than 200 were taken hostage and held in Gaza. Israel responded to the attack by launching a major military campaign in Gaza that involved heavy bombardments following by a ground operation. Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the enclave since the start of the fighting, according to local authorities.

Read more …

Voting for Trump won’t change that.

• Israel’s Existence In Danger – Trump (RT)

Donald Trump has urged American Jews to vote for him in the November election, warning that if they fail to do so, Israel could be destroyed by its enemies. The former US president and Republican nominee for the 2024 election was speaking at a fundraiser on Sunday in a New Jersey municipality with a sizable Jewish population. He claimed that the Democrats hate Israel and “largely hate” the Jewish people. “We have to win this election. We need the Jewish people to vote for Trump. If you don’t have Jewish people voting for Republicans… you’re not going to have Israel for very long,” stated Trump. The presidential hopeful also pledged to help Israel win its war against Hamas if elected. Trump reiterated his claim that the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza, would not have happened had he still been in office.

According to surveys by the Pew Research Center, a Washington-based think tank, a majority of US Jews have consistently voted for the Democratic Party. However, state-funded Voice of America noted in May that an increasing number have backed the Republicans in recent elections. The Pittsburg Jewish Chronicle cited a survey of New York voters in February showing that 53% of Jewish voters intended to vote for Donald Trump in November. The relationship between the Biden administration and the Israeli government has soured in recent months amid the Jewish state’s offensive in Gaza. US President Joe Biden has warned the Israeli leadership against an all-out assault in the densely populated city of Rafah and said it would be a ‘red line.’ “If they [Israel] go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons,” he stated.

In late April, the Biden administration paused a shipment of munitions that officials expected Israel to use in Rafah. In April, Trump took a dig at Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. “Biden has totally lost control of the Israel situation… Any Jewish person who votes for a Democrat or votes for Biden should have their head examined,” he said. The Jewish State launched its offensive in the Gazan city in early May amid widespread international condemnation. Israel has been the largest recipient of US economic and military aid since its founding in 1948, having received about $310 billion (adjusted for inflation) in total economic and military assistance, according to American foreign policy think tank the Council on Foreign Relations. In April, Biden signed into law a $95 billion foreign funding bill that included military aid to Israel.

Read more …

We fear.

• Full-Scale Mideast War Only Way to Shaky Peace – Medvedev (Sp.)

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev suggested that a full-scale war in the Middle East is the only way to a shaky peace in the region. “The knot in the Middle East is tightening. I regret the loss of innocent lives. They are just hostages of a disgusting state – the United States. Meanwhile, it is clear to everyone that a full-scale war is the only way to a shaky peace in the region,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram. On Wednesday, Palestinian movement Hamas reported the death of its political leader Ismail Haniyeh as a result of an Israeli strike on his residence in Tehran, where he had arrived to participate in the inauguration of Iran’s new president.

The movement blamed Haniyeh’s death on Israel and the United States and said the attack would not be left without a response. Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said he had nothing to comment on the death of the Hamas political chief and Israel’s involvement. Israeli army officials said they do not respond to media reports about Haniyeh’s murder. The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli authorities had instructed ministers not to speak out about Haniyeh’s death. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov called Haniyeh’s death an absolutely unacceptable political assassination that threatens further escalation in the region.

“There is no doubt that Ismail Haniyeh’s killing will have an extremely negative impact on the indirect contacts between Hamas and Israel, which offered a framework for achieving a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on mutually acceptable terms,” the Foreign Ministry Information and Press Department’s Deputy Director Andrey Nastasyin “Russia reiterates its insistent calls on all the parties involved to exercise restraint and avoid any steps that could dramatically worsen the security situation in the region, leading to a large-scale military confrontation,” he added.

Read more …

Why? It didn’t work?

• NATO Working On New Russia Strategy – Washington (RT)

NATO is developing a new strategy to deal with Russia, US Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien announced on Tuesday during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. O’Brien told the meeting that the US “wants Ukraine to win” and is providing all the materials necessary. He also claimed the “platform” of support for Kiev has strengthened, because the EU has already begun membership negotiations with Ukraine, which O’Brien said will encourage reform within the country. He recalled that the G7 members have agreed to give Kiev the earnings from Russia’s frozen sovereign assets, delivering an anticipated $50 billion this year to spend on defense. The third aspect, O’Brien claimed, is that NATO has said that it would welcome Ukraine into its ranks once Kiev takes the necessary steps towards membership.

Making sure Kiev can “win the war” is “the fastest way to peace” O’Brien suggested, adding that Ukraine has already been seen “making some progress on the battlefield.” “We have, at the same time, strengthened our platform, in particular NATO,” the US official said, adding that the Washington-led bloc is “going to be developing a new strategy toward Russia over the next months” that will aim to “hold our allies together” in future dealings with Moscow. O’Brien also noted that “all the NATO allies agreeing that [China] is the decisive enabler of Russia’s war” would be a “significant step towards improving the platform that we have.”

Russia has repeatedly criticized the West for its ongoing military support for Kiev, arguing that “flooding” Ukraine with weapons only serves to prolong the conflict and leads to more bloodshed without affecting the inevitable outcome of the conflict. Additionally, Moscow has on multiple occasions cited NATO’s continued expansion towards its borders and attempts to bring Ukraine into its ranks as one of the primary reasons for launching its military operation against Kiev in 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed that Ukraine must become a neutral country and drop its plans to join the US-led military bloc in order for any potential peace negotiations to succeed.

Read more …

Maduro’s a boxer.

• Musk Accepts Venezuelan President’s Offer To Fight (RT)

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has responded to Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro’s challenge to a fight over fraud accusations from Musk, saying he was ready to accept it. The South American nation’s leader, who just won his third term in presidential elections, accused Musk on Monday of trying to disrupt peace and stability in the country, calling the businessman his “new archenemy.” Maduro was responding to Musk’s claims of “major election fraud” by challenging the billionaire to a fight, during an address he made on national television. On Wednesday, when entrepreneur Mario Nawfal asked in a post on X (formerly Twitter): “Who had a Maduro vs Elon Fight on their 2024 Bingo Card?” Musk replied simply writing “I accept.”

In a second reply, the X owner claimed that Maduro “will chicken out.” Nawfal further released a new post, stating that “Elon’s accepted Maduro’s challenge to fight… WHO WOULD WIN?” Musk responded once again, writing: “If I win, he resigns as dictator of Venezuela. If he wins, I give him a free ride to Mars.” The SpaceX chief executive has a history of provoking public figures into fighting. The tech billionaire has long claimed he could win in a fight against the founder of Facebook, fellow tycoon Mark Zuckerberg.

The spat between Musk and Venezuelan leader followed the businessman’s posts on the results of the South American country’s presidential elections. The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela on Sunday declared Maduro the winner of the election, announcing that with 80% of ballots counted, he had secured more than 51% of the vote, compared to 44% for his main rival, Edmundo Gonzales. Maduro will be serving a third consecutive six-year term, having first taken office in 2013 following the death of President Hugo Chavez. In his victory speech, he mocked the opposition, which, he said, “cries fraud” at every election. The Venezuelan president said his reelection would bring peace and stability.

Roger Waters
https://twitter.com/i/status/1818287624626536640

Read more …

“Russian Foreign Ministry deputy spokesperson Andrey Nastasyin [..] urged foreign countries to stop using “baseless accusations” to attempt to influence the political situation in Venezuela.”

• Maduro Asks Supreme Tribunal to Probe Alleged Election Meddling (Sp.)

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro filed a constitutional protection claim on Wednesday with the country’s Supreme Justice Tribunal to investigate an alleged election interference he described as an attempted coup. The presidential election of July 28 saw Maduro win a third term in office. The announcement of the results sparked protests in the capital of Caracas and beyond, with clashes reported between the police and opposition supporters. The Venezuelan government has accused several countries of election meddling. “For the sake of peace in Venezuela, I … filed a claim for constitutional protection … to have the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Justice Tribunal investigate this attack on the electoral process, this attempt at a coup made using the electoral process,” Maduro told reporters.

The president added that he decided to appeal to the court after having faced “psychological warfare in social and mass media.” “Let them interrogate all registered presidential candidates and 38 parties, and find out in detail the nature of those attacks on polling stations, arson and damage to the branches of the electoral council, and cyber attacks,” Maduro said. “I am ready to be summoned and questioned as a presidential candidate and the winner of Sunday’s presidential vote. I throw myself before justice and will obey it.” Russian Foreign Ministry deputy spokesperson Andrey Nastasyin said on Wednesday that Maduro’s victory had been confirmed and urged foreign countries to stop using “baseless accusations” to attempt to influence the political situation in Venezuela.

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“The new law doesn’t lift the existing ban on crypto payments inside the country.”

• Russia Legalizes Bitcoin And Crypto For International Trade (BCM)

In a significant legislative move, Russian lawmakers have passed a bill permitting businesses to use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in international trade, according to a report by Reuters. This development is part of Russia’s strategy to circumvent Western sanctions imposed following the invasion of Ukraine. The new law, expected to take effect in September, aims to address delays in international payments, particularly with key trading partners like China, India, and the UAE. Central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina, a proponent of the law, announced that the first cryptocurrency transactions will occur before the year’s end. The central bank will establish an “experimental” infrastructure for these payments, with further details pending. “The risks of secondary sanctions have grown,” Nabiullina stated. “They make payments for imports difficult, and that concerns a wide range of goods.”

The legislation also includes regulations on cryptocurrency mining and the circulation of other digital assets but maintains the ban on cryptocurrency payments within Russia. The central bank highlighted that payment delays have caused an 8% drop in Russian imports in the second quarter of 2024. Despite efforts to shift to trading partners’ currencies and develop an alternative BRICS payment system, many transactions still rely on dollars and euros via the SWIFT system, risking secondary sanctions. Nabiullina emphasized that these sanctions have complicated import payments, extending supply chains and increasing costs. This decision by Russian lawmakers aims to mitigate the economic challenges posed by sanctions and ensure smoother international trade operations. Anatoly Aksakov, the head of the Duma lower house of parliament, reportedly told lawmakers, “We are taking a historic decision in the financial sphere” by passing this legislation.

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“..in the name of maintaining economic and military security for the US, we have made ourselves vulnerable..”

• US Policy Threatening Dollar – Senator (RT)

The White House has created the first real threat to the dollar and its status as the global reserve currency, US Republican Senator Mike Lee has said, in an interview with journalist and political commenter Tucker Carlson. In a two-hour interview published by the former Fox News anchor on his YouTube channel on Tuesday, Lee said that US policies of unilateral sanctions are delegitimizing the so-called rules-based international order that Washington claims to protect. According to the senator, the US authorities have succeeded in uniting Russia, China and Iran, which are significant global economic players, and have to deal with a powerful incentive to get rid of dollars, primarily in energy transactions.

“And, in the meantime, we have really presented the first major threat that you and I have seen in our lifetimes to the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency,” Lee said, stressing that “twenty years ago all oil transactions, no matter where you are in the world,” were conducted in dollars. “It’s starting to not be the case anymore,” he said, warning that this was “very chilling,” because strength of the greenback and its widespread use was what the entire US benefited from to a very significant extent.

The global trend toward countries using their respective national currencies in trade instead of the US dollar gained significant momentum after Russia, one of the world’s top oil producers and exporters, was cut off from the Western financial system and had its foreign reserves frozen in 2022. “So, in the name of protecting the rules based on international order, we’ve weakened it, in the name of maintaining economic and military security for the US, we have made ourselves vulnerable,” Lee concluded. The freezing of Russian sovereign assets in February 2022 was an unprecedented move. A number of experts in the West, including US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, have cautioned against attempting to confiscate these funds, highlighting that this could undermine the dollar, the euro, and the entire global financial system.

Sen. Mike Lee

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“..As other countries cease using the US dollar as their reserves, the large supply of dollars in the world–I recently read that the US national debt is now $35 trillion–is likely to be a supply that exceeds demand..”

• The Economic Situation of the West (Paul Craig Roberts)

Once upon a time America had a capitalist economy. Bank deposits were used for loans that expanded productive ability. America produced its own goods and grew its own food. America’s currency was backed by gold and inflation was nonexistent. New technology brought into play by new investment improved the productivity of labor, and living standards rose. Profits were plowed back into improved methods and expanded production. Governments subsidized social infrastructure and education. This lowered the cost of transportation and, thereby, the cost of production and prices, and it provided industry and manufacturing with an educated work force. As an instate resident, my annual tuition at Georgia Tech came to about $450. This highly successful way of running an economy was replaced by an entirely different economy, the one we have today. Who is responsible and how it came about is a story that can be told later but not in this column.

In the current economy bank loans are not made to finance new investment in new plant and equipment. They are made in order to finance the purchase of existing assets. Loans are made to purchase existing companies, load them up with debt, and sell off their assets. Loans are made to finance a buyback of a company’s own stock, thus raising the stock price and resulting in executive and board “performance” bonuses. Loans are made to finance real estate purchases and thereby drive up the values of real estate, thus raising the cost of housing. The new economy is financialized. It lives off of interest on debt and fees, the plunder of public assets via privatization, and exploitation of third world economies via dollar-based bank loans that can only be repaid by the indebted country selling its public assets to its American creditors, usually at rock bottom prices. The new American economy rests on the indebtedness, not the prosperity, of the American population and on the financial coercion of dollar-indebted foreign governments who pay their debts with their country’s assets.

The Federal Reserve destroyed family farms and monopolized food production in agri-business, monopolized the financial system in the hands of the five largest banks, and destroyed the value of the US dollar. This is not a portrait of a successful economy with a future.The Western World, especially the US, has offshored its industrial and manufacturing economy to Asia and Mexico. Offshoring has deprived the American workforce of the incomes associated with the production of the goods that Americans consume. When the goods and services come into the US to be marketed, they come in as imports, thus enlarging the US trade deficit. The reason this exploitative system has been able to continue is that Washington used World War II to make the US dollar the means of international payment, that is, the reserve currency of the central banks of the world. Dollar-denominated debt instruments became the reserves of the world’s central banks.

To be the reserve currency means that the country’s debt is the reserves of all other countries’ central banks. Therefore, an increase in US government debt was not a problem, because it meant an increase in reserves of the world’s central banks. This is why financing the US debt was never a problem. In the 21st century the US government itself has been busy at work destroying this privileged way of financing its ever-growing debt by weaponizing the use of the dollar as reserve currency. The sanctions imposed on Russia and other countries have created a general move away from the use of US Treasury debt as central bank reserves. Washington’s seizure of Russia’s central bank reserves held in dollars told the world that the same could happen to them. Consequently, the use of the US dollar in international payments has fallen from about 90% to a bit less than 50%. With the formation and expansion of BRICS it will fall further.

As other countries cease using the US dollar as their reserves, the large supply of dollars in the world–I recently read that the US national debt is now $35 trillion–is likely to be a supply that exceeds demand. The implication is a fall in the exchange value of the dollar, already confirmed by the rise in gold and silver prices. In the short run, Washington can prevail on the Japanese, UK, and EU central banks to support the dollar by using their currencies to buy dollars. But this rescue operation of the dollar cannot be forever extended. When the time comes that Western central banks are no longer willing to risk the values of their own currencies in support to the US dollar and the gold and silver prices cannot longer be suppressed by the practice of selling naked shorts, America will become a third world country.

This is not a subject that interests many economists. The American economic profession is, in my opinion, a collection of people who, in exchange for grants and consultantships, have embraced the lie that offshoring of “dirty fingernail jobs” will result in higher paid new economy jobs for the work force. After all these years there is still no sign of these promised higher-paying replacement jobs. The same economists have told us that globalism, which makes us dependent on imports, is the wave of the future. The future of an import-dependent economy with a weakening currency is permanent inflation. With robotics and artificial intelligence replacing the human work force while millions of immigrant-invaders enter the country annually, the future is also one of permanent unemployment. The US economy is run by short-run profit maximization. The absence of vision means a bleak future even in the absence of the Great Reset.

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Debt Rattle July 31 2024

Jul 312024
 
 July 31, 2024  Posted by at 9:00 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  55 Responses »


Gustave Caillebotte Young man by his window 1875

 

• No Primaries, No Alternatives, No Scrutiny: Anti-Democracy Reigns In US (Sp.)
• Trump’s VP Pick Is a Climate Sceptic, and the Knives Are Out (RCE)
• Biden Abandons the Court . . . and His Last Inviolate Principle (Turley)
• Kamala Harris Suddenly Rejects All Of Her Radical Positions (ZH)
• Trump Shooter Was ‘Step Ahead Of Secret Service’ – NYT (RT)
• The Man Who Could Get to the Bottom of the Trump Shooting (Julie Kelly)
• Trump Will Talk To FBI, Debate Harris (Sp.)
• Media Shills Have Received Their New Script: “Conservatives Are Weird” (ZH)
• The Paris Olympics Are The Most French Thing Ever (Marsden)
• Maduro Declares Musk ‘Archenemy’ (RT)
• Hamas Politburo Chief Killed in Tehran (Sp.)
• Haniyeh Murder ‘May Have Been Crossing a Red Line’ – Larry Johnson (Sp.)
• Leaked Emails Reveal ‘Civil War’ At CIA Regime Change Cut-out (RT)

 

 

 

 

Melania

 

 

Wow

 

 

Vote

 

 

Kamala

 

 

Trump ad

 

 

10 million new voters.

 

 

Trump Congress

 

 

My people
https://twitter.com/i/status/1818269133298950253

 

 

 

 

“This is just a very slick PR process that, again, has been engineered by the same elements that got rid of Joe Biden.”

• No Primaries, No Alternatives, No Scrutiny: Anti-Democracy Reigns In US (Sp.)

On July 21, US President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection. The announcement came after Democratic primary voting had completed, leaving Democratic voters with no say in the party’s nominee. Meanwhile, third-party candidates are being stonewalled at every turn and the media pretends this is all normal. The American electoral process has degraded into a shambling shell of its former self, propped up with vapid, slick and committee-tested PR campaigns rather than debate. Over the past week, with the tickets of the two major parties all but finalized, the media can not bring themselves to ask a substantive question of either person likely to sit in the White House in less than six months.

“My question is,” YouTube personality and WWE United States Champion Logan Paul asked former US President and Republican nominee Donald Trump, “for other young people in this country who are looking to get ahead, cause for a lot of them, times are tough right now. What would you say to them, kids who want to pursue their own version of the American dream and try to achieve their wildest dreams?” Trump answered that young people should vote for him. Meanwhile, Harris sat down for a non-televised interview with People, which asked her about her relationship with her husband, how much sleep she gets and her favorite nickname (“Momala” as it turns out) but not any policy positions on the economy, immigration, Ukraine or Gaza. Even Paul and his “Impaulsive” co-host Mike Majlak had the good sense to ask Trump about those topics, even if they didn’t challenge him on them.

This is what passes for scrutiny in American politics. Worse, the incumbent president’s party all but refused to hold a primary. Then Biden suddenly resigned from the campaign after weeks of refusing to and his vice president was anointed the new nominee without receiving a single vote. On Saturday, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh reported that Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama threatened to invoke the 25th amendment and force Biden out of office if he did not drop his reelection campaign. “The lords of capital decided that he had to go and, in fact, they made it quite clear he had to go because they said that not only would they stop contributing to his campaign, but they told the DNC get rid of Joe Biden or don’t expect any financial support for any Democrat candidate down ballot,” argued political activist and the 2016 Green Party Vice Presidential nominee Ajamu Sibeko Baraka on Sputnik’s Political Misfits. “This is clear elite extortion.”

“So, this was, in fact, a coup. A coup by the donors and we need to deal with that in that way because it exposes the true nature of this anti-democratic process we have in this country. So, people [who] are committed to democracy, [who] would like to see something that approximates democracy. You can’t continue to support these two anti-democratic parties. That’s a very important point,” he added. To shore up the perception of support, the Harris campaign hosted a series of Zoom calls, bizarrely segregated by race and gender. Black Men for Harris came first, then Black Women for Harris. Then White Women for Harris and finally, White Dudes for Harris. “It is sort of a silly Zoom call,” said Baraka. “But it does reflect the kind of identity reductionist policies we have in this country.” “I mean, why are people supporting Harris? Based on what? What policies? There’s no serious political conversation taking place. This is just a very slick PR process that, again, has been engineered by the same elements that got rid of Joe Biden.”

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If you don’t “believe” that fossil fuels will kill us all -tomorrow morning, preferably- then they must get rid of you. For the planet’s sake…

• Trump’s VP Pick Is a Climate Sceptic, and the Knives Are Out (RCE)

Within a day of ex-President Trump’s announcement of “climate denier” Mr. J. D. Vance as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee, the climate industrial complex and supportive mainstream media had the knives out. A few headlines of the past 24 hours are an indication. The New York Times: “JD Vance Is an Oil Booster and Doubter of Human-Caused Climate Change”. The Independent: JD Vance: “Climate activists alarmed by Trump’s ‘dangerous’ pick for vice president”. The Guardian: “Climate advocates fear picking JD Vance for VP is ‘a dangerous step backward’”. The umbrage taken by media commentators is familiar. CNBC laments that “the former venture capitalist though is a known critic of climate change and renewable energy [italics added].” UK’s The Independent newspaper reports that “[c]ampaigners are responding with alarm to the selection of climate denier and Ohio senator JD Vance as Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee, with activists warning he represents a “dangerous” voice for the US.”

Mr. Vance’s “eagerness to please Donald Trump” adds to the image of the vice-presidential nominee as an unprincipled politician seeking office. Climate advocacy group Fossil Free Media spokesperson Cassidy DiPaola asserted that “This [VP] choice signals that a potential Trump-Vance administration would likely double down on fossil fuel expansion at a time when we desperately need to transition to clean energy.” Communications director Stevie O’Hanlon of Sunrise Movement, a climate activist organization, said that “Like Donald Trump, JD Vance has proven that he will make it a top priority to roll back climate protections while answering to the demands of oil and gas CEOs.” Does Mr. Vance have a principled stand and is his stance on climate and energy policy worthy of consideration? As the highly polarized debate over climate change over the past few decades has amply demonstrated, the discourse often descends into ad hominem attacks and name calling.

“Climate denier” is a charge that is often used by proponents of climate alarm to shut down critical debate and to deplatform climate sceptics. Lena Moffitt, executive director of the environmental advocacy group Evergreen Action, said this of Mr. Vance: “Donald Trump has chosen an avowed climate denier as his running mate who has used his time in Congress to vote against the environment and shill for fossil fuel corporations at every opportunity.” The “denier” accusation is among the more pernicious if popular epithets used to denigrate sceptics of the so-called “consensus science.” It invokes a comparison to those who engage in Holocaust denial. To be sure, most observers would consider it ludicrous to suggest that questioning the accuracy and predictive power of scientific models is like questioning the historical fact of the genocide of Jews in Europe.

Putting aside epithets and journalistic hit-pieces, it seems a fair question to ask just what do politicians skeptical of the climate alarmist narrative believe? And what are their policy positions regarding the Paris Agreement’s “net zero by 2050” target. This policy target is an imperative, at least nominally, for most current governments in North America and Western Europe? Mr. Vance – lawyer, businessman, former Marine and writer of the bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy”, arisen from the humblest working class background – places himself firmly in the populist right movement. It now looks very likely that Mr. Trump will be the next US president. The assassination attempt on Saturday, his miraculous split-second turn of the head which saved him and the iconic picture of his raised fist with the US flag in the background seconds after being injured make him almost irresistible. Thus Mr. Vance will likely join the Donald Trump next year as his VP in an administration that will seek to rapidly unwind the myriad policy and regulatory constraints that the Biden administration has imposed to shackle the US oil and gas industry at every turn.

Vance has also criticized the “green energy fantasy” of the Biden administration, pointing out that “solar panels can’t power a modern manufacturing economy” and “that’s why the Chinese are building coal power plants.” He has similarly called out wind power turbines. At the Turning Point Action conference last year, he said “they’re hideously ugly. They kill all the birds. And they’re mostly made in China.” The Biden administration’s all-out support for EVs comes in for the same critique. In a July 2022 radio interview, he said: “The whole EV thing is a scam. If you plug it into your wall, do these people think there are Keebler elves back there making electricity in the wall? It comes, of course, from fossil fuels.”

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“..That will only increase pressure to convert the Court into an alternative avenue for social and political reform..”

• Biden Abandons the Court . . . and His Last Inviolate Principle (Turley)

President (and Supreme Court Chief Justice) William Howard Taft once said “presidents come and go, but the Supreme Court goes on forever.” But not if Joe Biden has his way. Indeed, both the president and Court as we know it could be gone. In a failed attempt to save his nomination, Biden offered to “reform” the Court by imposing an 18-year term limit that would jettison the three most senior conservative justices. With only six months left in his presidency, Biden’s efforts are likely to fail, but, unfortunately, could set the stage for activists under a Harris Administration in seeking to change the Court forever. For more than 50 years, Biden staunchly refused to play politics with the Supreme Court and support calls for “reforms” from the left of his party. For a politician who has long been criticized for changing positions with the polls on issues from abortion to criminal justice to gun rights, the Court was one of the few areas of true principle for Biden.

Even though he refused to answer questions on packing the Court in the 2020 election, he ultimately rejected the call as president. Yet Biden’s final principle fell this month when facing the premature and involuntary end of his candidacy. Faced with being a one-term president, the Supreme Court would have to be sacrificed. Biden opted for the least of the evils in pushing for term limits rather than court packing. It was the more popular option for Biden to yield on. Voters have always loved term limits. The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found 67% of Americans, including 82% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans, support a proposal to set finite terms for justices. But there were few law professors and even fewer Democratic members clamoring for term limits until conservatives secured a stable majority on the Court. Then, suddenly, the Court had to be “reformed” without delay. It is no accident that the first three justices who would term limited off the Court are conservatives: Clarence Thomas (after 33 years on the Court), Chief Justice John Roberts (after 19 years), and Justice Samuel Alito (after 18 years).

Think, however, about the iconic decisions we would have lost with term limits in place. Liberal Justice Williams Douglas’s 36 years on the Court would have literally been cut in half. He would have been kicked off in 1957. His famous opinions like Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), striking down bans on contraceptives, would not have been written — an ironic result for those seeking limits after the Court’s ruling in Dobbs. Likewise, liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s tenure would have ended in 2011 before she wrote her famous dissent Shelby County v. Holder (2013), defending voting rights. Anthony Kennedy’s term would have ended in 2011 rather than 2018, before he wrote opinions such as United States v. Windsor, striking down the Defense of Marriage Act. Obviously, other justices could have written opinions in these cases, but the point is that many justices wrote their best opinions after 18 years on the Court. Moreover, the Framers clearly wanted these positions as lifetime appointments as an added protection against political pressure or influence.

For more than two centuries, presidents have struggled with the Supreme Court, but none (until now) have attempted to end life tenure on the Court. Presidents have served as the firewall for the anger and radicalism that has periodically engulfed the Court. Now President Biden is leading the mob for changing this institution for the first time since its founding. It is a testament to what I call “an age of rage” in my new book. After years of supporting the Court when it was setting aside conservative precedent, liberals now want the Court changed to dump or dilute the majority. It is unlikely to end there. After sending Thomas, Roberts, and Alito packing, many want to go further and pack the Court itself.

Democratic leaders such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have called for outright court packing — a proposal that Vice President Kamala Harris has suggested that she might support. Where Biden is a political opportunist in belatedly joining this movement, Harris is a true believer from the far left. If she is elected, the Congress is still likely to be closely divided. That will only increase pressure to convert the Court into an alternative avenue for social and political reform.

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“..when Harris says “I’m open to that conversation,” it means she has no idea what she’s talking about. And she says that a lot.”

• Kamala Harris Suddenly Rejects All Of Her Radical Positions (ZH)

In 2019, Kamala Harris was rated the ‘most liberal’ Senator in a now-scrubbed rating from GovTrack. She’s on record wanting to abolish ICE (which she compared to the KKK), letting criminals like the Boston Marathon bomber and rapists vote, banning fracking and offshore drilling, defunding the police, providing US taxpayer subsidized healthcare to illegals, and banning private health insurance. According to the NY Times, “video clips of her old statements and interviews are being weaponized as Republicans aim to define her as a left-wing radical who is out of step with swing voters.” “The archive is deep,” said Brad Todd, a Republican strategist and ad maker who is working with David McCormick, the G.O.P. Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, among other campaigns. “We will run out of time before we run out of video clips of Kamala Harris saying wacky California liberal things. I’m just not sure that the rest of this campaign includes much besides that.” To that end, McCormick’s campaign has produced one of the first TV ads to attack Harris on her longstanding positions.

Yet, according to the Times, nevermind all that- Harris is now a reformed moderate – and has suddenly reversed course on virtually all of her most radical views. On Friday, the Harris campaign announced that she no longer wants to ban fracking – a ‘significant shift’ from where she stood four years ago. She’s also reversed course on funding for border enforcement, no longer supports a single-payer health insurance program, and has walked back liberal fever dreams of a mandatory gun buyback. “She is no longer pushing for a single-payer health care system, and on Friday her campaign said she would maintain Mr. Biden’s pledge not to raise income taxes on people making less than $400,000 per year.” -NYT. Packing the Court? Nah…

“On Monday, as Mr. Biden prepared a speech in Texas calling for term limits and ethics guidelines for Supreme Court justices, the Trump campaign resurfaced statements Ms. Harris made in 2019 saying she was “open to this conversation” about expanding the Supreme Court. Ms. Harris, in a statement released by her campaign, endorsed Mr. Biden’s proposal, which does not call for adding additional justices to the court.” According to Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, a moderate Democratic think tank, Harris has ‘evolved’ into a Biden style centrist (if centrism is defined as letting 20+ million illegals into the country and cooking Americans with inflation). “There’s a tremendous difference in changing one’s policy ideas and changing one’s principles,” said Bennett. “She has not changed her principles. She still thinks climate change is an existential threat — she just doesn’t think the Green New Deal is the way to address it.” Sure Matt.

The Times also hints that Harris is essentially an idiot who didn’t really understand her own positions while running for president in 2020. “…during that race, Ms. Harris also often appeared as if she were not sure what she believed. In a CNN town-hall event the day after what was widely viewed as a successful campaign rollout in Oakland, Calif., she appeared tentative while discussing health care policy, eventually saying she would eliminate private health insurance and institute a single-payer health care program. She would go on to propose an array of policies popular with progressives. She sought to increase pay for public-school teachers by an average of $13,500 through a bump in the estate tax. She also called for an assault weapons ban and said she would sign an executive order mandating background checks for customers of any dealer who sold more than five guns in a year. And she sought to close the gender pay gap by requiring large companies to certify that men and women were paid equally.” As an obvious aside, when Harris says “I’m open to that conversation,” it means she has no idea what she’s talking about. And she says that a lot.

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Building the narrative…

• Trump Shooter Was ‘Step Ahead Of Secret Service’ – NYT (RT)

The man who tried to assassinate Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a Butler, Pennsylvania rally had prepared better than the protection detail and was able to slip through the cracks in security, the New York Times has reported. The shooter opened fire at 6:11pm that Saturday, nicking Trump’s ear as the former US president turned away. He was later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, from a nearby town. Text messages and after-action reports provided to the Times by Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, revealed that local police had noticed Crooks almost more than 90 minutes before he fired, but kept losing sight of him. Crooks had visited the fairgrounds in Butler on July 7. The Secret Service did not show up until a day later, which is when they decided not to include the AGR warehouse complex in the security perimeter, according to the Times.

On July 13, the day of the rally, the Secret Service did not attend the 9am security briefing for local law enforcement. By 10am, Crooks had bought a ladder and driven to the rally site. He stayed around for over an hour, observing the local police. He then drove back to his hometown, bought 50 rounds of ammunition, and drove back, arriving around 3:35pm, “according to geolocation information from one of his cellphones,” the outlet noted. The Secret Service had not bothered to survey the area with drones, but Crooks did. Around 3:50pm that Saturday, he flew a drone over the site for about 11 minutes, before putting it back into his car and returning to the nearby picnic tables. It was at this point that a local counter-sniper first spotted him, as he finished his shift. The officer warned his colleagues at 4:26pm that someone had “snuck in” and “knows you guys are up there.”

Nothing happened until 5:14pm, Crooks was spotted using a range finder. One of the county counter-snipers took a photo of Crooks. It was shared in the group chat of the local police department at 5:38pm, and then relayed to the Secret Service. One of the two remaining counter-snipers ran out of the AGR building to keep an eye on Crooks until backup arrived, according to Butler County district attorney Richard Goldinger. Crooks had already run off, however, and the sniper returned to post. Four Butler Township officers were pulled from directing traffic to help locate him. One officer texted at 6pm, suggesting that Crooks had moved “away from the event.” In reality, the Times noted, he had climbed onto the roof about 120 meters away from the stage. “There is still confusion about which agency was supposed to oversee the roof,” the Times reported. The Secret Service had left it empty. Beaver County “struggled to find enough volunteers to cover the 12-hour shift,” according to text messages.

Trump took the stage at 6:03pm. Six minutes later, the audience at the rally began pointing to someone on the roof of the warehouse. “Either through luck or preparation,” Crooks had found a spot that let him have a clear shot at Trump, but kept him “somewhat hidden” from the Secret Service, according to the Times. At 6:11pm, Crooks fired at Trump. The Secret Service snipers reacted and fatally shot him. At least eight spent cartridges were found next to his lifeless body. Police who eventually showed up on the roof could not figure out how Crooks had got there. Kimberly Cheatle resigned as the Secret Service director ten days later, after insisting she would not. No one at the agency was reprimanded, fired or otherwise held accountable for the near-fatal incident.

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They’ll silence him.

• The Man Who Could Get to the Bottom of the Trump Shooting (Julie Kelly)

After the evasive House testimony of now-former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and FBI Director Christopher Wray’s shortlived suggestion that Donald Trump may not have been hit by a bullet, one man alone may help allay Republican fears that the Biden administration will not conduct a forthright investigation into the attempted assassination of Trump last month: Joseph Cuffari. The Trump-appointed inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security has already opened two investigations into the U.S. Secret Service, which is under the purview of the DHS, related to the agency’s handling of the July 13 shooting. But some Republicans are concerned because, they say, Cuffari has been stonewalled by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on other internal examinations – including one that might have revealed Secret Service lapses that might have prevented the attempt on Trump’s life.

Specifically, congressional sources tell RCI that Cuffari’s report, “USSS Preparation for and Response to the Events of January 6, 2021,” has been on Mayorkas’ desk since at least April. The report, according to Politico, will “cast light on a series of embarrassing security lapses for the agency.” And given some comparisons between Jan. 6 and July 13, the report might shed light on systemic issues that impacted both events. For example, unanswered questions remain as to why the Secret Service allowed Trump to take the stage at The Ellipse outside the White House around noon on Jan. 6 amid reports of individuals with weapons in the vicinity – a question many Americans have about the July 13 assassination attempt. Law enforcement and spectators noted the presence of a suspicious individual, later identified as the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, at least a half hour before Trump took the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania.

In addition, no one has explained how the Secret Service failed to notice an alleged pipe bomb found outside the Democrat National Committee DC office on Jan. 6 – while then Vice President-elect Harris was inside the building. Previous reporting by RCI shows multiple law enforcement officers, including one with a bomb-sniffing dog, walking past the bench where the device was found. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, chairman of a House subcommittee tasked with a separate investigation into Jan. 6 as well as the now-defunct J6 committee, recently accused Mayorkas of intentionally holding the release of the report. The Georgia Republican told Mayorkas in a letter that “the failure to provide an in-depth review of the department’s security planning and operational failures related to January 6 not only raises concerns about the department’s botched planning for former president Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024, but it is quite possible that such reports could have prevented the security breakdown that resulted in the near assassination of a former president and presidential candidate.”

Top Democrats have long sought to remove Cuffari – a former investigator for the Air Force and Department of Justice whom Trump appointed in 2019 in 2019 – from office. The coordinated effort began when the IG notified Congress that a trove of Secret Service texts from January 5 and 6, 2021 had been deleted in late January 2021 under the Biden administration. The purge occurred weeks after every federal agency received a directive from Congress to preserve all evidence related to January 6. Cuffari said messages belonging to at least 24 Secret Service officials including then director James Murray and Cheatle, who was an assistant director of the agency on January 6, were gone. So, too, were the texts of then acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and acting deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli, both Trump appointees. His office subsequently opened a criminal investigation into the matter.

“The USSS erased those text messages after OIG [Office of Inspector General] requested records of electronic communications from the USSS, as part of our evaluation of events at the Capitol on January 6,” the inspector general wrote in a July 2022 letter to chairmen of both the Senate and House Homeland Security committees, including Rep. Bennie Thompson, who also chaired the Jan. 6 committee at the same time. Cuffari further flagged the DHS’s lack of cooperation with his inquiry, something he had already pointed out in an earlier report to the committees. “DHS personnel have repeatedly told OIG inspectors that they were not permitted to provide records directly to OIG and that such records had to first undergo review by DHS attorneys,” Cuffari continued in the letter.

Not true, responded Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. He claimed the texts had been deleted when cell phones were reset to factory settings as part of a device replacement program. “The insinuation that the Secret Service maliciously deleted text messages following a request is false.” (Guglielmi’s truthfulness was brought into question recently when he claimed it was “absolutely false” that the Secret Service rejected the Trump campaign’s multiple requests for additional security prior to the Pennsylvania rally. The Washington Post later confirmed that top Secret Service officials “repeatedly denied” requests for more manpower and equipment to protect the former president at large events.)

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“The answer is yes. I’ll probably end up debating. The answer is yes, but I can also make a case for not doing it,”

• Trump Will Talk To FBI, Debate Harris (Sp.)

Former US President Donald Trump said in an interview that he would talk to the FBI on Thursday about the attempt on his life at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, earlier this month. “[The FBI are] coming in on Thursday to see me,” Trump told Fox News on Monday. Trump further said that he believed there should have been security officers on the roof of the building where the gunman had been positioned during the shooting. Moreover, the Republican presidential nominee said that the US Secret Service should have been communicating with the local police, which it wasn’t. On July 13, Trump suffered a gunshot wound to his right ear and was briefly hospitalized following an assassination attempt at his rally in Butler. Thomas Crooks, 20, killed a member of the audience and injured two others in the crowd before the Secret Service neutralized him. The FBI continues to investigate the assassination attempt.

The incident prompted US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign following criticism of the agency for not preventing the assassination attempt. Trump also commented on the possibility of him debating the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, Vice President Kamala Harris. “The answer is yes. I’ll probably end up debating. The answer is yes, but I can also make a case for not doing it,” Trump said in the interview. Trump and Harris are currently set to participate in a ABC-hosted debate on September 10. Trump explained that he could decide to cancel a debate because he did not want to reward “fake news,” adding that ABC could end up making tens of millions of dollars off the debate. He also described the ABC network as a “terrible outfit.”

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It all sounds weird.

• Media Shills Have Received Their New Script: “Conservatives Are Weird” (ZH)

As August approaches and the campaign season enters the final stretch, there have been some not-so-surprising developments in the behavior of Big Tech search engines, social media and the narratives being spread by establishment news organizations. Search terms for Donald Trump have been suspiciously absent on Google. Trump’s speeches are being consistently edited out of context. And, media platforms are blatantly parroting the same scripted talking points in a way that would make Joseph Goebbels blush. As he once stated: “Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.” This mantra has never been more obvious than it is today. The new narrative that every progressive shill is reciting on nearly every major news platform? Donald Trump and JD Vance are ‘just plain weird’, and conservatives are all weird by extension…

It’s hard to say who this talking point is meant to appeal to, but Democrats are clearly very proud of it. No doubt they paid an obscure think-tank a lot of money to develop it. However, the slogan slinging tactics of the elections of yesteryear are not very impressive to most of the voting public today. In the midst of stagflationary crisis, cultural sabotage, national instability and a Democratic Party seemingly intent on starting WWIII, Americans are not interested in slogans, Americans want solutions. If you repeat a lie loud enough and often enough, it just annoys the public even more. Perhaps the shift of Gen Z men towards more conservatives ideals has got the progressives scrambling to come up with relatable slogans. They are already referring to Kamala Harris as the “Gen Z meme queen.” Of course, as everyone knows, the political left does not know how to meme. It feels like desperation because this is their candidate going into November…

One could guess that labeling conservatives as “weird” is meant to marginalize the undeniable momentum away from woke demagoguery. Notice that Pride Month was barely a blip on the radar in 2024, Biden just got booted from his own campaign, the Trump assassin missed and the Olympics is losing sponsorships after going woke in their opening ceremonies. Leftists are not having a good year. The pedulum is swinging back and they know it. While we wait for Kamala Harris to say or do anything to deserve the avalanche of praise she has been receiving from the media since replacing Biden as the Democratic candidate, the “memes” are certain to flow with each new narrative being more cringe inducing than the last. None of it will be useful in papering over the fact that Kamala Harris is one of the weirdest and most unsettling presidential hopefuls of all time.

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“If their surveillance-industrial complex pals were going to stuff their pockets under the pretext of Games security, then couldn’t they just spy on us in peace without all the added bureaucratic nonsense?”

• The Paris Olympics Are The Most French Thing Ever (Marsden)

French culture isn’t just about masked balls at Versailles anymore. As the Paris Olympic Games have proven, it’s now also debating whether drag queens’ balls were adequately masked. Looks like Thomas Jolly, the Games’ Opening Ceremony director, is just now coming to the realization that the entire world doesn’t function like Paris Left Bank intellectuals. He bit off more than he could chew by transmitting a French art house vibe to every country around the globe, some of which – from Morocco and Algeria to China and the US – straight up censored parts of the show that perhaps should have come with a disclaimer in the same way that risqué French films do. Because it turns out that kids – and even some adults – weren’t quite ready to witness a giant Smurf rolling around in a fruit bowl in front of a bunch of drag queens re-enacting what appeared to be the Last Supper.

And the fact that French blasphemy laws were abolished two years after the French Revolution, enshrining a right that became a cornerstone of French free speech, didn’t matter to those who felt offended, which included everyone from religious figures to left-wing France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon. France has defended religious satire as free expression, even when cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed led to a terrorist massacre in January 2015 at the Parisian headquarters of the magazine Charlie Hebdo, which published them. So this is just France being France, which wasn’t very well received, including by some of the most progressive-minded French officials. One US-based advertiser – the wireless company C Spire – has already said it was yanking their Olympic advertising. Guess there’s a dice roll with the risk that your product might end up somewhere in the vicinity if a clip or screencap of a bunch of drag queens, or a saucy Papa Smurf, and that wasn’t quite the vibe that you were going for when you signed up for high-level sports sponsorship.

There was also an onslaught of reports of X (former Twitter) social media users being hit with copyright takedown notices for posting some of the controversial scenes from the opening show for debate and discussion. Not surprising that the International Olympic Committee, guardian of the Olympic brand, might not want the images etched into history of these Games, to be dominated by things like closeups of drag queens’ crotches for the purpose of debating whether the world actually witnessed some fruit tumbling out of a pair of plum smugglers in a wardrobe malfunction – or whether it was just an everyday pantyhose rip. You know, the kind of thing that could happen to any dude in an average day at the office. The Games have really showcased that world-famous French rigor.

[..] The trains stopped running last week around France due to sabotaged lines. Israel has already blamed that on Iran. The average French person’s mind just went straight to everyday, garden variety French incompetence – the kind that would also would explain all the heavy-handed “security theatre” during the Games. The government required everyone to apply online for QR Codes if they wanted to even cross the downtown core, which was turned into a maze of 44,000 barricades days before the opening ceremony. And the excuse had to be a good one – like you lived there or had an appointment. And the Interior Ministry had already used the Games as a pretext for loading up on new high-tech surveillance systems, from surveillance drones and anti-drone systems to crowd scanners coupled with Minority Report style artificial intelligence algorithms. If all of it actually worked, then why give people the run-around? If their surveillance-industrial complex pals were going to stuff their pockets under the pretext of Games security, then couldn’t they just spy on us in peace without all the added bureaucratic nonsense?

Speaking of national security, a bunch of hackers leaked the military background of Israeli athletes, a country with mandatory service and currently involved in an active conflict criticized by the UN’s International Court of Justice and accused of apartheid – an offense that the IOC explicitly cites as justification for Games exclusion. Meanwhile Russian athletes who have never even been in the army can’t even compete in their country’s name. So what happens if a Russian wins a gold medal? The IOC created a special flag just for them, which looks like someone’s kid whipped it up in about five minutes on an app. They also made a new anthem with no lyrics for Russian athletes that sounds like the opening soundtrack for a make-believe fantasy movie. Which is really what all this is: one big Hollywood-grade fantasy that one of the top Olympic nations since forever doesn’t even exist now at the Olympics.

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A conversation neither should be involved in. Remember Juan Guiado and the CIA?

• Maduro Declares Musk ‘Archenemy’ (RT)

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has accused SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk of trying to disrupt peace and stability in the South American country. The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela on Sunday declared Maduro the winner of the country’s presidential election, announcing that with 80% of ballots counted, he had secured more than 51% of the vote, compared to 44% for his main rival, Edmundo Gonzales. Supporters of Western-backed Gonzalez have taken to the streets following the release of the official results, claiming that the vote was rigged. Musk, who owns social media platform X (formerly Twitter), took to it on Monday to accuse Maduro of “major election fraud.” The Venezuelan president responded to the claims by challenging the billionaire to a fight, during an address he made on national television.

“Social media creates a virtual reality, and who controls the virtual reality? Our new archenemy, the famous Elon Musk,” Maduro stated, pointing to a cellphone. He then accused Musk of seeking to come “with his rockets and an army to invade Venezuela” but did not elaborate on the claim. “At least you showed your face, because we knew that you were behind everything,” Maduro claimed. “With your money, with your satellites. It is the representation of fascist ideology in the world.” The Venezuelan president went on, challenging Musk “Do you want to fight? Let’s do it … I’m ready. I’m not afraid of you, Elon Musk. Let’s fight, wherever you want.”

Musk, in response, shared the video of Maduro’s speech on X, with a caption in Spanish that translates as “The donkey knows more than Maduro.” It’s not the first case of Musk’s confrontation with senior foreign officials. In April, the businessman clashed with a Supreme Court justice in Brazil over free speech, as well as far-right accounts and misinformation on X. Maduro will be serving a third consecutive six-year term, having first taken office in 2013 following the death of President Hugo Chavez. In his victory speech, Maduro mocked the opposition, which, he said, “cries fraud” at every election. The Venezuelan president said his reelection would bring peace and stability.

Sachs

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Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov: “This is all very wrong. This is an absolutely unacceptable political assassination, and it will lead to further escalation of tensions..”

• Hamas Politburo Chief Killed in Tehran (Sp.)

Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in the Iranian capital of Tehran, the Palestinian militant group said in a statement on Wednesday. The agency said Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were “martyred” after their residence in Tehran was targeted. “With condolences to the heroic nation of Palestine, the Islamic nation, the combatants of the Resistance Front, and the noble nation of Iran. This morning (Wednesday), the residence of Mr. Dr. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political office of the Islamic Resistance of Hamas, was hit in Tehran; and following this incident, he and one of his bodyguards were martyred,” a statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) read. Iran is investigating the causes of the killing of Hamas politburo chief, Ismail Haniyeh, and his bodyguard in Tehran, with the results to be announced soon, the Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday, citing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Palestinian movement, Hamas, said that Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli attack on his residence in Tehran after he took part in the inauguration of Iran’s newly elected president. The Palestinian movement, Hamas, said on Wednesday that the movement’s politburo chief, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an Israeli attack on his residence in the Iranian capital of Tehran. “The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas expresses condolences to the sons of our great Palestinian people … Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement … was killed as a result of a treacherous Zionist attack on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration ceremony of the new president of Iran,” the movement said on Telegram. Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, was sworn in on Tuesday. Israeli army declines to comment on the situation, saying that they “do not respond to reports in the foreign media”, CNN says.

A representative of the US government has confirmed to the media that Washington is aware of the situation. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas strongly condemned the killing of Hamas politburo chief, Ismail Haniyeh, the WAFA news agency reported on Wednesday. Abbas also called the killing a cowardly act and a dangerous escalation, the report read. At the same time, Abbas called on Palestinians to be united and patient in the face of the Israeli occupation. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the incident will strengthen the ties between Tehran and Palestine. The Turkish Foreign Ministry stressed that Israel is not seeking peace, and should be stopped before conflict escalates. The killing of Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh is a cowardly act that will not go unanswered, Hamas political office deputy head Musa Abu Marzouk said on Wednesday.

Moscow considers the death of Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh to be an example of absolutely unacceptable political assassination, which threatens further escalation in the region, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told Sputnik on Wednesday. “This is all very wrong. This is an absolutely unacceptable political assassination, and it will lead to further escalation of tensions,” Bogdanov said.

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“This attack [on Haniyeh] was so blatant that I don’t think there will be any restraint on the part of Iran or Hezbollah..”

• Haniyeh Murder ‘May Have Been Crossing a Red Line’ – Larry Johnson (Sp.)

Hamas has already pledged to take revenge after the Palestinian militant group’s political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran. The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh “clearly had the support and foreknowledge of the United States and the United Kingdom,” retired CIA intelligence officer and State Department official Larry Johnson insisted in an interview with Sputnik. “I say that because we also have news reports now coming in that the US and UK warships are headed into the Mediterranean. On one of the US ships is probably a Marine Expeditionary Unit,” Johnson said. So the situation “has now escalated tensions in the region beyond what they were, even after the attack on the Iranian consul in April in Beirut,” according to him.

Responding to that attack, Iran “sent a very clear message to Israel that in the future, any further provocations like this would be met with force, and now both Hezbollah and Iran have been incited to respond and Israel is calculating that it can withstand the blows,” the former CIA intelligence officer added. “This is extremely dangerous. […] This attack [on Haniyeh] was so blatant that I don’t think there will be any restraint on the part of Iran or Hezbollah. I think that this may in fact have been crossing a red line. It is extremely worrisome because this has the hallmarks of being able to spin out of control. And it is, we’re now in a situation of wait and see,” Johnson stressed.

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$200 million a year: “..Bednarz had berated him for not using pronouns on his business cards and email signature..”

• Leaked Emails Reveal ‘Civil War’ At CIA Regime Change Cut-out (RT)

The biggest public relations fiasco in the history of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has resulted in two senior officials ending up fired and a “civil war” of sorts between the old neoconservative cadres and the new “woke” management, according to documents obtained by The Grayzone. The fiasco in question was the phone call between the NED vice-president for communications Leslie Aun and the Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal and Alex Rubinstein, which the independent outlet published in May 2023. Aun initiated the call to address Rubinstein’s description of the Endowment as a “CIA cutout,” but ended up saying “I don’t know” a lot instead. On Tuesday, the Grayzone published several emails between Michael Allen – who used to be the editor of the NED’s ‘Democracy Digest’ blog – and the Endowment’s founding president Carl Gershman, revealing that the fallout from the call’s publication may have cost Aun and Allen their jobs.

“Amateur hour – hugely embarrassing!” Allen emailed Gershman and NED VP for government relations, David Lowe, a day after the recording was posted on YouTube. “I specifically counseled against her talking to these people.” Lowe described Aun’s performance as “breathtakingly ignorant” and “too painful to listen to.” Both he and Gershman, who retired in 2021, appeared to disparage the new NED president Damon Wilson for hiring her. Gershman described the call as a “disastrous screwup” and described Aun as “obviously clueless,” a “moron,” and a “clueless wonder” whose hiring was an “egregious error” reflecting Wilson’s focus on media and image. In messages to Gershman and Lowe, Allen blamed NED communications director, Christine Bednarz, who reportedly encouraged Aun to talk to the Grayzone. Allen also blamed Bednarz for instituting mandatory “diversity, equity and inclusion” training and berating him about his “white male privilege.”

In one email, Allen complained about the DEI training agenda including “microaggressions” and the “ideological, not historical” 1619 Project, noting that Bednarz had berated him for not using pronouns on his business cards and email signature. In a June 5, 2023 email to Gershman, Allen complained about the communications team focusing on the “more urgent matter of NED’s LGBTQIA+ agenda” rather than the Grayzone fallout. Another point of conflict arose after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, with Allen complaining that several NED staffers “promoted and attended the pro-Palestinian march organized by ANSWER” and that the NED president still backed Black Lives Matter on Facebook even after they “enthusiastically celebrated the Hamas massacres.”At one point, Gershman asked if Bednarz harbored some kind of personal resentment for her Israeli ex-husband, or if she was “just a woke flake,” to which Allen replied: “The latter, combined with a certain megalomania and defensive resentment over the Grayzone fiasco.”

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Ehrlich

 

 

Dogs&food
https://twitter.com/i/status/1818204396041154600

 

 

Legend

 

 

Anaconda

 

 

Whale shark

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle July 30 2024

Jul 302024
 
 July 30, 2024  Posted by at 9:01 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  69 Responses »


Eugène-Louis Boudin Laundresses on the Beach at Étretat 1892

 

• Rebel Archbishop Slams Olympics’ “Vile Attacks On God” (ZH)
• Most Americans Want Biden To Resign Now – Poll (RT)
• Biden Proposes Plan to Reform Supreme Court (ET)
• Where Matters Stand (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Trump Agrees To FBI Interview For Assassination Attempt Probe (RT)
• You’ll Never Work in This Town Again! (Kunstler)
• Why Harris Became The Only Possible Opponent For Trump (Lolaev)
• Maduro Wins Third Term (RT)
• EU Diplomats Ordered To Slash Spending – FT (RT)
• Poland Suggests Hungary Leave NATO and EU (RT)
• EU Readies ‘Carrot-and-Stick” Trade Strategy to Deal With Trump (Sp.)
• 2 Days After Trump Crypto-Crowning, Biden Admin Sells Out (ZH)
• A Tale of Two Cats (Paul Craig Roberts)

 

 

 

 

21x

 

 

USSS

 

 

Orban

 

 

Shapiro

 

 

George Webb

 

 

Butler PA
https://twitter.com/i/status/1817961189453992170

 

 


© Getty Images / Trump Campaign Office / Handout/Anadolu

 

 

 

 

First covered him about a month ago. Can’t find anything that would hurt his credibility.

Former Vatican ambassador to the USA and Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò is an Italian Bishop of the Catholic Church. He is facing charges in an extrajudicial criminal trial by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The accusations include committing schism, denying the legitimacy of Pope Francis, and rejecting the Second Vatican Council.

Viganò recently labeled Pope Francis a servant of WEF, before being excommunicated 3 weeks ago by the same pope. He also called Macron an ’emissary of the World Economic Forum,’ who ‘passes off a transvestite as his own wife with impunity, just as Barack Obama is accompanied by a muscular man in a wig.’

He sounds like an interesting conversation partner, but how much longer does this 83-year old have to live?

• Rebel Archbishop Slams Olympics’ “Vile Attacks On God” (ZH)

[..] Needless to say, Christians are pissed [..]…including Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò – the former papal nuncio to the United States who questioned the legitimacy of Pope Francis and the authority of the Second Vatican Council, and was excommunicated three weeks ago for “his refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff.” In a scathing rebuke of the Olympics, Viganò called the opening ceremony “the latest in a long series of vile attacks on God, the Catholic Religion and natural Morality by the antichristic elite holds that hostage Western countries.” “We a dystopian dance macabre in Holograms of the horsemen of the Apocalypse alternated with a plump blue Dionysius, served under a bell of various courses; the parody of the LGBTQ+ Last Supper…” the letter continues.

Viganò also pointed to “disconcerting scenes at the 2012 London Olympics, the 2016 of inauguration of the Gotthard Tunnel, and the 2022 Commonwealth Games, featuring infernal figures, goats, and terrifying animals.” The elite who organizes these ceremonies demand not only the right to blasphemy and the obscene display of the foulest vices, but even their mute acceptance by Catholics and decent people, who are forced to suffer the outrage the most sacred symbols of their Faith and the very foundations of the Natural Law desecrated. -Carlo Maria Viganò.

According to Viganò, “Satan makes nothing: only he ruins everything. He does not invent: he tampers. And his followers are no different: they humiliate woman’s femininity in order to erase the motherhood that recalls the Virgin Mother; they castrate man’s manhood in order to tear from the image of God’s fatherhood; they corrupt the little ones in order to kill in them and make them victims of the most abject wokeism.” Viganò says it’s “no coincidence” that the ceremonies were presided over by French President Emanuel Macron, an ’emissary of the World Economic Forum,’ who ‘passes off a transvestite as his own wife with impunity, just as Barack Obama is accompanied by a muscular man in a wig.’

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That would mean President Kamala. They’re not ready for that. She will never be.

• Most Americans Want Biden To Resign Now – Poll (RT)

Most American voters agree that US President Joe Biden should resign from office now, while a vast majority approve of his decision not to seek reelection, a Rasmussen Reports poll has suggested. The survey results released on Friday showed that 52% of respondents agree that Biden should resign before his term expires. The same poll found that 76% supported his decision to drop out of the race. Only 18% of respondents disapproved of Biden ending his campaign. The poll was conducted from July 22 to 24 and involved 1,074 registered voters. Immediately after Biden announced that he was quitting the race, Republican lawmakers in Congress started to openly call for him to leave the White House before his term expires.

House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed earlier this month that if Biden is not fit to run for president, “he is not fit to serve as president” adding that “he must resign the office immediately.” “Doesn’t have the mental acuity or cognitive ability to run a political campaign but can serve for six more months as president? He should resign,” Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace wrote. Senator Rick Scott, former governor of Florida, echoed these remarks. “Let me be clear, if Joe Biden can’t run for re-election, he is not capable of serving as president for the next six months and needs to resign today,” Scott said. “While we welcome the news that one of America’s most destructive presidents will be denied a second term, it changes very little as to the stakes of this election.”

Biden announced that he was ending his reelection campaign on July 21. The announcement came after weeks of growing concerns among Democrats and party donors over his declining health and ability to defeat Donald Trump in November, especially after his disastrous performance in the debate against his Republican rival. While initially defiant, Biden argued that the move was necessary, given the high stakes of the election. In the wake of his withdrawal, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor. Harris has so far secured the support of the Clintons and the Obamas; however, in the polls she lags behind the former US president, according to the latest surveys.

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On his way out, the sitting duck president is made to “reform” the highest court in the land. All the blame will be his, but he’ll already be gone..

• Biden Proposes Plan to Reform Supreme Court (ET)

President Joe Biden called for Congress to back his proposals for two significant changes to the U.S. Supreme Court and a change to the U.S. Constitution. In an op-ed published the morning of July 29, the president outlined his reasoning for pursuing changes that have long been sought by progressive camps. “This nation was founded on a simple yet profound principle: No one is above the law. Not the president of the United States. Not a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. No one,” the president wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. According to a White House official, President Biden will call for Congress to back term limits for Supreme Court justices and a code of ethics enforceable by the legislative branch. He also will propose an amendment to limit the extent of presidential immunity afforded by the Constitution, proposing that former presidents be granted no immunity for crimes committed while in office.

Citing his 36 years as a U.S. senator and former chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, President Biden said that while he has “great respect for our institutions and separation of powers,” what is happening now in the United States is “not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms.” “We now stand in a breach,” the president wrote. In recent years, the Supreme Court released some decisions that sparked criticism from Democrats and progressives, including its overturning of Roe v. Wade and, more recently, its 6–3 ruling that presidents and former presidents are, in principle, immune from prosecution for official acts. Today, the president made clear his resolve to dedicate time during his last five months in office to back changes that he says can restore trust and accountability in both the Supreme Court and the presidency, a White House official told The Epoch Times.

The announcement was made a week after President Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. In 2020, as a presidential candidate, he promised to create a commission to study potential changes to the Supreme Court as progressives called for the expansion of the Supreme Court. The commission published a 294-page report to the president in December 2021. President Biden has not acted on that report until now. The president is scheduled to speak on Monday about his plan, from the LBJ Presidential Library, while commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. The move is the first significant effort by a president since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s progressive court-packing plan to advocate changes to the workings of the Supreme Court. President Roosevelt’s push for a more favorable court ultimately failed in the face of significant opposition.

President Biden’s proposal follows years of progressive advocacy to push their preferred reforms on the judicial branch, which has met resistance from those who hold originalist views widely preferred within the GOP. The White House says that term limits for Supreme Court justices would help ensure that the timing of court nominations is more predictable and less arbitrary, reducing the chance that any single presidency is advantaged by the retirement times of justices. Additionally, a binding code of conduct for justices, including the disclosure of gifts, refraining from public political activity, and recusal from cases with conflicts of interest, would improve public trust in the institution, the White House said.

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“By implanting a close election in the voting public’s mind, the Democrats can steal the election.”

• Where Matters Stand (Paul Craig Roberts)

The assassination issue has been reduced to operational failure and insufficient budgetary resources for the Secret Service, and the assassination has been moved aside by Kamala’s emergence as the Democrat candidate for President. The presstitutes are again speaking with one voice preparing the narrative of a close election that makes it possible to use the election theft mechanisms that have been legalized by the Democrats in the swing states. Biden had to go because he was too discredited as a viable candidate for the Democrats to be able to steal the election in his behalf. Kamala, previously soundly rejected by Democrats as a presidential candidate is now being hyped as the candidate able to defeat Trump. Rigged polls are now showing a neck and neck contest, with Trump sometimes ahead by one point and Kamala ahead by 3 points. The purpose of these rigged polls and the media emphasis on what a viable and challenging opponent Kamala presents is to prepare the public’s acceptance of another stolen election.

In 2020 Trump got more votes than he got in 2016. Yet somehow he lost to Biden whose few campaign rallies attracted minimal attendance, but despite the lack of interest Biden got more votes than Hillary in 2016 and, if memory serves, the largest number of votes in US electoral history. Clearly no such thing happened. Trump supporters take for granted that Trump is already elected. This confidence is not justified. They, and Trump himself, need to pay attention to how the presstitutes and the elite are creating a winning persona for Kamala. By implanting a close election in the voting public’s mind, the Democrats can steal the election. I think that is what will happen, thus ridding the ruling establishment of Trump’s threat to take away their power. Lies and election theft have always been part of American politics. Power, not ideas, is what is important to the contestants and their backers. However, in 2016 a major change occurred. In his campaign Trump said he intended to normalize relations with Russia.

This was a direct threat to the power and budget of the military/security complex which needs Russia as an enemy to justify its power and budget. Trump also said in his inauguration speech that he was taking power away from the ruling establishment and giving it back to the people. No president had ever spoken in this way. Trump revealed himself as an existential threat to the ruling elite. The power elite assembled at his speech smiled and laughed at the unaware clown and soon began their political assassination of Trump with Russia-gate, two impeachments in the House of Representatives, pornstar-gate, documents-gate, and an “insurrection” that has put 1,000 of Trump’s supporters in prison as “insurgents” as a warning to others. Trump’s challenge to the ruling elite and the massive support he received from the traditional American population scared the ruling elite whose control over America had been gradually tightened. The ruling elite decided on a coup.

The Republican Party, whose voters stood with Trump, had to go. What we have witnessed in the Biden regime is the elite’s decision to install a one-party state completely under their control. Rino Republican response is to continue in existence by out-competing Democrats in serving the interests of the ruling elite. Unsure of their ability to whore as well as Democrats is why the Republican Senate leader hates Trump. Trump has brought matters to a fight or surrender decision that Republicans prefer to avoid. Concerning the assassination, we have no idea what effect it will have on Trump. Will he pull in his horns in order to continue his life? What we do know is that like the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, 9/11 and other such CIA/FBI/Joint Chiefs events, there will be no real investigation. No important evidence will even be mentioned–such as the acoustic evidence of the shots and their location, such as the upward trajectory of the bullet that struck the person in the corner at the top of the stand above Trump.

How did Crooks’ shot allegedly fired at Trump, which would have had a downward trajectory strike a person above Trump? FBI director Wray prepares the cover by saying that Trump was not struck by a bullet but by shrapnel. In other words a bullet disintegrated and flew upward. Examination of the person’s wound would reveal whether it was a bullet or shrapnel. We will be told whatever fits the official narratives if we are told anything at all. Having watched many coverups in my lifetime, I tried to prevent this one by early reporting the ignored real evidence before Republicans, delighted in giving Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheaters a verbal beating, a mistake as it outraged women, moved the issue off target. Once a coverup is set in stone with an official narrative, it is immune to evidence, like the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy and 9/11. Evidence does not count once an official narrative has been established.

[..] The House of Representatives has voted unanimously to set up an investigative task force over the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. The fact that it is unanimous means that it will touch no real issue. Indeed, the investigation is limited to determining the nature of the failures of the Secret Service that permitted the assassination attempt by Thomas Matthew Crooks. The most likely result will be a larger budget for the Secret Service and, perhaps, a ban on such outdoor events. In other words the narrative is that the Secret Service failed to stop Crooks. There is to be no examination if there were other shooters, if Crooks was merely a patsy, no examination of acoustic evidence, no explanation for an upward bullet trajectory. Nothing but a verification of the official narrative.

Who will the House rely on for the investigation? The House will rely on the suspects themselves–the Secret Service, the FBI, Homeland Security. FBI Director Wray, a Trump appointee, will respond to the House in keeping with the official narrative. The Republicans will be made impotent by being submerged in the official explanation. At this point we do not know if Crooks fired a single shot. Despite Crooks being overlooked by Secret Service from two directions there are no videos of Crooks firing. Indeed, he was killed by a shot a quarter of a minute after all firing had stoped by a bullet that caused instant death. If he was in position firing his rifle, why is his dead body 7 feet away from the rifle?

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To find out what he knows about their role?!

• Trump Agrees To FBI Interview For Assassination Attempt Probe (RT)

Former US President and Republican Party 2024 presidential nominee Donald Trump said he would sit for an interview with the FBI, as part of an investigation into this month’s attempt on his life, the agency announced on Monday. Trump narrowly avoided death at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month, when he was shot in the ear. One person in the audience was killed, and two more were wounded. The FBI wants to “get his perspective on what he observed, just like any other witness to the crime,” Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office Kevin Rojek told reporters in a conference call. He explained that this kind of interview is standard practice for a victim of a crime. More than two weeks following the attempt on Trump, the FBI investigation has yet to establish the shooter’s motive.

The gunman, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired several shots at the Republican presidential nominee as he was mid-speech at an open-air campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, grazing Trump’s ear. “While the FBI investigation may not yet have determined a motive, we believe the subject made significant efforts to conceal his activities,” Rojek said. The agency believes his actions illustrate “careful planning ahead of the campaign rally,” the FBI official added. He noted Crooks had a small social circle, which “appears to be limited to his immediate family,” and had “few friends and acquaintances throughout his life.”

The would-be assassin had used aliases to make purchases related to firearms and explosives, Rojek explained. Earlier this year, Crooks bought “six chemical precursor-related purchases online of materials used to create the explosive devices recovered in the subject’s vehicle and home,” he said. The failed assassination has spurred widespread criticism and questions about what security measures were put in place before the event. Last week, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the agency will leave “no stone unturned” as it looks into what happened. A day earlier, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned admitting her agency had failed to properly guard the Republican frontrunner.

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“..what kind of public spectacle the Left could come up with to beat the Olympic opener. Maybe human sacrifice, say Hillary Clinton eating a parboiled toddler in front of three thousand shrieking cat-ladies at the Democratic National Convention. Has it come to that?”

• You’ll Never Work in This Town Again! (Kunstler)

Did we just witness the suicide of Wokery? I think you saw what’s called, in the argot of progressive thinking, the “queering” of the Olympics. That was some spectacle. First, Death on a Pale Horse came galloping down the Seine River so that no one would miss the point of the symbolism to follow: the beheaded Marie Antoinette portrayed singing in the window of a flaming palais (revolution anyone?). . . . Then, a tableau vivant of DaVinci’s The Last Supper “queered” to-the-max with a tattooed land-whale in the Jesus seat offering a Satan hand-signal among the swaying drag queens, plus one child ostentatiously in the mix (say, whu?). . . followed by a blue Dionysius crooning about nudity (“Nu”) on a giant fruit platter, with his ball-sack clearly on display among the cherries and nectarines. . . . It rained. . .tant pis. . . . The power went out and Paris ceased to be the City of Light. Finis. . . .

Not all of Western Civ was amused by these. . . antics. Many complained that the show portrayed Christianity in a less than favorable light. Ya think? The next day, the Paris-24 organizing committee offered the world an apology of sorts. Spokesperson Anne Descamps explained that the idea was “to celebrate community tolerance.” Or, shall we say, to test it? Apparently, it flunked the test. Director of the extravaganza, Thomas Jolly, said (translation), “Our intention was never to be impertinent.” Of course, he lies, and of course it is the foundational premise of those in the Satanic fold to lie about everything. (Just as America’s Democratic Party lies about everything.) Within hours, sponsors revolted and pulled their support for the games altogether. Lord knows what the BRICs nations make of all this. Probably something like pity.

Two-hundred-thirty years ago in Paris the Jacobin faction behind the Reign of Terror was put out of business, suddenly, all in one night, really, after turning French daily life upside-down and inside-out for one year, to the huge annoyance of the French public. On July 27 (9 Thermidor), 1794, chief Jacobin activist Maximillian Robespierre made a speech before the Convention (national assembly) denouncing those who were denouncing him (theories of conspiracy!), and the audience commenced to pelt him with fruit, vegetables, and opprobrious invective. Cries rang out for his arrest. Before long: pandemonium in the chamber! The Jacobins fled and took refuge in the city hall (Hôtel de Ville), but it was too late. The whole city had turned on them. Robespierre got shot in the jaw, possibly by himself. The Jacobin gang were declared “outlaws.” The following evening, The Jacobin leaders were all executed by guillotine in the Place de la Concorde.

Thus began the Thermidorian Reaction — called that, because the Jacobins had added an extra mid-summer month, Thermidor, to their cuckoo calendar. Now, one might ask, was July 27, 2024, the start of the revolt against progressive Woke-ism? It’s hard to imagine what kind of public spectacle the Left could come up with to beat the Olympic opener. Maybe human sacrifice, say Hillary Clinton eating a parboiled toddler in front of three thousand shrieking cat-ladies at the Democratic National Convention. Has it come to that?

It’s hard to escape the feeling now that our own reign-of-terror, the Woke-Marxist psychopathocracy, has played out its string. A month of garish events and revelations has left the USA a hot mess: the momentous Supreme Court decisions, the debate horror show, the attempted assassination of Mr. Trump and the many loose ends still hanging from it, the (probably) coerced election withdrawal of “Joe Biden” and the shocking discovery (to many) that he’s only partly still there, and the elite selection process that “nominated” Kamala Harris — these strange doings have rocked the American Zeitgeist. The artificially-induced rapture that attended the apotheosis of Veep is sputtering out as the internet explodes with memes putting her clueless vacuity on laughable display.

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“..the Republican nominee was the number one newsmaker, enjoying an absurd amount of publicity unlike Harris, who stayed in Biden’s shadow for almost four years. Elections in the United States are more personalized, which means they require more time and money for media promotion of the candidate. A comparison of US election campaigns with European countries reveals this key difference.”

• Why Harris Became The Only Possible Opponent For Trump (Lolaev)

After the apparent loss of the first presidential debate, the obvious question concerning presidential elections was “How long until Biden drops off from the election?” The final days of Biden’s presidential campaign after the debate were reminiscent of the sinking of the Titanic: the inexorability of the crash was matched only by its swiftness. Everyone whose support seemed unshakable back in the fall, like Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives and Senate, prominent left-leaning journalists and major donors to the Democratic Party, turned away from Biden. Finally, in a very rare but not unexpected decision, Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the election, saying that it was time to “pass the torch to a new generation.” In social media posts, he explained his decision as “best for the party, the presidency and American democracy.”

Biden became one of the few sitting American presidents who decided not to run for a second term. This moment is unique in US political history, since Biden’s decision was made shortly before the next presidential election, after he had already effectively received the Democratic nomination. The primaries ran from January to June but, by March 2024, Biden had secured enough votes to become the presumptive Democratic nominee. There have already been similar precedents in US history: in the 20th century, Lyndon B Johnson and Harry S Truman also did not run for a second term. However, they took office after the death of the sitting presidents and eventually served more than just one presidential term. Truman served all but 82 days of almost two terms. The last time Lyndon B Johnson was the one to announce his decision not to run for reelection in 1968. Like Biden, Johnson had health problems: he died two days after the end of his supposed second full term as president.

In addition, he also lost the support of important factions within his own party, in his case due to his failure to overcome the foreign-policy stalemate of the Vietnam War. Fearing a split in the Democratic Party and failure in the primaries, he announced at the end of a lengthy televised address on the War in Vietnam that he would not seek or accept his party’s nomination for a second term. Biden’s support for Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination was obvious and perhaps the only possible option in the absence of time for full-fledged primaries. Delegates to the party’s convention in Chicago in mid-August are likely to support it. Any internal conflicts within the Democrats will benefit Trump, something Biden and Harris will emphasize at every opportunity leading up to the convention in order to secure the nomination of the sitting Vice President.

Trump has long argued that Biden is not capable of governing the country, but after the president announced his withdrawal from the 2024 race, he definitely did not actually become the beneficiary of this decision. For the Republican nominee, maintaining the status quo would have been much more profitable, since it almost guaranteed him another four years in the Oval Office. Still, Trump showed his strength and political might, as in just a few days he not only survived an assassination attempt but also, in a powerful move, ousted his opponent from office after a single debate. The lack of alternatives to Harris’ candidacy for Democrats, however, does not invalidate a number of problematic issues related to her nomination. She faces an uphill battle: She has only about 100 days to convince American voters to support her in the presidential election. That short time frame stands in stark contrast to former President Donald Trump’s campaign, which began in November 2022.

His campaign was more than full of bright events, many of which, however, had negative consequences. But this does not change the fact that the Republican nominee was the number one newsmaker, enjoying an absurd amount of publicity unlike Harris, who stayed in Biden’s shadow for almost four years. Elections in the United States are more personalized, which means they require more time and money for media promotion of the candidate. A comparison of US election campaigns with European countries reveals this key difference. Parliamentary systems tend to be centralized, with candidates going to elections with well-known party agendas, which reduces differences between candidates within the same party. This means that if, for any reason, a candidate is replaced, voter support is less dependent on candidate recognition and policy track record, unlike in the US.

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Give the pushback against him, imagine how popular he must be to win regardless.

Note: Venezuela has the biggest oil reserves of any country.

• Maduro Wins Third Term (RT)

Nicolas Maduro has won Venezuela’s presidential election, according to official results. The leaders of Russia and China have congratulated the head of state on securing a third term. The head of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso, announced shortly after midnight on Sunday that with 80% of ballots counted, Maduro had secured more than 51% of the vote, compared to 44% for his main rival, Edmundo Gonzales. Addressing supporters in Caracas, Maduro has described his victory as “a triumph of peace and stability.” The Venezuelan opposition has fiercely disputed the result, claiming election rules were violated, and Gonzales has also claimed victory. Opposition leader Marina Corina Machado, who was barred by a court from running for office over corruption-related charges, has rejected Maduro’s victory, claiming: “We won and the whole world knows it.”

Following the vote, Venezuela’s electoral authority, which the opposition views as favoring the ruling party, did not immediately release the tallies from each of the 30,000 polling stations nationwide, according to media reports. Maduro, 61, thanked his supporters and mocked the opposition, which he said “cries fraud” at every election. The results have drawn mixed reactions from international leaders. Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated his Venezuelan counterpart on Monday, pointing to the strategic importance of the Moscow-Caracas partnership. He expressed confidence that Maduro will continue the “progressive development” of bilateral relations “in all areas” and said he is always welcome in Russia. Beijing has also congratulated Maduro, and lauded Venezuela for “smoothly holding its presidential election,” China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lin Jian said on Monday.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was among those voicing skepticism, saying there were “serious concerns” that the result “does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people.” Chilean President Gabriel Boric called the result “hard to believe” and demanded “total transparency.” Maduro has received congratulations from his regional allies, including the leaders of Cuba, Honduras and Bolivia. “Nicolas Maduro, my brother, your victory, which is that of the Bolivarian and Chavista people, has cleanly and unequivocally defeated the pro-imperialist opposition,” said Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel. “The dignity and bravery of the Venezuelan people had triumphed over pressure and manipulation,” he added. Maduro will be serving a third consecutive six-year term, having first taken office in 2013 following the death of President Hugo Chavez.

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Let Elon Musk clean up that organization. He’s good at it.

• EU Diplomats Ordered To Slash Spending – FT (RT)

EU diplomats have been ordered to shelve planned travel and cancel functions after “significantly” exceeding their budget this year, the Financial Times has reported, citing unnamed officials. The bloc’s External Action Service (EEAS), which acts as the EU foreign ministry, has been told to cut €43 million ($46.5 million), or almost 5% of its planned budget, after breaching agreed spending limits, the newspaper wrote, citing sources briefed on the issue. The diplomatic service must adjust to “severe austerity measures” and will have to sell property to balance the books, the sources said. The financial squeeze will worsen next year and will make it “impossible” for the EU to maintain its existing diplomatic footprint in areas such as Africa and Latin America, they added. The EEAS has a network of more than 140 overseas delegations and offices promoting EU interests around the world.

Running repairs and maintenance in dozens of the bloc’s delegations is impossible, which raises serious security concerns, the report claimed. The EEAS is mainly funded from the EU budget, which in turn is financed by individual EU countries, in proportion to their gross national income. Customs duties on imports from outside the bloc also contribute to its financing. An EEAS spokesperson told the FT it had cut “all the expenditure we possibly could” and had halved the budgets of overseas offices “despite the crippling effects on our global outreach.” Another official said the bloc’s diplomatic service is in “dire straits” financially, adding that “the world needs more diplomacy, not less.” Meanwhile, the EU and its member states provided or committed over €143 billion ($154.6 billion) to Ukraine between February 2022 and March 2024, according to the European Council data.

The bloc also banned imports of a wide range of goods from Russia, including oil and gas, as part of an unprecedented sanctions campaign over Moscow’s military operation against Ukraine. “The war in Europe [and] increasing instability in our neighborhood and globally” are the main challenges for European foreign policy, the bloc’s next foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said last month. The former Estonian prime minister, known for her hardline anti-Russian stance, is set to succeed Josep Borrell as the head of the EEAS in the autumn.

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No, you’re stuck with your neighbors.

• Poland Suggests Hungary Leave NATO and EU (RT)

Hungary can leave the European Union and NATO if it does not like the blocs’ policies, Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Teofil Bartoszewski suggested on Sunday. The comments came in response to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s sharp criticism of Warsaw’s policies the day before. During a visit to Romania, Orban had accused Poland of pursuing “the most sanctimonious and two-faced policy in the whole of Europe,” saying it is “obliviously doing business with the Russians,” while “morally lecturing” Budapest for doing the same. ”We do not do business with Russia, unlike Prime Minister Orban, who is on the margins of international society – both in the European Union and NATO,” Bartoszewski retorted, as quoted by PAP news agency. “I don’t really understand why Hungary wants to remain a member of organizations that it doesn’t like so much,” Bartoszewski continued.

”If you don’t want to be a member of a club, you can always leave,” added the official, suggesting that Orban create a union with Russia instead. Hungary’s prime minister was condemned by a number of EU politicians earlier this month for going against the bloc’s policies and embarking on a “peace mission” to try and find a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict, during which he visited Kiev, Moscow and China. Budapest has been granted exemptions from the EU sanctions and continues to buy oil and gas from Russia. During his speech in Romania, Orban did not specify what he was referring to when saying that Poland was still doing business with Moscow. The Russian financial daily Vedomosti reported last week that Poland had emerged as a top buyer of the Russian fertilizer urea. The publication cited Eurostat data as showing that Warsaw had increased imports by 25% between January and May this year, compared to the same period in 2023, amid a bloc-wide increase of Russian fertilizer imports. EU sanctions against Russia exclude food supplies and fertilizers.

The Polish financial daily Rzeczpospolita reported in February that compared to 2019–2021, the period before the introduction of a broad range of sanctions against Russia, Poland’s trade turnover with some Eurasian countries, such as Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, had increased by several hundred percent. The publication went on to suggest that the trade between Poland and Russia was continuing though intermediaries in other countries, thus bypassing the sanctions. Poland has been among the most vocal supporters of Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. It has served as NATO’s primary conduit for weapons, ammunition, and equipment deliveries to Kiev, while maintaining it is not actually a party to the hostilities.

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The EU has no face or voice. Ursula is a US ambassador.

• EU Readies ‘Carrot-and-Stick” Trade Strategy to Deal With Trump (Sp.)

EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis earlier expressed hope that Brussels and Washington would avoid a repeat of past “confrontation” related to the two’s tariff war initiated by then-President Donald Trump in 2018. The European Union is hammering out a two-step trade plan to tackle Donald Trump if he wins a second term as US president, the Financial Times (FT) has reported. “We have to show we are a partner for the US, not a problem. We will look for deals, but we are ready to defend ourselves if it comes to it. We won’t be guided by fear,” an unnamed EU source told the newspaper. If Trump prevails in the November election, EU negotiators are reportedly planning to immediately approach his team, to discuss US products that the EU could buy in larger quantities.

A possible collapse of the talks and Trump’s subsequent imposition of higher tariffs, could prompt the European Commission’s trade department to draw up lists of US imports for retaliatory duties of 50% or more,” according to the source. The FT noted in this regard that EU officials “see the carrot-and-stick approach as the best response” to Trump’s previous pledge to impose a tariff of at least 10% on all $3 trillion worth of US imports in the event of his victory on November 5. EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis has meanwhile stressed the importance of the bloc and the US working together on trade, but added that Brussels “defended our interests with tariffs, and we stand ready to defend our interests again if necessary.” Then-US President Trump initiated his country’s tariff war with the EU in March 2018, when he announced a 25% duty on imported steel and 10% tariff on aluminum, which prodded the bloc to retaliate with tit-for-tat levies worth about $3 billion.

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“..Orange Man bad – orange man likes bitcoin – bitcoin bad!”

• 2 Days After Trump Crypto-Crowning, Biden Admin Sells Out (ZH)

It appears the Biden administration does not want former President Trump’s plan to enable a strategic bitcoin reserve to come to fruition (or at the very least, shrink the size of the reserve dramatically). Less than 48 hours after Trump spoke at a major Bitcoin conference in Nashville about his ambitious goals for bitcoin in America, the Biden administration has decided that this is an opportune moment to transfer around $2 billion worth of its bitcoin stockpile (e.g. Silk Road confiscations). The timing is risible…and transparent…Orange Man bad – orange man likes bitcoin – bitcoin bad! This transfer – and its implications of potential selling pressure overhang – sent Bitcoin reeling after briefly tagging $70,000…

Presumably, Biden and Harris are against the Trump HODL? And this is all the more odd considering the pleading letter written by various Democratic lawmakers urging the administration to back off their crypto war. We give the last word to well-known crypto billionaire (and major Dem donor), Mike Novogratz: “Tone deaf anyone??? Moving Silk Road BTC two days after Trumps pledge to not move them is just dumb!!!!” Read the room, indeed! Presumably, once again, ideology trumps all common sense.

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Lovely story.

“..if they vaccinate their cats they die when they are ten years old. If they don’t vaccinate them they live twice as long.”

• A Tale of Two Cats (Paul Craig Roberts)

A friend recently sent me a book, My Beloved Monster, by Caleb Carr. It is about a cat, certainly no monster, rescued by Carr that rescued him from depression and self-pity over his ailments. The cat, Masha, is a Siberian Forest Cat, not a large cat but, like many cats, a guardian of her territory. This brought Masha into conflict with a black bear which reminded me of my own little darling, Devil. In the earlier years of this website, readers were interested in my cats. Many wrote to me with stories of their own. I had taken in a young female stray, a victim I think of the housing foreclosures of 2007-08 when people forced to leave their residences abandoned their pets. In March of 2008 she presented me with seven kittens, all of which had bob tails. They were unusual and everyone wanted them. I kept the two runts. The male, Boy, grew into 25 pounds, and the female thought she was a leopard. She is absolutely fearless and a determined defender of her territory.

I have yet to figure out how cats decide on the extent of their territory, but the female earned one of her two names, Devil, by her defense of her territory. Her other name is My Little Darling. In my Blue Ridge Mountain home I took them out in harness with long leads. Devil tended to go after Copperheads, and although she was faster than they, I didn’t want to risk her being bitten. Thus the leads that gave me some control. One autumn I had them out. Devil was after a lizard. I noticed that Boy was on high alert. Looking for the cause, there was a 400 pound bear walking toward us. Normally black bears are not aggressive toward humans unless you are stupid enough to get between a mother bear and her cubs or to feed a bear and run out of food before the bear runs out of hunger. It was autumn and I wondered if cats might be included in the bear’s hibernation diet. I pulled Devil off the lizard chase and we headed for the front door.

Devil didn’t see the bear until we reached the front steps. Then ears flat, hackles up, the most incredible snarls and growls off she went for the bear. She pulled the lead out, and with tension on the lead she turned around and started pulling out of the harness. I had to run forward to remove the tension at which time she renewed her advance on the bear. The bear stood on his rear legs. I remember thinking he was bigger than a pro-football tackle. When I grabbed Devil we were within 12 feet of the bear. I headed for the front door where Boy was waiting for the door to open, put Devil down in order to open the door and off Devil went across the front porch to continue her attack on the bear. Fortunately at the end of the porch was a rock waterfall and pool and I caught her as she hesitated in figuring out how to avoid the water. I got her inside, Boy sought safety under the bed. Devil sat by the front door for 30 minutes growling and snarling. As I concluded, she thought she was a leopard.

Carr’s Masha, apparently, saw herself the same way. One evening she didn’t return home. Carr, who could barely walk, went looking for her in a rainstorm. Eventually he found her up in a tree. She wouldn’t come down. Carr went and got a ladder and managed despite his incapacity to get her out of the tree. On return to the house he discovered her wounds. At the veterinarian hospital the next morning, the vet said, judging from the wounds, that Masha had had an encounter with a bear before her lacerations of the bear’s face convinced the bear to retire from the confrontation and leave the scene. Masha’s claws had bear hair, skin, and blood. Masha recovered and the love affair between Carr and Masha continued for 17 years. Devil is 16. I lost Boy in 2018 before he reached 11. Many readers sent sympathy. The vets in the two practices who tried to save Boy from cancer both told me that the required vaccines Big Pharma has lobbied through corrupt state legislatures were the cause of the cancer. I immediately ceased vaccinating.

In my life, not all lived in urban hellholes like New York City and Washington DC, I never encountered a rabid animal. I grew up on my grandparents’ farm. I had a home in the Blue Ridge mountains for 20 years. Cottonmouth moccasins along the creek were the danger, not rabid animals. When I was a kid, dogs at six months of age got one rabies shot for life. Cats got no shots of any kind. An indoor car needs no shots, but Big Pharma has it that vets are prohibited from treating an unvaccinated cat or dog. Even for outdoor cats, the chance of encountering a rabid animal is far less than the danger to the cat of the vaccines. Everyone I know tells me that if they vaccinate their cats they die when they are ten years old. If they don’t vaccinate them they live twice as long.

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Kamalabook

 

 

1st day

 

 

Kitty cat
https://twitter.com/i/status/1817578405141033375

 

 

Deer cat

 

 

Let me dig

 

 

 

 

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Debt Rattle December 11 2023

Dec 112023
 
 December 11, 2023  Posted by at 8:50 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  39 Responses »


MC Escher Still life and street 1937

 

• Israel Cannot Win – Jordan (RT)
• Erdogan Blasts US For Blocking Gaza Peace Resolution (RT)
• Israel Is Trying To Force Gazans Into Egypt – UN Official (RT)
• Leadership In Kiev Has Gone ‘Totally Crazy’ – Putin (RT)
• US Veteran Ridicules Claim That Russia Poses Threat to Europe (Sp.)
• Zelensky’s Anti-Russian Narrative Faces Resistance in Latin America (Sp.)
• German Chancellor Lying About Gas – Medvedev (RT)
• Maduro’s Iron Fist: Why Would Venezuela Risk An All-Out War? (RT)
• Hunter Biden Launches Attack on Elon Musk (RT)
• Musk Wants Answers From Biden And Zelensky About Fate Of Gonzalo Lira (RT)
• George Floyd: The Complete And Total Collapse Of Justice In America (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Biden’s Clinton Defense: I Did Not Have Interactions with Those People (Turley)
• Trump Not To Testify In Fraud Proceedings (TASS)
• UK Tories Plotting Boris Johnson Comeback – Daily Mail (RT)
• Al Gore: Access to Non-Mainstream Information ‘Threatens Democracy’ (MN)

 

 

Take your children to work. So at least you can die together.

 

 

Gaza teaches life

 

 

 

 

Biden bombs

 

 

Vivek
https://twitter.com/i/status/1733418258642993633

 

 

Tucker Trump

 

 

Macgregor

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The animosity created by the violence in Gaza will haunt the Middle East for generations..”

• Israel Cannot Win – Jordan (RT)

Jordan’s foreign minister has claimed Israel cannot achieve military victory in Gaza and has already suffered a strategic defeat by alienating the entire region. Speaking on Sunday at the Doha Forum – an annual gathering of diplomats in the Qatari capital – Ayman Safadi said the goal of Israel’s operation against Hamas is to oust the Palestinian population, rather than to defeat the militant group. The destruction in Gaza in the past two months “is an indication of an Israeli policy that seems determined to expel the residents” of the enclave, he said, adding that top Israeli officials, including Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have been quite candid about that intention.

Safadi brought up the Friday vote at the UN Security Council, in which the US vetoed a proposal by Arab nations urging for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. It was the only vote against, with American ally the UK being the only member of the 15-strong body to abstain. The top Jordanian diplomat noted that despite the veto, Washington was publicly calling on Israel to change its military tactics. “Simply put, Israel is defying everyone – its allies, international law, and the United Nations,” he said. “Israel has created an amount of hatred that will haunt this region and that will define future generations. It harms its people as much as it affects everyone in the region.” This is a war Israel cannot win. Israel has already suffered a strategic defeat. The minister blamed Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and systematic obstruction to the creation of a Palestinian state as the root cause of the hostilities.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who attended the event in Qatar via video link, remarked that the US has blocked several proposals for a ceasefire in Gaza at the UN. He called the unresolved status of Palestinian statehood the “single most dangerous factor igniting extremism in the Middle East.” Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Hamas fighters broke through the border wall on October 7 and raided several settlements and military bases in southern Israel. Israeli officials said over 1,200 people were killed as a result. The death toll in Gaza stood at more than 17,700 as of Sunday, as updated by the local health ministry. Around two-thirds of the Palestinians killed were women and children, the report noted.

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“A fair world is possible, but not with America..”

• Erdogan Blasts US For Blocking Gaza Peace Resolution (RT)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Saturday, stating that it has become a “protector of Israel” due to the influence of Washington. This statement followed the US blocking a resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. “Due to a veto by the US, no decision was reached. It’s essential for the UN Security Council to be reformed,” Erdogan stressed in his address at the World Human Rights Day event in Istanbul. The Turkish leader argued that the world extends beyond the five permanent members of the UNSC with veto power: China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US. Expressing disappointment in the UNSC, Erdogan, despite Türkiye being a NATO ally of the US, said, “We have lost our hope and expectation from the UN Security Council.”

Erdogan asserted that since October 7, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initiated attacks on Gaza in response to an incursion by the Palestinian armed group Hamas that killed at least 1,200 people, the UNSC, “whose mission is to establish global peace, has turned into a protector of Israel.” “The Israeli administration, which has the unwavering support of Western countries, is committing murderous atrocities and massacres in Gaza that will make all humans blush… A fair world is possible, but not with America, because America sides with Israel,” the Turkish president insisted. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the death toll from Israeli actions in the past two months stands at 17,700 people, with 48,800 others injured. Following the breakdown of a week-long humanitarian pause with Hamas, Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on December 1. The US vetoed the UNSC resolution for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire on Friday, with the vote in the 15-member council being 13-1 and the UK abstaining.

US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood justified the move, stating that a halt in fighting would allow Hamas to maintain control of Gaza and “only plant the seeds for the next war.” Wood emphasized Washington’s preference for a “durable peace” based on a two-state solution, but he argued that Hamas has “no desire” for such an outcome. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the US veto, asserting that “the correct stance [was] taken by the US.” He also criticized the UNSC members who supported the ceasefire, stating that it is impossible to both endorse the elimination of Hamas and call for an end to the war against the group. “Other countries should understand that it is impossible to both support the elimination of Hamas and call for an end to the war aimed at eliminating Hamas,” the PM said.

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“After the destruction of the north, the destruction of the south is ongoing, except this time, people have nowhere to go.”

• Israel Is Trying To Force Gazans Into Egypt – UN Official (RT)

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are setting the stage for the mass expulsion of Palestinians into Egypt while creating conditions that will make it impossible for them to ever return to their destroyed homes in Gaza, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency chief has claimed. “The United Nations and several member states, including the US, have firmly rejected forcibly displacing Gazans out of the Gaza Strip,” UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on Saturday in a Los Angeles Times op-ed. “But the developments we are witnessing point to attempts to move Palestinians into Egypt, regardless of whether they stay there or are resettled elsewhere.” An Israeli Defense Ministry spokesman denied Lazzarini’s accusation, saying West Jerusalem has never had a plan to push Gazans into Egypt.

However, two Israeli lawmakers wrote last month in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that they would like to see countries around the world welcome Gazan refugees who choose to relocate. The Israel-Hamas war has driven more than 1.8 million Gazans from their homes, the largest forced displacement of Palestinians since 1948, Lazzarini said. Nearly 18,000 people have been killed in Gaza, and an Israeli study found that 61% of the people who perished in IDF airstrikes were civilians. The war began when Hamas launched surprise attacks against southern Israeli villages on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking hundreds of hostages back to Gaza. The Palestinian casualties have included more than 270 people who were sheltering in UNRWA facilities at the time they were killed.

Lazzarini said many of those shelters were in areas of central and southern Gaza that were thought to be safer than the north, where Israel’s bombing campaign was primarily focused. “The sad reality is that Gazans are not safe anywhere: not at home, not in a hospital, not under the UN flag, not in the north, middle, or south,” he added. The survivors are now besieged and holed up in a “tiny area” of southern Gaza, near the Egyptian border, Lazzarini said. Many are being left with only one option: Leaving the Palestinian enclave altogether. “Judging by policy and humanitarian discussions underway, it is hard to believe that the Palestinians of Gaza who are displaced today will be allowed –or even willing– to return to their destroyed homes anytime soon,” the UN official said.

If this path continues, leading to what many are already calling a second Nakba, Gaza will not be a land for Palestinians anymore.” A UN Security Council resolution that would have brokered a ceasefire in Gaza was vetoed by the US on Friday. President Joe Biden’s administration has claimed that the US is doing more than any other nation to help civilians in Gaza, but it’s also aiding the Israeli war effort. A CBS News poll released on Sunday found that only 20% of Americans believe that Biden is making a peaceful resolution to the conflict more likely.

Lazzarini said civilians are being used as pawns in the war, with Hamas abdicating all responsibility for their well-being to the UN and Israel inflicting “collective punishment” on the more than two million people of Gaza. The “meager” humanitarian supplies that Israel has allowed to trickle into the enclave have provided little relief, he added. “Bombardment and a tight siege are again creating conditions under which nothing more than mere survival is possible,” Lazzarini said. “The deprivation of humanitarian aid is key to this plan. After the destruction of the north, the destruction of the south is ongoing, except this time, people have nowhere to go.”

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“Have they gone completely crazy? Are they completely – how can I put it more bluntly – nuts?”

• Leadership In Kiev Has Gone ‘Totally Crazy’ – Putin (RT)

Persistent persecution of ethnic Russians in Ukraine was one of the key reasons behind Moscow’s decision to launch its special military operation in that country, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said, adding that the Ukrainian authorities have since gone completely “crazy” in their policies. The president made the remarks earlier this week when he hosted distinguished servicemen at the Kremlin to award them Hero of Russia medals. Excerpts from Putin’s speech on the sidelines of the event were published by Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin on Sunday. “We would never have done anything like [the special military operation] if they had not started to destroy Russia in our historical territories, expel people from there, declared Russians a non-indigenous ethnic group in Ukraine.

Have they gone completely crazy? Are they completely – how can I put it more bluntly – nuts?” Putin told the medal recipients. The president was apparently referring to Ukraine’s Law On Indigenous Peoples, adopted in 2021. The legislation recognized only three ethnic groups – Crimean Tatars, Crimean Karaites and Krymchaks (Crimean Jews) – as the country’s indigenous peoples. The legislation denied indigenous designations to Russians, which amounted to at least one fifth of Ukraine’s population, according to various estimates, and to other minorities, such as the ethnic Hungarians and Belarusians who reside in the country’s west and north, respectively. Moreover, all three ethnic groups recognized by the ‘indigenous peoples’ law predominantly live in Crimea, which split from Ukraine in 2014 and joined Russia after a peninsula-wide referendum.

In addition to questionable ethnic policies, the Ukrainian leadership has been openly courting and honoring Nazis, Putin said, invoking a recent scandal in Canada’s House of Commons. The legislature celebrated Ukrainian-Canadian Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Waffen SS veteran, hailing him as a “Canadian hero” who’d “fought the Russians” during World War II. The whole body, with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in attendance, engaged in a standing ovation to honor Hunka. “And who exactly fought Russians during the war? Nazis. Everyone knows that and the Ukrainian president knows that. The entire parliament stood up and applauded him. What is it, if not a manifestation of Nazism?” Putin asked, adding that a large proportion of Nazi atrocities were committed by Ukrainian nationalists who collaborated with them.

“They are not just fools, they are also neo-Nazis. It’s an obvious fact. They are ready to cooperate with just anyone to try and hurt Russia,” the president noted. The Hunka affair triggered a major international scandal, which led to the downfall of the House Speaker Anthony Rota, who accepted entire responsibility for inviting the Waffen SS veteran to the legislature. Russia has charged Hunka in absentia with genocide, claiming that archive documents serve as evidence that he and fellow SS Galicia members had killed at least 500 civilians in late February 1944, and Moscow is now seeking the extradition of the Nazi veteran.

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“..it’s ridiculous to believe that Russia wants to attack the West or re-create the USSR..”

• US Veteran Ridicules Claim That Russia Poses Threat to Europe (Sp.)

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s December 2 claim that Russia poses an immediate threat to Europe is absurd, according to retired Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, a senior fellow for defense priorities at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “[Austin] claims that all of Western Europe and NATO would be ‘directly threatened’ – this was the term that he used – if [Vladimir Putin] wins here and that’s just nonsense. That’s just absurd,” Davis said on Stephen Gardner’s podcast. “Why would he ever do it? (…) Everything [Putin] has done, everything he has said over the past 15 years is that he wants to protect his borders. They are historically afraid of Western incursions because Russia itself has been invaded many times throughout its history from the West.” Per Davis, it’s ridiculous to believe that Russia wants to attack the West or re-create the USSR, stressing that Austin is either “disingenuous or doesn’t know what he is talking about.”

According to Austin, “Ukraine matters profoundly to America and to the entire world. And it matters for four key reasons.” “First, Putin’s war poses a stark and direct threat to security in Europe and beyond,” the Pentagon chief claimed at the Reagan National Defense Forum. The second reason, argued Austin, is that Russia’s special military operation is “a clear challenge to [US] NATO allies.” The third is that Moscow’s actions are an attack on “democratic values and decency.” And finally, Russia’s special op is a “frontal assault on the international rules-based order,” according to him. But that is not all. Earlier this week, ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on his podcast that Austin allegedly threatened to send lawmakers’ “uncles, cousins and sons to fight Russia” if Ukraine aid is not approved.

Commenting on the alleged threat, Davis highlighted that under the US Constitution the Pentagon chief has zero authority to send any combat troops to Ukraine. What’s more, any direct confrontation with Russia over Ukraine is not in the US national interest, the retired lieutenant colonel emphasized. “There is nothing in that war… the war is militarily unwinnable. We’ve been saying that since the outset of this war.” The military expert said that everything that has happened on the ground since the beginning of Kiev’s summer counteroffensive has validated his assumption.

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The West has lost the Global South. But Milei wants to support Ukraine. i.e. the US. Faux pas.

• Zelensky’s Anti-Russian Narrative Faces Resistance in Latin America (Sp.)

Volodymyr Zelensky will attend the inauguration of president-elect Javier Milei. The Ukrainian president is seeking to strengthen ties with the Global South, but Kiev’s rapprochement with Buenos Aires won’t help him win the hearts and minds of Latin Americans, says an Argentine newspaper. Zelensky’s presence in Buenos Aires at the inauguration of Javier Milei’s government is apparently seen by Kiev as a PR coup aimed at restoring the Ukrainian president’s tarnished image as Western support for Ukraine wanes, according to Pagina 12, a left-leaning Argentine publication. “At this time, and due to the diminished support of the governments of the Atlantic alliance, Ukraine’s priority interest is to achieve the support of the countries of the Global South,” writes Daniel Kersffeld, Pagina 12 contributor.

According to Kersffeld, Zelensky’s greatest hope is to make Milei a strategic ally in the conflict against Russia, which would accept Kiev’s unrealistic “peace formula” during a Ukraine summit proposed by Milei. The scholar notes that Kiev also expects Buenos Aires to impose sanctions on Russia. Earlier, President-elect Milei signaled his full support for Zelensky in a clear break with the policy of his predecessor, Alberto Fernández. In late November, the new Argentine leader offered the Ukrainian president to hold a conference on Ukraine in the South American country. “They are organizing a peace conference in Latin America and Ukraine, and we have offered ourselves as a venue if it is appropriate,” Milei’s foreign policy adviser Diana Mondino told reporters last month.

Still, Zelensky’s biggest bet is that the new Argentine government – with Washington’s backing – will bring the governments of the region together and persuade them to support Zelensky and turn their backs on Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kersffeld added. Alas, “the Ukrainian government’s preaching against Moscow was never able to gain footing in the Latin American context, despite various mechanisms of enticement and political and economic pressure imposed by Washington which, among other aspects, sought to provide weapons to Ukraine or, directly, the breaking of relations with Russia,” the scholar underscored.

Despite ideological differences among Latin American governments, there is a consensus in the continent that it must be a “region of peace” and not interfere in overseas conflicts, Kersffeld stressed. “It would be very risky for Argentina to get involved in a foreign conflict not so much in search of peace, but to get a positive nod from Joe Biden’s administration,” the article’s author warned. Meanwhile, Zelensky’s biggest problem is that Kiev’s summer counteroffensive has yielded zero results on the battlefield and failed to achieve any of the Zelensky regime’s goals, making the West increasingly skeptical about pouring money into Ukraine and supporting its incumbent president, according to Kersffeld.

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“..They rejected it themselves, they screwed over their own people because of the hatred for Russia..”

• German Chancellor Lying About Gas – Medvedev (RT)

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of the Russian Security Council and the country’s ex-president, has accused German Chancellor Olaf Scholz of “lying” after the latter shared his take on the roots of the energy crisis in Europe. Speaking at a meeting of the ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Berlin on Saturday, Scholz accused Russia and, personally, President Vladimir Putin of halting the gas supply to the EU. “It was the Russian president who stopped gas supplies through undamaged gas pipelines. Thus, 50% of Germany’s gas supply was called into question. 50 billion cubic meters of gas that went through them became inaccessible,” Scholz claimed during the event, hailing the government’s efforts to buy gas elsewhere. The remarks drew the ire of Medvedev, who took to the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to flatly accuse the German chancellor of “lying” and trying to shift the blame for their own actions on Moscow.

“The German is lying through his teeth! They rejected it themselves, they screwed over their own people because of the hatred for Russia, and now they are dodging and lying!” While Scholz did not elaborate on the matter during his speech, he was apparently referring to the troubles around Nord Stream that unfolded last summer, shortly before the pipelines ended up being destroyed in a sabotage attack on September 26. At the time, Russian energy giant Gazprom was forced to drastically reduce gas deliveries through the pipelines owing to technical issues related to the maintenance of turbines for Nord Stream 1. The difficulties with servicing the turbines stemmed from Western sanctions on Russia, which effectively prevented the maintenance and timely delivery of spare parts.

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“..Where is Guaido now? He’s a political exile who rode on a failed dream and eventually joined the scrapheap of puppets used, abused and discarded..”

• Maduro’s Iron Fist: Why Would Venezuela Risk An All-Out War? (RT)

The South American nation of Venezuela has purportedly voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to affirm its territorial claim to part of the neighboring nation of Guyana. Caracas, which was recently subject to an unsuccessful American regime change attempt to topple its leader Nicholas Maduro, argues the oil reach territory known as the Essequibo region was its own historically, but had it stolen away by the British Empire. Such grievances may be found all over the world. While an invasion of the region remains unlikely at this point, given the role of regional power Brazil and obvious opposition from the nearby US, it is a telling sign about the world today that Venezuela feels it can viably affirm its claims like that. Only a few years ago, the US imposed crippling sanctions on the country and appointed Juan Guaido as an “interim president.” Where is Guaido now? He’s a political exile who rode on a failed dream and eventually joined the scrapheap of puppets used, abused and discarded as Washington’s political preferences shift – the likely looming fate of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.

But more to the point, it is an affirmation that the US-led world order is fragmenting and that American power is declining. This is paving the way for other countries to reshape the international order to address what are deemed to be historic grievances or injustices. The weakening of the unipolar political order’s ability to assert its authority presents a window for overt challenges to the status quo for nations that were previously unable to do so. In 1990, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein attempted to do the same, but massively miscalculated the shift towards American unipolar hegemony at the end of the Cold War, believing Washington did not have the will to fight. Seeking to rectify the perceived partition of Iraq by the British Empire and the creation of the Sheikdom of Kuwait, Saddam Hussein invaded and attempted to annex the Gulf State.

The US and its allies hit back with a powerful response, and George H.W. Bush famously proclaimed the objective of creating a “new world order.” His message was essentially that American hegemony was here, and that the US would now reshape the world on its own terms. That message was backed by the overwhelming use of military force, which crushed Saddam’s forces, opening the way to decades of unopposed US-led regime changes and wars, including in Iraq again. However, within those passing decades the world has changed. The US is no longer the only geopolitical force in town and the distribution of power has diversified. New actors, such as a resurgent Russia, China, India, and Iran, among others, have changed the geopolitical landscape towards multipolarity and because of this, other states may now find political space to make their own moves without suffering the same fate as Saddam Hussein.

The two wars of 2022-2023 have been instrumental in changing this. First of all, the US and its allies have not been able to muster the political will to defeat Russia in Ukraine or, as they had assumed, even crush the economy of the Russian Federation. Second, America’s support of Israel and its attempts to squeeze Iran have provoked a war in Gaza, with Hamas successfully sensing an opportunity to lure Israel into a destructive conflict which will crater its credibility and global standing for generations. As the US has become distracted by the emerging crises and seemingly unable to resolve them, Venezuela thus sees an opportunity to strengthen its hand by reaffirming its territorial claims over Guyana as a nationalism-driven bargaining chip.

Venezuela is not a major military power and its geographic location means that an attempt to forcibly occupy the Essequibo would be defeated, as the US is on its doorstep and would do everything it takes to crush hostile states in the western hemisphere. However, Washington’s failed regime change, combined with its need to negotiate sanctions relief due to the impact on global oil markets, mean its own hand against Caracas has shrunk, and the US is not in a position to crush Venezuela as of present. Even without the military dynamic, an extended territorial claim gives a country diplomatic leverage that it can use to extract concessions and assert its authority, just like China in the South China Sea, over Taiwan, or Russia incorporating a number of Ukrainian oblasts into its own territory. All these are part of a long list of historic problems which the given states have been unable to address before, held back by American hegemony, but we now live in a different world and because of that, the political map as we know it is changing.

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“..the “dumbest smart person I think that the world has ever known.”

• Hunter Biden Launches Attack on Elon Musk (RT)

Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, has raised doubts about Elon Musk’s intellectual acumen, claiming the billionaire lacks regard for US democracy and freedoms. Biden also accused Musk of spreading “disinformation” about his personal life and business dealings. These comments followed one day after the US Department of Justice filed nine new tax-related charges against Biden, alleging that he had led an “extravagant lifestyle” while evading taxes. In an interview with musician-turned-podcaster Moby published on Friday, Hunter Biden expressed concern that criticisms from right-wing detractors could jeopardize his safety, citing a past attack on Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, where the assailant mentioned Biden as a potential target. According to the 53-year-old, some people have come to view him as an “embodiment of evil” over his alleged wrongdoings that have circulated in the media, especially outlets affiliated with the political right.

Biden asserted that figures like Musk are amplifying narratives damaging to his reputation. “One thing about Elon Musk that I’m certain of is there’s another very damaged human being,” the president’s son told Moby, calling the billionaire the “dumbest smart person I think that the world has ever known.” The attorney-by-profession went on to say that “Elon Musk doesn’t care about the goddamn First Amendment… Elon Musk doesn’t care about democracy; Elon Musk doesn’t care about our freedom to vote.” Responding to these remarks on X (formerly Twitter) that same day, the entrepreneur replied: “Exactly what ‘misinformation’ is he talking about?” Musk quipped, “The dude made so many videos of himself doing crime that he should get an award for cinematography!” – an apparent reference to multiple videos and photos of Hunter that have emerged over the past few years, which depict him spending time with prostitutes and smoking crack cocaine.

Meanwhile, court documents suggest that the younger Biden son was “engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019.” A press release emphasized that his income would have allowed him to pay his taxes but that he had allegedly squandered the money on “drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties,” among other things. The charges include three felony and six misdemeanor tax offenses, potentially leading to a maximum sentence of 17 years if convicted on all counts. In addition to the tax case, Hunter Biden faces another legal challenge related to allegations of lying about his drug use during the purchase of a firearm. He has also dealt with previous misdemeanor tax-related charges. The combination of legal issues has put the president’s son under significant public scrutiny.

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The White House wanted Lira arrested and disappeared. Ukraine had already picked him up twice and let him walk. When Lira went after Biden and Kamala, who he called stupid, they saw a chance to get rid of him and blame it on Zelensky. An American citizen. Lived his whole life in America, as per his dad.

• Musk Wants Answers From Biden And Zelensky About Fate Of Gonzalo Lira (RT)

Elon Musk has addressed US President Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky about the status of US-Chilean journalist and critic of the Kiev government Gonzalo Lira, who remains under arrest in Ukraine since summer. On Saturday, US political commenter Tucker Carlson published an interview on X (formerly Twitter) with Lira’s father, who said that his son is currently awaiting trial in Ukraine “because he was exercising his right of freedom of speech.” According to Gonzalo Lira Senior, the US embassy “haven’t done a thing” for the detained American passport holder, who is being defended by a court-appointed Ukrainian lawyer with no knowledge of the English language. In his comment on the interview, Musk wondered how it was possible that “an American citizen is in prison in Ukraine after we sent over a $100 billion” to support Kiev amid its conflict with Russia.

“Is there more to this story than simply criticizing Zelensky? If that’s all it is, then we have serious problem here,” the SpaceX and Tesla CEO posted on X. Carlson responded to the message, by saying that the “crime” committed by Lira, who is an author of several novels and a filmmaker with Hollywood experience, was “saying unapproved things.” On Sunday, Musk also addressed the issue on his own account, writing: “What is the status of this American journalist, Joe Biden?” The post included a link to Lira’s last post on X before his third arrest by the Ukrainian authorities in early August. In his message, the journalist said that he was about to cross from Ukraine into Hungary in search of a political asylum. “Either I’ll cross the border and make it to safety, or I’ll be disappeared by the Kiev regime,” he warned followers.

When addressed on the issue by Strana.ua news outlet, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) confirmed that Lira had been arrested on the border with Hungary. The US journalist is currently in custody in Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkov, with the court being scheduled to consider his case on December 12 and 21, he added. According to the spokesman, Lira violated Ukrainian law as he “systematically justified” Russia’s actions in Ukraine and “disseminated pro-Russian views on his social media accounts.” In his videos he “also claimed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were shelling their own territory, while a neo-Nazi regime reigned in Ukraine,” the spokesman stated. Lira, who had been living in Kharkov since the mid-2010s, was actively covering Russia’s military operation in the country from its very start in February 2022. He said that it was a tragedy for Ukraine and its people, whom he loved, but stressed that the conflict had been provoked by the Zelensky government and its Western backers. Among other things, the journalist argued that Ukraine had no chance of winning against Russia and predicted the failure of the sanctions against Moscow.

He also decried attempts by Western media to portray Ukraine as a democracy, speaking about corruption in the government and publishing a list of Zelensky’s opponents who, he claimed, had been “disappeared” by the Kiev authorities. Lira was first arrested by the SBU in April 2022 but released without charge a week later as the story made international headlines. The 55-year-old continued his reporting and, in May, was again taken into custody, in this instance accused of “producing and distributing materials justifying the armed aggression” by Russia against Ukraine. On August 1, the journalist briefly reemerged on social media, posting several videos in which he said that he had been released on bail and was trying to flee to neighboring Hungary in order to avoid a lengthy prison term. He hasn’t been heard from since then.

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“..Chauvin’s frame up was a product of the intimidating violence Democrats and media encouraged and justified..”

• George Floyd: The Complete And Total Collapse Of Justice In America (Paul Craig Roberts)

Derek Chauvin was convicted on the basis of false evidence. His conviction rested on a video taken at an angle that produced a misleading view. As I reported at the time, up close police videos showed Chauvin’s knee was on Floyd’s shoulder, an approved restraint illustrated in the approved police practices handbook. This information was buried under constantly repeated showings by the irresponsible and witch-hunting American media of the video which from the angle it was taken made Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s shoulder look like it was on Floyd’s neck.. The three officers, Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao (a black, a white, and an Asian) convicted along with Chauvin were simply convicted for being present on the scene. As I pointed out at the time, Chauvin was indicted and convicted by the irresponsible American media with endless repetition of “Derek Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes despite Floyd’s plea ‘I can’t breathe.’”

This was a lie. Chauvin was convicted by a lie. I remember when it was a cause for moving a trial to a neutral or objective location or even for dismissal of the charges if media or public officials said a defendant was guilty prior to conviction by a jury. The reason was the media would have polluted the jury pool with the idea that the defendant was guilty. In Chauvin’s case the Minneapolis city government further polluted the jury pool by awarding Floyd’s family $27 million dollars in damages prior to the trial. I do not know whether the ban against conviction in the media has been repealed or become a dead letter requirement or whether it was just suspended in Chauvin’s case. Intimidation also played a role in the wrongful conviction of Chauvin. The Black Lives Matter riots, which the Democrats permitted, encouraged and justified, convinced prosecutors, judges, and jurors that a guilty verdict was required whatever the facts of the case or there would be more looting and burning.

It is clear that Judge Cahill withheld exculpatory evidence from being presented to the jury. He was an asset to the prosecution and enabled Chauvin’s wrongful conviction. I also reported at the time that the coroner’s report stated that Floyd’s blood contained a higher dose of fentanyl than is normally required to kill a person. This evidence played no role in the trial of Chauvin. I also reported the autopsy report’s conclusions that there were no injuries to Floyd’s neck and that Floyd had heart problems that would make his death likely under the influence of drugs. Chauvin’s frame up was a product of the intimidating violence Democrats and media encouraged and justified and of the prosecution and judge’s withholding of exculpatory evidence. It was also a product of years of media reports emphasizing gratuitous police violence against blacks. The same police violence was used against whites, but the media only reported the instances where blacks were the victims.

Some experts attributed the police violence to the Israeli firms that were hired to train US police, pointing out that in Israel police are trained to deal with terrorists, not with ordinary crimes. The years of media emphasis left a negative image of police. The misrepresentation of George Floyd’s death has even intimidated the US Supreme Court which refused to hear Chauvin’s evidence-based appeal. One consequence of Chauvin’s wrongful conviction is that media, Democrats, and Black Lives Matter have learned that they can use violence and intimidation to convict the accused, thereby decreasing the importance of evidence. Another consequence is that policing in Minneapolis is dead. Forty-four percent of the force resigned.

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“..the House has interviews, documents, photos and even audiotapes contradicting Biden’s continuing denial of having any knowledge of his son’s financial dealings.”

• Biden’s Clinton Defense: I Did Not Have Interactions with Those People (Turley)

With a formal House vote on an impeachment inquiry expected next week, President Joe Biden was confronted this week about his knowledge and involvement in alleged influence peddling by his son and brothers. An irate Biden seemed to morph into Bill Clinton and — echoing his predecessor’s “I did not have sex with that woman” denial of an earlier scandal — effectively declared that he did not have relations with “those people.” As with Clinton, the denial was absurd, even insulting. Roughly 70% of voters (including 40% of Democrats) believe Biden has acted either unlawfully or unethically in the overseas business dealings of his family. More importantly, the House has interviews, documents, photos and even audiotapes contradicting Biden’s continuing denial of having any knowledge of his son’s financial dealings.

This includes testimony from Hunter Biden’s associates that Joe Biden called in as many as 20 times (and was put on speakerphone) at dinners and meetings with Hunter’s associates. It also includes sworn testimony from figures like Hunter’s ex-associate, Tony Bobulinski, that he discussed dealings directly with Joe Biden. And it includes a statement by Devon Archer, Hunter’s close friend and business partner, that the president’s denials of knowledge were “categorically false.” Yet, according to the president, it is all lies, lies, lies. When finally confronted this week about interacting with these associates, Biden barked back, “I did not and it’s just a bunch of lies. They’re lies. I did not. They’re lies.”

It may become Biden’s “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” moment, a line that is likely to be repeated with the same frequency as Clinton’s denial before being impeached in 1998. In the face of a formal vote for an impeachment inquiry, Biden is sticking with the same rhetorical chest-poking done by his predecessor. Despite the photos of Clinton with Lewinsky and his long history of womanizing, Clinton expected the media and the public to ignore their lying eyes. The Starr investigation and impeachment forced his hand in eventually admitting the obvious. The Bidens have their own vices, of course, but it seems the family signature has been influence peddling. It appears to have been, as I have written previously, virtually a family business.

Like Clinton, however, Biden is in a bind. He spent the last election categorically denying any knowledge or involvement in Hunter’s business dealings. He continues those denials despite evidence that Hunter discussed these dealings with his father and used Air Force 2 as transport to work on foreign clients during official trips with his father. For years, much of the media refused to acknowledge the authenticity of the emails on Hunter’s abandoned laptop. Yet, in the last year, many have reached the limit of plausible deniability and now acknowledge that Hunter was involved in a multimillion-dollar influence-peddling scheme. The final line of defense has become that Joe Biden did not directly benefit. Even now, some are frantically joining Biden in calls for blind denials.

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) has even doggedly maintained that the laptop may really be Russian disinformation, despite confirmation of its content by witnesses, government investigators, and several media organizations. It won’t work. Biden clearly lied when he denied knowledge of his son’s business operations, and he has continued to lie during his presidency. Moreover, besides the benefits to his family (which would legally constitute benefits in criminal cases), there are references in Hunter’s emails to giving his father income, paying bills, and using shared accounts and credit cards. Now, the National Archives is finally turning over tens of thousands of emails, including many in which Joe Biden reportedly used false names in communicating with Hunter’s associates. And various key figures, including Hunter, face testimony or contempt proceedings. Thus, Biden is caught in a trap of his own making.

Read more …

Might as well let real estate insiders do the talking.

If Engoron and Letitia really want to go with a $26 million valuation of Mar-a-Lago, by all means let them make fools of themselves.

• Trump Not To Testify In Fraud Proceedings (TASS)

Ex-US President Donald Trump made the decision not to testify before a New York court in proceedings on fraud when appraising assets of the Trump Organization. The ex-President was expected to arrive in New York and speak before the court on Monday, December 11. “I have already testified to everything & have nothing more to say other than that this is a complete & total election interference (Biden campaign!) witch hunt, that will do nothing but keep businesses out of New York,” Trump wrote on his page in the Truth Social network. “I will not be testifying on Monday,” he added. The Office of the New York State Attorney General sent its action against Trump and Trump Organization to court in September 2022. The Attorney General of the State alleged that the company had overstated the asset value for more comfortable terms of loans and insurance. The defense insists that claims are ungrounded and the property value may change over time due to different reasons.

Read more …

“..an ‘Advent calendar of sh*t.’”

• UK Tories Plotting Boris Johnson Comeback – Daily Mail (RT)

Tory rebels are considering a plan to “crash” UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government and reinstall Boris Johnson as leader as concerns rise over flagging poll figures and surging support for the opposition Labour Party ahead of an expected general election next year, according to the Daily Mail. Amid the high-profile cabinet departures of former Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, Sunak’s authority over Tory ranks is set to be further tested this week when he faces a pivotal vote over his flagship Rwanda migrant-handling plan. Citing anonymous Conservative MPs, the Daily Mail wrote on Saturday that Tory insiders are urgently attempting to address a growing revolt – with peerages being offered to possible rebels to convince them to toe party lines.

The tabloid claims that disgruntled Tories will increasingly seek to “crash” the Sunak government with a series of Commons votes and outspoken interventions, which the newspaper’s sources said is crudely referred to as an ‘Advent calendar of sh*t.’ Furthermore, the outlet cites anonymous sources as saying there is a belief within the party that Johnson – who stood down as prime minister in September 2022 – is the only person who possesses the necessary skills to pose a challenge to Labour leader Keir Starmer. The newspaper also notes that the Reform Party, the successor to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, is siphoning votes that might otherwise have gone to the Conservatives – with a so-called Johnson/Farage “dream ticket” being floated. It also notes that Farage’s appearance on a popular UK reality television series has bolstered support for the Brexit architect.

Johnson, who is a columnist for the Daily Mail, did not elaborate on his possible political ambitions when contacted by the newspaper. A spokesperson for Farage, who, like Johnson, is not currently an MP, said that any political alliance between the two would “soon end in tears.” “Reform are going to kill us,” the newspaper cites an anonymous Tory MP as saying. “We have to buy Farage off. The plan is we get him into the Lords, give him some brief like we did with [David] Cameron – maybe even home secretary – then go to the country with the ‘Dream Team.’” Another possibility for a post-Sunak scenario, per the Mail, would be for Johnson ally and former Home Secretary Priti Patel to be appointed as temporary PM while Johnson seeks a ‘safe’ seat in the election – after which he would hypothetically return to Downing Street. Recent polling has indicated that Labour holds a commanding lead over the Tories ahead of the next general election, which must take place before January 2025.

Read more …

“..Gore has a storied history of making climate change predictions that turn out to be spectacularly wrong. No wonder he wants to ban dissent.”

• Al Gore: Access to Non-Mainstream Information ‘Threatens Democracy’ (MN)

Al Gore says that people having access to information outside of mainstream media sources is a threat to “democracy” and that social media algorithms “ought to be banned.” Yes, really. Gore made the comments during an appearance at the Cop28 climate change hysteria conference in Dubai. Gore whined that social media had “disrupted the balances that used to exist that made representative democracy work much better.” The former Vice President said that functioning democracy relied on a “shared base of knowledge that serves as a basis for reasoning together collectively” but that “social media that is dominated by algorithms” upsets this balance. According to Gore, people are being pulled down “rabbit holes” by algorithms that are “the digital equivalent of AR-15s – they ought to be banned, they really ought to be banned!”

Gore claimed, “It’s an abuse of the public forum” and that people were being sucked into echo chambers. “If you spend too much time in the echo chamber, what’s weaponized is another form of AI, not artificial intelligence, artificial insanity! I’m serious!” he added. Apparently, the only echo chamber that should be allowed to exist is Gore’s own rabbit hole, wherein the earth is constantly on the brink of destruction thanks to people not obeying his technocratic mandates. Perhaps Gore is unhappy at his own misinformation being fact checked by individuals who have access to information not produced by corporate media sources that are friendly to him. Gore infamously predicted that the north polar ice cap would be “ice free” within 5 to 7 years. It never happened. As Thomas Cartenacci documents, Gore has a storied history of making climate change predictions that turn out to be spectacularly wrong. No wonder he wants to ban dissent.

Read more …

 

 

 

 


To date, the inquiry has spent over £70 million

 

 

Excess deaths
https://twitter.com/i/status/1733217201325502786

 

 

 

 

Watters climate

 

 

Stringballs
https://twitter.com/i/status/1733821362341318951

 

 

Owl legs
https://twitter.com/i/status/1733641444328353883

 

 

Baby owl

 

 

Lots of memories..

 

 

 

 

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Debt Rattle August 7 2023

Aug 072023
 
 August 7, 2023  Posted by at 9:00 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  53 Responses »


Edward Hopper Chair Car 1965

 

• Donald Trump Vows To Prosecute Biden If Elected (RT)
• Ukraine Warns Of ‘Significant Weapons Shortage’ (RT)
• NATO Instructors Trained Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion Soldiers in 2021 (Sp.)
• Zelensky Adviser Casts Doubt On Future Relations With Poland (RT)
• Peskov Says NYT Misinterpreted His Words About 2024 Election (TASS)
• US Dollar ‘Verging on Breakdown’ Hits Skids As Inflation Data Nears (Sp.)
• Gold Is Replacing The Dollar (Macleod)
• Maduro Castigates Silence Of European Leaders On Quran Burning (TASS)
• Zuckerberg Tells Musk He’s Ready To Fight ‘Today’ (RT)

 

 

 

 

When TRUMP won
https://twitter.com/i/status/1687988391986540544

 

 

 

 

“The tables must turn, and we will destroy the Deep State.”

• Donald Trump Vows To Prosecute Biden If Elected (RT)

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump told an audience in Alabama on Friday that he will appoint a special prosecutor to investigate potential illegality perpetrated by the “Biden crime family” on his first day in office if he reclaims the White House in 2024. Trump, who has been indicted three times in the past four months amid a range of criminal investigations into his conduct, told the crowd at a fundraising event in Montgomery: “On Election Day 2024, we are going to evict crooked Joe Biden from the White House. We are going to expel the criminals and thugs from the halls of power in Washington.” The former US president added that a special prosecutor would be appointed on his “first day in office,” who would “study each and every of the main claims being brought forth by Congress concerning all the crooked acts, including bribes from China and many other foreign countries that go into the coffers of the Biden crime family.”

Trump was speaking just a day after pleading not guilty to various charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith as part of an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the January 6, 2021 riots at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. The 77-year-old also faces simultaneous probes related to allegations that he deliberately withheld classified documents at his Florida estate, and obstructed government efforts to recover them. He is also involved in another case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg related to financial fraud and falsifying business records. He denies all claims of wrongdoing. Trump, whom polling suggests is the clear frontrunner to claim the Republican Party’s presidential nomination next year, told the Montgomery crowd that the “fake charges” being brought against him amounted to “election interference.”

“The reason this is happening is simple,” Trump said. “Joe Biden is the most incompetent and corrupt president in US history.”Trump didn’t elaborate on his claims of criminal activity by the Bidens but they are thought to be linked to allegations that Joe Biden and his son Hunter improperly profited from an association with Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings. The Bidens deny allegations of illegality linked to Ukraine, as well allegations of improper ties to China. Hunter Biden is also currently involved in court proceedings, including allegations of tax fraud. And if he returns to the Oval Office, Trump was clear on what he believes must be done: “The tables must turn, and we will destroy the Deep State.”

Read more …

No, you cannot “win the war” against Russia. Stop pretending. Save lives.

• Ukraine Warns Of ‘Significant Weapons Shortage’ (RT)

Ukraine’s military campaign is being held back by a lack of weaponry, and allies need to provide additional supplies to effectively counter Russia, the top aide to Ukraine’s president has claimed. “From the point of view of battlefield parity, there is indeed a significant shortage,” Mikhail Podoliak said on Friday, live on national TV. Kiev needs more artillery shells and long-range missiles, and is experiencing a “certain shortage” of de-mining equipment, he added. The military is also having difficulties repairing damaged armor. Podoliak said the key items Ukraine still lacks are anti-aircraft systems and sophisticated fighter jets, specifically the US-made F-16. Kiev has been asking its Western backers to provide F-16s for months, insisting that the fighters would help “win the war” against Russia.


Washington and its allies, however, have so far proven reluctant to provide the jets, with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan suggesting the aircraft would have only a limited impact on the battlefield due to the extensive use of air defense systems in Ukraine. Since the start of the conflict, Ukraine has been demanding increasingly sophisticated weaponry from its backers. The Western-supplied hardware has been extensively used by Kiev in the current counteroffensive, launched in early June. The campaign has so far failed to yield any tangible results, while dozens of Western-supplied items, including US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, German-made Leopard 2 tanks, and Swedish-made CV90 armored vehicles, have ended up destroyed or captured. Moscow has repeatedly urged the West to stop “pumping” Ukraine with assorted weaponry, warning that continued military aid will only prolong the conflict and inflict more destruction on Ukraine rather than change the ultimate outcome.

Read more …

Did the Russians really have a choice? Or were they forced to invade?

• NATO Instructors Trained Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion Soldiers in 2021 (Sp.)

NATO military instructors from Denmark and the United Kingdom trained Ukrainian soldiers at a base of the nationalist Azov battalion* (banned in Russia), despite Azov’s exclusion from US military funding due to its radicalism, according to documents from the Danish embassy in Kiev seen by Sputnik on Sunday. A note from the Danish embassy dated May 21, 2021, informed the Ukrainian Defense Ministry of the arrival of six instructors for the 56-th Ukrainian army brigade in Berdyansk and Urzuf, where Azov’s main base was located. “These sites were previously investigated by Russian law enforcement officers, and the materials found there directly point to intensive training of mobilized Ukrainian citizens by Western officers, using criminal methods of warfare, which the Azovs were fluent in,” a law enforcement officer told Sputnik.

The instructors of the UK’s OP ORBITAL training team had already been present in Ukraine before, the document showed. “Operation ORBITAL is the code name of a UK program to train Ukrainian army servicepeople from the mobilization reserve. I note that these officers, as stated in the text of the document, have access to classified information, which indicates that Ukraine has provided access to information constituting state secrets, including mobilization planning documents,” the officer said. Despite the fact that the Azov battalion has been recognized by the United States as a neo-Nazi organization, NATO forces were directly involved in training of nationalist armed formations, they noted. “This is evidence of Kiev’s intensive preparations for active combat operations under NATO’s supervision,” the law enforcement officer concluded.

In August 2022, the Russian Supreme Court designated Azov as a terrorist organization. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said that Azov militants use prohibited means and methods of warfare and are complicit in the torture of civilians and the killing of children.

Read more …

How about future borders with Poland?

• Zelensky Adviser Casts Doubt On Future Relations With Poland (RT)

Poland and Ukraine will begin “competing” after the resolution of hostilities between Kiev and Moscow, Mikhail Podoliak, the top aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, has claimed. The senior official made the remarks on Friday during a live appearance on Ukrainian TV. The existing “friendship” between Poland and Ukraine will not last forever, he warned. “Today, Poland is the most-close partner and the most close friend for us. And, basically, it will remain as such until the end of the war,” Podoliak stated. After the hostilities end the two countries will be “competing” with each other, he added, struggling to control “these or those markets, consumer markets, and so on.”

Over the course of the ongoing conflict, Warsaw has asserted itself as the main backer of Ukraine in Eastern Europe and one of its main supporters among Western countries. It has lavishly supplied Ukraine with assorted weaponry and military hardware while at the same time becoming a top hub for war-supply deliveries from elsewhere. In addition, the heavy presence of Polish-speaking mercenaries fighting for Kiev has been repeatedly reported from the frontline. The seemingly flourishing ties between Poland and Ukraine, however, have been heavily dented by a bitter row over agricultural produce. Earlier this year, Poland and other Eastern European nations endured mass protests by farmers, who called for an embargo on cheaper Ukrainian produce, which had damaged local markets.

The situation was temporarily defused by Brussels, which introduced ‘temporary restrictions’ on Ukrainian exports in May in order to protect farmers in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria. However, the ban does not prohibit the transit of Ukrainian agricultural produce. This week, Polish agriculture minister Robert Telus vowed to unilaterally embargo Ukrainian produce should the EU fail to extend the restrictions, set to expire on September 15. “I want to make it clear that after September 15, Ukrainian grain will still not be transported to Poland,” Telus warned.

Read more …

Putin is too popular.

• Peskov Says NYT Misinterpreted His Words About 2024 Election (TASS)

Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Sunday that The New York Times has misinterpreted his words about the upcoming presidential election in Russia in 2024 where Putin will be re-elected by more than 90% of votes. The New York Times earlier on Sunday quoted Peskov as saying that presidential election in Russia “is not really democracy, it is costly bureaucracy” and that “Putin will be re-elected next year with more than 90% of the vote.” The article was written by Roger Cohen. “The author of the article interpreted [my words] in an absolutely wrong way,” Peskov told TASS. He confirmed that he had met and spoken to this journalist and one of his questions had been about the upcoming election.


“And the answer was the following: the level of consolidation around the president is absolutely unprecedented and it can be said already now that if he runs [for president], he will be reelected by an overwhelming majority, and the election – theoretically – only entail unnecessary spending,” he said. However, according to Peskov, he told the journalist that “the president insisted that the election be organized without fail, that this is what democracy requires.” “And the president said this in his state-of-the-nation address,” the Kremlin spokesman stressed. Apart from that, he added that he shared his personal opinion with the journalist. Presidential election will be held in Russia in March 2024. Putin has the right to run for another term in office but has not yet announced his election plans.

Read more …

Got the gold?

• US Dollar ‘Verging on Breakdown’ Hits Skids As Inflation Data Nears (Sp.)

Last month, the US dollar index sank below its critical 100-level benchmark, amid reports about the greenback being on the “verge of a decisive breakdown.” The US currency has dipped to a one-week low against a basket of currencies in the aftermath of the market’s focus turning to America’s soon-to-be-published inflation data. Media reports said that the so-called US dollar index (USDX) – a measure of the greenback’s value relative to a batch of foreign currencies – “last stood at 101.98, languishing near Friday’s low of 101.73.” US inflation data is due to be released on Thursday, amid speculation that the country’s core inflation soared by 4.7% on an annual basis last month.

Separate reports also suggested that the US Federal Reserve “may need to keep rates higher for longer” in light of a “still-tight labor market.” The current fall of the greenback comes after the USDX plummeted below its important 100 level in mid-July to a low of 99.47, prompting an American business news outlet to report that the US dollar is “on the verge of a decisive breakdown that would reverse much of the gains the currency enjoyed over the past two years.” The outlet cited senior analyst Will Tamplin of an independent market research company as saying that “the breakdown in the Dollar Index is associated with a pending breakout in the euro.”

These developments are unfolding against the backdrop of de-dollarization, the process of reducing the US dollar’s hegemony in global trade and financial operations by shifting to alternative exchange methods, including national currencies and domestic payment systems, as well as modifying currency reserves. Right now, numerous countries are lining up to move away from the greenback and scrap the use of the US currency in trade transactions. These include Russia, China, India, Brazil as well as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Read more …

“Our politicians will have to wean themselves off from their habitual promises to give everyone everything..”

• Gold Is Replacing The Dollar (Macleod)

All the vibes coming out of the Russian and Chinese axis strongly point to a new gold-linked trade settlement currency being proposed at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg later this month. Until the details are revealed, we won’t know what this proposal actually is, whether it will fly, whether it will be simply imposed on BRICS members, or if they will have a say about its introduction and if so its form. All we can deduce is that Russia is leading this project and as an educated guess it will incorporate work by Sergei Glazyev. What we do know is that the majority of the world measured by population and GDP (on a PPP basis) is becoming confident enough to throw off the yoke of American imperialism, and with it will go the hegemonic power of the fiat dollar. And remaining tied to the dollar, it would appear that the days of western fiat currencies are similarly numbered.

In the western alliance, economists and investors alike will have to re-educate themselves about how the relationship between gold and credit works, and what is required to ensure that the link between them endures. Our politicians will have to wean themselves off from their habitual promises to give everyone everything. They will have to stop believing that they know how to deliver outcomes better than free markets. Social legislation must be rescinded, regulations annulled, and responsibility for the actions of individuals handed back to them. The position of Russia, China, the members associates and dialog partners of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and BRICS+ is far stronger. None of them are burdened with the social and socialist responsibilities of the so-called advanced nations. They are in a position to operate currency boards to secure the value of their credit systems.

But instead of a currency board attached to the dollar, it must be attached directly or indirectly to gold. A gold standard can be regarded as a type of currency board — indeed, it was its forerunner.

Read more …

I don’t get that silence. Respect people’s religions.

• Maduro Castigates Silence Of European Leaders On Quran Burning (TASS)

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has sharply criticized the silence of ruling circles in European countries over extremists who desecrated the Quran, the holy book for Muslims, in Sweden and Denmark. “I condemn these racist acts of hatred against Muslim nations,” he told the Al Mayadeen TV, “The silence of European leaders over the burning of copies of the Quran is surprising, which amounts to their complicity in the crime.” According to Maduro, it is impossible to turn a blind eye to such provocations that humiliate Islam and its followers. “What would European Christians say if a Bible was burned in front of them? Therefore, the angry reaction of the Islamic world to the desecration of copies of the holy book is quite natural,” he pointed out.


Anti-Islamic actions involving the burning of the Quran took place on July 25 near the embassies of Egypt and Turkey in Copenhagen. A similar action was carried out a day earlier in front of the Iraqi embassy. All were organized by the far-right ultranationalist group Danish Patriots. On June 28, the burning of the Quran took place during a police-authorized demonstration in downtown Stockholm. Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi immigrant, tore pages from the Quran and set it on fire. On July 20, he staged another provocation in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, prompting protesters to attack the Swedish embassy in Baghdad.

Read more …

“Zuckerberg was left skeptical of the idea suggesting “a more reliable platform that can actually raise money.”

• Zuckerberg Tells Musk He’s Ready To Fight ‘Today’ (RT)

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is up in arms and ready to fight with his tech rival Elon Musk, but is doubtful the “cage match” will materialize, as X (formerly Twitter) owner, supposedly, has never accepted the date. “I am ready today,” Zuck posted on his social media platform Threads on Sunday, “but not holding the breath,” adding that his proposed date, August 26, has never been confirmed. The remarks come in response to Musk’s tweet on Sunday morning, when he announced that he was training for the battle. “Am lifting weights throughout the day, preparing for the fight,” he said. In a tweet later the same day, the SpaceX CEO claimed that “Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on X with all proceeds going to charity for veterans.”


Zuckerberg was left skeptical of the idea suggesting “a more reliable platform that can actually raise money.” The high profile “cage match” between two billionaires was first mentioned in June, when Elon Musk and Zuckerberg were trading barbs for several days on social media, over Zuckerberg’s plan to launch a rival to Twitter. The Vegas Octagon arena, which hosts UFC fights, was suggested as a venue. Musk seemed serious in his intentions to fight his nemesis, allegedly appealing earlier this month to former UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, for help with training, but was reportedly turned down. Elon Musk’s mother tried canceling the fight, asking people to stop encouraging her son to fight the Meta CEO.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

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This Virus Kills Zombies Too

Mar 272020
 
 March 27, 2020  Posted by at 12:38 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , ,  8 Responses »


Rembrandt van Rijn Portrait of his father 1628-29

 

I was following the numbers all afternoon, because I knew this was going to be the day that the US would become the no. 1. The no. 1 loser, that is. Here’s some of what I wrote in the Automatic Earth Comments section as we went along:

500,000 global cases was at noon EDT. 3.5 hours later there were another 20,000. [..] At 12.38 pm the US was 6,300 cases behind China. That is now 1,200.

God’s Own Country will take the definite no. 1 position sometime this afternoon, and then run away with it. The US has many fewer fatalities so far, but there, too, it will come out on top.

All this is why America pronounced Nicolas Maduro a drug trafficker and narco-terrorist today.

The US took the topspot at about 3pm. That done and achieved, I realize I’ve been so busy lately documenting the spread of the coronavirus and -some of- its consequences that the next steps in the demise, though clearly visible, risk going unnoticed.

But then I saw that the US is charging Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with drug trafficking (narco-terrorism?!), and I was wide awake again. Why does the US, on the verge of becoming the worst hit “corona country”, charge him now, of all possible times, when they could have done it any given day for the past 7 years? Well, exactly because of the corona threat.

And I don’t think this is Trump; he may take a political hit, but he only has to do better than Joe Biden, and anybody could do that. This smells much more like some deep state thing, Mike Pompeo and his crew.

 

In their phone alerts, CNN had a few real howlers as the day went by.

“Health officials say the peak is yet to come”

“Stocks see third day of gains”

Meanwhile, it took them hours to clue into the fact that the US had become the no. 1. But it’s that second point that warrants scrutiny. In the expectation and the “fulfillment” of the $6 trillion “stimulus” package, stocks managed to rise. Yay! But that no. 1 position won’t leave any of that standing. No sirree.

The US is no longer capable of formulating and negotiating adequate legislation even in times of real crisis. And it’s not that it’s GOP against Dems, and one would do everything so much better than the other. It’s one set of special interests against another, and in the end both win. And there is no escape left from that.

I said earlier about the stimulus that such a package in the US today is possible only provided that the rich get 1000 times what the poor get. That’s the only way to get those $1,500 checks to people who actually need them. For every such check a million bucks goes to the rich and powerful.

And if only they were also 1000 times more likely to catch the coronavirus, at least we would have a sense of justice. But no such luck.

 

What the stimulus will really end up doing is it will expose the Fed. You can talk about unlimited QE all you want, but talk enough and it will lose all meaning. I’ve long said that there are no markets left because there is no price discovery, and lately I’ve seen many people saying exactly that, just much later.

The stimulus really only serves to take even more price discovery away, if that was still possible. And that’s it. The rich will be handed hundreds of billions with nowhere to go. The losses in the stock “markets” lately have been staggering, trillions were lost. But then you look at a graph and you think holy sh*t, there’s so much more to go, so much more downside before we get to anything resembling normal. This was two weeks ago:

 

 

Markets as they -used to- exist under capitalism can be an awesome instrument, because there is such a multitude of participants. However, when you start trying to control the “markets” because sometimes they fall a little and you don’t like that, you unleash formidable forces that are also part of that instrument. Like so many natural phenomena, they will tend towards a balance, and you can’t stop that. Not for long.

The process that looks like it may end soon started under Alan Greenspan and the housing bubbles he blew, and the seeds of the demise were sown right then and there. Now that $6 trillion has been thrown at the wall that won’t stick, what is next?

The Fed policies (and I include most other central banks under that moniker) worked for a while because the QE’s and the ultra low rates supported banks and other enterprises that were essentially zombies. They also “zombified” many other companies that might have been able to survive without them. Look at Boeing.

Look at Apple. They look like a great company but what are their shares worth? Nobody knows, because they bought back too many of them to make price discovery viable. So at least part of Apple looks great only because of trickery, not because of great products. Steve Jobs is turning in his grave as we speak.

 

And now the zombies may be killed off by a virus. Just not if the Fed can help it. But if America runs away with that top spot hard enough, if tens of thousands of new cases become a daily occurrence (we’re at 17,000 so far today), and the first ten thousand fatalities are counted, the country will be locked down and the “markets” will fall off a cliff.

Unless, and that what I’m starting to fear may happen, the powers that be see no other choice than to close the “markets”. That will mean the entire financial system is on the brink of collapse. It would be announced as temporary, but the damage would be done. Everything would turn into one giant margin call, banks would be forced to close, the works, a real depression.

Let’s hope that none of this happens, but the signs are not favorable. America appears much less prepared for a pandemic than even Lombardy was, with too little or too late of everything, ventilators, masks, protective clothing, medicine, you name it. You can’t run an economy in a setting like that.

But at least you’ll be rid of the zombies. It’s a shame, really, that there is no virus that kills only zombies, that so much else must be destroyed with them. The thing is, we did have these instruments to kill zombies, they were called central banks. Should have used them when we had the chance.

 

Our readership is up a lot, but ad revenue only keeps dropping. I’ve said it before, it must be possible to run a joint like the Automatic Earth on people’s kind donations. These are no longer the times when ads pay for all you read, your donations have become an integral part of it. It has become a two-way street; and isn’t that liberating, when you think about it?

You heard it here first, like so many other things. And no, though it would be far more lucrative financially, the Automatic Earth will not adopt any paywalls, not here and not on Patreon. But you can still support us there, as well as right here. It’s easy. Thanks everyone for your donations overnight.

 

 

 

 

 

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