midterms Archives - The Automatic Earth

🚨 CNN just showed the Senate map… and it’s looking RED.

Republicans: 53

Democrats: 47

Michigan: 🔴 GOP FLIP

Maine, Texas, Alaska, Ohio: 🔴 GOP HOLDS

The media tried to tell us the midterms were over. Reality is saying otherwise.

Keep voting. Finish the job. 🇺🇸🔥…
— Ashley (@AshSavesUSA) October 24, 2026

🚨 BREAKING: Elon Musk just ERUPTED and confirmed Ukraine BROKE the terms of service of Starlink by using the civilian service to KlLL PEOPLE with offensive drone strikes — "That loophole was closed last week."

THERE. IT. IS.

ELON: "I have nothing but UTTER CONTEMPT for the… pic.twitter.com/aZqYVqM5Yg
— The17thletter (@john_john017) October 24, 2026

https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/2114149832528937050?s=20 https://twitter.com/ivan_8848/status/2114149409344598141?s=20

Confirmed data indicates Ukraine is losing far more troops to death or injury than Russia, at least ten times more, probably higher.

I discuss an academic paper by Alexander Grable @GAWL7014 presented at the Finnish Defence University @mpkkfi https://t.co/4NzxVPdGf4 pic.twitter.com/AixWc32URd
— Ian Proud (@proud_diplomat) October 24, 2026

“Trump Floats Another ‘Little Epic Fury’ As Intel Warns Of ‘Advanced’ Plots To Kill US Officials Abroad..”

• Trump Floats Another ‘Little Epic Fury’ (ZH)

President Trump declared during a campaign rally in Florida on Friday that “We may do another little Epic Fury, or they’ll agree” – asserting an ultimatum for the Iranians to either agree to a deal or else face a new intensified bombing campaign, possibly with Israeli help.

“If they’re smart, they’ll just say, let’s get down to business,” he added, while expressing that it’s currently unlikely that Tehran would agree to Washington’s demands. Instead, Iran has been reasserting its own seven conditions, which include the lifting of all sanctions, the removal of US forces from the region, and even war reparations.
Though the conflict has very obviously lingered, with a major flare-up in fighting over the summer centered on the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon had formally declared Operation Epic Fury over on May 5.
The US administration had repeatedly claimed the US strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity while defeating the country “militarily, financially and otherwise” – though there was never any definitive ‘mission accomplished’ moment, and instead there’s been continued troop and military hardware movement to the region.
While the White House has signaled that a renewed bombing campaign on Iran wouldn’t happen until after the November midterm elections, there have been signs that it could come before, amid reports of heightened US troop movement patterns to the Mideast region.
Diplomats in the region continue to be placed on high alert, with an embassy evacuation underway in Riyadh connected with the Saudi-Houthi war and the ballistic missile attacks on the kingdom out of Yemen.
Meanwhile, Axios is reporting on a released US intelligence memo which alleges “advanced” Iranian plots to kill officials abroad.
“The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against US citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries,” Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton wrote in the document, which has curiously been leaked to the AP and Axios. The memo was sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and is dated Oct.23.
It’s highly unusual that a sensitive or else classified internal State Department intel memo would be made public or handed to the media, literally in real-time. Stoking public anxiety and fear through selective ‘leaks’?…
A U.S. intelligence memo dated October 23 warns that Iran has “substantially increased” efforts to assassinate American diplomats and officials in the Middle East and beyond, with some plots reaching “advanced stages.”

The threats, along with fears of Houthi attacks, have… pic.twitter.com/zt8KqxABbC
— Clash Report (@clashreport) October 24, 2026

And so it’s obvious the administration wanted this to be for public consumption, perhaps to create a heightened sense of fear among Americans heading in to the midterm elections. The intel memo also seems an ‘explainer’ of sorts for the ongoing embassy and consulate staff drawdowns from the region. Or it could indeed all be preparing the way for Trump to launch an other ‘little Epic Fury’. The Iranians, however, are promising ‘big’ and not small immediate retaliation.

“The warning comes as the Trump administration considers whether to resume military action against Iran.”

• Intelligence Official Warns Iranians Preparing Attacks On Americans (JTN)

U.S. intelligence officials are warning that Iran has intensified efforts to target American personnel and citizens abroad. There are also some alleged assassination plots reaching advanced stages, according to CBS News. In an unclassified memo shared with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton warned that Iranian efforts to carry out lethal attacks against Americans have progressed significantly in the Middle East and other parts of the world.

The warning comes as the Trump administration considers whether to resume military action against Iran. In the meantime, U.S. diplomatic and military officials are adjusting staffing levels at facilities throughout the Middle East in response to growing security concerns of attacks from Iran.
The memo does not identify the specific countries or individuals allegedly being targeted. Clayton said the intelligence community is working to make sensitive intelligence available to a wider group of State Department personnel so they can better assess potential threats.

By Professor Sergey Karaganov, honorary chairman of Russia’s Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and academic supervisor at the School of International Economics and Foreign Affairs Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow

“Western Europe’s hostility should push Russia to rethink its identity, strengthen deterrence and develop its Eurasian roots..”

• The Great Divorce: Why Russia Must Turn Away From Europe (Karaganov)

In Russia, many people, driven by lingering Europhilia and habits formed during the second half of the 20th century, when Western Europe enjoyed a period of relative peace following its defeat, continue to look for signs of its ‘recovery’ and ways to restore relations.

There are forces within Russia that would advocate overcoming the current hostility and there are decent people in Western Europe, too, even if they are increasingly marginalized. But the causes of this outbreak of desperate Russophobia run deep and cannot easily be remedied and overcoming them may require the complete defeat and dismantling of much of the current European elite. But achieving that goal could come at too high a cost.
I shall attempt to analyze the causes of the almost unprecedented hostility towards Russia among the elites of most European countries and offer recommendations for Russian policy towards Western Europe.
I have written more than once that Peter the Great’s journey towards the rest of Europe, which initially brought many benefits, including helping to create some of the world’s greatest literature and music and modernizing the armed forces, continued for a century and a half longer than was necessary or beneficial. For many centuries, Europe was the principal source of evil in the world, offering endless wars, including two world wars within a single generation, repeated genocides, colonialism, racism and other calamities.
For Russians who grew up in the shadow of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, and who internalized a love of Europe, it’s not easy to acknowledge this simple truth and act accordingly.
Russian Europhilia was greatly reinforced when Western Europe, having been overwhelmed by the torrent of evil it had unleashed, became relatively peaceful for a time during the second half of the 20th century. In the USSR, Europhilia was fueled by the everyday hardships of Soviet socialism, contrasted with the far greater material prosperity of the western part of the half-continent.
There are many reasons for the current anti-Russian hysteria. The main one is the all-encompassing, multi-layered crisis that has gripped the western part of Europe and this crisis is particularly painful after decades of relative prosperity and, above all, the euphoria of victory that swept the West following the collapse of the USSR.
That euphoria temporarily obscured the mounting signs of crisis in European economies and societies, which had already become apparent by the end of the 1960s, when a mood of protest was beginning to take hold. And then a miracle happened as the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc provided hundreds of millions of eager new consumers and millions of cheap workers.
From the 2000s onwards, these problems resurfaced with renewed force. A decade later, most Western European countries had fallen into stagnation as inequality began to worsen once again. Living standards for much of the population began to decline, while competitors started pulling ahead, not only the US and China, but also many countries of the Global South. Euphoria gave way to a sense of failure and European elites are now trying to drown out that feeling by fueling hostility towards Russia.
At the same time, from the end of the 20th century, the consequences of the anti-colonial revolutions of the 1950s and 1960s began to make themselves felt. The flow of resources that Europe had extracted from the rest of the world since the 16th century, and upon which its prosperity and cultural, military, scientific and technological leadership had largely been built, began to dry up.
An unusually long period of relative peace and prosperity brought to the surface some of the worst traits of the European character and heritage as Western Europe began to turn its back on humanism and the desire to serve the common good.
Decades of development in a climate of peace and formal democracy have led to the degradation of the ruling elites because democratic political systems are anti-meritocratic. The majority elect those who resemble themselves, or even those who are worse, and in the best cases, they elect shrewd manipulators. One of the most significant causes of Western Europe’s current decline, and to a lesser extent, that of other parts of the collective West, is the rejection of faith.
This began with the Age of Enlightenment, which created the conditions for the decline of people who, consciously or unconsciously, set about rejecting the divine, the best within themselves. I finally realized that Western Europe had taken a sharp and irreversible downward turn in the early 2000s, when following lengthy debates over the European Union’s proposed constitution, it was decided not to mention Christianity as its spiritual foundation.
Losing its footing and falling behind in economic and spiritual competition, Western Europe is reverting to one of the worst traits of its civilization, which is militarism. The militarization of the economy is seen as one of the principal ways out of economic decline and militarization requires an enemy. As so often before, that enemy has been identified as Russia as the image of the enemy is being inflated practically out of thin air.
We must tell ourselves firmly, we are not Europeans, but an independent northern Eurasian civilization whose external spiritual roots lie in the south and east.

“.. and Using It to Guide Weapons into Russia..”

• Elon Musk Sets Record Straight, Ukraine Was Violating Starlink Terms (CTH)

Elon Musk has just delivered a clarifying statement on X platform, outlining what many suspected.
Ukraine was using Starlink to attack Russia, that was never allowed. Ukraine was authorized to use Starlink to defend itself inside Ukraine and communicate on the front lines of battle. However, Ukraine military leadership weaponized their access to Starlink and began using it as an offensive missile/drone guidance system. That was stopped.
ELON MUSK – “Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be.
Starshield, a different system, is controlled by the US government. What they decide to do is up to them. Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week.
Starlink remains critical to the defense of Ukraine, as it is the only system that cannot be jammed or blown up, at least for now. Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately. This is NOT a threat, it is simply a statement of fact.
Starlink was also crucial to preventing Russia from overrunning Ukraine in the early days of the war, as all other means of communication were destroyed or jammed by Russia. SpaceX has done more to defend Ukraine than any private company on Earth BY FAR.
That said, I have nothing but UTTER CONTEMPT for the virtue-signaling evil warmongers who push for endless slaughter and offer no realistic solution to the conflict. May you burn in hell.
End of story.”
This is exactly what many suspected. For the past two weeks Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been obfuscating what Ukraine was doing, while U.S. members of Congress were conflating the difference between Starlink and Starshield. Ukraine was never permitted to use Starlink as an offensive weapon outside its borders. Zelenskyy and his military were purposefully violating the terms of use for Starlink systems by weaponizing it.
The U.S. government under Biden and Trump would not authorize the use of Starshield for Ukraine’s use because that would be akin to the United States military guiding missiles and drones into a nuclear armed power, Russia. It will be interesting to see how Zelenskyy and congress respond to this statement by Elon Musk.

“Working Americans will pay the price..”

“Senate threats over Russia sanctions waivers can scare companies off, hurting fuel supplies and driving up costs for everyone”

• Democrats Want To Kill Trump’s Diesel Deal (Romanenko)

With Americans struggling from soaring energy prices, and businesses across the country trying to keep their heads above water, the Democrats’ apparent priority is to threaten companies that might help ease the pressure.

According to an October 22 Washington Post report, Senate Democrats are preparing to investigate American companies involved in US President Donald Trump’s decision to ease sanctions on Russian diesel. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has reportedly asked businesses to preserve relevant documents ahead of possible congressional investigations, should Democrats regain control of Congress in the November midterms.
For a party that claims to champion working Americans, this is a peculiar way of demonstrating its concern. Diesel is the lifeblood of the American economy. It powers the trucks that carry food to supermarkets, the tractors that harvest crops, the machinery that builds homes and roads, and the locomotives that move freight across the vast country.
Yet the people who depend on it have too often been treated as an afterthought by the Washington establishment. They live and work in the industrial towns, farming communities and sprawling rural counties that coastal political elites dismiss as flyover country. Just recall Hillary Clinton’s infamous 2016 description of millions of Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables” – a perfect crystallization of the contempt that many ordinary Americans felt was directed at them by the Democrats.
A decade later, that perception is unlikely to be helped by the Democratic lawmakers’ threats to investigate businesses for participating in an arrangement intended to bring additional fuel to the market.
The timing makes those threats extra galling. America is facing an energy crunch aggravated by the Trump administration’s own military campaign against Iran. There is no reason to pretend otherwise. Yes, the president’s decisions helped disrupt global energy markets, and Americans are entitled to demand answers about their consequences.
But recognizing that responsibility does not mean opposing every subsequent attempt to alleviate the damage. Trump’s decision to temporarily ease restrictions on Russian diesel represents an effort to increase available supplies at a time when the market desperately needs relief. It is a pragmatic response to an immediate economic problem, whatever one thinks of the circumstances that created it.
And now Democrats are determined to make that response costly for the companies willing to participate. Congress has every right to examine whether the administration acted within its legal authority. But threatening private businesses with investigations for engaging in transactions authorized by the federal government is another matter entirely. If those companies comply with the law, why should they have to fear becoming targets of a future congressional majority?
The actual volume of Russian diesel involved is almost beside the point. Moscow initially pledged to release some 300,000 metric tons of diesel, with further shipments promised in the following months – a modest quantity compared to America’s enormous fuel consumption.
But that’s not what the markets will be reacting to. They react to expectations, regulatory certainty and the willingness of businesses to undertake transactions without fearing political retaliation. And now, even a lawful, government-authorized energy deal could expose companies to years of investigations simply because a different party took power. Just imagine the chilling effect.
Today, the dispute concerns a relatively small quantity of fuel from one supplier. Tomorrow, the same approach could be applied to other commodities, trading partners or commercial arrangements that fall afoul of Washington’s shifting ideological priorities. In effect, the Democrats want to hold American energy security hostage to domestic political warfare. And for what? The ostensible objective is to keep pressuring Russia.
For years, Moscow has faced sweeping Western sanctions, restrictions on financial transactions and efforts to shut its energy exports out of international markets. None of this has forced Russia to accept any of the West’s demands. Russia has shown it can adapt and endure economic pressure. While not entirely painless, sanctions have consistently failed to produce the political outcome their advocates have called and hoped for.

On a larger scale.

Also, a bit of math I was looking for:

Ian Proud says: “Ukraine is losing far more troops to death or injury than Russia, at least ten times more..”

• Ukraine Is Becoming Another Verdun (Victor Davis Hanson)

The war in Ukraine has gone on for four years – 4.7 years. Feb. 24 of next year, it’ll be five years. It’s longer than World War I. It’s longer than the American Civil War. It’s longer than the U.S. Pacific War. There are about 2.5 million combined Russian and Ukrainian casualties.

I mean by that, of course, dead, wounded, missing, and captured. Russia does not have the economy or the military to absorb all of Ukraine. And Ukraine, with one-fifth the population of Russia, one-tenth the GDP, and one-twentieth of the area, cannot force Vladimir Putin out of either Crimea or the occupied Donbas territory.
And that means the only way that this Verdun or this Somme can be solved is for one side or the other to win, and it doesn’t seem like either can, or for a new power to join one of the two sides, or for them to agree to a ceasefire.
There’s another issue. In World War II, Winston Churchill held an election right after the German surrender, but right at the height of the Pacific War, and he was voted out of office. FDR had an election in 1944, right during some of the worst of the island-hopping and Pacific campaigns.
So, I’d like to make two initial points. I think it would behoove Mr. [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and Ukraine in general, because they’re very angry that President Donald Trump said they need a new president. I don’t think that was the right articulation, but what I think he meant was that Israel has an election coming up. It’s basically in a state of war.
It has a mixed or wartime cabinet. It would help Zelenskyy to restore habeas corpus, a free press and opposition parties, and have an election. And then we’ll see to what degree new people or new ideas in a campaign agree with Zelenskyy, sort of agree or reject him, or maybe the other participants will have a new idea.
The second thing is everybody just says, “[Vladimir] Putin’s awful.” I agree. “Ukraine should win.” I agree. But they never tell us how they’re going to achieve that after four and a half years. They criticize everything that Trump has said, but there’s one constant. If you want to call all of his ideas crazy, whatever you want to do, there’s one common theme.
He doesn’t like all these people killing each other for no apparent purpose. There’s no change, really, in the momentum of the battlefield, and none of his critics and I’ve read a lot of them this week – say, “Donald Trump is wrong. This is what we must do to help Ukraine win the war and restore its territory.”
Nobody will take that leap. What’s the latest melodrama? The latest melodrama is that Trump is less than three weeks from the election. Diesel is higher than gas. Diesel is the blood that makes the American economy flow. It’s up to way over $4.22. The average gas price is averaging about $5 to $5.50.
Here in California, it’s almost $8 in some places. So, obviously, he wants calm in the Strait. He wants to resolve the Iran war. He wants more refineries, and he wants Russia to start selling diesel and refined fuel on the world market. Even though it’s a small percentage, it’s psychological, and the world went crazy.
He was blasted as Putin’s puppet. The Europeans said he sold them out. The Canadians say he’s on Putin’s side. Zelenskyy said he was disappointed. But let me just remind everybody: We have given $140 billion to Ukraine. We are the ultimate guarantor of the safety of all the European countries that are talking about more aggressive action.
They should take more aggressive action. But if they get in a jam with Russia, who are they going to call? Us.

Confirmed data indicates Ukraine is losing far more troops to death or injury than Russia, at least ten times more, probably higher.

I discuss an academic paper by Alexander Grable @GAWL7014 presented at the Finnish Defence University @mpkkfi https://t.co/4NzxVPdGf4 pic.twitter.com/AixWc32URd
— Ian Proud (@proud_diplomat) October 24, 2026

More importantly, what has Europe been doing in the last four and a half years? It’s the greatest purchaser of Russian natural gas.
In other words, they are criticizing Trump for trying to put more diesel fuel on the global market from Russia, which will help Russia at a time when it’s attacking Ukraine, unfortunately. But they’re saying to Ukraine, “Do not hit refineries,” and the world is angry.
But Mr. Zelenskyy and the Europeans are not talking about the greatest source of Russian income right now: Europe’s massive purchases of natural gas.
Europe says that Russia is an existential threat. OK, it may be. It’s got 6,000 nuclear weapons. But right now, it is an existential threat to Ukraine and to Europe. We believe that the Iranian regime is more unhinged than Putin and not subject to the same degree of deterrence as China or Russia.
It was on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon and had been supplying the Houthis, Hamas, and Hezbollah, which are the primary sources of tension in the entire Middle East. So, we were trying to tell the Europeans, “OK, we’re going to give $140 billion to help you stop Putin. But all we want in return, in our effort to denuclearize Iran, is just your airspace. Can we land at a base or two so we can save transportation costs and probably save lives?”
And what happened?
The UK said, “No. In fact, there was an Iranian-inspired terrorist threat here against your bombers. We caught the guys, but guess what? They’re out on bail. We can’t protect you.”
So, we went home. Italy can’t let us land at that base in Sicily that’s a dual-use NATO base. Spain said, “Don’t use our NATO base, and don’t fly in our airspace.”
France said, “Do not use any French airspace.” I could go on. Diego Garcia – the UK said, “Don’t use it.”
So, just stop a minute and take a breath. What are they saying to us? They are saying, basically, “We are going to be beneficiaries of a denuclearized Iran, but we don’t want to participate.”

“— and Lord Help ‘Em, They’re Doing It!”

• There Was Only One Way the Democrats Could Blow the Midterms (Scott Pinsker)

Forget about packing the Supreme Court, banning ICE, or impeaching the president (again): Should they win congress, the Democrats’ shrewdest move would be moving Election Day to September.

‘Cause if elections were held in September, the Democrats would be undefeated. They’d go from the donkeys to the ’72 Dolphins. The Democrats would run the whole country! But alas, they always peak too early. Fun fact: In the last FIVE presidential elections, during the month of September, the Democrats have led the “poll of polls” aggregate every flippin’ time.
It’s become a clear PR pattern: The Democrats build momentum, blitz the media, and peak in popularity before Election Day — and sometimes, they’re so far ahead that the Republicans can’t catch up. Sure, the race tightens down the stretch (uncomfortably so), but the Dems still win. But an awful lot of the time, the donkeys are gassed. There’s nothing left in the tank.
So their momentum stalls — and the Republicans soar ahead by the first Tuesday of November. The Dems are all out of ammo, all out of energy, and all out of ideas. Victory slips through their fingers hooves. And once again, the Republicans control the White House, Senate, and/or the House.
That’s psychologically unnerving for the Democrats, because they really, truly believe their own press clippings: Everyone hates Trump. Everyone thinks they ought to be in charge. Everything they see, hear, and read reinforces how wonderful they are. This election belongs to the Democrats!
Then, when they lose, resentment builds. They blame the voters, blame the consultants, blame the DNC, blame Elon Musk’s space lasers, blame Russia, blame social media — and blame everyone but themselves. Yet this pattern persists, because the Dems won’t address the root cause. (Which is the best possible news for the GOP.)
Because don’t look now, but the donkeys are doing it again: They’re making the exact same mistake — and this time, it could cost them the 2026 midterms.
Between the historic headwinds, President Donald Trump’s dismal approval rating, and sky-high gas prices, the Democrats should win the midterms by a landslide. Since 1934, the president’s party has lost an average of 27 House seats and 3.4 Senate seats in midterm elections. By each and every current metric and historic benchmark, the Democrats should be dominating.
So the 2026 midterms ought to be a big, beautiful, Blue Tsunami: They’re the ocean; congress is Atlantis. That’s the Democrats’ expectation — and the catalyst for their error. The danger in believing your own press clippings is that it distorts your perspective. You overestimate your own popularity, capabilities, and value, which leads to hubris and overreach.
And you also underestimate your opponent. In Hollywood, it’s why so many celebs crash and burn. On Wall Street, it’s why so many corporations botch acquisitions, misjudge verticals, and lose money on mergers. And in politics, it’s why the Democrats can’t resist scaring the [expletive] out of the voters.
Because it’s late October, and the Democrats are struggling yet again. They’re gassed. Even in bright blue states such as Michigan, Minnesota, Maine, and New Hampshire, the Republican Senate candidate is either winning outright or within the margin of error. There’s a very real risk the Dems could lose all four elections!
The Democrats had a glide path to victory: Don’t be controversial. Don’t interject divisive issues. No trans or wokeisms. Make the election a litmus test on Donald Trump.
The last one was the motherlode. The Democrats already had all the leftists, party loyalists, DSA acolytes, and Trump-haters in their pocket, but if they could position themselves as a vehicle to “send D.C. a message,” they’d gain all the dissatisfied independents, too. Including those who disagreed with the Democrats’ policies.
Hey, it’s how MAGA ran the table in 2024: Not everyone who voted for Trump supported his platform, either. Plenty voted Republican because Joe Biden’s senility, DNC corruption, and Kamala Harris’ weirdness repulsed them. The voters wanted a change; Trump was it. He was the “send D.C. a message” candidate.
The Democrats keep fading down the stretch because they really, truly believe their own press clippings. After all, their friends in the media keep telling them the same thing: Trump is awful, everyone hates him, the future belongs to the donkeys. Then they see the September polls: Why, they’re cruising to victory, winning in a cakewalk.
It’s not even close!(No wonder they trust the polls: Not only do they say really nice things about the Dems, but they actually PAID for a lot of ‘em!) nSo the candidates see the polls and are emboldened. That’s problematic, but a disciplined candidate should still be able to stick to a script. (Mostly.)
The bigger problem is that the activists are emboldened, too. They count their chickens before they’re hatched, demanding a wish-list of left-wing policies, revenge fantasies, and political grievances — i.e. packing the Supreme Court, impeaching the president, jailing Republicans, disbanding ICE, banning billionaires, and killing the AI industry.
Historically, left-wing activists have damaged the Democratic brand more than ANYTHING Donald Trump has EVER done. They’re the GOP’s best friends. .

“.. and to Give Lukewarm Support to El-Sayed..”

“.. if anyone is spending time in front of a mirror, and your choice is between Obama and Hegseth, who do you think is doing it?”

• Obama Stumps in Detroit to Promote … Obama (Tim O’Brien)

As the midterms enter the final stretch, the polls are starting to tighten up as predicted and as they always do. Most pollsters now are more worried about accuracy and their own reputations than they are about trying to propagandize for Democrats. They now try to get closer to reality so later they can say they were right, or at least not that far off.

The fact that the polls are starting to indicate that Michigan is a veritable toss-up in the Senate race between America’s Mike Rogers and Egypt’s Abdul El-Sayed tells me El-Sayed likely never had much of an advantage all along. More than likely, his bravado and downright aggressiveness toward interviewers is starting to look more like cover for a fact he knew – that he has been running from behind.
That’s why the former three-term president, if you count the Biden years, Barack Obama, jetted into Detroit from one of his lavish estates to lend a hand to the Democrat Party that he continues to lead, along with one of its new radical Islamic, socialist rising stars, El-Sayed.
Listening to Obama’s words, focusing just on those words and not the context for the event, you’d be hard-pressed to know who he was talking about.
In the end, Obama campaigned for Obama, as he always does. He said what’s-his-name will fight for change, and he’ll get all that dark money out of politics. That is, of course, right after he and his allies spend millions of that money to get him elected.
Obama said something to the effect that El-Sayed will put that money in your pocket. I’m paraphrasing, because Obama is still old-school. Unlike the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates, Obama never tells you what he really means.
The rally, which surely included no small number of bused-in attendees, armed with their pre-printed signs, was held at Cass Technical High School in Detroit before a crowd of 2,000-3,000 people.
It wasn’t long before Obama was focusing mostly on himself. He promised that what’s-his-name would “finish the job we started with the Affordable Care Act and guarantee quality, affordable healthcare to every single American.” That was a reference to El-Sayed’s sputtering campaign promise to push for “Medicare for All,” which has already contracted a case of buyer’s remorse before election day. Most people already know or are starting to realize that Medicare by itself isn’t free, or all that great. And that you still have to buy supplemental insurance.
You can tell Obama, for all his wealth, isn’t much into paying for tier-one speechwriters these days. This was clear when he brought up the tired old trope that President Donald Trump is “enriching himself and his family.”
Even Trump’s detractors knew that message would never fly again after Trump stood up in Butler with a bloody face and implored attendees to “fight, fight, fight.” That was the moment Trump won the 2024 election precisely because everyone, including Obama, could tell Trump wasn’t doing this for personal gain. He never needed to be president to make money and take care of his family.
The only people who’ve enriched themselves from the presidency of late have been the Obamas and Bidens. While the Obama stump speech has been on the campaign’s schedule for a couple of weeks, the Detroit rally was the first time Obama actually demonstrated his support, such as it was, for what’s-his-name.
Rather than spend much time talking about whatever El-Sayed might do as senator, Obama decided to focus more on attacking Trump, who is not on the ballot in Michigan. While this is a common tactic during these midterms, watching Obama do it, it’s impossible not to pick up on his jealousy vibe.
Trump has done a lot with his time at the White House, and he promises to do more. He’s at center stage right now, and Obama doesn’t like that. The fact that Trump may someday be remembered as a more positively consequential president than he bothers Obama. To be sure, Obama was negatively consequential, and Trump and the rest of us are still working to undo all that damage.
Then came arguably the strangest part of Obama’s speech, which, while it was an indirect attack on Trump, was squarely aimed at Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Obama tried to mock Hegseth for being “laser-focused,” and then he asked the audience: “How much time do you think this man spends in front of the mirror every day?”
A psychologist could write a peer-reviewed paper on that quip alone. The very origin of the term “narcissist” comes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, where a young man named Narcissus rejects all romantic advances. To punish him, the goddess Nemesis takes him to a still pool where he sees his own reflection and falls in love with it, not realizing at first that it is he himself. The rest of the story is a tragedy. It’s sort of mind-boggling that Obama would take his remarks sideways like that when he’s supposed to be there to compel Michiganders to vote for what’s-his-name.
Seriously, if anyone is spending time in front of a mirror, and your choice is between Obama and Hegseth, who do you think is doing it? Obama took a few more shots at Trump, and while they got the reaction you’d expect from the inorganic crowd of Democrat friendlies, they really didn’t come close to damaging Trump or the Republican candidates running during these midterms.
On the Trump White House upgrades, Obama said, “He should be on HGTV… He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.” What does that even mean? Most people in that crowd couldn’t tell you who Saddam Hussein was (remember, these are Democrat voters), and more than a few of them probably like the Cheesecake Factory. Does Obama realize that no small number of these people are lured to these leftist rallies with gift cards to McDonald’s and Taco Bell?
One of the better memes for Trump in which he’s always playing the role of Roadrunner to the Democrats’ Wile E. Coyote. No matter what plan of attack the Democrats concoct, it always ends up backfiring on them. Expect more of the same on Sunday as the president hops aboard Air Force One to travel to Michigan to stump for Rogers and other Republicans. This gives Trump a chance to pick apart everything Obama said on Saturday night and get the last laugh.
Trump doesn’t need speechwriters to be genuinely funny, and his jokes are always much more current and relevant than anything Obama said at his Detroit appearance. So, it’s pretty much a sure bet that everything Obama said will quickly fall flat and start to fade into the abyss by Monday morning, all while Trump retakes control of the news cycle.

“.. he predicts she will very likely lose her citizenship and face deportation to Somalia, the country of her birth.”

“.. search warrants, and usually they’re issued pretty easily, but not against a sitting congresswoman in her home in the District of Columbia. I think for this judge to have signed off on a search warrant to go to the house early in the morning to do all the things she said they did, there has to be very substantial evidence beyond just a mere probable cause claim..”

• Alan Dershowitz Says Ilhan Omar Is in Serious Trouble (Matt Margolis)

A longtime Harvard Law professor and liberal lawyer believes the FBI raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-Minn.) home has landed her in serious legal jeopardy, and he predicts she will very likely lose her citizenship and face deportation to Somalia, the country of her birth.

That lawyer is Alan Dershowitz, and he made his prediction on Newsmax’s The Record with Greta Van Susteren.
The whole case hinges on whether Omar became a U.S. citizen, and if so, how. She claims she became a citizen as a minor when her father was naturalized. The problem is that nobody has produced the paperwork to back that up, and Van Susteren zeroed in on that gap. “Assuming that that paperwork is never found, what happens? And what does Congress do about her?” Van Susteren asked.
Dershowitz walked through the legal bar the government has to clear. “Well, they have to prove — to have denaturalization, you have to prove fraud,” he said. That means prosecutors would need to show that Omar committed fraud herself, or that her father did with her participation.
“Now, she, when she made the statement recently, makes the strongest case for why she’s probably in deep trouble,” Dershowitz continued. “I have a lot of experience with search warrants, and usually they’re issued pretty easily, but not against a sitting congresswoman in her home in the District of Columbia. I think for this judge to have signed off on a search warrant to go to the house early in the morning to do all the things she said they did, there has to be very substantial evidence beyond just a mere probable cause claim that maybe a crime was committed. So, I think she’s in much, much deeper trouble than she is willing to admit.”
Then there’s the brother question. In fact, Omar herself essentially conceded she might have married her brother. During an interview on MS NOW, Chris Hayes asked Omar directly whether she had married her sibling, an allegation of fraud President Donald Trump has raised many times. She gave an answer that should have alarmed every Democrat watching.
“Not to my knowledge,” Omar said.Dershowitz pointed out that family relationships come with a simple yes or no. Either someone is your brother, or he isn’t.”‘Not to my knowledge’ seems like a cop out,” he told Van Susteren. From where I sit, that sounded like a carefully lawyered non-answer, which is what you reach for when a straight answer could come back to haunt you, and Omar picked her words very carefully.
Omar’s defenders might hope time will protect her. Dershowitz shot that down, too, explaining that the “statute of limitations that apply in criminal cases don’t apply in deportation and denaturalization cases.” He added that an ongoing offense, such as repeatedly listing a false birth date on official records, could extend the window even further.
And he doesn’t think the investigation has peaked. “So I think this is the beginning of a much deeper search,” Dershowitz said, adding that Omar is “probably in more serious trouble than she’d like us to believe.”

For years, Omar and her allies have treated every question about her past as an act of bigotry, and the media happily played along. Because that’s what they do. Well, a Democrat judge approved the raid, which was part of an investigation that started under a Democrat administration, and now a liberal legal giant who has spent decades defending the accused looks at the evidence and sees real danger.
That tells you everything you need to know.

“Is Ilhan Omar’s response to the investigation a threat to Trump and America?”

“Ostensibly, her tweet shows her shaking off the trouble she may be in; in fact, it’s one of the most ominous videos you’ll ever see from an American politician.”

• Is Ilhan Omar a Threat to Trump and America? (Andrea Widburg)

Image created using AI.

Ilhan Omar is in deep doo-doo. The Trump administration is currently investigating her for alleged immigration fraud, both her own and her involvement in getting her brother here, zillions of possibly false statements because of an alleged failure to use her legal name on legal documents, and allegations that she and her husband have engaged in financial fraud. The first charge could result in denaturalization and deportation to her beloved Somalia. The second and third charges could mean jail time. It’s not looking good for Omar.

Omar, however, remains defiant. To that end, showing her casual unconcern about the charges piled up against her—charges so serious that a Democrat D.C. District Court magistrate judge felt compelled to issue a search warrant against her—Omar released a video. Ostensibly, it is an homage to the state that sent her to the House of Representatives.
She and her third husband (who really isn’t her brother) are “Enjoying our beautiful Minnesota lakes.” It’s so pastoral. So American. So patriotic. To appreciate all those virtues, watch it the first time with the sound turned OFF. And no, that’s not a typo; for the first viewing, you must summon some all-American music in your imagination to play in the background.

Less scrolling, more strolling. Enjoying our beautiful Minnesota lakes. 🥰 pic.twitter.com/3YHFGx00Uq
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 23, 2026

Oh, yes! This is a true Minnesota politician. You can practically hear that classic Minnesota accent. You betcha! Now that you’ve got that locked in, play the video again with the sound on. Kind of adds a different flavor, doesn’t it? It’s a modern update of those old-time Scandinavian Minnesotans, with their European-style music. This is an homage to the new Minnesotans, the ones who look to Somalia, not Sweden, as their ancestral home.
That’s okay, right? We’re a nation of immigrants, people who bring their own music to America and add to its rich tapestry. After all, how else did we get jazz? mBut then people started translating the song and discovered something interesting. This isn’t a sweet Somalian folk song, lauding the little mud hut set among Somalia’s beautiful arid plains, deserts, scrubland, and thornbushes. Instead, it’s kind of…well, for want of a better word, militant, threatening even:
Translation of lyrics according to grok:

If I confront you in the afternoon,
By evening, I will teach you a lesson.
Yes, you will suffer and cry in seething,
You will scream like a demon.
After all, you are not Arabs,
Let the enemies die of seething.
We are the ones who rule… https://t.co/qvCgx7m0BY
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 25, 2026

Continuing where the tweet leaves off:
“We are the ones who rule this land,
We do not wait for anyone else.
We gather in whichever part we want,
We will dance Dhaanto and Saar.
Let me make clear who I am.
We impose taxes on our enemies.
We punish them and fill them with resentment.
We subjugate and humiliate them.

The Free Beacon looked into the song’s backstory: The video was set to a violence-hued hip-hop diss track by a Somali musical duo who rap about how they will “subjugate and humiliate” their enemies, leaving them to “suffer and cry in seething,” according to a certified translation commissioned by the Washington Free Beacon.
[snip]
The song is titled “Nimaan Ciilayba Icaaya,” written and performed by U.S.-based Somali rapper Ilkacase Qays and featuring Somali female singer Hodan Abdirahman.
Omar shares close ties with Qays, and his tune appears to hold some personal significance for her. Omar’s video on Friday isn’t the first time she’s paired the vitriolic song with her own image. She was filmed dancing to and singing the song with Qays and Abdirahman at a party in May with around a dozen other Somalis, according to footage uploaded to YouTube. I don’t know about you, but when a sitting Muslim congresswoman tells her political enemies that…
..”you will suffer and cry in seething, You will scream like a demon…Let the enemies die of seething. We are the ones who will rule this land…We impose taxes on our enemies. We punish them and fill them with resentment. We subjugate and humiliate them…” ..
… my inclination is to believe she means it—and that she’s not just talking about her hatred for those in Somaliland. This is a threat to those who dare to oppose her and her fellow travelers in America.
Nor is she the only one making such threats. This undated video, which is probably from Kane County, Illinois, outside of Chicago, shows the same mindset (language warning):

Good grief.

I warn you. This will make your blood boil.

“You do not arrest an Arab woman”

“You are Islamophobic”

“I am a Muslim. Do not get in my p*ssy. Do not touch my private. I am a Muslim” pic.twitter.com/KKgBEFw3DQ
— Kosher (@koshercockney) October 25, 2026

These women are not humble immigrants, hoping to make a good life for their children in a free country. Instead, whether Ilhan Omar or this anonymous arrestee, they come as conquerors and are not shy about letting you know it. Of course, this does not apply to all Muslim immigrants. Still, Islam is an ideology built on violent conquest, and many Muslims across the West are not afraid to flex their muscles.

“.. a Free Nation Under the Rule of Law..”

“The Outcome of the US Midterm Election Will Determine Whether the US Remains a Free Nation Under the Rule of Law..”

Henceforth in the Western World law resides not objectively in itself but in whoever controls power.

In other words, Western Civilization has been brought to its end. Americans have no concept of the horror that awaits them.

• Midterms Will Determine If the US Remains a Free Nation (Paul Craig Roberts)

Fox News Reports that CIA Whistleblower Tells Congress that Fauci and the CIA Intentionally Covered Up US Government Funding of gain-of-function research in order to make the Covid virus, also manufactured in a lab, more spreadable and dangerous to the world’s human population. The CIA whistleblower also testified to Congress that in 2019 Bill Gates, the CDC, and the CIA held a simulation of the pandemic that they were about to release and hype to the hilt.

For what purposes? The whistleblower does not say. Here are my suggestions: to make billions of dollars for Big Pharma in exchange for political campaign contributions by coerced vaccination of billions of people with a “vaccine” far more dangerous and deadly than the virus; to establish a precedent for a lockdown of entire nations; to reduce the world population with virus and vaccine deaths and to reduce human fertility of those vaccinated, thus programming into humanity a declining population.
The evidence is in. There is no doubt about it. The “Covid pandemic” was an orchestrated attack on humanity, covered up by the whore media’s insistence that any doubts of the official narrative is a tin hat right-wing conspiracy theory.
And nothing is being done about it. The Trump regime’s Justice (sic) Department is doing nothing about it. Senators Rand Paul and Ron Johnson have held Congressional hearing after hearing accumulating and making available the massive evidence, and nothing happens. The media is bought-and-paid for and only delivers narratives that are in line with the faltering media companies’ pockets. Americans can’t believe that “our own government” would do this “to its own people.” You see what I mean by insouciant, dumbshit Americans.
It looks like all responsible–Fauci, the federal regulatory agencies, Big Pharma, the corrupt medical associations, the despicable whore media, and everyone else involved–are going to walk away free from their calculated, intentional attack on humanity. As all the dumbshit foreign governments were taken in by the hoax, they all participate in the coverup.
The coverup works because evidence is of no consequence unless it can be spun to support the official narrative. No one wants to be revealed as a total fool who fell for a hoax. Not only the US and Europe but also the entire world now exists in a situation where agendas prevail over truth. Truth itself has been characterized as “conspiracy theory.” Only self-serving narratives are true.
Today in the United States what is the main concern of the government in power? You might think the concern is winning the midterm Congressional election in order to preserve the Trump presidency. But No, the concern of the Trump presidency is to ensure the success of Israel’s Zionist agenda of Greater Israel. And so Trump and the Republicans are preparing a renewed attack on Iran despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of American voters are opposed to the gratuitous war against Iran and its independence.
As an American, how does it strike you that your president puts the interests of Netanyahu’s Zionist Israel ahead of both his presidency, a Republican Congress, and the interest of the American People?
Netanyahu has led Trump into a situation in which Democrats are likely to prevail in the midterm elections. Fox News is reporting polls that the Democrats will take the Senate with a large majority. We don’t know that this is true. Polls are often designed and reported to achieve outcomes. As I have endeavored to bring out in interviews, the new Democrats who are ideologues are not seeking a comfortable position in the establishment to enjoy the winner’s share of the grift. Their target is the system itself.
They are dedicated to its overthrow, a natural response by those educated in the best American universities who are indoctrinated by their brainwashing in university that their country is a racist, misogynist, colonialist, imperialist, white supremacist terrorizer of women and people of color. Little wonder they are hostile to America. The US Constitution is not presented to them as an achievement that created accountable government and a rule of law. They are taught that it is a racist document that established the United States on slavery. The New York Times–“the newspaper of record”–supports this lie–the 1619 Project–as the truth about America.
The entirely of white liberal America lives in this false narrative. The only exempt people are the uneducated Americans who could not afford the cost or lost earnings of years being indoctrinated in university classrooms. These are not the people who rule America. Moreover, MAGA Americans, the true Americans, have been betrayed by their leader who has put Israel’s interests in front of America’s and abused traditional Americans’ idea of morality by supporting genocide in Palestine.
It is a difficult position for real Americans to be in. How do you rank their chances?
The future I see is the resurrection of law after 3.5 centuries as a weapon to be used for the agendas of those in power. Henceforth, law will only protect those in whose behalf it is wielded.
The achievements of the British people from Alfred the Great in the ninth century to the English Glorious Revolution of 1680, inherited by Britain’s far afield colonies and by Britain’s influence on Western Europe, of a rule of law decided by the people is being lost as law recovers its historical role as a weapon in the hands of government and those who control power.
Henceforth in the Western World law resides not objectively in itself but in whoever controls power. In other words, Western Civilization has been brought to its end.
Americans have no concept of the horror that awaits them.

Drain the last bit of sympathy he has left?

• Israel Has Its Pretext for Total War on West Bank (Joe Lauria)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his generals

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened a major military offensive against the West Bank four days before he stands for re-election after two Israeli soldiers were killed on Friday in Hebron.

Consortium News on Thursday predicted that Palestinians killing an Israeli on the West Bank could trigger an all-out war against the Palestinian Authority. It is still unclear what led to the Israeli soldiers being killed after a clash with what early reports call Palestinian “gunmen.” The men, identified by the Israelis as Firas and Hamouda al-Jaaba, did not appear to be members of the PA security forces.
Netanyahu rushed to Hebron, where in military gear, he announced that the entire city would be shut down as the IDF carried out house-to-house operations. He vowed a major military operation in the West Bank, “of a scale not seen since the Six-Day War,” when Israel began its occupation of the territory in 1967. “The IDF is ready to carry it out. We will determine the timing, but it is coming,” he said.
Before it was known that the Israeli soldiers had been killed, he issued this statement: “It appears that Hamas terrorists were planning a major attack aimed at murdering innocent civilians, as evidenced by the large quantities of weapons and ammunition discovered. … I have instructed the IDF and security forces to immediately cordon off the city of Hebron and take additional security measures to prevent terrorist attacks originating from Judea and Samaria.”
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s extreme right finance minister, also in Hebron, called for a major war against the occupied West Bank similar to Gaza. “There is no alternative to a comprehensive military operation in Judea and Samaria that will lead to the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority, the confiscation of weapons and the elimination of terrorists. Just as in Gaza and Lebanon,” said Smotrich, who added he would push for the operation to be approved and implemented.
Consortium News reported yesterday: “Israel is threatening ‘total war’ against the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. With just days to go before the Israeli general election on Oct. 27, Israel’s prime minister and defense minister have threatened a full-scale attack if an Israel settler or soldier is killed by a member of the Palestinian security forces.”
The article said that both Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Palestinians killing an Israeli soldier or settler on the West bank would trigger a major offensive. Katz said that the IDF was waiting for PA security personnel and associated groups to “turn their guns” against Israeli settlers and IDF troops in the West Bank. He said:
“In such a case, war will be declared against the Palestinian Authority, and the IDF will launch a comprehensive offensive in accordance with an organized plan that was formulated and approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and by me, according to the principles outlined for the IDF.”
Katz added: “The campaign will be short and powerful, and will include the use of ground and air forces, and the use of special means, the targeting and expulsion of senior officials, the destruction of weapons and military equipment, and the extensive evacuation of residents and destruction of terrorist infrastructure inside the cities and in all refugee camps in Judea and Samaria[West Bank] , in accordance with the Gaza and Lebanon model, alongside reinforcing forces and defending the Israeli communities.”
During a visit to a West Bank security barrier on Oct.13, Netanyahu also warned of all out war against Ramallah. “Our enemies are thinking of testing us in these days leading up to the elections. I warn them that we are prepared for every scenario, including what is known as ‘turning the guns around,’” he said.Netanyahu said the IDF had given him and Katz “a powerful, robust plan. … In such a scenario, I wouldn’t advise our enemies to test us. You will encounter a level of force here that you never imagined.”
CN speculated that Israel could provoke such a killing just days before the election in order to give Netanyahu the casus belli. Polls indicate his party will not win a majority to form a new government, it could come in second place and that he might not be asked to form a new government. Netanyahu faces possible jail time on corruption charges if he is no longer the prime minister.

Chatham House warns Trump could come out of the midterms "unshackled from electoral constraints."

Rubio: "We're no longer going to be defensive."@SJKokinda on why the midterms can't stop him 👇 pic.twitter.com/0MvpRf27pQ
— Promethean Action (@PrometheanActn) October 24, 2026

https://twitter.com/EAGLELEAK1/status/2114024723117916418?s=20

🚨Jeffrey Sachs: “I Am a Defender of Ukraine”
— NATO Fights to the Last Ukrainian

🚨Ukraine was used by the United States
and used for more than 30 years.

🚨Now Ukraine is used by the Europeans in a utterly ghastly, darkly wrong, and cynical way.

🚨Miserable European… pic.twitter.com/3mqjuezGLL
— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) October 24, 2026

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

Debt Rattle October 25 2026

Oct 252026

October 25, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:25 am Finance Tagged with: coup, globalism, Ilhan Omar, Kiev, midterms, nazi collaborator, Starlink, Starshield, Trump, Zelensky 24 Responses »

Detail of a fresco from the House of the Tragic Poet, Pompeii, 2nd century BC

• Ukraine Says Starlink Speed Restrictions Lifted (JTN)

• Musk Admits SpaceX Throttled Starlink In Ukraine

• Kiev Retreats On Nazi Collaborator Tribute – Warsaw (RT)

• Zelensky Accuses Trump of ‘Totally False’ Statements (RT)

• Trump Is More Serious Than Ever About Cutting Deals With Putin (Korybko)

• Only Citizen-Patriots Can Save the West (J.B. Shurk)

• The Globalist Assault On America (Istvan Toth)

• Many Western Governments Won’t Survive (J.B. Shurk)

• MS NOW, Omar, and the Art of the Evasion (Turley)

• The Democrats Plan a Coup to Overthrow the Federal Government (IPaul Craig Roberts)

• The Deep Midterms (Victor Davis Hanson)

• Another October Surprise? (Kenneth R. Timmerman)

• A Final Appeal to Michigan’s Jewish Voters (Hanscom)

“There is not a single city in the United States of size that is a majority White population. Look it up.”

-Tucker Carlson

Imagine explaining to George Washington that we don’t have any White people in American cities… pic.twitter.com/gTUIJgKYqe
— Uncommon Sense (@Uncommonsince76) October 23, 2026

There will be no large, white Christian country in 20 years other than Russia

Russia is the last large, white Christian country. The leadership of our country despises Putin for just that reason, says Tucker Carlson

Watch the full MOATS interview with Tucker Carlson now on… pic.twitter.com/3vqCF4iebD
— George Galloway (@georgegalloway) October 23, 2026

Sitting down?

1970 – USA
White Pop: 88%
Immigrant Homes on Welfare: 6%
Debt: $371 Billion

2020 – USA
White Pop: 62%
Immigrant Homes on Welfare: 59%
Debt: $27 Trillion

Today – USA
White Pop: 56%
Immigrant Homes on Welfare: 61%
Debt: $40 Trillion

But don’t complain it’s racist.
— C3 (@C_3C_3) October 23, 2026

A lot of content today. Good thing it’s Sunday. Smiley.

• Ukraine Says Starlink Speed Restrictions Lifted (JTN)

Ukraine’s military has regained full access to Starlink satellite communications for drones and other fast-moving equipment after restrictions disrupted operations on the battlefield for more than a week, Ukrainian officials said. Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara said monitoring systems confirmed stable connections for equipment traveling faster than 250 mph.

The speed restrictions affected Starshield, SpaceX’s military-grade satellite communications service, which Ukraine relies on for drone missions, military logistics and communications near the front lines. Khmara cited direct negotiations and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s diplomatic efforts with Washington as instrumental in restoring access. https://twitter.com/mtntallpaul/status/2113779495333253464?s=20

“Because Kiev Violated Terms Of Service..”

It’s still not super clear, but from what I understand:

Ukraine broke into Starlink/Starshield, in order to make it work faster for their drones.

Starlink found this out and threw them out.

• Musk Admits SpaceX Throttled Starlink In Ukraine (ZH)

Elon Musk said Saturday that SpaceX throttled Starlink service in Ukraine, ending a week in which Washington and SpaceX pointed at each other over who limited the connection Kiev’s drones depend on, the Associated Press reported. The admission came after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said access to Starlink and Starshield had been restored to its earlier speeds.

Musk replied “Correct” on X and wrote that “Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be,” adding that Starshield, “a different system, is controlled by the US government. What they decide to do is up to them.” The rest of the post, as AP quotes it: “Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week.”

Correct.

Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be.

Starshield, a different system, is controlled by the US government. What they decide to do is up to them.

Ukraine military violated… https://t.co/ZXBB8bYfPn
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 24, 2026

Neither Musk’s post nor Hegseth’s reference to terms of service names a specific violation. The Defense Secretary said Tuesday that terms of service “ultimately need to be complied” with, but gave no detail, Stars and Stripes reported. Ukrainian officials said the speed limit arrived without warning, and Zelenskyy said terminals in EU countries worked at speeds above 112 mph, which suggested the cutoff was not a technical failure.
Musk’s account also sits awkwardly with what he said on Oct. 14. He then wrote that “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government” and that any limits on speed or use “are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” Straight Arrow News reported. On Saturday he claimed credit for closing the Starlink “loophole” while still insisting that Starshield, the military-grade system behind Ukraine’s drone operations, answers to the U.S. government, AP said.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk personally ordered the cap. One of its sources said he and President Trump discussed the move before it took effect, while others said they spoke only after it became public, and some U.S. officials said Musk acted alone. Administration denials have been broad. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “there was no foreknowledge,” Hegseth said “we haven’t pulled anything back,” and a White House official said “we didn’t slow down Starlink at all.” Trump has said he did not make the call but that Musk should not be blamed, AP noted.

Finally some evidence!

Turns out Ukraine was in fact violating the Starlink TOS by strapping Starlink terminal into drones they were using to attack Russia.

SpaceX figured out that the terminals were travelling fast by gaging how often they switch satellite connection.

They… pic.twitter.com/dWKc5NOFoq
— Emanuel Quiñones (@EQuinones6310) October 24, 2026

The Journal later reported that Trump called Musk on Wednesday and asked him to lift the limits, a story ZH covered Thursday when Kiev said disruptions continued. Zelenskyy has since written that “the speeds are now where they need to be,” with restoration starting overnight, and Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara credited “direct dialogue” with Washington.
The cap, which Ukrainian officials put at about 100 mph, or 160 km/h, dropped terminals offline and, Zelenskyy said, caused interceptor drones to crash. It also landed as Kiev defied Trump’s calls to stop hitting Russian refineries. Oleksandr Merezhko, who chairs Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, called it “an attempt at blackmailing us,” Newsweek reported. That is one Ukrainian lawmaker’s reading, and nothing in the reporting confirms a link.
Congress wants answers. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) said that if Musk ordered the disruption, “that is likely a violation of law,” and Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) asked Hegseth on Oct. 19 to investigate and report to the defense committees within 30 days, per Stars and Stripes.
The restoration follows a new U.S. diplomatic push. AP said Russia agreed Wednesday to resume three-way talks with Washington and Kyiv next month, and Kyiv and Moscow agreed Friday to a localized ceasefire around occupied Oleshky, brokered by Melania Trump. Ukraine, meanwhile, kept striking Russian industry, with its General Staff claiming hits on a Tolyatti chemical plant and an Oryol electronics plant, and drones reaching Omsk, more than 2,000 kilometers from the border.

“Vladimir Zelensky’s office has pledged to block a regional plan to honor UPA leader Roman Shukhevich, Polish officials claim..”

• Kiev Retreats On Nazi Collaborator Tribute – Warsaw (RT)

Kiev has moved to block a planned tribute to Nazi collaborator Roman Shukhevich, who was involved in the killing of an estimated 100,000 Poles during World War II ethnic purges, officials in Warsaw have claimed. The reported retreat comes amid a series of disputes between the two countries in recent months over Kiev’s veneration of Nazi-linked figures that have eroded Polish support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.

The controversy erupted on Tuesday when the Lviv Regional Council in western Ukraine voted to declare 2027 the Year of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and to celebrate the 120th anniversary of its commander Roman Shukhevich while deciding to organize “cultural, memorial, scientific, and mass media events,” as well as exhibitions and national patriotic rallies on the occasion.
The move triggered a fierce response in Poland, which regards the UPA as perpetrators of genocide against Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia and Shukhevich as a key “architect” of the massacres. Before becoming a UPA leader, Shukhevich served in Nazi Germany’s Nachtigall Battalion and the German-controlled 201st Schutzmannschaft Battalion, which operated in occupied Belarus.
On Wednesday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk condemned the resolution as “unwise” and “suicidal tactics,” saying it “harms Ukraine,” while Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz called the move “unacceptable,” warning that it would deepen divisions between the neighboring countries. Meanwhile, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called for the resolution’s key sponsor, Lviv regional lawmaker Svyatoslav Sheremeta, to be put on a list of individuals deemed undesirable in Poland.
Following the backlash, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Bosacki said on Wednesday that officials of Vladimir Zelensky’s office had assured Warsaw that the controversial resolutions would not come into force. On Friday, Tusk echoed the claim, saying that Zelensky had personally signaled he would not endorse the resolution, adding that the Ukrainian leader was “unhappy” with the situation.
This also came after the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called the Shukhevich tribute in Lviv “counterproductive to our current efforts aimed at further developing Ukrainian-Polish relations.” The ministry stressed that the local authorities had sought no advice from government bodies to assess the consequences of their actions.
An unnamed source in Zelensky’s office cited by Ukrainskaya Pravda went so far as to describe the decision as a “catastrophe.” “Ukraine looks erratic. We have just resolved the previous crisis – and now this,” the source said, accusing regional officials of pursuing “cheap one-day hype” despite knowing all too well what the resolution would lead to.
While senior Ukrainian officials apparently distanced themselves from the controversy, the Lviv council’s original announcement remains accessible as of Saturday. Sheremet also previously defended the resolution, saying “This is our history, our heroes, and we must duly honor their memory.”
The dispute is the latest in a series of heated clashes between Kiev and Warsaw over Ukraine’s continued veneration of nationalist figures that collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II.
In May, Zelensky awarded an elite Ukrainian special operations unit the honorary title “Heroes of the UPA,” prompting another diplomatic uproar, with Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripping the Ukrainian leader of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state decoration.

How to make friends in 5 easy steps..

“The US president is “deflecting” and unfairly blaming Kiev’s strikes on Russian refineries for rising global diesel prices, the Ukrainian leader has claimed”

• Zelensky Accuses Trump of ‘Totally False’ Statements (RT)

President Donald Trump made “totally false” statements when he blamed rising US diesel prices on Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, Vladimir Zelensky has claimed, accusing the American leader of “deflecting the focus away from Iran.” Zelensky’s remarks came amid a growing spat with Trump, who has repeatedly accused Kiev of exacerbating the global energy crisis with continued attacks on Russian oil infrastructure.

Russia has historically been the world’s second-largest exporter of diesel fuel, behind only the United States, accounting for roughly 10% of global exports. Disruptions to Russian supplies have tightened the global market, driving up prices even in countries that do not directly import Russian fuel, including the US.
“The volume of diesel exports is so negligible from Russia that it has zero impact on prices in the US. That is totally false information,” the Ukrainian leader claimed during an appearance on Steven Bartlett’s The Diary of a CEO podcast on Thursday.
If Trump cares so much about US energy prices, then “why do American companies export energy?” Zelensky wondered rhetorically. “Well, because how can the president of the United States ban private sector exports?… It sells and money comes in.” Zelensky accused Trump of unfairly “deflecting the focus away from Iran” and lamented that “everything gets shifted onto us and I’m made the target as the leader of our country.”
According to Zelensky, “the root of the problem” lies in the Strait of Hormuz, where crude exports and other maritime traffic have dwindled to a trickle following the start of the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran in February. Earlier this month, Zelensky similarly hit out at what he described as a “weak decision” by the Trump administration after Washington temporarily waived sanctions on Russian diesel exports to ease the global fuel crisis.
Moscow agreed to immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to American and global markets, followed by 500,000 tons in November, another million tons shortly thereafter, and potentially another 3 million tons, depending on refinery capacity.
Washington struck the deal with Moscow after Zelensky had repeatedly ignored Trump’s requests to stop strikes on Russian refineries. “We said, you can do whatever you want to Russia, don’t hit the refineries, because that’s a world problem that’s caused,” the US president recounted earlier this month.
“And what does he do? He goes and hits the diesel fuel,” Trump lamented, accusing Zelensky of wanting to “make problems for the world.” Trump also said he found it more difficult to deal with Zelensky than with Russian President Vladimir Putin, suggesting that Ukraine should get a new leader who would not obstruct Washington’s mediation efforts.
Rising fuel prices have become an increasingly pressing domestic issue for Trump ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. US diesel prices surged to record highs above $6.50 per gallon in September, with prices in California exceeding $8 in some areas. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week that Zelensky was directly challenging Trump by refusing to accept a deal aimed at easing the global diesel shortage.
In recent months, Ukraine has ramped up long-range strikes on targets inside Russia, including civilian and energy infrastructure, amid continued setbacks at the front. Moscow has denounced the attacks as acts of terrorism and responded with strikes on Ukrainian military-related facilities.

Trump is a man who cuts deals. Putin is not. He is a former secret agent.

But they still greatly respect each other.

“Although Putin might agree to some trade-offs in Ukraine as the quid pro quo for these deals, it’s not guaranteed, but they can still be clinched so long as Trump has the will to waive more sanctions without a ceasefire first.”

• Trump Is More Serious Than Ever About Cutting Deals With Putin (Korybko)

Putin’s top aide Yury Ushakov confirmed after Steve Witkoff’s latest meeting with Putin that “Other large-scale joint economic projects, which offer significant prospects for bilateral cooperation, were also discussed in detail; some of them are now nearing the implementation stage.” This followed Putin courting the return of US investment to Russia’s resource sector in early 2025 and Kirill Dmitriev recently confirming talks on nuclear-powered data centers.
Here are the five most promising joint opportunities:
* Oil & Gas
US stakes in Russia’s energy infrastructure and companies can incentivize it to get the EU to return Russia’s frozen assets through the sequence proposed here. They’d also serve as security guarantees against Ukrainian attacks on pain of the US cutting Ukraine off if it attacks assets in which Trump personally obtained stakes for the US. A separate injection of US capital into Russia’s energy industry as the new “deal of the century” can reshape the global industry by reducing dependence on the Gulf.
* Critical Minerals
Russia’s globally significant critical mineral deposits remain woefully underexploited, but with US stakes in this industry through the abovementioned sequence and separate capital injections, it can be brought online relatively quickly for accelerating the US’ diversification from dependence on China. Russia’s sparsely populated Siberia and Far East regions can also host pollution-heavy processing facilities far away from populated and agricultural areas. This makes joint investments extremely attractive.
* Data Centers
Per Dmitriev’s recent disclosure, talks on nuclear-powered data centers represent another promising opportunity for both countries. Russia’s globally significant critical mineral deposits could be processed in the country as proposed above and then immediately put to use within these facilities. That can greatly lower the cost of constructing them, while maintaining them would be similarly cost-effective through nuclear-powered means. This could lay the basis for global nuclear and tech partnerships too.
* Power Plants
Critical mineral processing facilities and data centers can also be powered by hydroelectric dams, not just nuclear power plants, and the US can obtain stakes in all four – the facilities, centers, dams, and plants – through the return of Russia’s frozen EU assets as proposed. Separate capital injections can help fund the costs of construction in exchange for greater stakes, and any excess electricity produced through new dams and nuclear power plants can be exported to Russia’s neighbors, both in Asia and Europe.
* International Logistics
The mineral deposits in which the US recently invested in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan can reach jointly owned processing facilities in Russia through the Trans-Siberian Railway and then onward to the global market. The same goes for the US’ related investments in similarly landlocked Mongolia. As the gatekeepers of the Northern Sea Route and Northwest Passage through their control of the Bering Strait, separate Arctic logistical cooperation is possible too, as is cooperation on nuclear-powered icebreakers.
“Trump Is More Serious Than Ever About Cutting Deals With Putin” in order for their long-negotiated resource-centric strategic partnership, the essence of which is described in the preceding hyperlinked analyses, to irreversibly shift the balance of the Sino-US systemic rivalry in the US’ favor. Although Putin might agree to some trade-offs in Ukraine as the quid pro quo for these deals, it’s not guaranteed, but they can still be clinched so long as Trump has the will to waive more sanctions without a ceasefire first.

“The war for Western civilization is here.”

• Only Citizen-Patriots Can Save the West (J.B. Shurk)

In a previous essay, I wrote why “Many Western Governments Won’t Survive.” Now I will address why many Western nations will prevail, despite the destructive policies of their governments. Who will save the West? Citizen-patriots. Most Western governments have already proved themselves incapable of defending the West.

They cannot or will not defend their sovereign borders from foreign invaders. They will not defend Christian principles and prefer to mock (and even prosecute) followers of Christ. They will not defend their cultures, historic symbols, traditions, or beliefs. They will not defend private property or the fruits of a person’s labor and instead use taxes and regulations to steal more and more from citizens. They will not defend free speech or the right to self-defense. They will not defend the West’s rich intellectual inheritance accumulated over millennia and stretching from Jerusalem and Athens to Northern Europe and the Americas. They will not defend the West’s way of life.
Western governments have failed to protect the West, or worse, they have intentionally sabotaged the West through many decades of institutional duplicity, psychological warfare, moral decay, venality, public contempt, foreign allegiance, and self-hatred. As Western governments have led the charge to destroy Western nations, they can hardly be expected to save us from the very carnage that they have unleashed. Instead, the coming Western renaissance will arise with the people.
We have seen flickers of this incendiary social revolution since the turn of the century. After the 9/11 Islamic terror attacks on the United States, a patriotic fervor united Americans who promised each other, “Never again.” Many of us thought the West was finally prepared to defend its civilization from the scourge of Islamism.
Rather than securing Western civilization from its enemies, the U.S. government gave us an expansive domestic surveillance system that eliminated Americans’ privacy, twenty years of war filled with ephemeral successes, misguided “democracy-building” missions in parts of the world hostile to our presence, and an influx of Muslim immigrants into our hometowns.
President Bush and Congress spied on us with the USA PATRIOT Act while calling Islam a “religion of peace.” President Obama mocked American exceptionalism during a global apology tour and preposterously insisted that Muslims were instrumental to America’s founding.
Eventually, the same members of Congress who overwhelmingly voted for war in Asia and the Middle East repudiated American patriots who risked (or lost) their lives fighting Islamic warriors “over there” so that we wouldn’t have to fight them “over here.” In another instance of bitter irony, American veterans of those wars are often called “Islamophobes” and monitored in the U.S. as “potential domestic terrorists.”
New York City has a Muslim mayor from Uganda. Minnesota has a Muslim congresswoman from Somalia who might not even be a naturalized American citizen. Michigan has another Muslim congresswoman who hates America and loves Hamas. And Michigan might elect as senator a man with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Both the number of mosques and the number of Muslims in the United States have doubled since 9/11.
After the worst attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor, American patriots volunteered to defend Western civilization from Islamic conquest. Infuriatingly, the U.S. government imported Islamic civilization into America while patriots were too busy fighting elsewhere to defend the Bill of Rights and their countrymen at home. The sting of that betrayal will never dissipate.
Patriots in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and across continental Europe have felt that same sting of betrayal. No Western government ever asked its citizens for permission to cease enforcing national borders so that it could flood ancient homelands with foreigners.
The 2016 Brexit referendum in the U.K. was an after-the-fact vote on, among other things, Britain’s European Union-mandated open borders policies. After British patriots voted for the government to get out of the E.U. and secure the kingdom from further invasion, the British Establishment effectively ignored the outcome and flooded the U.K. with even more foreign nationals.
Aside from a few Central European countries whose people and leaders have doggedly resisted the E.U.’s attempts to replace native citizens with foreigners, Europe’s demographic composition has substantially changed this century. From 2015 to 2024, over six million foreigners settled in Germany, increasing its foreign-born population from 13% to 21%. During that time, the U.K. added over four million foreigners. Malta’s foreign-born population jumped from 9% to 32%.
A new documentary called Replacing Europe traces how European governments and Western NGOs use taxpayer funds to destroy once sovereign nation states with mass migration. As one critic of the E.U. Establishment puts it, “Bureaucracies in Brussels regulate everything except the influx that is changing Europe’s demographics permanently.” The end result was entirely predictable: 87% of criminal suspects in Germany are foreigners; 74% of sex crime suspects in Spain’s Basque region are foreigners; foreigners are responsible for 87% of thefts, 61% of sexual violence, and 60% of robberies on Paris public transport; 47% of violent criminals in Bavaria are foreigners; over 80% of North African asylum seekers in Switzerland are criminal suspects; and after covering up the atrocities of Muslim rape gangs who raped over a quarter of a million British girls over the last two decades, British authorities now hand out a booklet to invaders informing them that raping women and children is illegal in the U.K. and may negatively affect their fake asylum claims.
An evil has fallen upon all of Europe, and Western governments that have opened their nations to an invasion from violent foreigners are to blame. Western governments that aided and abetted illegal immigration into their countries are criminally liable and morally culpable for every rape, robbery, murder, and terrorist attack that foreigners carry out in Western lands. Western citizens who refuse to let their families and friends be raped or murdered are not “racists,” “bigots,” “Nazis,” or “white supremacists.” On the contrary, Western governments are guilty of crimes against humanity for actively assisting foreigners who intend to rape and murder Western citizens.

“Trump stands firm against a consumerist Europe and a woke Democrat party.”

• The Globalist Assault On America (Istvan Toth)

While Democrats continue their political maneuvering in lockstep with their European globalist allies, Donald Trump is doing something remarkable. He’s prioritizing the interests of American farmers, truck drivers, and business owners over those willing to sacrifice American values for the chimera of international approval.

European leaders operate under the naive assumption that they can exploit American generosity indefinitely without consequence. Blinded by arrogance, they have made criticizing Donald Trump a national pastime, believing they can attack him with impunity while enjoying the benefits of U.S. economic strength. This isn’t partnership; it’s treating America like an endless ATM.
The recent global diesel crisis illustrates this hypocrisy. Many “liberal intellectuals,” including those in the United States, rushed to condemn potential restrictions on American diesel exports. They conveniently ignored the fact that millions of hardworking Americans might view such a move as a long-overdue act of fairness.
European elites have grown accustomed to viewing the United States not as a sovereign nation with its own needs and priorities but as an inexhaustible resource for their benefit. They demand loyalty from Washington but are unwilling to reciprocate, supporting Trump’s policies only when they fit neatly into their utopian vision of a borderless world.
European countries have fiercely resisted U.S. efforts to redistribute roles and financial obligations within NATO. Consider the numbers: The European Union has approximately 452 million people, the United States has 340 million, and Russia has just 140 million. Despite this demographic advantage, European nations have long expected the U.S. to defend them against Russia, whose economy is already strained by its war in Ukraine, without contributing their fair share. They call this “transatlantic solidarity.” A more accurate term would be “freeloading.”
This disregard for shared responsibility extends beyond military spending. The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive is a prime example. Its complex supply-chain vetting requirements, including those affecting American dairy producers, threaten to impose substantial financial and administrative burdens on American companies, undermining their competitiveness. Even businesses serving primarily domestic markets can face compliance pressures through their relationships with European clients.
Essentially, Europe believes it has the right to exploit American energy resources, products, and markets while imposing its own regulatory demands. European leaders have no intention of backing down. This is the distorted reality they’ve constructed on the eve of crucial congressional elections.
The Democrat party: Globalism at Home and Abroad
But the assault on America doesn’t end with Europe. In lockstep with these globalist forces, the Democrat party is undermining America from within. While Trump addresses real issues such as fuel prices, job creation, and energy independence, Democrats engage in a kind of “political cosplay,” lost in a fantasy world of utopian ideals and disconnected from the struggles of everyday Americans.
Their domestic policies have devolved into a series of unproductive experiments. Their failure to secure the southern border has unleashed a wave of illegal immigration, fueling crime and overwhelming social services. The radical socialist programs they support require unsustainable taxation and government spending, threatening inflation and economic stagnation.
Dividing America: Elites vs. the Heartland
Democrats are widening the gap between Washington and the heartland. Coastal elites, comfortable in their offices and insulated from reality, view the problems of ordinary Americans as mere statistics or talking points for the next campaign rally.
Rather than strengthening the industrial base or supporting the middle class, Democrats devote resources to ideological wars and questionable social trends. They have weaponized the justice system against conservatives, while mainstream media and social networks suppress dissenting voices and censor conservative opinions. Their relentless cultural warfare, fueled by woke agendas and disdain for traditional values, threatens to erode America’s national identity.
It Is Necessary to Put America First
While Democrat activists continue to impose their radical agenda, Donald Trump is doing what any true patriot would do—defending his people. Unlike Democrats, who sacrifice national interests for the approval of European salons and globalist elites, Trump prioritizes Americans.
To Trump, the voice of a working-class American struggling with inflation matters far more than the demands of foreign leaders. He believes that ordinary Americans, not bureaucrats in Brussels or politicians in Washington, will make America great again.

“Why would citizens defend governments that abuse them?”

• Many Western Governments Won’t Survive (J.B. Shurk)

Western governments have put themselves in mortal danger. They are actively doing things that are destroying their countries:
(1) replacing their native citizens with unassimilable foreigners;
(2) centralizing government power in unelected and unaccountable bureaucracies;
(3) censoring and criminalizing public dissent;
(4) offshoring industrial and manufacturing jobs;
(5) exacerbating energy costs and general inflation by demonizing hydrocarbons and pushing “global warming” delusions;
(6) increasing taxes, government spending, and public welfare in unsustainable ways;
(7) demolishing their nations’ historical identities, traditions, beliefs, and common cultures;
(8) providing foreigners with “free” homes, food, and educations, while accusing native citizens of being “racists,” “xenophobes,” and “white supremacists”;
(9) discouraging healthy marriages and stable families; and
(10) indoctrinating the youngest generations to believe that war, “climate change,” overpopulation, and economic collapse will prevent them from ever having happy, hopeful, purposeful futures.

Those are just ten ways that Western governments are hurting their citizens. There are many more. But a reasonable person should be able to read the above paragraph and understand that nations cannot survive under such a destructive barrage of harmful policies.
Western governments are waging wars against their own nations. The progress of these wars may look a little different in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, Australia, Canada, and the United States, but what happens in one country soon enough spreads to all the rest. It is as if Western leaders got together many years ago and agreed that their countries would drink cyanide-laced Kool-Aid and take long dirt naps.
Perhaps they formed this suicide pact during an “elite” gathering of the World Economic Forum, the World Health Organization, or the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Perhaps they chanted, “Build back better,” in unison while voting to euthanize the West.
Adversarial political parties ostensibly compete for control of Western governments, but, in reality, the party system is kabuki theater wherein the same special interests own the politicians on both sides of the aisle. Until so-called “populist” parties emerged in the West, voters were given merely the illusion of choice.
After all, the Conservative Party held power in the United Kingdom for fourteen years, and despite repeated promises to do so, its leaders failed to secure Britain’s borders from foreign invasion or to extract the kingdom from regulatory enslavement to the European Union.
In the United States, President George W. Bush calls President Bill Clinton his “brother” and Hillary Clinton his “sister” and once described Michelle Obama as his “best friend.” Establishment Republicans such as lame-duck senators Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, and Thom Tillis spend more time attacking President Trump and the 95% of Republican voters who support his MAGA policies than they do warning Americans about the growing number of communists in the Democrat Party.
Western nations have political Establishments that pretend to fight in front of the public but largely conspire behind closed doors and agree about most everything. We know this to be true because we have witnessed how these political Establishments work together to prevent “outsider” political candidates from reaching higher office or holding power.
In Europe, the political Establishment enjoy enforcing so-called “cordons sanitaire,” or “firewalls” meant to hinder the leaders of “unacceptable” political movements from obtaining power. In the Netherlands, the political Establishment have blocked Geert Wilders from becoming prime minister because of his opposition to mass immigration, Islamic supremacy, and the European Union and despite the fact that the party he leads has significant public support.
In France, the political Establishment have done the same thing to Jean-Marie Le Pen, his daughter Marine, and their National Rally because of the party’s pro-national-sovereignty and anti-immigration policies. In the United Kingdom, the political Establishment have blocked Brexit stalwart and Reform UK chief Nigel Farage from leadership roles in parliament. In Germany, the political Establishment have attempted to delegitimize the popular anti-immigration party, Alternative for Deutschland, by defaming its members as “domestic terrorists,” “Russian agents,” and anti-constitutional “national security threats.”
In the United States, Establishment Democrats and Republicans did everything they could to prevent President Trump’s election and then to remove him from office after he soundly defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016. The Republican Party’s 2012 presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, actively campaigned against Trump in 2016. So-called “conservative” political pundits, such as Bill Kristol and George Will, repudiated Republican voters and supported Hillary Clinton’s candidacy. Even though Republicans controlled Congress, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan advanced the Clinton-Obama-Intelligence-Community operation to frame President Trump as a Russian spy.

“The questions not asked..”

• MS NOW, Omar, and the Art of the Evasion (Turley)

“I am trying to figure out the way to do this.” Those words from MS NOW’s Chris Hayes say all you need to know (and likely all you will get) from his interview on Wednesday with Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. There is a litany of questions the liberal host never asked of Omar. Those questions have only increased over the years, leading to the current criminal investigation into immigration fraud. At points, Hayes sounded more like a supplicant than a journalist given his discomfort with asking pressing questions.

The interview had the journalistic nutritional content of a Slurpee that would give any liberal a sugar high and any non-liberal a stomachache. Many of us have stressed that these allegations are unproven, and that little evidence has been confirmed to support the underlying criminal charges. However, I have also written that Omar has been remarkably unforthcoming in rebutting the allegations or providing her own exculpatory information. Instead, she has spent years denouncing the allegations as racist or Islamophobic without addressing the specific claims.
While the Biden administration began aspects of these investigations years ago, Omar again sat for another prolonged interview without being pressed (beyond cursory questions) about long-standing allegations.
Hayes exhaustively explored Omar’s feelings and reactions to the recent search while largely avoiding any detailed questions about the very allegations that a Washington, D.C., judge found sufficient to show probable cause of criminal conduct. It may be useful to consider 10 questions not asked of Ilhan Omar. Asking these questions is not to assume that the underlying claims are true, but to establish the facts from Omar’s perspective.
Immigration fraud
It took 12 minutes for Hayes to mention immigration fraud, and he did so by asking her, “How seriously do you take it?” He then prefaced the fraud question with a laugh, saying, “I am trying to figure out the way to do this that doesn’t sound like I’m insane.”
Hayes then laughed further with Omar about questions of marriage fraud and said, “There are right-wing people who believe” these allegations, after Omar agreed that such questions are “insane.” Hayes made a series of statements about how “there is not even a kernel of truth” to these claims before inviting affirmations from Omar. He then made a general reference to “moving on to other allegations” without any details.
The questions not asked:
It has been alleged that you are not using your birth name and the government is referring to you as “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, a/k/a Ilhan Abdullahi Omar.” What was your name at birth, and have you ever legally changed your name? Are you using a name that is different from your birth name on your birth certificate?
You stated in the interview that the government did not remove DNA evidence. Various legal experts have said for years that such samples could put the allegation of marrying a relative to rest. Have you ever offered a DNA swab and, if not, why?
Have you had any contact with your former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, directly or indirectly, since becoming a member of Congress?
Your father was reportedly a colonel in a brutal Somali regime. Is that true, and did your father fully report his Somali background when applying for citizenship? Also, have you ever confirmed the information your father submitted, and if not, why not?
You stated that the issue in this case is whether you, as a 12-year-old child, were a mastermind of a fraud. However, that is not the allegation, correct? The allegation is that you obtained citizenship through your father’s naturalization after he represented that you were 17 years old and did not have to file for your own citizenship. Was that accurate, or were you, in fact, 18 years old at the time?
Your staff reportedly tried to change your birthdate after your election to Congress on federal sites. Did you order this effort, or were you aware of it?
Do you have conflicting documents showing that you were, in fact, 18 years old when you became a citizen?
Reports indicate that this investigation changed after your sister sent you messages and that she is now cooperating with federal investigators. Are you aware of what those messages were, and what did she say in them?

Financial fraud In the interview, when Hayes moved on to Omar’s previous financial disclosure that she and her husband were worth $30 million before dropping to a little over $100,000, he again failed to address allegations that the drop in income was due to fraud. Instead, he asked about her “lifestyle,” then moved on to ask what it is like to be one of the least wealthy members of Congress.
Questions not asked:
There are reports that the decline in your income was due to a drop in the value of your husband’s winery because of fraudulent practices, including selling empty barrels to investors under the guise of “wine to be aged.” Was that the reason for the adjustment, and when were you first informed of these fraud allegations?
Your sister Sahra Noor reportedly listed a Minnesota home address when creating her Grit Partners Consulting business, which received millions in government contracts. That same address was used as a residence by figures convicted in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme. Were you or your sister involved in or aware of the fraudulent activities of Feeding Our Future? Have you ever intervened or taken any action in connection with your sister’s contracts or those of Feeding Our Future?

If Omar had answered them, any of these questions would have produced a scoop, but that was clearly not the purpose of this interview. Instead, Hayes spent more time asking Omar how she felt about former President Barack Obama defending her than asking about the specific fraud allegations she faces.Never has so much been expressed with so little said.
Hayes culminated the interview by asking, “Do you ever just want to tap out?” and Omar congratulated him on reaching the “real question.”Unfortunately, MS NOW tapped out of the interview long before that question was asked.

“Democrats are preparing for an American color revolution in which they overthrow the United States instead of Ukraine or Georgia.”

• The Dems Plan a Coup to Overthrow the Federal Government (IPaul Craig Roberts)

[..] there are sufficient numbers of Democrats alienated from MAGA Americans and the existing social institutions and Constitution of the US to have a go at seizing power. Some of the interview hosts accustomed to thinking that the two parties are the same and merely fight over the grift were skeptical. But we have confirmation from Democrats themselves.

An independent researcher Jennica Pounds discovered “thousands of new transcripts and hundreds of recordings” describing a well organized Democrat plot centered on 300 former Democrat AID officials and bureaucrats experienced at overthrowing governments, blue state governors, and community activists to seize power with the help of the Washington Post and other presstitute media in the event that they can assert a case that the Trump regime interfered with the midterm elections in order to keep Republicans in power.
Obviously, there are sources of money financing such a vast organization that is organized for a seizure of power. Laura Ingraham reported on Fox News the information revealing the Democrats’ plan to overthrow the US as presently constituted by the US Constitution and traditional social mores and values.
The Washington Post immediately jumped in to control the narrative by presenting the plot as a Democrat attempt to protect Democracy from Trump using the Insurrection Act to impose tyranny, whereas the way the plot works is that the Democrats flood the streets until Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, which becomes the justification for overthrowing the government.
Tapes of the discussions of the plot are revealing. One plotter, Luke Pickerel says: “We have to be the ones who are creating an organization that is explicitly anti-constitutional.” Danielle Reiff, another plotter, asks what “happens if we need to go extra constitutional to create the kind of transformation that we’d all like to see?”
In other words, Democrats are preparing for an American color revolution in which they overthrow the United States instead of Ukraine or Georgia.
The Washington Post covers up the plot as “noble resistance fighters struggling to hang on to the last remaining shreds of democracy in a world teetering on global right-wing fascism.” The overthrow of America is the work of patriots, not treason: “A small group of U.S. national security officials has been discreetly advising state governments and congressional lawmakers on how to prepare for the possibility that the Trump administration will attempt to interfere in November’s midterm elections,” the Post reported.
I will not be surprised if this revelation of an internal plot against America is dismissed as another tinfoil hat rightwing fantasy. When a population is as brainwashed, indoctrinated, insouciant, and deprived of valid information as the American population is, all truth becomes “conspiracy theory.”
• The true explanation of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination is a “conspiracy theory.”
• The true explanation of 9/11 is a “conspiracy theory.”
• The true explanation of Washington’s wars for Israel in the Middle East is a “conspiracy theory.”
• Indeed, all facts that do not fit the official narratives are “conspiracy theories.”

Truth is simply dismissed as it is inconvenient for self-serving agendas and the official narratives that support them.
My take on the Democrats’ plot against America differs from the one revealed by Jennica Pounds. In my explanation Trump doesn’t have to invoke the Insurrection Act in order to launch the Democrats’ plot against America. Democrats have already announced that they will use lawfare to dispense with Republicans. If the Democrats win the House or Senate or both in the midterm elections, they will unleash the use of law as a weapon against the Republicans, a weapon that they perfected in their eight year long criminal and civil attacks on Trump and his supporters.
As I recently explained in an article on my website, state Democrat attorney generals have explained how they have the power to destroy targets, as they did to the immigration site Vdare and almost succeeded in doing to Trump, without ever taking a charge to count to test its validity. They don’t need any evidence. The financial burden they impose on their victim and the presstitute media’s destruction of the victim’s character suffices to destroy the victim.
When we have a Democrat attorney general bragging openly about his power to destroy Republicans, you should be able to see that law in Democrats’ minds no longer serves justice but is wielded as a weapon to destroy enemies. America has crossed that threshold, and once crossed how do we go back? .

“Rarely in American history have the two parties been so far apart or the choice between them so stark..”

• The Deep Midterms (Victor Davis Hanson)

There are two ways of looking at the midterms, now less than three weeks away. One is as a simple referendum on the issues and politicians of the day. The other involves a far deeper conflict of visions (as Thomas Sowell puts it): socialism versus capitalism, intrusive versus limited government, and the destruction of time-honored institutions and traditions versus their preservation and renewal.

Rarely in American history have the two parties been so far apart or the choice between them so stark. In brief, Islamist-sympathizing socialism is on the ballot against free-market capitalism and American exceptionalism.
The new Islamist-allied socialist Democratic Party is confident, largely because the party holding the White House has increased its share of House seats in a midterm election only three times since 1900. Each of those exceptions arose under unusual circumstances.
In 1934, FDR was still riding the wave of his New Deal promises to end the Depression.
In 1998, Bill Clinton enjoyed backlash support after the Republicans’ unpopular impeachment inquiry, at a time when the economy was robust, and the budget was finally being balanced.
In 2002, George W. Bush had united the nation after 9/11 and had not yet begun what proved to be an unpopular Iraq War.

In other words, the party in the White House has gained House seats in only about 10% of the 31 midterms over the past 126 years. Pundits also point to President Donald Trump’s approval rating, now below 40% in most polls, and the persistently high price of regular gasoline ($4.33). Uncertainty over the 33-week Iran war, they argue, makes it difficult for Trump to preserve his majorities in either the House or the Senate.
Those are the issues ostensibly at stake. But the choice goes much further than that: Voters face a “deep” midterm election that will help determine the very future existence of the nation. The new Democrat agenda is not about lowering gas prices. Americans are being asked to hand Congress to what has become the most radical major party in U.S. history, as socialists and neo-communists believe they can finally win statewide races across the country. What would that entail?
Lawfare
The Democrats have not outlined any agenda other than “Trump! Trump! And more Trump!”. If they win the House, Democrats plan to spend the next two years impeaching, investigating, and hounding Trump, his administration, and his family. Their aim is to block new Republican legislation and paralyze the remainder of his presidency.
The Iran War
The Left condemns the effort to denuclearize Iran as a lost war, even though the United States has nearly destroyed the Iranian theocratic apparatus along with much of the country’s nuclear, military, industrial, and economic infrastructure—at a relatively low cost in blood and treasure by historical standards.
An enfeebled Iran, stripped of its military and economic dominance and facing an uncertain future, would no longer be able to blackmail or threaten Europe and North America as a nuclear-armed theocracy. Its terrorist clients would also lose funding, weapons, and leadership, with profound consequences for the Middle East.
When the war ends—as it soon will—and gas prices return to previous levels, policies already in place, including tax cuts, deregulation, foreign investment, energy development, and advances in AI, should help fuel an economic boom.
But the Democrats’ plan is simply to withdraw from Iran, count on the goodwill of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to guarantee free passage in the Strait of Hormuz, allow Iran to resume full oil production, and accept the Iranian regime’s word that it will no longer threaten the Gulf states or Israel and cease its decades-long support for the terrorist proxies—Hezbollah, Hamas, and, more recently, the Houthis.
Energy
The party that has repeatedly blocked federal oil and gas leases, canceled the construction or reconstruction of dozens of pipelines, and spent billions of dollars to subsidize unreliable, costly, and inefficient solar and wind power is now promising to lower the price of fossil fuels? Who really believes that?
Instead, the Left has vowed to end the production of natural gas, diesel, and gasoline as quickly as possible. Voters need only look at the once robust British and German economies, now struggling after years of restrictions on oil and natural gas exploration and development, as well as Germany’s elimination of nuclear power.
We should recall Barack Obama’s energy secretary Steven Chu. He infamously let slip that his goal was to keep American energy prices at European levels. In the U.K. and Germany, gasoline is currently around $9 a gallon—a great thing for Democratic Socialists who see high fuel prices as the best way to cool the planet and remain in power.
Gasoline in the United States now averages only $4.33 despite Iranian oil being off the market, attacks in the Gulf, and Iran’s attempted blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The reason is that Democrats were prevented from blocking new fossil fuel leases, pipelines, refineries, and fracking between 2017 and 2021 and again from 2025 onward.
Immigration
Almost none of the current Democrat candidates—at least until the eve of the 2024 election—criticized the Biden administration’s destruction of the southern border, much less the open-armed embrace with which it welcomed some 10 million to 12 million illegal aliens, including 500,000 criminals.
The Left wants to dismantle border enforcement and the wall and to ensure that the current near-zero level of illegal immigration expands to the Biden administration’s peak of 10,000-plus illegal entries per day. Voters may be disturbed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement detentions, but they should remember a high-profile ICE presence was only necessary because the border was effectively eliminated by Joe Biden.
By contrast, it is almost impossible now to find Biden’s millions of illegal aliens who were deliberately dispersed by the Left throughout the country—and particularly into Democrat sanctuary-city states. The Left will never close the border. Nor will it ever allow immigration to become entirely legal, meritocratic, diverse, and manageable, because to do so would cut off the Left’s supply of future constituents.
Fraud
Some estimates put aggregate current federal-program fraud at nearly $500 billion annually. There is also widespread welfare and social services fraud concentrated in blue states like California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York.
In these states, welfare and social services are generous and, by design, subject to little scrutiny. Fraud is treated as a minor problem in what Democrats regard as a successful effort to attract voters with federal and state dollars. Few major Democrat officeholders sincerely denounce such fraud, since doing so could cost them votes.

“The Democrats would love the Iranians to pull off their own October Surprise this year. “

• Another October Surprise? (Kenneth R. Timmerman)

The Democrats first invented the term “October Surprise” in 1980, to describe what they claimed were secret efforts by the Reagan campaign to delay the release of our hostages in Tehran until after that year’s presidential election. vDepending on the version you read, the negotiations with Iranian intermediaries were conducted by vice-presidential nominee George H.W. Bush or by Reagan’s campaign manager and future CIA Director, Bill Casey.

Abolhassan Banisadr, who was Khomeini’s spokesman during his brief exile in France and later became the Islamic Republic’s first president until he broke with Khomeini in June 1981, was absolutely convinced the October Surprise was real. But neither he, nor Democrat conspiracy-theorists such as Gary Sick, were ever able to prove it. I interviewed most of the alleged co-conspirators as a young journalist in Paris in the mid-1980s, and I can tell you definitively: it never happened.
But that hasn’t stopped the Democrats from believing it was true in 1980, and continuing to attempt their own October Surprise against Republican presidents ever since.vPresident Trump this week accused Iran of “making up fake hits, mines, and everything else” in an effort to drive up the price of oil before the midterms. vAnd they have had some success, with the price of Brent crude briefly spiking to $116/barrel and West Texas crude topping $102, primarily because of supply bottlenecks in Asian markets.
The job of Republicans and the President is to convince Americans that high gas prices are a small price to pay for preventing a nuclear-armed Iran with missiles pointed at us and at Israel. And those who argue Iran does not have ICBM capabilities, let me remind you: they don’t need them.
As I pointed out in Countdown to Crisis: the Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran, the IRGC has long practiced launching a nuclear payload from a surface vessel, such as a tramp steamer loitering, say, two hundred miles off our coast. Some in the military refer to this as the “SCUD in a bucket scenario.”
Big diplomatic efforts appeared to make a comeback this week. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov went to Tehran to discuss a potential peace deal that would require the IRGC to send the “nuclear dust” to Russia in exchange for an end of the U.S. economic and military blockade. A Qatari-owned news outlet, al-Araby al-Jadeed, even claimed that this would be part of a “breakthrough agreement” announced this week, and was tied to a future Russia-U.S.-China summit.
Well, that didn’t happen. Why? Because as I have been saying since cows learned to come home at night, the Revolutionary Guards will never ever give up their nuclear weapons capabilities. Without them, they would cease to exist.There are only two ways to get Iran to give up the nuclear dust. Take it from them by force, or get the people of Iran to hand it over once we have armed them and they replace the Islamic regime.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the UAE was carrying out military strikes inside Iran, apparently with ground troops. And on Thursday, video appeared on X of huge explosive fires at an aluminum plant at Arak, where the IRGC was making oxidizer for solid fuel missiles.
CENTCOM has been uncharacteristically quiet in recent weeks. Instead of acknowledging U.S. counterstrikes following Iranian attacks on shipping in the Gulf, they just bombed Iran’s largest naval base at Bandar Abbas this week in the early hours of Tuesday without a word.
All of this is part of President Trump’s strategy to downplay the Iran war and keep his powder dry for whenever he decides to launch the knockout blow everyone is expecting to come.

Which America do you want?

• A Final Appeal to Michigan’s Jewish Voters (Hanscom)

Does New Zealand have a right to exist?

Retired Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz posed this question in an interview this week with JNS TV’s Jonathan Tobin, pointing out that the island country is the “paradigm of a colonial settler state.” He noted that British settlers, who had never been to an island in the Pacific, colonized New Zealand, murdered many Maori, and used what he called a fake treaty to set up a country.
By contrast, he said, the history of Jews in Israel goes back more than 3,500 years. He added that Jews have never stopped living in the land, while Palestinians have had many opportunities to establish their own state. Dershowitz then brought up Taishya Adams, the Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed candidate for mayor of Boulder, Colo., who won’t say that Israel has a right to exist but has never questioned New Zealand’s founding.
Adams isn’t the only Democratic candidate this cycle with an obsession with and pronounced hostility toward Israel, and Jewish Democrats in Boulder aren’t the only voters facing a test of their loyalty to the party.
Tobin noted that leading Jewish Democrats in Michigan are supporting Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate race despite his alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. That includes Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.). Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who has endorsed El-Sayed, told Jewish Democrats they have a moral duty to put the world’s needs above “even our own survival.”
Tobin asked Dershowitz, who voted Democratic most of his life before leaving the party and registering as a Republican this year, whether there was any justification for Nessel’s position. Dershowitz’s answer should be required reading for any Jewish Democrat still considering voting for El-Sayed, a man who is unable to say that Iran is a bigger threat to the U.S. than Israel, and who said that “hurt people hurt people” after a terrorist attack on a synagogue in Michigan:
The idea of putting party before your own people is absurd. And, you know, Jews voted for Mussolini, too. If Jews lived in China, they would have voted for the Communist Party there too, as they supported Stalin. Many, many did during the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, even before being oppressed and, you know, thrown into the gulag or killed. Yeah.
And you know what? I knew a lot of Russian Jews because I represented them, and I’d meet sometimes, and they would say, “Oh, we’re not in danger. It’s only those Jews that are in danger, like Sharansky.” And, you know, the answer is always: first they come for the Sharanskys, then they come for the ordinary Jews, and then they come for the Catholics and the Protestants and everybody else. So you don’t have to be a single-issue person to be concerned about what’s happened with the Democratic Party today.
This is why Dershowitz now wants Democrats to be defeated in every election and why he supports President Donald Trump, probably the most pro-Israel U.S. president in American history. But is it Trump, or better yet, Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), that will ultimately keep way too many Jewish Democrats, even the ones concerned about the party becoming anti-Israel, in the Democratic tent?
In answer to this question, Dershowitz mentioned a Jew he knows very well: his wife. Although she left the Democratic Party and registered as an independent, she can’t bring herself to join the GOP. Dershowitz agreed with Tobin that it’s not about the issues but about the man.
Jewish Democratic voters need to look deep within themselves and ask why this man, who recognizes the existential threat Iran poses to Israel and the United States and who struck the Iranian regime in what Ben Shapiro called “the single bravest foreign policy move of my lifetime,” provokes such rage.

Ukraine could have thrived as a neutral country. Then the Nulands arrived and decided to wreck the country, turn it into a NATO colony and use it as cannon fodder to destabilise Russia. Unconscionable. https://t.co/BT93SshdRK
— Thomas Fazi (@battleforeurope) October 23, 2026

https://twitter.com/TruthTrumpPost/status/2113735189046108513?s=20

OVER 10 TOP ATHLETES DEAD OR HIT BY SUDDEN HEALTH EMERGENCIES IN OCTOBER 2026 ALONE

Across the NFL, NHL, NCAA, WNBA, and international pro leagues, world-class athletes continue to suffer blood clots, turbo cancers, cardiac arrests, aortic dissections, undergo heart transplants,… pic.twitter.com/UEH6QiEdMa
— Nicolas Hulscher, MPH (@NicHulscher) October 23, 2026

Funny … and sad. pic.twitter.com/hRJYRhrNNe
— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) October 23, 2026

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Debt Rattle October 11 2026

Oct 112026

October 11, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 8:32 am Finance Tagged with: Barack Obama, midterms, Nobel Peace Prize, press secretary, Putin, Trump, Tulsi Gabbard 32 Responses »

Jackson Pollock Reflection of the Big Dipper 1947

• In First, Putin Conveys High Level Message To Trump On Ending Iran War (ZH)

• Putin and Trump Hold ‘Successful’ Talks (RT)

• Zelenskyy Urgently Attacks Russian Oil/Fuel Export Terminal (CTH)

• Trump Says “Time For Ukraine To Get A New Leader” (ZH)

• Europe and Russia Flirt with Nuclear War (J.B. Shurk)

• The Last Revolution of Barack Obama (Scott Pinsker)

• House Dems’ Dire Donor Warning Hints at Trouble Before Midterms (Margolis)

• Trump Picks New Press Secretary (Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell)

• Germany: 87% of Suspects With An Arrest Warrant Are Foreigners (RMX)

• Tulsi Gabbard Warns About Modern Surveillance State and Islamic Extremism (CTH)

• Are Democrats Trying to Steal the Election for El-Sayed? (Matt Margolis)

• Trump Petitions Supreme Court to Reinstate Lawsuit Against Clinton, DNC (ET)

• The Nobel Peace Prize: An Exercise In Moral Depravity (A.J. Christopher)

• Chris Rock Makes an Excellent Point About Wokeness (Anderson)

President Trump looks directly at Elon Musk telling him he’s our Modern Day Thomas Edison saying:

“You’re my friend and all of that, but you are a very very special guy”

This warms my heart ❤️ pic.twitter.com/1kALhGcKgK
— MAGA Voice (@MAGAVoice) October 8, 2026

https://twitter.com/MarioBojic/status/2108668510083711186?s=20

Congratulations to Sergey, Jensen, Lisa, Michael and Satya! https://t.co/m495Nwiz7W
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 8, 2026

New poll show Republicans leading in nine key Senate races https://t.co/nApoTQ56QZ
— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) October 9, 2026

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2108633908556574836?s=20

This could break open the whole case.

When it started 6 months or so ago, I said they (Iran and US) needed to find the right words to save each other’s face.

But that can also be a “third face”. Back then, I never thought of it.

And you know, Iran might listen. Everybody listens when Putin speaks.

But we still don’t know who’s listening for Iran.

• In First, Putin Conveys High Level Message To Trump On Ending Iran War (ZH)

In a significant first of the seven-month long Iran war, Russian President Vladimir Putin has relayed to US President ` Donald Trump Tehran’s position on a possible resolution to the US-Iran war, according to the Kremlin. So far it is only the Kremlin readout of the two leaders’ Friday call which mentions the Iran proposal was conveyed, however it didn’t specify what they discussed in particular.

“During the October 9 telephone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump, considerable focus was on prospects for settling the Ukraine crisis, while the situation surrounding Iran and various aspects of bilateral relations were touched upon as well,” Putin said in the statement. While the big news of the weekend is the major Trump-Putin diesel deal, if it is confirmed that Putin has begun directly mediating on behalf of Tehran, this marks a huge precedent and possible turning point in the Iran conflict.
According to more on the call as it pertains to the Iran situation: Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying Putin sent the message to Trump “in agreement with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian,” according to a Google translation. Other Russian media reports said Putin spoke to Trump by phone after the Russian leader met Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a summit in Turkmenistan.
Interfax didn’t elaborate on the specifics of how Iran sees the war — which began on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iranian targets — coming to an end. There were reports early after Trump launching Operation Epic Fury that Moscow was willing to help negotiate peace between Moscow and Tehran; however, Moscow has largely been on the sidelines – and Qatar and Pakistan in particular have been the lead mediators.
Given Trump just did the controversial Russian diesel deal, this could be a real opening to finally bring the Hormuz Strait crisis to an end. Iran’s military has been flexing, even as the US Navy has boasted of record numbers of tankers having gotten through Hormuz. In just October alone, the Iranians have attacked eleven ships trying to traverse the strait.
President Trump continues to act as if all is well, writing in his latest Truth Social: “I settled 8 WARS, am close to ending or settling 2 more, got all of the Israeli hostages back, including the final 28, both living and dead, had hundreds of hostages, from countries all over the World, released and sent back home, won a war in Venezuela, and captured the violent dictator who so viciously ran that country, and stopped the number one state sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, from obtaining a Nuclear Weapon — AND MUCH MORE!”
https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/2108871412161413594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2108871412161413594%7Ctwgr%5E9b5a82116b25dc74bd0a9f03fc6e55823d0be2e1%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%twitterA%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Ffirst-putin-conveys-high-level-message-trump-ending-iran-war

“Yet, with all of that I, or the United States of America, did not get the Noble Peace Prize. WOW!” he added. But the Iran war, which the White House in the opening days kept promising would be swift and decisive, has devolved into a quagmire and Trump needs an acceptable exit before it limps on indefinitely, threatening to become his own Mideast ‘forever war’ legacy.

“The leaders discussed a major diesel deal, Ukraine peace negotiations, Iran diplomacy, and closer bilateral contacts during a 90-minute phone call ..”

• Putin and Trump Hold ‘Successful’ Talks (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump held a 90-minute phone conversation on Friday, discussing the Ukraine conflict, a major agreement on Russian diesel supplies, the crisis surrounding Iran, and prospects for broader cooperation between Moscow and Washington.

Trump described the exchange as “highly successful,” announcing that Russia had agreed to supply millions of tons of diesel fuel to American and global markets in an effort to ease soaring energy prices. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said the conversation was friendly and substantive, revealing that Trump had rearranged his schedule to speak with Putin following the Russian leader’s 74th birthday. Here are the key takeaways from the conversation, according to statements by both leaders and the Kremlin’s detailed readout.
Millions of tons of Russian diesel for the US
The most immediate result of the talks was a major energy agreement under which Russia will increase diesel exports to the US and global markets, potentially helping alleviate an international fuel shortage. Trump announced that Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by another 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons shortly thereafter. He also suggested that Russia could deliver an additional 3 million tons, depending on the condition of its refineries.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak subsequently confirmed that Moscow would begin lifting its diesel export restrictions ahead of schedule, reiterating the announced volumes and clarifying that exports could eventually reach 3 million tons per month, while assuring that Russia’s domestic market would remain fully supplied. The US Treasury also issued a temporary sanctions waiver covering Russian diesel shipments until April 7, 2027.
Trump predicted that the agreement, together with Washington’s claimed control of the Strait of Hormuz, would bring diesel prices down rapidly, particularly benefiting American farmers, truckers and consumers.
Kiev ‘derailed’ peace talks
The Ukraine conflict dominated much of the discussion, with Putin briefing Trump on the situation along the front line and Moscow’s response to Ukrainian “terrorist strikes” on infrastructure and civilian targets deep inside Russian territory. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow retained the initiative and remained committed to its objectives, while expressing readiness for a lasting diplomatic settlement.
However, Putin said that Kiev had effectively sabotaged plans for the immediate resumption of trilateral negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States. During their previous conversation, the two leaders had discussed restarting the talks shortly after Russia’s State Duma elections. Ushakov said that Ukrainian drone attacks, including strikes targeting polling stations and election-related personnel, had fundamentally changed the situation.
Moscow would now reconsider when negotiations could resume, according to the Kremlin aide. Trump reportedly promised to convey Russia’s position to Ukrainian representatives meeting with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Miami.
Iran diplomacy ‘not exhausted’
Putin stressed that a negotiated settlement with Tehran remained possible, citing his October 8 meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Turkmenistan.According to Ushakov, Putin noted that Washington and Tehran continued indirect contacts through Qatar despite their confrontational rhetoric. Moscow also reiterated its offer to accept highly enriched Iranian uranium as a potential way out of the nuclear deadlock. Trump welcomed Russia’s involvement in diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis, Ushakov added.
Melania’s humanitarian mission
Putin personally thanked First Lady Melania Trump for her efforts to reunite children separated from their families during the Ukraine conflict. The leaders also discussed the humanitarian situation in the town of Aleshki in Russia’s Kherson Region, agreeing that Russian human rights official Yana Lantratova would maintain direct contact with Melania’s office.
Closer ties – and another summit?
The leaders expressed satisfaction with existing communication channels between their administrations, intelligence services and other government agencies, agreeing to maintain cooperation. Putin emphasized that Moscow appreciated the attention Trump and his team continued to devote to relations with Russia despite Washington’s domestic and Middle Eastern priorities.
Asked whether the two presidents had agreed to meet in person, Ushakov said no specific summit had been discussed. However, he suggested that the upcoming APEC summit in China could provide an opportunity for another encounter if both leaders attended. The Kremlin aide also declined to disclose whether Washington had offered any concessions in exchange for Russia’s agreement to supply diesel, suggesting that American officials might provide further clarification.
Birthday wishes and hockey diplomacy
The conversation was initially proposed by the American side as an opportunity for Trump to personally congratulate Putin on his October 7 birthday. According to Ushakov, Witkoff contacted the Kremlin that day to convey greetings from Trump, as well as personal wishes from himself and Kushner, who expressed hope of meeting the Russian leader again soon.
Officials subsequently arranged the call around Putin’s trip to Turkmenistan and the time difference between Moscow and Washington, with Trump postponing some previously scheduled engagements.The US president opened the conversation with birthday wishes and greetings from Melania. The leaders also found time to discuss sports, with Trump praising Russian hockey star Alexander Ovechkin’s contribution to the game.

Wrong move.

• Zelenskyy Urgently Attacks Russian Oil/Fuel Export Terminal (CTH)

Immediately after President Trump announced a strategic energy supply deal with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine President Zelenskyy ordered drone strikes against the Russian oil/fuel export terminal NZNP. The targeted terminal is located in the Zheleznodorozhny district of Rostov-on-Don, and it is used to transship petroleum products including diesel fuel for exports toward the west.

The intention of Zelenskyy’s targeting is obvious to anyone who has followed the conflict between Russia-Ukraine and the involvement of EU-NATO countries in keeping maximum conflict at the forefront. They do not want a strategic agreement between Putin and Trump. Hours before the Ukraine targeting of the NZNP export terminal, President Trump announced a strategic agreement with President Putin for refined diesel exports over the next six months.
This Trump-Putin agreement was against the interests of Zelenskyy and specifically against the interests of his benefactors in London, because Putin and Trump are working outside the “western market pricing system”. To fully understand what is happening, I strongly suggest you spend the time to read my previous articles on the dynamic as outlined below in sequence.
• First, start with understanding why Europe’s financial system is in conflict with Russia. In his own words Vladimir Putin explains why EU-NATO must have an expanded war with Russia. It has nothing to do with political ideology, and everything to do with control of money.
• Second, understand how the western control of the “market price” of commodities is used to manipulate political outcomes. This ties directly into the first article about why London must control the money and combat Russia. In this second article three weeks ago, CTH outlined a very predictable path that was most likely. The Trump-Putin strategic alliance is EXACTLY what we expected to happen.
• Third, you can actually move beyond the current moment into the future by looking at the Lukoil story. When you combine what Putin has said with the strategic agreement with Trump now in place you can clearly see how Lukoil is going to end up being a wedge to drive out London financial influence and free the USA from this corrupt market control system.
Once you understand those three previous outlines, then you understand exactly why the U.K. needs Zelenskyy to stop this agreement between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. London’s entire market control system is at risk. It’s all connected.
º Discounted potash from Belarus, sold to the U.S. at discount (non-market) prices. [Canada smacked.]
º Discounted diesel fuel from Russia, sold to the U.S. at discount (non-market) prices. [London smacked.]
These are two recent examples of Trump working around the traditional western system of financial control within the “market system”. These are also two transactions that cut out the middlemen completely. In essence, stand back and look at what Trump is doing here, it’s the same reason BRICS exists; it’s the BRICS argument against western financial control.
Trump is aligned ideologically with the BRICS position on energy exploitation. However, it’s actually more consequential than just an alignment of interests. The biggest economy in the world, the economy that establishes the currency used in most global trade, is now aligning in common purpose against the financial schemes of London, while RETAINING the dollar as the central trade currency.
Trump is telling BRICS there’s no reason to replace the dollar, we can just replace the manipulation.
London must be going bananas, and Zelenskyy is their tool to stop Trump.

“After Zelensky Ignored Six Pleas To Stop Refinery Strikes..”

• Trump Says “Time For Ukraine To Get A New Leader” (ZH)

As he was boarding Air Force One on the way to Tennessee this morning, President Trump made his feelings clear over how he feels about Ukrainian President Zelensky. President Trump stated that “it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president”, criticizing Zelensky for bombing Russian oil refineries and accusing him of failing to end the war. “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal.”

One day after announcing plans to buy more than a million tonnes of diesel from Russia, Trump said the Ukrainian strikes were driving up global fuel prices and creating “problems for the world”. “He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers with diesel fuel because Russia supplies a large portion of the diesel fuel throughout the world. And we told them ‘Do whatever you want, but don’t hit the diesel fuel, because this is a big problem, a big shortage’.”
“And what does he do? He goes and hits the diesel fuel.” Asked about the strikes, he said of Zelensky: “He’d better damn well stop.”

.@POTUS on Ukraine: "You know what I suggest? I suggest they get a new leader who could make a deal because he could've made many deals and for some reason he never does… I think it's time for Ukraine to get a new President." https://t.co/pyBAmq9E7o pic.twitter.com/WoVG0HUazA
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 10, 2026

* * *
Friday’s diesel deal between Trump and Putin wasn’t only about diesel. It was also about Kyiv.
Hours after Zelensky accused Washington of using Ukraine’s negotiators as a “smokescreen” for a backroom deal with Moscow, Axios reported that Trump decided to let Russia sell diesel after Zelensky ignored half a dozen US requests to stop attacking Russian oil refineries. The alleged source was a US official with direct knowledge, who did not hold back:
“Zelensky is misreading the room. By continuing to hit refineries, he is eroding the good will that he has built with Trump over the last six months.” In other words, the sanctions waiver was as much a message to Kyiv as a gift to Moscow. So how did we get to this latest geopolitical twist, what is Trump actually got for lifting sanctions (spoiler: less than nine days of fuel), and why is the deal is on a collision course with the one Ukrainian policy Kyiv says it won’t give up. Let’s dig in.
“Half A Dozen” Requests The backstory is familiar to regular readers. One month ago, Trump – freaking out about soaring diesel prices – told reporters that Zelensky “has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia,” and a day later he announced a truce that never really happened:
A few hours later, Kyiv kept hitting refineries anyway. Just last weekend Zelensky vowed to hammer more of them, and on Thursday Ukrainian drones set Russia’s largest refinery at Omsk ablaze, more than 1,500 miles from the border. Axios notes the strikes were “highly effective and caused an energy crisis in Russia,” prompting Moscow’s diesel export ban, which then “added more pressure to global diesel markets under strain from the war in Iran.”
The core disagreement is about symmetry. Zelensky told Trump, Witkoff and Kushner that he would stop hitting Russian refineries if Russia stopped hitting Ukrainian power plants. Trump wanted Ukraine to stop unilaterally, according to the official, and “didn’t see the attacks on refineries as equivalent to Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid.” Or, as the official put it: “The attacks on the refineries cause pain in Russia, but it causes pain for the U.S., too.”
Then there is what happened in Miami. During eight hours of talks on Friday, Witkoff and Kushner told the Ukrainian delegation that Trump was expected to call Putin and lift sanctions on Russian diesel, because Kyiv had ignored repeated requests on strikes “which were directly affecting U.S. consumers.” A Ukrainian official claimed the envoys also threatened that Trump could cut Ukraine off from US intelligence if it kept ignoring him. The US official denied that, saying the envoys merely reminded Kyiv that the US provides munitions and intelligence, so Ukraine “shouldn’t take actions that hurt American consumers.” That is a fine distinction, and Kyiv is unlikely to see the difference.

“There is no shame in armistice when the alternative is Armageddon.”

• Europe and Russia Flirt with Nuclear War (J.B. Shurk)

War is ugly and awful. People who experience it generally detest it. In movies, soaring soundtracks make falling buildings and gunfights seem exciting. In real life, people feel excruciating physical and emotional pains that never really fade. It’s Hell on Earth.

After WWI, nations around the world celebrated Armistice Day on November 11, which later became known as Remembrance Day in many countries. Remembering the dead was only half of the holiday’s purpose; it was equally important for the survivors of the Great War to remember the costs of total war, so that mankind would never unleash such cataclysm again.
We did not sufficiently remember the costs of global war, and twenty years later, humanity endured a Second World War far more deadly than the First. After WWII, there was a movement in the United States to honor all veterans — both living and dead — on Armistice Day. President Eisenhower signed into law a bill renaming Armistice Day as Veterans Day, and we Americans have observed the holiday ever since.
We should honor our military veterans every day. By forgetting about Armistice Day, though, we stopped remembering the horrors of war. November 11 was once a day for survivors to say, “Never again.” It transformed into a holiday that celebrates heroes and sacrifice, while often burying the most important warning from past generations to the present: Do not repeat our folly.
War is tragedy, not entertainment. Although I wish that we humans had longer memories when it comes to the psychological toll of mass killing, we barely know peace for half-a-generation before descending into Hell once again. Wars between belligerents who see no alternative to either victory or death are cruel, bloody affairs.
Despite historical revisionism that often casts the use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as indefensible, the enormous loss of American marines, sailors, and soldiers on scattered Pacific islands proved that the Japanese would continue fighting to the last man before entertaining any notion of surrender. Both the Balkan Wars before WWI and the Yugoslav Wars following the Cold War were marked by ethnic cleansing, rape, and mass murder. Every Islamic war against Israel seeks the Jewish state’s eradication; therefore, every war Israel fights is life or death for the nation.
The war in Ukraine has taken on a similar zero-sum seriousness. Ukraine’s wartime president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has repeatedly insisted that there can be no peace until all formerly Ukrainian territory now claimed by the Russian Federation — including Crimea, which Russia has controlled since 2014 — is returned to Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said this demand is an impossibility.
Ukraine desires membership in the European Union and the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Russia went to war in Ukraine, in part, to keep NATO’s thirty-year encroachment from reaching the entirety of its western borders. Ukraine and European members of NATO have described the war as an existential threat to all of Europe. Russian politicians, academics, and pundits similarly describe the war as an existential threat to Russia’s future survival.
Both sides seek what the other refuses to give. A dangerous stalemate now exists. Although accurate numbers are difficult to obtain, both Russia and Ukraine claim to have inflicted hundreds of thousands of casualties upon the other. Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced, and Russia’s border regions have endured sustained attacks.
Ukrainian authorities continue to press-gang young men into military service. European Union countries that welcomed hundreds of thousands of fleeing Ukrainians back in 2022 are beginning to insist that young Ukrainian men be sent back home to fight. European and American politicians have suggested that Ukraine’s legal age for conscription should be lowered and that Ukrainian women should be forced into combat, too. Martial-law-President Zelenskyy has admitted that his country is struggling to replenish lost troops.
In Russia, there is less concern about fielding troops for what the government calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine. There is widespread concern, however, that the military will have considerable difficulty defending the country effectively should E.U.-NATO expand the conflict beyond Ukraine — especially if Russia is forced to defend its Kaliningrad exclave situated between Lithuania and Poland.
European politicians and military personnel have argued that taking Kaliningrad would effectively cut Russia off from the Baltic Sea and tighten the noose of a cordon sanitaire formed around Russia’s European flank. Although the largest country in the world by territory, Russia’s moderate population of one-hundred-fifty-million puts it at a disadvantage against a European population three times its size.
With real troop losses and the threat of future troop losses weighing heavily on the minds of decision-makers in Europe and Russia, what once was unthinkable has become more openly discussed: the use of nuclear weapons on the continent. For eighty years, the taboo against atomic warfare has been so great that the United States and the Soviet Union fought a half-century Cold War in the shadows in an effort to avoid direct confrontation. However, as Russia, Ukraine, and E.U.-NATO struggle for leverage and deterrence, the likelihood of nuclear conflict is growing.
Despite the fact that Ukraine is not a part of NATO, military representatives from all of NATO’s thirty-two members gathered in Kyiv this week. Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the chair of the NATO Military Committee, announced, “We are here in full strength with a clear message: The bond between NATO and Ukraine is stronger and stronger.”

“His policy cupboard is bare, his legacy shredded. Nothing “miraculous” happened! Younger worshippers are (gasp) doubting his divinity!”

• The Last Revolution of Barack Obama (Scott Pinsker)

Well, of course he has a gargantuan ego. All presidents have gargantuan egos. But even by presidential standards, his loomed like the Goodyear blimp. Nor was it a secret. Politico wrote about it. So did the LA Times. Outlets from Germany to South Korea wrote about it, too. His messianic aspirations — and unshakeable faith in his own divinity — gained him millions of converts.

For a while, at least. At the height of their zealotry, his worshipers expected the literal moon and stars. Because he was their Lightworker — a Christ-like figure who’d correct the crooked, heal the sick, and fundamentally transform America. So yeah, their expectations were pretty frickin’ high. How high? This painting was proposed to hang in New York City’s Union Square to celebrate the 100th day of his blessed presidency:

I guess the hypocrites on the left forgot about this 2012 painting by
Michael D’Antuono, featured an exhibit called " Artists on the stump – the road to the White House 2012" pic.twitter.com/wj4NokXATm
— Hatton, America is back (@jnottah) April 14, 2026

In the beginning, his worshipers groveled in homage before him. “This is bigger than Kennedy. [Obama] comes along, and he seems to have the answers. This is the New Testament,” gushed Chris Matthews. “He is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word over flesh,” wrote Ezra Klein. “The event itself is so extraordinary that another chapter could be added to the Bible to chronicle its significance,” fawned Jesse Jackson, Jr.
And to be fair, the Lightworker wasn’t exactly understated when it came to setting expectations. Remember what he predicted for his glorious reign: “I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless. This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”
Yet today, Barack Obama’s prophecies remain unfulfilled. Our planet didn’t heal — it’s worse than ever! Even his signature legislation, Obamacare, is teetering on the brink of insolvency, and our healthcare system is still an ungodly mess. Why do you think handsome left-wing activists are murdering healthcare execs in the streets? It’s certainly not because Saint Obama solved the problem.
He promised us the Land of Milk and Honey — and led us to the land of cow feces and bee stings. Curiously, the one social problem he seemed ideally equipped to help, America’s lingering racial discord, got a whole lot worse. Instead of bridging our racial divide, Obama pushed us farther apart. From The New York Times:
“Seven years ago, in the gauzy afterglow of a stirring election night in Chicago, commentators dared ask whether the United States had finally begun to heal its divisions over race and atone for the original sin of slavery by electing its first black president. It has not. Not even close.
“A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted last week reveals that nearly six in 10 Americans, including heavy majorities of both whites and blacks, think race relations are generally bad, and that nearly four in 10 think the situation is getting worse. By comparison, two-thirds of Americans surveyed shortly after President Obama took office said they believed that race relations were generally good.
“The swings in attitude have been particularly striking among African-Americans. During Mr. Obama’s 2008 campaign, nearly 60 percent of blacks said race relations were generally bad, but that number was cut in half shortly after he won. It has now soared to 68 percent, the highest level of discontent among blacks during the Obama years and close to the numbers recorded in the aftermath of the riots that followed the 1992 acquittal of Los Angeles police officers charged in the beating of Rodney King. ”
Donald Trump is now a two-term president. All of Obama’s executive orders have been undone. His Iran deal was scrapped, his Green Energy policies vacated. His vice president, Joe Biden, was humiliated and exiled from politics. Every promise he made — all of his hallowed prophecies — has collapsed like the walls of Jericho. He has a nice, shiny Nobel Peace Prize to look at — and not much else.
His policy cupboard is bare, his legacy shredded. Nothing “miraculous” happened! Younger worshippers are (gasp) doubting his divinity! So what’s a would-be messiah to do when his prophecies fail? He finds a new prophecy to fulfill. Welcome to the last revolution of Barack Obama.
The ex-president’s decision to campaign with Abdul El-Sayed, the DSA-aligned Senate candidate in Michigan, raised plenty of eyebrows. Why El-Sayed? Why spend your political capital on the most controversial, polarizing candidate of the 2026 midterms? Why not someone else? Why not Troy Jackson in Maine? Why not tour the other must-win states? Those candidates would love to schedule rallies and fundraisers with the ex-president, too.
What’s so special about Abdul El-Sayed? He can do what the others cannot: El-Sayed represents the fulfillment of the Lightbringer’s legacy. Obama is, was, and will forever be a left-wing revolutionary — but he’s a realistic revolutionary. Everything he does is calculated; every move is deliberate.
Earlier this week, we outlined how shrewdly Obama triangulated on gay marriage — opposing it for religious reasons in 2008, then supporting it for religious reasons in 2012. He proceeds with caution, is mindful of political minefields, and is deathly afraid of blowback.
Take what’s given. Don’t overreach. Strike when the iron is hot. Because “The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice.” Which means time is always on Obama’s side. Call it destiny, call it fate, but as long as the Democrats don’t self-destruct, the future is theirs. Obama believes in the eventual superiority of his beliefs just as much as he believes in himself.
As a realist, Obama knew his presidency wouldn’t take us to the Promised Land — and so, he didn’t really try. Instead, he used his presidential platform to mainstream racial grievances. He had to, because America is a flawed, racist, evil country — and a reckoning was long overdue. Before, these racial ideas were on the periphery; post-Obama, they were Democratic Party orthodoxy. Today, even the moderates believe it.
It’s too bad.

“If Democrats have everything going for them this cycle, they should be rolling in cash, not begging for it. This doesn’t jibe with the polling that shows them ahead.”

• House Dems’ Dire Donor Warning Hints at Trouble Before Midterms (Margolis)

With less than a month to go before the midterms, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is begging donors for money. That’s a strange place to be for a party that supposedly has everything going its way. If the polls are right, and Democrats have all the energy and momentum heading into November, the checks should be writing themselves. So why is the party struggling to raise money?

According to a Politico report, DCCC Executive Director Julie Merz sent a memo to donors on Friday, setting a hard deadline for them to cough up $17 million. The committee wants the cash in hand by October 22 so it can compete in a handful of districts that Republicans carried easily in 2024. Merz told donors the money is needed “to take advantage of the opportunities we have” outside of the core battlefield. And if the donors don’t deliver? Merz warned that the party “could be leaving winnable races on the table.”
Democrats have admitted all cycle that Republicans are outraising them, but until now they’ve refused to attach a dollar figure to the hole they’re in. That makes Friday’s memo a surprising outlier, and a revealing one. Merz assured donors that committee members “remain confident that we will win back the majority in 25 days,” and then promptly explained why they should be nervous. “Here’s the tough reality though: the Republican ecosystem has amassed a massive war chest that is significantly greater than ours and is spending it,” Merz wrote.
Confident parties don’t usually send out memos like that. Merz spent significant portions of hers on four districts where the committee is desperate for more money, and President Donald Trump won every one of them by double digits in 2024. He carried Florida’s 27th District by 14.6 points, Nevada’s 2nd District by 13.9, and South Carolina’s 1st District by 13. In New York’s 21st District, he won by 20.7.
The DCCC insists its internal polling shows all four races within reach. It also concedes that the GOP’s cash advantage, especially the money sitting in the Trump-aligned super PAC MAGA Inc., will make it harder to win those seats and other long shots. Merz even name-dropped a few more deep-red districts she called “worthy of additional investment in this environment,” including the seats held by Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) and Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), who happens to chair the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Meanwhile, the money gap has created headaches for both House and Senate Democrats, who can’t agree on where to spend the limited resources they do have. A party riding a wave doesn’t have that problem. The NRCC wasted no time mocking the memo.”No amount of money fixes candidates voters don’t want,” NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella said in a statement. “These seats are staying red, and Republicans are on offense across the map.”
Still, something doesn’t make sense to me. If Democrats have everything going for them this cycle, they should be rolling in cash, not begging for it. This doesn’t jibe with the polling that shows them ahead. On top of that, the GOP is registering more new voters in swing states. Something isn’t adding up.

Blond woman. Modeled after Leavitt.

• Trump Picks New Press Secretary (Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell)

The job of White House press secretary has been offered to Katie Zacharia, a White House official confirmed to the Daily Signal Friday. Zacharia will replace Karoline Leavitt, who left the position in August to spend more time with her two children. Trump confirmed that Zacharia would fill the post Friday afternoon.

“It is my Great Honor to have just appointed, as Press Secretary, Katie Zacharia,” he said. “Katie currently serves as Senior Communications Advisor to Truth Social (Trump Media & Technology Group), where she has been outstanding! A native of California, Katie previously served as Spokesperson and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security.”

The job of White House press secretary has been offered to Katie Zacharia, a White House official confirmed to the Daily Signal Friday.

If she accepts, Zacharia will replace Karoline Leavitt, who left the position in August to spend more time with her two children.… pic.twitter.com/Q5mRigJk79
— Daily Signal (@DailySignal) October 9, 2026

“Katie is a distinguished Graduate of Pepperdine University, and the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, an attorney, and a frequent Commentator on outlets, including Fox News and Newsmax,” he continued. “She was previously involved in my Campaigns, assisting in key Swing States, where we won 7 out of 7.” Trump praised her “unblemished record of support.”
“She is, likewise, a devoted fan and member of MAGA!” he said. “I am confident that Katie will deliver strong results for our Country as the next White House Press Secretary, as she has the respect of, and will work fantastically with, the Media, the American People, and my Administration. Katie is replacing the fabulous Karoline Leavitt, who did a fantastic job as Press Secretary.” Zacharia will play an important role in speaking for the administration in the weeks leading up to midterm elections. Zacharia briefly served as spokeswoman at the Department of Homeland Security in early 2026.
“I joined DHS with a genuine passion for supporting POTUS in his decisive and effective policies to secure our homeland, be a voice for the precious Angel Families, and an advocate for the men and women of ICE,” she said on X at the time of her departure. “I look forward to continuing that work in other capacities. God bless America, God Bless President Trump, and I am grateful to be alive during the presidencies of @realDonaldTrump!”

I joined @DHSgov with a genuine passion for supporting @realDonaldTrump @POTUS in his decisive and effective policies to secure our homeland, be a voice for the precious Angel Families, and an advocate for the men and women of @ICEgov.

I look forward to continuing that work in… pic.twitter.com/Zitf36crsE
— Katie Zacharia (@KatieZacharia) March 31, 2026

She is general counsel at Fix California, an organization founded by Richard Grenell to promote conservatism in the state. She regularly appears on Fox News. Zacharia also serves as senior communications advisor at Trump Media and Technology Group and Truth Social. She is a graduate of Pepperdine University and Pepperdine Caruso Law School. She is a mother of four.Zacharia interned for the White House and the Republican National Committee in 2006.

Not their society.

• Germany: 87% of Suspects With An Arrest Warrant Are Foreigners (RMX)

“The figures speak for themselves: The overwhelming majority of criminals wanted on arrest warrants do not have a German passport.” More than 148,000 people remain subject to outstanding arrest warrants in Germany, and only 11.2 percent of them hold exclusively German citizenship, and overall, 87 percent of arrest warrant suspects are foreigners, according to figures the Federal Ministry of the Interior provided in response to a parliamentary inquiry.

Foreign nationals account for 87.3 percent of the total of suspects wanted for arrests, while another 1.5 percent are German citizens who also hold a second nationality. The data is already adding to the debate about mass immigration and criminality, especially in a country where the amount of violence, rape, and serious offenses are disproportionately committed by its foreign population. Welt newspaper obtained the ministry’s reply to a question from Alternative for Germany (AfD) lawmaker Sebastian Münzenmaier.
Münzenmaier told Welt am Sonntag: “The figures speak for themselves: The overwhelming majority of criminals wanted on arrest warrants do not have a German passport.” He called for a “rigorous change of course” that would include permanent and complete border controls, the immediate termination of the stay of foreign criminals, and the enforcement of prison sentences in the country of origin.
While German citizens form the single largest group, at 16,671, Germany also features a population where 81 percent of people hold exclusively German citizenship. Romanian nationals follow closely with 16,123, then Polish nationals with 12,721, Georgian nationals with 6,869 and Turkish nationals with 6,696.
Alexander Throm, the domestic-policy spokesman for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) parliamentary group, said: “Every open arrest warrant poses a security risk.” He added that “the high proportion of foreign offenders, including many from other EU countries, shows that action must be taken.”
Throm also noted that border controls introduced in September 2024 have done more than limit illegal migration: “They have not only curbed illegal migration. Since their start in September 2024, over 17,500 people have also been apprehended at our borders with outstanding arrest warrants.”
Heiko Teggatz, chairman of the German Police Union, called the total worrying and said it “of course, represents a security policy problem.” State police forces, he told the paper, rarely have the staffing to mount dedicated searches; most arrests occur as a “chance hit or bycatch.” The union has long cited personnel shortages as a central obstacle to improved public safety.
Marcel Emmerich, the Greens’ domestic-policy spokesman, agreed that the volume of open warrants constitutes a serious problem, “especially when it comes to dangerous persons, extremists, violent or sex offenders.” However, Emmerich rejected broader border checks, noting: “Instead of hoping for random hits at border controls, targeted searches are needed, especially for dangerous perpetrators of violence, threats and people from the field of politically motivated crime.”
Sebastian Fiedler, the Social Democratic Party’s domestic-policy spokesman in the Bundestag, cautioned against reading the aggregate figure as evidence of 148,000 undetected dangerous offenders still inside the country. “A significant portion of this is due to substitute prison sentences for unpaid fines. In North Rhine-Westphalia, more than half of all outstanding arrest warrants in total were such cases, he said. Warrants can also remain active against people who have already left Germany or been deported, so that any remaining sentence can be enforced if they return.
“For example, they will continue to be put out to tender for a search so that if they re-enter the country, a remaining prison sentence can be enforced,” Fiedler said. While the crimes may include many petty offenses, the totals are stark. German nationals represent a minuscule share of the open arrest warrants in a country where 81 percent of the country is made up of German nationals.

“Tulsi explains why Islamic theology is antithetical to freedom and completely against American values.”

• Tulsi Gabbard Warns About Modern Surveillance State and Islamic Extremism (CTH)

Former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard delivered a very strong speech to the audience of the Texas Youth Summit about the growing surveillance state. As DNI Tulsi Gabbard has direct personal knowledge of this issue. It is very well worth listening to this speech in full.

The second half of the speech touches upon the second concern noted by Gabbard, the spread of Islamist ideology and how it is against the core foundation of our constitutional republic. Tulsi explains why Islamic theology is antithetical to freedom and completely against American values. Again, exceptionally strong remarks from the former head of the entire U.S. intelligence apparatus about the threat of Islamic extremism. WATCH:

“Make no mistake about it, this is what a party does when it knows its candidate can’t win on the merits.”

• Are Democrats Trying to Steal the Election for El-Sayed? (Matt Margolis)

Michigan is a prime flip opportunity for the GOP, and it looks as if the Democrats are engaging in shenanigans to try to steal it.

Start with the motive. Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed are fighting to replace retiring two-term Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and recent polling shows the contest in a dead heat. The last two surveys that RealClearPolitics tracked put El-Sayed ahead by a single point, well inside the margin of error. Cook Political Report rates Michigan as the only Democrat-held seat in the toss-up column, in a state President Donald Trump carried in two of his three runs.

Democrats did this to themselves, frankly. The seat became a pickup opportunity the moment Michigan Democrats passed over the more electable candidate, Haley Stevens, and nominated a socialist radical instead. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) obviously doubted his party could hold Michigan with El-Sayed on the ticket. Then came Thursday night’s debate, and it did not go well for El-Sayed.
Rogers dominated, exposing his opponent’s hypocrisy and dishonesty on Israel, terror ties, his foreign property, and health care. El-Sayed faced questions about his ties to terrorist groups, about supporters who cheer Hamas, Hezbollah, and al-Qaeda, and about his mother’s role in wiring money to Osama bin Laden. Social media reaction overwhelmingly scored it for Rogers, and the verdict wasn’t limited to Republicans.
“Rogers showed up tonight and exceeded expectations,” wrote Michael LaRosa, a former spokesman for Jill Biden. “He spoke with absolute moral clarity about who Abdul El-Sayed actually is, he hit the right notes clearly and forcefully, and he didn’t flinch when going in on the attack.”
There’s more evidence of a campaign in trouble. El-Sayed plans to campaign with Barack Obama later this month, a sign of desperation and an acknowledgment that black voters aren’t sold on him. A candidate cruising to victory in a state Democrats have held for years doesn’t need that kind of rescue mission four weeks out.
Naturally, Democrats are panicking and resorting to rigging. On Friday, the Republican National Committee sued Lansing election officials, accusing them of illegally packing poll worker positions with Democrats, shutting Republicans out, and hiding election records from the public.
The law here leaves no room for creative interpretation. Under subsection (2) of MCL 168.674, “The board of election commissioners shall appoint at least 1 election inspector from each major political party and shall appoint an equal number, as nearly as possible, of election inspectors in each election precinct from each major political party.” Now look at what Lansing did.
The city appointed 140 Democrats and just 71 Republicans to Election Day poll worker slots, handing Democrats a nearly two-to-one edge. Officials can’t claim they had nobody to pick from, because Republicans gave the city a list of qualified candidates. When Republicans asked to review the poll worker records, which should be open to the public, Lansing officials refused. The GOP tried repeatedly to resolve the problem with the city before going to court, and got nowhere.
“Democrats stacked the deck, pushed Republicans aside, and then tried to hide the paper trail,” RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said. “That’s exactly why voters are losing confidence in our elections. Michigan has become ground zero for election integrity violations, and the RNC is watching this state like a hawk. When left-wing officials break the rules, we’ll take them to court and stop them.” The RNC says it wants transparency restored, bipartisan oversight guaranteed, and Michigan election officials held to the statute as written.
Beyond the poll workers scheme, Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is fighting to uphold a rule requiring electronic poll-book files to be deleted within seven days after an election is canvassed and certified — a policy Republicans argue could erase evidence needed to investigate suspected voter fraud. Republicans joining the court challenge contend that federal law requires covered election records to be preserved for 22 months, raising questions about whether Michigan’s deletion rule would undermine scrutiny of disputed elections.
“Why is Jocelyn Benson fighting to delete election records after just seven days when federal law requires them to be preserved for 22 months?” asked Gruters. “The RNC has been fighting this election record purge from the start, and now we’re taking that fight directly into court. Michigan voters deserve transparency and accountability, not secrecy and less oversight.”
Make no mistake about it, this is what a party does when it knows its candidate can’t win on the merits. It stops trying to persuade voters and starts managing the process instead. Republicans are right to fight this in court now, because once the election is over, the damage is done and the evidence is gone.

“The lower courts held that Trump waited too long to file it under the RICO Act’s time limit.”

• Trump Petitions Supreme Court to Reinstate Lawsuit Against Clinton, DNC (ET)

President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Oct. 9 to revive his dismissed civil lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and others. The president alleges they conspired to create and spread a false story that his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.

Lower courts rejected the case and ordered Trump and one of his attorneys, Alina Habba, to pay almost $1 million in sanctions. The trial judge and the appeals court called the lawsuit “frivolous,” saying it had no legal merit and appeared aimed at political grievance rather than a valid claim. Trump is now asking the nation’s highest court to review the appeals court’s decision upholding both the dismissal and the sanctions.
While he was out of office after losing the 2020 election, Trump initiated the lawsuit in federal court in Florida in March 2022, under a federal racketeering law known as civil RICO. That law allows private individuals to seek damages when they claim someone engaged in a pattern of illegal activities, such as fraud or conspiracy.
The lawsuit targeted Clinton, the DNC, former British spy Christopher Steele, former FBI Director James Comey, and more than two dozen other people. It centered on the so-called Steele dossier, which was opposition research funded by Clinton’s campaign that alleged the Russian government had compromising material on Trump.
Trump’s lawsuit touches on topics covered by two earlier government investigations. Former special counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 report found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. Former special counsel John Durham’s 2023 report criticized the FBI’s handling of its 2016 counterintelligence investigation—codenamed Crossfire Hurricane—into possible Trump campaign contacts with Russia. Durham said the FBI relied too much on uncorroborated tips, including material connected to the Clinton campaign.
Those government reports dealt with criminal and counterintelligence questions. By contrast, Trump’s civil lawsuit is a private damages case governed by different rules. The lower courts held that Trump waited too long to file it under the RICO Act’s time limit.
Dossier Source Scrutiny
Steele’s dossier included claims that the Russian government possessed a salacious video of Trump at a hotel in Moscow. His main source was later revealed to be Igor Danchenko, who was based in the United States and has been investigated by federal agents over possible ties to Russian intelligence.
Attorneys for Trump and Habba wrote in the new petition that Supreme Court review of the case is necessary to protect the institution of the presidency. They said that the decisions by the lower courts reflect “a deeply troubling trend of federal courts using sanctions and disciplinary threats to punish the president and his lawyers for legitimate legal positions that those courts (erroneously) reject.” “Treating contested advocacy as misconduct corrodes our legal culture, deters representation of controversial clients, and makes constitutional adjudication depend on counsel’s willingness to risk personal liability,” they said.
They alleged in the lawsuit that in the months leading up to the 2016 election, Clinton conspired with allies to discredit him with a “false narrative” that he and his campaign engaged in collusion with Russia, according to the petition. The suit alleged several claims, including racketeering and a “conspiracy to commit injurious falsehood.”

“Instead, the Nobel Committee gave the award to a soapbox preaching nepo baby who made a fifth grade-level PowerPoint presentation about how the world was going to melt if we didn’t purchase the indulgences (i.e. carbon credits) he was peddling ..”

• The Nobel Peace Prize: An Exercise In Moral Depravity (A.J. Christopher)

Who was Irena Sendler? If you don’t know, don’t worry. Most people don’t know who she was. And that’s a problem. I myself didn’t know who she was until very recently, and when I found out why I didn’t know, the reasons made me angry. Because my ignorance was a result of what we value as a society. Irena Sendler was a Polish nurse who lived in Warsaw during the German occupation. Unlike almost all Muslims, most contemporary Europeans, and half of contemporary Americans, Sendler witnessed the antisemitic genocide occurring all around her and knew that it was wrong.

As a nurse whom the Department of Social Welfare and Public Health employed, she had special access to the Jewish ghetto that most people didn’t. She used that access to smuggle food and medicine in, and to smuggle people out. She conspired with the Polish Underground to forge identity documents for Jews, and to help find them hiding places outside of the ghetto.
She found homes for Jewish children and orphans with Polish families, Catholic parishes, and nuns’ convents. The children were given Christian names and taught Christian prayers, in case the Germans questioned them. Though a practicing Catholic herself, Sendler didn’t want the children’s Jewish identities erased. She kept meticulous records of each child and orphan who was given a new identity and hidden with a new family, to include the children’s original names and family origins. She kept these documents in jars, buried in the ground, so that after the war, there was a possibility of reunification.
Whenever she was working in the ghetto, she would wear a yellow Star of David to show solidarity with the people she was trying to help.Giving assistance to Jews in the Warsaw ghetto was a crime punishable by death, not only to the perpetrator but to their entire family. Sendler and her friends risked this on a daily basis. In October 1943, the Gestapo arrested her on suspicion of insurrectionary activity. Despite being brutally and repeatedly beaten and tortured, Sendler betrayed not a single Polish comrade or Jewish refugee. She was scheduled to be executed, but managed to escape after the Polish Underground bribed one of her German guards.
A month later, she was back to helping smuggle Jewish children out of the ghetto. By the end of the war, it is estimated she saved over 2500 Jewish children from extermination. Sendler survived the war, and continued to help children. She dug up the jars with the children’s information and gave it to the Jewish Committee, which did what it could to reunite the shattered families. During her life, she never once asked for recognition or compensation of any kind. People like her never do. Sadly, the world doesn’t know about Irena Sendler.
The world almost knew about Irena Sendler. Almost two decades ago, the Israeli and Polish governments nominated Sendler for the Nobel Peace Prize. It would seem like a no-brainer that a young, unarmed nurse who saved thousands of children from Nazi extermination, and who endured torture and imprisonment for her efforts, would be a shoo-in.
Instead, the Nobel Committee gave the award to a soapbox preaching nepo baby who made a fifth grade-level PowerPoint presentation about how the world was going to melt if we didn’t purchase the indulgences (i.e. carbon credits) he was peddling, which made him richer than he already was.
He owns a 400-acre farm and a 10000 square foot mansion, along with additional coastal property. His homes consume 20 times more electricity than the average American home. But he thinks you and I consume too much. As a result of green policies he advocated for, tens of millions of people in places such as South Africa and Indonesia were pushed back into absolute poverty. None of his apocalyptic prophecies ever came to fruition, and he has never apologized for them. That grinning snake oil salesman accepted his Nobel Prize in December 2007.
Irena Sendler died five months later.
Nearly twenty years on, nothing has changed. The Nobel Committee just awarded this year’s prize to former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, an antisemitic, anti-American globalist and terrorist apologist. She has supported butchers such as Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, so long as his victims were the right color, and would have been only too happy to have seen people such as Irena Sendler fail in their efforts.
What a sick, sick society we live in.

“But the problem is we’re in the Old Testament right now, and the Old Testament has no forgiveness..”

• Chris Rock Makes an Excellent Point About Wokeness (Anderson)

I have to confess that I have a huge crush on Chris Rock.

That said, I really wasn’t even a fan of his until I saw his Selective Outrage Netflix special a few years ago. It came about at a time in my life when I needed some laughs, and I felt it delivered. I’ve since gone back and watched most of his body of work from over the decades, including his Saturday Night Live appearances, most of his movies, his old talk show, his older stand-up specials, and even a lot of past interviews.
For what it’s worth, he’s matured beautifully through the years, and I love how he isn’t trying to impress anyone these days, or so it seems. He calls things as he sees them. And while I doubt he and I would see eye-to-eye on all things politics, he’s the kind of Democrat I don’t mind having a conversation with because he comes across as fairly honest and isn’t afraid of criticizing his own side of the aisle or admitting when it’s defeated. He also sees people as people… not elephants and donkeys.
That’s exactly what he did last week in an interview with David Marchese of The New York Times. Rock has a new movie, which actually comes out today — Friday, October 9 — called Misty Green. He wrote, directed, and starred in it, and the previews look excellent. He’s also been making the media rounds, promoting it. During this particular interview, he described exactly what’s wrong with wokeness today.
“The problem with quote, unquote, wokeness — and don’t get me wrong, it is great that marginalized people have a voice; it is great to advocate for anybody that feels marginalized,” Rock began, admitting that he’s not against the concept in general. “But the problem is we’re in the Old Testament right now, and the Old Testament has no forgiveness. The Old Testament didn’t work, so they had to write a remix called the New Testament.”
I didn’t quite understand the biblical analogy — either that or he’s not getting the relationship between the Old and New Testaments wrong — but I fully understood what he said next: “The problem is when you institutionalize it.” He used the Salem Witch Trials as an example.
“The Salem witch hunts. I’m sure the first three witches they caught were actually f***ing witches,” he said. “But then you open up a witch office and now you’ve got to start lying. Now you’ve gotta f***ing make s*** up because you’ve got overhead. You’ve got to justify the witch hunters’ f***ing pensions.” His point is that this country didn’t just go woke in recent years. We went woke and then turned it into bureaucracy. And now we have to create more targets to keep those offices open and fully staffed.
Again, Rock said he’s glad some of it happened because some deserving people did get some good things out of it, but he basically suggested that this should have happened from ordinary accountability, not permanent enforcement. He likened it to faith and friendship. The comedian said he has a friend who he wasn’t going to name who “might have gotten canceled.” He said people ask him all the time why he’s still friends with that person. His response to that? “If you’re only friends with your friends when they’re good, they’re not your friends.” He also reminded us that God forgives.
Again, Rock is a liberal Democrat who doesn’t like Donald Trump and does see some value in efforts we, on this side of the aisle, might consider woke. But he’s not afraid to admit that his side took it, institutionalized it, and made it so that it runs on outrage. If we must share the country with leftists, I’ll take more like him.
I’ll leave you with the trailer for Misty Green. I hope to check it out soon.

ELON MUSK IS ABOUT TO BREAK THE BIG THREE CARRIERS.

SpaceX is making an estimated $8 billion move on low-band wireless spectrum that could turn Starlink Mobile into a real nationwide carrier. That kind of spectrum goes through walls, which means dead zones and dropped calls… pic.twitter.com/qK5ipsPlVD
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) October 9, 2026

Ukraine just bombed the export terminal that would have lowered diesel prices in America after Trump’s new deal with Russia.

I think that instead of funding Ukraine we should consider bombing Zelensky. https://t.co/12C4zIZCuM
— Tom Renz (@RenzTom) October 10, 2026

https://twitter.com/AsFoundX/status/2108579237011571162?s=20s

This is Liège (Luik), Belgium.

Note how the French migrant “school riots” are spreading.

Of course they are. Because they are not about the school system.

They are ethnoculturally motivated attacks against Europe and its native peoples. pic.twitter.com/WmdduaxIrP
— Eva Vlaardingerbroek (@EvaVlaar) October 9, 2026

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Debt Rattle October 4 2026

Oct 042026

October 4, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 8:56 am Finance Tagged with: Alito, Carney, Chinese steel, diesel, DSA, God Made Trump, Iran, midterms, peace prize, Putin, Zelensky 22 Responses »

Hieronymus Bosch Adoration of the Magi c1472

• ‘God Made Trump’ Ad and At Least 12 Others (CNN)

• Toward A Better America (David Prentice)

• Iranian Top Dog Gives Trump the Best Review He Could Wish For (Spencer)

• All Hands on Deck for the Midterms (J.B. Shurk)

• Putin Outlines Context of Russian Position Toward Ukraine (CTH)

• Carney’s “Buy Canadian” LNG Expansion Will Be Built with Chinese Steel (CTH)

• Europe’s Diesel Problem (Toth Istvan)

• Justice Alito to Retire Next Year? (Matt Margolis)

• ‘Murderers’ Rutte and Merz Booed at Peace Prize Ceremony (RT)

• Zelensky Lashes Out At Ukraine’s Western Backers (RT)

• Dear DSA: How to Destroy the 5 Democrats Who Want to Be President (Pinsker)

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2106395044613595302?s=20

Le Pen 44% https://t.co/DPybK3504q
— Willem Middelkoop (@wmiddelkoop) October 2, 2026

The real threat that is destroying our world is not Putin. IT'S THEM.they are the globalist oligarchs who seek to enslave us. And none are in prison for their CRIMES against humanity each one of them must be arrested immediately and brought to trial for crimes against humanity.⚔️ pic.twitter.com/Ta6oZ0wSJa
— Julian Paul Assange (@Julianpaulas) October 1, 2026

President Trump is a Grok user.

According to TIME, during a private Oval Office meeting with Elon Musk in December 2025, Trump spent hours asking Grok questions about his presidency and legacy.

He also asked how Venezuelans would react if the U.S. captured Nicolás Maduro. Grok… pic.twitter.com/AmcajdacMW
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) October 2, 2026

“‘God made Trump’ ad and at least 12 others are part of controversial taxpayer-funded ad campaign”..

Here’s wondering why CNN runs this article. It doesn’t come out nearly as anti-Trump as they seem to think.

• ‘God Made Trump’ Ad and At Least 12 Others (CNN)

The Trump administration has created at least 13 campaign-style ads as part of its controversial taxpayer-funded, multi-million-dollar effort to promote President Donald Trump and his policies.

Yet-to-be-aired spots include a trio of ads highlighting the US military and operations in Iran and Venezuela, one called “God Made Trump” and another recapping the UFC fight he hosted at the White House. Republicans and Democrats alike have questioned the wisdom of spending so much taxpayer money on the ads, which the White House has defended as public service announcements.
CNN has obtained clips of 12 ads, which range from 15 seconds to three minutes long, including two that have already aired. They appear in a Dropbox account — which was shared with CNN — run by LMD, the agency that has been given the government contract for the ad buys. Each ends with “Paid for by the U.S. Government” at the bottom of the screen. Another ad that is not in the Dropbox account, “Final Battle,” has also aired in recent weeks.
The three ads that have already aired have appeared on TV networks including CBS, CNN, MS NOW, Fox News and Fox. It’s not clear if all of the ads will air on television or digital platforms. Asked for comment, the White House on Friday afternoon pointed to a just-posted video compilation of the president criticizing CNN.
While each of the ads has a different theme, many of them include imagery of the president and audio with positive reviews from news reports, which is likely to intensify criticism that the campaign is using taxpayer dollars to help Trump personally. They also include patriotic images — including the cap toss at a military graduation, fireworks over Mount Rushmore and military flyovers.
First lady Melania Trump, who has been a rare presence at the White House during the president’s second term, is featured in many of the ads. There are also images from Trump’s reciprocal tariff announcement, the border wall, his escalator presidential-campaign announcement and the tongue-in-cheek framed photograph of an auto pen signifying former President Joe Biden on Trump’s “Presidential Walk of Fame.”

Trump’s White House created a spot titled “UFC” that showcases the June match held at the White House.

CNN previously reported that Trump has personally driven the video ads, including helping select the imagery and videos used, according to a source familiar with the matter. Two Trump advisers familiar with the ads said that they were being created in-house by the White House video team — which is part of the communications team, responsible for the administration’s public messaging — though at least one of them was produced by a pro-Trump meme group.
The ads that have aired so far have spurred widespread condemnation, even as the White House indicates it plans to ramp up its efforts. Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a post on X that the ads “may be felony criminal theft and conversion of government property for political campaign purposes.” If Democrats win control of the House next year, he’ll gain congressional subpoena power.
Even some Republicans have criticized the ad campaign. “Look, if you want to spend money out of your super PAC or other campaign account to communicate that message, that’s fine. It’s not an appropriate PSA. It’s just not, you know, it’s not how we should be spending taxpayer dollars,” said Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas has said “no” the ads are not an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars. “It’s not even a close question.”

A spot titled “Resilience” that shows Trump’s progression from a younger man in the New York real estate market to the US president.

The “UFC 250” ad heavily promotes the company and the June fight that Trump hosted at the White House, prominently featuring UFC CEO Dana White as well as the fighters, the lit-up “claw” over the Octagon and the championship belt. The “Maduro” spot intersperses a speech by Nicolas Maduro with appearances by Trump and his team at Mar-a-Lago following the Venezuelan dictator’s capture.
And “Military Hype” shows images of fighter jets and unclassified video of what appears to be missile launches. It also includes Trump’s February speech announcing the war with Iran, a conflict which remains deeply unpopular with the American people. “This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States Armed Forces,” Trump says in the ad, now seven months into the war.
Some of the ads are starkly political: The two-minute “King of the Jungle” video features images of Trump’s perceived political enemies — former Presidents Barack Obama and Biden, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, all Democrats. There’s video of lions hunting in the wild and a bald eagle sweeping down on the water. A cover of “In the Air Tonight” by In This Moment plays. And Christopher Walken’s lion speech from the 2002 film, “Poolhall Junkies,” is interspersed.

Trump’s White House created a spot titled “King of the Jungle” that intersperses images of Trump, campaign rallies, lions and eagles.

One of the spots, a three-minute-long ad titled “God Made Trump,” was broadcast during Republicans’ midterm convention in Dallas. In it, Trump is presented as a messianic figure with a riff on Paul Harvey’s “God Made a Farmer.” It was created by Dilley Meme Team, according to NPR, and began going viral earlier this year. “I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle the deep state, and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to ruffle the feathers,” the voiceover says, “So God made Trump.”

Trump’s White House created a spot titled “God Made Trump,” which portrays him as a messianic figure.

The ad “Resilience” shows Trump at multiple points in his life, including early in his New York real estate career, an appearance he made on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” his descent down the Trump Tower escalator as he announced his candidacy in 2015 and then his time at the White House. In the audio, a reporter refers to him as “the bodyguard of Western Civilization.” His 2023 mugshot from a Fulton County, Georgia, sheriff’s office features prominently, along with video of an assassination attempt on him in Butler, Pennsylvania.
At least an estimated $5.6 million in taxpayer dollars have already been spent on the ads, according to a leading political ad-tracking firm, AdImpact. The actual cost of the taxpayer-funded ad campaign is even higher, but can’t be fully ascertained because public service announcements are subject to different public disclosure rules than campaign ads. A total of $20 million has been allocated for the effort. The money for these ads is coming from Customs and Border Protection, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Watchdog groups have said the ads mark a clear violation of appropriations law restricting the use of federal funding for propaganda or partisan communications, but it’s not clear if outside groups have standing to file a lawsuit. Though the ads have received bipartisan criticism, Congress — which groups said had the clearest lane to provide some accountability — has not acted to block the ads.

“Until the midterms, we will be watching a massively coordinated attack denigrating all the good that has happened since Trump won in 2024..”

• Toward A Better America (David Prentice)

Until the midterms, we will be watching a massively coordinated attack denigrating all the good that has happened since Trump won in 2024. A combination of the leftist media and apostate “right-leaning” influencers will try to sell us just how awful Trump has been, so the wonderful communists, er, Democrats can ruin us once again. It will be hard to stomach.

As conservatives, we have had two magnificent years of change for the better. Only the Reagan years were this good. Reagan changed the world by defeating Soviet communism. He simultaneously reset our free-market economy. He reshaped the world while helping people in the U.S. live prosperous and meaningful lives. We live during a similar time. Trump has done the same magic trick of reshaping the world plus bettering personal lives.
But half the country does not know it. The leftist media neither had the will nor the capacity to make all the excellence of the Reagan years disappear back then. The leftist blob has honed its skills since. Its bravado and its capacity to propagandize is better than any of us thought possible. Helping the communists, er, Democrats to ruin our country once again. We must defeat them.
Success has been this administration’s MO. Yet we face a ginned-up and phony set of flaming darts volleyed at us daily. Instead of seeing achievements, we are hustled by lies of failure. The positives that have been accomplished in less than two years are remarkable, and they are legion. So much good has been done in the world, and truly for the average citizen, it’s hard to believe.
The leftist media has hidden these:
• A secure border
• Criminals being deported
• A massive drop in violent crime
• Severe fraud being exposed/stopped
• DEI halted
• University bias uncovered
• Deep-state government corruption halted
• Vote fraud revealed and curtailed (not enough John Thune)
• Real wages up
• Permanent tax cuts
• Stock market up
• An economy prepped for growth
• IRA valuations up
• IRAs for children established
• Government jobs down, private sector jobs up
• Manufacturing rebounding
• Huge investments in American business
• The U.S. energy sector unleashed
• Leftist-leaning NGO funding destroyed
• Lawfare beat-down
• Leftist communism exposed and fought
• Leftist/Jihadism connection exposed
• NATO increasing defense spending
• The Greenland deal
• The Venezuela liberation
• Panama Canal reset
• Iran neutered
• Cuba teetering
• China backpedaling/faltering
• Peace through strength, ending eight wars
• Beginning the Golden Dome defense
• The world order totally reshaped
• MAHA helping restore food safety
• MAHA bringing sanity to the pharmaceutical lobby
• Prescription drug prices down.
• Entrepreneurs encouraged
• Massive deregulation
• Anti-Christian bias targeted
• Men out of women’s sports and locker rooms.
• Preventing sex trafficking, saving trafficked children
• Dealing with the cartels, drug lords and pushers

And much more. 99% totally positive. A staggering list in two years. One that should be celebrated, lauded, applauded, and supported. Splashed across every media outlet.
We’ve never seen anything like this. We’ve never had it this good. We elected an administration that has performed a regenerative miracle for our country and its citizens. George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln were great Presidents with great achievements. We are seeing that kind of greatness today. A country turning around. It’s possible to live life proudly as an American again. We’ve been lifted from the Hell that globalists and corrupt politicians from within and without wanted for us. And we’re just getting started. Because the best is yet to come. If we let it.
I loved Reagan. His eight years were inspiring and filled with achievement. Yet in the last two years we have witnessed more transformation to the good than in the Gipper’s eight years. And trust me, the enemies within were not nearly as prevalent as they are now. The entrenched leftist beehive of propaganda media was not so evil, all-encompassing, nor as effective. Reagan didn’t face the rancor and horror of actual communists within. Thankfully Trump, unlike milquetoasts in the past, knows how to fight and win.
Yet here so many are complaining about small change, clucking about affordability, whining about the Iran war, nitpicking that both sides are the same. Blah, blah, blah. If you have small issues you don’t care for, I do too, but please look at the list of accomplishments above. Please compare. Whatever your complaints, remember all the good that has been done. Because the diabolical left will undo it as much as possible if they win these midterms. Small issues don’t count when genuinely great things are happening in droves.
Affordability? Yes, we have had inflation due to the spike in diesel and gas prices. It’s real. But so is the fact that Iran is now neutered. They cannot nuke anyone. They cannot replace their missiles, drones, and the capacity to wreak havoc on us with their terror networks. They are relegated to the dustbin of history. Dan Bongino said he saw the intelligence concerning Iran. His comment: It was genuine. Had we not done what we did, we would have nuclear havoc, and permanent gas prices of eight to ten dollars a gallon. if we had not acted, a crazed nation would have held the world hostage. That would have caused worldwide depression, not simply a temporary spike in oil and inflation.
And it is temporary. Within six months, gas will likely be back below three dollars. Prices will go down. Inflation will be tamed again. Trump will have traded the havoc of a crazed Iranian regime for a nine-month upswing in gas and inflation. Art of the deal in spades.
And if you think the Democrats care about affordability, think again. It was Obama and Biden who purposefully caused gas to be high with their policies. They said they wanted it to happen. Their policies made it happen. Gas and high prices under Democrats are normative. The Democrats don’t give a fig about affordability. They have no right to claim the mantle of caring about affordability. They don’t want to, nor know how to bring affordability. They just know how to demagogue the issue so they can retake power. That is all they want.
What they are best at is using the beehive of their media friends to convince you that things are terrible. That Trump is a warmonger. That the economy is and will be terrible. That everything Trump touches is horrible. That they can fix everything to be better. That they’re really not radical leftists who hate America.
That’s the picture they will paint. It’s what they want us to believe. And they have the cultural power to sway too many of us. What we need to do is simple: Stand and fight the onslaught of their propaganda. Do not let them demoralize you or anyone else. Remember, there is a country to save from these leftist radicals. And it’s you who has the power to defeat them. Get up, engage, donate, support candidates without a (D) behind their name. Vote and get voters to the polls whom you know will help. Persuade those on the fence if you can. Democrats must lose.
If you are conservative, right-of-center, independent, or moderate, please consider: You do not want the newly constituted radical left in charge. Of anything. Period.
Pray for and work towards victory. You won’t regret it. But you will regret doing less than you could to support this administration.

“After one failure after another,” Rezaei fumed, “the worst president in American history just keeps talking — and talking — and now his words have even outrun his own fantasies. “

• Iranian Top Dog Gives Trump the Best Review He Could Wish For (Spencer)

The Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, apparently styles himself something of a historian of American history, or is angling for a plum job as a professor in an Ivy League university, or both. On Friday, Rezaei warmed the hearts of leftist historians all over the U.S. when he proclaimed that President Donald Trump is the “worst” president in U.S. history. Numerous socialist internationalist academics would agree.

“After one failure after another,” Rezaei fumed, “the worst president in American history just keeps talking — and talking — and now his words have even outrun his own fantasies. You can win every day in your own imagination.” Well, yeah, Mohsen, but that can cut both ways, now, can’t it? In concluding, Rezaei claimed that “reality is shaped by Iran — by its people, its soldiers, and its missiles.”
Later that day, however, Trump painted a vastly different picture of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s achievements and current capabilities: “They lost one set of leaders. Then they lost another set of leaders. Then they lost half of a third set, and they had a little runoff for who wants to be president and there were no participants. Everyone said, ‘I don’t, I don’t want to be.'”
Trump was being satirical; Masoud Pezeshkian has been president of Iran since July 28, 2024. Pezeshkian, however, is not the head of state; the supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, holds that position, and has not been seen in public even once since he attained the top job. The word is that he was disfigured in the February strike that killed his father and predecessor; others contend that he is actually dead, but Iranian leaders pretend he is alive to give their tottering regime some legitimacy.
In fact, it’s not at all clear who is running things in Tehran, and Trump pointed out that this made trying to achieve a negotiated settlement difficult in the extreme: “And it’s part of our problem,” he said. “I don’t know who the hell to deal with. There’s nobody to deal with. Nobody wants to be president, I’d say ‘Who do I speak to in Iran?’ They’re not nobody around. Knock, knock. Nobody home. But that war is going to be over soon. One way or the other, one way or the other. It’s going to end very soon and probably right after the midterms.”
All right. In the meantime, going into those midterms, Rezaei has given the president the best possible endorsement. Who wouldn’t want a top leader of a bloodthirsty, repressive regime whom the overwhelming majority of its own people hate calling him the “worst” ever to hold his job?This is because Rezaei is, of course, looking at Trump through the prism of what is good for his embattled but ruthless regime. He never would have dreamed of calling Barack Hussein Obama or Old Joe Biden the worst president in American history when they were showering billions upon the Islamic regime in Tehran. He never bestowed that title upon any of the presidents who kicked the can down the road on Iran, either.
The fact that Rezaei has now given Trump this title is the clearest indication we have had in quite awhile that Trump’s stance toward the Islamic Republic is making it feel the pain. Rezaei, of course, likely has never heard the names of Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, or Andrew Johnson. He would be unlikely, given the international left’s high regard for the Islamic Republic, to give low marks to the likes of Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt, as does the book Rating America’s Presidents: An America-First Look at Who Is Best, Who Is Overrated, and Who Was An Absolute Disaster. Rezaei is simply venting his frustration at the man who has given the Islamic Republic such a hard time.
Trump promises that this hard time is going to continue. The Iranian people, and the free world, can only hope that the pressure on the Islamic Republic will finally cause it to fall, and to be replaced by a saner and more humane regime. Then Mohsen Rezaei can get a job as a professor of American history at Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, or some other America-hating university.

“We need another victory.”

• All Hands on Deck for the Midterms (J.B. Shurk)

The midterm elections are a month away, and I would like to ask a favor: Please make sure that you vote. Please encourage your friends and family to vote. We need all the help that we can get.

Perhaps you feel that voting is a useless exercise that exists to legitimize bad outcomes — a way of forcing citizens to accept responsibility for things they did not do. “You get the government you vote for,” we often hear, but that’s not exactly true. Unelected bureaucrats and judges from unaccountable agencies and Constitution-subverting courts give us a lot of government that none of us want! “If voting made a difference, it would be illegal,” the old saw goes. There’s probably a layer of truth in that hunk of ore.
But voting can make a difference! We’ve seen what a difference it can make over the last ten years! There’s no way in Hades that the powers that be wanted President Donald J. Trump in office. Bill Kristol and all of the “conservative thought leaders” in his orbit worked to elect Hillary Clinton back in 2016. Duplicitous Mitt Romney delivered one of the most hateful anti-Trump screeds on national television that year. Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan advised fellow lawmakers not to say anything positive about Trump heading into the general election.
Economists predicted that a Trump victory would send the country into a depression. Retired generals predicted that Trump would lead the country into WWIII. Political marketing firms and campaign consultants essentially blacklisted anybody who considered working for the Republican nominee. The only places you could find anything positive about his candidacy were rebellious publications such as this one!
Boy, oh boy, when Trump won, you could almost see the Deep State Establishment melting in real time. Do you remember how all the networks waited hours to call the election because none of them could stomach admitting the truth? Hillary Clinton was too busy drinking, crying, screaming, throwing things — whatever — to concede publicly until ten hours after Trump had become president-elect. Trump strolled out to celebrate victory in the early morning hours, and, with a coy little smile on his face, repeated several times, “Elections are a complicated business, folks.” For the next ten weeks, it seemed as if “The World Turned Upside Down” were playing on repeat across cable news.
The day after Trump won, Speaker Ryan was so flabbergasted by the result that he sounded like a talking squirrel hopped up on cocaine and amphetamines during every television interview: Wow! What a victory! I’m totally behind Trump! Republicans in Congress are totally behind Trump! One hundred percent! Anybody have peanuts? I need some extra protein after my P90X workout! (Spoiler alert: Ryan and his congressional RINOs were “behind Trump” only because they intended to repeatedly stab him in the back.)
Hollywood actors — including most of the cast from The West Wing — produced videos encouraging members of the Electoral College to disregard the voters’ will and install Hillary in the White House. Extremely embarrassed lame duck Barack Obama — who had organized a lavish send-off for himself amid the ancient ruins of Athens a fortnight later — blamed Trump’s election on “fake news.” (That’s right! Obama used that term before Trump repurposed it for his own trademark advantage.)
In the background, of course, we were beginning to see the emergence of the Obama-Clinton-Brennan-Comey-Clapper-Rice Russia Collusion Hoax in which Democrats used the CIA and FBI to frame Trump as a Russian spy in an effort to prompt his impeachment and removal from office (or what honest people call an attempted coup d’état) — an egregious crime against the American people for which none of the conspirators has been brought to justice.
Trump won in 2016 because Republican voters showed up! He won despite the fact that Hillary outspent him four-to-one. He won despite the fact that news coverage of his campaign was 100% negative, while Hillary’s coverage was nearly 100% positive. He won despite the fact that every prominent “elite” on both sides of the Atlantic openly laughed at him and spoke of Hillary’s presidency as if it were foreordained. President Trump won in 2016 for one reason: His voters went to the polls in droves.
Fast-forward to 2020, and we all know what happened. The Deep State Establishment stole the election. The election was so obviously stolen that Big Tech social media platforms censored everyone who pointed out all of the unbelievable election irregularities. President Trump won nearly every traditional bellwether county across the country by double-digits and increased his total number of votes by over eleven million. Nobody has ever done that and lost an election, but the corporate news media pushed the Establishment propaganda that perennially unpopular Joe Biden had somehow won more votes than any candidate in American history — including fifteen million more than Obama won in 2012 and four million more than Trump won in 2024!
While Dementia Joe hid in his basement during that campaign, state officials used COVID as a pretext to violate election laws and permit the dumping of mail-in-ballots lacking valid authentication into unsupervised drop boxes in battleground states. Mark Zuckerberg and other tech titans transferred hundreds of millions of dollars into the bank accounts of Democrat political operatives. There were allegations of electoral fraud across the country. Witnesses attested that unlawful ballots — including those lacking dates and signatures — were counted. Nevertheless, state and federal courts conspired with the political and media Establishments to cover up what was almost certainly the biggest electoral theft in American history.
A few months later, Time published a story admitting that “a well-funded cabal of powerful people, ranging across industries and ideologies, working together behind the scenes to influence perceptions, change rules and laws, steer media coverage and control the flow of information” rigged the 2020 election. Of course, the writer of that public confession, Molly Ball, claimed that the conspirators “were not rigging the election; they were fortifying it.”
The plan was to convince Americans that Trump was unpopular, even though he won eleven million more votes in 2020 than when he clobbered Hillary. Using lawfare and information warfare against the American people, the Establishment attempted to destroy Trump and his MAGA supporters by preposterously accusing election integrity protesters of being “insurrectionists” who were somehow trying to overthrow the government without any weapons on January 6, 2021. Fraudulently-installed pretend-President Biden oversaw an FBI and DOJ that worked to imprison MAGA voters for years and Trump for life. Paul Ryan, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, Mitch McConnell, and other RINOs (including most Republicans in the Senate) tried desperately to convince voters that Trump should be condemned and forgotten. Their efforts failed.
Trump voters came out in force in 2024 and made sure that the election was too big to rig. Even though Ryan and other RINOs told us that Trump appealed only to angry white males, the president did better than any Republican since Eisenhower with almost every minority voting bloc. Trump has expanded the Republican Party more than anyone alive today.
I want President Trump to be in a position to use every hour he has left in office to advance the MAGA agenda. He is destroying globalism. He is bringing industry and manufacturing back home. He has secured the borders and dramatically reduced violent crime. He is putting America on a path to lead the world for centuries. Help him continue on his journey. Remember why we’ve been fighting for more than a decade. Surprise the Establishment — once again! — by coming out in huge numbers to support Trump for the midterms.
The Establishment has one job: to discourage you. I want you to remember how much we’ve already accomplished! We’re so close to saving this country. We need another victory. All hands on deck!

A neverending speech by Putin. Every year at the Valdai Discussion Club.

• Putin Outlines Context of Russian Position Toward Ukraine (CTH)

Once again, you may have seen a lot of banter, interpretation and discussion in western media about Russia speaking of defending Kaliningrad with nuclear weapons if needed. To gain a full understanding of the context, I strongly suggest reading the transcript below. Vladimir Putin addressed the plenary session of the 23rd annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club. It is a very lengthy discussion. I am pulling out the key segment and suggest everyone take some quiet time to read.

President Vladimir Putin – […] Let me digress from the main topic for a while. There are people here in this room who hold a very diverse mix of opinions regarding an extremely acute present-day conflict – the Ukraine conflict, and what caused it. I would like to say a few words on this matter. It is a fact that many hundreds or even thousands of experts, your colleagues who will study the materials from this Valdai Club meeting, they have their own opinions on this matter. I am, of course aware that some within the expert community might ask why Russia started the war while talking about peace. I have commented this many times already, but let me say this once again in front of this audience.
Where is the truth? The truth is that we did not want and were not the ones who started to fight. In fact, they started to fight against us. They should have refrained from encouraging aggressive nationalism and Russophobia in Ukraine so as to turn it into a tool for fighting Russia. NATO should not have embarked on an effort to make our historical territories part of its military space in its own interests and should not have planned setting up its bases there.
Radicals in Kiev should not have been pushed to a government coup while the de facto illegal regime should not have been pumped full of all kinds of offensive weapons after that. Plans for setting up concentration camps for the people from Donbass and Crimea should not have been drafted. Unarmed people should not have been rolled over by tanks, shelled with missiles and bombed from the air and burnt alive just for being Russian, in terms of both their ethnic background and their spirit.
The list of these do-nots goes on, but let me stop at that. I am convinced that this was an intentional effort to place Russia in a situation when it was simply forced to defend itself with arms in hand to respond to this obvious act of aggression. They pushed us to this brink knowingly and intentionally. Overall, Russophobia, oppressing and killing Russian people and destroying Russia should not be turned into state ideology while striving to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. This was the way it was all articulated, right? No one forgot this. At least, we did not forget this.
If we want to live – and who does not? – as I have already said during one of my public appearances, let us live in friendship and work together for finding ways to accomplish this aim. Of course, confidence building is a painstaking and fragile process. Placing it on the right track is very hard, while it can be derailed very easily. The interests never fully coincide even when it comes to the closest partners, let alone countries which are rivals and are locked in an all-out competition or even confrontation against one another.
Sooner or later, the international situation and the international system will settle into some form of stable equilibrium. This is undoubtedly a complex, multifaceted and multilayered process built on mutual compromises, willingness to meet each other halfway, and a level-headed assessment of the situation, including by the West. The former hegemon will unavoidably have to acknowledge the realities of a multipolar world – just look at the trends shaping the global economy – and learn to cooperate with the countries of the Global Majority on the basis of respect for their fundamental interests. Of course, this will take time. We are going to have to live in an extremely unstable and ever changing world. The path to a new system will be full of unexpected twists and turns; unfortunately, often unpleasant and even dangerous ones.
I would like to turn to the history of our country. Russia has travelled a thorny path of profound transformation, and this process is still underway. Thirty-five years ago, we experienced the collapse of the state system, which was a genuine tragedy for tens of millions of people who woke up one morning to find themselves beyond the borders of their own country and whose lives – and the lives of their children – were changed overnight. Both in Russia and in neighbouring countries this led to a fundamental transformation and international affairs get transformed as well.

I would also like to highlight a certain naivety, idealism, or perhaps even complacency on the part of those who stood at the helm of the state during the final years of the Soviet era. Blind trust in Western partners and confidence in “gentlemen’s agreements,” when they thought they could simply take someone at their word and come to terms also played a cruel joke on the Soviet Union.
In retrospect, it becomes clear just how destructive a role this played not only in the fate of the Soviet Union, but also in ensuring long-term global stability. The Soviet leaders wanted the West to like them, while Western leaders sought to reshape the world to suit their needs and to grab their share – preferably a large one – of the Soviet legacy. We can see the result now. T
he Soviet Union collapsed due to a mix of internal imbalances. This is the most important dimension to it. This is the truth, and this is what happened. Specifically, internal imbalances, as well as mistakes made by successive generations of the country’s leadership. Short-sightedness, narrow and unrealistic ideological dogmas instead of pragmatism, incompetence, and the practice of sweeping obvious problems under the carpet gradually exacerbated and undermined the Soviet Union’s domestic and international standing. Ultimately, these factors led to its collapse.
What is happening in the world today, the present-day conflicts and upheavals – all this largely stems from the fact that late 20th-century politicians, both in the East and the West, were unwilling, unprepared or unable to treat the era of major shifts with the required seriousness and depth. This is not a question of shifting responsibility onto the leaders of the past; this is simply how it all happened in reality.
However, even during that period, there were people, both in the East and West, there were other kinds of politicians who developed a keen understanding of these challenges and offered what I believe to be the right ways of resolving them. Today, their assessments can be viewed as visionary.

I’ve had enough of Carney. Too much attention for the little man.

• Carney’s “Buy Canadian” LNG Expansion Will Be Built with Chinese Steel (CTH)

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has recently promoted an expansive LNG pipeline deal to center the domestic infrastructure development around the concept of “Buy Canadian.” However, when questioned about the actual construction of the proposal, Carney now admits the developers will determine what resources will be used – and it will not be Canadian product.The unfortunate reason is not complicated. Canada does not have the industrial capacity to make the heavy components for the LNG expansion pipeline because Canada does not have the ability.

CALGARY — LNG Canada is planning to use Chinese steel in major components of its $33-billion second-phase expansion despite Ottawa’s promises that nationally significant projects would help drive Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Buy Canadian policy.
The joint venture says Canada lacks the specialized fabrication facilities needed to manufacture the massive modules required for its expansion and plans to buy more components from state-owned China Offshore Oil Engineering Co. Ltd. (COOEC), which manufactured modules for the project’s first phase. (read more)
I would remind readers this inability to manufacture industrial goods is exactly what former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outlined to President Trump in December 2025 in Mar-a-Lago, when President Trump challenged Trudeau to stop importing Chinese steel and aluminum. Canada’s clean energy policy blocks the country from creating heavy industrial components. WATCH:

All of the political talking points from Mark Carney are built upon a foundation of lies. Their national inability is inherent in the Canadian industrial economy, which is created around a climate change agenda that blocks industrial manufacturing. Eventually, this reality is going to hit the psyche of the Canadian electorate. It will not be easy for them to accept that all of their leadership has been lying to them. However, denial is a very real issue which makes conversation with any Canadian very challenging. “
For the plant construction in Kitimat, the challenge is not a preference for offshore steel, but the specialized fabrication capability required for modules of this scale and complexity,” company spokesperson Paul Hagel told CBC News in an email, adding that “there are no fabrication yards in Canada that can manufacture and deliver the additional modules required for Phase 2.”
Hagel said that only five fabrication yards worldwide have the necessary combination of space, capacity, quality systems and marine access, including COOEC’s yard in China. {source}

The only diesel problem Europe has is that it refuses to buy the cheap and readily available Russian diesel.

• Europe’s Diesel Problem (Toth Istvan)

The Diesel Question: An unexpected global diesel crisis has emerged against the backdrop of armed conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. This crisis has predictably reached a critical juncture, with President Trump announcing that he is seriously considering banning U.S. diesel exports. Such an embargo would severely impact the economies of Great Britain and France, whose leaders spearheaded opposition to his administration and openly celebrated his temporary setbacks.

Months of Ukrainian strikes against Russian refineries and shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have removed 1.6 million barrels of diesel per day from the global market. Replacing these losses requires additional refining capacity, but it is unclear where this capacity will come from.
In this context, the U.S. Gulf Coast has become the world’s supplier of last resort. American diesel exports reached a record 1.6 million bpd in August, up from 1 million bpd in February and representing 20 percent of the global diesel trade. However, U.S. refineries are already operating at nearly 97-98 percent capacity. Once storage facilities are full, refining will be curtailed, reducing not only diesel output but also gasoline and jet fuel output.
American Interests First
Even without regard for past grievances with Europeans, the occupant of the Oval Office has compelling domestic reasons to impose a diesel export ban. The U.S. midterm elections on November 3 are approaching quickly. The average price of diesel has hit record highs, prompting Texas to declare a diesel price emergency.
Federal authorities are under pressure to take decisive action to address the crisis. High fuel prices are an obvious vulnerability for the Republican administration, which, unlike EU governments, hasn’t forgotten that one of its primary concerns is the affordability of goods and services. A diesel export ban enjoys public support from Republicans in agricultural states and from candidates in competitive districts.
In light of this, continuing to export fuel at the expense of American citizens, farmers, and truckers — and their interests — in favor of ungrateful Europeans can only be described as shortsighted or irrational. Opponents of Trump in Europe should hardly expect to find such qualities on the list of sins they attribute to the American president.
Economic Context
The U.S. economy itself supports a ban on diesel exports. Such a ban would help lower domestic prices on the East Coast and in the Midwest. It would also allow distillate reserves to be restored by winter. Currently, these reserves are at their lowest levels in over 40 years.
It’s important to consider the reduced costs for farmers, logistics companies, and other industries. These steps will undoubtedly have a positive effect, favorably impacting food inflation and reducing overall inflationary pressure. A ban on diesel exports is the right step at the right time for a leader who cares about his nation and prioritizes its interests above all else. American fuel should primarily serve the needs of Americans. Europeans will simply have to accept that.
A Strong Signal to Europe
With significant volumes of diesel removed from the global market, the U.S. increased its share of EU imports from 17 percent in 2025 to 32 percent. Meanwhile, Indian diesel exports to Europe decreased from 163,000 to 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) over the same period. China and South Korea supply only small amounts to the European market, and Russian diesel is subject to sanctions. Europe simply has no alternative supplier capable of filling the gap left by the U.S.
The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that European reserves are at four-year lows, and seasonal demand for distillates is still rising.Therefore, a ban on American diesel exports will push European prices and the premium on crude oil to new levels. Europe will have to adapt to a new reality and compete with Latin America and West Africa for supplies.
Moreover, diesel accounts for about half of petroleum product consumption in Europe. Rising prices will inevitably accelerate inflation and drive up costs in logistics, agriculture, and construction, complicating the ECB’s policy and significantly increasing the risk of a Eurozone recession against the backdrop of high gas prices.
European economies are not resilient enough to withstand a prolonged ban. In most Western European countries, including Great Britain, reserves amount to only 20-30 days. For many of these countries, a ban on American diesel exports would be even more painful due to reduced domestic refining capacity.
No More Games — Time to Pay the Bill!
Retribution always follows betrayal. Some pay immediately for everything, while others pay in installments, like loan repayments. While the moments of reckoning may be significantly separated by time, the full price must eventually be paid.
Donald Trump has received a golden opportunity to return the favor to his European “friends” for their deliberate efforts to oust politicians aligned with Washington, their demonstrative gestures against his operations in the Strait of Hormuz, and other actions directed against him.
European leaders must now realize that their sabotage and interference with President Trump will have negative and painful consequences. High costs, austerity measures, falling production levels, and cold weather are the best teachers for those who believe they can bite the hand that feeds them.
For those who have publicly boasted about their embarrassing actions against Trump, such as former Council of Europe Deputy Secretary General Bjorn Berge of Norway, the question of imposing personal sanctions has long been overdue. The games are over. It’s time to settle accounts.

He’ll pick his moment well.

• Justice Alito to Retire Next Year? (Matt Margolis)

In June, on the last day of opinion releases for the term, NPR published a story claiming that Justice Samuel Alito was stepping down. The report was false, and it lasted roughly ten minutes before it vanished. Then, in August, Alito put weeks of speculation to rest himself. “Obviously I’m here for another term,” he told The Wall Street Journal.Social media lit up Friday with claims that Justice Alito had announced plans to retire next year, after CBS News released excerpts of a new interview with him.

Those rumors were somewhat overblown. Alito announced nothing of the sort. He did admit that stepping down has crossed his mind. CBS News’ national and legal correspondent Jan Crawford asked him why he chose to stay on the bench this year, despite pressure from Republicans who wanted a replacement confirmed while the GOP runs the Senate.”I thought about it and I will continue,” Alito told CBS News.
Crawford followed up, asking if he had really considered it. “Well, it’s something I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term,” he said. “But I thought that I could still make a valuable contribution, which is why I became a justice and a judge in the first place. So that was basically it.”Crawford then asked whether he would revisit the decision every year. “Yeah, I think I have to,” Alito replied. That’s a long way from a retirement announcement. The full interview will air on Monday.
Speculation about Supreme Court retirements has swirled for months, and it has always centered on two men. Alito is the second-oldest justice on the Court. President George W. Bush appointed him in 2006, and he has been a reliable conservative vote ever since. Clarence Thomas, the oldest justice, joined the Court in 1991 as a George H.W. Bush appointee, and is one of the most influential conservative voices in the Court’s history. Conservatives love them both and don’t want either gone, but given their advanced ages, there was also a desire to give President Donald Trump at least one vacancy he could fill with a younger originalist while Republicans still hold the Senate.
Let’s be honest, here. Nobody on the right wants to relive the Ruth Bader Ginsburg story from the other side. Ginsburg infamously stayed on the Court through Barack Obama’s presidency, despite her age and declining health, then died a few weeks before the 2020 election. Trump quickly nominated Amy Coney Barrett, the Senate confirmed her, and the left was infuriated.
Crawford put that very scenario to Alito, asking why staying doesn’t risk undoing his work the way it did for Ginsburg. “It’s too hard to predict what the political situation will be and what any president might do with respect to a replacement,” Alito said. He’s right that nobody can predict the future, but that’s the whole problem. If the Senate flips, I’d expect Democrats to block any replacement until after the 2028 election. And nobody knows who wins the White House in 2028.
Make no mistake about it, the stakes are enormous. Alito has earned the right to make this call on his own schedule, and he says he’ll make it again every year. Ginsburg made hers, too, and it cost the left a seat for a generation.

“The NATO secretary-general was awarded the Westphalian Peace Prize for his hostile stance toward Russia..”

• ‘Murderers’ Rutte and Merz Booed at Peace Prize Ceremony (RT)

Crowds of protesters jeered at NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, after the US-led military bloc was awarded the Westphalian Peace Prize on Thursday. The prize, awarded by the Economic Society for Westphalia and Lippe, commemorates the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years’ War and legally enshrined the modern concept of the nation state. Rutte, known among protestors as the “Lying Dutchman,” collected the award in the German city of Munster on Thursday on behalf of the interventionist US-led military bloc.

Speaking at the ceremony, North Rhine-Westphalia Minister-President Hendrik Wust declared that “military strength can prevent war and preserve peace,” and that “NATO has demonstrated for more than 75 years that strength secures peace.” Protesters gathered outside Munster Town Hall disagreed. When the Dutchman, the German, and other dignitaries stepped onto the balcony, below which a blue-blazered band played, they were met with chants of “murderers” and “blood on your hands” from the square below (perhaps the greatest show of anger in the town since the anabaptists in 1534).
The NATO chief and the German chancellor gritted their teeth and smiled and waved through the boos and whistles. Wust’s speech did not mention NATO’s bombing campaigns against Serbia in 1995 and 1999, or its bombing and subsequent breaking up of Libya in 2011. More recently, NATO exercises on Russia’s Kaliningrad border have been interpreted as reckless provocations by the Kremlin, with the Russian Foreign Ministry reminding NATO leadership this week that Kaliningrad is integral Russian territory, which Moscow is prepared to defend with “all its arsenal, including nuclear weapons.”
Less than 24 hours earlier, Rutte declared that NATO’s European members should have attacked Iran on behalf of the US and Israel. “Europe was not able to take out the nuclear capability of Iran. We couldn’t. We didn’t have the capabilities. In ten years, we can and we should…it should be us doing this, not the Americans,” he said at a Euronews summit in Brussels. Merz took the opportunity to swipe at his political rivals too, falsely claiming the AfD – currently Germany’s most popular political party – is “Russian-backed.”
“A peace prize for a military alliance – at first glance, that seems contradictory, but in fact it is entirely logical,” he reasoned. “It protects our freedom, it protects our security, it protects our prosperity, and it serves the cause of peace in Europe.” The organizers of the Westphalian Peace Prize did not always share NATO’s confrontational stance toward Russia. Two years ago, the prize was awarded to French President Emmanuel Macron for “his diplomatic skill in maintaining dialogue with the Russian leadership despite serious upheavals.”

It wouldn’t be about money, would it?

“The EU is not doing enough to assist Kiev in the conflict with Moscow, the Ukrainian leader has claimed ..”

• Zelensky Lashes Out At Ukraine’s Western Backers (RT)

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, who is dealing with a major hole in his country’s budget and high-profile corruption scandals in his government, has criticized Kiev’s Western backers for their reluctance to provide him with more money.

the funds originally intended to last to the end of the year and faced a shortfall of €27 billion. The announcement came after the Ukrainian leader’s 40-day PR pressure campaign on Russia, which involved long-range strikes on energy and civilian infrastructure, failed to deliver the desired results and triggered a harsh response by Moscow.
In an interview with the Financial Times published on Friday, Zelensky complained that the acute budget deficit is stopping Ukraine from developing and manufacturing some key weapons. When asked if he believed that his foreign supporters were doing all they could to assist, the Ukrainian leader replied: “Not enough, of course not enough.” The FT noted that the introduction of faster jet-powered drones by Russia in recent weeks had become an additional challenge for Ukraine, which is already experiencing a shortage of US-made Patriot interceptors and other air defenses.
Zelensky acknowledged that a lack of money to purchase engines for interceptor UAVs was one of the hurdles. “We really import a lot of engines. There are some engines of our production, but not enough,” he said. A Russian drone and missile campaign against military-related targets in Ukraine intensified this year in response to terrorist attacks by Kiev, crippling its energy infrastructure and leading to blackouts and fuel shortages. It has also destroyed most of the country’s storage spaces, affecting the supply of food and other goods.
Wheat and other exports have also been reduced significantly by attacks on the port of Odessa and Ukraine-bound vessels in the Black Sea, leaving Zelensky’s government almost entirely dependent on foreign aid. Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the EU turned down Ukraine’s plea to speed up the payouts of its loan. Officials in Brussels expressed belief that doing so would not solve the problem, but only delay it until 2027, the agency said. The bloc suggested that Kiev’s other partners, including Canada and Japan, could provide the funds to cover its pressing needs, it added.
EU bureaucrats were surprised to learn that Ukraine ran out of money so fast, according to Bloomberg. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned earlier this year that the bloc’s loan to Kiev would be swiftly plundered by Zelensky and other corrupt officials from his team. On Thursday, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) reported about a scheme involving the supply of EU-funded handguns to Ukrainian security services at prices inflated threefold. Kiev and it Western backers are “traditionally” plugging the $27-billion hole in Ukraine’s budget “using funds taken from ordinary citizens of European states,” the SVR said.

They’re more than capable of destroying themselves. Really, they have no-one.

• Dear DSA: How to Destroy the 5 Democrats Who Want to Be President (Pinsker)

Dear DSA,

You and I — are we really so different? Why, I think not! We both live on planet earth, and… well, I’m sure we have lots of other stuff in common, too. Enough to build a friendship. So I say this with peace and love: You’ve been on an impressive winning streak — whacking around the Democratic establishment like they’re a flippin’ piñata — but thus far, all your gains have been incremental. A mayor’s seat here or a Senate nominee there. (Yawn.) Sorry, comrade. That won’t lead you to your workers’ paradise — at least, not anytime soon. You’ve got to think bigger. Way bigger.
C’mon, you guys are supposed to be revolutionaries! If you want to change the world, you need to do what the Republicans did and start at the top. The MAGA movement didn’t fiddle around with mayoral races; we had the cojones to target the top prize. So should you. The Democrats, after all, didn’t invite you into their party without fully knowing your beliefs. (You literally publish manifestos!) Yet they welcomed and accepted you anyway, because they needed your votes. And a deal’s a deal.
Because that’s the unspoken agreement: In exchange for DSA votes in the general election, DSA voters get to influence who the Democrats nominate for office. It’s how you got Zohran Mamdani and Abdul El-Sayed on a major party’s ticket. Furthermore, this agreement won’t expire on Election Day 2026. In fact, the opposite is true: The midterms are the calm before the storm. Because in 2028, the DSA will be headhunting Democratic frontrunners.
You have no choice. That’s politics works: You can’t simply build your preferred candidate up; you must also tear the opposition down. Which sounds like a super-fun project! And in the name of friendship, I’d like to help. ‘Cause honestly? You’d benefit from outside assistance. We’re all prisoners of our own perspective. We know what we know — and we guess the rest. And because DSA membership mostly consists of overeducated white people, your messaging falters in Flyover Country: Outside of bright blue cities, college towns, and Muslim strongholds, your win rate nosedives.
There’s no shame in having blind spots. We all have them. It’s why an outsider’s perspective is so valuable. So, without any further ado, here’s your DSA strategy memo on how to destroy the five Democratic presidential frontrunners:
Candidate One: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Vulnerability: Being an idiot.Most of the country thinks AOC is too radical. You purists at the DSA know she’s actually not radical enough. (We’ve got no time for a corporate Zionist squish such as AOC, amiright?) But in Flyover Country, attacking AOC for being “too moderate” won’t work. That’s not her Achilles’ heel; it’s not her reputational vulnerability. Her weakness is her brain: The public suspects she’s stupid. When she’s quizzed on policy, she comes across like a doofus lightweight: That’s how to destroy her: AOC doesn’t know her ABCs. She’s a dummy — an empty vessel who cosplays as a Marxist in overpriced “Tax the Rich” evening gowns without getting the irony. She’s just not smart enough to be president. Consult the Dan Quayle playbook and attack accordingly.
Candidate Two: Jon Ossoff
Vulnerability: Nastiness, dirt, and deception. Every few months, the Democrats fall in love. (And every few months, they fall out of it.) They’re perpetually on the lookout for the next JFK. Today, it’s Jon Ossoff. According to Kalshi, he’s the new Democratic frontrunner in 2028. He’s handsome. Not even 40. He sounds like Barack Obama, and has very nice hair. (Which ain’t cheap: Ossoff spends more on hair and makeup than any other Senate candidate, male or female.) What makes him appealing is his youth and newness. Scandal does not taint him; dirt and filth do not touch him. Which is why the Democrats are swooning: He’s a fresh face and a blank slate.
Blank enough for the Democrats to project their hopes, wishes, biases, and aspirations. Ossoff will likely capitalize on this with vague, aspirational sloganeering, because the JFK card is a winner. It carried a young Obama to the finish line. Why not Ossoff? And the best way to negate it is by dirtying Ossoff up, muddying his clothes, and deep-sixing his likability. Without his youth and likability, Ossoff has no point-of-difference; there’s nothing special about him. It’s why attacking Natalie Harp was a high-risk move: Nastiness and likability are like oil and water.
They don’t mix. There are already rumblings about Ossoff being two-faced on Israel. The DSA should build on this, branding him as a nasty, dirty, unlikable liar. Turn his biggest branding asset into a negative. (But don’t play the Jew card yet. We’re saving that for later.)
Candidate Three: Kamala Harris
Vulnerability: Electability. As a minority female with ties to the Indian and black communities, Harris has a pitch-perfect resume for today’s Democratic Party. On paper, she’s everything the base is looking for. But in actuality, she’s a disaster. Nobody likes her. She’s too weird for the moderates, too moderate for the libs — and too much of a loser for the base. They still blame her for Trump’s victory. And they’re afraid she’d lose in 2028, because the American people don’t like her. They didn’t vote for her in the 2020 primaries. She was pushed on them in 2024 — and that was a catastrophe. Nobody on the left wants to watch the S.S. Kamala Harris sink for a third time.
Her only asset is her electability. She was the first female minority vice president, and because she’s been on a major ticket in back-to-back presidential elections, there’s a plausibility to her candidacy. On paper, she’s credible. But if you take that away, she’s dead in the water.

Each @SpaceX Star Mind super intelligence spacecraft will have over 250kW of solar power, which is about 20% more than the International Space Station https://t.co/XeSefgo6UY
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2026

https://twitter.com/MIPAGUY/status/2106112296997052599?s=20

Friedberg says the Starlink network has grown so large it can now act as a radar system to detect stealth aircraft pic.twitter.com/4vajmVsmrg
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) October 2, 2026

i seriously doubt people comprehend what this means

*10 million Optimus per year*

that's the equivalent of a whole nation of robots that could eventually work tirelessly, ~24/7, without needing to be trained individually, with the intelligence of a nobel prize winner, that only… https://t.co/ACNmLB2t3w
— vittorio (@IterIntellectus) October 3, 2026

Elon Musk’s ultimate AI vision is a “star mind” powered by the sun.

“We’ve already built the most powerful AI training clusters in the world. And then what we expect to do by the end of next year is about 10 times more than what we’ve done thus far. This will be very important… pic.twitter.com/WtQS13uFxg
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) October 3, 2026

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Debt Rattle September 18 2026

Sep 182026

September 18, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 8:45 am Finance Tagged with: associate member, Canada, Carney, end game, European Union, forever war, ICC, Iran, Mangione, midterms, Von der Leyen 29 Responses »

Thomas Cole Commencement of Empire (Savage state) 1836

• Trump Concedes He Must Soon Decide On Iran End Game: ‘Annihilate Them Or Not’ (ZH)

• Iran Is Preparing an October Surprise Before the Midterms (Victor Davis Hanson)

• How Trump’s Iran Operation Turned Into A Forever War (Harrison Berger)

• Trump Working To Spare US The Effects Of Global Oil Crunch (JTN)

• Canada and Europe are Coordinating to Manipulate the US Midterm Election (CTH)

• Von der Leyen Announces Canada as 1st Associate Member of European Union (CTH)

• Canada Welcomes EU Proposal To Become ‘Associate Member’ (BBC)

• Where Did Our Happiness Go? Into The Pockets Of Others (Paul Craig Roberts)

• Who Represents America? (Paul Craig Roberts)

• Gandhi is Out, Mangione is In: Political Violence is in Vogue in America (Turley)

• Sen. Paul Introduces Birthright Citizenship Amendment (Turley)

• ICC Used As ‘Tool’ To Target Global South – Editor (RT)

https://twitter.com/newsIvankaq/status/2100620194653540784?s=20

The attempted globalist takeover of Europe will only work if people sit on their hands.

This courageous woman is standing up for all of the sane citizens of Europe because the current insanity sweeping across Europe emanates from damn near every European Capitol.

Americans… https://t.co/RxW8zIVkow
— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) September 16, 2026

Wow .. the real AI scare story?! https://t.co/2hSMyjkqA2
— Willem Middelkoop (@wmiddelkoop) September 17, 2026

The AI 'panic' is a coordinated political play. From a researcher's viral post to CEO warnings and legislative proposals, it's all happening incredibly fast. Is it about genuine threat, or control? #AI #Politics #Tech pic.twitter.com/j0uqAjYO2i
— Promethean Action (@PrometheanActn) September 16, 2026

“Trump tells Axios he’s approaching major crossroads in Iran war..”

• Trump Concedes He Must Soon Decide On Iran End Game: ‘Annihilate Them Or Not’ (ZH)

Some key lines of President Trump given to Axios on Thursday…He told the outlet he is at a “critical juncture” regarding the war in Iran, weighing whether to launch massive new attacks or pursue a different path to end the conflict. He has previously indicated his belief that war will continue through the November midterm elections. Trump has newly said: “I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them [the Iranian regime] or do I not? It’s a big decision. Anything could happen with me.”

The war is increasingly unpopular among Americans, and Trump’s rhetoric has appeared a bit more honest on this of late. What’s the end game? After six months of conflict, Epic Fury has looked like a bombing campaign in search of a strategy. According to more of Trump’s talk with Axios: Trump declined to say whether he’ll decide on the path forward before or after the midterms.
Trump and Hegseth have ordered the military to maintain its level of forces in the Middle East until the end of the year, to remain ready for a potential return to full-scale combat. The officials say Trump needs to decide soon on the way forward, partly because the US military can’t stay in its current holding pattern much longer. “At some point you have to decide what is the end game”
The situation of global energy transit has over the past week become much more complicated with the Houthis advance across Yemen’s Red Sea coastline, and drone damage to Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline. The US looks to be staying on the sidelines of Yemen fighting, for the time being. New via Al Jazeera:
A senior US official told Al Jazeera: We are focused on ensuring navigation in the Red Sea and allowing our partners to manage security challenges. And yet “partners” like the Saudis and its government in Sanaa are clearly not doing so well.
BREAKING: Yemen's Houthis have dug roughly 20 km of trenches in the mountains above the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, visible on Sentinel-2 imagery, with positions overlooking the strait's narrowest point near Dhubab and Perim.

The Houthi fighter filmed on the Murad coast last week said… pic.twitter.com/0kgmg3FiPE
— The Hormuz Letter (@HormuzLetter) September 17, 2026

I doubt Iran has much left to surprise us with.

• Iran Is Preparing an October Surprise Before the Midterms (Victor Davis Hanson)

We’re about 50 days out from the midterms, and everybody seems to have an October surprise. What’s the situation on the ground in Iran? One of the big surprises is we don’t know because this is the first really major engagement where there are no Western journalists allowed into Iran. There are no U.S. ground troops. There are no embedded reporters. The Mossad maybe has agents on the ground, but they’re not publicizing that fact. And Iranians who sporadically call people in the West on their cell phones are hunted down.

So, a lot of it is subjective conjecture. But I think it’s pretty clear that Iran is planning, as it is now sporadically, but planning an October surprise near the midterms. Their entire strategy has been to delay, negotiate, attack, delay, negotiate, attack. And the purpose was to, A, drive up the price of oil through that uncertainty, especially in hitting ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and B, get closer and closer and closer to the midterms.
They don’t really care about the details or statistics of American congressional operations. They don’t really understand that for the Democrats to cut off all aid to military forces that are fighting the regime, that means money that we give Israel, intelligence that we give the Gulf, but more importantly, our daily expenses from the Pentagon, they’re going to have to have a large veto-proof Congress. I don’t think they’ll get that even if they were to win the midterms. But that’s what Iran is worried about and concerned about, that they want the Democrats to win.
Why the Democrats? They remember in 2009, a million of them went out in the street to overthrow the regime. Barack Obama, newly inaugurated, didn’t do anything. He just kept mute for about 12 days. Why? Because he was going to negotiate with a theocracy about their nuclear program, and he wanted to reboot Iran as part of a rival to democratic Israel and the moderate Gulf regimes. He thought by empowering the Shia Crescent in Iran, in Syria, in Beirut, on the West Bank, and in Gaza, he could have creative tension, and he would be the adjudicator.
But the people don’t really trust the Democrats, and they know they’ve been very critical of this effort to hurt the theocracy. So, Iran and the Democrats have the same goal: create chaos. They have the same goal, and that’s to defeat Donald Trump. The Democrats want the Iranians to create chaos, drag out the war, and therefore drive down public opinion and raise the price of gas. That’s clear. They’ve all but said that. And in turn, the opposition has a what? What would we call it? An October surprise? It is gaming the midterms as well.
Now, what are they thinking? They are thinking that every time the Democrats come into power, they negotiate with this horrendous regime. They don’t trust that the Democrats want it gone. They fear, third, that the Democrats may be in power in the Congress. They fear that Donald Trump is at 40% popularity, and he might have to make concessions to them. So, in their interpretation of the calendar, the clock, the time remaining to the midterms, it might be they feel time is running out given two things.
One, they don’t have any fuel, gasoline, or diesel. We know that much. The gas lines are three to four miles long, and food is scarce, and air conditioning is probably nonexistent. Inflation is rampant, and things are deteriorating at a geometric rate in Iran. And two, they don’t think anybody will come to the rescue except Donald Trump, and Donald Trump right now has control of the Congress. So, in their way of thinking, they may think an October surprise would be to go out in the streets right before the midterms and show that they thank the United States, they support the United States.
There’s another October surprise. We haven’t heard much from the Kurds. The Turks have been very adamant that they did not want us to help the Iranian Kurds because that could spread into the Turkish Kurds, and the same thing is true of the Iraqi Kurds and the Syrian Kurds, etc.
But they have been more active than usual in the last week. If they sense the people of Iran are rising up or are about to go for broke, they may want to as well join them. So they may have an October surprise.

It’s been 5 months. With mostly hardly any fighting. Why do you say forever war? Because others do, too? Because it takes longer than you thought/wanted?

Those “four primary objectives in the Iran War” are just your fantasy. There is one primary objective: no nukes for Iran.

The rest are secondary. At best.

• How Trump’s Iran Operation Turned Into A Forever War (Harrison Berger)

As the United States has struggled to secure its four primary objectives in the Iran War – achieving regime change, dismantling long-range ballistic missiles, eliminating nuclear enrichment, and halting Tehran’s support for regional proxies – U.S. officials have rolled out a series of tried-and-failed theories for how to achieve those goals.

In the past four weeks, Americans have watched their government attempt to inflict an economic victory against Iran through Operation Economic Outcast, tightening a sanctions regime which for decades has strangled Iran’s economy without resolving the underlying dispute. Now, as that strategy flags, we have seen the Trump administration return to its older strategy of kinetic strikes against Iran. Those strikes, too, have failed to achieve their desired objectives. Facing the prospect of a self-inflicted defeat, the U.S. has now proposed two new paths forward.
The first, reported by the Wall Street Journal last Wednesday, is an option to extend and formalize the current series of on-and-off strikes U.S. officials call this “mowing the lawn,” or a strategy of using periodic bouts of disproportionate force, as Israel did in Gaza prior to launching its full-scale, seemingly endless campaign after the Oct. 7 attacks of 2023. To support that option, the Pentagon has extended troop deployments in the Middle East through 2027.
The second option reportedly considered by the White House is for the U.S. to declare victory and walk away, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that Trump favors the idea. Among the supporters of the second option is Joe Kent, the former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who resigned in protest of the Iran War, and who has argued on X that the U.S. should “reset the terms of the deal” with Iran “by removing our troops & ships from the region.” The argument that the U.S should walk away and “declare victory” is growing increasingly popular even in establishment circles.
But given the historic limitations of sanctions to achieve political outcomes, coupled with Iran’s current demands, that strategy too appears unlikely to re-open the Strait of Hormuz and avert the economic consequences Iran’s leverage over the waterway will have on the global economy.
Political scientists have long doubted whether U.S. economic pressure and sanctions can shape political outcomes, particularly when the targeted state has little reason to believe these measures will be reversed in exchange for good behavior; researchers like David Siegel are quick to acknowledge that they “don’t work,” while U.S. officials like Janet Yellen have conceded the same point, noting that, while sanctions against Iran had caused a “real economic crisis,” they produced political outcomes “much less than we would ideally like.”
As Siegel – who most recently studied the failure of U.S. sanctions on Russia to redirect their state behavior toward U.S. and NATO interests – explains, “target states have strong incentives not to give in and sometimes even benefit from heightened levels of political support at home because they can now credibly blame their economic woes on a foreign imperial power.” Siegel argues that it’s “probably more true today than ever before due to the fact that sanctioned states can turn to China.”
The low likelihood of economic pressure opening up the Strait of Hormuz is depressed even further by the fact that one of Iran’s preconditions for opening the Strait of Hormuz is the removal of sanctions, which would require a vote from Congress, where the proposal would face an uphill battle. But perhaps the main reason walking away and declaring victory would fail to re-open the Strait and mitigate impending economic disaster is because Iran has tied freedom of navigation in the waterway to the U.S. reining in Israel, and the U.S. has long demonstrated it is unwilling to do so.
The June 17 agreement between the U.S. and Iran only required the U.S. force an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, and Washington failed to follow through. Now, subsequent provocations by the U.S. and Israel have led Iran to expand its ceasefire demands to other campaigns: in Iraq, in Yemen, and in Palestine.
Securing a deal to re-open the Strait and end the war is further complicated by the growing view around the world that the “Art of The Deal” author is simply incapable of making deals. Results of a 2025 Politico survey of diplomats from 15 countries show foreign officials describing Trump’s deal-making process as “reactive, with no clear direction,” while Trump has so far failed to resolve a proxy war in Ukraine that he promised to end “within 24 hours” of taking office. The White House has similarly failed to reach a peace deal in Gaza.

“A soaring global energy crunch collides with mid-term election season in the U.S., as the White House looks abroad to Venezuela and pressures Ukraine to ease supply pressures.”

• Trump Working To Spare US The Effects Of Global Oil Crunch (JTN)

President Donald Trump is working furiously to spare the United States from the fuel crisis sweeping the globe, seeking out new sources in Venezuela, ensuring that the U.S. continues to pump oil, and calling for Ukraine to halt its strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure.

So far, the United States appears to be insulated from the worst of the crisis as unrest breaks out in countries that are feeling acute oil shortages stemming primarily from the Iran war. Rising prices in regions as diverse as South Asia and Europe have prompted protests. Governments have responded with price ceilings, rationing, and even scheduled power cuts in poorer countries.
This weekend, for example, in Syria, protesters blocked a highway, blocking traffic and setting fire to tires, just hours after the central government announced it would temporarily raise prices on fuel products by as much as 40%, both Al-Jazeera and The New York Times reported. Similar protests have occurred in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Guatemala, and Portugal.
A missile strike by Iran-backed militias damaged Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea oil pipeline this weekend
The White House and administration officials view high oil prices as temporary, an issue that will resolve itself when the Iran war is finished, as Trump has said. However, no end to the conflict between Washington and Tehran appears likely before the midterm elections. Instead, voters are being confronted with the prospect of rising gas prices as tit-for-tat fighting between the U.S. and Iran continues just as the election season truly kicks off.
A missile strike by Iran-backed militias that damaged Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea oil pipeline this weekend has contributed to the recent oil price uncertainty sweeping the markets. The strike temporarily knocked the East-West pipeline out of commission, preventing Saudi Arabia from using its only reliable way to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and forcing the kingdom to cut oil shipments to Europe.
The current crunch is particularly acute for diesel, which is more expensive than gasoline. The price of diesel, an oil-based fuel often used in commercial vehicles and industrial machinery, set a new record when it surpassed $6 a gallon this weekend. Because of its use in freight and delivery transportation, elevated diesel prices often translate into higher prices for goods.
The pattern prompted the president to call on Ukraine to halt its strikes against Russian oil refineries in a bid to calm global diesel prices, which he blamed on the Russia-Ukraine war, not the conflict in the Middle East.
“Mr. Zelenskyy has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia,” Trump said during a visit to Ireland. “Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel because he’s causing a shortage of diesel. This isn’t done by the Middle East; this is done by what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine.”
Recent polls show 49% of voters are most concerned by the cost of living
The pressure is on. Polling throughout the summer has shown that potential voters are primarily concerned with the cost of living and economic conditions ahead of the elections, which will take place in November. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll in June, for example, respondents said the cost of living was the most important factor in deciding whom to vote for in November – at 49%, followed by democratic norms at 22% and immigration at 13%. In that same poll, 14% of respondents overall and 20% of Republican respondents labeled gasoline prices as the issue they most want members of Congress to prioritize.
Americans are also growing weary of how the president is handling the economy. Trump’s net approval on the economy is 33 points underwater, and American approval for the Iran war has also declined to the lowest levels since the conflict began, with only 31% of Americans approving of the war.
To bolster supply, the administration has turned its focus to South America, working to ease sanctions on Caracas and facilitate higher oil exports. According to reports by The Wall Street Journal, easing restrictions on Venezuelan crude could direct hundreds of thousands of additional barrels per day to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries, helping offset supply disruptions from the Middle East.

Globalists vs nationalists. Soros vs Trump.

• Canada and Europe are Coordinating to Manipulate the US Midterm Election (CTH)

In this outline Promethean Action’s Susan Kokinda summarizes how energy prices are being weaponized to influence the 2026 midterm election. The multinationals, Canada, Europe, NATO and those opposed to America-First sovereignty are waging an economic war against President Trump’s geopolitical and economic reset.

This midweek update argues that the midterm elections are being shaped less by campaign ads than by coordinated economic and political pressure: rising diesel prices tied to Ukrainian strikes on Russian diesel infrastructure, energy pricing set by European exchange traders in London rather than producers, and continued Iran conflict framed as being prolonged to affect the vote.
Kokinda also cites Canada’s trade war and targeted tariffs as politically timed, alongside attacks on U.S. bonds and pressure to raise interest rates, describing “full spectrum economic warfare” against Trump’s agenda. A second front is an accelerated AI panic, beginning with viral warnings from an ex-Anthropic researcher and followed by Anthropic CEO calls for regulation, which Trump and allies call a control-driven “hoax.” The script traces AI-ban lobbying to London-based Control AI, highlights foreign funding networks, and links the push to international oversight and reduced national sovereignty.

“Mark Carney just pulled Canada out of the USMCA and there’s no one to blame but himself.”

“Together both Europe and Canada convey a mindset and worldview that organizes fabricated problems to keep control of their populations. It’s a corporatist structure of modern Fascism where instead of govt telling the corporations what to do, the World Economic Forum of multinationals tell the governments what to do.”

• Von der Leyen Announces Canada as 1st Associate Member of European Union (CTH)

Pouring effusive and slobbering praise over the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the anointed “middle power” leader of a shrinking -and increasingly irrelevant- new world order, with grand pontifications EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen announced today that Canada is the first “Associate Member” of the European Union.

It’s a major award! As noted by Reuters, “There is currently no such status as associate member set out in the European Union’s treaties, though various versions of an associate-type of membership have been floated in the bloc over the years. Germany suggested Ukraine be an associate member as an interim stage to full accession, though the proposal failed to gain traction as some EU capitals pushed back.
von der Leyen gushed: “Dear Mark, I said we must urgently reimagine our partnerships. So, I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the EU. We share one ocean, one set of values, one way of seeing the world. And we will now build our shared future as well – thank you for being here.” Mark Carney sat with a big smile, giddy with excitement and barely able to control his visible glee.

DAILY MAIL – […] But the attempt to flatter the former Governor of the Bank of England backfired, with diplomats saying they were never briefed about the proposal and that, in effect, ‘associate membership’ doesn’t even exist. EU diplomats accused Brussels of ‘over-reach’, an accusation often levelled against Eurocrats by UK Brexiteers before Britain left the bloc. One EU diplomat told the Mail: ‘This bombastic announcement is just not right.
‘There will be a summit at the end of October, so logically they will talk about deepening the relations. ‘But no one has ever seen an associate membership and no idea what it means in practice. Canada is a valuable partner for the EU, one of the few currently in the world where we share the values, so it is nothing against Canada. ‘But first and foremost the member states should be the ones to express what kind of relationship the EU wants to have with any third country.’
Another added: ‘She kept this bit of associate membership out of the text until the last moment. She also did not mention it up front to EU member states. ‘It seems like she is a bit too far out in floating this. Everyone is positive about Canada, and wants to strengthen the relationship. ‘But there is a lot of uncertainty about what von der Leyen envisages by coining this label.’
They added that, in reality, the most that can likely be hoped for is a deeper trading relationship rather than ‘associate membership’, which implies Canada taking part in EU programmes that it would be forced to pay into, becoming more politically integrated and potentially even having a say over the bloc’s rules.
But there would be huge barriers to overcome to establish closer ties, as swathes of Canada’s regulations are at present incompatible with EU single market rules, with high taxes on the bloc’s alcohol exports another thorny issue. Under EU law, any granting of membership would have to be approved by the 27 member states, which is another reason they were wrong-footed.” (read more)
We all know what this is. This is simply a joint Canada/Europe response to the geopolitical realignment currently underway by U.S. President Donald Trump. At the core of the CA/EU association is the insufferable leftist mindset. A pontificating pretense that elites and globalists should determine the outcomes and values for the rest of the world.
Together both Europe and Canada convey a mindset and worldview that organizes fabricated problems to keep control of their populations. It’s a corporatist structure of modern Fascism where instead of govt telling the corporations what to do, the World Economic Forum of multinationals tell the governments what to do. It’s a constructed social and economic model where Western bankers are in charge of the proles beneath them.
The pontificating snobbery within the collective outlook, the pretenses and bureaucracy have nothing to do with representative government, as outlined in the unilateral approach by Ursula von der Leyen to create a status that doesn’t even exist, without any consultation with the members she is supposed to represent.
This move today is the personification of elitism and globalism in its last, desperate dying state.For the little schoolboy inside Mark Carney, this is the culmination of a lifetime goal to be important. For the Canadian people, this should be embarrassing; but it’s not. Canada is part of a British Commonwealth, and they proclaim “sovereignty” as their cause celeb against the horrible Trump, while rushing to the arms of the European Commission.
Actually, on second thought, this is perfectly Canadian. Here’s the point that will be missed by 80% of Canadians. The EU trade rules do not align with the USMCA. I don’t mean that in a vague or disingenuous manner. The specific rules, regulations and policies of the European Union are not compatible with the trilateral North American trade agreement between the U.S, Mexico and Canada. It’s not even close.
What most Canadians don’t realize amid all this gleeful back-slapping and pretentious cheer, is that Mark Carney has officially sealed the position of Canada as it relates to the USMCA/CUSMA. nCanada just did exactly what President Trump and U.S. Trade Greer had been organizing and hoping for. Mark Carney just pulled Canada out of the USMCA and there’s no one to blame but himself. We have been waiting for this for a long time. Thank you, Mark Carney.

A coalition of the weak is still weak.

• Canada Welcomes EU Proposal To Become ‘Associate Member’ (BBC)

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has welcomed the European Union’s ambition for Canada to become its first “associate member”, calling for closer cooperation on defence, critical minerals and energy security. Carney told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Thursday that Canada and Europe were “stronger together” in the face of “geopolitical rupture”. His comments came a day after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed “opening the door” to Canada’s associate membership, a status that does not currently exist.

US President Donald Trump earlier called the idea “laughable” and threatened “very serious tariffs” on Europe if he considered it a “hostile act”.Canada and the US are locked in an escalating trade dispute, with each side imposing tit-for-tat tariffs after bilateral talks collapsed last month. “Today our societies are being battered by new storms,” Carney said during his address, naming them as climate change, “the erosion of democratic norms” and the “weaponisation of trade”. “Economic integration is now being weaponised, tariffs being used to exert pressure,” he said.
“Financial mechanisms have been used for coercion. Supply chains constitute weak points to be exploited.” He said a Canada-EU alliance would create a “beacon for other democracies”, while stressing the two sides were not seeking to form a new power bloc. “I am not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great-power rival – only with better manners,” he told MEPs. “This is about sovereignty, our ability to live as we wish. We do not seek power to dominate others.” Asked about the proposal on Wednesday, Trump told reporters: “If I think it’s at all a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe, on many things.
“If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe, which is a possibility.” Responding to Trump’s comments at a press conference following his address, Carney said: “This alliance is a positive process, that’s my response to the American president.””Canadians are united that nobody is going to tell us what language we speak, no-one is going to dictate our culture, or with whom we can strike agreements internationally,” he added.
Carney said Canada was “not in a position, nor seeking, to become a full member of the European Union”, describing the proposal as a “different framework”. Speaking at the European Parliament on Wednesday, von der Leyen said she wanted Canada to become the EU’s first associate member, with closer cooperation in areas such as manufacturing, technology, defence, energy critical minerals and economic security.
It is unclear exactly what that relationship would look like because the “associate member” status does not currently exist within the EU and could take years to implement. Any new arrangement would require the agreement of all 27 EU member states, with some governments having previously expressed reservations about creating a new form of membership. The EU and Canada already have a free-trade agreement, and cooperate in areas including trade, defence and research.
In his address, Carney said Canada and Europe could strengthen their “strategic autonomy” through “deep co-operation in the full range of strategic capabilities, including critical minerals”. He said Canada could supply liquefied natural gas and hydrogen to support European energy security, while benefiting from Europe’s expertise in clean-energy technologies. He also proposed pooling technological resources and deepening “people to people ties”, including allowing young people to “work, study and live where they want on either side of the Atlantic” through Canada joining the EU’s Erasmus+ programme.
Carney described the proposed relationship as “a unique, positive approach that we will define together”. He added that there would be a debate and a vote in the Canadian parliament on the proposals, but emphasised the two sides were still at the “start of a road”. A Canada-EU summit is due to take place in Montreal at the end of October, where Carney said they would “drill down the details”.

House prices are used to control people.

• Where Did Our Happiness Go? Into The Pockets Of Others (Paul Craig Roberts)

Remember how happy we would be according to Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum when we owned nothing? Well, that is where we are. Are you happy? They took away memory cards and sold us cloud storage. They took CDs and DVDs and sold us streaming. They took software you once bought as yours and turned it into a monthly subscription. Corporate America figured out the real money wasn’t in selling you something. It was making sure you NEVER actually own it.

According to AI Overview, for Existing Homes, the median sales price for existing single-family homes and condos is $429,100. For New Construction, the U.S. Census Bureau reports the median sales price for new houses sold is $410,700, with the broader average around $502,700. Prices vary depending on whether you look at averages (skewed higher by multi-million dollar homes) or medians (the midpoint where half cost more and half cost less).
To comfortably afford a $400,000 house, you generally need an annual household income between $90,000 and $130,000, depending on your down payment, interest rate, and monthly debts.mIf you pay for the house with a mortgage, the cost of the house with principle, interest, insurance and real estate tax by the time the house is paid for is about triple the purchase price. You will have paid more than $1.2 million for your middle class home.
So Americans cannot afford to buy and they cannot afford to rent. Dear Americans, are you happy? Would you like a real populist government that represented you. Good luck.

Paul Craig Roberts seems to feel it’s HIM who represents America.

• Who Represents America? (Paul Craig Roberts)

Mail-in voting, along with street corner drop boxes, has proved to be one of the most effective methods of election stealing. There are examples where at the last moment a large number of mail-in votes arrive that suffice to change the outcome.

The Covid lockdown was used to expand mail-in voting. Democrat states such as Connecticut and Delaware made special efforts t o expand mail-in voting. President Trump’s effort to limit mail-in voting to documented citizens is opposed by “voting rights groups,” which are mainly Democrats such as the League of Women Voters, by some election officials who claim mail-in voting increases election integrity, and by the US Supreme Court. The claim is made by Democrats that mail-in ballots are only sent to registered voters.
But we know that lists of registered voters are seldom brought up to date and that states and voting rights groups resist purging the rolls of dead people and people who have moved out of state. We have examples of people being voted in states that they no longer live in. James O’Keefe and others have presented evidence of vote and election fraud due to unverified mail-in ballots. It seems to be clear that whichever party that controls the elections in a state has a reserve of ballots that can be mailed in at the last minute to change the winner. There are examples where the last minute mail-ins are almost all for the Democrat candidate, although it does seem that the Zionist Republicans used this fraud against Israel critic US Rep. Thomas Massie in his recent primary.
Consider the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts’ case against Trump’s effort to ensure that the mail-in ballots actually come from US citizens residing in the states. Trump’s executive order requires the Department of Homeland Security to compile from various federal data bases, including Social Security, a list of US citizens for the US Postal Service with the requirement that the mail-in ballots can only be delivered to those on the voting list. The League of Women Voters argued that the federal data bases are out-of-date and unreliable. But so are the states lists of registered voters. The League of Women Voters does seem to be more concerned about preventing unqualified voting than with election integrity.
The League of Women Voters also argues that President Trump’s effort to restore integrity to US elections is an attempt to seize control of elections from Congress and the states. The League of Women Voters says no constitutional text allows actions by the President to protect election integrity. This is a curious way of putting it if the Constitution actually prohibits Trump from establishing election rules in the interest of election integrity. What exactly is the case that the President cannot act in the interest of election integrity, which requires that only citizens can vote?
The two justices on the Court who have the most integrity and who are the most principled, Thomas and Alito, saw the issue differently from the majority. Justice Alito pointed out that the issue on which the majority ruled against Trump’s executive order was that there was insufficient time to implement Trump’s order before the upcoming midterm federal elections and therefore the order would be disruptive of the election. In other words, the scheduling crunch was cleverly timed by those challenging Trump’s order.
Now, think about this for a moment. If Trump and the Republicans stood to gain from mail-in voting, why would they oppose it? Unless Democrats stand to gain from mail-in voting, why their enormous efforts to prevent President Trump from increasing the integrity of US elections?
Republicans claim that the Democrat political machine in Chicago elected John F. Kennedy president by stealing the election from Richard Nixon. I do not know if this is true. I do know that the Democrats stole the 2020 election from Trump with successful vote fraud in the swing states. The fraud is obvious despite its almost universal media denial. In the five swing states that flipped to Democrat, the states’ election procedures were controlled by Democrats. No Democrat state was flipped to Republican.
I do know that Republicans are more conservative and patriotic than Democrats. It is Republicans, not Democrats, who chant “USA, USA.” It is Democrats who favor voting by illegal aliens and who appoint them police officers and local government officials and act to prevent their deportation. It is obvious that Democrats favor multiculturalism over Americanism as evidenced by Minneapolis broadcasting over public loudspeakers the Muslim call to prayer six times a day. Anything a Democrat can do to stick her finger into America’s eye will be done.
Patriotic Americans, a body of people that I think excludes most Democrats, face a dilemma in the upcoming fall elections. Trump and the Republicans stand for Israel against America’s interest and at Americans’ cost. But the Democrats stand against America. The Democrats favor immigrant-invaders and have opposed all efforts to protect America’s borders and the meaning of US citizenship. The Democrats are the party of multiculturalism that is turning America into a Tower of Babel in which there is no longer a gender difference between male and female. All the weird stuff that infect our society has its home in the Democrat Party.

Really, a murderer is your hero?

• Gandhi is Out, Mangione is In: Political Violence is in Vogue in America (Turley)

Across the country, a chilling shift is occurring. Political violence has become a twisted form of virtue signaling. Mahatma Gandhi is out and Luigi Mangione is in. For an increasing number of young people, nothing signals your values like a willingness to kill others for them. For decades, being nonviolent has been the touchstone for many on the left. Something is changing. On my campus and others around the country, students are rationalizing violence and even idolizing assassins.

A recent Emerson College poll shows that 4 out of 10 voters between the ages of 18-29 (39%) view Mangione’s role in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as “acceptable” or “somewhat acceptable.” Other polls show a troubling number of liberal voters consider political violence justified, including polls showing 40% of young people embracing political violence in some circumstances.
For college students, the rationalization of the killing of a Charlie Kirk or a Brian Thompson is now a litmus test of your movement bona fides. I have heard exchanges where students identify with accused assassin Tyler Robinson, who wrote, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I took it.”
This week, UC Irvine instructor Matt Goldman came under fire for a posting showing the picture of conservative Nick Shirley with the menacing observation “Someone can do the funniest thing just before the Kirkiversary.” There was a time when political assassination was viewed as anathema, particularly among academics.
To put it simply, violence is in vogue. Hollywood isn’t helping our political violence problem Hollywood is commoditizing political violence. Many conservatives were critical of the movie “One Battle After Another,” with Leonardo DiCaprio, as glorifying domestic terrorism and fueling liberal paranoia.
Other actors seem eager to make their films part of a political rage fest. “Spider-Man” actor Andrew Garfield actually said that he hoped that his new movie, “The Uprising,” would make billionaires scared, declaring that “I hope that if any billionaires watch it, they’re scared s—less.” Garfield wanted to take this film as his own bona fides with the mob, demonizing the rich. He apparently forgot Spider-Man’s motto, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
Others are more direct. Lexi Alexander, director of the 2008 Marvel film “Punisher: War Zone,” triggered a firestorm Sept. 1 with an X post featuring Mangione’s face superimposed on Batman’s bat signal. The posting featured a new article’s headline: “Bank of America vice president killed in Times Square stabbing.” The vice president, Erin Piacenti, 32, left a 5-month-old daughter who will now grow up without a mother.
When people noted the obvious that Alexander, who bills herself as a “Palestinian filmmaker,” was seemingly celebrating the death of bank officer Piacenti, who was just back from maternity leave, Alexander accused them of being Israeli propagandists, or “Hasbara bots.”
In a now-deleted post, Alexander dismissed criticism that she knew about the executive being a new mother and said it was enough at the time that she was an executive because “it sounded like another Luigi situation.”

Blood or soil.

• Sen. Paul Introduces Birthright Citizenship Amendment (Turley)

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking at the Constitution Day event at James Madison University about “Rage and the Republic.” and various constitutional issues. During the event, organized by the James Madison Center on Civic Engagement, one student asked me what I would change about the U.S. Constitution. I said that I would amend the Constitution to eliminate birthright citizenship, as have other nations who once followed this ill-considered practice. Well, Sen. Rand Paul (R., Kentucky) has wasted no time. He just reintroduced his bill to ban birthright citizenship.

I have previously written about the possible need for such an amendment after the decision in Trump v. Barbara. With that decision, the matter now rests not with the court but with the country. We have never truly had a national debate over the practice. The basis and future of birthright citizenship have remained matters almost exclusively for the courts. Most countries in the world reject this controversial policy. Our closest allies in Europe reject birthright citizenship and follow the common practice of “jus sanguinis,” or right of blood. We are part of a smaller number of countries following “jus soli,” or right of soil.
Various countries that once followed the practice later amended their constitutions or laws to get rid of it. That is what would need to be done with a 28th amendment. It is time that we have a civil and substantive debate over birthright citizenship in the United States. Given that the states are Democratic-controlled, it is unlikely that an amendment would pass; as noted, we have never been given this decision at the national level. Even with the 14th Amendment’s ratification in 1868, there were differing views on the meaning of the critical line:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Both sides have good-faith arguments, but the time for that debate is long overdue.
Here is the language of the amendment:
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to protect United States citizenship.
That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:
“article —
“Section 1. For purposes of the 14th article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States, a person may be considered to be ‘subject to the jurisdiction of the United States’ only in accordance with section 2.
“Section 2. A person born in the United States may only be considered ‘subject to the jurisdiction of the United States’ if the person is born in the United States of parents, one of whom is—
“(1) a citizen or national of the United States;
“(2) an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States whose residence is in the United States; or
“(3) an alien with lawful status under the immigration laws performing active service in the Armed Forces.
“Section 3. Congress shall have the power to carry out this article through appropriate legislation.”

The ICC is a tool.

“Western countries have turned the Hague-based court against their “opponents,” Khonya Mathonsi has told RT “

• ICC Used As ‘Tool’ To Target Global South – Editor (RT)

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has served as a “tool” for Western countries to target leaders in the Global South who challenge them, political commentator and Behind the News Network editor Khonya Mathonsi has told RT.

Mathonsi was commenting on Wednesday’s ICC hearing for former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in The Hague, the 81-year-old’s first public appearance in more than a year. Duterte faces charges of crimes against humanity over killings linked to his anti-drug campaign.
He said the court disproportionately pursued figures from Africa and Asia while largely leaving Western countries untouched. “The ICC was mostly [formed] to silence their opponents,” he said, adding that “it was used as a tool” against people viewed as anti-Western, particularly in the Global South.
Duterte was arrested at Manila airport in March 2025 and transferred to ICC custody in the Netherlands. He has defended his anti-drug campaign, saying he only ordered police to kill in self-defense. His lawyers have challenged the ICC’s jurisdiction, citing the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute. The court maintains that it can prosecute alleged crimes committed while the country was still a member.
On Wednesday, the ICC said Duterte “shall continue to be detained,” citing an increased risk that he could flee or interfere with witnesses and court proceedings. Mathonsi said Duterte had criticized the US and other Western governments and sought to run the Philippines without following their wishes. “This is his punishment,” he said, accusing the West of using financial pressure and sanctions against those who challenge it.
“The real issue here is that the West don’t see themselves standing in front of the judges,” he said, adding that there is “zero accountability” for Western countries. He said Global South countries should consider establishing an alternative body to uphold international law, suggesting that such an institution could be developed within or alongside BRICS.

https://twitter.com/herbertong/status/2100580531520016839?s=20 https://twitter.com/DN_degen/status/2100510136234115129?s=20

BREAKING: Ron Baron says SpaceX could be worth $15 trillion in 10 years, and Starlink alone could generate $1 trillion in annual revenue.

“Starlink is the internet for the entire planet.”

He predicts Starlink could reach 300M customers and use 100,000 satellites. pic.twitter.com/EkIVObGH68
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) September 16, 2026

https://twitter.com/LunarOptimus/status/2100260473245429918?s=20

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Debt Rattle August 20 2026

Aug 202026

August 20, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:29 am Finance Tagged with: D-Day, Fang-Fang, FBI, Hormuz, midterms, Natalie Harp, socialism, Swalwell 39 Responses »

EdgarDegas A la mer 1863

• Economic D-Day (ZH)

• UAE Cuts Ties As Iran Warns Gulf States Against Helping Washington (ZH)

• Iran’s Latest Warning Signals The Hardliners Are Just Getting Started (CNN)

• Hormuz Can’t Be Replaced – Iranian General (RT)

• The Strait of Hormuz Is Open. Also Closed. It’s Complicated. (Stephen Green)

• Iran Has Lost Significant Control of the Strait of Hormuz (CNN)

• A Democrat Confessed the Midterms Could Be a Disaster for His Party (Margolis)

• Democrats Nominate a Socialist for Senate in Deep Red Florida (Rick Moran)

• Axios — Dems Might Be Commies but Hey, They’re Sexy! (Stephen Kruiser)

• Natalie Harp is A Main Conduit Between Trump And The Outside World (CNN)

• Swalwell and Fang Fang Distilled (CTH)

• Pelosi, Democrats Kept Swalwell On Intel Committee Despite FBI Warnings (JTN)

• Fauci Advisor Pleads Guilty to “Conspiracy to Defraud the United States” (CTH)

• Hey Ursula, Angry Voters Aren’t ‘Pro-Russian’, Just Fed Up (Rachel Marsden)

https://twitter.com/Trustintrump47/status/2089730850824880598?s=20 https://twitter.com/John_F_kJr/status/2089693165997437421?s=20

BREAKING: SpaceX’s Starlink constellation has surpassed 11,000 satellites in orbit for the first time.

Today’s successful deployment of 24 Starlink satellites brought the estimated total to 11,003, making it by far the largest satellite constellation ever built. pic.twitter.com/KCZnPWh0e0
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) August 19, 2026

Is today the day?

Do read Trump’s missive!

People of the day: Fang-Fang and Natalie Harp.

• Economic D-Day (ZH)

President Trump is out with a Truth Social post describing today as “ECONOMIC D-DAY” against Iran, declaring that his total economic war against Tehran will be the “MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY.” Trump said that with Tehran’s military and military-industrial base reduced to “now rubble” and its “currency worthless,” he will unleash severe economic consequences against “ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran.”

Here’s the full Truth Social post:

“.. Kpler Says US Navy Gaining Ground In Hormuz ..”

• UAE Cuts Ties As Iran Warns Gulf States Against Helping Washington (ZH)

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is visiting Baghdad while at the same time US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss the Hormuz situation and security. Except of course the two sides aren’t talking with each other. President Trump has made clear that no talks are on, and that none are scheduled, as he’s been floating a ‘new’ strategy to ‘strangle’ the Iranian economy over the long term. CNN reported Tuesday that White House officials have recently communicated that they are shifting their strategy — going from “hammer Iran ASAP” to “strangle them” over time.

As for Ghalibaf, he blasted War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday, mocking this new disengagement strategy, given the US has already failed to bring Tehran to its knees. “Americans think squeezing Iran harder will win concessions that were never part of the agreement,” Ghalibaf wrote in a post on X. “Bessent and Hegseth are way out of their league,” Ghalibaf added while referring to them as the “clown crew.” He stated:”Stop waiting for the clown crew to pull a rabbit out of their hat and clean up the mess you made.”
After declaring a new ‘offensive’ military posture in response to the crisis, Iran is showing no signs of backing off the confrontation with the US in the region. On Wednesday its armed forces warned Gulf countries against hosting or assisting American forces, saying it would be tantamount to joining the war on the US side. “We wish to warn that any assistance or facilitation provided to the aggressor U.S. military amounts to participation in the U.S. military operation,” armed forces chief of staff Ali Abdollahi said. “It seems unlikely that such a large number of military aircraft, particularly refueling aircraft could be present at regional bases without knowledge of host countries,” the official continued as cited in Mehr news agency.
It’s not known how many refueling tankers or else large warplanes are still positioned in the Gulf, but certainly the bulk of regional refueling aircraft operated by the US Air Force are currently concentrated at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion international airport – and has been subject of a lot of media attention.And in another significant escalation that effectively torpedoes any remaining illusions of hoped-for cross-Gulf detente, the United Arab Emirates has announced Wednesday a complete and immediate severance of all economic ties with Tehran. The move comes on the heels of what UAE officials claim was a barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles targeted directly at Emirati territory.
Tehran had quickly denied it had fired missiles on its territory, but UAE authorities later clarified that the military observed two missiles inbound from Iran, which caused no damage or casualties – which triggered an urgent missile alert for the population on Tuesday. Meanwhile, below are some of the latest major developments and reports related to the Iran conflict:Iran has weighed attacking US military targets in Europe should Donald Trump escalate the war, according to people close to the regime, as Tehran considers its options to increase the stakes of the conflict. FT
Even as Iran projects resilience in the war with the United States, its leaders are worried that a threat of more economic punishment by Donald Trump could increase hardships, reignite unrest and further erode the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy. RTRS
Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz are piling up without an American military response, raising the risks of crossing the strategic waterway and frustrating some Arab allies who worry the U.S. doesn’t have a strategy to wind down the conflict. WSJ
However, shipping analytics firm Kpler has suggested that the US Navy is gaining ground in the Strait of Hormuz, and that Iran is ceding some control, amid a war of words between President Trump and Iranian leadership over who has actual ‘control’.

The Trump administration appears to be indicating it favors economic warfare in its approach to the conflict with Iran, touting its naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and previewing new sanctions still to be announced. https://t.co/k5g4FBcxF7
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 19, 2026

They’d still need people to execute their commands. Where are they?

• Iran’s Latest Warning Signals The Hardliners Are Just Getting Started (CNN)

US President Donald Trump is struggling to extract the United States from a war that he started almost six months ago – alternating between claims that Tehran is “begging” for a deal, and threats to renew military attacks. Now Iran’s hardline leadership is devising and promoting its own strategy for continued confrontation with Washington.The strategy emphasizes “offensive operations” as well as defensive action to neutralize enemy threats, according to one Iranian official. The more assertive stance comes as a US-Iran agreement intended to end the war, the Memorandum of Understanding, expires with control of the Strait of Hormuz still in dispute.

Iran’s military leaders believe they are in a strong position to extract concessions from the US and can further adapt Iran’s weapons systems to bridge the gap with their more powerful adversaries, according to analysts. It also likely means greater mobilization of Iran’s allies in Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere. In recent weeks, Houthi militants in Yemen have threatened Saudi shipping and struck Saudi oil refineries, while Iranian-backed militia in Iraq have targeted Saudi oil infrastructure. The starting gun for the new posture in Tehran sounded with decrees reorganizing Iran’s security leadership last week issued in the name of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
An adviser to Khamenei, Mohammad Mokhber, said the “strategy of shifting the war to an offensive posture if Iran’s conditions are not met will undoubtedly transform the balance of power in the world.” The new head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaie, belongs to a faction of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) that believes “the only way to get concessions from the US is the continuation of fighting, exerting pressure on the US and a steady dose of pain on Donald Trump,” Sina Azodi, assistant professor of Middle East politics at George Washington University, told CNN earlier this month.
In confirming Ahmad Vahidi as the IRGC’s chief, Mojtaba’s decree spoke of the need to increase preparedness for “strong offensive operations against the enemy.” It was “clear that Vahidi’s mandate was to revise Iranian military strategy in a more assertive and offensive direction,” according to Hamidreza Azizi at the Clingendael Institute, a Dutch think tank.
Days after that decree was issued, a senior IRGC official – political deputy Brig. Gen. Yadollah Javani – told Iran’s semi-official news agency Fars that “Iran’s actions are defensive, although they may also take on an offensive aspect in the future. The IRGC is developing the ability to carry out operations “on enemy soil,” said another adviser to Vahidi, Mohammad Reza Naqdi. “We need to be able to move the operations to the enemy’s soil, whenever this is needed and ordered,” he told state broadcaster IRIB. The IRGC was tasked with being able to “launch attacks against the enemy in an intelligent, selective, and targeted manner.”
This would imply again targeting US military facilities in the region. A new generation of more maneuverable ballistic missiles with cluster warheads, plus innovative use of drones, indicates Iran has adapted tactics rapidly over recent months. “The regime has withstood the US/Israeli barrage and retaliation from the Gulf Arab states, and they are still standing,” according to H.A. Hellyer, senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. “Now they seek to transform this resilience into permanent political advantage in the region as opposed to letting the initiative waste away over time,” Hellyer told CNN.
“Tehran believes it has the military edge and is openly discussing going on the offensive instead of merely responding to American attacks,” says Trita Parsi at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “By that, Iran will not only have wrested control of the scope and geography of the war from the US, but also its timing.” Iran is preparing for short and long-term scenarios, Azizi believes. The current no-war-no-peace situation – with deepening economic problems – “may prompt the Iranian leadership to escalate in order to push Trump either to remove the naval blockade or to agree to an arrangement on terms more favorable to Iran,” he said.

“New energy routes would take years to build and come at a heavy cost, IRGC adviser Mohammad Reza Naqdi has told RT..”

• Hormuz Can’t Be Replaced – Iranian General (RT)

The Strait of Hormuz will remain indispensable to global energy trade despite efforts by Persian Gulf states to develop alternative export routes, a top Iranian military advisor has told RT. In an exclusive interview with the outlet, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander and adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, argued that the strategic waterway cannot easily be replaced given the concentration of oil and gas production in the Gulf.

“The Strait of Hormuz will never lose importance. [The Persian Gulf] is the production site for oil and gas. Oil wells cannot be moved elsewhere,” Naqdi told RT correspondent Saman Kojouri. The veteran brigadier general also pointed to the time and expense involved in developing new energy infrastructure. “If they want to find alternative routes to transport oil and such, it takes many years and incurs very heavy costs,” he said. Oil-producing Gulf states have been pursuing additional infrastructure and export routes as shipping through the Strait remains severely disrupted, with July transit volumes down more than 80% from pre-conflict levels.
Saudi Arabia is considering another expansion of its East–West pipeline system, although an industry estimate cited by AFP suggests it could be completed only around 2030–31. The UAE is moving faster on an additional pipeline, which is expected next year, while a revived Iraq–Syria project has no timetable. Kuwait and Bahrain currently have no pipeline routes bypassing Hormuz. Elsewhere in the interview, Naqdi offered Iran’s version of the alleged missile plot that prompted US President Donald Trump to secretly switch planes while leaving Türkiye last month, claiming it had never existed.

Yes, “Faster please.”

• The Strait of Hormuz Is Open. Also Closed. It’s Complicated. (Stephen Green)

The Strait of Hormuz “will not be opened,” Iranian warned on Tuesday, “Until the U.S. commitments in the memorandum—including lifting the blockade, releasing frozen assets, lifting oil sanctions, ending threats and military operations on all fronts, and the other conditions to which the U.S. committed—are implemented.” I guess that settles it — the Strait is firmly in the Islamic Republic’s grip.Not so fast. On the flip side, President Donald Trump said earlier this week that the U.S. naval blockade against Iran “remains in full force and effect. The Hormuz Strait is open and operating. All water mines have been removed or detonated.”

Who’s right? I guess the only way to tell is to try and figure out whether shipping is actually moving through Hormuz, and how much. For that, let’s go to CNN’s David Goldman, who’s been covering Gulf oil flows. Events there are moving so quickly that his headline a week ago was “The Trump administration claims oil is flowing normally again. There’s just one problem,” but his Monday headline read “Wait… how much oil is actually leaving the Persian Gulf?” This morning, things had moved this much further: “Iran has lost significant control of the Strait of Hormuz.”
While “both Iran and the United States have claimed the upper hand,” Goldman wrote in his most recent report, “the competing rhetoric has caused considerable confusion and doubt.” “At the moment, however, the evidence is clear: The United States, patrolling the strait with its navy, is gaining ground – and Iran is losing much of its control of the critical waterway.” Homayoun Falakshahi, head of crude oil analysis at Kpler, said this week that “It increasingly looks like Iran has at least partially lost control of the strait.”
“The expiration of the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran this week in theory allows Iran to begin charging tolls again. But it doesn’t appear the country has been able to,” Goldman added. Well, good. But still… what a mess. Just because Tehran’s grip has loosened doesn’t mean Hormuz is truly open. Tankers still must take evasive measures like leaving their transponders off and avoiding Iranian waters. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said last week that oil flows out of the Gulf are back up to about 15 million barrels a day from the prewar 20 million. But that’s counting oil rerouted away from Hormuz and not just through Hormuz.
Prior to February 28, Tehran had never dared to completely close Hormuz to shipping. Doing so could pose an existential threat to the global economy, which could also put the regime at risk. Besides, like the Sword of Damocles, the real power lay in the threat. But then last summer, and again this spring, Trump went to Truth Social to demand “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” from the Islamic Republic. If the threat from Washington is existential, why not take the risk?
For whatever reason — maybe we really are dangerously low on munitions, maybe the White House decided that a collapsed Iran is a worse threat to the economy than the Islamic Republic is, maybe a lack of resolve, I don’t know — Trump still hasn’t followed through on his threat. And to think that back in March and April, it at least appeared that we were on the cusp of eliminating the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, and the lynchpin of Beijing and Moscow’s Middle East ambitions.
Instead, here we are in the waning days of summer arguing over who controls the Strait of Hormuz, when the answer appears to be nobody and everybody. Depending on who you ask and what measure of reduced oil flow counts as “open.” But looking at the bigger picture, the most important element might be this: “US Navy blockade has caused Iran’s oil exports to crater — and could finally destabilize regime.” After just six months, I hope it isn’t too soon for me to add, “Faster please.”

It’s complicated but Iran is ‘losing territory’ in the Strait.

• Iran Has Lost Significant Control of the Strait of Hormuz (CNN)

The battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz has become the focal point of the Iran war. Over the past several months, both Iran and the United States have claimed the upper hand – and the competing rhetoric has caused considerable confusion and doubt. At the moment, however, the evidence is clear: The United States, patrolling the strait with its navy, is gaining ground – and Iran is losing much of its control of the critical waterway.

More than 80% of liquids transits through the Strait of Hormuz over the past two weeks have taken the Omani route – a UN-authorized shipping channel that Iran vehemently opposes – or have been “dark” transits that likely took the Omani route, according to Kpler, which tracks ships using transponders and satellite data. Iran, declaring the strait under its control, has attacked dozens of ships that tried to to travel the waterway via the north coast of Oman. Despite the risk, most ships have recently chosen to ignore Iran’s demands and cross the strait with the promise of protection from US naval forces.
“It increasingly looks like Iran has at least partially lost control of the strait,” said Homayoun Falakshahi, head of crude oil analysis at Kpler. That stands in stark contrast to a month ago, when Kpler observed virtually no shipping traffic via the Omani route. The sharp reduction in traffic around Iran’s preferred route has prevented Iran from charging tolls on ship traffic through the strait – as it did in the spring. The expiration of the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran this week in theory allows Iran to begin charging tolls again. But it doesn’t appear the country has been able to, according to Kpler.
“Iran’s request to collect tolls is something that most Middle East folks don’t want to do and haven’t been doing,” said Dan Pickering, founder and chief investment officer at Pickering Energy Partners. “So the Oman route absolutely makes the most sense.”Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have chartered Very Large Crude oil Carriers (VLCCs) – the biggest oil tankers – to transit out of the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz, then transfering the oil to customers’ tankers outside the danger zone in the Gulf of Oman, according to Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates.
To evade Iran’s attacks, they’ve turned their transponders off, often for weeks on end. That so-called dark traffic appears to have eluded some data-tracking services like Kpler as well. Although some can be picked up on satellite, it’s harder to track via traditional means. But the United States, with significant military force on the water, has eyes on all ships passing through the strait and has reported significantly higher oil shipping numbers than most traditional estimates had previously suggested.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright last week said that combined oil transits through the strait and rerouted around the waterway totaled around 15 million barrels per day over the course of a week – much closer to the 20-million-barrel average from before the war. That led President Donald Trump to declare Monday that the United States has “total control over the strait,” a questionable claim he has reiterated often throughout the conflict. Iran’s continued attacks and oil flows still well below pre-war levels suggest the United States does not fully control the Strait of Hormuz.
But neither does Iran. “If their goal is to be ‘in charge,’ then I’d say they were never completely in control to start with,” said Pickering. “It feels like their goal is deterrence, in order to be validated as in-control. I think they are still deterring.”But if tankers are really getting as much oil through the strait as the United States claims, then Iran’s deterrence and control of the Strait of Hormuz is diminished compared to what it was a month or two ago.
Complicating matters: Oman and Iran are engaging in talks to restore freedom of navigation through the strait – absent the United States – much to Trump’s dismay. It’s not clear how those discussions will affect oil traffic or control of the waterway. “I would take all the information and headlines ‘under advisement,’” said Lipow. “But it is fair to say that Iran has partially lost control of the strait.”

“That’s a devastating admission from inside the tent.”

• A Democrat Confessed the Midterms Could Be a Disaster for His Party (Margolis)

Harold Ford Jr. is, by any honest measure, the smarter liberal who joins the table on Fox News’ The Five. That’s not saying much when the other option is Jessica Tarlov, but hey, it’s something. Tarlov is a party booster every step of the way. She pushes Democrats’ talking points blindly. Ford is far more willing to call out his party when it deserves it, which he did on Tuesday, when he admitted that Democrats will lose if they embrace the DSA’s policies.

“If we believe that the DSA, their ideas are the right ones for the country, then we’re going to lose,” Ford said. He pointed to last week’s Wisconsin results as proof the socialist wing of the party is gaining ground it shouldn’t. “We may win a few primaries, and I was delighted to see the Wisconsin outcome last week,” he said, “with the young fellow Crowley coming from behind.” He added that another candidate, El-Sayed, “only won by a very, very small amount,” a margin Ford treated as a warning sign rather than a victory lap.
That’s a devastating admission from inside the tent. Ford said Democratic voters are more focused on kitchen-table economics than revolutionary politics, and that when they realize the Democratic Socialists of America “are not for them,” they’ll bolt. He even agreed with strategist James Carville’s blunt assessment from the night before, though Ford tried to soften it. “I won’t go as far as my friend James, who used the word ‘fools,'” he said. “But you are foolish if you believe these ideas are not only going to win, but are going to make the country stronger and better.” He said politics should exist “to try to make the country better, Democrat and Republican alike,” not to score television hits or, as he put it, be “supportive of terrorist organizations.”

“If we believe the DSA and their ideas are right for the country, then WE ARE GOING TO LOSE.” @HaroldFordJr warns Democrats must reject the DSA’s far-left agenda and refocus on the economic issues voters care about, including lowering costs, cutting taxes and reducing government… pic.twitter.com/ut4F8WWEcz
— The Five (@TheFive) August 19, 2026

Ford deserves credit for saying that on Fox News, where most Democrats show up to dodge the question entirely. But here’s the problem: Ford wants to build his party’s alternative economic message around eliminating “all of President Trump’s tariffs because they’re driving up costs.” That premise has a hole in it. Namely, the runaway inflation Democrats spent months promising the tariffs would trigger simply hasn’t shown up.
He also complained that the president abandoned the fight to shrink the federal government. “I’m disappointed with President Trump,” he said, arguing Trump should have cut the government “by 5%” to pay for tax relief, since “there’s enough waste there to do it.” What Ford leaves out is that his own party has fought Trump’s downsizing efforts at every turn, from the courts to the Capitol, treating every eliminated program like a five-alarm fire. Blaming Trump for a fight Democrats themselves have waged is ridiculous. His ire should have been directed more at his party for opposing it.
Still, the tariff blind spot and the government-waste denial don’t erase the core of what Ford got right. The Democrat Party has let a small, loud, ideologically rigid faction set the terms of its future, and the voters who actually decide elections are noticing. Meanwhile, Tarlov has been out there insisting that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) counts as a moderate.

No contest.

• Democrats Nominate a Socialist for Senate in Deep Red Florida (Rick Moran)

It’s rare that a political party lines up to jump off a cliff. That’s what the Democratic Party is doing in 2026. A newly minted Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) member defeated a Democratic Party establishment favorite who outraised the socialist by 20-to-1. It clearly demonstrated, if any more proof was necessary, that the Democrats are playing Russian Roulette with a bullet in every chamber.

huge underdog, raising less than a million dollars. And yet, she easily defeated former Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who testified against Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial. Vindman raised $20 million and was expected to coast to victory, setting up a November contest to fill the remainder of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s term. Repeat after me: Democrats are cray-cray in a big way-way.
Nixon will be led to the slaughter in November, facing off against Sen. Ashley Moody, whom Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed to Rubio’s seat until the special election. = Moody probably can’t believe her luck. Florida just went from “lean Republican” to “Unbelievably safe.” Nixon ally, State Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-47th District), a progressive Democrat from Orlando, said Nixon’s campaign centered around working-class issues, from affordability to healthcare. Actually, the DSA doesn’t have an economic plan beyond “seizing the means of production” and probably setting up a guillotine on the Washington Mall.
“It really just speaks to saying that money doesn’t determine everything,” Eskamani said. “They’re tired of health care not being affordable and one job not being enough.” It also speaks to the suicidal nature of Democrats. They are moving, lemming-like, to the edge of the cliff and preparing to hand Republicans an easy win. With the Florida Senate race a virtual lock two and a half months from election day, Republicans can spend more resources on other, more competitive races. “It was a wild night in Florida politics,” Republican Rep. Randy Fine said at the victory party for the GOP nominee for governor, Rep. Byron Donalds.
“I mean, the Nixon win is the greatest gift ever. She’s crazy and should be in jail for the stuff she pulled on the House floor.”= Nixon brought a bright pink megaphone onto the House floor to loudly protest a congressional redistricting vote. Pacing the floor and shouting that the maps were “illegal” and “unconstitutional,” the commotion caused enough confusion that two fellow Democrats inadvertently voted yes on the GOP-backed map, thinking it was a quorum call. A Republican representative even filed a workers’ comp claim alleging hearing damage.
Dumb and crazy. Make sure you get a good seat for the inevitable flameout. During a previous special session on redistricting, Nixon was one of the lead organizers of a floor sit-in where Democratic lawmakers gathered around the House well, sang, and disrupted proceedings, leading House leadership to temporarily shut down the session and turn off the room’s broadcasting feeds. It wasn’t all roses for the GOP in Florida on primary night. The voters registered their displeasure with Republicans as well.
Politico: “On the Republican side, Trump’s endorsement didn’t prove to be the deciding factor in two races. In Florida’s 19th District, Trump’s endorsed candidate, Lauf, a former adviser at the U.S. Department of Commerce during the president’s first term, lost to Jim Schwartzel, a media executive and owner of a conservative talk radio station, by about 7 points. It was a crowded field, with several former congressmen, including former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn and New York Rep. Chris Collins also running.
Under investigation by the House and shunned by some of his GOP colleagues in Congress, pressure has been building on Mills for weeks and only intensified recently as Republicans like DeSantis and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna came out against him. Mills has remained adamant that he has done nothing wrong amid a long line of incidents — including a restraining order placed on him at the request of a former girlfriend — and had defied calls from other Republicans to step down from his central Florida congressional seat.
GOP voters lanced a boil in getting rid of Mills in a safe Republican district. The national party can stop worrying.= Indeed, by taking Florida off the Democrats’ board, Republicans can breathe a lot easier. It’s still going to be a difficult year for Republicans as they are defending 22 seats compared to just 13 for Democrats. But their 53-47 advantage in the upper chamber gives them some wiggle room.

“.. the Democrats’ new campaign tactic: bringing sexy back.”

• Axios — Dems Might Be Commies but Hey, They’re Sexy! (Stephen Kruiser)

It has been quite interesting to watch how the hacks in the mainstream media have handled the family feud between the out and proud Democratic Socialists of America commies and their closeted commie elders in the Democratic Party establishment. There are days when it seems as if the media really wants the upstarts to win this one. Then there are others when they’re so nervous about how the changing of the guard might play out that they come perilously close to committing acts of journalism. No, really, I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

Today we’re going to look at how one alleged news organization — Axios — is dealing with it. I won’t give too much away here at the beginning, but let’s just say that the kids are going to need therapy when this is all over. Axios has pretensions of being the cutting edge future of journalism. Let’s take a look at a snippet from the site’s “About” page:We launched Axios originally to combat what we termed the “crap trap,” the perverted incentive of traditional media to mass produce click-bait nonsense to drive engagement and higher valuations. We rightly warned this was a fool’s path.
We can probably all agree that’s both noble and ambitious. If you have even a passing familiarity with the work of the Axios writers, you know that none of them have ever read the “Our Vision” section of the aforementioned “About” page. I often think that Axios only exists to make the Dem leg-humpers at Politico appear to be unbiased and full of gravitas. Near the end of last month, I wrote a column describing Axios as going “full fangirl” over Republican squishes. The Axios piece was a hot mess of cheerleading and wishcasting, which is fairly boilerplate for the organization. My Twitchy colleague Brett T. covered an example of the site’s latest bit of inane “Rah-Rah!” for the Democrats:
Axios’ Alex Thompson, who co-authored a book with CNN’s Jake Tapper about how the White House had fooled them about President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline with its “cheap fakes” defense, would like you to read an article by Avery Lotz about the Democrats’ new campaign tactic: bringing sexy back. Don’t think we haven’t noticed, James Talarico. If you need to pause to make sure that your last meal doesn’t start to come back up, it’s totally understandable. Here’s the post on X (TWEET) that Brett shared right after that paragraph:

.@ajlotz8 reports on Dems latest campaign tactic: thirst traps.

Unbuttoned shirts on CNN.
Exposed bicepson the rally stage.
Made-for-TikTok thirst trap b-roll.
And the return of the tan suit.https://t.co/tPpf4CMdLV
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) August 18, 2026

That seems to me to be the kind of “click-bait nonsense” Axios is supposed to eschew in its efforts to not fall into the “crap trap.” The title of the article is, “Democrats enter their thirst trap era.” Are you not feeling the weightiness of this hard-hitting journalism? We’re almost a year away from the next time that the Pulitzer Prizes will be handed out but everyone else who might be in the running should voluntarily remove themselves from consideration.

She says he saved her life by approving an experimental bone cancer treatment.

Being alive instead of dead can make you very grateful.

• Natalie Harp is A Main Conduit Between Trump And The Outside World (CNN)

Natalie Harp wouldn’t take no for an answer. It was October 2023, and Donald Trump was due at a New York City courthouse to fight his latest set of legal troubles. But as the motorcade idled outside his Trump Tower residence, staffers confronted a more immediate problem: There wasn’t room for Harp, the hyper-loyal aide whose devotion to Trump had quickly entrenched her within his orbit.

A screaming match in the lobby ensued, with Harp insisting that Trump had personally asked her to attend the court appearance, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Denied a seat but determined not to be left behind, Harp jumped into an SUV trunk, according to the two sources and confirmed by a photo obtained by CNN. The episode, which has not been previously reported, served as an encapsulation of the role Harp has carved out in recent years as a constant and intensely dedicated presence at Trump’s side. Her methods have irked senior aides and at times prompted efforts to box her out of the president’s inner circle, according to multiple sources who described the dynamic to CNN.
A former right-wing television host, who began working for Trump after crediting him with saving her life, Harp has become a main conduit between the president and the outside world, passing along messages from allies and setting up meetings, tapping out Truth Social posts and toting printouts of laudatory articles, all while staying in close physical proximity at all hours of the day. “[Trump] likes the attention and the fact that she is 100% committed and loyal,” one White House adviser told CNN. “She doesn’t second guess, doesn’t question.”
Harp’s relationship with Trump came under fresh scrutiny this week after Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff mentioned her by name in a now-viral speech attacking Trump. The Georgia senator swiped at the president’s “travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar,” a reference to her joining the president — along with a very limited group — when he secretly boarded a smaller aircraft to leave Turkey due to a threat from Iran in July.
The comment spurred outrage from the White House, which repeatedly labeled Ossoff a “cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid” and “lightweight loser” — as well as rampant attention online. Harp’s rapid rise within Trump world has stood out in large part because of the intensity of her dedication to the president since joining his staff in 2022. Despite having no formal title on Trump’s reelection campaign, Harp trailed him across the country, feeding him positive stories, social media posts and other correspondence so frequently that allies dubbed her the “human printer.”

Illustrating how she’s become indispensable to Trump, one Republican lawmaker noted that while they occasionally reach out to the president directly, they always make sure Harp is aware. “She always responds. I don’t know how she manages it all,” the source said, adding that in addition to relaying messages to Trump, Harp often personally sends lawmakers articles or notes on the president’s behalf. Since following him to the White House, multiple sources said, Harp has been omnipresent. In videos of Oval Office signings and events reviewed by CNN, Harp can often be spotted on the outskirts of the room, smiling or nodding along with the president as he speaks.
She is frequently one of a smaller coterie of aides beside Trump as he travels to rallies.“Natalie is so fast,” Trump has mused to allies after asking her to find or print something for him.The ubiquity sometimes ruffles feathers within the White House, especially for some Trump advisers who at times have wanted to meet privately with the president — only to find Harp sitting in on the meeting as well, one of the sources familiar with the dynamic told CNN. The 35-year-old is also territorial about Trump and has told others that she only reports to him, irritating other staffers who work within the White House’s chain of command, another source said.

Fang Fang, aka “Rusty Thumbs”.

• Swalwell and Fang Fang Distilled (CTH)

Many people are interested in the John Solomon release of FBI information regarding former congressman Eric Swalwell and his relationship with a known Chinese operative named Fang Fang, aka Christine Fang. Personally, I’m not that interested in rehashing the Swallwell-Fang Fang storyline. However, there is a lot of mistaken information regarding the story. So, here’s the full background context that will hopefully make sense of the FBI conduct as it relates to the Chinese compromise.

[Fang Fang, aka “Rusty Thumbs”]

[Rusty Thumbs was chosen by the FBI as the codename because the rumor was that Swallwell liked a sexual position known as the “rusty trombone.” Fang would stimulate Swalwell thusly. I know, TMI.]
• The FBI has two basic missions. The #1 primary mission is to protect the interests of Washington DC officials from the outcome of their own conduct. The #2 secondary mission is to protect the American people from known wolves.
• The Dept of Justice National Security Division (DOJ-NSD) monitors foreign influence in Washington DC. The DOJ-NSD use the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) as the primary legal tool to monitor the political influence. Former Attorney General Eric Holder, on behalf of President Obama, took this monitoring to new political levels of weaponization.
These two facets come together in the story of California members of congress who are long known to have been the primary conduit of Chinese money into DNC operations at a federal and individual campaign level. The FBI have known about this for a long time, a very long time.
There was a Chinese Spy named Russell Lowe employed by former Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for several decades. Russell Lowe began working with Dianne Feinstein in the 1970’s. According to reporting by CBS Lowe passed along information gained from Feinstein to the Chinese government. [H/T Rosie Memos] The story of Russell Lowe inside Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) Vice-Chair Dianne Feinstein’s political life surfaced as an outcome of the Fang-Fang revelations. However, in reality Fang-Fang entered the orbit of Eric Swalwell as a result of Feinstein’s compromise with the Chinese spy ring.
It is said that Feinstein’s staff introduced Fang Fang to Swalwell when the Freshman Congressman first won election in 2012, taking office in 2013. Who was Dianne Feinstein’s lead staff? Dan Jones.

Dan Jones left the SSCI prior to the 2016 election and went to work pushing the Trump-Russia narrative through his media contacts. Dianne Feinstein abdicated her Vice-Chair position on the SSCI after the 2016 election, to Mark Warner. Dan Jones took over funding Fusion-GPS and Chris Steele in 2017 at the same time Senator Mark Warner took over as SSCI vice-chairman. Dan Jones and Mark Warner coordinated the efforts outside and inside government on the same objective. The Senate Intel Committee was part of the Trump-Russia collusion effort.
As a result of their alignment and common purpose the SSCI didn’t investigate the origin of the Trump-Russia narrative; and instead positioned themselves as a shield to block any investigative inquiry into what took place.

“At the same time that Fang was fundraising for Swalwell and sleeping with him, by his own admission, the files show that the FBI knew Fang was tied to China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), Beijing’s notorious intelligence service ..”

• Pelosi, Democrats Kept Swalwell On Intel Committee Despite FBI Warnings (JTN)

Liaisons dangereuses: Swalwell admitted to an intimate relationship with a suspected Chinese spy, while he still sat on the House Intelligence Committee. The FBI had warned Democratic leadership about the risks years before he was removed from the seat. When allegations of Rep. Eric Swalwell’s relationship with a woman suspected of ties to Chinese intelligence first surfaced in 2020, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was briefed on the FBI’s findings. The public now knows the bureau had evidence at the time that the woman, Fang Fang, had potentially compromised Swalwell with sex, foreign interns and illicit donations, but Pelosi and Democrats still refused to remove the lawmaker from the powerful House Intelligence Committee.

The FBI briefings received by Pelosi and her Republican counterpart were so concerning to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy that he called for Swalwell to be booted from the sensitive committee where members have access to classified information.
Interns, influence, and illegal donations
The full extent of the FBI’s probe into Swalwell and Fang’s relationship was revealed on Monday when the White House Government Transparency Task Force released the investigation files that had been previously declassified by President Donald Trump. They show that Swalwell admitted to having sex with Fang, to his staff placing Fang’s interns in Congress, and to not having a strong enough campaign finance system to detect the straw donations she allegedly passed through U.S.-citizen conduits, Just the News reported. The memos indicate all of this information was possessed by the FBI at the time that it briefed then-Speaker Pelosi in December 2020.
At the same time that Fang was fundraising for Swalwell and sleeping with him, by his own admission, the files show that the FBI knew Fang was tied to China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), Beijing’s notorious intelligence service. In fact, the investigators specifically identified her parents as MSS agents.
Fang Fang’s efforts to influence U.S. politicians were first reported by Axios in 2020. According to the outlet’s comprehensive investigation, U.S. officials believed Fang sought to ingratiate herself with local politicians in the San Francisco Bay Area using campaign fundraising, networking, her charisma, and romantic or sexual relationships. Swalwell was identified as among the most significant targets of Fang. Swalwell has consistently maintained that he did nothing wrong, fully cooperated with the FBI investigation, and ceased communicating with Fang after the FBI provided him with a defensive briefing about her activities.
“A vehicle for political retaliation”: Swalwell’s lawyer says
“There is nothing new here. The government’s own memorandum confirms what Congressman Swalwell has said for more than a decade: he did nothing wrong, and there was no basis to charge him with any offense,” said Sara Azari, legal counsel for Swalwell, on Monday after the files were released. “What is new and deeply concerning is the apparent use of federal law enforcement information to punish or embarrass an outspoken critic of the current administration. An investigation that produced no charges and no finding of wrongdoing should not be resurrected years later as a vehicle for political retaliation.”
After that report, then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from Swalwell’s home state of California, said the allegations “disqualified” the congressman from serving on the Intelligence Committee and called for him to be removed from the panel. “Swalwell is a national security liability,” the Republican leader said in a post to social media.
McCarthy then requested a briefing from the FBI about the full extent of Swalwell’s involvement with Fang. After that briefing, which was also attended by Speaker Pelosi, McCarthy doubled down on his calls for Swalwell to be removed from the powerful committee. “One thing I know for sure — I had questions about whether he should. That’s the one question that was answered, he should not be on Intel,” McCarthy told reporters after the briefing.
After the Axios story, Pelosi confirmed that Democratic leadership was first briefed on Swalwell’s relationship with Fang in the Spring of 2015, shortly after the party nominated him to the Intelligence Committee. She said that after Congress was made aware, Democratic politicians cut off communication with Fang. “When that was made known to the members of Congress, it was over. That was the end of any communication with those people,” Pelosi said. The Speaker also said that Republicans were briefed about the relationship at the same time. “We knew when they knew,” explained Pelosi. Summing up her views on the matter, Speaker Pelosi told reporters that she did not “have any concerns about Mr. Swalwell.”
McCarthy filed a resolution in early 2021 that would remove Swalwell from the sensitive committee after Speaker Pelosi reappointed him to the panel in the new Congress. The House voted mostly along party lines to reject the measure with 200 votes for and 218 against. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff also backed Swalwell in the face of the resolution that would have removed him from the committee. Schiff, in a letter at the time of the vote, said that Swalwell was a “trusted member of our committee” and he had “acted fully in accordance with his responsibilities” after the 2015 counterintelligence briefing about Fang.
“Democratic leadership ‘jeopardized’ Congress”: McCarthy says
When Republicans regained control of the House in 2023, now-Speaker McCarthy blocked Swalwell from serving on the House Intelligence Committee, citing the lawmaker’s alleged relationship with Fang. “If you got the briefing I got from the FBI, you wouldn’t have Swalwell on any committee,” McCarthy said after blocking the appointment. “One thing I know for sure – I had questions about whether he should. That’s the one question that was answered, he should not be on Intel.”
The Republican Speaker told reporters that the Democratic leadership “jeopardized” Congress by allowing Swalwell to remain on the committee, which provides access to sensitive intelligence, for many years. “The only way that they even knew it came forward is when they went to nominate him to the Intel Committee. And then the FBI came and told the leadership then, he’s got a problem,” McCarthy explained. “And they kept him on. That jeopardized all of us.”

How much longer, Tony?

• Fauci Advisor Pleads Guilty to “Conspiracy to Defraud the United States” (CTH)

Dr. David Morens, 78, served as a senior adviser to Anthony Fauci (Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) from 2006 through 2022. Morens sits at the epicenter of the NIAID coverup to hide the origins of COVID-19. Today, Fauci’s Senior Advisor Dr. David Morens plead guilty to “Conspiracy to Commit Offenses and to Defraud the United States” in connection with his conspiring with Peter Danzak, President of EcoHealth Alliance, Dr Gerald Keusch, associate director at Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratory Institute and a recipient of funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), together with others to defraud the public about NIH-funded gain-of-function research and the origin of COVID.

Morens and others plotted to conceal/destroy federal records re: COVID-19 and federal grants to avoid FOIA and the Federal Record Act. Morens admits to using his gmail account to intentionally defraud the U.S. government and conceal communication and records about his activities. In addition, Morens admits to receiving “gifts” of material value in exchange for his efforts on behalf of the co-conspirators. The conspiracy involved a “kickback” scheme in which Morens accepted and was promised gifts – including bottles of wine and meals at Michelin-starred restaurants – in exchange for performing “official acts that were favorable” to his co-conspirators.

VIA CBS – Washington — “A former senior adviser at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has pleaded guilty to a charge stemming from a scheme to hide federal records during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under a deal reached with federal prosecutors in Maryland, David Morens, 78, agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses and to defraud the United States. He faces up to five years in prison.
Morens, a senior adviser at NIAID’s Office of the Director from 2006 to 2022, was indicted in April and charged with five counts for what prosecutors said at the time was his role in a scheme to defraud the U.S. by shielding federal records related to the COVID-19 pandemic from the public. Tim Belevetz, a lawyer for Morens, said, “By pleading guilty today, Dr. Morens has taken responsibility for what he did and will continue to do so.”
Prosecutors said Morens worked with two co-conspirators. The first, “co-conspirator 1,” served as the president and CEO of a New York-based nonprofit that received a grant in 2014 titled “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.” The Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, received a subaward from the New York group on the coronavirus grant, prosecutors said, though the National Institutes of Health terminated the award in April 2020 following allegations that COVID-19 emerged from the lab. The NIAID is part of the NIH.
The second co-conspirator was described in charging documents as a physician, scientist and professor who worked for an academic institute that received federal grants. Emails made public by the GOP-led Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic indicate that the New York-based nonprofit is the EcoHealth Alliance and co-conspirator 1 is its president, Peter Daszak. The indictment stemmed from several Freedom of Information Act requests NIAID received between April 2020 and December 2022 that sought communications between Morens, the New York-based nonprofit and its president.”

“Brussels keeps misreading public backlash as foreign influence when much of it is simply exhaustion with elite overreach and failure..”

• Hey Ursula, Angry Voters Aren’t ‘Pro-Russian’, Just Fed Up (Rachel Marsden)

Look, Queen Ursula, we need to talk, girlfriend. Yes, I’m addressing you directly, EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, because I’m not going to pretend that there’s anyone in charge in Europe who’s actually elected by the people and crafting EU policy. And since you’ve apparently been more interested in monitoring Russian media platforms for dissident views that could potentially qualify as “Russian-aligned” than stopping online clarion calls for mass migration pushes into the EU, RT seems as good a place as any for an intervention.

Because the problem for the EU is that it’s getting so dissociated from the realities and concerns of its own people that even the pure data wonks are starting to sound the alarm. Seat projections for the EU parliament are set to swing populist to the detriment of the right-left establishment majority for the first time ever, according to recent reporting by Euronews on research data complied by the Europe Elects platform.
Now, the next EU election isn’t until 2029, which is a long way off, and you could very well decide to drop all of this in someone else’s lap by then. After all, you keep telling us that Putin is coming to Western Europe around that time, so maybe you’ll want to personally be busy window shopping in New York by then, instead of dealing with the headache of his arrival – or alternatively, his non-arrival after spending years scaring up billions from European taxpayer pockets for military hardware to mark the occasion.
I hate to break it to you, Queen, but the data from this very non-Russian research outfit (Europe Elects), published by a non-Russian media outlet (Euronews), is basically saying that right now, Europeans are looking more increasingly pro-Russian than not. To the point where the EU parliament, after the next election, could see pro-Russian gains and the anti-Russian firewall lose its majority. Or at least that’s how you guys see it when you look down on the plebes.
Because apparently there is no such thing as people who are just genuinely fed up with how you guys are running things. We either support you – or support Russia. We’re just mindless units to be fought over, like the last jars of Nutella in a supermarket blowout sale. Look, unlike you guys, the average European is fed up with hearing about Russia and Ukraine, and with European policies revolving around that conflict and sucking the life out of everything else that actually falls within your purview.
Perhaps it would be different if you had everything else under control, and had the luxury of jacking around outside of the Eurozone that you’re actually responsible for – but that’s clearly not the case. The usual way that politics is supposed to work is that the establishment takes action A, and its impact is direct, positive, and visible on issue A. Instead, what we’re getting is action A being taken on issue A, and causing not only aggravation and worsening of issue A, but also of issues B, C, D, E… which happened to be more or less fine before. This is what has happened with the EU’s Ukraine obsession, and now it seems like it’s becoming par for the course for other issues, too.
It’s like we’re spending money to see pure ideology in action rather than success as defined in the dictionary and not through some kind of Orwellian rhetoric that flips everything on its head.In just the latest example, even one of the most stalwart establishment entities of an EU state has explicitly asked what the heck you think you’re doing. The EU has fallen into line in pushing this authoritarian control of internet use, promoting a “harmonized” bloc-wide control of internet use under the pretext of protecting kids – which apparently requires ID collection from every single adult user, as well.
Turns out that even the French Constitutional Court told French lawmakers to take their law and shove it somewhere else other than up the rears of the French populace. “By prohibiting minors under the age of 15 from accessing certain online services, the law inherently requires every person, even an adult, to prove their age before accessing them,” the court ruled. “By failing to specify the conditions and limits under which such proof must be provided, the legislature has not established the legal safeguards necessary to ensure compliance with these requirements.”
The court obviously doesn’t understand that the whole idea is to use kids to push a mass surveillance scheme. Or else it does understand – and isn’t going for it. Is the judge populist? Does he have a photo of Putin hidden in his desk? Or maybe the judge – like so many others – is just genuinely fed up with establishment hacks on all sides colluding with some opaque agenda whose advancement routinely seems to leave the average person worse off.

Never forget how powerful and pervasive the psywar was- and continues to be. https://t.co/yMQk39VPL0
— Robert W Malone, MD (@RWMaloneMD) August 18, 2026

Tesla is making great progress on their Optimus factory at Giga Texas

When fully ramped, this factory will pump out 10 million humanoid robots per year$TSLA pic.twitter.com/zFmVbCHQmW
— Dalton Brewer (@daltonbrewer) August 18, 2026

https://twitter.com/piloly/status/2089825619529851080?s=20 https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/2089935234066227208?s=20

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Debt Rattle August 17 2026

Aug 172026

August 17, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:26 am Finance Tagged with: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, AOC, drones, Fauci, Jen Psaki, Karoline Leavitt, midterms, Newsom, Turkey, Türkiye, Ukraine 17 Responses »

Pablo Picasso Self portrait 1896

• “US Can’t Bomb Its Way To Victory ” (Scotiabank)

• Ukraine Celebrates Launching Largest Attack Drone Swarm of the War (CTH)

• Not Winning? Just Change the Rules (Victor Davis Hanson)

• This Might Be the Most Brutal Diagnosis of AOC You’ll Ever Hear (Margolis)

• Jen Psaki Calls Karoline Leavitt a Liar (Teri Christoph)

• A Love Letter to Karoline Leavitt (Scott Pinsker)

• Fauci Refuses Senate Appearance (Fox)

• 2026 Midterms Very, Very Tight Election – Martin Armstrong (USAW)

• Newsom’s High Speed Train to Nowhere is Not Arriving Anytime Soon (Turley)

• War On Rowling Continues (Sans Facts) (Christian Toto)

• It’s Spelled ‘Turkey,’ Not ‘Türkiye” (A.J. Christopher)

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2088613110579953913?s=20

"Pretty soon I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States."

President Trump floats a dramatic move involving the strategically critical waterway as he says Iran is being "very badly defeated." pic.twitter.com/zXJhCfOIqH
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 14, 2026

https://twitter.com/mcafeenew/status/2088356232801427540?s=20 https://twitter.com/BoLoudon/status/2087988353522192691?s=20

Who says they can? Why would you say that? When they’re not trying?! What’s your point?

• “US Can’t Bomb Its Way To Victory ” (Scotiabank)

Bessent said Friday that Washington would announce unprecedented economic-isolation measures next week, warning that the coming pressure campaign would be unlike anything “seen in the history of economic isolation on a country.”For clarity on Bessent’s upcoming economic-isolation operation against Iran, Derek Holt, head of Capital Markets Economics at Scotiabank in Toronto, provided clients with an assessment in which Bessent’s warning could signal a move well beyond sanctioning shadow tankers and refiners, toward dismantling the entire financial network supporting Iranian oil exports.

Holt explained: WHAT COULD BESSENT MEAN? What could Bessent do to economically isolate Iran further that has “never been seen”?
• Target China and India: China is the main buyer of Iranian oil and is involved in undermining US sanctions. The US sanctions some individual Chinese entities and, in April, announced sanctions against Chinese “Teapot” refineries (here). The US could step up its actions by sanctioning all Chinese banks, this time including large institutions, and blocking their access to the US and global financial systems. That would push China further away from the SWIFT system and block access to correspondent and other forms of banking. It could block access to US dollar funding markets. This would very likely enrage China and risk multiple forms of retaliation and escalation.
• Broaden the scope of sanctions on Iran: This would extend the scope to any global group, company or entity involved in buying, financing, insuring or shipping Iranian oil. Looking at you, global banks, currency exchanges, commodity traders, shippers, etc. Actions under this category would aim to entirely thwart the sale of oil from Iran to China in yuan and its conversion into dollars and other currencies via exchange houses in Iran and elsewhere. You target other Middle Eastern nations facilitating this trade by blocking their access to dollar funding and global banking markets, such as Dubai’s one-foot-in-and-one-foot-out stance on the war, which continues to facilitate Iranian transactions. Dubai fancies itself a financial center; you destroy such ambitions.
• Target Iranian crypto assets: This Treasury announcement last month targeted individuals and entities under a specific Iranian person’s name. The US could broaden this action to include freezing access to all Iranian global holdings of crypto, gold, real estate, foreign accounts, etc.
• Target global ports: Any foreign port that facilitates trade and transactions with shipping companies that transited Iranian ports could be targeted.
He continued: “And there may well be other creative options in scale and scope. The broad point is to escalate the economic and financial blockade of the Iranian economy and financial system by enveloping all parts of the global economy, namely China, and the global financial system that allow Iran to continue to sell oil and access funding markets.” Would it work? I’m not sure. Iran knows suffering. Iran is used to being a pariah. Iran still has friends in low places. Iran has its own means of escalating, including unleashing unspeakable terror.
The consequences to the global economy and financial system could also limit or entirely thwart the chances of success. I’m sure they know the risks, but Treasury would sharply amplify tensions with China and India and could potentially cripple individual banks while not ruling out increased systemic risk within the broader financial system. Cutting off access to dollar funding markets could destabilize major players in the financial system. The spillover effects through a complicated web of connections shouldn’t be treated lightly.
The US is finally getting that it can’t just bash and bomb its way to victory against Iran. I’m not sure it gets the limitations and risks that could be associated with escalating broader measures at an all-encompassing global level. It could well take a bungled war that the US and Israel entered without much thought, without a strategy and without an exit plan, while not consulting Congress or allies, and compound the missteps even further and potentially more seriously.”
For context, China buys more than 90% of Iran’s oil exports, making it the most likely target in any effort by Bessent to cut Tehran’s energy revenues. But the escalating economic war would carry significant risks. Sanctions on large Chinese companies or financial institutions could escalate tensions with Beijing ahead of a planned meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping. Also removing discounted Iranian crude from the global market could also tighten supplies and push already elevated Brent and WTI prices higher.

How absurd and idiotic is the “news” coming out of Kiev?

As I’ve said a thousand times.

“It’s like me telling you that right now there’s a gorilla in your bathtub playing chess, and all your neighbors believe it.”

• Ukraine Celebrates Launching Largest Attack Drone Swarm of the War (CTH)

Approximately six days from now I will share a great deal of information on World War Reddit. I took the insert picture about a week ago as a Ukraine drone struck a venue 500 meters from my location. Suffice to say, I’m not reporting information to you based on propaganda media, seriously skewed alt-media or misinterpreted/intercepted Telegram channel discussion; there’s an information war on that platform also.

Almost everything being told, shared and sold about the Russia vs Ukraine conflict is entirely made-up nonsense that has zero basis in reality. My goal has been to find out why there is this much effort toward twilight-zone level propaganda being pushed by unified interests in western media. Honestly, it’s beyond crazy. According to Ukraine/NATO media, and probably soon to be shared by President Trump, “Russia suffered 42,860 battlefield casualties in July, its highest monthly losses since January 2025.” This type of stuff is so far beyond silly no one can figure out where they come up with the ideas for the rates.
In media headlines you might have read that Ukraine is celebrating the biggest launch of drones against Russia in a single day, Sunday. The Russian media counter by saying they have shot down 822 drones, with 600 of them targeting the Russian capital of Moscow. Inside Russia, none of this stuff is happening; however, the govt of Putin finds some sort of purpose/value (personally I think it is just Russian humor) in countering the Ukraine nonsense by accepting the claim and then reiterating it in their claims of interception.
It’s all an illusion. First, the illusion makes it look like Russia is under bombardment (western happy), and then the Federation flips the script (it is indeed a script) and uses the claim as evidence of their exceptional capabilities at interception of the non-existent. If you are suddenly cross-eyed, yes, that’s the level of crazy I’m talking about.
(VIA CBS) – Ukraine launched hundreds of drones across Russia Sunday, killing at least six people in one of Kyiv’s largest aerial attacks of the war. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that it had destroyed 822 Ukrainian drones overnight. Some 600 drones were detected headed toward the Russian capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, with a third of those destroyed over the Moscow region itself. An 83-year-old man was killed after a Ukrainian drone hit a private home in the Moscow region, local Gov. Andrey Vorobyov said. He also confirmed that a Ukrainian attack had sparked a blaze at a Wildberries warehouse in the town of Podolsk.
A drone attack targeted three towns in Russia’s southwestern Rostov region, killing five people, local Gov. Yury Slyusar said. The attack, with more than 150 drones, damaged several homes and a railway station and sparked a forest fire. Kyiv has stepped up its attacks on Russia this year, with long-range missiles and swarms of drones increasingly targeting military industries and energy facilities. It has also increasingly pummeled giant Wildberries depots, burning billions of dollars’ worth of merchandise belonging to the Russian online retail giant and bringing the war home to the Russian public nearly four and half years into Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. (read more)
It is accurate that Ukraine drones have hit about a half dozen Wildberries distribution centers. Think about Wildberries as if you combined Amazon with E-Bay. What would life be like in America if a dozen (out of 1,300) Amazon distribution centers caught fire? Well, that’s the sum of the disruption. All those stories of gasoline refineries taken offline(?). More nonsense. Gasoline shortages(?), total gibberish – beyond silly. Beyond the overstated drone attacks all this stuff about military industrial centers, energy facilities and infrastructure being damaged is non-existent. So, why is this such a common thing to read about? Factually, I have no idea. It’s like me telling you that right now there’s a gorilla in your bathtub playing chess, and all your neighbors believe it.
Somewhere there is also a story about a new FP-9 Ukraine ballistic missile about to go into operation (next 60 days). They are supposedly working out an issue with the rocket engines. However, where they are being built is not easy to determine. All indications are in Europe somewhere. The FP-9 is part of a rushed missile and defense system from a company called Fire Point {citation} that is hoped to replace the missing U.S. Patriot Missile (defense) and Tomahawk missile (offense) that Ukraine and Germany have desperately been seeking. As the story is told, the funding comes from Ukraine, the targeting system from Germany and the build operations are taking place somewhere unknown.

This is not just a missile.
It is Ukraine's entry into the strategic league

Look at that beauty — FP‑9, Ukraine’s home‑grown ballistic missile.
Suspended like a predator ready to strike. Not a prototype anymore

. A promise.
And the promise is clear: The first ballistic strikes… pic.twitter.com/ACfUSMYLlw
— Jarl Finland (@jalle51) August 16, 2026

I don’t have it all figured out yet, but from what is visible on the surface is there appears to be a plan to drag out the conflict as long as possible, often with as outlandish claims as needed, in order to structure some kind of narrative that will eventually bring Europe -maybe NATO- into a direct combat operation against the Russian Federation.

“.. the radicalism of the Democrats in the age of Trump Derangement Syndrome—lawfare, de-balloting, the Mar-a-Lago raid, and calls to destroy the Electoral College, the nine-justice Supreme Court, and the filibuster—helped give birth to the socialists.”

• Not Winning? Just Change the Rules (Victor Davis Hanson)

Kamala Harris speaks to AOC one day before the 2024 election

What binds the new Democratic Party to the new democratic socialists is a set of shared issues and values. That is, the radicalism of the Democrats in the age of Trump Derangement Syndrome—lawfare, de-balloting, the Mar-a-Lago raid, and calls to destroy the Electoral College, the nine-justice Supreme Court, and the filibuster—helped give birth to the socialists. But the overriding commonality among those on the new Left is that if they do not get their way, they blame the “system.” Then they seek to change the rules, no matter how hallowed those laws and conventions may have been or how much they themselves benefited from them in the past.

When the Left lost the White House, Congress, and, for the most part, the Supreme Court, it began clamoring to change the system. For left-wing Democrats, that angst also translated into calls to bring in two new blue states, weaponize the FBI and the Justice Department, ally with social media to suppress the news, and spy on congressional representatives. All the socialists and communists did was up the ante in destroying norms by calling for the end of the presidency, the Senate, the border, the police, and the Pentagon.
By 2021, it was time to destroy the southern border and welcome in some 10 million illegal immigrants—without audits, English proficiency, health checks, or the ability to support themselves. Had Kamala Harris been elected in 2024, we would have had another four years and another 5 million illegal aliens. And perhaps America would have gone from 50 million foreign-born residents to 60 million, or about 18% of the population. In this regard, the Left sees California as our most liberal—and most ideal—state and perhaps concludes that the reason is that 28% of its resident population is now foreign-born, with the majority arriving with vast needs for health, education, housing, and food subsidies.
Today, 50% of all births in California are paid for by Medi-Cal, which serves 40% of the population. When second-generation immigrants are added to the foreign-born population, the two groups together comprise roughly 45% of California’s current population. This demographic transformation is one of the most profound in American history and came at a time when traditional civic education stressing assimilation, acculturation, integration, and knowledge of American traditions, history, and values was nearly nonexistent in California public schools.
So one way of achieving radical change was to alter the demography and welcome as many immigrants as possible who, in the first or second generation, might follow the examples of Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, or Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
They represent an entirely new sort of immigrant who arrives—or is born to immigrant parents—with both complaints against and dependence on their host country. They can see only the sins of America, never the catastrophes of their homeland that drove them or their parents here. This strange demand to change the rules whenever they do not bode well for angry and aggrieved parties permeates every possible manifestation of the Left but is especially egregious when demanded by immigrants who came originally as uninvited guests but almost immediately damned their magnanimous host.
It is strange for so many new immigrants to act on an elemental desire to reach America—only on arrival to profess that it is full of toxic, sinful people, living and dead. Yet the damned hosts have inexplicably welcomed total strangers like themselves, and have allowed them to share in the freedom, security, and prosperity created by the dead whom the newcomers nonetheless endlessly slander and smear.
If particular minorities statistically did not do as well on the SAT as Asians and whites did on average, the solution was certainly not SAT tutorials in the inner city or K-12 SAT outreach, demands for tougher classes in grammar, math, and analytics, or a return to the melting pot rather than the current salad-bowl tribalist model.
Instead, after the George Floyd riots, the call went out to abolish the SAT entirely—as if there had never been a purpose behind its creation. In fact, merit-based SAT exams were designed in the 1920s and 1930s to allow anyone, regardless of race, gender, region, or class, to enter college through meritorious performance on the tests—and, in particular, to overcome old-boy insider preferences and regional and ethnic prejudices.
Yet when the SAT was mostly abolished for four or five years, higher education thought it had solved the problem of minority underrepresentation. In fact, its racialist war on standards only magnified its dilemmas. The SAT had once informed admissions officers not only about applicants’ qualifications but also whether admitted students could do the work once enrolled. But soon liberal professors learned that many of the newly admitted cohorts lacked the K-12 training necessary to do customary university coursework. Yet if professors maintained their regular courses, requirements, and grading, they might soon be labeled racists once particular minorities were shown to do less well than Asians and whites.
So universities inflated grades. They introduced new remedial and gut courses. And they reduced the required coursework. But again, racialism is never a solution to problems. Instead, it is a catalyst that fuels them—as we have seen with the new notion that plagiarism is not an actionable offense when the culprit can plead victim status, whether a former president of Harvard or a current professor at Cambridge. But there are ancient laws and norms that insist intellectual theft is a crime and should be punished, not rewarded or ignored.
Soon employers noticed that the reading, writing, and analytical skills of graduates from prestigious schools were proving dismal. Alumni complained both that the reputations of their almae matres were in decline and resting on the fumes of the past and that their own children, who had prepared diligently to ensure suitably competitive grades and SAT scores for admission, were being rejected solely on the basis of their race.

“AOC has spent a decade cultivating an image as the insurgent outsider fighting the establishment. Conway just pointed out what should have been obvious all along: the insurgent outsider has become the establishment, and yet she has nothing to show for it.”

• This Might Be the Most Brutal Diagnosis of AOC You’ll Ever Hear (Margolis)

Kellyanne Conway appeared on Fox News’s The Five this week and gave a blunt yet extremely fair assessment of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.): she’s not actually doing her job. v”AOC stands for Always On Camera,” Conway said. “She is a performer, not a reformer. She went to Washington to legislate; that’s her job. She’s a pontificator, not a legislator.”Conway piled on by pointing out that, in four years under President Joe Biden, AOC passed one bill. One.

Conway’s point was simple: if you’re not good at legislating, you find something else to be good at, like living online, playing with your hair, and giggling every time someone asks whether you’d be fit to serve as commander-in-chief. Conway didn’t think that was funny. With the whole world watching, she said, that kind of response would be “embarrassing and a disaster.” Just watch The Brink of War and imagine AOC in a similar situation. You can’t, because she’s an absolute joke. But I digress.
AOC has tried to distance herself from her old positions by claiming her rhetoric from years ago doesn’t reflect where she is today. Conway found that laughable. Five years isn’t ancient history, and she made the point with a sharp comparison: does AOC’s position change with the seasons, too? If it’s raining, does she flip? If it’s October instead of April? Conway called the whole excuse disgraceful, and said both failed Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong and AOC had proven themselves untrustworthy to voters.
Conway also gave AOC credit for one thing. She started as a bartender who knocked off longtime incumbent Joe Crowley in a primary nobody saw coming. That, Conway said, was the best thing AOC ever did. Everything since has traded on being the fresh face, the disruptor. But by 2028, AOC will have spent ten years in Washington voting the party line, while also proving herself to be extremely radical. For example, she was also one of only ten Democrats to vote against a resolution condemning the October 7, 2023 attack, just eleven days after it happened.
And Conway wasn’t finished with the receipts. She explained how 2024 was a disaster for AOC’s political brand. Kamala Harris spent over a billion dollars and lost anyway. AOC endorsed Jamaal Bowman in his primary, and he lost. She endorsed Cori Bush, and she lost, too.

“AOC stands for Always On Camera!" @KellyannePolls calls AOC a “performer, not a reformer,” arguing the congresswoman is more focused on viral moments than delivering results for voters. pic.twitter.com/3KaYx0nkm1
— The Five (@TheFive) August 15, 2026

Make no mistake about it, Conway’s larger argument wasn’t really about policy. It was about authenticity, or the lack of it. She called AOC a “performative progressive,” someone running “stunts and grunts” to sway voters, rather than legislating on their behalf. Conway doesn’t think Americans are buying it anymore. Voters who tweet first and think third and fourth, she said, will pay a price for it.
She’s right. AOC has spent a decade cultivating an image as the insurgent outsider fighting the establishment. Conway just pointed out what should have been obvious all along: the insurgent outsider has become the establishment, and yet she has nothing to show for it.

“.. Then Gets Hit With a Brutal Fact Check “

• Jen Psaki Calls Karoline Leavitt a Liar (Teri Christoph)

Well, this is rich. Upon hearing the news that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt would be stepping away from her role at the end of the month to focus on her young family, former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki used the occasion to trash Leavitt and call her a liar. Yes, really, the woman whose inane and repeated “circle back” responses during her own tenure behind the White House briefing podium – she was Biden’s first press secretary – made her a laughingstock both in and outside of Washington, D.C., now wants to lecture Karoline Leavitt about how a press secretary should behave.

Psaki apparently has a show on MS NOW and let loose on the Thursday night episode, saying Leavitt didn’t engage the media “in good faith” and “reshaped” the White House Briefing Room “into her own personal safe space.” “The relationship between the press and the White House is supposed to be adversarial by design,” Psaki said on MS NOW, formerly MSNBC, where she was hired after her performance on then-President Biden’s behalf from 2021 to 2022.
“I mean, the press in the room are supposed to push for more access, for more information. And there are times when it’s absolutely appropriate for the press secretary to push back. But Karoline Leavitt didn’t want to engage in good faith with those reporters and their tough questions. “And so, instead, she did everything she could to reshape that briefing room into her own personal safe space where she rarely had to answer a tough question, hardly ever. I mean, she only briefed once or twice a week, max.”
https://twitter.com/TVNewsNow/status/2088295754242625539?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2088295754242625539%7Ctwgr%5E51a5118d96cbec2591a5d28cf11329865172c856%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fterichristoph%2F2026%2F08%2F14%2Fformer-biden-spox-attacks-karoline-leavitt-n2205622
Psaki wasn’t done there and “accused Leavitt of lying repeatedly in her role and said she only served one man: Trump.”“It’s been about telling the version of the truth according to the serial liar who sits in the Oval Office. Reporters in the room don’t matter. The American people who rely on the reporting from the reporters in the room [don’t] matter, she’s never seen her job as working for the American people as a public servant,” Psaki said, adding she had damaged the job.
As a reminder, Jen Psaki spent years helping sell the fiction that Joe Biden was mentally sharp and physically vigorous, once claiming that the then-78-year-old president was so energetic she sometimes had trouble keeping up with him; even after leaving the White House, she insisted she had never witnessed any diminished capacity. She’s hardly in a position to cast judgment on anyone with that resume. Wid Lyman, an independent journalist who often attended Leavitt’s briefings, served up a brutal fact check on Psaki, revealing that, behind the scenes, the media has appreciated the increased access to the president, describing Leavitt’s entire team as “first class.”

Jen Psaki recently said the White House press briefing room “has massively changed” under the Trump administration and @karolineleavitt.

If you talk to anyone who has worked in media at the White House this is undoubtedly true.

Two comments I have heard recently:

"There is… pic.twitter.com/8HTTdqX1p1
— Wid Lyman (@Wid_Lyman) August 14, 2026

“Jen Psaki recently said the White House press briefing room “has massively changed” under the Trump administration and @karolineleavitt. If you talk to anyone who has worked in media at the White House this is undoubtedly true. Two comments I have heard recently: “There is way, way more going on during this administration compared to the last.” “The entire press team is first-class.” Karoline Leavitt not only fostered a more open atmosphere for multiple types of media in the briefing room, but she also created an environment where her staff was professional and courteous.
The 49 permanent seats in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room are allocated to legacy and major news organizations, but standing room only crowds of unseated journalists regularly attend the briefings. I routinely hear how much more crowded the room is compared to other times. Thank you for the opportunity to give our readers and followers a voice. God bless in all things.”
White House spokesman Davis Ingle had a very simple response to Psaki’s attack on Leavitt: “Jen ‘Circle Back’ Psaki couldn’t hold a candle to Karoline Leavitt.” Leavitt leaves the White House having expanded press access and earned praise even from journalists outside the conservative media bubble. Psaki left after helping hide Joe Biden’s obvious decline from the American people. If she really wants to have a conversation about who disgraced the podium, by all means, let’s have it.

“.. the GOAT of White House Press Secretaries”

• A Love Letter to Karoline Leavitt (Scott Pinsker)

From predicting Donald Trump’s victory in 2024 to nailing the Democrats’ Graham Platner bait-and-switch a month before everyone else, my predictive hit rate is among the best in the punditry biz. (And just this week, 48 hours after I hailed AOC’s “woke” pivot as a PR masterstroke, she shot to the top of the prediction markets. Booyah!) No, I haven’t gotten everything right, but to be fair, I’ve taken some very yuuuge swings. (Go big or go home, amiright?)
I’d guesstimate my accuracy is about 75%. But one of my proudest prognostications was less a prediction than an observation: Almost immediately, I hailed Karoline Leavitt — the youngest White House press secretary in history — as a frickin’ rockstar, and the greatest to ever serve President Trump.From March 18, 2025:
“We’re now eight weeks into Donald Trump’s second term, and two things are perfectly clear: 1) His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, is an absolute rockstar. 2) The mainstream media hates her.
The difference between Karoline and, say, Sean Spicer — Trump’s original press secretary — is night and day. Look, I don’t want to be unkind to Spicer, but her charisma, charm, and intellectual dexterity leave him in the dust. It’s the difference between chicken salad and chicken [EXPLETIVE].
Personally, I think she’s the best press secretary President Trump’s ever had”It took the rest of the media a little bit longer to catch up. People forget, but Leavitt was initially dismissed as a dumb blonde bimbo who only got the job ‘cause she’s young and hot.

Karoline Leavitt is an idiot and airhead https://t.co/4PJsf3Js0U
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) January 21, 2025

THE VIEW'S JOY BEHAR: Karoline Leavitt was only hired by Donald Trump because she's a '10.' You know that what it is.

How disrespectful.pic.twitter.com/bwjXQY8yIB
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 29, 2025

Ain’t that a kick in the head: Within 20 months, Karoline Leavitt went from an “airhead” to irreplaceable! Yet her biggest legacy will be how she transformed the position of White House press secretary. Pre-K.L. and post-K.L. are gonna be night and day. What once was an afterthought is now a PR priority. She turned White House press secretary into a prestige position.In the past, it was hit and miss. Sometimes, the White House press secretary was competent; sometimes, he/she wasn’t. Either way, nobody gave it much thought. (And at least one president clearly prioritized DEI box-checking over PR talent.)
But the era of appointing uncharismatic lumps such as Robert Gibbs, Jay Carney, Karine Jean-Pierre, and Dee Dee Myers to the position is over. It’ll NEVER happen again. That’s because Leavitt redefined the political — and personal — utility of being White House press secretary. It’s a byproduct of our media age: Voters consume content in quick bites, conflict sells, and viral moments are manna from heaven. Some of the top conservative podcasters and media personalities (including Charlie Kirk) had to manufacture conflict by traveling to college campuses, debating left-wingers, and uploading the most viral encounters to YouTube.
Kirk and others invested in this strategy because it moved the needle — repeatedly.But the White House press secretary doesn’t have to travel anywhere. Whenever she wants, she can go to the podium, whack reporters around like a piñata, and become an instant social media sensation.It’s an ambitious politician’s passport to fame and stardom!
Pre-K.L., someone such as Scott Jennings would have had no interest in being the White House press secretary. Why would he? He’s already kicking [tush] on CNN as the network’s top conservative counterweight; why deal with the headache of pushy left-wing reporters? Why hitch your wagon to the lame-duck Trump administration when you’re doing just fine on your own? (CNN pays him with real money, y’know.) Now, it’s a very real possibility — because Karoline Leavitt went from MEETING the press to BEATING the press.

CNN pundit Scott Jennings is reportedly in the running to become White House press secretary when Caroline Leavitt steps down from the podium at the end of the month. https://t.co/2tgrIcpzRV
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) August 13, 2026

With the D.C. press corps’ blistering hatred of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, the purpose of the White House press secretary changed out of necessity. The goal, after all, of the mainstream media wasn’t to report “without fear or favor,” but to cheerlead for the Democrats and undermine the Republicans. In such a climate, a by-the-books, dispassionate PR presentation would be a disaster.You can’t treat a bad-faith question like a good-faith question. It just doesn’t work. Which is why Karoline Leavitt didn’t try:

The purpose of the position has changed. Instead of serving as the media’s punching bag, Leavitt reversed the equation, flipped the narrative, and leveraged the media’s idiocy to punctuate her own political points — manufacturing viral moments by the barrelful. Best of all, she instinctively mirrored her boss’s ethos: Trump is a fighter; so is Leavitt. If you come after Trump with a hammer, he’ll fire back with a torpedo. His tolerance for stupidity is famously thin.Same goes for Leavitt.
Plus, she had fun with the gig. Her joy was genuine; it leaped through the screen. Whether the next press secretary is Scott Jennings, Kari Lake, Spencer Pratt, or someone else, Leavitt created the blueprint that her successor will surely follow.Post-K.L., the primary job of a Republican White House press secretary is to produce viral moments by out-sparring D.C. reporters. Each day you’re behind the podium, your goal is the same: Defend the president by excoriating his detractors — and exposing their left-wing bull[feces]. It’s now a debating position, not an information desk.
Which, in all honesty, is way more fun: Not too many elite political talents would sign up to be the media’s punching bag ‘til the end of 2028… but getting two solid years of primo media facetime? Going one-on-one against America’s most famous journalists? Your top moments uploaded to X? Smashing reporters on a daily basis? Hooboy! The media is our perfect foil. Just 28% of Americans trust it — and for Republicans, it’s just 8%. We couldn’t ask for a better enemy. Post-K.L., the position of White House press secretary could elevate a current media star such as Scott Jennings to the next level for superstardom.
After leaving D.C., Karoline Leavitt will have plenty of options. If Fox News is wise, it’d load a Brink’s truck and make her an offer — as should CNN, Newsmax, and the major networks. She’d also be a helluva pick-up for The Daily Wire (assuming they could afford her). Or she could launch a digital network of her own, a la Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Megyn Kelly. She has the name I.D. and political credibility to draw millions of eyeballs right out of the gate. Everyone knows her; everyone respects her. She’s about to be the hottest free agent in all of political media!
Or maybe she’ll take some time off and be a full-time momma for the next few years. Lord knows she’s earned the right to rest — and focus on her babies. She’s still only 28. Because, unlike most members of the media, she doesn’t have to strike when the metal is hottest. We won’t forget her — and her career won’t suffer. She can afford to take her time. Because she’s simply too talented. Congratulations, Karoline. You’re the GOAT of White House press secretaries. You were so damn good, you changed how the entire game is played. We salute you.
And it was the easiest prediction of my career.

Lock him up until he’s there?!

• Fauci Refuses Senate Appearance (Fox)

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Friday declined a request to voluntarily appear before a second Senate panel, opening another front in Republicans’ investigations into the former public health official’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. An attorney for Fauci rejected the request from Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, arguing that compelling Fauci to testify again after his contentious July 29 Senate hearing would “impermissibly harass or degrade Dr. Fauci for political purposes.”

Johnson has been conducting a parallel investigation into Fauci and the federal government’s response to COVID-19, including the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. The refusal comes after Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted along party lines last week to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress after he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times during the July hearing. Committee chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., has sought to send the contempt referral directly to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia, bypassing a full Senate vote.
“It’s a good legal discussion, and we will make those legal points to DOJ in sending the referral over,” Paul told Fox News Digital ahead of last week’s contempt vote. At issue is whether Fauci can invoke the Fifth Amendment after former President Joe Biden issued him a preemptive pardon before leaving office. Paul has argued that Biden’s pardon removed Fauci’s risk of federal prosecution and therefore undermined his basis for refusing to answer lawmakers’ questions. Fauci and his attorneys have disputed that position.
Paul has spent years investigating Fauci’s role in the government’s response to COVID-19 and has accused the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director of funding “risky” research that led to an alleged lab leak of the COVID-19 virus in China. Paul has repeatedly called for Fauci to be prosecuted.
Johnson’s subcommittee has separately obtained records related to Fauci and the government’s pandemic response. Fox News Digital previously confirmed that the Department of Health and Human Services sent the subcommittee a copy of Fauci’s pandemic-era cellphone. The broader Homeland Security panel also received more than 1,000 pages of Fauci’s personal diary before his July hearing.Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson’s office to ask whether he intends to subpoena Fauci following the refusal. Fox News Digital also sought reaction from Paul’s office and asked Fauci attorney David Schertler whether Fauci would comply with a subpoena compelling his testimony.

“It’s going to get much worse before the Midterms. As I said, these people don’t care about the country..”

• 2026 Midterms Very, Very Tight Election – Martin Armstrong (USAW)

Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong is out with a new report (more than 100 pages) that takes a deep dive on the “2026 Midterm Elections” in November. Armstrong says, “The computer is showing this is going to be a very, very tight election. It’s a 50/50 deal where we didn’t see either party coming in with a landslide. The bottom line looks like the Democrats can take the House, but not the Senate. So, you will have a 50/50 divided government. You are going to get a lot of the crazies on the Democrat side. Even the conservative Democrats are getting very nervous. You recently had (Democrat) James Carville talking about how the party is going to split, which was our forecast in 2024.

So, this is where we are heading. By the Dems taking the House, you will see all kinds of investigations, there will be another impeachment of Trump, etc. They will be real obstructionists. They don’t give a crap about the country. If Trump says the sky is blue, they have to say it’s red. This is the way politics degenerated.”The implications for the Democrats will be long lasting and not in a good way. Armstrong says, “If the Democrats take the House, they will basically make this a real shit fight. Our computers show for 2028 something very, very interesting. I have never seen it do this, and it’s showing the Democrats will lose dramatically. On the Republican side, it shows they win even slightly above 70%.
You take the two favorites from both sides, which would be Vice President Vance against AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), Vance would blow her out, yes. I think the Democrats need to take the House to show the world how screwed up they really are. There will be a check against them from Trump and the Senate. They can do an impeachment, but the trial has to be in the Senate, and it’s not going to go anywhere. . .. It’s going to get much worse before the Midterms. As I said, these people don’t care about the country. This has turned into a bloodsport. This is part of what the computer has been projecting. By 2032, we are looking at the collapse of Republican forms of government.”
On the war in Ukraine, Armstrong says, “I am not optimistic. It looks like it goes off the boards by 2030 or so. Even the EU looks like it’s going to collapse after 2029 and break up again.” With the Iran war, Armstrong says, “China is using Iran to drain our resources, which has happened. It takes two to three years to replace the missiles. Taiwan is up in arms saying to the US, you don’t have the fire power to protect us. . .. You see the same thing with Russia and Ukraine. They say Russia is weak. They can’t take Ukraine, and Ukraine has seriously weakened Russia. That is what Ukraine is doing. That’s the whole purpose of this, and that was to drain Russia. Iran is doing the same thing to America.”
Armstrong says don’t expect the stock market to crash anytime soon as money is flowing into and not out of America. Armstrong also is forecasting a new gold bull market in 2027.
Extra:

I did check the date to make sure it’s recent.

• Newsom’s High Speed Train to Nowhere is Not Arriving Anytime Soon (Turley)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been frantically trying to restart a presidential campaign that appears moribund, with polls showing him losing in some states to figures such as Pete Buttigieg and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In his absence, his multibillion-dollar high-speed train also seems to be going nowhere fast. A new report from the state inspector general revealed that the train will be delayed again and that the public is being kept in the dark about ongoing problems with Newsom’s signature project. Oh, and one more thing: the project will run out of money by December 2027.

Benjamin Belnap’s report revealed the project is again running out of money. It found missing details in the project’s 2026 business plan, and concluded that the project will again be out of money by next year. The state has already spent $18 billion, but it will need at least another $18 billion to finish the first segment. It could take roughly $200 billion more actually to complete the original San Francisco-to-Los Angeles line. Even with billions more, the current segment will not be completed until 2034.
Voters approved a $9.95 billion bond issue in 2008 under Newsom’s predecessor after absurdly low cost estimates. Newsom has been a champion of the project. Influential figures and companies stood to make a fortune, and the key was to secure a “buy-in” worth billions, so that it would become increasingly difficult to abandon the project as overruns and delays sent costs soaring. Now the official estimate of future ridership has dropped by 25%, and it demands billions more to complete a project delayed by decades. Remember that this entire project was meant to create a rail line of only 171 miles.
One would think that the California voters would be marching to the capital with pitchforks and torches over such breathtaking incompetence and waste. However, they appear to have been conditioned to accept the lowest level of performance from their public officials.
The response of Democratic leaders is crushingly predictable: they are pledging to seek a federal bailout to cover their own incompetence. The Democratic nominee for governor, Xavier Becerra, is promising to fight to get back federal funds that were cut off by the Trump Administration. While promising to seriously review any problems in the project (as if they are not obvious), no one has been held accountable for this financial train wreck. Instead, all Democrats can do is demand that citizens around the country help bail out their boondoogle.
Yet, the Inspector General is describing a failure of leadership where no one is making any real decisions: “Exploration of specific financing mechanisms is a positive step, but because the Authority might run out of funding as soon as December 2027, and the financing strategy the Authority uses has the potential to significantly affect the amount of interest it will need to repay, the Authority and state lawmakers have little time for delay in deciding upon a strategy and implementing it.”
Belknap indicated that those in control are simply shrugging off the problem, noting that “[b]ecause the Authority has thus far not demonstrated a willingness to establish and reinforce a process that ensures accuracy and transparency in project reporting, we have directed our report recommendations to the Board.”
In the meantime, the state will continue to creep along with a project that is sucking billions into a project that has become a national disgrace. Beccera’s pledge to seek bailouts shows that the problem remains the political culture in California. There is little accountability left in a one-party state where companies and individuals have made fortunes off this debacle. The only people being taken for a ride are Californian citizens and it is not the ride that they bargained for.

What is this? Communiusm? There’s only one possible opinion?

• War On Rowling Continues (Sans Facts) (Christian Toto)

Journalists love to ask two questions spun from the same unhinged premise. Do you support trans women in women’s sports, and do you agree with author J.K. Rowling’s “anti-trans” views?The former bullies athletes for passing Biology 101. The latter targets the Harry Potter author at every possible turn. We’re seeing both in action of late. Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham is under media assault for sharing a simple truth about men in women’s sports, a fact supported by science at every turn. “She’s MAGA Barbie,” select outlets cry!

Rowling is under a fresh attack from an actor lucky enough to snag a role in HBO Max’s hotly anticipated Harry Potter TV series. Bel Powley, who plays Petunia Dursley in the upcoming series, told The Telegraph that she “strongly disagrees” with Rowling’s position on trans issues.”I strongly disagree with J.K. Rowling’s views on gender. I think that the trans community deserves safety and dignity and respect and total acceptance … but I love Harry Potter. I grew up with the books. I am from that first generation of readers and, again, I love magic and spookiness.”
That’s why Powley took the gig. That, and the paycheck, of course. It’s likely that The Telegraph asked Powley about the Rowling issue and that the actress didn’t bring it up on her own. Either way, it’s part of a larger, disturbing media trend. Reporters describe anyone who doesn’t embrace the whole activist trans agenda as “anti-trans.” And they never ask the person in question to share specifics on what they’re criticizing or recite the actual comments by the “villain” du jour. For Cunningham, that means her critics won’t admit the obvious. Men have clear, distinct biological advantages that don’t vanish if they embrace “womanhood” or take hormones. Cunningham spoke very clearly on the issue. She did so without malice or political rhetoric.
The media and the Left, but we repeat ourselves, targeted her anyway. Rowling also has been very careful in her language on trans issues. She doesn’t wish the trans community harm. Her initial statements on the subject were kind and hardly alienating. She simply understands the need for separate spaces for biological women while acknowledging the physiological differences between male and female athletes. Oh, and she’s faced frequent death threats for sharing her commonsense opinions. Here’s what Rowling wrote in 2020, responding to the very early stages of the Left’s war on the beloved author.
“Trans people need and deserve protection. Like women, they’re most likely to be killed by sexual partners. Trans women who work in the sex industry, particularly trans women of colour, are at particular risk…I feel nothing but empathy and solidarity with trans women who’ve been abused by men.” Does that sound cruel or hateful? Hardly. Did Powley read Rowling’s long, personal essay on the subject back in 2020? Has she read it lately? Unlikely.
The same is likely true for John Lithgow. The veteran actor plays Professor Dumbledore in the series, and he, too, has been coaxed into savaging Rowling for her trans views. They’re “inexplicable,” Lithgow said. Has he tried speaking with her directly? She’s a key player behind the scenes of the new HBO Max show.
Why not start there? Has he read everything she’s said on the matter? Where does he agree or disagree? It’s fine to disagree, of course, but he must know the intense cancellation movement she’s faced in recent years. Or does he realize that the “safe” position in Hollywood for anyone, let alone an 80-year-old actor, is to slam Rowling and leave any critical facts out of the conversation? To be fair, the legacy media does just that, too.

If Washington were the capital of a piece of land named Turkey, someone would do something about it too.

• It’s Spelled ‘Turkey,’ Not ‘Türkiye” (A.J. Christopher)

I noticed that when media outlets write about the country Turkey, they’re now spelling it “Türkiye.” Have you noticed it, too? Did you get the memo on this? Because I sure didn’t.
But apparently the United Nations did. At the request of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the United Nations in June 2022 agreed to use the spelling “Türkiye” to refer to the country. The State Depa
rtment also must have gotten the memo, because in January 2023, it followed suit. Naturally, the Western media was only too happy to play its polished role as court eunuch to Biden’s autopen, and it slipped into the usage of “Türkiye” with nary a peep.
So why did Erdogan make the request? Because “Turkiye” is how the country is spelled in its native Modern Turkish alphabet, and Erdogan’s rebranding of its spelling is part of his larger nationalistic, anti-Western agenda. Erdogan is also well aware of the West’s Achilles’ heel, which is the insatiable addiction of white liberals to pander to anything they feel counters Western influence. Erdogan is a president in name only. In reality, he lords over an increasingly repressive Islamist dictatorship that has been busying itself for over a decade with decoupling from the West and aligning with Russia and Iran. One would think that Western liberals would recoil from taking direct orders from a man who cozies up to the oppressors of women, the murderers of gays, and the architect of the Ukraine invasion.
Ah, but that would require them to stand on their stated principles. And it turns out their stated principles are not really their principles at all. It’s more important for them to denigrate their own culture and language — hence their eager and willing use of the word “Türkiye” – than to make common cause with “workers of the world” or “indigenous communities” or whatever their catchphrase of the week is. White liberals do this effortlessly with other linguistic overlaps as well. This is why they pronounce Spanish-originating words with faux-accents. They’ll pronounce the word Latino as (Lah-TEE-no), and they’ll over-accentuate the double E. Or they’ll pronounce the word Mexico as (Meh-hee-co), and pronounce the X as an H.
Liberals do this partly to brag about how cultured they think they are. They do this partly because they think it makes them sound exotic and diverse. But they do it more so as a direct criticism of the English language and American culture, as if by pronouncing these words with Spanish accents and pronunciations, they are disavowing their own native language as inferior. This is pandering, and it’s embarrassing to watch. It reeks of desperation. And the attempt doesn’t flatter the minority whose rear end the groveling white liberal is desperately trying to kiss. He’s rather insulted. You don’t get into people’s good graces by poorly mimicking their accent. You don’t impress them by flaunting the half a dozen or so words you know of their native language.
One particularly asinine example is that of the Micmac Indians, a Native American tribe in the American northeast, formally changing their name to the Mi’kmaq to appear less “colonial.” The left, of course, duly did what they were told and began using the word Mi’kmaq. It solved none of these Indians’ problems and changed nothing of history, but it made everyone feel woke and special.I find this particular example silly for two reasons. First, let’s be honest. None of us even knew the Micmacs were an Indian tribe until the movie Pet Sematary hit the theaters in 1989. And second, there is nothing colonizing about the spelling of the word Micmac.
Do you know why? Because there was never a written native version of the word which could be “colonized.” Do you know why? Because the Micmac Indians had no written language. That’s why. They were that primitive. And it amuses me that a culture which appropriated the concept of written language from us now tries to dictate to us how to use that language. Sorry, not sorry. I’m spelling it as Micmac. And if you continue to insist on taking the word and making it Mi’kmaq? Fine. You can take that word back. And I will take back electricity and indoor plumbing and modern medicine and literacy and the wheel.
The worst, though, is when white liberals do this with Islam. It starts, again, with their pronunciation of the word itself. In English, we pronounce it as (IZ-lam). But the pandering white liberal will try to adapt an Arabic accent and pronounce it as (Is-LAHM). It’s subtle, but it’s unmistakable when you hear them do it. And it sounds like nails on a chalkboard. Because it’s such shameless pandering. But they have to outdo each other to show whose most woke. And so they refer to the religion’s founder Mohammed as the Prophet Mohammed. As if he were an actual prophet, and not a schizophrenic, incestuous warlord. And you’ll notice they never extend this respect to any other religion. They never refer to Moses as the Prophet Moses. They never refer to Jesus as Jesus the Messiah.
But with Islam? They trip over one another rushing to fasten the shackles to their own wrists. So let’s get a few things straight. Without apology, I will continue to pronounce every word I speak, regardless of that word’s origin, with an American accent, just as people of other languages will continue to speak their words using their own accents, without anyone trying to guilt trip them for it. Without apology, I will continue to spell every word I write using phonetic English, just as people of other languages will continue to write their words using their own phonetics without anyone trying to guilt trip them for it.
And without apology, I will never refer to Mohammed as a prophet. Because he wasn’t one. He initiated a death cult which rivals only leftist ideology in the amount of sheer human suffering it inflicts wherever it goes. I’m American, and I speak and write based on the culture in which I was raised. I’m proud of that. And because of my cultural self-confidence, I feel no need to insist that strangers halfway across the globe pronounce and write the word “America” the same exact way I do. And if some dime store Islamic thug like Erdogan thinks he has a say in how I speak my language in my country, I’d like to see him try to enforce it.
Hey Erdogan, you know that city you call Istanbul? The proper pronunciation is actually “Constantinople.” And you want us to spell your country as Türkiye? The proper spelling is actually “Byzantium.” You might not be aware of that now.

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2088335459713716536?s=20 https://twitter.com/cb_doge/status/2088368087536169145?s=20

TRUMP JUST REPOSTED JFK’S MOST TERRIFYING SPEECH — AND THE DEEP STATE IS PANICKING

JFK saw it coming. In 1961. And now, Trump has just made sure 300 million Americans see it, too. pic.twitter.com/Af6TR5g7kP
— Kelly Marie Brady (@KellyMarieBrady) August 14, 2026

https://twitter.com/WakeUpPatriott/status/2088014520602022365?s=20 https://twitter.com/AmericaPartyX/status/2088347581705302441?s=20

If Tesla and SpaceX merge, you’ll have AI (Grok), Physical AI (FSD), Robots (Optimus/Cybercab), Energy, Chip Manufacturing, and Rockets all under one umbrella.

Game over. https://t.co/Ii2y4CJOVX pic.twitter.com/Fmg2q5Eeg4
— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) August 14, 2026

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Debt Rattle July 21 2026

Jul 212026

July 21, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:31 am Finance Tagged with: border czar, Britain, burn bags, Don Lemon, ICE, Kamala, midterms, NATO, Netanyahu, unelected 33 Responses »

Wassily Kandinsky Autumn Landscape with Boats 1908

• Trump: Iran Will Pay ‘Many Times Over’ For US Troop Deaths (ZH)

• Border Czar Warns New York City That ‘ICE Surge’ Is Coming (Hyde)

• Trump Insists Netanyahu Will Not Face Arrest In The US (Ben Whedon)

• The 2026 NATO Summit Confirmed A New Transatlantic Bargain (Ruel Domi)

• Come Meet Britain’s Next Worst Prime Minister Ever (Stephen Green)

• The Unelected Monarch Creates the Unelected U.K Prime Minister (CTH)

• About Those Burn Bags President Trump Mentioned in His Address (O’Brien)

• Democrats Dismiss Our Constitutional Traditions as ‘Nostalgia’ (Turley)

• War, Over There, Over Here (James Howard Kunstler)

• Here’s How the Democrats Are Blowing the Midterms (Margolis)

• Why Democrats Can’t Do Better Than Kamala Harris in 2028 (Daniel McCarthy)

• Don Lemon Wants the White House and Thinks MAGA Is the Nazi Party (Manney)

• “I’m Not Living In Communist America”: Bill Maher Blasts DSA Democrats (ZH)

• China’s Fake US Driver’s Licenses Tampered With the 2020 Election (O’Brien)

• Can Elon Musk Really Put ONE MILLION Data Center Satellites in Orbit? (Green)

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2079000563333939440?s=20 https://twitter.com/ivan_8848/status/2079122207796548037?s=20

They each deserve presidential medals of freedom for standing up and speaking out so honestly to protect our freedoms. @POTUS @realDonaldTrump @SusieWiles https://t.co/vs9V8Bi0oo
— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) July 20, 2026

https://twitter.com/FreedomHasWon/status/2079197047576825994?s=20

“Air war alone cannot dislodge a large military/regime, hence the dilemma of restraint vs. quagmire and new forever war…”

• Trump: Iran Will Pay ‘Many Times Over’ For US Troop Deaths (ZH)

After at least three more American troops were reported killed in Iranian attacks on Jordan and Iraq, President Trump has newly warned Monday that “Every time Iran kills an American soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!” The Commander-in-Chief says further he’s given “directives” on a presumably impending US military response to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, as well as his generals. Trump had on Saturday said the deaths of service members in Jordan are “a very sad thing.” He stated: “We hate to see it happen.” In follow-up he described that the retaliation on Iran would be in ‘honor’ of these fallen ‘patriots’.

Greek Tankers Hit, Also as Iran Targets Bahrain
Iran’s IRGC continues to insist that it along is in control of the Strait of Hormuz, as it continues firing on foreign vessels seeking to traverse the Strait of Hormuz outside of Iran’s ‘approved’ zone and protocol. According to some of the latest developments on this front, via regional media: One of two Greek-owned tankers hit by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz has been abandoned by its crew after fire was reported on the vessel. The crew was rescued by a tugboat after abandoning the Maltese-flagged Kavomaleas owned by Greece’s Dynacom Tankers.
Earlier, UKMTO reported fire onboard the tanker north of Kuzmar, Oman. It had been stranded in the Arabian Gulf after spending months offshore of Saudi Arabia. It appeared to exit the Strait of Hormuz on July 2 although its AIS tracking was turned off. Various locations across Iran meanwhile continued to get pummeled by US aerial attacks. Iran in turn has been heavily targeting Bahrain on Monday. “The US launched an aerial attack on one of the areas in Shiraz, it resulted in no casualties, and the situation is under control,” IRIB reports. Currently, FM Araghchi is said to be en route to Pakistan, as mediators scramble to contain the war.
Air war alone cannot dislodge a large military/regime, hence the dilemma of restraint vs. quagmire and new forever war…

I'm confused.

The USA has the most powerful military on Earth. We've bombed the HELL out of Iran for 4 months. Trump says their Air Force, Navy, and nearly all of their missile capabilities are destroyed.

…so how is Iran still capable of hitting US bases right now???
— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) July 18, 2026

Bahrain statement: “Bahrain’s Civil Aviation Affairs said Monday that an Iranian drone attack targeted civilian air navigation systems used to manage the country’s Flight Information Region as military escalation continues to rage on between Iran and the US.” Latest from CENTCOM: The US military says it has disabled one ship and redirected seven in its continuing blockade of Iranian ports. “As of July 20, the US military has redirected 7 commercial vessels and disabled 1 to prevent the ships from leaving or entering Iranian ports,” CENTCOM wrote on X.

Trump confronting Mamdani.

• Border Czar Warns New York City That ‘ICE Surge’ Is Coming (Hyde)

Federal Border Czar Tom Homan has announced that an unprecedented surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents is coming to New York City in response to the city’s sanctuary policies. Homan told Fox News on Sunday, “It’s coming,” citing the Trump administration’s refusal to be hampered by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s vow to champion the city’s sanctuary status and to continue resisting federal immigration enforcement. Homan refused to discuss specifics as to where and when enforcement actions would occur so as to avoid tipping off the various leftist groups who have organized to oppose ICE actions.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2078838491388031146?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2078838491388031146%7Ctwgr%5Eaf9f5cf6ec9507f23d141bbd7943e1b2278b5c8f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fborder-czar-warns-new-york-city-ice-surge-coming-enforcement-expanding

Homan told Fox News that “there needs to be a surge” and added, “But I am not going to show our hand because there are… well-funded groups who will try to impede, interfere. We’re not going to give them any upside on this.” The border czar’s comments followed statements Mamdani made during a New York Times interview on Saturday, in which the mayor expressed “pride” regarding the city’s refusal to cooperate with immigration enforcement and vowed to protect immigrant communities.
Mamdani told the Times, “What we are unwilling to do is to participate in civil immigration enforcement with a federal government that has said openly it wants to deport a vast majority of people for crimes that we will never even know.” According to Fox News, Homan fired back at Mamdani’s statement, saying that the mayor can have his stance but he will not prevent ICE from doing its job, noting, “That’s called the rule of law. If he doesn’t like it, call your members of Congress, tell them to change the law.”
The federal surge is also tied to New York state budget legislation signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul that strictly curbs local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration officials and bans ICE agents from wearing masks during community operations. Homan has also argued that blocking ICE access to municipal jails removes operational efficiencies, forcing federal teams out onto the streets to conduct widespread community arrests. The border czar said that President Trump’s campaign promises to address border security and to impose mass deportations are a large reason why he is the president today.

“The International Criminal Court (ICC) previously issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu amid the Gaza conflict.”

• Trump Insists Netanyahu Will Not Face Arrest In The US (Ben Whedon)

President Donald Trump on Monday strongly asserted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not face arrest while in the United States as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani reportedly weighs options to bring him into custody. The International Criminal Court (ICC) previously issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu amid the Gaza conflict. The U.S. is not party to the Rome statute and is under no obligation to arrest Netanyahu. However, Mamdani has mulled doing so amid the Iran war.

“Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American Soldiers, and others,” he added. “The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented SPIRAL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, something that should have been dealt with years ago, by previous Presidents!”
Mamdani’s authority and ability to arrest Netanyahu without the consent of Washington, D.C., is dubious at best.

“President Trump has been clear: As China becomes a rising threat, America cannot single-handedly carry the burden of Europe’s defense.”

• The 2026 NATO Summit Confirmed A New Transatlantic Bargain (Ruel Domi)

For three decades after the end of the Cold War, the transatlantic relationship rested on an implicit bargain: America guaranteed European security while the EU and its satellites concentrated on economic and political integration and drastically expanded their generous welfare states. The latest NATO summit in Ankara demonstrated that this bargain is falling apart. A new one is emerging, one in which Europe is expected to assume far greater responsibility for its own defense while the United States increasingly shifts its strategic focus toward containing China in the Indo-Pacific. Europe appears reluctant to accept it, but eventually, it will need to get used to it. NATO’s latest summit demonstrated such a need.

Firstly, the new bargain rests upon the fundamental assumption that Europe cannot continue to outsource its security indefinitely. During his first campaign for president, stretching for the entirety of his first term, President Trump demanded that America’s allies on the other side of the Atlantic spend more on their defense.
Up until that point, NATO’s 2006 defense minister agreement established a 2% of GDP requirement for all members to spend on defense. And despite that agreement, only Poland and the United States had achieved that goal, leaving behind powerful and wealthy European states such as Germany, France, and even the United Kingdom (at the time, an EU member). Such a discrepancy suggests deep-rooted and structural unfairness, as wealthier and more influential countries must be willing to spend more on defense, which hasn’t happened until this summit.
While the American left idolized European welfare states and the robust social safety nets that came with them, it was clear that those welfare states would have been impossible to finance without the American taxpayer bankrolling European defense. Needless to say, when America needed Europe the most, in the aftermath of Operation Epic Fury, European allies repeatedly refused to join the United States in military activity designed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz from the Iranian blockade—which, ironically enough, would benefit Europe more than it would America—due to Europe importing much of its oil and natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz. When a conflict began with Iran, Europe once again proved reluctant to shoulder a larger share of the burden.
Donald Trump understood that this posture is unsustainable, which is why he asked Europeans to raise their defense spending in his first term, while raising the requirement to a historic 5% of the GDP for all NATO members throughout this ongoing second term. The bargain is clear: Europe must not be allowed to outsource its defense spending to the United States, at least not without increasing defense spending and implementing serious changes to its economic, political, and social model.
The current American administration correctly understands that a weak Europe is a threat to the future of the transatlantic alliance and to the alliance’s security in the face of looming threats from Russia, China, and growing competition from the Global South.
Secondly, as outlined in the 33-page national security strategy of the United States published in early December, the U.S. is diverting its attention away from continental Europe to the Indo-Pacific. There, Chinese control of the South China Sea and a looming invasion of Taiwan are seen not just as geopolitical inconveniences but as real and existential security threats to the United States and its strategic interests in the region.
For that reason alone, Europe must spend more on its defense to deter potential Russian aggression, while the United States deals with China. The notion that the United States should be left dealing with the Sino-Russian axis alone, while the EU goes down the drain of unfettered leftism, at the expense of its civilization and the NATO alliance at large, represents an absurd and unsustainable model of alliance maintenance—and, I should add, grave political malpractice.
If the United States were to continue on the liberal path of relationship building with Europe, it would have to concede the chips race to China, as a successful Chinese invasion of Taiwan would give the CCP control of over 80% of the world’s semiconductors, leading to almost complete Chinese control of global supply chains and a consequent economic disaster for America and Europe alike.
It is clear that the liberal bargain of the US-EU relationship needs to be replaced by a pragmatically realist approach that preserves the alliance while deterring foreign adversaries. The latest NATO summit did exactly that.

“As mayor, he promised to end homelessness in Greater Manchester by 2020. He didn’t. But he sure spent a lot of money on it.”

• Come Meet Britain’s Next Worst Prime Minister Ever (Stephen Green)

Following King Charles III’s formal request to form a new government on Monday, new U.K. Labour Leader Andy Burnham takes Keir Starmer’s place as Britain’s next worst prime minister ever. “I now pass the baton to Andy Burnham, I wish him every success. He has my full support,” Starmer said to anyone still listening. It won’t be easy topping — bottoming? — Starmer’s record of increasing Islamification, two-tier justice, and economic decline, but I have faith in Burnham’s ability to do so. At the very least, there’s certainly no doubting his willingness to try.

It seems like just last month [It was just last month, Steve —Editor] I wrote that “The U.K.’s most destructively feckless prime minister (since the last one)” would soon be history, but that Burnham “could prove Britain’s final undoing.” I hate to be so pessimistic when it’s only Monday, but take a look at this guy. Burnham hasn’t worked in the private sector in 30 years — as a writer, yuck! — serving in Parliament for two decades, both in and out of power. He held positions we don’t even have here, like Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Shadow Secretary of State for Health, and Undersecretary for Taxing of Things We Haven’t Yet Taxed.
Then he served as Mayor of Greater Manchester (2017-2026), until returning to Parliament earlier this year following a by-election (kind of like a special election year), seemingly for the sole purpose of taking a run at Starmer. Mission: Accomplished. As of this writing, Burnham is busy sacking various members of Starmer’s cabinet, including Rachel Reeves as Chancellor, Steve Reed as Housing Secretary, Lord Hermer as Attorney General, Peter Kyle as Business Secretary, and the execrable David Lammy from his dual roles as Justice Secretary and Deputy PM.
But as one commenter on X warned: “Many people are loving all Burnham’s sackings because of what they think about the politicians he’s getting rid of. But don’t cheer too enthusiastically because it’s not at all clear that the new appointees will be any better.” The situation remains fluid, as they say, but Burnham has yet to name any replacements to serve in his cabinet. The name to keep an eye on — as I warned you last month — is the woman often called “the brains” behind Burnham’s time as mayor, the Liberian-born daughter of lefty radicals: Miatta Fahnbulleh.
CutMyTaxUK reported last year that Fahnbulleh “was born in Liberia as part of a prominent leftist revolutionary family, has served as a junior energy & housing minister in the Starmer government before resigning to support Burnham.” Previously, as the “former head of the far-left New Economics Foundation,” she proved “adept at churning out socialist policy proposals.” Or as CMT-UK put it, “Keir Starmer has appointed a Housing Minister who hates private housing.” And guess what? Before even naming Fahnbulleh as Permanent Undersecretary for Ending Private Property, Politics UK reported that Burnham is considering introducing rent controls as part of his cost of living announcement on Tuesday. “We are looking at measures that could make a difference this year,” Burnham said.
Tell me if this next item rings any bells, particularly for readers in California. “We ran a [homelessness] scheme every night. 600 beds,” Burnham said Monday. “But we were the only place doing it. It taught me the only way is to do this together.” As mayor, he promised to end homelessness in Greater Manchester by 2020. He didn’t. But he sure spent a lot of money on it. Now he’s taking his program nationwide, presumably. What Britain needs is a national election that might correct Labour’s lopsided majority in Parliament despite the party’s massive unpopularity. What they’ll get is the country’s next worst prime minister. Until the next one, I’m afraid.

He’s just the next one.

• The Unelected Monarch Creates the Unelected U.K Prime Minister (CTH)

There is absolutely nothing democratic within the political schemes of the communists, leftists and Nazis’. Just as Ukraine is led by an unelected authoritarian under the guise of the ‘new democratic norms’; just as Kamala Harris was installed as a presidential nominee under those same anti-democracy norms; so too is U.K Prime Minister Andy Burnham now installed without any election by the British citizens. nThe unelected monarch, King Charles, appoints the unelected Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, and the first pledge of the unelected leader is a promise to make life better for the people who are denied a voice in his agenda.

THE BACKGROUND – Former communist Prime Minister Kier Starmer was facing a massive amount of opposition, his policies and party platform had collapsed, and the people of Britain were revolting against him. Starmer’s Labour party lost more than 1,400 seats in the country’s local elections, and the non-communist, nationalistic Reform Party was winning. Something urgent was needed. Polls showed communist Mayor Andy Burnham was popular as his mask still had still not fully dropped, and the illegal immigrants on the streets of Manchester were only raping a few girls each month which was still easy to hide.
However, the problem was that Burnham could not replace Starmer unless he was a Member of Parliament (MP). With urgent payments for future indulgencies quickly afforded, the communist MP for Makerfield, a district within Greater Manchester, resigned from his job so that communist Andy Burnham could run for his MP position. A few days later, exactly at the moment communist Burnham was being sworn in to the MP job, communist Starmer announced his exit. The plan had worked seamlessly.
The Communist Labour Party of the U.K then coalesced quickly to replace Starmer with Burnham, and today Communist King Charles appointed Communist Andy Burnham to lead the country. No election needed; i.e. ‘The New Democratic Norm’ again fulfilled. Great Britain’s Bernie Sanders is now in charge of things. …”I have just come from Buckingham Palace where I have accepted his Majesty the King’s invitation to form a government”…

“These bags were supposed to be at a different level, by different people, incinerated…but it never happened. Maybe we got lucky.”

• About Those Burn Bags President Trump Mentioned in His Address (O’Brien)

In addition to its general corruptibility, one thing you can be sure of when it comes to the federal government is that it’s probably not a good idea to trust federal employees to conceal your misdeeds. In the bureaucracy, “good enough” is the standard for quality work And so, when President Donald Trump delivered his address to the nation on July 16, he brought attention to something we should know much more about but don’t yet: the discovery of “burn bags,” which Trump said contained sensitive documents from the Obama administration.

Trump said, “Recently, we found significant numbers of burn bags… and this is a group of bags that were used to destroy information given by President Barack Hussein Obama to be burned….These bags were supposed to be at a different level, by different people, incinerated…but it never happened. Maybe we got lucky.” As the term implies, burn bags contain material that is slated for destruction, sending all of the former administration’s secrets into that big shredder in the sky. But someone “dropped the bag,” and more than a few of them were left to be discovered by the second Trump administration in the FBI building.
https://twitter.com/jason_meister/status/2078875275115282912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2078875275115282912%7Ctwgr%5Eed99d8927aa77488474324fc575801ef2c654e35%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpjmedia.com%2Ftim-o-brien%2F2026%2F07%2F19%2Fabout-those-burn-bags-president-trump-mentioned-in-his-address-to-the-nation-n4955234

Now that Trump is sitting on a political treasure trove of data and information that can be used to expose the left, expect a distraction or two. Whenever the left panics, you start to see ginned-up controversies over allegations of Trump “stealing our democracy,” “climate change,” “Christian nationalism,” or all of the above. Given the seriousness of the potential contents of those burn bags, it wouldn’t surprise me if the left goes even harder with its lies and wrap-up smears to try to take Trump out using the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.
As a result of the Trump administration’s discovery of those burn bags, the president ordered the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the CIA to review the documents, analyze them, and see if any laws were broken. That analysis will focus on the handling of the sensitive information and the chain of custody of the documents themselves, and the contents of the documents that were never destroyed. It must be noted that simply finding some old burn bags doesn’t mean something improper was done. The federal government uses burn bags as a matter of course to destroy sensitive materials that will no longer be kept on file.
The president believes that the bags of documents could unearth critical information that has been concealed from the public eye. He bases this viewpoint on his past experience with both the Obama and Biden administrations and their pattern of not preserving, or not providing access to, certain important intelligence information. In other words, Trump knows what he doesn’t know, and he wants answers. Could those bags contain more proof of the deep state covering up election schemes? Do any contain information that implicates specific members of the Obama or Biden administrations? If Trump knows, he’s not naming names or providing details just yet.
Trump’s mention of those burn bags was in the context of his larger address on election integrity failures and questionable activities on the part of Democrat administrations, their political operatives, and others. As leftists circle the wagons to protect their favorite former Democrat presidents and their people, leftist central messaging is already testing the following key messages:
• “Alleging foreign interference in an election is not proof (evidence) that a foreign government successfully controlled the outcome.” This is like saying, “Sure he had a gun and shot at ya, but he missed ya, so he didn’t do anything wrong.”
• “Criminal charges require more than political accusations.” Of course, this is true, but where do criminal charges themselves come from? They come from accusations that can be supported by evidence.
• “Even if you find some incriminating information in those burn bags, you’re going to need to prove that the person implicated knowingly violated federal law.” Depending on the situation, that would be a matter for the courts to decide, but this key message gets at understanding and intent, which in a PR sense can be a straw man. For example, it doesn’t matter whether you intended to kill someone with your car; if you ran over them, intentionally or not, you likely broke a law or two. In other words, “I did not know there was a law against this” is no excuse.
• “The discovery of documents alone would not establish a criminal conspiracy.” Another straw man. No one is saying “discovery of documents” is all you need. If the documents contain words and sentences that do establish a criminal conspiracy, someone’s goose may be cooked.
• “As for China, investigators must have direct evidence of coordination, communication, or actions that link actual people to the effort to tamper with an election.” Once again, this is just a description of the legal and justice process. All of this is true, but stating it does not get anyone off the hook.
Back in 2020 and 2021, when Trump sought to use the court system to contest the manner in which the 2020 election was conducted, he literally had no time left in his term to go the legal route as president. By the time the courts would consider some of his claims, he was essentially an outsider without access to much of the information that he now has. After election day in 2020, Trump was shut out of the system long enough to ensure that he would live the rest of his life in political exile after one term in office. But in 2024, Trump shocked the world and won. His administration now has access to what it needs to better determine what happened in 2020, to address it, and, hopefully, to tap the justice system to ensure such corruption never happens again.

“California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) last week also declared that “nostalgia is not working” and, while refusing to embrace socialism, added that “capitalism as we know it doesn’t work.”

• Democrats Dismiss Our Constitutional Traditions as ‘Nostalgia’ (Turley)

It appears that the Madisonian democracy has joined shackets and combat boots as embarrassingly outdated for many on the left. In calling for radical changes to our constitutional system, leading Democrats are now calling the lingering loyalty to our traditions as mere “nostalgia.” To be nostalgic in today’s parlance is to be a dupe of the oligarchs and an enemy to reform. “Nostalgia” has become the new coded term for reactionaries among Democratic figures, who are trying to convince Americans to accept radical changes to our republic after 250 years.

Kamala Harris recently insisted that opposition to ideas like packing the Supreme Court is mere “nostalgia” for a system that is no longer working. “I would caution us against talking about rebuilding with any sense of nostalgia about how things work, because even before, they weren’t working so well for a lot of folks,” she said. That “nostalgia,” according to Harris, is preventing us from doing things like packing the Supreme Court with an instant liberal majority. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) last week also declared that “nostalgia is not working” and, while refusing to embrace socialism, added that “capitalism as we know it doesn’t work.”
Morris Katz, a political strategist for Zohran Mamdani, spoke to CNN’s Dana Bash about looking beyond the label of democratic socialism and instead simply to accept that “our government does not work.” They are joining socialists who have long promised revolutionary changes without “introspection, nostalgia or regret.” It is an all-too-familiar pitch. Sixty years ago, a call to break free of “old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits” revolutionized a nation. That call was heard in a Chinese paper that would help lay the foundation for Mao Zedong’s bloody Cultural Revolution. Marxists had long rejected calls to preserve institutions and citizens’ rights as “nostalgia” and “sentimentality,” standing in the way of needed progress.
For the Democratic Socialist of America organization, nostalgia stands in the way of getting rid of the Senate, presidency, and the Supreme Court to fundamentally change the republic. The effort is to condition Americans to adopt radical changes to our core institutions that professors and pundits say will guarantee Democrats never lose power again. That is not an easy task for a people who have benefited from the oldest and most prosperous democracy for 250 years. They have to be very angry or very afraid to take such a radical course.
The Soviets understood that about the U.S. After Yuri Bezmenov, a KGB agent working in the media, defected in 1970, he revealed the four stages by which the Soviets hoped to bring about revolutionary change in the U.S. It began with undermining our institutions and values, with the help of journalists and academics. With establishment figures lining up behind radical changes, including packing the Supreme Court, the public is hearing a constant drumbeat of how our system is broken. Even Democratic judges are joining the chorus. Indeed, some appear to be auditioning for the slots promised by Democratic leaders to take over the court with a reliable liberal majority.
This week, the Hawaii Supreme Court issued an unhinged diatribe against the U.S. Supreme Court that abandoned any semblance of judicial restraint or decorum. It declared the majority as effectively racists, saying that “The Roberts Court sees only white.” It portrayed the court as a rogue institution that “overrides what Congress passed. It overrides what the people chose. All to serve its own ends.” It is an opinion that would make an MS NOW host blush. But it follows a pattern on the left to get people to turn against our institutions and even against the Constitution itself.
Others are telling the public that they are being repressed by the Constitution, which must be scrapped. In a New York Times op-ed — “The Constitution Is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed” — law professors Ryan Doerfler of Harvard and Samuel Moyn of Yale called for the nation to “reclaim America from constitutionalism.” In yet another New York Times editorial, Jennifer Szalai denounced “Constitution worship” and claimed that “Americans have long assumed that the Constitution could save us. A growing chorus now wonders whether we need to be saved from it.”
Berkeley Dean Erwin Chemerinsky insists that it is time to trash the Constitution in favor of “radical changes.” These voices are seeking to remove all of the moderating elements of our system —the safety features that have produced the world’s most successful and stable republic. They are the very constitutional elements protecting us from the tyranny of the majority, protecting us from ourselves.
Without those protections, we will unleash the self-destructive forces that have been tearing apart other democratic systems since Athens. It is our constitution that spared us from that fate. As James Madison observed, “Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.” Of course, history has shown that such radical proposals ultimately produce not democracy, but what the Framers called mobocracy. If we let that happen, many Americans will indeed look back at the last 250 years with a tragic sense of nostalgia.

“The left’s goal is always to break human reason. . . .” —Elizabeth Nickson

• War, Over There, Over Here (James Howard Kunstler)

You ask: Why did Achilles drag Hector around the city of Troy three times? Answer: He was just that pissed.

So it goes with President DJ Trump and the intransigent jihadi maniacs running Iran down a rat hole. Mr. T is just that pissed, too. “War is Hell,” the savvy Union general WT Sherman observed after he torched Atlanta, setting a precedent for moral clarity in the service of tactical fortitude. And thus, a century-and-a-half later, this is Iran’s hard time. Iran can make it stop at any time by. . . stopping. But the catch is, they really have to stop it, no more head fakes, ruses, jukes, dodges, and ploys. Just stop it.
Don’t doubt that they will have to stop it. We are going to make them stop. In the meantime, there is plenty else to concern those of us who care about our country, and Western Civ more generally, on the home front. Here comes the Insane Clown Posse of the Democratic Socialists. Their platform: abolish the police; no more jail for criminals; open borders; amnesty for all border-jumpers; abolish the Senate; Abolish the electoral college (House of Representatives to elect the president); defund the War Department, voting rights for all non-citizens; “wealth” taxes; free housing, food, medical care for all; green new deal laws; free Palestine (which is more important than any place else on Earth)!
Oh, and they are quite out-front about merely using the Democratic Party as a means to acquire power. Yeah, you noticed that already? Nobody actually had to read the quiet part out-loud. (Well, it wasn’t all that quiet.) Question is: how is all this going to work in practice (or in the praxis, as the Gramscian Marxists like to say — because it sounds like some occult power), as they roll over every institution in the land.
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are our own jihadistas. They aim to make their program work by jamming it down America’s throat, starting with the throats of the plain old Democratic Party, the party of FDR, JFK, and HRC, currently fronted by Hakeem Jeffries (the House) and Chuck Schumer (the soon-to-be-abolished Senate). These two appear to be totally buffaloed by the DSA’s Insane Clown Posse. It’s their own Frankenstein monster, stitched together in their laboratory from the tatters of the 20th century. And like in the original by Mary Shelley, this monster is fixing to abolish its maker. Hakeem and Chuck are just standing by like a couple of credulous clucks waiting to see how things develop as the calendar marches implacably toward the catastrophic midterm election.
Last week’s Maine Senate primary debate was instructive. A more pitiful conclave of political losers had not been observed on continental US soil since Millard Fillmore led the Know-Nothing party into oblivion in 1856. (And, of course, five years later the American Civil war ignited.) Remember the old maxim: “As Maine goes, so goes the nation.” Well, Gawd help us, then. See for yourself.

The fellow on the right pretending to be a woman is one Ashley Webb (formerly James Charles Webb) who cited “her” reasons for joining the race as: running for office before (unsuccessfully), being a songwriter, writing books, and being an “angry citizen” who would be an “angry senator.” Perfect! You might ask: why wasn’t Punch the Monkey onstage with the rest of this bunch?
Here is your very picture of Progressivism, the larval form of DSA — and, as you read this, there are Progressive larvae yet metamorphosing into full-blown DSAs all over these fifty states. Mamdani in New York. . . Brandon Johnson in Chicago. . . Katie Wilson in Seattle. . . Michelle Wu in Boston. . . Karen Bass in LA, etc. And here come DSAs Claire Valdez, Darializa Avila Chevalier, Brad Lander, taking House seats in New York and Melat Kiros out in Colorado (yes, the lady who likes to wipe her hands on the US flag) who are expected to join The Squad (AOC, Jayapal, Pressley, Tlaib) next January. Plus, over on the soon-to-be-abolished Senate side, one Dr. Abdul El-Sayad running in Michigan. They all promise to keep the punishment coming until American morale improves!

Looming over this Insane Clown Posse of — oh, let’s just say it — feckless communists, is the ancient visage of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) — like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleburg — the old war-horse’s long-cherished dreams finally coming true. Remember, in 1988 Bernie took his new wife on a honeymoon to the Soviet Union? Like. . . to witness how well that system was working. . . exactly three years before it collapsed. You can say the Democratic Socialists of America have got exactly the avatar they deserve.
The question is: will the DSA drag the Democratic Party into oblivion? Most assuredly they will. We are going to get election reform one way or another this year. There will be no more mail-in ballot harvesting or voting by non-citizens or vote tabulation machines. It might be that a substantial demographic in our country is insane, say, generously, maybe forty percent. But a firm majority of Americans are not insane and they are going to put a stop to this communist insurrection just as President DJ Trump — who is really pissed — will put end to the forty-seven-year Iranian jihad. What a week it has been!!! More thrills and chills ahead, you can be sure.

“In 2018, 90% of Democrats disapproved of him. In 2026, that number sits at 69%.”

• Here’s How the Democrats Are Blowing the Midterms (Margolis)

It can’t be said enough that history is on the Democrats’ side, but they seem determined to blow it. Precedent alone should hand Democrats a comfortable advantage this year. Only three midterms in nearly a century broke the pattern. In 2002, George W. Bush’s Republicans held their ground just over a year after the 9/11 attacks, when national security dominated everything else. In 1998, Bill Clinton’s Democrats benefited when Republicans overplayed their hand chasing impeachment over the Monica Lewinsky scandal. In 1934, Franklin Roosevelt’s Democrats rode the enduring popularity of the New Deal through the depths of the Great Depression. Each exception had a distinct, extraordinary set of circumstances behind it.

On the surface, it looks like Democrats should be able to win easily. Aside from precedent, Donald Trump’s polling gives them even more room to work with. Yet recent surveys suggest Democrats are underperforming badly enough that the wave they were counting on might not materialize. That underperformance could cost them control of the House. If Republicans hold the House this November, the reasons will be obvious: a socialist insurgency reshaping the party from within, and a singular obsession with opposing Trump that has crowded out everything else voters actually care about. The evidence is already sitting in the polling.
On the generic congressional ballot, Republicans are either tied with Democrats or ahead by three to four points, nowhere near the margin Democrats need to flip the House. A recent Washington Post/Ipsos poll put Democrats up just 48% to 45% on that same generic ballot question. Asked which party they agree with more on the issues that matter to them, voters split 41% Republican to 40% Democrat. Asked which party they trust more to handle the economy, the gap widened: 39% for Republicans to 35% for Democrats.Analysts at The Wall Street Journal have said a Democratic edge of anything under four points on election night is good news for Republicans trying to hold the majority. Right now, Democrats aren’t clearing that bar.

Because of Redistricting, analysts estimate that Democrats need to win by 3 to 4 points to gain a majority in the House Per WSJ https://t.co/qtBq5JC9Q8 pic.twitter.com/r4RCp2pbEr
— OSZ (@OpenSourceZone) July 18, 2026

Here’s the part that should really worry them. Trump’s disapproval rating among Democrats is far lower than it was during his first term. In 2018, 90% of Democrats disapproved of him. In 2026, that number sits at 69%. Despite those low approval numbers, most surveys still don’t show Democrats building a clear advantage in the races that will actually decide who controls the House. Democrats have assumed that being anti-Trump is enough. But the fact is, they aren’t giving voters a reason to vote Democrat, and the party’s growing tolerance for socialism isn’t helping them. Socialism remains deeply unpopular with the broader electorate, and its visible presence inside the Democrat Party is giving persuadable voters a reason to back Republicans they might not have otherwise supported.
Every historical tailwind is blowing in Democrats’ direction this year, and still, Democrats may fail to capitalize on any of it. Make no mistake about it, if they blow this midterm, they won’t be able to blame the map, the money, or the message alone. They will have blown the most favorable set of conditions a minority party could ask for, and they will have done it to themselves.

He may well be right.

• Why Democrats Can’t Do Better Than Kamala Harris in 2028 (Daniel McCarthy)

There are only two lanes to the Democratic presidential nomination two years from now, and one of them is already blocked — by Kamala Harris. Get ready for the Kamala comeback, followed, in all likelihood, by a replay of her crushing defeat by the Republican nominee. Believe it or not, the ex-VP occupies what counts as the “center lane” within the party, and for most of the last three decades that’s the one that’s led to the nomination. Republicans used to be the party of orderly succession, even if the candidate whose turn had come looked like a certain loser: think Bob Dole in ’96.

But recently, it’s been Democrats who’ve tended to pick a party elder as their nominee: Al Gore, as a sitting VP, might not have been remarkable in 2000, but in ’04 it was John Kerry, in ’16 Hillary Clinton, and in 2020 Joe Biden — with only Barack Obama butting ahead of the line in 2008. Democrats like a known quantity, a reliable liberal who isn’t too overtly radical; the radicalism can wait until after Election Day.= So they’re leaning to running Harris again, even if donors aren’t happy about it: They blew nearly $2 billion on her campaign and aligned PACs in 2024, only for Harris to lose every battleground state to Trump.
It won’t be donors who decide the party’s 2028 nominee, though, and ordinary Democrats actually find Harris reassuring. She’s a familiar face, after all, commanding practically universal name recognition. Harris checks the identity-politics boxes that may be as important as winning to Democratic primary voters: Their ticket must have a woman, and it can’t be all white. And after being vetted as a VP and undergoing the trial-by-fire of the ’24 campaign, Harris isn’t likely to surprise voters with any extremist tattoos or sexual-assault allegations — things that can’t be taken for granted among Democrats nowadays.
Then there’s the revenge motive: What better way to repudiate the Trump era and reverse the ’24 humiliation than by making the woman he defeated president? Democratic primary voters are still smarting from Hillary Clinton’s drubbing in 2016: by 2028, the election of America’s first female president will have been postponed 12 long years, and feminists in the party aren’t willing to wait any longer. These are the reasons Harris tops almost all polls of 2028 Democratic hopefuls, with an 11.6-point lead in the RealClearPolitics polling aggregate as of mid-July.
“She comes in with 99 percent name ID and everyone else is going to have to raise money and buy it,” a former Harris aide tells New York’s David Freedlander. The donors might prefer just about anyone else, yet they’d have to pour an enormous amount of cash into another candidate just to make him or her recognizable. This has led one longtime Democratic strategist with donors’ ears to welcome the inevitable: “I hope she runs,” Alex Hoffman told New York, “Because then she will lose and we will never have to hear from her again. She will never win an election at a national scale. Never.” But if Harris is hopeless, why does she seem inevitable?
She has seniority no one else can match, but what about the other lane that leads to the nomination? That’s the left lane — the far left lane. The one Bernie Sanders occupied in 2020 and 2016, and that a candidate like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might fill in 2028. Young Dems keep moving leftward, with the Democratic Socialists of America making deeper inroads into the party. Harris is not nearly left-wing enough for them — but then, anyone who is would be upsetting to the old guard. It’s not that the old-timers aren’t also well to the left on economics, but they don’t want to be labeled “socialists”— while the insurgent left is proud of the brand. The party’s mainstream wants to have it both ways on the Israel-Palestine conflict — while the young left, increasingly, is explicit about its anti-Zionism.
There are still enough baby boomers and suburbanites in the Democratic Party to make the left lane an unlikely road to the nomination. For now. Harris can expect a challenge from the left, but the party is still probably one more presidential cycle away from nominating someone who openly represents where Democrats are headed. In fact, a Harris defeat in 2028 would be the perfect prelude to the socialist and anti-Zionist left’s takeover, discrediting the old guard for forfeiting the election to Donald Trump’s successor. Insider Democrats know Kamala Harris is a terrible candidate, but the party they built can’t tell her no — even if this is the last nomination they get to make before DSA takes over.

For now far left field, but despair works miracles.

• Don Lemon Wants the White House and Thinks MAGA Is the Nazi Party (Manney)

Don Lemon believes America may need him in the White House. Days after saying he might run for president in 2028, the independent “journalist” and podcaster offered a sample of his judgment. “MAGA is the closest thing to the modern version of the Nazi Party.” He softened the smear with “without the Holocaust and all that stuff.” Lemon then claimed MAGA supporters remain loyal because they want white supremacy and power. From the New York Post:

“Lemon – who also revealed he is considering a presidential run in the 2028 election, saying he’d be a “really good” commander-in-chief – argued MAGA supporters have stuck by the movement in an effort to promote white supremacy. “Most intelligent people or logical people, when they get new information and that information is negative or not factual, then they change their minds and go, ‘Oh, well I wish I’d known better, and now that I have this information, then I can readjust,’” Lemon said.
“No matter how many facts and how much information you give them about this presidency, about the policies, they don’t change their minds,” he continued. “Because they’re really not voting for the price of eggs – they’re voting for white supremacy, they’re voting for power, they’re voting to have a preeminent voice.” Speaking as one of the millions of Americans who voted for President Donald Trump, Lemon is a bloody fool! He doesn’t know us, speak for us, or understand why the country rejected the left’s lectures in 2024. The Nazi Party was a racist, antisemitic movement that destroyed German democracy, established a one-party dictatorship, and murdered six million Jews along with millions of other victims.

Lemon’s qualifications empty the comparison of its defining horror while preserving every ounce of the insult. MAGA is a broad American political coalition that won an election. Trump’s 2024 voters were more racially and ethnically diverse than in either of his previous campaigns. He received 48% of the Hispanic vote and 15% of the black vote. From Pew Research: Trump won with a voter coalition that was more racially and ethnically diverse than in 2020 or 2016, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of the 2024 electorate. Among Hispanic voters, Trump battled to near parity in 2024 (51% Harris, 48% Trump) after losing to Joe Biden 61%-36% in 2020. Trump won 15% of Black voters – up from 8% four years earlier.
Trump also did better among Asian voters. While a majority of Asian voters (57%) backed Harris, 40% supported Trump. This was a narrower margin than Biden’s in 2020 (70% to 30%). These shifts were largely the result of differences in which voters turned out in the 2020 and 2024 elections. As in the past, a relatively small share of voters switched which party’s candidate they supported. Lemon can dislike their choice, but branding those voters as supporters of white supremacy strips them of thought, motive, and agency. The insult grows more absurd beside Lemon’s presidential musings. He said people keep asking whether he’ll run and declared he could lead the country better than Trump.
A man seeking presidential stature should be able to describe his political opponents without reaching for Hitler. Lemon treats tens of millions of Americans as morally diseased, then wonders whether they might welcome him as their president. From the New York Post: “Lemon made the eyebrow-raising declaration on “Can’t Be Censored” podcast hosted by Karman Wong and Travis Dhanraj, insisting that everyone wants to know if he has White House aspirations. “Do you have political ambition? Is that true?” Dhanraj asked on Wednesday’s show. “No, but people keep asking me if I’m running for president,” Lemon answered. “And I don’t know. I might. I’m serious. I don’t know. I might, because people keep asking me to do it, or if I’m going to do it.”
Lemon, 60, argued that experience isn’t necessarily a requirement to be commander-in-chief, citing President Trump’s lack of a political background before his election win in 2016. I can already hear many of you who are saying we should ignore Lemon. Silence has its place, but repeated public smears gain power when decent people shrug and move on. Sharing his words exposes the contempt behind them. Lemon wants attention, influence, and perhaps political power. The public should know how he speaks about Americans who vote differently.

“Establishment Democrats are freaking out over the Democratic Socialists of America’s attempted hijacking of their party ..”

• “I’m Not Living In Communist America”: Bill Maher Blasts DSA Democrats (ZH)

“I’m not living in Communist America… I’ve read the quotes from the DSA platform, from their own mouths. Don’t tell me I’m not seeing what I am seeing,” Bill Maher told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl in an exclusive interview that aired on Sunday.

Bill Maher: “I’m not living in Communist America… I’ve read the quotes from the DSA platform, from their own mouths. Don’t tell me I’m not seeing what I am seeing.” pic.twitter.com/grWslcyxD9
— America (@america) July 19, 2026

Karl asked Maher, “Could you see yourself voting for JD Vance?” Maher responded: “Yes. If this is the Democratic side, yes.” Establishment Democrats are freaking out over the Democratic Socialists of America’s attempted hijacking of their party because this anti-American, far-left Marxist movement, with possible ties to foreign subversion, risks dooming the party in the midterms and beyond.
The problem for Democrats is that years of letting socialists and Marxists into their DEI kingdom have only now produced dire consequences. Status quo Democrats are watching their power evaporate as DSA candidates defeat mainstream Democrats in primaries across New York, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and other states.

That’s a lot of licenses.

• China’s Fake US Driver’s Licenses Tampered With the 2020 Election (O’Brien)

When President Donald Trump talked about some of the things China has done to literally steal our democracy by seeing to it that, in 2020, its Manchurian candidate was elected in the form of a semi-comatose Joe Biden, many of the things he mentioned had already been in the news, but they may not have been covered by the legacy media. Case in point: Trump mentioned in his July 16 address to the nation that China stole TikTok data to create fake U.S. driver’s licenses.

If you follow conservative media, you may have known this. If you get your news from the legacy media, you most likely didn’t know it, and if you heard it now, you won’t believe it. That’s the group Trump was targeting in his address. His national address strategy was to speak past the legacy media and to begin the process of planting the seeds of the truth in the minds of those who rely on the CNNs, ABCs, and NBCs of the world. Strategically, Trump is now trying to break through the information barrier that the legacy media and the left have created to keep the majority of Americans in the dark on what’s really happened to corrupt our elections.
A year ago, Brooke Singman published a lengthy piece on the Fox News website that detailed just how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) executed its TikTok data theft scheme. Her primary source for the story was the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). The Senate Judiciary Committee launched its own investigation into this after the FBI had announced its own investigation in July 2025. As Singman reported, the CCP allegedly worked to get “fake driver’s licenses to Chinese sympathizers in the U.S. who would cast a vote for candidate Biden.” It is not clear how successful the CCP was in getting its ballots for Biden to count.
In July 2025, a Grassley spokesperson told Fox News, “Chairman Grassley is in receipt of an FBI document (response) to a request he made based on legally protected whistleblower disclosures…. The document alleges serious national security concerns that need to be fully investigated by the FBI.” As stated in that document, the intent of the alleged scheme was for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to produce and export fraudulent U.S. driver’s licenses to Chinese sympathizers in the U.S., so as to create “tens of thousands of fraudulent mail-in votes for US Presidential candidate Joe Biden, in late August 2020.”
According to the document at the center of these investigations, by August 2020, “the Chinese government had produced a large amount of fraudulent United States driver’s licenses that were secretly exported to the United States,” Fox News reported. The fraudulent drivers licenses would allow tens of thousands of Chinese students and immigrants sympathetic to the Chinese Communist Party to vote for US Presidential Candidate USPER Joe ((Biden)), despite not being eligible to vote in the United States… China had collected private US user data from millions of TikTok accounts, to include name, ID and address, which would allow the Chinese government to use real US persons’ information to create the fraudulent driver’s license, the document states.
Reporting on the investigation indicates that the fake IDs included true ID numbers and the true addresses of U.S. citizens, which made the fraud difficult to detect. “China planned to use the fraudulent driver’s licenses to account for tens of thousands of mail-in votes,” according to the document.] What’s not clear is how specifically the PRC accessed the TikTok data and got all the information it needed to create those fake driver’s licenses. TikTok, for example, does not require a physical address when users register for an account. Did the creators of the fake IDs use the physical addresses of those Chinese sympathizers? This is fuzzy.
FBI Director Kash Patel and Grassley had been working closely on this case prior to the president’s speech on July 16.In another uncanny development from around the same time, in July 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents at the International Mail Facility (IMF) at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport announced that in the first half of that year, they had seized 1,513 shipments of fraudulent documents, which included 19,888 fake U.S. driver’s licenses. Most of those shipments originated in China and Hong Kong, as well as Great Britain and South Korea.
According to the CBP statement on the matter from 2020, “The driver’s licenses were for various people in different states with a vast majority destined for neighboring states. Most were for college-age students, and other licenses would share the same picture but have different biographical data. Another concern was the bar code attached to the Michigan licenses worked.” In typical fashion, the Democrats’ propaganda machine known as the Associated Press reported at the time, “There is no evidence to suggest they were linked to voter fraud.” Case closed, I guess.
Maybe leftist newswire Reuters had a different take: “Facebook posts shared thousands of times claim that 19,888 fake driver’s licenses were seized at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport after being ordered by people ‘all registered to vote, all Democrats.’ Suggesting that the licenses were part of a voter fraud conspiracy, this claim is partly false. While it is true that U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 19,888 counterfeit licenses at O’Hare in late July, they had no apparent connection to Democratic Party registration or the upcoming election.”

Will Jamie Dimon finance it?

• Can Elon Musk Really Put ONE MILLION Data Center Satellites in Orbit? (Green)

Now that you’ve read the headline, I’ll show you the numbers, and you’ll probably say, “OH NO WAY!” But indulge me, won’t you. Ars Technica’s senior space guy Eric Berger looked at how much it might cost SpaceX to fulfill Elon Musk’s stated goal of putting ONE MILLION DATA CENTER satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for the company’s artificial intelligence division, xAI. I don’t want to bother you with all the background math — you can click the link for the full MEGO effect, should you desire — but you do need to see the final totals for putting all those birds in orbit:

ª Optimistic: $350 billion in launch costs; $1 million per satellite; all-in cost of $1.45 trillion • Neutral: $1.85 trillion in launch costs; $1.5 million per satellite; all-in cost of $3.45 trillion • Pessimistic: $7.7 trillion in launch costs; $2.0 million per satellite; all-in cost of $9.8 trillion
The median scenario is $3.45 trillion dollars, or roughly 70% of what the U.S. spent waging World War II. Honestly, I felt the need for a shot of tequila after going through those figures. “Daunting” doesn’t even begin to cover the expense and complexity of such lofty goals. “Unimaginable” perhaps comes closer. But things become less daunting and more imaginable when viewed from the proper perspective.

The question isn’t, “Can Elon Musk really put one million data center satellites in orbit?” The correct question is, “Can he put enough data center satellites in orbit at a low enough cost to generate positive cashflow?” It’s all about the money, honey — because once you’re making more than you spend, the sky’s the limit. Literally, in this case. And while one can say for sure whether Musk can make the economics work, this is an area where SpaceX enjoys hard-won expertise. You might have heard of a little space-based internet service provider called Starlink.

The first operational batch of 60 satellites went up in May 2019, and Starlink beta service went live near the end of 2020 with fewer than 1,000 in orbit. By the end of 2024, with around 6,400 satellites, Starlink turned cash flow positive. That was the key metric, not whether Starlink had achieved its longterm goal of having a constellation of 42,000 operational satellites. “The key takeaway I want everybody to walk away with is, if SpaceX was building the Starlink system to pay for a Mars colony, we’ve got evidence that the company will generate the type of free cash flows from the business that could pay for said endeavor,” Quilty Space president Chris Quilty said at the time.
Today the end goal has changed — the Moon and data centers, not Mars — but the means remain the same: using orbital operations-at-scale to turn a profit doing the previously impossible. It took roughly 6.5 years for SpaceX to launch the 10,000th Starlink bird, and for the division to start raking in serious profits. So I tend to think of roughly 10,000 satellites — an unimaginable number not that many years ago — as the number required for sustained operations at a return worthy of the effort.
And Another Thing: Naysayers were all doom-and-gloom that SpaceX lost money in 2025, entirely on data center buildouts. But now the company leases server space to companies like Google and Anthropic for about $2 billion a month. xAI isn’t quite cash flow positive, but it’s closing in. Assuming SpaceX makes Starship work, the launch economics improve considerably. If the company doesn’t make it work, the entire project falls apart.
Also, Starlink enjoys a built-in audience, as it were, of people in rural or underdeveloped areas who had no other means of getting affordable high-speed internet service. Plus previously unfulfilled demand from airlines, cruise ships, and the Department of Defense. There’s no similar built-in demand for orbital data, so it’s my assumption that xAI will have to compete with terrestrial data centers on price. If Musk can overcome the serious technical and financial challenges to achieve positive cash flow, then SpaceX can continue putting data center satellites into LEO until they’ve hit one million… or 100,000, or 10,000. Or whatever number the market will allow.

https://twitter.com/MarioBojic/status/2079224872039756072?s=20 https://twitter.com/Chicago1Ray/status/2079010414445130084?s=20

CATHIE WOOD SAID TESLA IS THE LARGEST AI PROJECT ON EARTH.

"WE BELIEVE THE ENTIRE ECOSYSTEM OF AUTONOMOUS TAXI NETWORKS WILL GENERATE $8–10 TRILLION IN REVENUE OVER THE NEXT 5–10 YEARS.

TO PUT THAT IN CONTEXT…

THE ENTIRE GLOBAL GDP TODAY IS ABOUT $113 TRILLION."

ELON MUSK… pic.twitter.com/K4zRXVCwIM
— Vivek Sen (@Vivek4real_) July 20, 2026

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Debt Rattle May 19 2026

May 192026

May 19, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:09 am Finance Tagged with: election fraud, Germenny, Gulf states, Hormuz, immigration, Iran, midterms, nuclear, OpenAI, Russia, Spain 22 Responses »

John Atkinson Grimshaw A moonlit lane 1874

• Trump: Holding Off ‘Planned’ Attack On Iran At Request Of Gulf Allies (ZH)

• Gulf States Negotiating with Iran (CTH)

• Iran Will ‘Under No Circumstances’ Give Up Nuclear Program To End War (ZH)

• Trump China Trip, Canada/EU Conflict and 2026 Midterm Positioning (CTH)

• Multiple 2020 Election Fraud Investigations in Georgia and Arizona (Margolis)

• ‘Smartest Guy’ In the Belatedly Realizes Trump’s Relevance (Morrissey)

• Democrats Face Midterm Disappointment (Daniel McCarthy)

• As Student Scores Plummet, Teachers’ Union Head Rants Against Trump (Salgado)

• We’ve Been Taking Down Some Really Bad Guys Lately (Anderson)

• Judge Dismisses Musk’s OpenAI Lawsuit After Jury Reaches Verdict (ZH)

• The Too-Long Goodbye (James Howard Kunstler)

• Germany Fears Next Migration Wave (ZH)

• Secretary Marco Rubio Delivers Message of National Faith (CTH)

pic.twitter.com/UJQsfy40hK
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 18, 2026

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2056410099137073194?s=20

True https://t.co/82gBZNh2Pk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2026

https://twitter.com/JasonJournoDC/status/2056111745282785295?s=20

Dear @DAGToddBlanche

Addressing your question as to WHY.

Why did the outgoing @BarackObama administration do what they did to me, President @realDonaldTrump, our country, and many others whose lives were turned upside down?

The short answer is because they could.

The… https://t.co/F7QOMUie85
— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) May 18, 2026

https://twitter.com/mcucolo57/status/2056334846515925229?s=20 https://twitter.com/GOP_is_Gutless/status/2056121534993838325?s=20

There’s movement.

• Trump: Holding Off ‘Planned’ Attack On Iran At Request Of Gulf Allies (ZH)

Trump ‘Not Open’ to Any Concessions for Tehran: NYP Interview
Another repetition of the weeks-long stale-mated reality: …so Trump is ‘not open’ to any concessions, but Iran deal happening ‘soon’ – we are yet again told, as the Iranians themselves haven’t appeared to budge on anything. President Trump told The NY Post on Monday he is “not open” to any concessions for Tehran after receiving the latest disappointing Iranian response on peace deal talks. Highlights: And in an ominous foreshadowing, Trump said Iran knows “what’s going to be happening soon.”
In the brief phone interview The Post, Trump seemingly shut the door to Iran’s Sunday offer for a diplomatic talks. Asked about his Friday remark that he’d be willing to accept a 20-year moratorium on Iranian uranium enrichment, Trump interjected: “I’m not open to anything right now.”The president declined to get into any detail. “I can’t really talk to you about it. Too many things are happening,” he said. “I can tell you they want to make a deal more than ever, because they know we’re—what’s going to be happening soon,” Trump said.
Questioned about regional source claims that Iran is attempting to “wait out” Washington on both the nuclear issue and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said he “hadn’t heard that.”
US Denies Tasnim Report It Agreed to Lift Iran Oil Sanctions
And the denials keep rolling in. First via CNBC:
A U.S. official tells me the Iranian state media report that the U.S. has agreed to lift oil sanctions while talks are ongoing is false. https://t.co/gOcyBKDAxC
— Megan Cassella (@mmcassella) May 18, 2026

…as the US side does not seem very confidently in control of the situation – quite the opposite:

Senior U.S. official: "It's time for the Iranians to throw bit of candy out. We need some real, sturdy, and granular conversation [regarding the nuclear program]. If that's not gonna happen, we will have a conversation through bombs, which will be a shame" https://t.co/qTNrY1fgoN
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) May 18, 2026

Just like that, back to square zero once again we go… and back to headline roulette.
US PLANS NEW RUSSIAN OIL WAIVER AS IRAN WAR CRUNCHES SUPPLIES
US DENIES REPORT IT AGREED TO LIFT IRAN OIL SANCTIONS: CNBC
Steady climb in oil continues on the denials…

New moves.

• Gulf States Negotiating with Iran (CTH)

President Trump announced on Truth Social that he is delaying further strikes against Iran pending current negotiations with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. According to the announcement the Gulf States are negotiating a ‘zero nuclear’ position.

This is an interesting development as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) were previously the ones urging President Trump not to halt the military pressure campaign.
PRESIDENT TRUMP – “I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow, in that serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal will be made, which will be very acceptable to the United States of America, as well as all Countries in the Middle East, and beyond. This Deal will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN! Based on my respect for the above mentioned Leaders, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, The Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Daniel Caine, and The United States Military, that we will NOT be doing the scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow, but have further instructed them to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
~ President DONALD J. TRUMP

“It also seems Russia’s offer to take and temporarily hold Iran’s enriched uranium is being taken seriously. ”

• Iran Will ‘Under No Circumstances’ Give Up Nuclear Program To End War (ZH)

In a far too familiar pattern, just before US market open on Monday, a slew of optimistic Iran headlines saw oil erase weekend gains, which mostly came through Saudi Arabia’s state-funded Al Arabiya, as well as Reuters… only to be followed by Iranian officials rejecting the substance of these reports, putting things firmly back at square one. nTasnim has newly cited Iranian government sources who seek to make clear that “Iran under no circumstances” will engage in new nuclear negotiations for an end to the war. Contradicting the earlier morning reports, it still sees negotiations to find peace in the war with the US as separate from the nuclear file. “Fundamental differences between the Iranian and American texts still remain”, Tasnim reports, citing a source.

“Despite some changes in the new American text, fundamental differences stemming from the Americans’ exaggeration and lack of realism remain,” Tasnim writes, citing the Iranian source. According to more of the statements per state media:
“Iran will not abandon its firm and principled positions on ending the war and realizing the rights of the Iranian people”.
“Iran’s frozen assets must be returned to the Iranian people in a transparent and definitive manner, and paper promises are of no use”.
“Despite some promises, there is disagreement about the return of the frozen funds”.
“Iran’s determination regarding the necessity of paying compensation by the Americans for the military aggression against Iran is very serious”.
“The Americans are far from Iran’s demands regarding its amount and some other issues.”
“the Americans are still trying to tie the negotiations to end the war to the nuclear issue, which is against logic and Iran will not agree to it. The Americans must understand that Iran will in no way agree to an end to the war in return for nuclear commitments”.
“Iran has not and does not have any intention of building nuclear weapons, and this claim is just an excuse and deception by the Americans. This issue has also been emphasized in the new text”.

Oil reacted as expected to this official ‘denial’ of the prior optimism – quickly rebounding, also as Trump is said to be “losing patience” with the progress of talks. A US source has told Al Jazeera Iran has “days not weeks” to show progress.
Tasnim: Another Iranian Ship Breaks Through US Blockade Line
Iranian state media is claiming that a Iranian oil tanker under US sanctions that was off the coast of India two weeks ago has now docked at Kharg Island, having broken through the US naval blockade. Tasnim reports that “the LPG tanker passed through the US blockade line undetected and entered Iranian waters.”
The Pentagon has been asserting an essentially airtight blockade on ‘illicit’ ships going to or from Iranian ports. CENTCOM has said it has turned around at least 75 vessels, while Iranian media has since the blockade’s start touted several ships making it through.
Long-Term Nuclear Freeze on Table
Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya early Monday has issued a bombshell if true (but still very much not officially confirmed), reporting that Iran has agreed to a long-term nuclear freeze instead of a complete dismantling. The outlet also reports that Iran has withdrawn its demand for compensation, instead demanding economic concessions. However, this could be highly dubious, given over the past several days Tehran has not shown willingness to back down from this demand of compensation.
It also seems Russia’s offer to take and temporarily hold Iran’s enriched uranium is being taken seriously. Here are the alleged “leaks” of the working draft peace document: “Working on a condition transfer of enriched uranium to Russia instead of the US.
Seeking multiple international guarantees for any agreement.
Wants Pakistan and Oman to have a ‘role’ in any ‘clash’ in the Strait of Hormuz.
Seeking a political formation that allows Iran to save face.
Separate the maritime route from nuclear issues.
Oil pushes lower on the additional headlines, following initial reports that the US would lift sanctions on Iranian oil during the negotiating period…

”Barbara Boyd from Promethean Action PAC gives her take on the current situation.”

• Trump China Trip, Canada/EU Conflict and 2026 Midterm Positioning (CTH)

Barbara Boyd Recaps Trump China Trip, Canada/EU Conflict and 2026 Midterm Positioning

Barbara Boyd from Promethean Action PAC gives her take on the current situation.
“Barbara Boyd argues the key outcome of Trump’s China visit was the personal trust between Trump and Xi, symbolized by Xi’s “secret garden” tour previously reserved for Putin, and framed as establishing guardrails for U.S.–China strategic and tech competition amid the Iran war and energy geopolitics. She says London and Democrats are “screaming” because Trump is reshaping global economic relationships while Treasury Secretary Bessent lifts U.S. sanctions on Russian exports.
The episode targets Mark Carney and Keir Starmer as City of London figures who tried to capture China finance, advance BRICS as a dollar alternative, promote a synthetic reserve currency via CBDCs, and steer $130T through green finance—efforts Boyd says have failed as Trump reverses “Green New Deal” policies. She highlights DOJ election-rigging probes, renewed scrutiny of “Russiagate,” anti-fraud prosecutions, voter backlash, and insurgent politics in Los Angeles and London.”

The machine has started,

• Multiple 2020 Election Fraud Investigations in Georgia and Arizona (Margolis)

In recent weeks, Trump officials have been promising that bombshell evidence regarding 2020 election fraud would be coming. Both FBI Director Kash Patel and Monica Crowley, the U.S. government’s chief of protocol, have said as much. On Sunday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche sat down with Maria Bartiromo and confirmed that the Department of Justice has multiple active investigations into election fraud, specifically targeting Arizona and Georgia’s Fulton County.

Blanche didn’t hedge. He didn’t offer the usual bureaucratic non-answer. He said it directly: “Well, there’s a ton of evidence that the election was rigged. That’s not something the DOJ needs to tell you about. There’s been evidence about that for many, many years. What I can tell you is that we have multiple investigations going on in Arizona, in Georgia, in Fulton County, Georgia.”
The questions driving those investigations are fundamental ones that, frankly, should have been asked and answered years ago. Why is it taking so long? Blanche addressed that head-on, too. “They’re very good at hiding misconduct and hiding — hiding what they’re doing,” he said. “And so that’s why we’re very focused on finding out whether the right people voted, whether people who were supposed to vote voted, whether there was one vote cast per voter.”
Blanche acknowledged the frustration building among Americans who’ve been waiting years for accountability. “People will say to me, how long has it taken? Why is it taking so long?” he said. “And the reality, the answer to that is because it takes a lot of work to uncover what happened in 2020.” This makes sense. Democrats put a lot of effort into perpetuating the myth that the 2020 election was “the most secure election in history,” and went to great lengths to silence those who dared even to question the official narrative.
Obviously, those responsible for the kind of shenanigans we saw take place in 2020 aren’t just going to leave the evidence lying around. It takes, as Blanche put it, “good old-fashioned law enforcement police work” to get the job done. And we all know that had President Donald Trump not won the 2024 election, there wouldn’t even be an investigation. The Biden DOJ spent four years telling Americans there was nothing to see here. The Trump DOJ is at least willing to look. Whether these investigations produce indictments, a public report, or something else entirely, but FBI Director Kash Patel did say last month that accountability was coming. “We are going to be making arrests, and it’s coming, and I promise you, it’s coming soon,” Patel said.
And Blanche made a promise. “I assure you, I assure the American people that as soon as we have something to say for it, whether it’s charges, whether it’s a report, whether it’s the results of an investigation, the American people will learn about what we’ve uncovered.” Trump promised us that he’d get answers about what really happened in 2020, and you can bet that is one of the main reasons they tried so hard to put him in prison before the election. The truth is coming out, and they can’t do a thing about it.

The bitterest guy. Sore loser.

• ‘Smartest Guy’ In the Belatedly Realizes Trump’s Relevance (Morrissey)

True enough. But to be fair, Politico only realized it belatedly, too.

Donald Trump finally got his revenge on Bill Cassidy this weekend. The incumbent Senator tried to survive a primary challenge with Trump pushing voters to give him the boot over Cassidy’s impeachment removal vote in January 2021. Instead, Cassidy came in a distant third to Julia Letlow and John Fleming, not even breaking into six figures in vote totals: Sen. Bill Cassidy, who voted to convict President Donald Trump on impeachment charges in 2021, has lost his Republican primary in Louisiana, as two challengers who had aligned with Trump advanced to a runoff.
Rep. Julia Letlow, who had Trump’s endorsement in the race, will face state Treasurer John Fleming in a June 27 primary runoff, NBC News projects. Cassidy’s loss further cements Trump’s grip on the GOP as the president looks to exact revenge against Republicans who have crossed him in the past. And it also means another Republican who voted to convict Trump during his 2021 impeachment will not be returning to Congress next year. Cassidy offered a bitter valediction to his political career, and also complained about being “attacked on the internet”:
“Let me just set the record straight, our country is not about one individual,” Cassidy later added. “It is about the welfare of all Americans, and it is about our Constitution. And it is the welfare of my people and my state and my country and our Constitution, to which I am loyal. And if someone doesn’t understand that, and attempts to control others through using the levers of power, they are about serving themselves. They’re not about serving us. And that person is not qualified to be a leader.” Cassidy also noted that he has been “attacked on the internet.”
“Insults only bother me if they come from somebody of character and integrity, and I find that people of character and integrity don’t spend their time attacking people on the internet,” Cassidy said. Ahem. Being “attacked on the internet” comes with the territory, and not just for politicians in elections, either. If Cassidy is this sensitive, he should return to practicing medicine. Unsurprisingly, this did not dissuade Trump from sharing his joy at Cassidy’s failure:
Bill Cassidy, after falsely using his “relationship” with me during his political career, and winning Elections because of it, voted to impeach me on preposterous charges that were fake then, and now, are criminally insane! His disloyalty to the man who got him elected is now a part of legend, and it’s nice to see that his political career is OVER! I’d like to thank the Great People of the State of Louisiana, and this Big Victory will only make me work even harder for your success, and all that comes with it. I LOVE YOU ALL. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DONALD J. TRUMP.
Cassidy spent five years insisting that the vote was old news. Voters just reached the same conclusion about Cassidy. Once again, this demonstrates the pull that Trump has with Republican voters – not just a small subset of GOP voters, but the party’s mainstream. Not even Cassidy’s “massive war chest” immunized him from accountability, Politico noted, another belated recognition of that outlet of the same lesson Cassidy just learned:
It’s a massive warning sign for any Republicans who’ve provoked the president’s wrath: Trump’s revenge campaign has already mobilized voters in both Indiana, where he successfully ousted several state GOP senators over redistricting, and Saturday night in Louisiana. Tuesday’s primaries in Georgia and Kentucky, where Rep. Thomas Massie is up for reelection and he’s picked sides in the open Senate race, will be another test. Now, the president is entering those races with the wind at his back.
Cassidy’s distant third-place finish marks the end of his tenure in the Senate, one that was doomed by his vote to convict Trump on impeachment charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection five years ago. That decision ostracized him from Louisiana’s rabidly conservative base and set up two strong primary challengers in Rep. Julia Letlow — the Trump-endorsed candidate — and MAGA-friendly state Treasurer John Fleming. Up until polls closed, Cassidy maintained that his massive war chest, his record in Congress and a high turnout of non-party voters would be enough to save him. I
n the end, it was not. “For a man with such a formidable intellect, his political strategy was breathtakingly dense,” said Lionel Rainey, a Louisiana GOP strategist, who is unaffiliated with any of the campaigns. “History will remember Bill Cassidy as the absolute smartest guy in the political morgue.”

I can see the Dems losing bitterly. What are their strengths? Not being Trump?

• Democrats Face Midterm Disappointment (Daniel McCarthy)

As they look to the midterm elections, Republicans have reason to worry — but not despair. They’re going to be fighting uphill all the way to hold onto their majority in the House, which they currently control by the razor-thin margin of just six seats. That includes one member, California Rep. Kevin Kiley, who officially left the GOP but still caucuses with the party. “Fragile” hardly does justice to the state of the GOP’s House majority. Democrats look at President Donald Trump’s approval ratings and exult: As of early May, exactly six months before the midterms, Trump’s approval in the RealClearPolitics polling averages was an anemic 40.7%, and since then polls have shown him slipping further.

Democrats took more than 40 House seats from the GOP in the 2018 midterms, when Trump’s numbers were a little better: RealClear’s aggregate notched him at 43.6% approval the day before the election. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is just counting down the days until he becomes speaker. What could go wrong? Two things might yet thwart Jeffries’ ambitions. One is the Supreme Court, which has overturned the race-based approach to drawing congressional districts that long served to protect Democratic incumbents and carve out blue seats in red states. The court also slapped down Democrats’ attempts to get the federal judiciary to toss out a Virginia Supreme Court decision that killed their dreams of gerrymandering away four Republican seats in that state.
As things stand, when all the mid-decade redistricting across the country is finished, Republicans stand to gain up to 10 House seats. Though they have to remember what they’re actually getting is more Republican-leaning district maps — they still have to close the deal with voters. But even if they do, 10 more seats won’t stop a wave like the one that swept away the Republican House majority Trump enjoyed at the start of his first term. Yet the second barrier Democrats will have to overcome is that voters just don’t behave the way they used to: For nearly a quarter of a century, the American public exhibited wild swings in party preference in House elections, creating midterm waves in 1994, 2006, 2010 and 2018.
But 2022 broke the pattern: Joe Biden’s aggregate approval in the polls was at 42.2%, and Republicans expected a massive swing in their direction — yet they didn’t get it, just as Democrats got no boost in the House two years earlier despite their success in the 2020 presidential election. Biden claimed record numbers of voters in his race, yet Democrats actually lost seats in the House that year. Trump’s victory in 2024 also didn’t bring about much change in the House; Republicans lost two seats.nnIn other words, the last three elections — in 2020, 2022 and 2024 — have told a tale of surprising stability, with only small adjustments to the numbers of Republicans and Democrats in the House, leading to nerve-rackingly narrow margins of control for each party.
Jeffries should be careful what he wishes for. He might wind up with only a slender majority, one that could be lost if too many geriatric Democrats die in office. As of a year ago, more than 50 House Democrats were over the age of 70. Three have since died. Republicans don’t have quite as many elderly members in the House, but so small is the GOP majority that even a single maverick member like Thomas Massie can threaten to derail major legislation or trigger new elections for speaker. Pain has forced Republicans to get serious, however, and Trump has been relentless about imposing discipline on the party. Massie can attest to that, as can the five Republican state senators who lost their primaries on May 5 after Trump condemned them for opposing a plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts to give the GOP a greater edge.
This is another reason to think Republicans have a fighting chance in November: Despite the headlines in hostile media, the Republican Party is remarkably unified behind Trump, who can end the careers of state senators in Indiana or a United States senator like Bill Cassidy in Louisiana. Trump can do that because — and only because — the voters are with him. If House elections have indeed reached a rough equilibrium since 2020, there will be no wave, and even a pickup of just eight to 10 seats through redistricting could save the Republican majority by the skin of its teeth.
Democrats are counting on this November being a replay of 2018, or George W. Bush’s disastrous second midterms in 2006. But look to the primaries so far for a clue: This is a very different Republican Party, and it’s well-adapted for the political landscape Trump has remade; in an era of close elections, it’s a party that can win.

Time to spare.

• As Student Scores Plummet, Teachers’ Union Head Rants Against Trump (Salgado)

While student scores continued to hit horrifying lows across America’s public schools, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union boss Randi Weingarten is prioritizing anti-Trump and pro-illegal alien propaganda.

Weingarten, who said she cried as she voted for Kamala Harris and who demanded huge amounts of taxpayer money to reopen schools during the COVID-19 lockdowns before not using that money on reopening, has a serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Her Bluesky account sounds like a full-time political activist’s, and she mostly seems to mention education as connected and secondary to her woke politics. For example, on May 15, she wrote, “In my new video, I talk about the big fights in front of us: making life more affordable and standing up to attacks on voting rights.” She’s not interested in raising test scores or improving literacy.
For example, here is just one message from May 16: “The Trump administration is now targeting people here legally through DACA, deporting them from the only country many have known as home, separating them from their families and forcing them out of their jobs. It’s cruel—Dreamers deserve a pathway to citizenship. Back on May 13, using a report from extremely biased NPR as “proof,” Weingarten ranted, “New evidence shows that Trump’s extreme immigration crackdown has hurt local economies and job growth. It’s time to rein in the chaos and violence ICE is causing in our communities.” This is why ICE agents face increased violence.
And the deranged union boss was outraged that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Democrats’ last-ditch efforts to gerrymander the state of Virginia and erase Republicans’ voice there altogether. Trying to frame Republicans’ efforts to reverse racial gerrymandering as either equivalent or inferior to one of the most egregious maps in American history, Weingarten griped, “So SCOTUS enables some states to move so quickly they suspend elections to gerrymander but refuses to allow a voter approved plan to go forward . What’s the difference? Which party is in power.”
Again complaining about the SCOTUS anti-racial gerrymandering decisions, she posted, “Retirees had questions about how we we have a democracy in light of of terrible court decisions like Callais and Citizens United. We talked, of course about voting. Energy like this gives me hope. We’re gearing up for an election cycle like no other and these activists are ready.” You might have noticed by now that she often has glaring grammatical and punctuation errors in her posts. She’s almost as illiterate as her students.
Speaking of which, on May 13, Harvard’s Center for Education Policy Research admitted, “Compared with a decade earlier, reading scores were down last year in 83 percent of school districts where data was available. Math scores were down in 70 percent.” Last fall, the National Assessment of Educational Progress found “just 35% of high school seniors were proficient in reading” and the “math score for 12th-graders was even worse, with just 22% achieving proficiency.” Weingarten is so busy ranting against Trump that she is stultifying an entire generation.

FYI.

• We’ve Been Taking Down Some Really Bad Guys Lately (Anderson)

Donald Trump’s plan to clean up the Western Hemisphere is going pretty well. If you need proof of that, just take a look at the list of bad guys we’ve rounded up and who are now in U.S. custody as of the past week or so.

Alex Saab (Nicolás Maduro’s Bagman)
I’ve written a great deal about Alex Saab in the past, so I don’t want to rehash all the details of who he is, but for those who don’t know, he’s Maduro’s bagman. He’s quite a powerful guy, and he’s been accused of things like money laundering, sanctions evasion, and corruption schemes benefiting the Maduro regime in the past. At one point, he was actually in U.S. custody. However, the Joe Bide administration sent him back to Venezuela in exchange for Maduro’s good behavior. Seriously. Maduro promised Biden that he’d hold free and fair 2024 elections if he’d release Saab and other related criminals back into Venezuelan custody.
Spoiler alert: There were no free and fair 2024 elections. And to be fair, Maduro also released some U.S. hostages as part of the deal, but if you’ll recall, last summer, Trump and Rubio, with some help from El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, had Maduro release all U.S. hostages in exchange for, well, nothing. But I digress. So, on Saturday, the Venezuelan regime still in place “deported” (they did not use the word “extradited,” even though that’s what it was) Saab — who is actually from Colombia — to the United States.
Venezuela’s Administrative Service of Identification, Migration, and Foreigners Affairs (SAIME) released a statement, saying it made the decision because of implications “in the commission of various crimes in the United States of America — a matter that is public, notorious, and widely reported.” Actually, it did so because Delcy Rodríguez does what the Trump administration tells her to do, like a good little pet. She’s also been scrubbing past praise of Saab from her X account. According to the Miami Herald, the U.S. views Saab as a “potentially crucial witness capable of providing detailed insight into the financial architecture that sustained Maduro’s inner circle for years.” He will now face renewed criminal proceedings.
Jose Enrique Martínez Flores (Senior Tren de Aragua Leader)
Jose Enrique Martínez Flores, aka “Chuqui,” may only be 24 years old, but according to U.S. officials, he’s the Tren de Aragua (TdA) leader that oversees criminal operations, including drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, and murder in Colombia. In case you forgot, TdA is the Venezuelan prison gang that is now a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) with a presence in the United States. Maduro sent many of them here (and to other countries in the Western Hemisphere) to create chaos in our communities and was using them as his own little army of sorts, even though he denied that they existed.
Anyway, this guy had been arrested in Colombia in March and was extradited to the United States, landing in Houston on May 14. He’s apparently the highest-ranking TdA member ever brought to justice and the first charged with terrorism or related offenses due to the FTO designation. He made his first court appearance last week and pled “not guilty” to all charges.
Gerardo Mérida Sánchez and Enrique Díaz Vega (Sinaloa State Officials)
Last month, I reported that “a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York unsealed a 34-page indictment charging Rubén Rocha Moya and nine other current or former high-ranking Mexican officials with drug trafficking and weapons offenses.” They were accused of partnering with the “Los Chapitos” faction of the Sinaloa Cartel (the sons of El Chapo) to help smuggle massive quantities of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine into the U.S.
Rocha Moya was the big gun. He’s the governor of Sinaloa, one of the most dangerous and violent states in Mexico, and, of course, the home base for the Sinaloa cartel. While Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum basically responded to the indictments with “nothing to see here,” at least two of those officials are now in U.S. custody, after having turned themselves in, presumably in hopes of ratting everyone else out and getting off easy.
The first is Gerardo Mérida Sánchez, a retired military general and the former secretary of public security for Sinaloa state. On May 11, he crossed the border into Arizona, was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals, and flown to New York. He was the first to turn himself in and has pleaded “not guilty” to charges including narcotics importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. He faces a minimum of 40 years in prison (he’s currently 66 years old).
The second is Enrique Díaz Vega, a former secretary of administration and finance for Sinaloa and a close ally of Rocha Moya. Reports say that he was in Europe when he decided to surrender and flew to New York, where he was taken into custody on May 15. The 50-year-old faces the same charges and sentencing. None of these guys are small fish. They’re men who have propped up the widespread organized crime that plagues the Americas, and, hopefully, they’re just a small sample of what’s to come. It’s nice having a president who actually punishes criminals.

Cloe to: “A profit-maximizing demon from hell.”

To be continued.

• Judge Dismisses Musk’s OpenAI Lawsuit After Jury Reaches Verdict (ZH)

Update: Musk to appeal

***
A nine-person federal jury has sided with OpenAI, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and Microsoft, determining that Elon Musk filed his high-profile lawsuit too late under the statute of limitations. The verdict effectively ends Musk’s claims that OpenAI abandoned its founding nonprofit mission to benefit humanity. The jury unanimously concluded that Musk knew or should have known about OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit model and major Microsoft partnerships years earlier – potentially as far back as 2019–2021, making his August 2024 filing untimely. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in turn accepted the advisory jury’s finding on this threshold issue and dismissed the case.
Musk, a co-founder who contributed roughly $38–44 million in OpenAI’s early days, alleged that the company betrayed its original charitable trust by pursuing massive profits and commercial deals, particularly with Microsoft. He sought up to $150 billion in damages or “ill-gotten gains,” the removal of Altman and Brockman from leadership, and a restructuring to restore the nonprofit focus on safe, humanity-benefiting AI. OpenAI countered that Musk was fully aware of the company’s evolving plans (including for-profit elements he himself had once advocated), waited until after launching his competing xAI venture in 2023, and was motivated by competitive rivalry rather than genuine concern for the mission. They described the suit as “sour grapes.”

“. . . we are witnessing mass formation in real time, where the group delusion becomes the only permissible reality.” LH Grey on X

• The Too-Long Goodbye (James Howard Kunstler)

Last week, Stephen Colbert celebrated his May 21 departure from late-night TV by French-kissing his fellow late-night soul-mate hosts goodbye, perhaps to honor the French origins of the Woke political ideology that guided his rocket flight to fame — Michel Foucault (1926–1984), who argued that power was all that mattered and that you could talk any absurdity about sex, mental illness, and criminality into mass belief. . . Jacques Derrida (1930–2004), who argued that reality depends on how you feel about it. . . Jean-François Lyotard (1924–1998), who denounced truth per se in favor of your truth. . . and Gilles Deleuze, father of gender-fluidity.

So, bonne nuit and au revoir, Monsieur Colbert, and don’t let the CBS screen door bump your ass on the way out. Few public figures in our time have done as much damage to the collective mental health of our country than Colbert did in his late-night operations. For instance, the dance routine, broadcast circa April 2021, titled “The Vax-Scene,” when “Joe Biden” and Dr. Fauci rolled out the mRNA products that would eventually maim or kill hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Colbert did the shimmy in front of a chorus line costumed as syringes capering to a musical arrangement of the old Latin hit, Tequila (original, by The Champs, 1958). His ignorance about what actually was at stake was surpassed only by his Cheshire Cat caliber smugness. So, what you see in this video is the rectified essence of the demonic idiocy that still animates the Democratic Party. Save it and watch it often to remind yourself what the nation has been battling for so many years.

I was actually a guest on Colbert’s show years ago in its early evening incarnation when the running gag was Colbert pretending to be a right-winger. In the green room before the show, his handlers told me to “not try to be funny because that’s Stephen’s job.” I had just published a novel about what life in America might be like after the collapse of our techno-industrial economy (World Made by Hand). Colbert treated that as a joke, too, of course. He already had the remarkable ability for finding comedy in all the wrong places. By the time Covid came along, he was no longer a pretend conservative; he was an out-front Democratic Party / Deep State propaganda tool.
It remains to be seen how the party can possibly survive the revelations-to-come of its monumental criminality. Sunday morning, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche turned up on Maria Bartiromo’s public affairs show. Maria was in a testy mood, repeatedly telling Mr. Blanche that America has lost patience bigly over the complete lack of “accountability” for the various seditions and treasons launched against the public since 2016, in particular, the obvious treachery so many witnessed in the 2020 election.
Mr. Blanche replied, ““Well, there’s a ton of evidence that the election was rigged. That’s not something the DOJ needs to tell you about. There’s been evidence about that for many, many years. What I can tell you is that we have multiple investigations going on in Arizona, in Georgia — in Fulton County, Georgia. And that’s exactly what we’re looking at.”
Quite so: evidence for many years, by the truckload, and indeed it was only a month or so ago that the FBI turned up at the Fulton County, GA, election records depository building and seized a truckload of ballots and other material related to the Big Switcheroo that the election workers there pulled off overnight on Nov 3, 2020 —because “broken water mains [toilets, that is],” and all. Mr. Blanche might not need to tell the irascible Maria B about that, but eventually he will have to tell the whole country what happened in Fulton County, GA, and Maricopa County, AZ, and Antrim County, MI, and Milwaukee County, WI, and Philadelphia. . . .
It remains to be seen how the stolen 2020 election business might be rolled into the “grand conspiracy” case being pursued in the grand jury convened at Fort Pierce, Florida. It will probably be a major entrée in the smorgasbord of prosecutable turpitudes presently under consideration. Also remains to be seen how half the country that still calls itself “Left” or “Progressive” or “registered Democrat” will greet the news that “Joe Biden” did not win that crooked election, but rather, their bête noire, Donald Trump, won. And not by a slim margin, but by a ton.

Germany started it.

• Germany Fears Next Migration Wave (ZH)

With Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez legalizing what could amount to as many as 1.6 million migrants, other EU member states are getting worried, and not just neighboring France. While the Socialist prime minister’s announcement originally aimed to naturalize some 500,000 migrants by handing them residency permits and work permits, German authorities estimate that there could be as many as 850,000 applicants in Spain, writes Bild. Leaked internal Spanish police documents have already put this estimated number even higher, at 1.6 million.

Since the announcement in mid-April, hordes of undocumented migrants have been overwhelming local offices across the country, with nearly 130,000 applications in the first week alone. Remix News posted videos of these crowds. French conservatives sounded the alarm early on, with National Rally leader Jordan Bardella slamming the ability for residence permits to freely move around the EU. “I believe that free movement within the Schengen Area should be reserved exclusively for nationals of European countries. Obtaining a residence permit in Spain, for example, should not allow free movement throughout all European Union countries,” he wrote.
Now, Germany’s Foreign Office in Berlin has stated: “We are closely monitoring the situation and are in contact with Spain.” A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry also sought to clarify that a Schengen residence permit does not, in principle, authorize employment in Germany. Having one allows you to enter Germany and stay for a maximum of three months at a time. The domestic policy spokesman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Alexander Throm (CDU), also expressed his concerns, according to Bild: “Such mass legalization sends a devastating signal to the world and creates an incalculable pull effect.”
Police union representative Manuel Ostermann has also warned of potential consequences given that many entering Europe are attracted to German jobs and benefits. “If the Spanish minority government fails, and a future government reduces payments or terminates residency permits, many of the migrants will continue their journey to Germany and remain here. Whether permitted or not,” he warned. Of course, jobs in Germany are already becoming scarce, including over 120,000 industrial jobs being shed last year, and after years of mass immigration, the German economy continues to go from weakness ot weakness.
Germany has already had problems with secondary migration from Greece for years. Last April, the country’s Federal Administrative Court authorized migrant deportations to Greece for the first time in years. Ostermann is now warning: “The migration crisis is not over. Germany must therefore consistently eliminate the remaining pull factors,” he says, adding that Germany should abolish “excessive financial incentives” and replace them with the principle of “bread and butter.”

If you’re not Christian, you are Muslim. There is no third choice.

• Secretary Marco Rubio Delivers Message of National Faith (CTH)

Those of dark whispered voices are shrieking loudly today, directing their soulless vessels to shout opposition to the Christian rededication of our nation. They listen to the voices of betrayal telling them to shriek about “freedom of religion” as noted in the constitution, yet their arguments are twisted around the false premise that does not exist, “freedom from religion.” Our constitution does not block the expression of religion; it blocks the favoring of one expression over another. Freedom of religion is entirely different than freedom from religion, though both represent a moral choice.

https://twitter.com/WR4NYGov/status/2056140342014115902?s=20 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/2056105680294297797?s=20

Elon Musk just described the future of AI in a single sentence.

Musk: “A profit-maximizing demon from hell.”

That’s not a metaphor.

That’s a blueprint.

He wasn’t describing science fiction.

He was describing what happens when the only thing AI is trained to maximize is… pic.twitter.com/aRXKAJUf4o
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) May 18, 2026

The Gigabay is one of the most massive and insanely productive pieces of infrastructure being built on Earth right now

Currently rising at Kennedy Space Center, it makes entire aerospace hangars look tiny in comparison

And it’s all being built for one almost unbelievable goal:… pic.twitter.com/CyCXUR1Hb8
— X Freeze (@XFreeze) May 17, 2026

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/2056170982784602538?s=20

The complexity of the human brain and its functions in a neat infographic map

[zoomable version: https://t.co/ADEhDeTkmx] pic.twitter.com/DI0gQaywHu
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) May 18, 2026

https://twitter.com/sulekhat95/status/2055986390564061634?s=20

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Debt Rattle May 12 2026

May 122026

May 12, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:03 am Finance Tagged with: AOC, ceasefire, Durov, GOP, Iran, Khameini, midterms, Putin, TDS, Trump, WWIII, Zelensky 53 Responses »

Henri Matisse The Dessert – Harmony in Red 1908

• Trump to Iran: Time’s Up (Robert Spencer)

• Trump: Iran Ceasefire ‘On Life Support’ (JTN)

• Trump Mulls Military Action As Ceasefire On “Life Support” (ZH)

• Dear Mr. President: Just Finish the Mullahs Already (Stephen Green)

• Khamenei Orders Iran’s Army To ‘Continue Decisive Operations’ (Cradle)

• Confused About Iran? Here’s What U.S. Victory Looks Like. (Victoria Taft)

• EU Prepares For ‘Potential’ Talks With Putin As US Slowly Reduces Troops (ZH)

• Putin’s Failure as a World Leader has Cleared the Path to WW III (PCR)

• The Earth Moves Just a Bit (James Howard Kunstler)

• Durov Slams French Hypocrisy Over X Crackdown (RT)

• Um… Did the GOP Just Win the Midterms? (Stephen Green)

• Zelensky Touts That 20 Countries Seek Ukraine Drone Deals (ZH)

• White House Identifies Treatment Course for TDS Sufferers (CTH)

• Trump Floats Making Venezuela The 51st State (ZH)

• “You Just Can’t Earn a Billion Dollars”: AOC (Turley)

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2053517163177169095?s=20 https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2053838729467371690?s=20

We have the evidence and the documents that prove Obama and his administration, including Hillary Clinton and our own intelligence community committed treason and ran a coup on President Trump to steal the 2016 election.

1. Hillary Clinton greenlights the plan to tie Trump to… pic.twitter.com/fncRuQdWyW
— The SCIF (@TheSCIF) May 10, 2026

https://twitter.com/Real_RobN/status/2053635138765062154?s=20

Trump just reposted this. pic.twitter.com/j9loQ1e1ql
— johnny maga (@johnnymaga) May 11, 2026

Barack Hussein Obama wiretapping Trump Tower during the 2016 election was a million times worse than anything Nixon did during Watergate. It is time to arrest the Renegade. pic.twitter.com/qefWDZAxlW
— I Love America News (@ILA_NewsX) May 9, 2026

https://twitter.com/MAGAVoice/status/2053546881050169600?s=20

Bankrupting the insurance Cartels. Something has to be done. pic.twitter.com/fDvVgcQpNw
— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_The_Dr) May 11, 2026

I’m a big fan of Marco Rubio now—this is easily the best Catholic political speech I’ve heard from someone

video: CIT pic.twitter.com/hI0E0Y0taP
— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) May 10, 2026

This is simply unreal. What happened in Germany? Has the left virus completely eaten their minds?

How on earth is it possible to not be willing to defend one's country and family? pic.twitter.com/wPedD5gNvy
— Michael A. Arouet (@MichaelAArouet) May 10, 2026

“I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP”

• Trump to Iran: Time’s Up (Robert Spencer)

“Iran,” said President Donald Trump in a Truth Social post early on Sunday afternoon, “has been playing games with the United States, and the rest of the World, for 47 years (DELAY, DELAY, DELAY!),” and there is no doubt that his assessment is true, particularly in regard to the present on-and-off negotiations. Now, however, Trump has issued an ominous warning that the surviving leaders of the Islamic Republic would be wise to take seriously, which doesn’t at all mean that they will do so.

The leaders of the Islamic Republic, whoever they may be, have been playing a delaying game with Trump with the peace talks, and that’s essentially all that those talks were or ever could be. This is clear from the very fact that Iran is an Islamic republic that strives to adhere to Islamic principles and laws in all of its dealings. Islamic law allows for a truce between a Muslim force and a non-Muslim one only under two circumstances: if the non-Muslim force is about to convert to Islam, which is obviously not in play here (although it could be sooner than anyone expects), and if the Muslim force is losing the war, and needs time to gather strength to fight again more effectively.
There is no scenario in Islamic law in which a Muslim force and a non-Muslim one sign a treaty for a lasting peace, lay down their arms, and coexist. The assumption among Western policymakers that the Islamic Republic of Iran would do such a thing under any circumstances is based on those policymakers’ willful ignorance regarding Islamic law, and fond assumption that everyone in the world thinks just the way they do. Trump went on in his Truth Social post to skewer a pair of his predecessors for showering the Islamic Republic with American largesse in pursuit of exactly that chimerical peaceful coexistence:
“…and then finally hit “pay dirt” when Barack Hussein Obama became President. He was not only good to them, he was great, actually going to their side, jettisoning Israel, and all other Allies, and giving Iran a major and very powerful new lease on life. Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and 1.7 Billion Dollars in green cash, flown into Tehran, was handed to them on a silver platter. Every Bank in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland was emptied out — It was so much money that when it arrived, the Iranian Thugs had no idea what to do with it. They had never seen money like this, and never will again. It was taken off the plane in suitcases and satchels, and the Iranians couldn’t believe their luck. They finally found the greatest SUCKER of them all, in the form of a weak and stupid American President. He was a disaster as our “Leader,” but not as bad as Sleepy Joe Biden!”
Trump was right about Obama giving the Islamic Republic a “very powerful new lease on life.” Without the financial boost that Obama gave to the mullahs, they likely would not have survived the nationwide protests that swept Iran several times since Obama’s billions arrived. Those protests were ruthlessly suppressed, and the money for that suppression came from the United States. Adding insult to injury for the long-suffering people of Iran, Old Joe Biden sent them $10 billion. All this cash has kept the bloodthirsty Islamic regime alive. Trump continued:
“For 47 years the Iranians have been “tapping” us along, keeping us waiting, killing our people with their roadside bombs, destroying protests, and recently wiping out 42,000 innocent, unarmed protestors, and laughing at our now GREAT AGAIN Country. They will be laughing no longer! President DONALD J. TRUMP” Just over two hours after posting this, Trump added: “I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP”
What Trump will do now is anybody’s guess, but one thing is certain: the Islamic Republic will keep on behaving belligerently and aggressively toward the United States and Israel as long as it continues to exist. It cannot end its hostility to either country without ceasing to be an Islamic republic. It hates the U.S. because free society and representative government is the foremost competitor to the Sharia-based society that it wishes to export, and it hates Israel because the Qur’an designates the Jews as the “most vehement in hostility” to the Muslims (5:82).
And as long as Iran is losing, it will continue to delay. Trump is correct to call them out. Now is the time to act.

“I didn’t even waste my time reading all of it. It’s on life support..”

• Trump: Iran Ceasefire ‘On Life Support’ (JTN)

President Donald Trump on Monday stated that the ceasefire with Iran was “on life support” amid a growing diplomatic deadline between Tehran and Washington and the exchange of live rounds across the Persian Gulf. It’s unbelievably weak. After reading that garbage they sent over? I didn’t even waste my time reading all of it. It’s on life support,” he told reporters. “I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says, ‘sir, your loved one has approximately 1% chance of living.'”

Trump’s remarks came from the Oval Office during an unrelated event. He also lamented the difficulties of dealing with Iran, saying they agreed to commitments and then backed out. He rejected the Iranian peace proposal over the weekend, calling it “totally unacceptable.” Earlier this month, Iran and the United Arab Emirates exchanged fire across the Persian Gulf, despite the ceasefire, with Iran launching missiles toward UAE territory and striking at least one industrial oil facility.

Iran act like they’re winning.

“Everything we proposed in the text was reasonable and generous.” However, US officials continue to insist on their “unreasonable demands,” Baghaei stressed. He described that Iran’s demands for the war to stop, for the US to lift its blockade, and the release Iran’s frozen assets, remain legitimate..”

• Trump Mulls Military Action As Ceasefire On “Life Support” (ZH)

President Trump is meeting with his national security team Monday to discuss the way forward in the Iran war, including possibly resuming military action, after negotiations with the countrydeadlocked on Sunday, three U.S. officials told Axios. U.S. officials say Trump wants a deal to end the war, but Iran’s rejection of many of his demands and refusal to make meaningful concessions on its nuclear program puts the military option back on the table. This sent oil prices back to the highs of the day…

President Trump also told Fox, that he sees a 1% chance of an Iran deal materializing and succeeding, as even the ceasefire is one of “the weakest, on life support”: President Donald Trump called out the “piece of garbage” peace proposal from Iran on Monday from the Oval Office, saying only “stupid people” in Iran are questioning his resolve in guaranteeing Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. The latest Iranian proposal reneged on a past vow to give up enriched uranium. None of this bodes well for the prospect of the Strait of Hormuz opening up anytime soon. Oil prices have reflected general pessimism at the start of this week.
Trump Might Fully Restart Project Freedom
Fox News is reporting that President Trump is considering renewing Project Freedom, pushing oil up. According to the developing story: President Donald Trump has stated in an interview with Fox News that he is considering renewing Project Freedom, a military operation originally launched to secure the passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. This operation, involving significant U.S. naval assets, had been paused amid diplomatic efforts with Iran. The initial pause was influenced by diplomatic progress mediated by Pakistan, although recent developments suggest a potential escalation.
However, the reality is that the de facto US naval blockade has remained in place. The Iranians last week fired on US warships which were escorting foreign vessels through the strait. Since then there’s been an uneasy calm amid stalled negotiations. There’s really no movement on either side. Trump indicated in the fresh comments that all of this could be part of a larger operation, and strangely a bit of a contradictory stance: he said of Iran’s “hardline leaders” that “they are going to fold” and that “I will deal with them until they make a deal”. Of course, the very label of ‘hardline’ would suggest the opposite.
The same Fox correspondent was told by Trump that forcibly retrieving Iran’s ‘nuclear dust’ is still on the table: It is clear there remains a huge gap between the positions of Washington and Tehran, after the past days saw proposal and counterproposal submitted via Pakistan, with the White House issuing its final response over the weekend, as President Trump called it ‘unacceptable’.
According to new Monday words from Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, “Everything we proposed in the text was reasonable and generous.” However, US officials continue to insist on their “unreasonable demands,” Baghaei stressed. He described that Iran’s demands for the war to stop, for the US to lift its blockade, and the release Iran’s frozen assets, remain legitimate. Further, Tehran is demanding safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, along with establishing security in the region and in Lebanon.
Senior Iranian military official Mohsen Rezaee to Tasnim: There Is No Clear Prospect for a Political Agreement With the United States n”Unfortunately, the US continues to insist on its one-sided view,” Baghaei added of the “reasonable, generous offer” built around Iran’s national interests. Iran has strongly suggested that the US is actually too influenced by driving Israeli interests, not American priorities. But per WSJ, Washington’s focus remains on the nuclear issue, which Iran considers a non-starter in negotiations: “The president on Sunday said a multipage response that Iran sent to the U.S. proposal to end the war, which didn’t include commitments about Tehran’s nuclear program, was unacceptable,” the publication writes.

Do the mullahs still have any say? Or is it now really the IRGC?

• Dear Mr. President: Just Finish the Mullahs Already (Stephen Green)

“When you set out to take Vienna,” Napoleon advised, “take Vienna.” When President Donald Trump initiated the current round of hostilities in the 47-year-old Iran War on February 28, observers had no way to tell whether Trump had merely ordered U.S. forces to inflict more heavy damage to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions, or if he was determined to force regime change.

Lately, it looks like neither. As PJ Media’s own Robert Spencer noted on Sunday, “There is no scenario in Islamic law in which a Muslim force and a non-Muslim one sign a treaty for a lasting peace, lay down their arms, and coexist.” There comes a point where even Trump’s so-much-winning art-of-the-deal negotiating tactics come up against this hard reality, and it looks increasingly like that’s where we are.
Look, I love the idea of Trump doing to Tehran what he did to Caracas back in January, and removing the problem leader, then making peace with the much more pliable survivors. But it’s clear by now that either no such people exist in the Islamic Republic, or the government is too fractured or leaderless to comply. Either way, the fiery-but-mostly-peaceful ceasefire may have run its course. The man himself said on Sunday that the regime “will be laughing no longer!” at the U.S., but that’s not the way it looks to those of us watching from the outside.
This exchange between my Red State colleague Bonchie and another X user explains where I arrived over the weekend: In the interest of fairness, let’s look at the flip side, because there’s also the global picture that Oil Price analyst Irina Slav reported on this weekend. The short version is that China is hurt more by the growing oil crisis than the U.S. is. If temporarily higher gas prices are the price of ending the Islamic Republic and hurting the CCP, too, then I’d think of them as a worthwhile investment.
Then again, midterm voters are likely less sanguine about gas prices than I am, and political considerations are real. Or as another X user put it, “We either prove we can open the straits now or deal with it being closed in October.” It may well be that Trump is simply running out the clock on Tehran’s finances and oil storage issues that could go critical as soon as this week. If that’s the ploy, and it works, then please forgive my itchy trigger finger. But the more I think about what desperate actions the regime might take in either one of those circumstances, the more convinced I become that waiting them out could prove to be a huge mistake.
There are two clocks ticking. One on the Islamic Republic, the other on America’s patience with the war’s economic fallout. It’s always looked like Tehran’s clock will run out first, but after 10 weeks, the time might have come to force a decision instead. Did Trump set out to take out the regime? He’s been typically coy about his actual endgame, but whatever the goal was on February 28, maybe now Trump needs to finish the job.

Khameini jr. “orders”? Who listens?

• Khamenei Orders Iran’s Army To ‘Continue Decisive Operations’ (Cradle)

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has ordered the country’s forces to continue military operations against the US and Israel, according to a report by Iranian public broadcaster IRIB released Sunday. The order came during a meeting between Khamenei and Major General Ali Abdollahi, the commander of the Iranian army’s Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters. “During this meeting, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, His Eminence Ayatollah Sayyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, while expressing appreciation for the brave and valiant fighters and the country’s powerful armed forces, issued new directives and guidance for continuing operations and confronting enemies decisively,” the report said.

Abdollahi also “presented a report on the readiness of the armed forces” during the meeting, IRIB added. The report comes after two months of speculation and unverified media claims about the Supreme Leader’s status. Western news outlets like The Guardian and The Times had claimed earlier in the war that Khamenei was in a coma following the US-Israeli strikes that assassinated his father. Reports also claimed that he fled to Russia. Mazaher Hosseini, head of protocol in the office of Iran’s supreme leader, recently stated that Khamenei was healing from minor injuries he sustained and “is now in complete health.”

“Thank God, he is in good health. The enemy is spreading all kinds of rumors and false claims. They want to see him and find him, but people should be patient and not rush. He will speak to you when the time is right,” the Iranian official stated. The IRIB report came a day after CNN cited US intelligence as saying that Khamenei “is playing a critical role in shaping war strategy alongside senior Iranian officials.” It also comes days after Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said he met with the supreme leader. “What struck me most during this meeting was the vision and the humble and sincere approach of the supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution,” he said.
Tehran has sent out its response to a new US proposal for a ceasefire via Pakistan, according to state media. The US has maintained an illegal blockade of Iranian ports since the ceasefire began. Washington violated the truce days ago by bombing Iran’s coast and attacking two vessels. Iranian forces targeted two US military vessels in response. The next day, skirmishes broke out between Iranian and US forces in the Strait of Hormuz. Spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, Ebrahim Rezaei, said on Sunday that Tehran will strike US military bases and vessels in response to any new violations from Washington – stressing that “restraint has come to an end.”

“..maximum victory for the U.S. would look like, in addition to the other tiers of victory. “Regime change … empowering the Iranian people and giving us an Iran that could be a friend in the future..”

• Confused About Iran? Here’s What U.S. Victory Looks Like. (Victoria Taft)

The Trump Administration is the most transparent in the history of the country, but keeping up with the torturous talks with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is getting harder all the time. It started off clearly enough, but since this Iran campaign went into negotiation mode with the leftover leaders of the IRGC, it’s been as if we’re “looking through a glass, darkly,” as Paul put it in 1 Corinthians. From claims of kamikazi dolphins, to on-and-off-again negotiations, claims of full air superiority, use of autonomous ships, to the question of whether we can call it a “war,” there’s been confusion about what is going on in the Iran conflict and the subsequent talks. Some of this confusion is on purpose, no doubt, to confound the IRGC leftovers, but people like me who try to keep up are, well, frustrated.

The Iranian leftover leaders are conducting what is obviously a stall strategy, of course, and President Trump posted on Truth Social over the weekend that he knows what they’re doing, “DELAY, DELAY, DELAY!” he wrote. I asked a subject matter expert, Edmund Fitton-Brown — a former UK ambassador to Yemen and former UN negotiator with Al Qaeda and the Taliban — to explain if those talks can get us to something we can call “victory.” The Iran conflict is something I tackle on Tuesdays in my Adult in the Room Podcast livestream, and I asked the senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies to explain things to me.
In the interview, Fitton-Brown explained that “[Trump] is really serious about peace, but you don’t get peace with people who want to kill you.” However, there are three tiers of achievable “peace,” and they are “minimum victory, medium victory, and … maximum victory.” You can see the entire exchange at 22:20 of this video below, but here’s a distilled version of his theory. “Minimum is the straightforward moves, open [Hormuz], no Iranian toll, complete reassertion of… the law of the sea and freedom of navigation,” he told me. “[W]e need the Iranians to acknowledge that they can’t enrich uranium in the future,” he said. “Those are the minimum conditions.”
The Hormuz takeover, though not completely unexpected, gave the Iranians another leverage point they didn’t have before. Fitton-Brown said he’d negotiate for more, of course. “Medium conditions for success would be to get the Iranians to agree that they will not resume their procurement and manufacture of ballistic missiles so that so that we don’t have this constant threat to Israel that has destabilized the Middle East,” and that sounds even better. He continued, “Iranians would acknowledge that they have to reign in their proxies. They can’t just keep waging war on their neighbors using the Houthis, the Hezballah, Iraqi militias and Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”
Minimum plus Medium equals a better deal. Here’s what he says maximum victory for the U.S. would look like, in addition to the other tiers of victory. “Regime change … empowering the Iranian people and giving us an Iran that could be a friend in the future,” he told me. He says they’ve been anything but that in the past 47 years. “We have allowed the Iranians for 47 years to chant death to America. And that should never have been allowed. Right from the start, we should have said to them, you know, if you say that, then you cannot be allowed to have a kind of civilized relationship with us,” he stated. He’d keep sanctions going until “they realized there was a real cost to [saying] it.” The IRGC gets a vote, too. Now the Iranian nuke czar says Trump’s number one goal, the Islamist’s nuclear program, will not be part of any negotiations.

Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told a parliamentary security committee session that nuclear technology will not be part of any negotiations and that enrichment is off the table entirely. Reported by committee spokesman Ebrahim Rezaei. pic.twitter.com/bEAVOmNTBD
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) May 11, 2026

Fitton-Brown says, “The lesson is to take people at their word.”
Maybe it’s time to bring back the B-2s.
Watch my interview below.

Europe has a long way to fall.

• EU Prepares For ‘Potential’ Talks With Putin As US Slowly Reduces Troops (ZH)

A recent report in Financial Times indicates the European Union is preparing for “potential” future talks with Russia and President Vladimir Putin at a moment of extreme doubts over both US military commitments and Russia’s intentions in Ukraine. Putin himself during his V-Day speech Saturday hinted for the first time that the conflict may be ‘coming to an end’: “I think that the matter is coming to an end,” Putin told reporters of the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe s deadliest conflict since World War II.

The Russian leader, however, added he would be willing to meet Zelensky only after the terms of a peace agreement had already been settled. The Kremlin had rejected US President Donald Trump’s August 2025 offer to hold a trilateral meeting with Zelenskyy, Putin and Trump. “This should be the final point, not the negotiations themselves,” Putin said after the Victory Day, which marks Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 in World War II. Also on Saturday, António Costa, the president of the European Council, said to a press conference the EU will only talk to Putin at the “right moment”. Costa ultimately sees “potential” for direct EU engagement with Putin.
“We need in the right moment to have talks with Russia to address our common issues with security,” the EU president had said. “We don’t want to disturb the initiative led by President Trump,” said Costa at a ‘Europe Day’ celebration in Brussels. He also spoke of preparations aimed at being “ready to do what we need to do” regarding Europe’s security. And separately an EU official said: “There will be a moment when the EU will need to speak to Russia because it’s an existential issue for Europe. Now it’s not the time.”= President Trump has recently blasted NATO as a “paper tiger” (though it wasn’t the first time) and has said the US is withdrawing 5,000 American troops from Germany.
In response, European governments have accelerated discussions on deeper EU military coordination, including joint defense initiatives which bypass US protection. Currently, the three-day Ukraine ceasefire announced and backed by President Trump appears to have held throughout the weekend, as no drone attacks have been registered on Moscow or other parts of the country. Trump had presented this as a window and opportunity to achieve a more permanent truce, and Putin is without doubt seizing on the initiative, but surely wants a final settlement in line with Kremlin aims in Ukraine.

In 1999, Putin took over a desperate, despondent, bankrupt country from Yeltsin. Life expectancy among men was in their 50s. Ask them now how they feel about Putin. Not as a failure, I guarantee you.

• Putin’s Failure as a World Leader has Cleared the Path to WW III (PCR)

Igor Girkin regrets that Putin’s pusillanimous behavior has humiliated Russia before the world.

“We — as an entire country — have been humiliated before the whole world by our astonishing inability not only to defend our status as a Great Power (something that had remained unquestioned for Russia for centuries), but even to uphold ordinary national interests. We allow ‘neutral’ states to seize our ships and cargo without the slightest response; we supply (at a discount) oil, gas, and other essential resources to states openly producing missiles and drones that rain down daily on Russian soldiers and civilians; we are ‘passionately friendly’ with neighbors openly laying claim to Russian territory; and in the end, amid triumphant shouting, endless boasting, and equally endless lies from state media, we are unable to defeat an enemy that 10 years ago was pitiful both militarily and socioeconomically — but which we ourselves allowed to grow stronger through our own insane (downright idiotic) actions and inaction.
“And there is much more besides…“We tolerate these idiots in power in the hope that they will ‘come to their senses’ and finally (if only out of self-preservation) defend Russia from external enemies — but the further things go, the more these idiots behave like cowards, while continuing to profit shamelessly from the difficult and unsuccessful war they themselves are losing. “So why should anyone respect us as a country? Who would genuinely ally themselves with obvious losers?”
In 2007 when Russian President Putin spoke at the Munich Security Conference it looked as if the fear of the American Zionist neoconservatives had been realized that a country sufficiently strong to stand as a barrier to Washington’s hegemony had appeared on the scene. Putin declared that Russia did not accept Washington’s unilateralism. Not long after he drove the American trained and equipped Georgian Army out of South Ossetia. Next he threw down the gauntlet with his unequivocal statement that “Russia will never again fight a war on its own territory.” Putin presented Russia to the world as a barrier to US imperialism and looting of the world.
The Israeli-American Zionist neoconservatives decided to fight back. They saw Russia’s weakness in Putin’s desire for peace and good relations. The Zionists correctly read this weakness as an opportunity to seize Ukraine, which Washington had already broken out of Russia and created as an independent state when the Soviet Union collapsed politically. The American Zionists reasoned correctly that Putin would regard Russia’s intervention against their coup as a propaganda advantage for Washington to portray Russia as a revanchist state bent on recovering the Soviet empire and then adding all of Europe. As Putin’s goal was mutual trust and beneficial business relationships, he stood aside, not understanding that the Zionist intent was to use Ukraine in a proxy war against Russia in the expectation of destabilizing Russia.
The American Zionists are achieving their goal. Increasingly, Russians are expressing discontent with Putin’s prevention of the Russian military from winning the conflict initiated by Washington. More and more Russians are speaking out strongly. Drones and missiles supplied by Washington and NATO now hit deep into Russia. They hit Russian energy production facilities, reducing the energy flow. They hit Russian energy export facilities, reducing the ability to export energy. They hit civilian residential housing killing Russian civilians. EU countries of zero military potential seize Russian oil tankers on the high seas. The humiliations go on and on, and Putin accepts them to the disgrace of Russia.

“Operation Epic Fury was the loud one. Operation Economic Fury is the quiet one. . . . While the carriers were on television, Treasury was doing the actual demolition.” —Jesús Enrique Rosas on X

• The Earth Moves Just a Bit (James Howard Kunstler)

Expect a consequential week. The Persian Gulf remains closed and colossal oil slicks leak out of Kharg Island while Iran blusters and stomps its feet. No one can even try to buy its oil anymore, not even China. The sanctions are too onerous. Iran’s wells must be shut in now. Imagine how the production chiefs out in the oil fields are howling at their insane IRGC overseers. Iran has no economy left operating. Iran’s domestic security force, the Basij (Sâzmân-e Basij-e Mostaz’afin, or “Mobilization of the Oppressed”) is strangling anyone who expresses discontent in the streets, not a good look for a regime that can’t survive without the pretense of popular support.

Late Sunday, the US President rejected Tehran’s latest conditions for peace out of hand. They are trying to jerk the whole world around, even while they whirl around the drain. Despite what you read in The New York Times — Iran’s US-based chief cheerleader — it is probably a matter of days now before capitulation. The ball is in America’s court this morning, a real hanging lob shot. The return is apt to be hard. Of course, whatever official utterances come out of Iran, you must discount by about 99.9-percent. For now, there is nothing but the morning fog of suspense.
But strange doings are a’foot elsewhere. You might have noticed that the UK’s labor government got drubbed in local elections, losing nearly 1,500 council seats, a humiliating repudiation. It’s a matter of days before PM Keir Starmer will have to hang it up. His possible replacements are utterly unknown to Americans — Angela Rayner, a former Deputy PM, Energy Secretary Ed Milliband, Health Sec’y Wes Streeting — and any of them is just a place-holder for the election’s main winner Nigel Farage of the Reform Party, which exists wholly outside the age-old British political transect of Labour / Tories.
The Labour Party, you see, is lately as loathsome in the altogether to British voters as its current avatar, Sir Keir (Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, KCB), whose latest act was to extend social welfare benefits to the additional wives of poly-marital Muslims. Way to go! Why not just travel the island empire from town-to-town and slap every indigenous Briton in the face? And the Tories (putative Conservatives), well, just fuggeddabowdem. Sir Keir’s Tory predecessor as PM, Rishi Sunak, screwed the pooch for his party into the next twenty years allowing net Third World migration to hit record highs while the kingdom crumbled.
The way it works over there, Sir Keir or whoever takes over from him, asks King Charles to dissolve Parliament, and you get a sudden national election short of Parliament’s regular five-year term. And so, sometime in the months ahead, Nigel Farage will become Prime Minister and things will change-up bigly in Britain. Mr. Farage will have to contend, among other things, with Donald Trump’s dismantling of whatever was left of Britain’s stealth neo-colonial command of global finance through the British banking system.
he question really is: can Farage arrest his country’s sickening slide into becoming an Islamic caliphate, with all the Third World bells and whistles? Can he possibly even start shipping the most recent arrivals back to where they came from? Can he do what Mr. Trump is attempting in the USA and turn the UK back to an economy based on the actual production of goods rather than financial finaglery?

“France is illegally harvesting its citizens’ data, while accusing social media platforms of doing the same, the entrepreneur has alleged ..”

• Durov Slams French Hypocrisy Over X Crackdown (RT)

Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov has accused France of hypocrisy after prosecutors expanded a criminal investigation into Elon Musk’s X. Durov said French authorities were violating citizens’ privacy while accusing the social media platform of similar conduct. The entrepreneur made the remarks on Sunday, just days after the Paris prosecutor’s office announced that it would seek new charges against X over alleged illegal sexual deepfakes made by the platform’s Grok AI, as well as unlawful data extraction and other crimes.

“The French government is accusing X of the very things the French government itself is doing,” Durov tweeted. The French government is panicking. They know a major political shift in 2027 will expose their misdeeds – so they’re trying to silence free speech platforms under whatever pretext they think they can get away with.He called on the international community to back X against what he called the French state’s “immoral assault” on the social media app.
French investigators initially launched their investigation of X and Grok in January, alleging that the platforms’ algorithms were biased and accusing the company of illegal data gathering and of possessing and spreading sexualized deepfakes created by its AI, including images involving minors. The tech mogul has denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the legal action as a “political attack.” Last month, the US Department of Justice reportedly denied a request from French prosecutors to cooperate in the investigation. US President Donald Trump’s administration has long been critical of what it has called attacks on free speech and political opposition in the EU and UK.
Durov’s Telegram has also faced legal troubles in France. The entrepreneur was arrested at a Paris airport in 2024 and indicted on a dozen charges after French prosecutors accused him of being complicit in crimes committed using his social media platform. Durov has since been allowed to leave France, despite the ongoing investigation. The entrepreneur has repeatedly called the arrest absurd and condemned crackdowns on social media networks as a concerted attack on free speech.

“You ask for miracles, Theo? I give you the Virginia Democrats.” —Hans Gruber, possibly

• Um… Did the GOP Just Win the Midterms? (Stephen Green)

You probably know that I’m not exactly up on the GOP’s chances of holding the House in November, but there’s a glimmer of light ahead, thanks in no small part to overreach by Virginia Democrats — and Republicans finally wising up. Over the weekend, Roger Kimball looked at the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision and declared that “the decision will net Republicans some 8-12 additional House seats in the midterms. In other words, Republicans will not only hold the House; they will also expand their majority.”

Reporting for the (extremely) left-wing Mother Jones, Ari Berman called the decision “devastating” for Democrats, but also noted that “the only silver lining for those harmed may be that the ruling came be too late to have a major impact on the 2026 midterm elections.” “Candidate filing deadlines have passed in most Southern states; primary elections have been held already in North Carolina, Texas, and Mississippi; and Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia have mailed ballots for upcoming May primaries.” That’s six deep-red states out of play for 2026 redistricting, so it isn’t that Roger’s numbers are wrong, but they might be premature. Don’t get me wrong — I pray he’s right.
So for the moment, the GOP’s odds remain too long for comfort. Democrats are comfortably ahead on the 2026 generic congressional ballot, typically the best indicator of what happens on election day. The RealClearPolitics average has them up by 5.6 points. Overcoming a number like that requires the kind of enthusiasm that, frankly, much of the Trump electorate just doesn’t enjoy right now. The Iran War — while totally necessary, they were about to get nukes — has gas prices uncomfortably close to Biden-era highs. Food prices, particularly beef, remain stubbornly high. And the GOP Congress refuses to do a damn thing about election integrity. I’m looking at you, Sen. John Thune.
That last one is a real problem, for reasons both practical (election integrity, duh) and political (Trump voters need this win). We sent the GOP to Congress to undo the damage done to our election system, and they have yet to deliver. You had one job. But sometimes — as we learned from watching Hans Gruber make the FBI sing to his tune in Die Hard — knowing the other guy’s procedure is a yuge part of winning. Which brings us to Virginia, Indiana, and the GOP’s improved chances come November.
By now, you know what happened in Virginia. State Democrats — led by non-former CIA spook Gov. Abigail Spanberger — did what they’re now basically compelled to do, and broke every law on their way to gerrymandering the GOP into oblivion. Then the state Supreme Court knocked them down and declared the illegal referendum void. And Another Thing: Please note that the Virginia Supreme Court did not say that Democrats can’t gerrymander the GOP into oblivion. It just said you actually have to follow the law of the land to do it. At the next court-approved opportunity, you can be sure they’ll get it done.
In Indiana, GOP voters took one look at the new rules and voted out every RINO they could in the state’s primary election last week. Most of the Republican state senators who blocked Indiana’s congressional redraw got hammered by Trump-backed challengers, and Gov. Mike Braun is pushing again for redistricting. If successful, that could net the Republicans one or two more seats. Altogether, in states where it isn’t already too late, and including states like Florida that have already redistricted, Republicans could redraw themselves between 11 and 14 seats before the midterms. Is that enough to overcome the generic congressional ballot deficit? There’s just no way to know this far out, although if Sen. Thune would stop posturing on X long enough to pass the Save Act, I’d bet next month’s car payment that the GOP holds the House.
Grrrr.
Looking ahead, however, 2028 looks really good.

Ukraine is all about money, Russia is not.

• Zelensky Touts That 20 Countries Seek Ukraine Drone Deals (ZH)

Ukraine is emerging as a global drone export powerhouse, coming fresh off vast experience gained in over four years of war with Russia – or at least that’s the image Kiev is seeking to present to the world. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that nearly 20 countries are pursuing drone agreements with Ukraine, with four deals already finalized. Agreements already confirmed include deals with Germany, Norway and the Netherlands, alongside long-term security partnerships with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates which were inked in late March as Zelensky personally toured the Gulf, even amid the ongoing Iran war, according to Reuters.

Zelensky has been offering Ukraine’s services and drone supplies to Gulf countries as a cheaper, effective alternative to dwindling and costly American-supplied anti-air defenses. “Nearly 20 countries are currently involved at various stages: 4 agreements have already been signed, and the first contracts under these agreements are now being prepared,” Zelensky has newly proclaimed on X. “Ukraine has already started to receive the necessary volume of fuel thanks to the agreements,” Zelensky also stated. Interestingly, he’s also of late been pitching being a supplier of battlefield robots, as we’ve detailed before.
Starting in April, Zelensky had hailed that Ukrainian personnel were able to help partners build effective air defenses using interceptor drones to combat Iranian Shaheds. Low-cost interceptor drones deployed by Ukraine are among the most effective ways to combat the inexpensive $20,000 Shaheds, as a war of attrition makes little economic sense when interceptor missiles cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.
Ukraine has had four years to develop low-cost one-way attack drones and interceptors during its war with Russia. Now, this technology is clearly being exported across multiple theaters in Eurasia. Zelensky did not identify the countries or the exact interceptor drones used in his comments at the time, but it is possible that Octopus-100 autonomous interceptor drones were deployed. The past couple months have seen Zelensky touring around proclaiming Ukraine’s ability to fill defense tech sector gaps for allied countries:

Zelensky:

If Ukraine, Türkiye, Norway, and the UK were EU members, you would have the strongest army in the world.

It would become the strongest alliance in the world.

Together, these countries and the EU have smart engineers, the best technologies, the best drones,… pic.twitter.com/xFRe5nVz5Z
— Clash Report (@clashreport) April 21, 2026

He said Ukraine had deployed hundreds of experts to the Gulf area, and, in return, has received weapons to protect its energy assets as well as financial support. After the Trump White House began signaling a significant drawdown in direct military aid to Ukraine and to Europe more broadly, the Zelensky administration began launching more creative means to ensure ongoing funding for the war with Russia. Support from EU countries, however, doesn’t look to have wavered.

Growacet.

• White House Identifies Treatment Course for TDS Sufferers (CTH)

The White House has identified a treatment course for those suffering from acute cases of TDS. In many cases the issue can be treated by moderate changes in behavior or lifestyle:

For more severe or intense cases of TDS, like the Carlson strain, the prescription below is also an option.

Inviting outrage.

• Trump Floats Making Venezuela The 51st State (ZH)

First Canada, then Greenland… and now Venezuela?

President Donald Trump said Monday he is seriously considering annexing the South American nation as the 51st U.S. state, citing the country’s vast oil reserves and what he described as strong local support for his leadership. In a telephone interview with Fox News anchor John Roberts, Trump mused that he is weighing the move for a nation that holds an estimated $40 trillion in oil resources. “Venezuela loves Trump,” the president told the reporter.
The suggestion comes months after U.S. forces conducted a military operation in Venezuela in January that resulted in the capture of longtime President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The couple was extradited to the U.S. to face narco-terrorism and weapons charges, effectively ending more than a decade of socialist rule that had transformed one of Latin America’s richest economies into an economic disaster marked by hyperinflation, mass emigration and the breakdown of public services.
Rather than installing opposition figure María Corina Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, as the new leader, the Trump administration supported the installation of Delcy Rodríguez—Maduro’s former vice president—as interim president. Trump has described the arrangement as “spectacular” and predicted a rapid economic turnaround. Rodríguez’s government has moved swiftly on economic reforms. Within weeks of taking power, it enacted legislation opening the oil sector to privatization, dismantling core elements of the Chavista model that had dominated for more than two decades.
Meanwhile, commercial activity has accelerated thanks to Chevron, which signed two agreements expanding its participation in a joint venture with state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA in the Orinoco Oil Belt, Reuters reported at the time. Venezuelan oil output is already rising.
PDVSA reported production of 1.095 million barrels a day last month, up 75,000 barrels a day from February, with Oil Minister Paula Henao setting a target of 1.3 million barrels a day by year-end. Trump administration officials have been candid about the financial stakes. A White House spokesman called the first $500 million portion of an approximately $2 billion oil-supply agreement a “historic energy deal,” CBS News reported at the time. Trump has said the U.S. would rebuild Venezuela “in a very profitable way,” adding, “We’re going to be using oil, and we’re going to be taking oil.”

“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) came up with the best reason to tax billionaires: They do not actually exist…”

• “You Just Can’t Earn a Billion Dollars”: AOC (Turley)

This week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) came up with the best reason to tax billionaires: They do not actually exist. On a podcast, Ocasio-Cortez declared with all the certainty of a freshman in a Smith College political science course that the notion of a self-made billionaire is simply a fantasy, because “you just can’t earn” a billion dollars. It is only the latest in a series of socialist fables that are being dressed up as economic facts. The difference is that this fable, if told often enough, could become true. In suggesting that true billionaires are a capitalist myth, Ocasio-Cortez is suggesting that people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos really did not earn their wealth and, therefore, it is really not their money.

“There’s a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned. You can’t earn a billion dollars. You just can’t earn that. You can get market power, you can break rules, you can abuse labor laws, you can pay people less than what they’re worth, but you can’t earn that.” In other words, you can only make a billion dollars through theft and exploitation rather than actual entrepreneurial enterprise. This statement comes as support builds for the California billionaires’ tax which, even before it has a chance to pass in November, has already cost the state trillions due to an exodus of these billionaires.
In my book, “Rage and the Republic,” I discuss common myths spread by the left to fuel economic factionalism. One common myth is that the “wealthy do not pay their fair share of taxes.” In truth, the top ten percent of taxpayers pay the vast majority of taxes in the U.S. In the book, I also dispel the claim that most millionaires inherited their wealth or came from privileged backgrounds. These myths are designed to make redistribution schemes more palatable. And Democrats are ramping up the “eat-the-rich” rhetoric ahead of the midterms in pushing both millionaire and billionaire taxes. Democrats from Washington to Virginia are pushing millionaire taxes, and the mere conversation has already set off a stampede of high-earning taxpayers to red states like Texas and Florida, which have no state income tax.
It was also evident in this week’s California gubernatorial debate. Candidate Katie Porter (D) said she opposes the billionaire’s tax because it would not go far enough. Porter then pressed the only billionaire in the group, Tom Steyer, who has been moving to the far left to grab voters in the wake of the departure of former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) as a candidate. Steyer said that he supports the billionaire tax but would want to go even further.Steyer has spent a fortune of his own money on this race, apparently to convince Democratic primary voters that he is some kind of red billionaire in the mold of a George Soros or Neville Roy Singham. Good luck with that — after spending roughly $150 million of his own money, Steyer is still languishing between 12 and 18 percent support.
Of course, Steyer was not asked if he believes that real billionaires such as himself exist. Yet he has already apologized for making considerable money on private prisons, including those used to hold undocumented immigrants. Ironically, in finance, a “unicorn” is a company worth more than $1 billion dollars, a term coined by venture capitalist Aileen Lee to capture the rare and almost magical status of such enterprises Conversely, Ocasio-Cortez’s unicorn myth is part of a general denial of economic realities that has taken hold on the left. The cost of these policies is borne by workers, who are being left to eat soundbites.
Democrats have sold voters on raising minimum wages as high as $30 per hour, even though such policies cost thousands of jobs. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg bragged about blocking a merger of JetBlue and Spirit Airlines, claiming that it would create cheaper flights and better jobs. Spirit has now been forced to close its doors, causing the loss of thousands of flights and jobs. A rising generation of voters is eagerly devouring soundbites and promises of the “warmth of collectivism” from figures like New York’s socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani. From promises of free buses to state-run grocery stores, voters are buying the same threadbare socialist schtick.
That was on display this week as socialist Seattle mayor Katie Wilson laughed when asked about the millionaires fleeing the city over rising taxes and crime. She delighted the crowd by mocking the departing millionaires with two words: “Like, bye!” The last laugh, however, rests with those fleeing a city facing a projected deficit of $114 million. As Wilson faces major cuts in the city budget, she gleefully mocks those whose tax dollars the city will desperately need to close this gap if it is to maintain public services.
Ironically, Wilson and other Democrats are quickly making their myth a reality. Soon, there will be no billionaire unicorns roaming the land. Even millionaires may become scarce, as these wealthy citizens move to less hostile states with less delusional leaders. The solution to this exodus is equally predictable. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who has campaigned for a billionaire tax in his state while representing Silicon Valley, has also joined with socialist Bernie Sanders to push for a national billionaire’s tax — an effort to guarantee that there is no place to hide. This is the same approach that tanked the French economy under François Mitterrand after the wealthy fled that nation.
These are not, however, a time for economics or history. It is the time of fables. Ocasio-Cortez has thrived in the land of socialist unicorns. She can even attend the ultra-rich Met Gala wearing an expensive “Eat-the-Rich” gown. Like her dress, it is fashionable to deny that billionaires created their wealth. It is your money for the taking. The result is that billionaires and even millionaires in states like New York may go the way of unicorns, fanciful creatures that once thrived in a land of jobs and growth.

U.S. Senator John Kennedy is now publicly demanding that Barack Hussein Obama return $120 million that he allegedly earned through ownership related to “Obamacare.”

“He allocated money under his own laws using taxpayer-generated prestige,” Kennedy said, calling it “an abuse of… pic.twitter.com/E0TYsFUEpq
— JOSH DUNLAP (@JDunlap1974) May 11, 2026

https://twitter.com/warDaniel47/status/2053414597722300913?s=20

ONE DAY BEFORE the hantavirus fear campaign began…WHO pandemic treaty talks COLLAPSED prompting Tedros to warn the next pandemic was "a matter ⁠of when, not if."

Then suddenly… ONE DAY LATER… the cruise ship hantavirus media frenzy exploded.

Don't fall for the Bill… https://t.co/GvEJfdqn1K pic.twitter.com/4dpZTGcmwd
— Nicolas Hulscher, MPH (@NicHulscher) May 10, 2026

Hantavirus – cruise ship – and false narratives galore!

My scientific and medical opinion as a scientist who did research on Hantavirus is that an inquiry into Dr Bix is warranted
Please share massively – accurate info –

1. First and foremost we studied Hantavirus in my lab for… https://t.co/wWbNY53lWi pic.twitter.com/3fwpnCXsQM
— Martin Zizi (@MartinZ_uncut) May 11, 2026

https://twitter.com/ChildrensHD/status/2053612044860199013?s=20

The Department of War celebrates the launch of https://t.co/odnX2WDaGO as a major milestone in government transparency. In just 12 hours, the site has received 340 MILLION hits from Americans and truth seekers worldwide seeking unfiltered UAP information.

This overwhelming…
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) May 9, 2026

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