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Debt Rattle October 3 2024

Oct 032024
 
 October 3, 2024  Posted by at 8:48 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  78 Responses »


Winslow Homer Cloud shadows 1890

 

• 2nd Gentleman Doug Emhoff Slapped Ex-Girlfriend So Hard ‘She Spun Around’ (ZH)
• American Empire is Over – Charles Nenner (USAW)
• Prosecutors Seek Indefinite Delay In Trial Of Alleged Trump Assassin (ZH)
• 30 Million Immigrant-Invaders To Vote Against Trump (PCR)
• JD Vance ‘Made Viewers Feel Safe,’ Walz Had Brain Freeze – Psychiatrist (Sp.)
• Israel Free To Choose How It Retaliates Against Iran – Vance (RT)
• Harris A Threat To US Democracy – Vance (RT)
• Democrats Bringing World Closer To ‘Catastrophe’ – Trump (RT)
• US ‘Helpless’ As Middle East Burns – Moscow (RT)
• Netanyahu Seeks to Drag US Into War With Iran – Ex-Italian Diplomat (Sp.)
• Weakening Iran and Hezbollah Part of Broader Israeli-US Project – Analyst (Sp.)
• Putin, Medinsky, Istanbul-II and “Betrayal Of Russia’s State Interests” (Doctorow)
• Trump May Be More Of An Enemy To Zelensky Than Even Putin (Jay)
• The War on Terror 23 Years Later (Greenberg)
• Guilty (CJ Hopkins)
• 10 Principles for Perpetual Peace in the 21st Century (Jeffrey Sachs)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Censorship

 

 

Ritter

 

 

 

 

24 minutes

 

 

 

 

Just the kind of guy you want in the White House. No, seriously, you can’t do that.

“There’s a special place in hell for men who put hands on women.”

They’ve been hoping for a story just like this one for ten years. About Trump.

• 2nd Gentleman Doug Emhoff Slapped Ex-Girlfriend So Hard ‘She Spun Around’ (ZH)

Kamala Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff reportedly assaulted his ex-girlfriend by hitting her in the face so hard “she spun around”, according to a bombshell new exclusive by the Daily Mail. Emhoff allegedly struck the woman, referred to as “Jane,” in the face while waiting in a valet line after a 2012 Cannes Film Festival event, according to the DailyMail.com. Jane, a New York attorney, reportedly called a friend sobbing in a cab after the incident and told others about the alleged assault at the time. Friends provided photos and documents from 2012 to support parts of the story but chose to remain anonymous, citing fear of retaliation. Jane’s friends said she received tickets from wealthy connections to attend the exclusive amfAR Gala Dinner at Hotel du Cap in Antibes, France, on May 24, 2012. The alleged assault occurred after the event, where celebrities like Heidi Klum and Harvey Weinstein were present. Jane, who brought Emhoff as her guest, later called a friend sobbing, saying her date had hit her.

The friend recalled Jane describing how Emhoff slapped her after she offered a valet money to skip a taxi line, which he misinterpreted as flirting. ‘She slapped him back. My impression is that he had a lot to drink. She was sobbing [on the phone afterwards], but she wasn’t slurring her words. She told me that she broke up with him that night,’ one friend told the Daily Mail. A second friend, also a New York attorney, said Jane recounted the incident, describing how Emhoff slapped her out of nowhere around 2-3 a.m. after a pleasant evening. Jane said she was talking to a valet when Emhoff suddenly turned her around and slapped her hard, causing her to spin. Shocked, she slapped him back twice. ‘She said she wanted to go back to the hotel without him. But while she was shutting the door, he forced himself into the car, which she did not want.’ the friend said.

Jane was embarrassed and described it as a “trailer trash moment,” realizing it revealed his true character. A third friend said Jane told her the story in 2018, telling the Daily Mail: ‘She had never been hit in her life. [Jane] is a gorgeous, strong woman and you would never expect somebody to hit her.’ Recall, just days ago Jen Psaki swooned over Emhoff on MSNBC in a sit-down interview, stating he was reshaping masculinity and calling him a ‘supportive spouse’. “There is also an important, interesting part about how people have talked about your role is how your role has reshaped the perception of masculinity,” Psaki said to Emhoff. “I’m not sure you planned on that, but you are an incredibly supportive spouse. Has that been an evolution for you? Do you think that’s part of the role you might play as First Gentleman?”

Emhoff responded: “It’s funny. I’ve started to think a lot about this. I’ve always been like this. My dad’s always been like this. To me, it’s the right thing to do, support women. It is mutual with Kamala and I. We support each other, we have each other’s back,” He continued: “I’ve said many times when we lift up women, we support women whether it’s pay equity, childcare, family leave, and all of these issues in this post-Dobbs hellscape. Women should not be less than. Women should not have less rights and be treated differently. That’s not the American way.” Ironically, Emhoff also said days ago about Trump: “Make no mistake, where he says I will be the protector of women, that is yet more lies and more gaslighting.”

Or said another way…

Emhoff

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“..can Trump still be the winter coat America needs to survive? Nenner says, “I don’t think he can. It’s too late.”

• American Empire is Over – Charles Nenner (USAW)

Renowned geopolitical and financial cycle expert Charles Nenner has been warning of a huge war cycle. The Iran missile attack in Israel that rained down 180 missiles on the Holy land, “is just the beginning,” according to Nenner. Of course, America and everybody else will be involved in this war, and Nenner says don’t expect America to come out on top. Nenner says, “I don’t know how big this war is going to be because everybody is going to be involved. Israel is not going to sit on its hands like last time because this cannot continue. I guess Israel will go for the enrichment of the uranium places and attack Iran whenever they are ready. . . . I don’t vote in the United States because I am Dutch, but if Trump were in, this would be over in an hour.”

When it comes to the 2024 November election, Nenner says, “I think the media is doing a great job. So, I am not sure that Trump is going to win. I really have no mercy for America anymore if they vote for Kamala. It’s just the end of an empire already. Even if Trump wins, I don’t think he can fix what needs to be fixed because the Biden government put all kinds of people in positions that are going to be there for a while. I watch Congress and see who the Biden Administration brings forward for new judges, and I have no words for it. It’s ridiculous. I don’t even know how to fix the United States anymore. . . . According to the cycles the United States is finished. This war now will probably turn into a world war, and the problem is they (US) will have to fight Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, and they have no chance to win. . . .

Nobody will have to invade the United States. They will just finish them off with rockets from the air. It is a hopeless situation.” Nenner famously said several months ago, “If you know winter is coming, you can buy a winter coat. Trump is the winter coat.” So, can Trump still be the winter coat America needs to survive? Nenner says, “I don’t think he can. It’s too late.” On the markets, Nenner thinks there is going to be a stock market crash that will be equal to or greater than the Great Depression market crash in 1929. Nenner says, “We are telling our clients to get out of stocks. . . . We have zero stocks.”

Nenner also thinks gold is the place to be for the next three years. Nenner thinks gold is going much higher. On interest rates, Nenner says they are going higher too, and real estate and bonds are going lower. This is the longer term trend in Nenner’s cycle. When will this market crash come? Nenner says, “It’s still going to take half a year or a year until everybody realizes how bad the situation is compared to the BRIC countries. The dollar is not going to be the major currency. Nixon stopped backing it by gold, and Saudia Arabia stopped backing it by oil. It is not backed by anything. So, why would you trust the dollar?

Read more …

We won’t know his handlers before the election, and likely never.

• Prosecutors Seek Indefinite Delay In Trial Of Alleged Trump Assassin (ZH)

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday requested an indefinite delay in the upcoming trial of Ryan Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump, claiming that a massive trove of evidence has emerged in recent weeks rendering the case “complex,” ABC News reports. According to a Wednesday filing with Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon, prosecutors have gathered too much evidence to proceed to trial – including hundreds of witness interviews, 13 search warrants, and the seizure of “multiple electronic devices” from locations in Florida, Hawaii, and North Carolina. The overwhelming amount of digital data to review – around 4,000 terabytes – allegedly led to the request.

“The FBI also continues to conduct forensic tests on other evidence, including “ballistics testing, and fingerprint and DNA comparisons,” which will likely require them to prepare several expert witnesses to testify about in advance of Routh’s eventual trial. The filing states Routh’s defense attorneys did not oppose the government’s request to indefinitely delay his trial date. Routh, 58, appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday for his arraignment on attempted assassination charges. Routh’s lawyers entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.” -ABC News.

The delay request came just one day after Judge Cannon had set a tentative trial date of November 18. But with prosecutors still awaiting over 100 subpoena responses and conducting forensic analysis, including ballistics and DNA testing, the government says their case is far from ready to proceed. Routh allegedly staked out the Trump International Golf Course in Florida for 12 hours on September 15, waiting for the former president to arrive. According to prosecutors, his attempt was thwarted when Secret Service agents spotted a rifle poking through the golf course fence. Routh was later apprehended on I-95. The incident echoes a previous attempt on Trump’s life just two months prior, when gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Crooks’ attack injured Trump and left one attendee dead.

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“White people are history. They have placed their fate in the hands of their enemies. Perhaps a few will be kept in zoos.”

• 30 Million Immigrant-Invaders To Vote Against Trump (PCR)

Democrats are passing laws to make sure that a non-citizen who just walked across the border has a vote equal to a United States native-born citizen. Immigrant-invaders are given federal IDs which entitle them to drivers’ licenses. Many jurisdictions automatically enroll driver license recipients on the voting list. Two days ago California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill preventing local governments from requiring voters to present identification at the polls. The Democrat California government has made it a felony to prevent election fraud. The Democrats call it Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. DEI is not for us racist white supremacy citizens, the American majority. It is for the immigrant-invaders who just walked across the border. The Democrats are the party of the immigrant-invaders, and tens of millions of dumbshit white Americans will vote for the party of immigrant-invaders.

It is even worse than that. The Biden/Kamala Regime are using our taxpayers dollars to finance NGOs to recruit from 150 countries immigrant invaders and to provide them with transportation, to Latin America and with food, water, medical care, and sleeping quarters as they march to our border. When Washington’s recruits of immigrant-invaders reach the border, federal and local authorities are required to let them in. Nothing is being done about it. The Republican House and Senate Democrats have not cut off the funding that is flooding America with crime and people unable to support themselves. How do uneducated people who do not speak the language become a work force? How do tens of millions of people who do not speak the language and do not have a first world education become a work force in a first world country? Why is this happening? Why is discussion of the dissolution of the United States into a Tower of Babel blocked by the media and authorities with police power to silence?

Why does the Democrat Party describe native-born Americans who are opposed to their country being overrun by immigrant-invaders as white supremacists, while Democrats focus on saving Ukraine’s borders? Why are Ukraine’s borders more important than America’s? Is there a Democrat anywhere who cares about America’s borders? Apparently not. Is there any politician, other than Donald Trump, who speaks for Americans? Yesterday the Democrats in Minneopolis made a non-citizen a police officer. So now the Democrats have made it possible for a non-citizen to arrest an American citizen. The Democrats call this “inclusion.” Do you look forward to being arrested by a non-citizen? This is your consequence for being so totally stupid that you voted Democrat. The dumbshit American voters have destroyed themselves and all of their prospects.

The Democrats have established a regime in which American citizens have lost their Constitutional protections and are considered to be evil racists and enemies of democracy who must be replaced by third world immigrant-invaders. This is happening before our eyes. If it hasn’t happened to your community yet, it won’t be long. It is the same throughout the Western world. The European Council on Foreign Relations published a report a few days ago on September 25 by Pawel Zerka, obviously not a Western European name. The report published by the European Council concluded that Europe is too white and too European. So here we have Europeans turning Europe’s fate over to someone who intends to bring upon them the Camp of the Saints. Perhaps people this stupid deserve their destruction.

To underline the point, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the largest French political party that is kept out of political office by conspiracy of the ruling elite, has been placed on trial. The false charges are that she and her party embezzled EU funds. This is such a nonsensical charge as to be mind blowing. The EU is not going to give any funds to a French NATIONALIST political party. And even if it mysteriously happened, Le Pen is not sufficiently stupid, having target written all over her, to embezzle them. But in the Western world today truth is of zero consequence. Law is nothing else but a weapon to destroy those in the way of the Woke Agenda. White people are history. They have placed their fate in the hands of their enemies. Perhaps a few will be kept in zoos.

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“..his body language showed a lot of telltale signs of lying, such as fidgeting, touching his face and breathing rapidly.”

• JD Vance ‘Made Viewers Feel Safe,’ Walz Had Brain Freeze – Psychiatrist (Sp.)

Dr. Carole Lieberman, a board-certified psychiatrist and best-selling author based in Beverly Hills, California, told Sputnik that Republican Senator JD Vance had prevailed over Democratic Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota in the vice-presidential debate. “I found this debate fascinating because the two had only 90 minutes to show the voters what they could do for America,” Lieberman said, arguing that Vance “projected a steady, self-assured persona that made viewers feel safe.” Walz’s “discordant words and body movements made viewers feel uncomfortable,” she argued. He was “clearly nervous and his body language showed a lot of telltale signs of lying, such as fidgeting, touching his face and breathing rapidly.” The debate began with both candidates fielding a question on a possible pre-emptive strike by Israel on Iran. “Tim Walz stuttered and stumbled over his answer.

He gave misinformation about Trump and a deal with Iran, but never answered the question. JD Vance, on the other hand, answered with, ‘It is up to Israel,’ which is the best answer,” the psychiatrist said. Vance answered a question about hurricanes and climate change “in a straightforward manner, whereas Tim Walz started grimacing, making jarring movements and having pauses that seemed like brain freeze or senior moments,” she noted. On immigration, which Walz knew was a weak spot because Kamala Harris “as the Border Czar that had let everyone in,” he again started blaming former president Donald Trump. “It was obvious that his preparation for the debate focused on trying to blame Trump for everything,” Lieberman said.Vance won “because he was authentic throughout and his words matched his body language,” the psychiatrist concluded.

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Is Iran also free to choose?

• Israel Free To Choose How It Retaliates Against Iran – Vance (RT)

The US should support Israel in its retaliation against Iran, even if it includes a preemptive strike, Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance, said during a televised debate on CBS News on Tuesday. Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, faced his Democratic opponent, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on live TV only hours after Iran fired nearly 200 missiles at Israel, marking a significant escalation in Middle East tensions. Asked by a moderator if he would back an preemptive Israeli strike on Iran, Vance reaffirmed Washington’s long-standing support for the Jewish state. “Look, it is up to Israel what they think they need to do to keep their country safe, and we should support our allies wherever they are when they’re fighting the bad guys. That’s the right approach to the Israel question,” Vance replied.

He went on to argue that Trump had kept America’s adversaries in check when he was president. “Trump actually delivered stability in the world, and he did it by establishing effective deterrence. People were afraid of stepping out of line,” Vance said. Walz avoided answering directly if he would back an Israeli preemptive strike. He said, however, that “Israel’s ability to be able to defend itself is absolutely fundamental.” The Democrat accused Trump of damaging the US standing in the world and criticized him for tearing up the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Iran is “closer to a nuclear weapon than it was before – because of Donald Trump’s fickle leadership,” Walz said.

Iran has claimed that the missile attacks were a response to the “genocide” committed by the IDF in Gaza and Lebanon. The IDF launched a cross-border ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon on Tuesday. Israeli jets previously bombed Lebanon, killing several senior Hezbollah members, including the armed group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The IDF said the goal of the operation is to prevent Hezbollah from firing rockets and mortars at Israeli cities in the northern part of the country.

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“Limits on free speech have become the biggest threat to US democracy..”

• Harris A Threat To US Democracy – Vance (RT)

Limits on free speech have become the biggest threat to US democracy, Republican vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance claimed during a televised debate on Tuesday. Donald Trump’s running mate for the November election faced off with his Democratic opponent, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, on CBS News. Vance claimed that “rather than debating and persuading fellow Americans,” Democratic nominee Kamala Harris “would like to censor people who engage in misinformation.” “Harris is engaged in censorship on an industrial scale. She has done it over a number of issues. That’s a bigger threat to democracy than what Donald Trump said when he said protesters should peacefully protest on January 6.” Vance was referring to the January 6, 2021 storming of the US Capitol building in Washington by Trump supporters following his election defeat.

Trump, whose public statements are alleged to have incited the Capitol riots, faces four federal felony charges in the case. He is accused of acting unlawfully after the 2020 election, by trying to overturn the result. The former president has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and denounced the case as an attempt to prevent him from returning to the White House. In a series of posts on his Truth Social platform in August he called it “a direct assault on democracy” and a “resurrection of a dead witch hunt.” In the TV debate, Vance argued: “I believe we actually do have a threat to democracy in this country. Unfortunately, it’s not the threat to democracy that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz want to talk about. It is the threat of censorship.” He went on to accuse major technology companies of “silencing their fellow citizens.”

In August, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said senior Biden administration officials had pressured Facebook to “censor” some Covid-19 content during the pandemic. He also admitted that Facebook suppressed a New York Post story about Hunter Biden after an FBI warning in the lead-up to the 2020 election. “A president’s words matter. January 6 was not Facebook ads,” Walz responded, on the issue of the January 2021 Capitol riots. He asked Vance directly if Trump lost the 2020 election. Vance replied that Trump is “focused on the future.”

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”War or the threat of war is raging everywhere, and the two incompetents running this country are leading us to the brink of World War III..”

• Democrats Bringing World Closer To ‘Catastrophe’ – Trump (RT)

Former US President Donald Trump has blamed his successor, Joe Biden, and his rival in next month’s presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris, for a retaliatory strike by Iran on Israel on Tuesday night. The Republican nominee discussed the latest escalation in the Middle East crisis during a campaign rally in Waunakee, Wisconsin, and posted a similar statement on his Truth Social platform. He accused the Biden administration of failing to keep Iran in check, and claimed that he would have done a better job. Trump claimed that, under his presidency, Tehran was “starved for cash, fully contained, and desperate to make a deal.” “Kamala flooded them with American cash and, ever since, they’ve been exporting terror all over,” he added. ”War or the threat of war is raging everywhere, and the two incompetents running this country are leading us to the brink of World War III,” said Trump.

If Democrats win next month’s election, “the world goes up in smoke,” he warned. Tehran described its attack as retaliation for Israel’s assassination of senior figures in the militant movements Hamas and Hezbollah on Iranian and Lebanese soil. The two regional rivals have made opposing claims about the effectiveness of the ballistic missile strike. Israel has promised a response, which the media predict will come within days.

Both main US political parties are offering what appears to be unconditional support for Israel’s actions. This position appears to have become something of a liability for the Democrats, as a notable portion of their supporters have protested against continued shipments of weapons to Israel as it conducted a military siege of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza. The “uncommitted” movement has threatened to withhold their votes unless Biden applies pressure on Israel to secure a ceasefire in the conflict. With their demands unsatisfied, they stopped short last month of publicly urging people not to vote for Harris, but did say people should vote against Trump. The ongoing escalation was triggered by a deadly Hamas incursion into southern Israel almost a year ago. In recent weeks, Israel refocused its attention from Gaza to Lebanon, reportedly with the blessing of the Biden administration.

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“Without the comprehensive support you provide to Israel, the conflict could be ended quickly and effectively.”

• US ‘Helpless’ As Middle East Burns – Moscow (RT)

The surge in violence in the Middle East signifies the “complete failure” of US policy in the region under President Joe Biden, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said, shortly after Iran launched a significant retaliatory missile barrage against Israel on Tuesday evening. According to Israel, Tehran fired 181 ballistic missiles at targets in the Jewish state, although the Israeli military said that most were repelled by its air defenses. Sources in Iran, however, have claimed that Israeli military infrastructure suffered significant damage. Iranian officials described the strike as its long-expected response to the July assassination in Tehran of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and last week’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.

Israel has pledged to retaliate against Iran for the attack, and is continuing a bombing campaign and a “limited incursion” in Lebanon. Commenting on the escalating violence, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova pointed the finger at US policy. “This bloody drama is just ramping up. Incoherent statements by the White House demonstrate its total helplessness in resolving crises. Efforts by [Secretary of State Antony] Blinken have led to tens of thousands of casualties and into a dead end,” the spokeswoman said. The current hostilities erupted last October, when Hamas launched a deadly raid into southern Israel from the Palestinian enclave of Gaza. Israel responded with a massive military campaign, seeking to “eliminate” the movement. The Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which supports Hamas, has been conducting regular rocket attacks across the border, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate from northern Israel.

The US has publicly called on Israel to defuse the tensions and seek a ceasefire in Gaza, although the Israeli government has maintained its military pressure. The number of Palestinian deaths has exceeded 41,000, according to local health authorities. Some observers have accused West Jerusalem of trying to make Gaza uninhabitable so that its population has no option but to flee. “The Middle East has once again found itself on the brink of a big war, which, it appears, someone is eager to see break out,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned last week at a UN Security Council session on the unfolding crisis. Lavrov went on to call out the US over its rejection of proposals to demand a ceasefire backed by the authority of the UNSC. The Russian diplomat stressed: “Without the comprehensive support you provide to Israel, the conflict could be ended quickly and effectively.”

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Netanyahu IS not Israel, anymore than Zelensky IS Ukraine. Just stop supporting them.

• Netanyahu Seeks to Drag US Into War With Iran – Ex-Italian Diplomat (Sp.)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a provocative address to the people of Iran a day before Tehran’s ballistic missile attack in Israel, claiming the nation would be “finally free” and that “that moment will come a lot sooner than people think.” Netanyahu is “probably provoking the Iranian leadership to react to have a further justification to hit the country and, ideally, to draw the US to join Israel in attacking Iran,” Dr. Marco Carnelos, former Italian diplomat and Middle East adviser to Prime Ministers Prodi and Berlusconi, told Sputnik. In the wake of Tuesday’s missile strikes, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stressed that Iran exercised “legitimate self-defense rights” in response to Israel’s aggression. The missile attack followed Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon and air raids against Yemen and Syria.

Together with Iran, those countries form the so-called Axis of Resistance which has opposed Israel’s war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.Netanyahu claimed that “Iran made a big mistake” on October 1 and “will pay for it.” “There is no doubt that Israel is leveraging Washington against Iran,” Carnelos said, but it was “far from certain if the Biden Administration will decide to join Israel in attacking Iran unleashing a regional war.” The former Italian diplomat said the Biden administration wants to avoid a direct confrontation with Iran before November’s presidential election. Voters have no interest in starting “another potential endless war in the Middle East,” the pundit stressed.

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“..all the Israeli operations on the ground are influencing the balance of power in Lebanon, and trying to change the equation of power there..”

• Weakening Iran and Hezbollah Part of Broader Israeli-US Project – Analyst (Sp.)

Tel Aviv earlier described the Israeli military’s incursion into southern Lebanon as limited in scope, claiming that there will be “no long-term occupation.”Commenting on Israel’s recently announced start of its “targeted raids” in southern Lebanon, Dr Lorenzo Trombetta, Rome-based senior analyst and UN consultant on the Middle East, told Sputnik that those attacks are just preparatory measures before a broader military offensive on the ground.”In this sense, Israel is serving US purposes. That’s why all the Israeli operations on the ground are influencing the balance of power in Lebanon, and trying to change the equation of power there. Weakening not only Iran, but Hezbollah mainly, is part of the broader Israeli-US project,” Trombetta pointed out. The White House National Security Council earlier said that President Joe Biden had directed the US military to help Israel shoot down Iranian missiles targeting the Jewish state.

“The US military presence increased in the Middle East, mainly towards Iran, in order to threaten it and send a clear message to Tehran and its allies,” the analyst said. He suggested that the US won’t change their Middle Eastern policy and will continue “to manage the balance of power from their side, by being on the backseat and clearly supporting Israel and their other allies.” The Israeli military has meanwhile resumed air strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon, hours after Iran launched a massive missile attack on Israel in response to its “aggressive acts” against Tehran’s allies, including the assassination of Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. While Tel Aviv argued that most of the missiles were intercepted by Israeli air defenses, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps maintained that 90% of projectiles had hit their targets.

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Part 3 in the Putin Surrender saga. After Helmer and PCR, here’s Gilbert Doctorow.

• Putin, Medinsky, Istanbul-II and “Betrayal Of Russia’s State Interests” (Doctorow)

As a rule, on these pages I do not write critiques or responses to the writings of others, but today will be an exception. A colleague in Germany sent me the link below to a remarkable essay by John Helmer which is too important to ignore. Then one reader of my essays spontaneously asked me to comment on the points Helmer makes in the article in question. I now will do just that. For those who are unfamiliar with him, John Helmer is an Australian born, Harvard educated journalist who has been living in Moscow since 1989 and who is best known for his web platform Dances with Bears. His long residence in Moscow, his broad contacts with political elites there and his diligence at investigative reporting all mean that Helmer fills his articles like this one with invaluable insider’s talk. However, the question is whether his assembly of the facts at his disposal and his overall interpretation are as good as his skills at bringing to our attention little known connections between state actors. I have my doubts, which I will set out here.

In the given case, Helmer focuses attention on a certain Vladimir Medinsky, the man most widely known in the West as Putin’s chief negotiator in the March 2022 Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul that produced a lengthy draft treaty that was initialed by both sides but subsequently was rejected by Zelensky at the urging of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Helmer intimates that Medinsky was working on the side of the oligarchs back in March 2022 for a settlement that would end the conflict with minimal loss to the oligarchs’ interests and at the cost of Russia’s national interests. Moreover, he sees the same likelihood should Medinsky now be reappointed by Putin to lead the next round of peace talks, which appears probable given his recent reappearance at top state meetings relating to the Ukraine war.

Helmer airs the attacks that some high military officers have made on the political leadership of Putin going into peace talks. The suggestion is that Putin has been aligned with the oligarchs in Round One of the peace talks and cannot be trusted now. As for Medinsky, Helmer somewhat gratuitously tells us that he was born in Ukraine. He talks about Medinsky’s dubious merits during his term as Culture Minister which ended in the fall of 2019 when Putin reassigned him to be a presidential adviser. That was his title when, out of nowhere, Medinsky was made chief negotiator.

I take a personal interest in the discussion of Medinsky because he is someone whom I actually met back in the autumn of 2019 when he was still Culture Minister and visited various seminars within the St Petersburg Cultural Forum that Helmer mentions at the start of his essay. Medinsky spent perhaps 20 or 30 minutes with the dozen of us sitting around a seminar table. This was enough time to understand that he was a shallow chap. Subsequently I looked closely at the whole series of Russian history books that were published over Medinsky’s name for use in Russian secondary schools. None of them was impressive from an academic point of view, though they all were strongly patriotic. Indeed, Medinsky’s chief goal as Culture Minister was to restore patriotism to the school curricula. I also became acquainted back then with the allegations over possible plagiarism by Medinsky in his dissertation. These charges eventually were dropped but certainly tarnished his name.

[..] Would Medinsky have negotiated a treaty with Kiev that betrayed Russia’s state interests? I think that has to be excluded. After all, he did not go into the talks as sole negotiator, only as the lead. At his side there was Leonid Slutsky, who was present in his capacity as Chairman of the Duma Committee for International Affairs. Slutsky was/is the successor to the arch nationalist founder of the LDPR party Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who, we were recently reminded by Russian state television, was saying back in 2014 that Ukraine is not a country but a collection of beggars who should not be given one ruble (this when Putin was offering them $15 billion to keep them on Russia’s side and out of the clutches of the EU). Accordingly, Slutsky’s complicity in a sell-out of Russian interests, of a capitulation to satisfy oligarchs, is unthinkable.

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“Putin might end up being someone to turn to in the storm as Zelensky will want to avoid a Ceausescu finale to his term in office..”

• Trump May Be More Of An Enemy To Zelensky Than Even Putin (Jay)

It was frosty, awkward and the kind of media moment that President Zelensky of Ukraine would have preferred to have avoided. Trump offered an opportunity to rise to the mention of the word “Putin”. He could have said “we’re ready to work with him on a solution” or something similarly non-committal. But Zelensky, who is gambling with his own presidency by not having western media advisers – or at least not listening to them if they exist – did not prepare for the media moment. He believes he is bigger than that and it showed. Thrown, he mumbled something which pundits are still trying to decipher even now, which didn’t impress Trump who replied “it takes two to tango”. Trump’s point is that Zelensky has to come down from the clouds and look at the reality facing him. The war is lost for Ukraine regardless of who wins the White House. And yet, the media gaffe showed the world what the author has been predicting for some time: Zelensky’s real enemy is not Putin. It’s Trump.

If Trump comes to the conclusion early on that Zelensky is really the core of the problem in Ukraine, then he will very quickly show him in a matter of hours, if he wins the U.S. presidency, just which part of this U.S.-Ukraine relationship is the dog and which part is the tail. It beggars belief that Zelensky, at this late stage in the game, is still clinging on to the preposterous if not deluded idea that he is in a position to negotiate anything. If he chose to work with Trump however, he would have some wiggle room. If not, it will be a matter of days into the Trump presidency where we will see the implosion of Zelensky and his cabal as the Donald will hang him out to dry. It might well turn out that Putin might end up being someone to turn to in the storm as Zelensky will want to avoid a Ceausescu finale to his term in office. In reality he will flee in the dead of night on a private jet with one or two of his closest friends and live in Florida.

In many ways, a Harris win might appear to Zelensky as an even slower death, given that the aid packages and arms procurement are declining making a Ukrainian win harder to pull off. Not enough arms and what is sent is too little too late. And the infantry problem which never goes away. Nowhere near enough men to give Russian forces a run for their money.And yet, facing a baptism of failure, Zelensky continues to kid himself. This is the consequence of destroying all media, shutting down opposition parties and silencing any dissidents who cry out common sense. When you create exactly the scenario that Hitler did in the 30s, particularly with what was called “propaganda” then and what we commonly call “fake news” today, inevitably you start to believe it yourself. It’s the same venal, perverse relationship that Zelensky has with the West. It’s an echo chamber and in such circumstances we should not be surprised that Zelensky has become so deluded with such a jarred view of his own circumstances and that of his own military.

With the on camera moment with Trump going so badly, one can only hope that backchannel talks with Zelensky’s people and those of Trump’s are going on to fix the gulf of what could at best be called miscommunication or at worst an ideological malaise. Zelensky needs to listen to the Trump camp and show more respect to Trump as the quickest way to become an enemy of the Donald is to show irreverence and not take him seriously. Was that awkward moment a breaking point? We will probably know in the coming days as it’s only a matter time before someone squeals to a social media influencer or pseudo journalist. The problem for him is that no scenarios are good. All roads take him to a place he doesn’t want to go. But this is the price he must pay for being bullied into tearing up a peace treaty he signed with Putin in Istanbul which by now must be a sore wound that he constantly licks. He messed up. How he reacts to his grave errors of judgement will decide how history writes his political eulogy. The word ‘hero’ is probably not going to make it in there.

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“Judge Brinkema reversed her decision following a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court decision that found the term “crime of violence” to be “unconstitutionally vague.”

• The War on Terror 23 Years Later (Greenberg)

September marked the 23rd anniversary of al-Qaeda’s 2001 attacks on the United States, which left nearly 3,000 people dead. For the two decades since then, I’ve been writing, often for TomDispatch, about the ways the American response to 9/11, which quickly came to be known as the Global War on Terror, or GWOT, changed this country. As I’ve explored in several books, in the name of that war, we transformed our institutions, privileged secrecy over transparency and accountability, side-stepped and even violated longstanding laws and constitutional principles, and basically tossed aside many of the norms that had guided us as a nation for two centuries-plus, opening the way for a country now in Trumpian-style difficulty at home. Even today, more than two decades later, the question remains: Will the war on terror ever end?

Certainly, one might be inclined to answer in the affirmative following the recent unexpected endorsement of presidential candidate Kamala Harris by two leading members of the George W. Bush administration which, in response to those attacks, launched the GWOT. First, Bush’s vice president, Dick Cheney, who, after September 11th, sought to take the country down the path to what he called “the dark side” and was a chief instigator of the misguided and fraudulently justified invasion of Iraq in 2003, endorsed Vice President Harris. Then, so did Alberto Gonzales who, while serving as White House counsel to George W. Bush and then as his attorney general, was intricately involved in crafting that administration’s grim torture policy. (You remember, of course, those “enhanced interrogation techniques.”) He was similarly involved in creating the overreaching surveillance policy designed and implemented during the first years of the war on terror.

Consider those surprising endorsements by former Bush war hawks a possible coda for the war on terror as a major factor in American politics. In fact, for almost a decade and a half now, there have been signs suggesting that the denouement of that war might be at hand (though it never quite was). Those markers included the May 2011 lethal raid on the hideout of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden; President Barack Obama’s December 2011 authorization for the “final” withdrawal of American troops from Iraq (though a cadre of 2,500 military personnel are stationed there presently and another 900 are in neighboring Syria). In August 2021, 10 years after the killing of bin Laden, the U.S. did finally exit, however disastrously, from its lost war in Afghanistan. And in 2022, a U.S. drone strike killed bin Laden’s successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The counterterrorism measures have had an impact on the American threat environment.

As reported in the Department of Homeland Security’s 2024 Homeland Threat Assessment, in 2022, “Only one attack in the United States was conducted by an individual inspired by a foreign terrorist organization” such as al-Qaeda or ISIS. Notably, prosecutions of alleged international terrorists have declined precipitously since the Bush administration years (and some of the convictions then have been reversed or altered). In a 2009 report, the Justice Department stated that, “since September 11, 2001, the Department has charged 512 individuals with terrorism or terrorism-related crimes and convicted or obtained guilty pleas in 319 terrorism-related and anti-terrorism cases.” Soon after that, however, the decline began. TRAC, a database that monitors such cases, reported that, in October 2014, “[t]here were no prosecutions recorded that involved international terrorism.”

By 2022, TRAC was reporting that the number of domestic terrorism prosecutions far outnumbered international terrorism cases, due in large part to the charges leveled against those involved in the January 6th insurrection. And that trend has only continued. This year, as TRAC indicated, “Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are down 28.6 percent from levels reported in 2019.” And when it comes to terrorism prosecutions, something unthinkable not so long ago has now happened. Several judges have recently given early release or simply overturned cases involving individuals convicted and sentenced in jihadi-inspired terrorism cases during the first decade of the war on terror. In July 2024, Eastern District of Virginia Judge Leonie Brinkema threw out three of 10 charges against and overturned a conviction carrying a life sentence for Ali Al-Timimi, a U.S.-born computational biology scholar sentenced in 2004 for soliciting treason by inspiring his followers to commit acts of violence abroad to defend Islam.

Judge Brinkema reversed her decision following a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court decision that found the term “crime of violence” to be “unconstitutionally vague.” Al-Timimi’s fate on the other counts is now on appeal. Having been released to home confinement after the onset of the Covid pandemic, he now no longer faces a life sentence, though, as the Associated Press reports, he could potentially see “decades of prison time beyond the 15 years he already served.” Nor was this Brinkema’s first reversal in a terrorism case. In 2018, she ordered the release of two prisoners convicted in what was known as the Virginia “Paintball Jihad” case following two Supreme Court rulings that held the charges in those cases to be similarly unconstitutionally vague.

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Never ending. The pic tells the story.

• Guilty (CJ Hopkins)

So, the Berlin Appellate Court overturned my acquittal today. I am now, officially, at least according to the New Normal German authorities, a “hate-speech” criminal. I’m officially a “hate-speech” criminal because I compared New Normal Germany to Nazi Germany, and I challenged the official Covid narrative, and I used the cover art of my book to do it. The New Normal German authorities didn’t like that, and were determined to punish me for doing that, and to make an example of me, in order to discourage other people from doing that. It took them two tries, but they pulled it off. The judge in my original trial screwed up and acquitted me, but the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s office didn’t give up. They appealed the verdict — yes, they can do that in Germany — and this morning the Appellate Court overturned the verdict and declared me guilty.

I’ll report on all the ugly details of my day in court in a proper column sometime later this week, when I’ve sufficiently recovered from the hangover I am currently about to start working on. I’ll also be resurrecting my legal defense fund and telling you about that in my next column, because the only recourse my attorney and I have left at this point is to try to get the German Constitutional Court (i.e., Germany’s supreme court) to hear the case. In the meantime, I wanted to share my Statement to the Appellate Court. Here it is.

Statement to the Berlin Appellate Court, September 30, 2024

Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is CJ Hopkins. I am an award-winning playwright, author, and political satirist. My work is read by hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. For over thirty years, I have written and spoken out against fascism, authoritarianism, totalitarianism, and so on. Anyone can do an Internet search, find my books, reviews of my plays, my essays, and learn who I am and what my political views are in five minutes. And yet, I am accused by the German authorities of spreading pro-Nazi propaganda. I’m accused of doing this because I posted two Tweets challenging the official Covid narrative and comparing the new, nascent form of totalitarianism it has brought into being — the so-called “New Normal” — to Nazi Germany.

Let me be clear. I did that. In August 2022, as Germany was debating whether to end its Covid mask mandates, I tweeted those two Tweets. I challenged the official Covid narrative. I compared the New Normal to Nazi Germany. I did that with the cover art of one of my books. I did what anyone is allowed to do according to German law. I did what Karl Lauterbach has done. I did what German celebrities like Jessica Berlin have done. I did what major German newspapers and magazines have done. A few months ago, Stern and Der Spiegel published covers of their magazines featuring swastikas. Der Spiegel’s cover featured exactly the same artistic concept as my book cover and my Tweets. The only difference is, the swastika on Der Spiegel’s cover is behind a German flag, whereas the swastika on my book cover and in my Tweets is behind a medical mask. That’s it. That is the only difference.

Stern and Der Spiegel displayed swastikas on their covers in order to warn the public of the rise of a new form of totalitarianism, and that is precisely what I did. I compared the New Normal — i.e., the new nascent form of totalitarianism that came into being in 2020 — to Nazi Germany. Stern and Der Spiegel compared the AfD to Nazi Germany. That is the only difference. I’m not a fan of the AfD. I’m not a fan of Stern and Der Spiegel. That doesn’t matter. Stern and Der Spiegel have the right to do what they did, and so do I. That right is guaranteed to us in the German constitution. We all have the right, if we see a new form of totalitarianism taking shape, to oppose it, and to compare it to historical forms of totalitarianism, including Nazi Germany. I don’t follow German electoral politics very closely, so I don’t know exactly what the AfD has done that prompted Stern and Der Spiegel to compare them to the Nazis. But I know exactly what the German authorities did during 2020 to 2023.

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Kant. 230 years ago.

• 10 Principles for Perpetual Peace in the 21st Century (Jeffrey Sachs)

Next year will mark the 230th anniversary of Immanuel Kant’s celebrated essay on “Perpetual Peace” (1795). The great German philosopher put forward a set of guiding principles to achieve perpetual peace among the nations of his day. As we grapple with a world at war, and indeed at dire risk of nuclear Armageddon, we should build on Kant’s approach for our own time. An updated set of principles should be considered at the United Nations Summit of the Future in September. Kant was fully aware that his proposals would face the skepticism of “practical” politicians: “The practical politician assumes the attitude of looking down with great self-satisfaction on the political theorist as a pedant whose empty ideas in no way threaten the security of the state, inasmuch as the state must proceed on empirical principles; so the theorist is allowed to play his game without interference from the worldly-wise statesman.”

Nonetheless, as historian Mark Mazower noted in his magisterial account of global governance, Kant’s was a “text that would intermittently influence generations of thinkers about world government down to our own day,” helping to lay the groundwork for the United Nations and international law on human rights, the conduct of war, and arms control. Kant’s core proposals centered on three ideas. First, he rejected standing armies. Standing armies “incessantly menace other states by their readiness to appear at all times prepared for war.” In this, Kant anticipated by a century and a half the famous warning by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower of the dangers of a military-industrial complex. Second, Kant called for non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations. In this, Kant inveighed against the kind of covert operations that the US has used relentlessly to topple foreign governments.

Third, Kant called for a “federation of free states,” which in our time became the United Nations, a “federation” of 193 states pledged to operate under the UN Charter. Kant put great hopes on republicanism as opposed to one-person rule as a check on war-making. Kant reasoned that a single ruler would readily succumb to the temptation of war: “…a declaration of war is the easiest thing in the world to decide upon, because war does not require of the ruler, who is the proprietor and not a member of the state, the least sacrifice of the pleasures of his table, the chase, his country houses, his court functions, and the like. He may, therefore, resolve on war as on a pleasure party for the most trivial reasons, and with perfect indifference leave the justification which decency requires to the diplomatic corps who are ever ready to provide it.”

By contrast, according to Kant: “…if the consent of the citizens is required in order to decide that war should be declared (and in this [republican] constitution it cannot but be the case), nothing is more natural than that they would be very cautious in commencing such a poor game, decreeing for themselves all the calamities of war. Kant was far too optimistic about the ability of public opinion to constrain war-making. Both the Athenian and Roman republics were notoriously belligerent. Britain was the 19th century’s leading democracy, but perhaps its most belligerent power. For decades, the US has engaged in non-stop wars of choice and violent overthrows of foreign governments.”

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Chemicals

 

 

Frameless Rembrandt

 

 

Sunlight
https://twitter.com/i/status/1841354818037645715

 

 

Bears
https://twitter.com/i/status/1841458135610855707

 

 

Dolphin

 

 

Free concert wren

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle September 28 2024

Sep 282024
 
 September 28, 2024  Posted by at 9:10 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  49 Responses »


Pablo Picasso Still life 1918

 

• Zelensky Visibly Agitated As Trump Dominates Meeting (ZH)
• Trump ‘Hasn’t Changed’ His Mind After Zelensky Meeting (RT)
• Clintons Turn Page on Ukraine and ‘Radioactive’ Zelensky (Sp.)
• US Not Ruling Out Territory Trade In Ukraine Conflict (RT)
• Putin’s Nuclear Doctrine Updates Are A Final Warning To The West (Trenin)
• Sending A Boy To Do A Man’s Job – Medinsky To Negotiate Istanbul-II (Helmer)
• West Replacing History With Propaganda – Moscow (RT)
• Ukrainian Army Plagued By Desertion And Draft-dodging – The Economist (RT)
• Whistleblower: Biden-Harris Administration Is Sabotaging Trump’s Campaign (ZH)
• Nearly 750,000 Purged From North Carolina’s Voter Rolls (ET)
• Senator Unveils Bill to Increase Size of Supreme Court to 15 (ET)
• Trump: Kamala Will Stand In Front Of My Wall And Say She Did A Good Job (MN)
• The Shadow of the Shadow (Kunstler)
• UN Won’t Protect Gaza, But Can Adopt A ‘Pact For The Future?’ (Pepe Escobar)
• Macron Says US Needs to Pressure Netanyahu Into Ceasefire With Hezbollah (Sp.)
• There May Be Less Than Meets the Eye in the Adams Indictment (Turley)
• “Invites Are Out”: Tesla’s October 10 Robotaxi Event Is A Go (ZH)

 

 

 

 

O’Keefe

 

 

Vivek 2020

 

 

Mearsheimer
https://twitter.com/i/status/1839434787070644636

 

 

Nordstream

 

 

J6
https://twitter.com/i/status/1839282203722756181

 

 

1998

 

 

 

 

“..just as the meeting began, it seemed Trump in his less than subtle way was making it clear who is boss…”

• Zelensky Visibly Agitated As Trump Dominates Meeting (ZH)

Tensions were certainly on display before and during the Trump-Zelensky meeting at Trump Tower in New York. Going into the meeting, both men looked stern-faced, with Trump making a series of casual remarks which appeared aimed at gently belittling the Ukrainian leader and putting him in his place. This comes days after Zelensky went after J.D. Vance, and came close to directly criticizing Trump himself for calling for ceasefire and talks with Moscow. “We have a very good relationship, and I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin. And I think if we win I think we’re going to get it resolved very quickly,” Trump said in comments made before the press going into the meeting. But that caused an agitated Zelensky to poke back: “I hope we have more good relations,” Zelensky cut in.

“Oh, I see,” Trump responded. “But it takes two to tango, you know, and I we’re going to have a good meeting today. And I think the fact that we’re even together today is a very good sign.” As a result of this awkward exchange the mainstream media and possibly the White House itself is going to pounce. Trump will once again be painted as a GOP leader doing the bidding of Putin.But it is refreshing to hear a political leader who could be the next president so unashamedly call for robust diplomacy, and who understands the urgency of getting ceasefire negotiations going to bring an end to the countless deaths and suffering in Ukraine. Throughout the meeting, Trump looked to be his usual casual, in-control, and freewheeling self, which clearly put Zelensky and the Ukrainian delegation on edge. At another moment, just as the meeting began, it seemed Trump in his less than subtle way was making it clear who is boss…

Trump in the aftermath of the Zelensky meeting said that he “learned a lot” and said that ultimately “we both ant to see a fair deal made.” It is as yet unclear what the Republican presidential nominee thinks of Zelensky’s ‘victory plan’ – which was presumably presented in the Friday late morning meeting.

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“..four points – the continuation of Kiev’s Kursk incursion, NATO-style security guarantees from the West for Ukraine, the delivery of more advanced weapons, and international financial assistance for the country..”

• Trump ‘Hasn’t Changed’ His Mind After Zelensky Meeting (RT)

Former US President Donald Trump has said that he “learned a lot” during a meeting with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky on Friday, but that he has not changed his view that the conflict must be settled with a “fair deal.” Trump and Zelensky met at Trump Tower in New York, after Zelensky had been heavily criticized by Republicans for appearing to campaign for Trump’s presidential opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, earlier this week. At a rally in North Carolina on Thursday, Trump accused Zelensky of “making little nasty aspersions” toward him, describing the Ukrainian leader as “a man who refuses to make a deal.” In a short statement to reporters before the meeting, Trump boasted that he had a “very good relationship” with both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, promising to “get [the Ukraine conflict] resolved very quickly” if he wins November’s election.

Appearing beside Zelensky afterwards, Trump said: “I learned a lot, but I think I haven’t changed from the standpoint that we both want to see this end and we both want to see a fair deal made.” Asked how he would achieve this, Trump said that it is “too early to say that.” “I have my own ideas, and I’m sure the president definitely has his own ideas,” he added. Trump has repeatedly claimed that the conflict never would have happened if he were president in 2022, and insisted that he could force Zelensky and Putin into a diplomatic solution “within 24 hours” of being elected. Zelensky has also said that he wants the conflict settled quickly, but has ruled out doing so through negotiations. Earlier this week, he presented US President Joe Biden with a so-called ‘victory plan’, which he claims offers a roadmap to defeating Russia militarily.

While the document has not been made public, it consists of four points – the continuation of Kiev’s Kursk incursion, NATO-style security guarantees from the West for Ukraine, the delivery of more advanced weapons, and international financial assistance for the country, according to The Times.

Unlike Trump, Biden and Harris have refused to publicly discuss a diplomatic end to the conflict. Following his own meeting with Zelensky in the White House on Thursday, Biden announced more than $8 billion in military aid to Ukraine, while Harris described the idea of Kiev trading territory for peace as “dangerous and unacceptable.” Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, has said that Trump would likely freeze the conflict along the current line of contact and offer Russia a guarantee that Ukraine will not join NATO, while Kiev’s European backers foot the bill for the country’s reconstruction. Moscow has declared Ukrainian neutrality as one of its main objectives, while insisting that any peace talks take into account the “territorial reality” of Russia controlling former Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye – plus Crimea.

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“..the Clintons themselves appear “to specialize in monetizing their public service for illegal private gain..”

“[The Clintons] are positioning themselves, as they did in Haiti and India, to get close to the rebuilding capital pools that likely will be funded by the US and allies..”

• Clintons Turn Page on Ukraine and ‘Radioactive’ Zelensky (Sp.)

By the time the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2024 reconvened on September 23 in New York City, Volodymyr Zelensky had already arrived in the US to present his “victory plan” to President Joe Biden. Nonetheless, the issues of Ukraine, its leadership and its crises were noticeably absent on this year’s CGI agenda. No Ukrainian political or social leaders took the stage during the Clintons’ 2024 event. This raised the eyebrows of those who remember how the Clintons woed the Zelenskys in 2022 and 2023. Hillary Clinton attended the public launch of the foundation formed by Volodymyr Zelensky’s spouse, Olena, in September 2022. A few months later Olena Zelenskaya received the Hillary Rodham Clinton Award for exceptional leadership. In September 2023, the Clintons announced a joint Ukraine Action Network initiative to solicit funds together with Olena during the CGI 2023 where she received the Clinton Global Citizen Award.

Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel suggested that Volodymyr Zelensky has become “radioactive” for the Clintons. Why is that? The pundit drew attention to the fact that Zelensky lost his legitimacy under Ukrainian law after his presidential term expired in May. The Kiev regime’s corruption has become so notorious that even US mainstream press that used to tout Zelensky as a “new Churchill” is now bashing his cabinet for not doing enough to stop the embezzlement of foreign funds. Ortel does not rule out that the funds from the widely advertised CGI Ukraine Action Network may have met the same fate as other Western funds which weren’t sufficiently supervised by any government or independent watchdogs. The Pew Research Center’s July survey found that confidence in Zelensky has dropped in the US and several European countries compared to last year.

Washington has been allegedly working on options to replace Zelensky with “a more manageable and less corrupt figure,” as the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) revealed in mid-August. Apparently, under these circumstances, the Clintons may have decided that any further bromance with the Zelensky family wouldn’t correspond to their interests, according to the analyst. One should bear in mind that the Clintons themselves appear “to specialize in monetizing their public service for illegal private gain,” said Ortel, who has carried out a private investigation into the Clinton Foundation’s alleged fraud for several years.”Despite at least two FBI investigations (2001-5 and 2016 forward), Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, to date, have not been punished for their charity frauds, based in New York, even though the Trump family has been punished twice for far smaller offenses, in my view following extensive review of their many false and materially misleading public filings,” the pundit told Sputnik.

The CGI 2024 silence on Ukraine is especially remarkable given the Clintons longstanding ties with the country’s politicians and tycoons, including oligarch Viktor Pinchuk and his wife Olena — daughter of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. “The Clinton Foundation, in various guises, has operated in Ukraine since 2004 and powerful citizens there have donated sizable sums, ostensibly, towards purported arms of this public charity,” the pundit said.
Last year Ortel suggested that the Clintons’ reinvigorated interest in Ukraine stemmed from their apparent desire to cash in on “a mammoth rebuilding package” once the hostilities ended. “[The Clintons] are positioning themselves, as they did in Haiti and India, to get close to the rebuilding capital pools that likely will be funded by the US and allies,” the Wall Street analyst presumed at the time.

However, this year has seen Russia thriving economically and advancing militarily in Ukraine. It has become clear that the conflict is unlikely to end on Washington’s terms. Furthermore, the damage is huge and the Ukraine project might not offer immediate financial gains for investors, according to the analyst. “Too much of Ukraine’s population has fled and likely never will return. Damage, to date, has been devastating. From Western perspective, an investment case for rebuilding necessary infrastructure is not possible to make, other than by lying about important assumptions,” Ortel said. Apparently, those circumstances prompted the Clintons to shift their focus to health, Africa and racial equity in order to solicit new funds. Likewise, if presidential candidate Kamala Harris manages to win in 2024, she and her team are likely to turn their back on Ukraine too, the pundit believes.

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“..the US administration is focused solely “on making sure that Ukraine has what it needs to be successful on that battlefield..”

• US Not Ruling Out Territory Trade In Ukraine Conflict (RT)

Washington does not rule out the possibility of Ukraine trading land for peace with Russia, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday. Following a White House meeting between US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, Kirby was asked if he agreed there was no way to end the conflict without Ukraine ceding territory to Russia. “I mean, that is going to be up to him,” he replied, referring to Zelensky. Kirby said the US administration is focused solely “on making sure that Ukraine has what it needs to be successful on that battlefield,” instead of being involved in the “game” of coming up with alternative scenarios and saying, “Gee, maybe we could convince Zelensky to trade this for that.”

“If and when and how this war ends, it is got to be in a way that… Zelensky and the Ukrainian people can accept. He gets to decide the conditions. He gets to decide the circumstances. And if there is trade space, he gets to decide what that trade space is,” he said. Kirby confirmed that Biden “would very much like to see the war ended as soon as possible,” but stressed that Kiev was not getting directions from the White House on what peace talks should look like. The US president announced another $8 billion in military assistance to Ukraine during his meeting with Zelensky in the oval office. Biden also thanked the Ukrainian leader for presenting him his plan for “victory” over Russia.

The details have not been made public, but Kirby said that the proposal includes “initiatives and steps and objectives” that Zelensky believes could end the conflict and deter Moscow in the future. In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was ready to stop the fighting and begin talks with Ukraine if Kiev officially gave up its desire to join NATO and withdrew from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye, which joined Russia after referendums in the fall of 2022. Zelensky rejected the offer, branding it an “ultimatum.” The Kremlin said those terms were no longer on the table after Ukraine launched an incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region in early August.

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“..it is clear that we will have to move from verbal warnings and demonstrations to practical measures..”

• Putin’s Nuclear Doctrine Updates Are A Final Warning To The West (Trenin)

Vladimir Putin’s decision to update Moscow’s nuclear doctrine isn’t a knee-jerk reaction to current events. Unlike, for example, the threat to attack deeper inside Russia with long-range missiles. The changes were flagged by the Russian president several months ago, and from yesterday’s speech we learned that the Strategic Deterrence Commission meets twice a year, which means that the document itself is constantly being re-read and re-thought. The merits of strengthening nuclear deterrence became clear more than two years ago, when the US declared that its goal – in the Ukraine conflict – is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. The West then began its game of escalation. Moscow’s old nuclear doctrine was aimed at other wars and scenarios and proved ineffective at deterring the enemy in the new circumstances.

We will now see the reaction in the West, where unfortunately there are many people in high places who have convinced themselves that Putin is ‘bluffing’, that Russia is ‘afraid to respond’, and that it is therefore possible to behave with impunity toward it. The doctrinal correction is thus essentially a signal to the sober minds that remain in the halls of power in Washington: this is the last warning. At the same time, there is great anxiety in countries friendly to us – and other simply neutral ones – about the possibility of nuclear war. China may already be thinking about it. Beijing – along with India, Brazil, South Africa, and others – wants an imminent and unconditional end to the hostilities. We need to assure them that strengthening our deterrent is the only way to prevent the general nuclear war to which Washington’s mad and reckless strategy is leading the world.

At the same time, the US has long sought to separate the conflict in Ukraine from discussions of strategic stability and arms control. This would allow it to simultaneously wage war against Russia and obtain guarantees of its own security from Moscow. Understandably, this approach has not been successful. The US has realized this, but it wants to present itself to the international community as a promoter of global security – while framing Russia as an arsonist. It’s a simple trick, but exposing it in the majority countries of the world – I would like to emphasize these words – requires our attention and a concerted effort. The dialogue of trust with our partners must be continued and deepened.

If we are talking about Moscow’s next steps, they are less predictable than the previously announced correction of the nuclear doctrine. They will depend, among other things, on the enemy’s reaction to the president’s remarks yesterday. But it is clear that we will have to move from verbal warnings and demonstrations to practical measures. No one is going to say publicly what kind of action it will entail, and when and where it could happen.

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“Whatever Medinsky says is Putin’s thoughts exactly, more powerfully than Medvedev,” a Moscow source explains. “Putin wants the Americans to understand this.”

• Sending A Boy To Do A Man’s Job – Medinsky To Negotiate Istanbul-II (Helmer)

The last time an obscure official of junior rank named Vladimir Medinsky was recorded officially as having words with President Vladimir Putin was on November 20, 2019. At the time Medinsky was the Minister of Culture, and he was briefing Putin on one of his portfolio activities, the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum. “Over 15,000 people attended the forum in St Petersburg,” Medinsky counted. “It lasted almost five days: it started earlier and ended later than scheduled… it was attended by 96 countries and saw the signing of over 90 international contracts for museum exhibitions, guest performances and exchanges…for the first time, and this is a very good trend, the forum was not just a club for cultural figures but also a place that attracted a lot of attention from the younger generation. Tens of thousands of St Petersburg students went to the forum.” Putin said next to nothing: “Yes…Why?..Good…Very good…A very good festival, we need to cooperate with them…Good. Thank you.”

Eight weeks later on January 24, 2020, the Kremlin announced that Putin had removed Medinsky from the culture ministry, and instead appointed him an assistant to the President. There were no other details in the official announcement; nothing leaked then or later to the press on whether this was a demotion or promotion. What is certain is that Medinsky’s talk of cultural events was camouflage. Putin had told Medinsky he was changing his role for one of the most personal foreign policy operations on Putin’s agenda. This didn’t materialize in public until Medinsky appeared as the leader of the Russian delegation to negotiate end-of-war terms with the Ukrainian government in Istanbul between March 29 and April 1, 2022. Medinsky was sharply criticized by the General Staff, State Duma, and press for the terms he initialled in the draft agreement. After these domestic attacks combined to reverse Putin’s support for the pact and the Kiev regime appeared to withdraw under Anglo-American orders, Medinsky disappeared from view.

But he has retained the role of Putin’s negotiator in the preparation of a sequel agreement, Istanbul-II. He reappeared publicly at the Kremlin on July 5, 2024, when Medinsky was listed by the Kremlin in negotiation of end-of-war terms between Putin and Hungarian prime minister Victor Orban, and through Orban, US presidential candidate Donald Trump. In the Kremlin communiqué of the Orban talks, Medinsky was ranked ahead of foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yury Ushakov. The Kremlin has not explained what the former expert on Russian culture and history was doing there. Despite evidence made public by Orban himself, the Kremlin has denied the discussion in which Medinsky participated was about terms for an end of the Ukraine war with the US, after the presidential election on November 5.

A Moscow source confirms Medinsky was identified to Orban as Putin’s personal messenger. “He remains the chief negotiator but he has not been seen with the Chinese or with the Indians. This means that Putin is only serious about Orban – of course not about Orban, but Trump whom Orban went on to meet in Miami on July 11.” Then last week, on September 20, Medinsky reappeared again in public, this time – and for his first time – at a weekly session of the Security Council. According to the Kremlin communiqué, Putin began by announcing “we all know that in recent years, history has often been used as a means of achieving political goals with regard to our country. This is often done in an opportunistic and unscrupulous manner. As such, this can be viewed as a current policy issue, and our country, its official authorities need to define their attitude to it. Therefore, I propose that we discuss this today. We have two speakers, Mr Medinsky and Mr Lavrov.”

What Medinsky had to say about Russian history remains top secret. His Security Council speech has not been quoted on the Kremlin website; the Kremlin’s Telegram platform has ignored it. Asked for a copy or a summary of Medinsky’s remarks, the Kremlin press office replied: “If we get it, we’ll add it. Follow the website”. So far as Moscow political observers can remember, this is the first time that an official statement on Russian history has been classified. Russian sources believe the reason is the same as Medinsky’s November 2019 meeting with Putin. It is camouflage. Only this time, the sources add, Putin’s purpose is to expose the camouflage himself, confirming he is ready for Istanbul-II, and is employing Medinsky in the president’s effort to override opposition to the end-of-war negotiations from the General Staff and from the Deputy Secretary of the Security Council, former president Dmitry Medvedev. “Whatever Medinsky says is Putin’s thoughts exactly, more powerfully than Medvedev,” a Moscow source explains. “Putin wants the Americans to understand this.”

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“British Foreign Secretary David Lammy accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of wanting to create a “mafia empire” and claimed that he could recognize imperialism because he was of African heritage..”

• West Replacing History With Propaganda – Moscow (RT)

Britain’s accusations of imperialism against Russia are just the most recent instance of a Western campaign to revise history and replace it with propaganda narratives, the Russian embassy in South Africa has said. Earlier this week, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of wanting to create a “mafia empire” and claimed that he could recognize imperialism because he was of African heritage. “The collective West is trying to substitute history with propaganda, step by step,” the Russian embassy in Pretoria said Thursday on X, pointing out a pattern of events. “The greatest colonial empire ever –Great Britain– somehow links Russia to enslaving peoples of Africa,” the embassy noted, referring to Lammy’s diatribe. Russia had no colonies in Africa, while the Soviet Union is widely regarded as having helped many African nations regain independence from European colonial powers, such as the UK, France, Belgium and Portugal.

“Japan accuses Russia of alleged ‘nuclear threats’ at the 79th anniversary of [the] A-bombing of Hiroshima by the US,” the embassy added. “Russia will not be invited to the 80th anniversary of [the] liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp by Soviet troops.” The US dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan in August 1945. At the 2023 commemoration in Hiroshima, taking place during the G7 summit, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida did not once mention the only country to ever use atomic weapons in war, while arguing that “Russia’s nuclear threat” was making Tokyo’s efforts towards a nuclear-free world more complicated. Japan has recently been taken under Washington’s “nuclear umbrella” and embarked on a remilitarization program, as part of a bloc with the US and South Korea aimed primarily against China.

Meanwhile, the Auschwitz Memorial Museum in Poland announced this week that Russia would not be invited to the January 2025 ceremonies marking the liberation of the notorious Nazi concentration camp. Museum director Piotr Cywinski claimed that Russia “does not understand the value of freedom” so its presence would be “cynical.” Troops of the Red Army’s 332nd Rifle Division reached the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp on January 27, 1945, liberating around 7,000 remaining prisoners. While the Polish museum invoked the current Russia-Ukraine conflict as the reason for the snub, the US and its Western allies have been minimizing and outright erasing the Soviet Union’s role in WWII for many years before that. The USSR did the lion’s share of the fighting against Nazi Germany and bore the brunt of the casualties in the war, losing an estimated 27 million lives in the process.

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“..many of those drafted into service are ill-suited to fighting: too old, too ill, too drunk..”

• Ukrainian Army Plagued By Desertion And Draft-dodging – The Economist (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s so-called ‘victory plan’ is being undermined by the reality that his nation does not have enough manpower or resources to prevail over Russia, The Economist reported on Thursday. Zelensky is currently visiting the US to promote his proposal, which reportedly boils down to the West increasing its backing in terms of cash and weapons so Kiev can continue fighting. The British magazine described the dire situation affecting the Ukrainian economy and dwindling military manpower. Unlike Moscow, which is fielding volunteers, Kiev relies on forced conscription, it noted. ”Officers complain that many of those drafted into service are ill-suited to fighting: too old, too ill, too drunk. There is no clear path out of the army once in it, which makes being mobilized seem like a one-way ticket to the morgue,” The Economist said.

”Some 5-10% of soldiers on active duty are absent without leave,” it added, noting that “fewer than 30% of Ukrainians consider draft-dodging shameful.” There is a generational gap, with younger men eligible for military service being far less inclined to support Zelensky’s uncompromising stance, compared to those too old to be recruited, the report added. In a separate editorial article on Thursday, the magazine accused Zelensky of “defying reality” with his military strategy, warning that he would “drive away Ukraine’s backers and further divide Ukrainian society” if he keeps pursuing it.

Ukraine needs to redefine victory over Russia as “becoming a prosperous, Western-leaning democracy,” after making concessions for the sake of peace. In return for “embracing this grim truth, Western leaders need to make his overriding war aim credible by ensuring that Ukraine has the military capacity and security guarantees it needs,” it suggested.Moscow has stated that NATO’s intention to draw Ukraine into its ranks was one of the key triggers for the hostilities. Its vision for a stable peace includes a cap on Ukraine’s military strength and its non-alignment. Kiev agreed to those terms during peace talks in the early phase of the conflict, but then reportedly made a U-turn at the West’s suggestion.

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“..this apparent double standard contradicts your public statements and raises troubling questions.”

• Whistleblower: Biden-Harris Administration Is Sabotaging Trump’s Campaign (ZH)

With the election nearly a month away and Donald Trump seeing some momentum in these final, crucial weeks, the Biden-Harris administration may be trying to undermine Trump’s ability to campaign in key swing states. We’re now learning that Trump recently had to cancel a planned campaign rally in the battleground state of Wisconsin after the Secret Service denied him adequate protection resources. On Tuesday, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) addressed the issue in a letter to the acting director of the Secret Service, Ronald Rowe. He referenced allegations from a whistleblower who claimed that the cancellation was due to the agency’s lack of “sufficient assets” to ensure the safety of the Republican presidential nominee. “I write concerning new whistleblower allegations that the U.S. Secret Service effectively forced the Trump campaign to cancel an upcoming event in Wisconsin,” Hawley wrote.

“This new information calls into question your recent public statements regarding the level of security your agency is providing to the former president. It also suggests that the Secret Service’s inability to fully protect former President Trump may be affecting the conduct of the [..] This is serious claim, not just because it raises doubts about the ability of the Secret Service to protect Donald Trump, but because Wisconsin is a key battleground state. Trump narrowly won Wisconsin in 2016, only to lose by approximately 20,000 votes in 2020. While Kamala Harris has a slight advantage in Wisconsin according to the polls, she’s polling behind where both Biden and Hillary Clinton polled in their respective races against Trump. If the polls in 2024 are off by similar or even slightly smaller margins this year as they were in past years, Trump may be marginally ahead in Wisconsin.

Hawley continued, “At your recent press conference on September 20, you stated that former President Trump is receiving ‘the highest level of Secret Service protection’ and ‘he’s getting everything’ that ‘the current president has with respect to Secret Service assets.’ That same night, Secret Service secured a rally for Vice President Haris in Madison, Wisconsin.” So the Secret Service — an agency under the Biden-Harris administration — is essentially weaponizing federal resources to stifle Trump’s campaigning efforts in a pivotal swing state. Hawley’s letter continued: “Yet according to a whistleblower with direct knowledge of the exchange, Secret Service recently told the Trump campaign that it did not have sufficient assets to secure a potential campaign rally in Wisconsin for the former president. Other whistleblowers with knowledge of Secret Service planning protocols allege that failure to provide protection for a major public event is highly unusual and that a sitting president would never be denied resources in this way. If true, this apparent double standard contradicts your public statements and raises troubling questions.”

It sure does.

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Now we get news like this every day. Less than 6 weeks before the election.

• Nearly 750,000 Purged From North Carolina’s Voter Rolls (ET)

More than 747,000 registrants have been stripped from North Carolina’s voter rolls since the start of 2023 due to ineligibility, the state’s elections board announced on Sept. 26. North Carolina’s county boards of elections ended the 20-month purge in August, removing an average of 1,200 names per day, according to a North Carolina State Board of Elections news release. Voters can become ineligible for a variety of reasons. Possible reasons for removal from the rolls include death, relocation, continued inactivity, a felony conviction, a duplicate registration, lack of citizenship, a successful voter challenge, or their own request to be removed. Nearly 290,000—a plurality—of the latest removals were duplicate registrations for voters who had moved elsewhere in the state. The other top reasons were for inactivity in the last two federal elections (246,311) and death (130,688).

The Tar Heel State currently has more than 7.7 million registered voters. As one of a handful of swing states, North Carolina could be a deciding factor in the presidential election. With weeks still to go before Election Day, the state has already become a hotspot of election litigation. In August, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the North Carolina Republican Party sued the state elections board over voter registration. The lawsuit charges that the board violated the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) by neglecting to collect required identifying information from more than 225,000 voter registrants. “By failing to collect certain statutorily required information prior to registering these applicants to vote, Defendants placed the integrity of the state’s elections into jeopardy,” the Aug. 23 complaint contends.

The GOP is also suing the board over its approval of the use of digital student IDs issued by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a valid form of voter ID. Republicans argue that state law does not authorize the use of electronic identification as a form of voter ID. A state judge rejected that argument earlier this month, though the party has appealed the matter to the North Carolina Court of Appeals. The elections board lost a legal battle with former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earlier this month when the North Carolina Supreme Court ordered his name removed from the state’s ballot. Kennedy suspended his campaign on Aug. 23, citing an uphill battle in the polls. He has since joined forces with the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.

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The Founding Fathers were very wary of a dictatorship of the majority. This is why.

• Senator Unveils Bill to Increase Size of Supreme Court to 15 (ET)

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) unveiled comprehensive reform legislation on Sept. 26 to add six justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, raising the total from the current nine members to 15. The measure follows a bipartisan commission established by President Joe Biden found in late 2021 that Congress had authority to expand Supreme Court membership, and took no position on whether it should be done. Wyden’s bill, called the Judicial Modernization and Transparency Act, would expand the court over a period of 12 years. A president would be allowed to appoint one nominee in each of the first and third years of a term in office. It would also require a vote of two-thirds of Supreme Court justices to overturn acts of Congress, instead of a simple majority. One provision would subject justices to annual IRS audits of their tax returns and require the returns and audit results to be made public.

“The Supreme Court is in crisis and bold solutions are necessary to restore the public trust,” Wyden said in a statement. “More transparency, more accountability and more checks on a power hungry Supreme Court are just what the American people are asking for.” Congressional Democrats have been demanding reforms in recent years as they have grown increasingly incensed by high court rulings they disagree with on issues such as abortion, gun rights, environmental policy, and the administrative state. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, opposes Supreme Court expansion.“Sen. Graham is staunchly opposed to liberal Democrats’ efforts to pack the court,” Taylor Reidy, the senator’s communications director, told The Epoch Times.“He’s noted in the past that calls to pack the court are not efforts to make the court better. It’s simply a desire to make it more liberal.”

The justices approved a code of conduct governing their own behavior in November 2023. Critics say the code is toothless because it relies on voluntary compliance. Democrats have also criticized conservative justices such as Clarence Thomas for failing to initially declare gifts from wealthy friends who are Republican donors. Republicans say there is no evidence that Thomas granted any judicial favors to any of the gift givers. Thomas has said he was told he did not have to report the gifts and has vowed to disclose them going forward. Congressional Republicans say Democrats’ efforts to reform the Supreme Court are part of a larger political calculation. “It’s part of a campaign by the left to harass the Supreme Court because you don’t like some of the recent decisions,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said at a congressional hearing in November 2023. “This is all part of the left’s political master plan to delegitimize the Supreme Court.”

Wyden’s bill also imposes new requirements on Supreme Court justices and nominees. All Supreme Court nominees would be required to make three years of tax returns public upon nomination. Sitting justices would be recused from a case upon a two-thirds vote of the Supreme Court. The bill would also expand the number of circuit courts of appeal from the current 13 to 15. Other bills aimed at the Supreme Court are pending in Congress. The proposed Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act would allow members of the public to file complaints against justices for violating a code of conduct or for engaging “in conduct that undermines the integrity” of the court. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill in July 2023. One bill would limit the value of gifts justices may receive to $50, the same limit that applies to federal lawmakers. Another bill would limit Supreme Court justices’ terms to 18 years, a proposal endorsed by Biden.

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“..a border wall is now a good idea, but only if Harris is elected. Somehow if it’s Trump’s wall, it’s “ridiculous.“

• Trump: Kamala Will Stand In Front Of My Wall And Say She Did A Good Job (MN)

President Trump blasted Kamala Harris Thursday as the Democratic nominee is scheduled to appear at the border on Friday. Trump slammed Harris, who is supposedly the ‘border czar’ within the current regime for allowing Central and South American countries to flood the US with their “criminals”. “They’ve taken their drug dealers and they’ve emptied their jails almost. They’ll be emptied very soon, within the next two months. I guess they can’t get enough buses,” Trump stated. He further urged “they’re bringing people at record levels to our country. These are criminals. And their crime rate is the lowest it’s been ever that anybody can remember.” “Caracas has become a safe and wonderful city,” Trump continued, adding “Unlike our cities that are getting worse and worse with this horrible invasion that Kamala, in particular, because I’m no fan of Biden. He’s been a terrible president, doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

“But you know what? He assigned her the job. And whether you call her a border czar or just say that she was put in charge of the border, doesn’t make any difference,” Trump remarked. “Same thing. She’s done a horrible job. And she’ll be out there tomorrow, standing probably in front of the wall that I built, trying to say what a wonderful job she did,” Trump blasted. “And the fake news will believe her because that’s what they want to do. But she didn’t. And I hope everybody out there understands that,” he concluded. As we highlighted, Harris will make a stop at the border in Arizona today, marking only the second time in four years that she has visited to witness the calamity that has unfolded under her watch. Once again, she isn’t really going to the border, she’s stopping off there for a photo before going somewhere else. For the past week, Harris’ surrogates have been putting out the talking point that a border wall is now a good idea, but only if Harris is elected. Somehow if it’s Trump’s wall, it’s “ridiculous.”

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“Who knows what they’ll try next: a surface-to-air missile at his airplane. . .a directed-energy weapon. . . a poisoned cheeseburger. . .?”

• The Shadow of the Shadow (Kunstler)

There are many in our country today who are also not insane, just as in France circa 1794. This is actually the chief appeal of Mr. Trump, though he often expresses it clumsily, coming, as he does, from the rough and exacting world of property development, which is full of rough people in rough building trades using rough language. Secondarily, Mr. Trump represents leadership — the sheer idea that an actual person should be an executive-in-charge of a national polity — and it appears that a majority of the people in this land are finally sick of a faceless blob ruling madly from the shadows. Thirdly, Mr. Trump has become a national father figure, a titanic offense to a party run by women with daddy issues and to their Marxist allies dogmatically bent on destroying the family (along with every other institution). As it happens, countries need fathers, both actual and symbolic. What a surprise!

In the mad effort to evade judgment for their acts, the Democrats and their blob cadres are either trying to kill Mr. Trump directly, or are looking the other way while other nefarious parties attempt the wicked business. So far, no cigar. Who knows what they’ll try next: a surface-to-air missile at his airplane. . .a directed-energy weapon. . . a poisoned cheeseburger. . .? The candidate himself seems a little tinged these days with the same aura of dauntless resignation that was seen in Martin Luther King and the first Bobby Kennedy in 1968 — who both went about their business trying to rescue our country from war and wickedness despite the threats against them. Many upright, intelligent, bold figures stand with and behind Mr. Trump this time, people capable and willing to pick up the flag in the event it becomes necessary. Do not fear.

Meanwhile, you have to also wonder: what on earth possessed the Democrats to maneuver Kamala Harris into this race? Everyone in the party and the blob must know she doesn’t have an agile mind — beyond some ability for reciting parboiled slogans — nor much acquaintance with the workings of the world besides her dwindled wiles in political amour, and that she may actually have a drinking problem. She is left, finally, with no one to cheerlead for her but the harpies on The View and the degenerates on CNN and The New York Times who all know the score but are too invested in years of their own mendacity to even attempt to come clean.

Chatter arises that the awaited “October surprise” will involve “Joe Biden” resigning from office to make way for Kamala to become the First Woman President just before election day, affording her, supposedly, a magisterial prestige in the final leg of the race. Don’t bet on that. When he resigns, “JB” loses his power of the pardon. If he exercises it on the eve of resignation and lets son Hunter, brothers James, Frank, and other family members (including himself) off the hook for their global money-grubbing exploits, it will only besmirch Ms. Harris by association. He has to hang in office until after Nov 6, no matter how the election turns, and then he can pardon what’s left of his brains out. Before we even get to that point, all you have to worry about are unaccountable government factotums doing something over in Russia that will make Mr. Putin want to turn the USA into an ashtray.

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“..how did it make its way to the top of the agenda while the world is burning; and why do we smell a (giant) rat?”

• UN Won’t Protect Gaza, But Can Adopt A ‘Pact For The Future?’ (Pepe Escobar)

The United Nations and its Security Council’s inability – and unwillingness – to stop a live-streamed genocide has discredited it beyond any possible redemption. Any serious resolution inflicting serious consequences to Israel’s deadly psychopathology was, is, and will be blocked at the UN Security Council. Cue to a surrealist spectacle this past Sunday and Monday in New York right before the 79th annual General Assembly, where heads of state convened to deliver their lofty speeches at the GA podium. UN member-states adopted a Pact for the Future, with 143 votes in favor, only seven against, and 15 abstentions. The devil is in the details, of course: who actually designed it and approved it; how did it make its way to the top of the agenda while the world is burning; and why do we smell a (giant) rat?

The UN public relations machine announced, cheerfully, that the “key outcome of the Summit of the Future is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to steer humanity on a new course towards our common future.” Nice language, but to be clear, this is nothing like the Chinese, inclusive, philosophical concept of “community of a shared future for mankind.” It’s more like the common future envisaged by the Atlanticist plutocracy that rules the so-called “garden,” which only produces diktats for the “jungle.” Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, summed up the initiative aptly: The United Nations infringed upon its own principles to pander to a group of delegations from the ‘beautiful garden,’ who have usurped the talks from the very beginning. And the majority from the ‘jungle,’ like a herd, could not find courage enough to protest and defend their rights. They will bear responsibility for the consequences.

A number of diplomats, speaking off the record in quite bewildered tones, confirmed there were actually no serious prior negotiations and that the Pact was adopted by consensus with a minimalistic group of only seven nations – all from the “jungle” – trying to put up a Resistance, dismissing the prepared text and failing to add last-minute amendments. Even brand-new UN General Assembly President Philemon Yang tried to do something. The resisters proposed that Yang should postpone the voting until all provisions were agreed – specifically the ones on disarmament and the interfering role of NGOs in the work of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

But the “garden” applied Full Pressure to ram the Pact through, and the resisters came up with too little, too late. A few African diplomats complained, off the record, that their countries were contrary to the Pact but were voting “out of solidarity.” That’s code for being bullied or actually bribed by the “garden.” And now comes the clincher. Both Russia and Iran voted “No.” And China abstained. In short, the three key civilization-states, which happen to be the key drivers of Eurasia integration and arguably the three most important BRICS members, rejected the garden-manufactured Pact. The key unstated reason is that this Pact is ultimately against the BRICS and the rise of a second global pole.

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“..a ground operation by the Israeli army in Lebanon would be “a huge mistake, a huge risk of escalation.”

• Macron Says US Needs to Pressure Netanyahu Into Ceasefire With Hezbollah (Sp.)

The United States should put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to establish a ceasefire between the Jewish state and Lebanese movement Hezbollah, French President Emmanuel Macron said. On Thursday, the leaders of the United States, the European Union, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire on the border between Israel and Lebanon. At the same time, both Israel and Lebanon stated that no agreements had been reached within the framework of this initiative. “I do believe that we still have some hours during which the prime minister can commit and give a chance for peace during these 21 days, and I do believe that the US now has to increase the pressure on the prime minister of Israel to do so,” Macron told Canadian broadcaster CBC News on Thursday.

Macron added that the whole world is waiting for Netanyahu’s decision, since Hezbollah has expressed its readiness for a ceasefire. He also noted that a ground operation by the Israeli army in Lebanon would be “a huge mistake, a huge risk of escalation.” Israel commenced extensive airstrikes on Monday targeting southern and eastern Lebanon. IDF Chief of the General Staff, Herzi Halevi, named this operation “Northern Arrows.” According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, the death toll from the bombardments has surpassed 1,500. In turn, Hezbollah launched scores of rockets toward northern Israel. This latest escalation followed a string of explosions involving pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon from September 17 to 18, which killed over 40 and left nearly 3,500 injured.

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“Indictments are one-sided and highly slanted interpretations of the facts by prosecutors to secure a conviction.”

• There May Be Less Than Meets the Eye in the Adams Indictment (Turley)

The federal five-count indictment of New York Mayor Eric Adams is on its face a damning document of alleged public corruption. The government is alleging that Turkish officials saw Adams as a rising star in the Democratic Party and started to groom him for influence. However, once beyond the details of the opulent rooms and flight upgrades, there may be less here than meets the eye in some of these charges. The campaign-contribution violations raise serious problems for Adams in the alleged solicitation of unlawful foreign contributions. Yet the counts must be read with caution. We have not seen the specific defenses to the allegations of using “straw men” to funnel unlawful contributions and the alleged favors bestowed on contributors. Indictments are one-sided and highly slanted interpretations of the facts by prosecutors to secure a conviction.

For example, many of the gifts from Turkish sources were realized in the form of upgrades on flights to business class or expensive hotel suites. It is not clear what Adams knew of the logistics for such travel or their inclusion in annual reports. Despite their public personas, many populist politicians tend to be a pampered class who expect to be feted in the best quarters as they speak as the “voice of the people.” That was captured most vividly by NYC Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sashaying at the Met Gala in a designer dress reading “tax the rich.” It was a scene with a crushing irony. The dress itself was worth more than some people make in a year and it was just “loaned” to AOC despite being made specifically for her. She also did not pay for her ticket, which would cost $35,000. It triggered an ethics investigation and allegations of ethical violations.

In one night, Ocasio-Cortez flaunted roughly half of the value of the alleged Adams gifts as she paraded as a social warrior among the social elite. The truly hilarious aspect was that it was the elite who were thrilled by the demonstration and subsidized it. The Adams allegations would constitute a fairly crude form of corruption by today’s standards. For the Biden family, it looks like small potatoes. Adams lacked a Hunter and the type of labyrinth of accounts maintained by the Bidens to funnel millions from foreign sources. One of the most discussed allegations concerns a high-rise building built by Turkish friends in Manhattan to serve as their new consulate. The Turks wanted the building opened before the arrival of the Turkish president in 2021, strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The problem is that, according to prosecutors, New York Fire Department officials found an array of dangerous defects in the building and believed that it was a fire risk.

They refused to allow the building to open until it met those standards. The government alleges that Turkish officials immediately dialed up their well-groomed ally, Adams, and told him that it was “his turn” to support Turkey.Adams intervened and prosecutors say that FDNY officials were afraid for their jobs. Once again, however, Adams has defenses. He can argue that New York is the home of the United Nations and a large population of diplomats and international organizations. This was a foreign country seeking to open a consulate and he intervened to avoid an embarrassing diplomatic tiff. Suggesting that a push to cut short fire inspections may be difficult to maintain under a bribery theory. That was the type of expansive case that government attorney Jack Smith used against former Virginia Republican Gov. Robert McDonnell and it failed spectacularly before the Supreme Court. There are other reasons besides flight upgrades why Adams might have facilitated a speed up of building approvals.

In the end, this is a Bob Menendez-lite indictment. Failing to publicly list how you moved from economy to business class on flights is hardly the stuff of “All the King’s Men.” It is more like “All the King’s Upgrades.” The biggest problem for Adams is that the US Attorney’s Office went public with a threat for all of those who do not cooperate and pledged that more will be “held accountable.” In other words, the indictment amplified the tune in a game of musical chairs. Anyone close to Adams may want to sit down before the music stops. That means that Adams can expect close associates to be testifying against him with the enthusiasm of those threatened with ruin by federal prosecutors. If Eric Adams is convicted, it will be at the hands of his associates. The jury will not be particularly sympathetic with a politician snaring the Bentley Suite at the St. Regis Istanbul. Prosecutors love to play on such opulence like their use of Paul Manafort’s $15,000 Ostrich coat. Combined with former friends and associates, it may be enough for the ultimate upgrade for Adams from business class to a federal cellblock.

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“This will be one for the history books.”

• “Invites Are Out”: Tesla’s October 10 Robotaxi Event Is A Go (ZH)

Elon Musk’s long-awaited and once-delayed Robotaxi event looks set to take place on October 10, with IBD reporting that “invites are out”. “Join us for We, Robot — our official unveiling of the future of autonomy,” the invitation reads, according to one obtained by Investors Business Daily. On Elon Musk’s X account this week he wrote: “This will be one for the history books.” “We, Robot. 10.10 Los Angeles,” a photo of the event announcement, appended to the post, said. Tesla confirmed its upcoming robotaxi reveal will happen in Los Angeles but hasn’t disclosed the exact venue. Bloomberg suggests the event may be held at Warner Bros. studio in Burbank, though this remains unconfirmed. On September 10, Tesla invited retail investors to enter a lottery for a chance to attend, with entries closing by September 17. Invitations were sent out Wednesday, with only a few investors selected to join in person.

Investors must RSVP by October 6 to attend the robotaxi reveal, according to the invitation. Tickets are non-transferable, and guests must be 21 or older. Additional details will follow once tickets are confirmed. The event starts at 7 p.m. on October 10 and will be livestreamed on Tesla’s social media platforms, including X and YouTube, the Investors Business Daily report says. Originally set for August 8, Tesla’s robotaxi reveal was postponed to October 10 for “important changes.” CEO Elon Musk hinted at additional product announcements during the event. According to Electrek, the robotaxi is rumored to be “Cybertruck-like” in design, without a steering wheel or pedals, and potentially smaller in size. A prototype was spotted testing at the Warner Bros. lot. Tesla may also showcase its latest Optimus humanoid robots with a focus on autonomous features.

Analysts expect to see the latest version of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software and possibly a demonstration of a fully autonomous robotaxi on a closed course. Deutsche Bank predicts Tesla may also unveil its new low-cost vehicle planned for next year.

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Catch me
https://twitter.com/i/status/1839289377203044625

 

 

Giraffe

 

 

Ears
https://twitter.com/i/status/1839638500452229388

 

 

Smile
https://twitter.com/i/status/1839630922955800866

 

 

Brood

 

 

 

 

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