MLK Archives - The Automatic Earth

The Biden Stranded NASA astronauts have sent a thank you to Elon Musk and Donald Trump.

Surprise, surprise! The media never covered it…
pic.twitter.com/sggFKUkIuU

— Chad Prather (@WatchChad) March 15, 2025

An absolute bombshell from @elonmusk on the latest episode of Verdict.

He reveals there are 14 magic money computers in the federal government that send money out of nothing.

Don’t miss the latest episode of Verdict wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe now!… pic.twitter.com/1tnJmJtiw9

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 17, 2025

Isaacson

Biographer Walter Isaacson reflects on the childhoods of Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and Einstein

Isaacson reflects on his biography of Elon Musk and Elon’s tough childhood of suffering from bullying in school and an emotionally abusive relationship with his father:

“I sometimes… pic.twitter.com/8glpr0QRqF

— Startup Archive (@StartupArchive_) March 17, 2025

Today: Putin-Trump call, JFK files release (80,000 pages), the astronauts come home.

Call starts at 9AM EDT. Putin doesn’t have a lot of room to move. And he will demand suspension of all weapons deliveries to Ukraine. Not an easy call for Trump.

• Trump-Putin To Hold Tuesday Call On Ending War In Ukraine (ZH)

Both the US and Russian sides have confirmed that Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will hold another phone call on Tuesday. Trump previewed that he plans to continue discussions to end the war in Ukraine, and he cryptically referenced negotiators having already discussed “dividing up certain assets.” “I’ll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday. A lot of work’s been done over the weekend,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One while en route back from Florida to Washington.n “We want to see if we can bring that war to an end. Maybe we can, maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance,” Trump said. The US is still proposing a 30-day temporary ceasefire, which Putin has already questioned as a likely means by which Ukrainian forces can simply rearm, replenish, and regroup.

“We will be talking about land. We will be talking about power plants,” Trump said when asked by a reporters about concessions. “I think we have a lot of it already discussed very much by both sides, Ukraine and Russia. We are already talking about that, dividing up certain assets.” Trump’s special envoy who met with Putin in Moscow last week, Steve Witkoff, has said that the Russian president “accepts the philosophy” of Trump’s ceasefire. Still, the Kremlin has repeatedly said it will not accept anything that’s a short-term solution. Putin and Trump had an initial phone call spanning 90-minutes less than a month after Trump was inaugurated, to talk about moving toward a potential Ukraine peace plan. The Russian Defense Ministry has meanwhile indicated that Moscow will demand Kiev’s neutral status and that NATO can never accept Ukraine for membership.

This appears to be Moscow’s only and main ‘security guarantee’ that it wants in place: “Part of these guarantees should be the neutral status of Ukraine, the refusal of Nato countries to accept it into the alliance,” Russia’s deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko said Sunday. Of course, this is to include a ban on NATO building up military infrastructure in Ukraine as well. But other Western allies are challenging the progress made, and are likely even trying to sabotage any potential deal. “If Ukraine requests allied forces to be on its territory, it is not up to Russia to accept or reject them,” French President Emmanuel Macron has said.

A district judge issues orders to the President and his government. Well, Boasberg is all over. Tanya Chutkan, Jack Smith, J6, etc. This is not an accident, it’s the lawfare machine. The only way to stop it is to cut off the money: NGOs. And the Magic Money Computers (see below).

• Judge Demands DOJ Reveal Classified Information On Deportation Flights (ZH)

US District Judge James Boasberg on Monday held a hearing after the Trump administration refused to turn two plane-fulls of criminal migrants around mid-flight, and may have allowed a third plane to depart following his Saturday order halting the deportations of suspected Tren de Aragua gang members. Boasberg on Saturday temporarily halted the Trump administration from using the 1789 Alien Enemies Act to deport the illegal immigrants, however DOJ lawyers told the judge that there were already two planes in the air – one headed for Honduras, and the other headed for El Salvador. While the judge verbally ordered the planes to be turned around, the directive was not included in his written order. As journalist Julie Kelly reports, Monday’s hearing was a complete power play by Boasberg. Kelly documented the exchange on X:

Boasberg: I have scheduled this hearing for fact finding on government’s response to my order. Focus on timeline involved and get a sense of numbers of people here. I just want “facts” not planning to issue any ruling about the government’s conduct.
Boasberg asks DOJ if it’s still true that the 5 individual plaintiffs are in the US. DOJ says yes.
“How many planes departed the US on Saturday under the proclamation?” DOJ says flights complied with his order but won’t disclose more to anyone.
Boasberg: “Anyone including me?”
DOJ: “Yes.”
Boasberg: “Based on what?”
DOJ cites national security concerns, flight patterns.
Boasberg: “You’re saying it’s classified? I can receive classified information. Or there is some other basis? Why are you showing up today without answers?”

Nothing but a power play.
“I’m just asking how you think my equitable powers do not attach to a plane that has departed the U.S., even if it’s in international airspace,” Boasberg said.
Boasberg then demanded the DOJ answer a list of questions, including;
How many planes left at any time Saturday based solely on the proclamation.
How many people were on each plane.
In what country did the planes land.
What time did they take off and land.
When were they in air space.
What time were individuals on the plane transferred to custody.

As Kelly notes further, “There are three flights at issue: two that left before any written order (and that DOJ says did not include individuals covered under the Alien Enemies Act) and one that might have departed after Boasberg’s minute order posted around 7:30pm on Saturday,” adding “ACLU wants a sworn statement that third flight did not include illegals covered by proclamation. Boasberg tells DOJ he will order the govt to file a sworn declaration as to the third flight.” Boasberg then made the argument that the DOJ should not have allowed any planes to take off on Saturday because they knew Boasberg had a hearing scheduled for 5pm… In other words, he’s arguing that the Trump administration should not have executed the President’s lawful order because he (Boasberg) was going to hold a hearing, and maybe stop the government from deporting the immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act.”This is batshit crazy,” said Kelly, adding that she would “love to see Boasberg’s comms with ACLU before lawsuit was filed Saturday morning.”

Miller

Hi. Want to see a murder on Live TV?

I give you White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller vs CNN’s Kasie Hunt.

Hunt asks if the Trump Administration ignored orders from the district judge to stop deportations.

Then, Fatality…
pic.twitter.com/uvzgRwGhCS

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 17, 2025

Different case, same principle.

“..it’s a judge that’s putting himself in the position of the president of the United States, who was elected by close to 80 million votes,” Trump said. “That’s a very dangerous thing for our country..”

• Trump Slams Federal Judge’s ‘Dangerous’ Ruling on Fired Federal Workers (DS)

President Donald Trump said it’s “ridiculous” that a federal judge ruled that the government must rehire fired government employees. “I don’t think that’s going to be happening, but we’ll have to see,” he told The Daily Signal aboard Air Force One on Sunday. A judge appointed by President Bill Clinton ruled Thursday that the Trump administration must reinstate some fired probationary government employees. He ruled that six agencies must give jobs back to thousands of recently hired employees who President Donald Trump fired in an effort to eliminate “waste, fraud, and abuse” from the federal government by cutting the federal workforce.

“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous, absolutely, it’s a judge that’s putting himself in the position of the president of the United States, who was elected by close to 80 million votes,” Trump said. “That’s a very dangerous thing for our country,” the president continued, ”and I would suspect that we’re going to have to get a decision from the Supreme Court, but that’s a very dangerous decision for our country.” U.S. District Judge William Alsup said employees the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, and Treasury must get their jobs back. “These are people, in many cases, they don’t show up for work,” Trump said. “Nobody even knows if they exist, and a judge wants us to pay them even if they don’t know they exist.”

“Where did we get the idea that federal judges can just act with impunity, jerking around the public interest like some show-off with a yoyo?”

• Welcome to FAFO-Land (Kunstler)

It’s as simple as this: the orgy of judicial lawfare put on by blob-adjacent Democratic Party seditionists trying to make the USA ungovernable is looking to get swatted. Hubris is a harsh mistress, but Nemesis is more like the gods’ re-po man, and he comes to the door with attitude, meaning bidness. Blob judges will get flushed out of their humid conclaves naked and find themselves, astoundingly, in the FO zone of FAFO-land. Do you think AG Bondi is playing tiddlywinks in Main Justice or that Kash Patel is just sitting there buffing his nails over at 935 Pennsylvania Avenue NW? Where did we get the idea that federal judges can just act with impunity, jerking around the public interest like some show-off with a yoyo? Case in point: Judge James Boasberg, head honcho of the DC federal district court stepped into the FAFO waiting room over the weekend when he ordered two planeloads of deported toxic human trash known as Tren de Aragua, bound for jail in El Salvador, to return to the USA.

Mr. Trump’s White House refused, saying the planes were already over international waters, outside the judge’s jurisdiction. Dem-blob lawyer Mark Zaid made the predictable next move, claiming that the matter will be grounds for Impeachment No. 3 against Mr. Trump post the 2026 midterm election. But, of course: strategery! The general purpose in this latest phase of lawfare is to choke the federal courts with so many restraining orders and injunctions that the White House lawyers find themselves locked into an endless Chinese fire drill of counter-filings, motions, writs, and appearances. It’s all that the so-called “resistance” has left, what with DOGE breaking up the racketeering operation that has funded the Dem’s defense of the blob for a decade. By which I mean the government funding of non-governmental orgs (ha!) to distribute payola to Dem foot-soldiers who do all the dirty work of protecting the rogue bureaucracy in a circle-jerk of power and payoffs. This includes the dirty work of Dem-blob lawyers such as Mark Zaid, Norm Eisen, Mary McCord, Marc Elias, Barbara McQuade, Joanna Lydgate et al.

The history of Judge Boasberg in particular presents a disturbing picture of a tool covering-up every act of the shadowy blob’s war against American citizens. Boasberg presided in the FISA court that fraudulently enabled the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane operation to attempt ousting newly-elected Donald Trump in 2017, and the many RussiaGate pranks that followed. As chief judge of the DC District, he oversaw the Jack Smith Special Counsel op and all the cases associated with it, including the Mar-a-Lago raid and the J-6 case in Tanya Chutkan’s crooked court. Boasberg allowed the prosecution of J-6ers under the unlawful use of the corporate fraud obstruction statute, 18USC§1512c2, a.k.a. the Enron law. He presided over the trial of Ray Epps, the shady character recorded on video repeatedly urging J-6 protestors to “go into the Capitol.” Boasberg gave Epps a suspended sentence while grandmothers who merely “paraded” through the rotunda between velvet ropes that day got sent to jail.

What can be done about judges like Boasberg? The prevailing view is: not much. I’m not so sure that’s true. While Rep. Brandon Gill (D-TX) announced last week that he will file articles of impeachment against Boasberg, a two-thirds majority would be required to convict him in any eventual Senate trial, so fuggeddabowdit. But federal judges are not immune from criminal investigation and prosecution, which is where AG Bondi and FBI Director Patel ought to come in. What’s probably standing in plain sight is a RICO conspiracy involving the aforesaid lawfare artists — Norm Eisen & Co — and the federal judiciary to deliberately bury the executive branch under burdensome fraudulent process, impede the executive branch’s ability to carry out its constitutional duties, and to obstruct justice.

Would you like to know if correspondence exists between these parties? Mr. Patel can ask them to produce it, and if they fail to, there’s a strong possibility that DNI Director Tulsi Gabbard can root it out of the NSA’s server farm. Depositions can be demanded. The lawfare lawyers will have to hire lawyers — just as all the targets of “Joe Biden” and Merrick Garland were obliged to lawyer-up when they were systematically persecuted from January, 2021 to January, 2025. The meters will run, ka-ching, ka-ching. It will be interesting to see who is footing the bill for that. You can be sure that it will be found out. Reid Hoffman? George and Alex Soros? Note: Dan Bongino was sworn in as Deputy Director of the FBIat 8:00 o’clock this morning. Nemesis is open for bidness. The lawfare gang would love all of this to ramp into a king-hell constitutional crisis. Could happen. Let them try. They don’t hold any of the levers of power the way they used to. A lot could go wrong for them. Welcome to FAFO-land.

To be precise, he didn’t “declare” it: “It’s not my decision — that’ll be up to a court — but I would say that they’re null and void,.”

• Trump Says Biden’s Autopen-Signed Pardons “Null and Void” (ZH)

Ten days or so after the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project disclosed that nearly every document bearing former President Biden’s signature during his first term had been signed by an autopen—except for one—questions arose over whether executive orders and pardons could be deemed invalid, as we noted that Biden’s staff likely leveraged his rapid cognitive deterioration to sign those documents via autopen. Overnight, President Trump declared that the 11th-hour pardons, including those given to members of Congress who investigated the January 6 insurrection, were “void, vacant, and of no further force or effect, because of the fact that they were done by autopen.” Some of those last-minute pardons include Deep Staters, such as former Representative Liz Cheney, retired General Mark Milley, and government scientist Anthony Fauci.

“The “Pardons” that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen,” Trump wrote on Truth Social late Sunday night. The president continued: “In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime.”

He went on to say that members of that House committee are “subject to investigation at the highest level”… “Therefore, those on the Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level. The fact is, they were probably responsible for the Documents that were signed on their behalf without the knowledge or consent of the Worst President in the History of our Country, Crooked Joe Biden!”

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One late last night: “It’s not my decision — that’ll be up to a court — but I would say that they’re null and void, because I’m sure Biden didn’t have any idea that it was taking place, and somebody was using an auto pen to sign off and to give pardons.”

https://twitter.com/TheChiefNerd/status/1901530391598555271?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1901530391598555271%7Ctwgr%5Eb15225da52c37de9c468fe65a7fe74f6bab0c219%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Ftrump-declares-bidens-autopen-signed-pardons-void

“This isn’t about political parties anymore; it’s about the integrity of the highest office in our land.”

• The Brilliance Behind Trump’s Move Declaring Biden’s Pardons ‘Void’ (Margolis)

President Donald Trump dropped a bombshell Sunday evening. As my PJ Media colleague Catherine Salgado reported, Trump declared Joe Biden’s pardons void due to the suspicious use of an autopen and serious questions about whether Sleepy Joe even knew what he was rubber-stamping. “The ‘Pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. But here’s what’s really fascinating — and telling. Biden’s social media team remains suspiciously silent. Not a peep from his X account disputing the autopen accusations. These are serious allegations that merit a response, yet we got nothing. Really makes you think, doesn’t it?

Trump’s second Truth Social post cuts right to the heart of the matter: “The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime.” This isn’t just about pardons; it’s about who was really running our government. How is this going to play out? Proving that Biden wasn’t aware of these pardons might be an uphill battle. But something tells me that’s not the point. While I suspect that it will be virtually impossible to prove that Biden didn’t authorize those pardons, I still think this may have been a brilliant move by Trump. Here’s why. Every legal challenge, every court filing, every public statement will keep this scandal front and center.

Even if the pardons ultimately stand, the damage to Biden’s legacy and the Democratic Party will be done. Why we’ve been reporting on this scandal for several days, mainstream media coverage of the scandal has been virtually nonexistent. However, I’m starting to see reports from mainstream outlets trickle out. So far, I’ve seen reports from NBC News, Axios, Bloomberg, The Hill, USA Today, NewsNation, and ABC News. The story is out there now, which means that the American people will see exactly how the Deep State operates behind the scenes with its cognitively challenged puppet, Biden.

Why focus specifically on pardons and not Biden’s executive orders or judicial nominations? Because Trump knows exactly what he’s doing. By challenging these pardons, he’s forcing several sitting Democrats who received preemptive pardons from Biden to publicly defend their get-out-of-jail-free cards and attack Trump for declaring Biden’s pardons void. The mainstream media can’t ignore this story when their favorite Democrats are squirming under the spotlight. The mere fact that we’re having this conversation about whether the President of the United States actually knew who he was pardoning should terrify every American. This isn’t about political parties anymore; it’s about the integrity of the highest office in our land.

As I’ve pointed out in previous coverage of the scandal, the use of an autopen isn’t unprecedented in presidential actions, but using one to sign executive orders and pardons while serious questions exist about the president’s mental faculties and consent? That’s a whole different ballgame. The Trump administration hints at having evidence to support these claims, and given its track record of exposing Democratic corruption, I wouldn’t bet against it. Will that be enough for them to be declared legally void? I’m skeptical, but again, that may not be the actual point. The Democrats thought they could quietly slip these pardons through without scrutiny. Thanks to President Trump’s strategic move, the American people will get to see exactly how the sausage is made in Biden’s White House, and it’s not pretty.

“..It’s approximately 80,000 pages..”

• Trump Says JFK Files Will Be Released Tuesday Without Redactions (JTN)

President Donald Trump announced on Monday at the Kennedy Center that the files regarding former President John F. Kennedy’s assassination will be released on Tuesday without redactions. “We are tomorrow announcing and giving all of the Kennedy files,” Trump said. “So people have been waiting for decades for this, and I’ve instructed my people that are responsible, lots of different people, put together by Tulsi Gabbard, and that’s going to be released tomorrow.” The release will happen Tuesday afternoon, The Daily Wire reported.

“We have a tremendous amount of paper. You’ve got a lot of reading. I don’t believe we’re going to redact anything. I said, just don’t redact. You can’t redact,” Trump added. “But we’re going to be releasing the JFK files, and that would be tomorrow.” “It’s approximately 80,000 pages,” he said. “So it’s a lot of stuff, and you’ll make your own determination.” Trump said that the documents will be released without summaries so the public and media could drawn their own conclusions.

“..because these were congressional records, the president lacked the authority to release them to the public without the assent of the House of Representatives.”

• Key to Uncovering Truth About MLK Assassination Lies With Congress (DS)

Since his return to the White House, President Donald Trump is close to signing 100 executive orders. The deluge has put the corporate media, and sometimes Congress, on their heels. Nevertheless, Congress is coming alongside Trump to keep one of his more interesting campaign promises: to declassify records related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., recently announced the formation of a congressional task force whose purpose is to examine declassified material in the public interest. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., will lead the task force, which will examine the government records that are declassified pursuant to Trump’s Jan. 23 executive order, among other things.

Luna explained that the “mission” of the task force is “to ensure these documents are released swiftly and in their entirety, giving the American people the truth they deserve.” As Luna has repeatedly noted on social media, the task force itself has no declassification authority, which is the exclusive prerogative of the president. Nonetheless, it can support the declassification of government records related to these assassinations by holding government officials accountable for any attempts to obstruct the timely release of these records to the public.Indeed, in a recent post on X, Luna stated, “If @POTUS’ executive order to declassify these files is obstructed, we won’t hesitate to hold those responsible accountable. Remember: [Attorney General] Pam Bondi is at the DOJ [Department of Justice] now. If Congress votes to hold someone in contempt, she’ll back us.

”While it is true that Congress has no declassification authority over records of the executive branch, this does not mean that Congress has no role to play in the complete declassification and public release of government records related to these assassinations. This is particularly true with respect to the assassination of King. In 1977, the House of Representatives established the Select Committee on Assassinations, which was tasked with reinvestigating the assassinations of President Kennedy and King. Two years later, the committee released its findings. Albeit couched in highly tentative terms, the committee concluded that both Kennedy and King were assassinated “as a result of a conspiracy.”

Per House rules at the time, all records associated with these investigations were sealed from public access for 50 years—until Jan. 3, 2029. With the passage of the JFK Records Act in 1992, however, the timeline for the public release of the committee’s records related to the Kennedy assassination was superseded and became subject to immediate release with only the most sensitive records being withheld until Oct. 26, 2017. Although some of these records required declassification by executive agencies prior to public release, the vast majority did not. More importantly, because these were congressional records, the president lacked the authority to release them to the public without the assent of the House of Representatives.

Thus, if Trump intends to declassify and publicly release “all records in the federal government’s possession” pertaining to the assassination of King, he will need the House of Representatives to assent to the release of all its records relating to the committee’s investigation of the assassination in advance of its original Jan. 3, 2029, deadline. Accordingly, Luna and her colleagues can strike an immediate blow for full government transparency by requesting that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., instruct the House Clerk to make these records available immediately to the public. Undoubtedly, the House Clerk will determine that some of these records require a declassification review by the president, but that doesn’t mean the public has to wait for declassification to see the rest of the evidence committee investigators relied upon to support their conclusion that King was assassinated “as a result of a conspiracy.”

Independence.

• The Strongest Case for Trump’s Tariffs I’ve Heard Yet (Margolis)

Donald Trump’s tariff policies remain a lightning rod for debate. Democrats are sounding the alarm, warning of dire economic fallout and painting a picture of looming catastrophe. Batya Ungar-Sargon, deputy opinion editor of Newsweek, made one of the strongest, most effective cases yet for former President Donald Trump’s tariffs during the latest episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher.” She broke down exactly why these tariffs are necessary, and by the end, she left Bill Maher flustered. Ungar-Sargon’s explanation couldn’t have been clearer: manufacturing jobs and economic nationalism are crucial for the American middle class.When the conversation turned to the economy of the 1970s, Ungar-Sargon wasted no time explaining why so many Americans look back on that era with nostalgia. “In the ‘70s, the largest share of our GDP was in the middle class,” she said. “And that was not separate from the fact that 25% of our economy was in manufacturing.”

Maher sought clarification, asking if that meant “most of what was produced came from the middle, and now it comes from the rich.”“Now, the top 20% controls over 50% of the GDP,” Ungar-Sargon confirmed, highlighting how economic power has been funneled away from the working class. “That manufacturing is still being done; it’s just being done in other countries.”Maher interjected, noting that the jobs have moved overseas for “wages we will not work for.”This, of course, is true, but it also proved Ungar-Sargon’s point. “Yes, that’s exactly right. You’re right, Bill,” Ungar-Sargon responded. “That’s what the tariffs are for. They are to make American workers more competitive in the global market.” She then challenged the defeatist attitude that has allowed China to dominate industries once vital to the American workforce.

“Why are we accepting that there should be a race to the bottom? You know, China, what is its competitive advantage over us? It’s that it pays slave wages. Why should we accept that?” She laid out Trump’s argument for protecting key industries, explaining that his trade policies aren’t just about economics but national security. “Trump says there are five industries that we cannot have any kind of national security without having a stake in them—pharmaceuticals, lumber, steel, aluminum,” she said, adding that she had momentarily forgotten the fifth. “These are really important, that we have a stake in the manufacturing of the things that we need as a nation. So that when China decides that it wants to go to war against us, we’re not relying on them for steel and aluminum in order to fight them.”Maher, clearly caught off guard by the well-reasoned argument, could only muster a flustered response: “Okay, well, at least that’s an answer.”And it was an answer—one the left refuses to confront, because deep down, they know she’s right. Maher certainly seemed to. He had no rebuttal. Why? Because there isn’t one.

Batya Ungar-Sargon stuns Bill Maher into submission when talking about Trump's rationale on tariffs:
BUS: "The 70's the largest share of our GDP was in the middle class. Now the top 20% controls over 50% of the GDP.
That manufacturing is still being done: It's just being done in… pic.twitter.com/s8REPsSUH8

— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) March 15, 2025

“..what made them “radical” and “crazy” is actually how very American-as-applepie they were.”

• Why Has Trump Finally Pulled The Plug On Deep State Propaganda? (Amar)

He’s done it again. Or rather, they have. As part of their curious slash-and-burn crusade to dismantle – for better or worse – large swathes of the American state from the top, President Donald Trump and his bestie-in-chief Elon Musk with his gang of enforcers at DOGE have put the axe to yet another seven government agencies. Carried out by presidential executive order, this particular blitz is aimed at offices busy with things as diverse as labor dispute mediation and the mitigation of homelessness. The method of Trumpist attack is simple and already familiar: The targeted agencies are not literally shut down, which Trump cannot legally do by decree. Instead, their budgets and staff are pruned so aggressively that they have to cease operations. Yet, tellingly, there is only one kind of cut that has really made centrists, liberals, and the mainstream media furious. Nope, not the hit on the homeless; and not the one on labor relations either.

What caused a ruckus instead is that Trump and Musk have gone after state propaganda. To be precise, state propaganda for the rest of the world. For one of the offices that has been given the Trumpist flamethrower treatment this time is the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM). And that is, in reality, the US ministry for propaganda abroad. While it’s a fairly new (2018) label, USAGM’s roots reach deep into the fetid soil of the last century’s Cold War. Originally, there were Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and Radio Liberty. Voice of America was founded during World War II and was quickly retooled afterwards to be used as a Cold War propaganda weapon by the CIA. Its younger cousins, Radio Free Europe, founded in 1950, and Radio Liberty (1951) were, literally, CIA fronts.

But that “involvement was kept secret until the late 1960s for fear of Soviet retaliation,” as Encyclopedia Britannica puts it with fine British understatement as well as a whopping portion of brute disinformation: The fact that the CIA remained in hiding was, of course, not due to the big bad Russians (the Soviets at the time) being so terribly scary. It was simply a means to manipulate publics in the East and the West and present what was geopolitically driven propaganda as ‘independent news’. After 1971, the CIA (officially) ended its (direct) control. If you believe that means an agency specializing in lying – and so much worse – was no longer pulling the strings, I have a Ukrainian ‘democracy’, complete with ‘civil society’ and all the fixings, to sell you. Formally, the Board for International Broadcasting took over. It was appointed by the president, which tells you all you need to know about how important this global propaganda machine was to Washington.

Finally, after further label changes, the board morphed into the USAGM. It ended up controlling not just Voice of America, as well as Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty – long merged into RFE/RL – but a host of other outlets, including Radio Free Asia, and the very honest-sounding (not) Office of Cuba Broadcasting. According to USAGM’s own website, it was reaching an audience of 427 million per week in 64 languages, and via traditional broadcasting as well as the internet. Those lucky viewers, listeners, and readers were fed an unhealthy diet corresponding to the US “national interest” (in USAGM’s own terms) of “more than 3,000 hours of original programming each week.”

Say what you will about this American ministry of foreign propaganda, but it was bigger and richer than anything comparable the poor old Soviets ever managed to rig up. And that is the organization that Trump and Musk have just cut down. The Cold War, of course, has long been over. Any reasonable person’s response to this overdue move would be: ‘What took you so long?’ Elon Musk had a point when posting that the propaganda outlets are “just radical crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1bn/year of US taxpayer money.” Except, they were by no means only talking to themselves, unfortunately. And what made them “radical” and “crazy” is actually how very American-as-applepie they were.

“..peacekeeping and NATO are actually incompatible things..”

• NATO ‘Peacekeepers’ in Ukraine Would Snatch War From the Jaws of Peace (Sp.)

Russia’s demands for “ironclad” guarantees on Ukraine include a firm rejection of NATO “peacekeeping forces” on Ukrainian soil, no matter the “nameplate” the alliance may try to insert them under, Deputy Foreign Minister Grushko has said. What are the uncertainties Russia faces amid peace talks with the US? We asked a top political risk consultant. “Any so-called ‘ironclad’ guarantees for Russia will likely come down to one thing: keeping Ukraine out of NATO. That, along with a promise that Western powers will stop meddling in Ukraine’s internal affairs, would be the only realistic foundation for any lasting settlement,” foreign affairs analyst, political risk consultant and lawyer Adriel Kasonta explained.

“But here’s the problem —when has the West ever been good at keeping its promises to Russia? Time and again, Western leaders have made commitments only to walk them back when it suits their interests. NATO expansion was never supposed to reach Russia’s doorstep, yet here we are. Obama and Bush both spoke of ‘resets’ with Moscow, only for relations to deteriorate further,” Kasonta told Sputnik. “Now, Trump is pushing for a deal with Russia, not out of goodwill, but because he sees China as the bigger threat,” the observer said. “The question is, what happens after him? What stops a future U.S. administration from reversing course once again? If history is anything to go by, Russia has every reason to stay on high alert.” “If we’re talking about NATO peacekeeping forces, peacekeeping and NATO are actually incompatible things,” Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in an interview with Russian media on Sunday.

“We know the history of NATO, and although they boast very much about being a defensive alliance, the real history of NATO consists of military operations, aggression against unarmed states without justification, just to emphasize once again its hegemony in global and regional affairs,” Grushko said. “Therefore, all these conversations” about NATO peacekeepers in Ukraine “are absolutely inappropriate. They are absurd. And I think that even the average person in the West understands the real cost of this kind of deployment…We absolutely do not care under which nameplate NATO contingents could be deployed on the territory of Ukraine, whether the EU, NATO or in a national capacity. In any case, if they appear there with the consent of Ukraine, that means they are located in the conflict zone, with all the consequences” this entails, Grushko stressed.

“Moscow already views Western involvement in Ukraine—whether through arms shipments or foreign fighters—as an indirect war,” Kasonta said, commenting on the deputy foreign minister’s remarks. “Sending NATO troops would remove any ambiguity, risking escalation on a whole new level.” As for the UK, whose government is reportedly prepared to deploy peacekeeping troops of its own to Ukraine “for years,” “London is just following Washington’s lead,” the observer said.“The UK doesn’t have the military capacity or public support to play a serious role in Ukraine. No one in Britain is eager to send troops to die in a war that doesn’t concern them. The only people who seem to care are politicians who have spent years hyping up the conflict and now can’t admit they were wrong. Rather than face reality, they double down, pretending that the war is still winnable.” Kasonta summed up.

Another way to feed the lawfare machine: print money wherever and whenever you want.

• Musk: Feds’ “Magic Money Computers” Issue Payments “Out Of Thin Air” (ZH)

Elon Musk says that DOGE has discovered the US government has “magic money computers” that make payments “out of thin air.” Sitting down with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for his podcast that was recorded at the White House, Cruz said: “One of the things you told me about is what you called, ‘Magic Money Computers.’ So tell us about it, ’cause I never heard of that ’til you brought it up.”

.@elonmusk: "One of the biggest fraud holes we've uncovered … is that the government can give money to a so called nonprofit … They then give themselves … insane salaries, expense everything, buy jets and homes … on the taxpayer dime … This is happening at scale." pic.twitter.com/oqe9L5OShr

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) March 17, 2025

Musk: “Okay, so, you may think like the government computers all talk to each other, they synchronize, they add up what funds are going somewhere. And, that they’re coherent … And that the numbers that you’re presented as a Senator are actually the real numbers.”
Cruz: “One would think!”
Musk: “One would think – they’re not … I mean they’re not totally wrong, but they’re probably off by five percent or 10 percent in some cases. So, I call it ‘Magic Money Computer’: any computer that can make money out of thin air. That’s magic money.”
Cruz: “So how does that work?” Cruz asked.
Musk: “It just issues payments.”
Cruz: “And you said there’s something like 11 of these computers at Treasury that are sending out trillions in payments?”
Musk replied that they’re mostly at the Department of Treasury, and others are at the Department of Health and Human Services as well as the Department of Defense.
Musk: “We’ve found now 14 ‘Magic Money Computers. They just send money out of nothing.”

.@elonmusk: "The fraud we're seeing is overwhelmingly on the left … The single biggest thing that they're worried about is that DOGE is going to turn off fraudulent payments of entitlements … to illegals … This is why they really hate my guts and want me to die." pic.twitter.com/dZDrtvxw87

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) March 17, 2025

Musk also told Cruz that DOGE will save taxpayers $1 trillion by the end of fiscal year 2026… “If you look at DOGE now, you look at the government and what you’re finding, what percentage have you guys even gotten to and how much of it is ‘mars’ where you haven’t even gotten there yet because there’s so much you’re finding out here,” asked co-host Ben Ferguson. “You seem like a timeline guy – when you say ‘I want to get in there and get numbers and things’ – how far are we from the endgame, where you’ve seen it all – you know, to process it all, and fix it. Are we years away? Months away?” Musk: “Not years. I’m reasonably confident that we’ll be able to get a trillion dollars of waste and fraud out, meaning that it will have, we’ll have a net savings of FY26 of a trillion dollars, provided we’re allowed to continue and our progress is not impeded.”

BREAKING: TED CRUZ INTERVIEWS ELON ON DOGE

Senator Ted Cruz and TV host Ben Ferguson just released this new interview with Elon Musk on DOGE's progress and other topics.

Timestamps:

0:46 Improving gov: 80% waste, 20% fraud
4:16 Stacey Abrams org & non-profit scams
5:37 The gov… pic.twitter.com/QiRoFmEqNr

— ELON CLIPS (@ElonClipsX) March 17, 2025

Very tough and dehumanizing. But the gang members appear dehumanized anyway.

• Bukele: New Partnership With US Advances Fight Against Organized Crime (JTN)

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said it’s partnership with the U.S. on transferring illegal immigrants linked to gang activity to prison in El Salvador helps both countries crack down on crime. Under Bukele, the homicide rate has dropped to its lowest point since the civil war in El Salvador in 1992.”The first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country. They were immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year (renewable). The United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us,” Bukele wrote on X.”Over time, these actions, combined with the production already being generated by more than 40,000 inmates engaged in various workshops and labor under the Zero Idleness program, will help make our prison system self-sustainable. As of today, it costs $200 million per year,” he added.

Bukele said the partnership is helping dismantle the MS-13 gang. “On this occasion, the U.S. has also sent us 23 MS-13 members wanted by Salvadoran justice, including two ringleaders. One of them is a member of the criminal organization’s highest structure. This will help us finalize intelligence gathering and go after the last remnants of MS-13, including its former and new members, money, weapons, drugs, hideouts, collaborators, and sponsors,” he said. “As always, we continue advancing in the fight against organized crime. But this time, we are also helping our allies, making our prison system self-sustainable, and obtaining vital intelligence to make our country an even safer place. All in a single action. May God bless El Salvador, and may God bless the United States,” he added.

Bukele

REPORT: Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller secretly orchestrated the Venezuelan gang members' flights to El Salvador to get the criminals out of the country before an activist judge could take action.

Brilliant.

According to Axios, the Trump administration *ignored* the court… pic.twitter.com/oojJSyxWgL

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 16, 2025

“..before he became associated with green beer and leprechauns, Saint Patrick was a symbol of freedom of speech.”

• Celebrate Saint Patrick by Chasing Censors Out of Ireland (Turley)

With the arrival of Saint Patrick’s Day, our nation’s close affinity to Ireland was on full display in the White House as President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance hosted Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin. We are two countries joined by blood and tradition. Of course, there are tensions over trade conflicts with the European Union and Ireland, which quickly came to the surface in the meeting. In the end, however, we are likely to resolve those trade problems. The fact is that we need each other, both economically and culturally. Yet, there is one chasm between the two countries that not only remains wide but is widening: the gap between how each country handles free speech. And Martin would much prefer to talk about Irish socks than Irish censorship. Ironically, before he became associated with green beer and leprechauns, Saint Patrick was a symbol of freedom of speech.

Although there is no evidence beyond pious legend that he chased snakes out of Ireland (there likely never were snakes in Ireland), he did chase slavery and human sacrifice out of the country, despite the initial unpopularity of his reforms. A former slave himself, St. Patrick’s public statements against slavery, paganism and longstanding traditions were viewed as harmful to social tranquility and harmony. Does that sound familiar? Today, Ireland, like many of our European allies, is shredding free speech with laws criminalizing viewpoints and regulating speech by its content. “Irish eyes [may be] smiling,” but Irish tongues are increasingly silent in the face of government investigations and prosecutions. The growing conflict between the U.S. and the Irish could not be more telling.

Irish immigrants, including some of my relatives, came to this country to live freely, and many soon became lawyers fighting for individual rights. Just before Martin’s arrival in Washington, his government was hammering Elon Musk and conservative sites in the latest crackdown on free speech. The most recent flashpoint was a small pro-life platform called Gript, a rallying point for many in his Catholic country who oppose abortion. The government demanded that X turn over Gript’s data on sources and users. An Irish court on June 13, 2024, sought the data on private accounts as well as IP addresses and messages linked to Gript coverage of the April protests against Ireland’s housing of documented migrants. The violence in those protests gave the Irish government another justification to curtail free speech.

In yet another defining moment for Musk on free speech, he not only resisted but informed Irish citizens what the government was doing. That transparency and opposition sent the Irish government into a full-on rage. After the arrest of 34 people and extensive property damage in the anti-immigration protests, the government moved to expand on its already draconian anti-free-speech laws. A new bill was introduced criminalizing “preparing or possessing material likely to incite violence or hatred against persons on account of their protected characteristics.” That includes any material concerning national or ethnic origin, as well as protected characteristics including “transgender and a gender other than those of male and female.”

The bill included crimes relating to “xenophobia” and can be committed merely by the “public dissemination or distribution of tracts, pictures or other material.” Then-Prime Minister Leo Varadkar declared his intent to “modernize laws against hatred” by criminalizing speech that his government decides is “incitement.” He stated an intention to not only stop those engaged in violence but those who say things that might arouse their anger. The powerful Irish Green Party was all-in with censorship and speech prosecutions. As Green Party Sen. Pauline O’Reilly admitted, “We are restricting freedom, but we’re doing it for the common good.”

“This incomplete picture painted a grim outlook of crop yields declining with only modest warming..”

“The additional information showed “positive average output gains for all crop types across the warming scenarios even up to 5 degrees Celsius..”

• Study Destroys Basis of EPA Climate Regulations (Jayaraj)

For two decades, the public has been bombarded with dire warnings of an impending climate-induced agricultural apocalypse. The claim is that a climate warmed excessively by the carbon dioxide emissions of human activity will ravage the food supply and plunge humanity into famine and chaos. For many reasons, none of this ever made sense. Now, a new study published in Scientific Reports has turned this narrative of catastrophe on its head, revealing that a global temperature rise of even 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) would not reduce crop yields—and might even increase harvests. The paper, written by economist Ross McKitrick, dismantles a key pillar of the Biden administration’s always-suspect upward revision of the “social cost of carbon”—a metric used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to quantify the supposed economic damage of carbon dioxide emissions.

The fivefold increase of the social cost of carbon—from $51 per ton of carbon dioxide to more than $250—was based partly on the assumption that warming would devastate agriculture. The new findings aren’t just a minor correction to the scientific record; they are a reversal of dangerous conclusions drawn from sloppy—perhaps even fraudulent—analyses. Everything we’ve been told about climate change and food security is wrong. How did the EPA arrive at a social cost of carbon that equates with mass starvation? In 2014, a widely cited meta-analysis of crop-model studies claimed that a warming climate would slash global crop yields, an assertion that fed into subsequent models that influenced the Biden EPA’s social cost of carbon hike.

That original dataset, however, was flawed—crippled by missing variables. Of its 1,722 records, nearly half lacked critical data, such as changes in CO2 concentrations, leaving only 862 usable entries. This incomplete picture painted a grim outlook of crop yields declining with only modest warming. McKitrick, undeterred by what had become climate orthodoxy, dug deeper. By revisiting the source material, he recovered 360 additional records, bringing the total to 1,222—about a 40% increase in usable data. The additional information showed “positive average output gains for all crop types across the warming scenarios even up to 5 degrees Celsius”—a temperature jump far beyond warming predictions of the U.N.’s International Panel on Climate Change. This isn’t cherry-picking; it’s what happens when the full scope of evidence is examined.

“If over the next 100-200 years, yields of all crop types increase, it does not stand to reason that a global trade model could generate global welfare reductions,” writes McKitrick in his concluding remarks. McKitrick’s findings, grounded in a more comprehensive dataset, suggest the doomsday assumption was built on sand. Far from heralding a collapse, the data show crop yields at least holding steady and even improving with significant warming. Moreover, plants are not too frail for a warming world. They’re built to thrive in the contemporary temperatures of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Most crops fall into two categories: C3 and C4 plants, so named to reflect their different photosynthetic processes. C3 crops, such as wheat, rice, and soybeans, flourish in elevated CO2 conditions characteristic of the 21st century.Carbon dioxide is food to plants, necessary for the process of photosynthesis—a process where oxygen is a byproduct. Higher levels of CO2 act like a supercharger, boosting photosynthesis and water-use efficiency. Studies have long shown that CO2 enrichment in greenhouses can increase C3 yields by 20% to 40%. C4 crops—like corn and sorghum—are less responsive to CO2 but do well in hotter, drier conditions. In summary, if crop yields don’t crash—if they hold steady or grow—the rationale for a sky-high social cost of carbon disappears.

“..possibly due to increased exposure to visual media..”

• People Becoming More Stupid (RT)

Human intellectual abilities such as reasoning and problem-solving are diminishing, possibly due to increased exposure to visual media, the Financial Times (FT) has reported. Human intelligence appeared to peak in the early 2010s and has been in decline since, the FT added, citing PISA, an international benchmarking test for 15-year-olds that includes reading, mathematics and science, and adult cognitive evaluations. The reported trend comes amid a rise in artificial intelligence (AI) which, by some estimates, may surpass human IQ in a matter of years.The recorded spike in the share of high school students who reported difficulties in PISA tests coincides with a broad change in people’s relationship with information, such as the transition away from reading and towards visual content, the publication explained.

While active, intentional use of digital technologies can often be beneficial, being passively exposed to infinite content on social media coupled with frequent context-switching has been shown to negatively impact attention span, memory, and self-regulation. The documented decline in reading among Americans reportedly comes alongside a decrease in numeracy and other forms of problem-solving in most countries. Human intellectual capabilities, such as critical thinking, have also been impacted by generative AI, according to recent research by Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University. Outsourcing thoughts to AI leaves people’s minds “atrophied and unprepared,” which can lead to “the deterioration of cognitive faculties that ought to be preserved.”

Companies and governments have poured billions into AI research, focusing on areas such as machine learning, natural language processing, and automation. Tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI have introduced increasingly sophisticated models, such as ChatGPT and Gemini, capable of performing complex cognitive tasks.AI could become smarter than humans in the next three years, tech billionaire Elon Musk warned in December, shortly after his AI company, xAI, launched its first image generation model, Aurora.

Sums up the day.

• Federal Judge Orders Astronauts Be Returned To Space Station (BBee)

A district judge has issued a ruling saying Trump lacked the Constitutional authority to pick up two astronauts who have been stranded at the International Space Station for several months. SpaceX has been ordered to return the astronauts immediately. “I will not stand by while Donald Trump abuses his power like a dictator,” said Judge Earl Flanders in his ruling. “Trump has no authority to pick up these astronauts, and I can say that because I’m a federal judge, and no one is allowed to argue with me, and everyone has to do what I say.” Eyewitnesses say the judge then donned a Keffiyeh and spray painted a Cybertruck while screaming “Black Lives Matter.”

Sources in Washington say Trump plans to brazenly ignore the lawful order and bring the astronauts home anyway. “This is just the kind of wanton lawlessness we should expect from a dictator who is literally Hitler,” said one legal analyst. The SpaceX craft docked at the ISS on Sunday and was preparing for the return journey to Earth when the orders stopped the process short. “Please bring us home, I just want a cheeseburger and a nap in a horizontal bed,” said one of the crew. At publishing time, Trump was polling at 100% approval among the stranded astronaut demographic.

Extremism

John Cleese nailed it 30 years ago. Amazing how little things change.
Repost: @builders @joerogan pic.twitter.com/j69FTIJdWj

— Joe Rogan Podcast (@joeroganhq) March 16, 2025

Feynman
https://twitter.com/21WIRE/status/1901604907519467850

Someone took an action shot of their dog jumping in the water and it will haunt my sleep forever pic.twitter.com/cdVrTTKbLH

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) March 16, 2025

Scent
https://twitter.com/Yoda4ever/status/1901267216043024582

Mozart

Mozart – Rondo Alla Turcapic.twitter.com/cZHzsglMhH

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) March 17, 2025

Scott

Democrats are about five minutes away from accusing the statue of giving a N*zi salute, so whatever. https://t.co/XhBQXYptYL

— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) March 17, 2025

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

Debt Rattle January 24 2025

Jan 242025

January 24, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:56 am Finance Tagged with: bitcoin, COVID, GOP, JFK, MLK, nazi, Oval Office, peace, Putin, RFK, Trump, Ukraine, Zelensky 34 Responses »

Salvador Dali Hallucination. Six Images of Lenin on a Grand Piano 1931

• I Would Meet With Putin Immediately – Trump (RT)

• Trump Knows Ukraine Conflict Means Nuclear WWIII, Gives Peace A Chance (SCF)

• Zelensky Says He Could Speak With Putin (RT)

• Zelensky Is ‘No Angel’ – Trump (RT)

• Trump Gives First Oval Office Interview (JTN)

• Trump To Pull 20,000 US Troops From Europe – Sources (RT)

• Trump Orders Plan for Release of JFK, RFK, MLK Assassination Records (ET)

• Nazispolozza: The Left’s Third Reich Mania Collapses into Comedy (Turley)

• US News Channel Fires Presenter After She Calls Musk A Nazi (RT)

• GOP To Push Trump Nominees Through Democratic Walls (JTN)

• SCOTUS Denies RFK Jr. Request To Block California’s Doctor Investigations (ZH)

• COVID Death Coverup: Trump-Hating Lawyers at DOJ Strike Again (PJM)

• Larry Fink Predicts $700,000 Bitcoin (RT)

• Judge Blocks Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order (ET)

• West Could Orchestrate More International Conflicts – Russian Spy Chief (RT)

• UK Faces ‘Debt Death Spiral’ – Ray Dalio (RT)

Trump WEF

NOW – Trump Sticks it to WEF Globalists, Touts His America-First Agenda to the World Economic Forum in Davos |

America is back.

President Trump just stood before an entire conference of globalists at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, and made it… pic.twitter.com/aLiw1W8pmi

— Overton (@overton_news) January 23, 2025

TRUMP: We're Asking Saudi Arabia And OPEC To Lower Oil Prices To Help End Ukraine War

"Saudi Arabia will be investing at least $600 billion in America. But I'll be asking the Crown Prince, who's a fantastic guy, to round it out to $1 trillion."

"I'm also going to ask Saudi… pic.twitter.com/S3bWB7JMT9

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) January 23, 2025

J6
https://twitter.com/i/status/1882144316145226065

Listen to this father speak out about what was done to his son who was a J6 prisoner. pic.twitter.com/2vAxVaoRX9

— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) January 23, 2025

Chamath

Chamath Palihapitiya: While Silicon Valley created AirPods and Instagram Reels, Elon created reusable rockets and electric cars.

“I think it's fair to say that we have had a lost decade in Silicon Valley.

And when you look underneath why, what are the two most or three most or… pic.twitter.com/K4AwxWYbCX

— ELON CLIPS (@ElonClipsX) January 24, 2025

The best

A Message to the Unvaccinated .. pic.twitter.com/mwNGVtXMnC

— “Sudden And Unexpected” (@toobaffled) January 22, 2025

OMG

‘THE DEEP STATE IS REAL:’ White House Advisor Reveals How Bureaucracy Protects “Its Own Interests,” Predicts Bureaucracy Will ‘Crush’ RFK Jr. as HHS Secretary; "If I Was Given an Order… I Would Either Try to Block It or Resign”

“RFK Jr. is a very bad pick for HHS… it’s… pic.twitter.com/eYt7s935EJ

— O’Keefe Media Group (@OKeefeMedia) January 23, 2025

Putin says Zelensky is not a legitimate representative of Ukraine. No deals can be made with him. Has anyone told Trump?

• I Would Meet With Putin Immediately – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump has said he is ready to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as quickly as possible to negotiate an end to the Ukraine conflict. Trump, who took office on Monday, has repeatedly pledged to quickly negotiate a settlement between Russia and Ukraine. “From what I hear, Putin would like to see me, and we’ll leave as soon as we can. I’d meet immediately,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday. “Every day we don’t meet, soldiers are being killed on the battlefield.” The Kremlin previously said it was open to such talks. Speaking to reporters earlier this week, Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, denied that a Putin-Trump phone call was in the works. Trump has reportedly given his Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, 100 days to hammer out a settlement between Moscow and Kiev.

On Wednesday, the US president threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia if Putin refuses to accept an unspecified “deal” to end the conflict. “Such dialogue between the two presidents had occurred during Trump’s first term,” Peskov said, adding that the Kremlin “has not received [such] signals so far.” Russia has insisted that Ukraine must abandon its plan to join the US-led NATO alliance in favor of becoming a neutral country. Putin has also demanded that Kiev renounce its claims to Crimea and four other regions that have voted to leave Ukraine and become part of Russia. Speaking to Bloomberg on Wednesday, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky argued that communication with Kiev should be “a priority” for the Trump administration. He added that he was open to negotiations if Trump could provide tangible “security guarantees” to Ukraine.

“..at least he is willing to give peace a chance with Russia over Ukraine. That alone makes Trump a welcome change from the vile warmongering of Biden and his would-be successor Kamala Harris.”

• Trump Knows Ukraine Conflict Means Nuclear WWIII, Gives Peace A Chance (SCF)

The chances of a peace deal in Ukraine are suddenly a lot higher under President Donald Trump only because he has a realistic sense of a nuclear Third World War happening between the United States and Russia if that conflict is not ended promptly. Peter Kuznick, an esteemed American professor of history, says that the Biden administration brought the world closer to a nuclear conflagration than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Biden did this by relentlessly arming Ukraine with weapons to strike deeper and deeper into Russia instead of trying to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Indeed, there was no diplomatic effort from Washington under Biden. It was ideologically and propaganda-driven for confrontation, as was the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris.

Kuznick points out that Trump is no John F Kennedy in terms of the latter’s depth of historical and philosophical knowledge. But in comparison with Joe Biden, Trump has shown more humanity and common sense by not insulting Putin and in reaching out for a peaceful end to the slaughter in Ukraine. Biden called Putin a thug and said he would back Ukraine as long as it takes to defeat Russia. The last Democrat administration spent $175 billion of U.S. taxpayers’ money propping up a NeoNazi regime in Kiev that has lost over one million military casualties since the war erupted in February 2022. By contrast, newly inaugurated President Trump says that he wants to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin as a priority to find a peaceful way out of the conflict and to avoid a catastrophic escalation between nuclear powers.

Putin has welcomed a meeting with the new president and said he appreciates the urgent concern to avoid a nuclear disaster. Kuznick is author of The Untold History of the United States, which was coauthored with acclaimed film director Oliver Stone. The book was turned into an award-winning television series aired on Showtime, Netflix and other channels. Kuznick deplores the way the U.S. and NATO partners undermined international security by expanding on Russia’s borders despite earlier promises to the Soviet leaders that would not happen. If peace is to be found in Ukraine, it must be based on a bigger picture of lasting global security that considers all nations’ concerns. That means the United States must treat Russia’s national security concerns over NATO’s expansion seriously and respectfully.

Can the Trump administration deliver? It is packed with hawkish figures like Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Donald Trump is better placed than the Biden adminstration to cut a deal with Russia for peace in Ukraine and thereby avoid nuclear disaster, says Kuznick. Trump’s cabinet is filled with billionaires and his mercurial, superficial understanding of the world can be deprecated. Maybe his peaceful aspirations are muddled and not feasible given that Trump is surrounded by hawkish figures. But at least he is willing to give peace a chance with Russia over Ukraine. That alone makes Trump a welcome change from the vile warmongering of Biden and his would-be successor Kamala Harris.

“According to Putin, the move violated the Ukrainian constitution, leaving parliament as the sole legitimate authority in the country.”

• Zelensky Says He Could Speak With Putin (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has said he could engage in direct peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin if US President Donald Trump provides Kiev with enough security guarantees, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. Zelensky signed a decree banning himself from any negotiations with Putin in the fall of 2022 after the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, along with the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, officially became part of Russia as a result of referendums. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga said earlier this month that the legislation remains in force. However, in an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday in Davos, Zelensky appeared to have changed his stance on the issue. According to the agency, the Ukrainian leader now says he wants to secure a commitment from Trump to support and secure Ukraine before engaging with Putin.

“The only question is what security guarantees and honestly I want to have understanding before the talks. If he can guarantee this strong and irreversible security for Ukraine, we will move along this diplomatic path,” he said. Last year, Putin said he would only be able to negotiate with Zelensky if he were to hold an election and win it, to restore his legitimacy. Zelensky remains in power in Ukraine despite his term having officially expired in May last year. The Ukrainian leader canceled the presidential vote, citing martial law that he imposed due to the conflict with Russia. According to Putin, the move violated the Ukrainian constitution, leaving parliament as the sole legitimate authority in the country.

On Tuesday, US President Trump said he is ready to meet with Putin “anytime” to discuss a diplomatic settlement to the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. “We are talking to Zelensky. We are going to be talking with President Putin very soon and we will see how it all happens,” he said. Earlier this week, the Russian leader commended Trump’s intention to resume contacts between Moscow and Washington, which had been halted by the Biden administration. However, he stressed that dialogue can only happen on an “equal and mutually respectful basis.” Putin said Moscow noted the US president’s apparent willingness to restore communication and “do everything to prevent World War Three.”

“Putin shouldn’t have done it,” Trump, who took office on Monday, told Hannity. “He shouldn’t have done it and it has to stop.”

• Zelensky Is ‘No Angel’ – Trump (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky bears some responsibility for the armed conflict with Russia, US President Donald Trump has said. He argued that Zelensky, who has been granted a glowing reception in many Western capitals, should have done whatever necessary to avoid hostilities. During an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that aired on Wednesday and Thursday, Trump reiterated the need to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict, set to enter its fourth year next month. “Zelensky – I got to say this – he wants to settle now. He’s had enough. He shouldn’t have allowed this to happen either,” Trump said. “You know, he’s no angel. He shouldn’t have allowed this war to happen,” he added. “First of all, he’s fighting a much bigger entity,” Trump stressed. He previously questioned the unconditional military and financial aid provided to Kiev by his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.

Trump also described Zelensky in the past as “the greatest salesman on Earth.” In the same interview, Trump criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin and threatened to impose more sanctions on Moscow “if they don’t make a settlement fast.” “Putin shouldn’t have done it,” Trump, who took office on Monday, told Hannity. “He shouldn’t have done it and it has to stop.” The president has repeatedly claimed that he would quickly negotiate a fair deal between Russia and Ukraine, but provided no specifics about possible terms. Both Moscow and Kiev have previously said that freezing the conflict along the current front line would be unacceptable. Putin has insisted that Kiev must abandon plans to join the US-led NATO military alliance, and renounce claims on Crimea and four other former Ukrainian regions that voted to join Russia in 2022.

Earlier this month, Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, said he hopes to resolve the conflict within 100 days. Trump has criticized Biden for neglecting diplomacy and said on several occasions that he was open to having a conversation with Putin. So far no date for negotiations has been announced. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied earlier this week that a phone call between the leaders was being arranged.

“We can get our country back,” he said. “But if we didn’t win this race, I really believe our country would have been lost forever.”

• Trump Gives First Oval Office Interview (JTN)

President Donald Trump gave his first Oval Office interview on Wednesday addressing a wide range of problems facing the United States, but assuring the nation that they are “all solvable.” “They’re all solvable problems … with time, effort, money — unfortunately — but they’re all solvable,” President Trump said in the interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. He also reiterated his belief that this election was the most consequential in history. “We can get our country back,” he said. “But if we didn’t win this race, I really believe our country would have been lost forever.” Since taking office on Monday, President Trump signed a mountain of executive orders addressing the core issues from his campaign, including immigration, reversing Biden green energy policy, and delaying a ban on the popular social media app TikTok.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1882297253622386926

In the interview, Trump specifically dismissed criticism of his policy towards the popular social media app TikTok, which he promised to save from legislation passed by Congress which required the app to separate from its Chinese owner or be banned from the United States. Shortly after his inauguration, Trump issued an executive order to extend the deadline for the app’s parent company ByteDance to divest of the platform or face a ban. Security and privacy concerns about the app have simmered in Washington for years, spurred by the China-based parent company ByteDance’s close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party. “But you can say that about everything made in China. Look, we have our telephones made in China, for the most part. We have so many things made in China. So why don’t they mention that?” Trump asked.

“You know, the interesting thing with TikTok, is you’re dealing with a lot of young people, so they love–Is it that important for China to be spying on young people, on young kids watching crazy videos?” Trump also told Hannity that he truly believes he was saved by God from the would-be assassin’s bullet on the campaign trail last year, echoing his inaugural speech where he said he was “saved by God to make America great again.” “I turned…if I didn’t turn you know when the turn was like split second, perfect timing. So something happened, and I don’t think you can call it just luck,” Trump said, confirming that the incident increased his faith in God. Trump also said he is currently reviewing the John F. Kennedy assassination files and plans to release them.

“We are in there for $200 billion more than the EU. I mean, what are we, stupid? I guess the answer is ‘yes.’ They must think so..”

• Trump To Pull 20,000 US Troops From Europe – Sources (RT)

US President Donald Trump is considering reducing his country’s military contingent in Europe by 20% as he reviews Washington’s commitment to the continent, Italian news agency ANSA has reported, citing EU diplomatic sources. If the pullout occurs, the number of US service personnel in Europe will decrease from around 100,000 to 80,000, the agency reported on Wednesday. In recent conversations with European leaders Trump has “consistently” expressed a desire to downsize the US military presence on the continent, the sources said. “Furthermore, for those [US troops] who remain, he would like financial contributions from European countries, because these soldiers are a deterrent, and the costs cannot be borne solely by American taxpayers,” one of ANSA’s sources claimed.

Earlier this month, Trump said NATO member states in the EU should be spending 5% of their GDP on defense, way beyond the current goal of 2%. “They can afford it,” he claimed. On Tuesday, the US president called on Brussels to “equalize” with Washington when it comes to the support it provides to Ukraine. “We are in there for $200 billion more than the EU. I mean, what are we, stupid? I guess the answer is ‘yes.’ They must think so,” he said. Trump also pledged to impose tariffs on the bloc due to its trade surplus with the US. “The EU is very bad for us,” he claimed. During a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron noted: “now that the new administration has taken office in the US, it is more important than ever for Europeans… to play their full part in consolidating a united, strong, and sovereign Europe.”

https://twitter.com/i/status/1881478190130147743

This time, let’s see it all.

• Trump Orders Plan for Release of JFK, RFK, MLK Assassination Records (ET)

President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered plans to be drafted for the release of records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy (JFK), Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (RFK), and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The president signed an executive order on Jan. 23 directing the director of national intelligence and the attorney general to prepare a plan in 15 days for the “full and complete release” of the JFK assassination files. The deadline for the plans for the RFK and King files is 45 days “That’s a big one,” Trump said while signing the order in the Oval Office. “A lot of people have been waiting for this for years, for decades. And everything will be revealed.” Trump promised at his pre-inauguration rally in Washington on Jan. 19 that he would release the remaining records on the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and King in the coming days.

The FBI accused Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine who had defected to the Soviet Union for a period after embracing Marxism, of assassinating JFK in 1963. Nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald as authorities were moving him from the Dallas police headquarters to the county jail just two days after the assassination, stirring decades of speculation and conspiracy theories. JFK’s assassination coincided with a period of increasing mistrust in the federal government, and many Americans still believe that Oswald was part of a larger plot to kill the president. Gallup’s most recent poll on the subject, conducted in October 2023, found that 65 percent of U.S. adults reject the theory that a lone gunman killed JFK. Trump and former President Joe Biden previously released thousands of documents related to JFK’s killing. Roughly 99 percent of the assassination files had been released as of 2023, according to the National Archives.

However, Biden had agreed to delay the disclosure of additional records because of the necessity of protecting “against identifiable harms to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, and the conduct of foreign relations that are of such gravity that they outweigh the public interest in disclosure.” JFK’s nephew, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.), whom Trump has nominated to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, launched a petition in 2023 on the 60th anniversary of the assassination demanding that the Biden administration release all remaining government records on his uncle’s murder. RFK Jr. was just 9 years old when his uncle was assassinated in 1963, and he was 14 when his father was assassinated during the 1968 Democratic presidential primaries.

“The 1992 Kennedy Records Assassination Act mandated the release of all records related to the JFK assassination by 2017. Trump refused to do it. Biden refused to do it. What is so embarrassing that they’re afraid to show the American public 60 years later?” RFK Jr. wrote in a statement on his website in 2023. “Trust in government is at an all-time low. Releasing the full, unredacted historical records will help to restore that trust.” Biden had moved to redact some of the last remaining JFK assassination files, but Trump’s order states that this action is “not consistent with the public interest and the release of these records is long overdue.” “Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth. It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay,” the order reads.

“So Trump is a Nazi. Musk is a Nazi. Half the country are Nazis. The problem is that, if you say everyone is a Nazi, then no one is a Nazi..”

“AOC is a certified Nazi hunter, a license that seems only to be available to figures on the left.”

• Nazispolozza: The Left’s Third Reich Mania Collapses into Comedy (Turley)

One of the least successful efforts of the left and many in the media this election was to paint Republican voters as “Nazis” hellbent on destroying democracy. While once verboten as a political comparison, liberal politicians and pundits have developed something of a Nazi fetish, where every statement and gesture is declared a return of the Third Reich. It seems like each news event presents a Rorschach test where every inkblot looks like a Nazi. That mania reached absurd, even comedic, levels with the attack on Elon Musk over an awkward gesture during the inauguration celebration. An exuberant Musk told the crowd, “My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured.” As he gave those words, he placed his right hand on his chest and stretched his arm outward, his palm facing the floor. He then repeated the gesture before putting his hand on his chest again.

It was all done in a matter of seconds, but it was enough for the usual mob to erupt in faux outrage. Pundits insisted that Musk had chosen the moment to come out as a Nazi on national television. The Washington Post breathlessly reported this week how the “Nazi-style salute” had “invigorated fans on the far right.” The usual liberal professors were rolled out to offer a patina of authority to the ridiculous claim. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor of history at New York University, declared, “Historian of fascism here. It was a Nazi salute and a very belligerent one too.” Mike Stuchbery went on X (the company owned by the man he now suggests is a Nazi reenactor) to declare, “I studied the Nazis at university, taught the history of Nazi Germany on two continents and wrote for major newspapers about Nazi Germany. I am internet famous for fact-checking chuds [gross people] on the history, ideology and policy of Nazi Germany. That was a Nazi salute.”

Well, that settles it. As the outrage continued, any doubt or dissent was denounced as evidence that you are obviously a Nazi as well. That became a bit embarrassing when the leading Jewish organization, the Anti-Defamation League, stated the obvious: This was not a Nazi salute but rather an “awkward gesture.” The core principle of liberal mob tactics is that there can be no divergence, even by a group like the ADL. The way to deal with opposing ideas or writings is by making someone persona non grata. If you do not cancel others, you will be canceled. So the ADL was effectively declared soft on Nazis by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY): “Just to be clear, you are defending a Heil Hitler salute that was performed and repeated for emphasis and clarity. People can officially stop listening to you as any sort of reputable source of information now. You work for them. Thank you for making that crystal clear to all.”

We’ve reached a level of absurdity where Jewish advocates are treated like they are virtual Nazi sympathizers. This is not the first time the Democrats have labeled Trump and his supporters “Nazis.” It started years ago as Democrats repeated analogies of Trump to Hitler and his followers to brownshirted neo-Nazis. Defeating Trump has been compared to stopping Hitler in 1933, and media personalities like Rachel Maddow went on the air with a hysterical claim that “death squads” were authorized by the Supreme Court. When Trump held a massive rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden before the election, the media were apoplectic and immediately declared it … you guessed it … akin to a Nazi rally. From the Washington Post to the New York Times, the media formed an affinity group meeting to fret over “echoes of 1939.” In case anyone missed the message, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz emphasized “a direct parallel” with the Nazis.

Over at the Nation, David Zirin treated Madison Square Garden (known for everything from cage fights to dog shows) as an almost Vatican-like space: “With his fascist New York City rally, Donald Trump has befouled what many believe to be a sacred space: Madison Square Garden.” So Trump is a Nazi. Musk is a Nazi. Half the country are Nazis. The problem is that, if you say everyone is a Nazi, then no one is a Nazi. It loses its meaning. That includes Ocasio-Cortez, who appears to have joined the ranks of the Reich after critics posted her making a Musk-like gesture during a speech. There was no torrent of media fretting about how the gesture reflected the extremism of AOC’s questioning need for a Supreme Court, seeking to bar Trump and dozens of Republicans from ballots, or supporting censorship. AOC is a certified Nazi hunter, a license that seems only to be available to figures on the left.

Of course, labeling political opponents as diabolically evil fanatics and seeking to bar candidates from ballots sounds a lot like … well … it sounds familiar. There is an alternative. We can put the rage rhetoric aside and have honest debates over differences on politics and laws. In other words, we can fight over policy … and leave the Nazis out of it.

“..his critics, who should find better ways to attack their opponents than calling “everyone Hitler.”

• US News Channel Fires Presenter After She Calls Musk A Nazi (RT)

A Milwaukee-based CBS affiliate has dismissed one of its weather presenters after she reportedly called Elon Musk a Nazi on social media, over a gesture the tech billionaire made during an inauguration rally for US President Donald Trump. Musk has been forced to deny making a Nazi salute, dismissing the allegation as a “dirty trick” by his critics, who should find better ways to attack their opponents than calling “everyone Hitler.” WDJT-TV (Channel 58), where meteorologist Sam Kuffel had worked since 2019, has confirmed her departure but provided no official explanation in an internal memo to or public comments, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. While the station described the matter as a “personal issue,” Kuffel was reportedly dismissed one day after commenting on Musk’s gesture on her Instagram account.

The TV channel has removed Kuffel’s bio from its website and no longer mentions her in its weather section, but retains articles written by her. Her Instagram account has been set to private, but screenshots purportedly capturing her posts are available online. She has not commented publicly on the incident. Before her tenure at WDJT-TV, the journalist worked at WAOW-TV (Channel 9) in Wausau, after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a degree in atmospheric science. The Anti-Defamation League, a US-based pro-Israeli group which monitors anti-Semitism and hate speech, has described Musk’s gesture as “awkward” but did not say it was a Nazi salute. Similarly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is the subject of an International Criminal Court warrant on charges related to genocide, has tweeted in support of the X owner, declaring him to be “a friend of Israel.”

The Dems play a silly game of delaying all confirmations.

“We’re going to wear down the Democrats. Either you’re going to play ball with us, or you’re going to go without sleep..”

Ratcliffe was confirmed yesterday. We get one per day?

• GOP To Push Trump Nominees Through Democratic Walls (JTN)

Four days into President Donald Trump’s second administration, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the sole Senate-confirmed member of the Cabinet, putting the 47th president well behind his recent predecessors in positioning his key advisors, a situation some Republicans have attributed to Democratic intransigence. The perceived obstruction efforts of the opposition party have Republican leadership gearing up for a tense battle to push Trump’s nominees over the finish line, be it “the easy way or the hard way.” While Rubio earned unanimous approval for the post on day one, Senate Democrats blocked the advancement of Trump’s CIA Director-designate, John Ratcliffe, and several key nominees have yet to even receive hearings.

“Democrats blocked John Ratcliffe’s confirmation vote because they don’t care about qualifications, integrity, or national security,” the Senate GOP account insisted. “But they do care about denying President Trump his cabinet, even if it hurts the country.” The upper chamber had expected to confirm Ratcliffe on Tuesday, though the Democrats managed to delay the final vote through a procedural measure. A former Director of National Intelligence and D.C. insider, Ratcliffe’s confirmation has not ranked among the more contentious of Trump’s nominees. Republicans, however, appear to have doubled down and are planning to work through the weekend to push through Trump’s nominees “the easy way or the hard way.”

Ratcliffe is far from the only Trump nominee to face scrutiny, however. FBI director-designate Kash Patel, DNI-designate Tulsi Gabbard, and Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. all have yet to appear before their relevant Senate committees at all. Republicans’ assertions that Democrats have held up Trump’s Cabinet appointments appear to hold some water relative to the confirmation pace of some recent Democratic administrations and even Trump’s first term. His confirmation pace, thus far, appears just shy of Biden’s. In his first term, Trump saw two key officials receive Senate confirmation on Jan. 20, 2017. James Mattis and John Kelly received confirmation as Secretary of Defense and Department of Homeland Security secretary, respectively. Elaine Chao followed suit as Transportation secretary on Jan. 31, 2017.

Now-former President Joe Biden, secured the confirmations of DNI Avril Haines and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin by this point in his presidency. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken were confirmed on Jan. 25 and 26, 2021, respectively. President Barack Obama, however, saw seven members of his Cabinet confirmed via voice vote on Jan. 20, 2009. Several more were confirmed by either voice vote or roll call by Jan. 23. To be sure, several contentious nominees, including Pete Hegseth have cleared key procedural hurdles on the way to a floor vote, even earning some Democratic support despite personal scandals and a bevy of negative headlines. Republicans appear bullish on confirming Trump’s top nominees, especially Hegseth, but are also increasingly open to less conventional measures to steamroll through Democratic procedural hurdles.

“We’re going to wear down the Democrats. Either you’re going to play ball with us, or you’re going to go without sleep,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said on Fox News. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, for instance, has already vowed that the Senate will work through the weekend on confirming Cabinet nominees and has further declared that Republicans were willing to work “Nights. Weekends. Recesses.”

The whole issue should have been solved by now. All of it. Including all vaccine damage.

• SCOTUS Denies RFK Jr. Request To Block California’s Doctor Investigations (ZH)

Justice Elena Kagan, who handles urgent appeals from California, rejected the emergency application in Kory v. Bonta late on Jan. 21. She did not explain why. The decision came 13 days after the case was docketed by the court on Jan. 8. Kagan did not ask California to respond to the application. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was listed as one of two attorneys representing the physicians in the case. President Donald Trump has nominated Kennedy, an activist on environment and health-related issues, to be secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The other co-counsel on the application is Richard Jaffe of Sacramento, California. The Medical Board of California considers the expression of the doctors’ dissenting views on the disease as potentially dangerous misinformation that needs to be suppressed.

The board argues that it has legal authority to discipline the doctors for speech it deems to be medical misconduct. The physicians counter that they didn’t surrender their free speech rights when they obtained medical licenses. The application was initiated by Dr. Pierre Kory and Dr. Brian Tyson, both medical doctors; Dr. Le Trinh Hoag, an osteopathic physician; Physicians for Informed Consent; and Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit organization founded by Kennedy. Kennedy has resigned from the nonprofit because of his pending HHS nomination, Jaffe told The Epoch Times. The application stated that California’s executive and legislative branches are “threatening California physicians with professional discipline for their viewpoint speech contrary to the mainstream COVID narrative.”

After the Federation of State Medical Boards in July 2021 asked its member medical boards in the United States to punish physicians for advancing perceived “COVID misinformation” and “disinformation” among patients and the public, Medical Board of California President Kristina Lawson announced in February 2022 that the board planned to sanction physicians for what it called “COVID misinformation.” The California Legislature passed AB 2098, which took effect in January 2023, making the dissemination of “misinformation” about the disease an offense for which doctors could be disciplined, the application stated. After a federal district judge halted the law in January 2023, the Legislature repealed the misinformation provision effective January 2024. The application said the board continued to probe physicians for violating its COVID-19 policy following the repeal.

The applicants were challenging “the practice and policy of threatening and targeting physicians with discipline for providing information and recommendations contrary to the mainstream COVID narrative,” according to the application. On April 23, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California rejected a request to preliminarily block the state’s enforcement program, holding that the applicants lacked legal standing. Standing refers to the right of someone to sue in court. The parties must show a strong enough connection to the claim to justify their participation in a lawsuit. The ruling was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Nov. 27, 2024. The California Business and Professions Code, under which the California Medical Board claims its disciplinary authority, “regulates conduct, not speech,” the appeals court stated. “It provides for enforcement of the standard of care, which is the standard for physicians’ treatment of patients,” the court added.

To demonstrate standing, the applicants had to demonstrate that there was “a credible threat that the [board] will prosecute them under the statute,” but they did not do so, the appeals court stated. The Ninth Circuit said the court record showed that the only disciplinary action taken against a doctor “involved a physician encouraging her patient to use veterinary ivermectin and resulted in the stipulated surrender of her license.” The applicants were asking the Supreme Court for an injunction stopping the state from “continuing their enforcement program targeting the information, opinions, and recommendations on COVID-19 which California licensed physicians may provide to patients.” A related challenge that Kennedy and Jaffe filed with the Supreme Court was rejected by the full court on Jan. 13.

Kory

Dr. Pierre Kory Unveils the Immunological Catastrophe: The Misattribution of Post-Vaccination Syndromes to Long COVID in a Flagrant Display of Scientific Negligence
"I tell you another deception. The entire country medical system calls the chronic problems after COVID, they call… pic.twitter.com/Ex6bWVpj3L

— Camus (@newstart_2024) January 23, 2025

“Stop the press! The Inspector General concludes that senior DOJ officials engaged in a, wait for it, leak? How did the Republic survive?”

• COVID Death Coverup: Trump-Hating Lawyers at DOJ Strike Again (PJM)

The last time a tornado hit Washington, D.C., like this was August 1814. That’s when British troops were fleeing a frightening twister. The storm extinguished fires the British set and killed more redcoats than the American army did. In the last 72 hours, Donald Trump has whirled through the Washington bureaucracy with similar fury. Things that seemed impossible last week, Trump made possible, like revoking LBJ’s sixty-year-old Executive Order 11246 that mandated the use of race in government contracting. Yet there is a mountain of problems. Meet two DOJ lawyers who used their positions to target the first Trump administration: Deborah Zerwitz and Jennifer Ramella. Unlike Jack Smith, Zerwitz and Ramella are still employed at DOJ. Zerwitz and Ramella are two progressive DOJ lawyers who work for the Inspector General. They authored the recent hit job on the first Trump term.

More on who they are in a moment, lots more. Here’s the hit. Just before the inauguration, the pair authored a little-noticed hit piece on actions taken in the first Trump term. Specifically, they worked on a report by the DOJ Inspector General. The DOJ IG published a report about nursing home COVID deaths that occurred in New York and elsewhere. In 2020, state officials in New York and elsewhere were shoving COVID patients into assisted living facilities, where their virus promptly spread to existing residents and killed them by the thousands. The Trump Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation into the despicable behavior under laws prohibiting discrimination against institutionalized persons, particularly the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 1997).

The law is often referred to in shorthand as “CRIPA.” People in nursing homes have a federal civil right to not have Governor Andrew Cuomo shove sick patients with a deadly disease into their otherwise healthy nursing homes. The Inspector General report makes the shocking conclusion about the Trump DOJ: “The OIG investigation found that three then Senior DOJ Officials violated DOJ’s Confidentiality and Media Contacts Policy by leaking to select reporters, days before an election, non-public DOJ investigative information regarding ongoing DOJ investigative matters, resulting in the publication of two news articles that included the non-public DOJ investigative information.” Stop the press! The Inspector General concludes that senior DOJ officials engaged in a, wait for it, leak? How did the Republic survive?

In other words, the Inspector General investigated political appointees for talking to reporters about the behavior of targets of investigations. The offending conduct was something that took place all during the Robert Mueller investigation, the Jack Smith investigation, and every single investigation of Donald Trump during the Biden administration. In other words, the new DOJ inspector general report is abject horse manure. It stinks so bad the attorneys involved in the Inspector General report aren’t fit to hold their positions anymore at the Department of Justice. Too many bureaucrats on the GS scale have used their petty powers to smear and malign Donald Trump and his presidency, as Zerwitz and Ramella did here. Their behavior is particularly despicable because it provides political cover to state officials who were acting in a way that cost lives, the very thing federal law is designed to prevent.

Their report obscures the fact that Governor Cuomo and other state officials shoved COVID-infected people into nursing homes during the height of the pandemic and caused thousands of unnecessary deaths. The facts are straightforward. In April 2020, the DOJ received complaints about the COVID-related deaths of large numbers of elderly military veterans who lived in a Massachusetts nursing home. Allegations included claims that local officials concealed the deaths and stacked the dead bodies in a trailer. The Trump Justice Department launched an investigation in 2020 and issued a press release about its investigation. DOJ subsequently learned that several state agencies in Massachusetts were also investigating, so DOJ paused its investigation to give the state a chance to investigate the case first.

Information then surfaced that COVID-related nursing home deaths occurred at astonishing rates in New York and elsewhere because Governor Cuomo and other state officials required nursing homes to accept COVID-positive individuals. Thousands died because of this decision. Families sought answers, rightfully so.

DOJ officials opened an investigation, and the available information suggested that death rates in four states – New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan – were much higher than in other states. DOJ asked each of the four states to produce data about their nursing home COVID-related deaths under CRIPA enforcement powers. The Trump DOJ transparently issued press releases about these requests, too: “Protecting the rights of some of society’s most vulnerable members, including elderly nursing home residents, is one of our country’s most important obligations,” said then-Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Division Eric Dreiband. “We must ensure they are adequately cared for with dignity and respect and not unnecessarily put at risk.”

“If you’re frightened of the debasement of your currency, or you’re frightened of the economic or political stability of your country, you can have an internationally based instrument called Bitcoin that will overcome those local fears..”

• Larry Fink Predicts $700,000 Bitcoin (RT)

Bitcoin could reach an astonishing $700,000 if institutional investors allocate between 2% and 5% of their portfolios to the cryptocurrency, Larry Fink, the head of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management firm, has predicted. The digital coin has seen a surge in its value in recent months. In 2024, its price jumped 121%, reaching the peak of $108,135 in December. On Monday, following the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, Bitcoin hit a record $109,225. Trump had previously announced plans to make the US the world’s “crypto capital” and to set up a national Bitcoin reserve. Fink told an audience at a panel in Davos on Wednesday that he is “a big believer” in the world’s largest cryptocurrency as an instrument, highlighting its potential as a financial hedge.

“If you’re frightened of the debasement of your currency, or you’re frightened of the economic or political stability of your country, you can have an internationally based instrument called Bitcoin that will overcome those local fears,” Fink said. The investor cited a momentum towards institutional adoption of the cryptocurrency. “I was with a sovereign-wealth fund during this week, and there was a conversation, should we have a 2% allocation? Should we have a 5% allocation? If everybody adopted that conversation, it would be $500,000, $600,000, $700,000 for bitcoin,” argued Fink. The investor noted that he wasn’t promoting the token. Last year, BlackRock launched Bitcoin Trust and Ethereum Trust, exchange-traded funds investing directly into the two crypto tokens. Fink used to be skeptical of digital assets. In 2018, he told Bloomberg that BlackRock’s clients had zero interest in crypto.

Created in 2009, Bitcoin allows people to send and receive money over the internet without relying on traditional banks or governments. The decentralized nature of the token has also facilitated its misuse by organized crime gangs and for other illicit purposes such as money laundering and terrorist financing. The price is primarily affected by supply, market demand, availability, competing cryptocurrencies, and investor sentiment. Despite wide use for buying goods and services, there are no uniform international laws that regulate Bitcoin. The token was adopted as official currency in El Salvador in 2021. Governments around the world have been wary of the cryptocurrencies’ growing influence, warning about the dangers of investing into a volatile asset. According to an opinion piece by financial analyst Susie Violet Ward published by Forbes on Monday, Bitcoin’s institutionalization would compromise its original ethos as “freedom money,” with regulatory and economic control eroding the token’s decentralization.

See also Ryan McMaken’s excellent overview in yesterday’s Debt Rattle. The key line:

“..all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof..”

Those are two separate things!

• Judge Blocks Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order (ET)

A U.S. judge on Jan. 23 blocked President Donald Trump’s order limiting birthright citizenship. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour after a hearing in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order that prohibits the Trump administration for 14 days from enforcing Trump’s order, which the president signed hours after taking office on Monday. “This is blatantly unconstitutional order,” Coughenour told a lawyer with the U.S. Justice Department during the hearing. The ruling was made in a case brought by the attorneys general of Arizona, Illinois, Oregon, and Washington state. It was one of several lawsuits lodged against the executive order. Trump’s order was set to take effect on Feb. 19. It says that the federal government does not automatically recognize birthright citizenship for children who are born to illegal immigrants in the United States.

Historically, babies born on U.S. soil receive U.S. citizenship. That’s based on court rulings interpreting the U.S. Constitution, which says in part that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” Congress also passed a law containing similar language. Trump’s order says that the Constitution’s citizenship clause “has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States” and “has always excluded from birthright citizenship persons who were born in the United States but not ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’” It clarifies that the federal government does not automatically grant citizenship to babies whose mothers are in the United States and whose fathers are neither U.S. citizens nor lawful permanent residents.

In their motion for a temporary restraining order, state officials said that Trump went beyond his powers with the order, describing it as “flatly contrary to the Fourteenth Amendment’s text and history, century-old Supreme Court precedent, longstanding Executive Branch interpretation, and the Immigration and Nationality Act.” Without court intervention, the order would leave more than 150,000 babies born this year without citizenship because their parents are illegally in the country, according to the attorneys general. Government officials said in response that the court should not issue a restraining order because the states have not suffered any injuries and because the plaintiffs are not likely to succeed.

“Ample historical evidence shows that the children of non-resident aliens are subject to foreign powers—and, thus, are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and are not constitutionally entitled to birthright citizenship,” government lawyers said.That included a Supreme Court justice writing in legal commentaries that birthright citizenship should not apply to babies whose parents were in the country “for temporary purposes.” Coughenour sided with the states, telling the courtroom before Department of Justice attorney Brett Shumate had even finished talking that he had signed the restraining order sought by the states.The two-week order is in place while Coughenour weighs issuing a preliminary injunction, which would likely remain in place as the case proceeds in the courts. Schumate during Thursday’s hearing argued the executive order was constitutional and that any order blocking it would be “wildly inappropriate.”

“The United States is losing its dominant global position, which may prompt Western elites to fuel new armed conflicts between nations..”

• West Could Orchestrate More International Conflicts – Russian Spy Chief (RT)

The United States is losing its dominant global position, which may prompt Western elites to fuel new armed conflicts between nations, according to Sergey Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). In an interview with RIA Novosti previewed on Friday, Naryshkin said the US is “gradually degrading and losing control.” He cautioned that some influential figures may attempt to spark international conflicts to serve their interests. The global situation in 2025 will remain unstable, the SVR chief predicted, highlighting the need for prudence among regional and global players. Naryshkin stressed that much depends on the rationality and restraint exercised by these actors.

The Russian official added that while the shift to a new, fairer multipolar world order is “complex and fraught with risks,” the emergence of new centers of power has significant potential for economic development and the ability to ensure global security and stability. Naryshkin expects the US and EU to be major participants in the future global architecture, with a level of influence on par with that of other great powers, including China, India and Russia. A new pan-Eurasian security arrangement will make the world as a whole more stable, he added. Moscow and Beijing have accused the West of refusing to accept that the economic rise of non-Western nations gives them a greater role in international affairs. Instead, Washington is seeking to replace international law with a “rules-based order” that gives the US undeserved benefits and suppresses competition, officials from Russia and China have argued.

“Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have described their fiscal rules as “ironclad” and “non-negotiable.”

• UK Faces ‘Debt Death Spiral’ – Ray Dalio (RT)

The UK faces significant fiscal risks due to its rising borrowing costs and increasing debt levels, the boss of the world’s largest hedge fund, Ray Dalio, has warned. Britain’s annual interest payments have surpassed £100 billion (roughly $125 billion), Dalio, the founder of investment management firm Bridgewater Associates, said in an interview with the Financial Times. The recent sell-off in fixed-interest loan securities issued by the UK government, known as gilts, coupled with the weakening of the British pound, indicate that the market is struggling to absorb the government’s higher borrowing requirements, he explained. “When you get to the point that you have to borrow money to service the debt and interest rates are rising, so that debt-service payments rise, so you need to borrow more money to pay them, you’re in what the markets call a death spiral,” the investor told the FT in Tuesday’s report.

The UK’s ten-year borrowing costs rose from 3.75% in mid-September to a 16-year high earlier this month at 4.93%, the outlet noted. ”As those risks increase, everybody looks at that need to borrow more money at higher interest, which creates [a] self-reinforcing debt deterioration cycle,” Dalio also pointed out. The UK government in October adopted a budget for the financial year 2025/2026, pledging more funding for essential services and social support, and increased debt-servicing costs. Although the government announced tax increases, analysts have pointed out that these may not fully cover the additional spending, particularly amid slower economic growth.

The British pound has been declining since September, having lost about 8.2% of its value against the US dollar. The drop has been attributed to rising borrowing costs, market apprehension about the country’s debt levels, and reduced investor confidence. The trends have prompted another warning, this one from Berlin-based credit rating agency Scope Ratings. Recent moves in UK debt markets and the falling pound suggest that cracks may be appearing in Britain’s reserve currency status, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing Denis Shen, a top analyst at the agency. The UK’s vulnerability to emerging market-style sell-offs could jeopardize its AA credit rating, Shen warns. In response to the challenges, the UK government said it remained “absolutely committed” to strict fiscal discipline. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have described their fiscal rules as “ironclad” and “non-negotiable.”

Cold day
https://twitter.com/i/status/1882097894423142503

Denial
https://twitter.com/i/status/1882470128580796628

Cuttlefish

7. An amazing cuttlefish camouflage

pic.twitter.com/ZyfA8X1UCc

— Dr King Winter (@I_Am_Winter) January 23, 2025

Phonics
https://twitter.com/i/status/1882264331016163414

Titanic

pic.twitter.com/rnbNvvz6Xu

— Doglover (@puppiesDoglover) January 23, 2025

Airplane

A teacher showing his paper aeroplane pic.twitter.com/Jw0B1U765M

— non aesthetic things (@PicturesFoIder) January 23, 2025

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Debt Rattle January 18 2022

Jan 182022

January 18, 2022 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:09 am Finance Tagged with: 5G, Australia, booster, crybabies, Djokovic, Eisenhower, Fauci, Israel, MLK, Omicron 52 Responses »

Johannes Vermeer The lacemaker 1669-71

• No Time for Crybabies (Jim Kunstler)

• Israel Finds 4 Covid Vaccine Jabs ‘Not Good Enough’ Against Omicron (RT)

• The War on Treatment Is Fiercer Now Than Even Covid Itself (Pfeiffer)

• Incriminating Evidence (Steve Kirsch)

• Returning Travellers To Hand Over Phones, Passcodes At Australian Border (G.)

• Australia’s Government Is From the Dark Ages (Simon Black)

• Watch Australia Closely (Berenson)

• Djokovic Facing Fresh Grand Slam Blow (RT)

• Oh Look, MORE BS! (Denninger)

• Beta and Delta Variants Trigger Fc Effector Function (Cell)

• Poor UK Households May Have To Spend Half Their Income On Energy (G.)

• Airlines Say 5G Will Create ‘Economic Calamity’ (RT)

• Eisenhower’s Warning About The Military-industrial Complex Is Still Valid (CST)

Covid profits

Profiting from COVID shots… pic.twitter.com/X9a5KbPUHM

— Wittgenstein (@backtolife_2022) January 17, 2022

“..a culture of junk food, junk work, junk art, junk environments, junk government, junk economics, and, lately, junk science..”

• No Time for Crybabies (Jim Kunstler)

[..] it’s obvious now, after a year on-the-scene, that the vaxxes work poorly at best to protect against infection or control the spread, and, at worst, induce terrible long-term damage to organs, blood vessels, and the immune system. The vaxxes can kill you or gravely disable you. The statistics in the CDC’s VAERS registry show this in no uncertain terms: 1,003,992 Covid vaxx adverse event reports including 21,745 deaths linked to them through January 7 — and these figures are said to be deeply understated due to the poor design and difficulty using the VAERS website with its clunky, out-dated code that the CDC refuses to fix.

Dr. Fauci has avoided addressing these adverse reactions and the negative efficacy of the “vaccines.” He simply states that the vaxxes are “safe and effective.” That so many Americans believe him, despite all the evidence, and go along with the crusade to vaxx-up everybody, is proof that they are insane. But now that the whole story is unravelling, they are ever more determined to stick to the script. Covid-19 has been their security blanket for two years. As long as it was in the picture, raging and killing as an invisible demon, it could be the focus of all their free-floating terror.

Terror of what, you might ask? Of the meaninglessness, alienation, and debility induced by the managerial class in its own sick institutions and corporations… in short, the 21st-century America that the managers evolved in and supported — a culture of junk food, junk work, junk art, junk environments, junk government, junk economics, and, lately, junk science… a sickening panorama of systems out-of-control and entering failure mode. Confronting the disaster of its own incapacity to sustain a healthy culture and an economy with a future, the managerial class went nuts. Its insane actions now are killing people while seeking to punish those who refuse to walk sheepishly into America’s version of the gas chamber, the Anthony Fauci “vaccines.”

5,6,7….

• Israel Finds 4 Covid Vaccine Jabs ‘Not Good Enough’ Against Omicron (RT)

A fourth dose of coronavirus vaccine showed dwindling effectiveness against the Omicron variant, according to a trial conducted in Israel, with one its lead researchers saying the immunization is simply “not good enough.” A study involving 154 medical staffers at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv found that a fourth shot of the Pfizer vaccine gave only marginal protection against the Omicron strain compared to previous mutations. A separate group of 120 volunteers were also given a fourth dose of Moderna’s inoculation following three rounds with Pfizer, but their immune response was similar. “We see an increase in antibodies, higher than after the third dose. However, we see many infected with Omicron who received the fourth dose,” said Gili Regev-Yochay, one of the head researchers on the trial, adding that while “the vaccine is excellent against the Alpha and Delta [variants],” for Omicron “it’s not good enough.”

Despite the new findings, Israeli health officials already moved ahead with fourth doses for the elderly, the immunocompromised and medical workers beginning earlier this month, with some 500,000 receiving a second booster on top of an initial two-dose regimen as of Sunday. Though the trial is still in an early phase and the hospital did not offer specific figures, Regev-Yochay said she made its preliminary conclusions public as boosters are a matter of “high public interest,” according to the Times of Israel. She noted that giving fourth doses to high-risk residents is “probably” still the best approach, but suggested the booster campaign should be limited to an even older age group than the current over-60 guideline.

Good overview.

• The War on Treatment Is Fiercer Now Than Even Covid Itself (Pfeiffer)

Omicron is tearing through the country, with Covid cases quadrupling and quintupling in thirty-five states from last winter’s peak.That’s the bad news, but only sort of.The good news: For the first time in twenty-two months, experts are uttering words we haven’t heard in answer to the central question: Are we nearing the pandemic’s end? “I think we are,” said Dr. Pierre Kory, a pulmonary and critical care specialist and president of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance.“I am optimistic for this,” said Dr. Harvey Risch, a Yale epidemiologist and treatment advocate. “The more Omicron cases the better until the peak starts to turn downward.”

These two early treatment pioneers echo the sentiments of other experts, some guarded but mostly hopeful, that the highly transmissible, less-virulent Omicron may end covid as we know it. “I’m so happy that Omicron is milder, that Omicron is winding up the pandemic,” said Dr. Mobeen Syed, known to a half-million subscribers of Drbeen Medical Lectures on YouTube.From France, treatment advocate Dr. Christian Perronne, author of the aptly titled, Is There A Mistake They Didn’t Make?, told me, “It could be the end of the pandemic soon.” By all indications, the U.S. and Europe—where a “west-to-east tidal wave” is unfolding—will follow the South Africa–United Kingdom model.

There, Omicron rose and fell fast, obliterating the more fearsome Delta, and leading to far lower rates of hospitalization and death. Experts are anxiously waiting for that to happen in exploding Omicron hot spots like the United States. But one certainty remains. The U.S. and first-world governments still do not want doctors to treat covid early and are doing all it can to stop them. This article covers that ongoing problem, how to adapt to a veritable blockade on safe effective generics, and how I got around those obstacles when I got sick.

Steve risks overkill.

• Incriminating Evidence (Steve Kirsch)

For many people, the most convincing argument is not the scientific data presented here, but seeing what happened to a formerly perfectly healthy friend or family member (or famous public figure) after they took the vaccine. In my case, I lost confidence in the COVID vaccines when a friend told me that three of her relatives died shortly after being vaccinated (and they were all perfectly healthy before the shot). A week later, another friend had a heart attack 2 minutes after getting the vaccine and his wife developed Parkinson’s symptoms after she got her vaccine. Today, my wife just told me that one of her friends recently got boosted and now her four kids don’t have a mother anymore. It’s tragic, but for most people, it takes many events like this before people wake up and realize they’ve been lied to.

In most cases, the victims remain silent because they don’t want to be ostracized or receive death threats. So you rarely hear of the incidents. Also, the press will never cover the reactions because the media cannot prove the vaccine was the cause of the event. [..] Tragically, when all these events happen, the news reports never mention that the person was recently vaccinated. Many never realize it was due to the vaccine because the vaccine is supposed to be completely safe. For example, Celine Dion’s career ended shortly after she got vaccinated. Did anyone ever notice that the singer never announced the cause of her sudden uncontrolled muscle spasms? Did her agent ever tell the public why the vaccine was ruled out as a possible cause? Nope.

Uncontrolled muscle spasms post-vaccination is a very common side effect of the vaccine, especially in women. Is it possible that her injury was just bad luck? Of course, but statistically, it is far more likely that her injury was caused by the COVID vaccines. If she isn’t being treated by a specialist in vaccine injury, she may never return to the stage.

Freedom.

• Returning Travellers To Hand Over Phones, Passcodes At Australian Border (G.)

A man who was forced to hand over his phone and passcode to Australian Border Force after returning to Sydney from holiday has labelled the tactic “an absolute gross violation of privacy”, as tech advocates call for transparency and stronger privacy protections for people’s devices as they enter the country. Software developer James and his partner returned from a 10-day holiday in Fiji earlier this month and were stopped by border force officials at Sydney airport. They were taken aside, and after emptying their suitcases, an official asked them to write their phone passcodes on a piece of paper, before taking their phones into another room. It was half an hour before their phones were returned, and they were allowed to leave. James initially posted about his ordeal on Reddit.

“We weren’t informed why they wanted to look at the phones. We were told nothing,” he told Guardian Australia. “Who knows what they’re taking out of it? With your phone and your passcode they have everything, access to your entire email history, saved passwords, banking, Medicare, myGov. There’s just so much scope.” James said he has no idea what officials looked at, whether a copy of any of the data was made, where it would be stored and who would have access to it. “It’s an absolute gross violation of privacy.” Under the Customs Act, ABF officers can force people to hand over their passcodes to allow a phone search, as part of their powers to examine people’s belongings at the border, including documents and photos on mobile phones.

“..these politicians think that Australian residents will only become vaccine hesitant if Djokovic is physically present in Australia..”

• Australia’s Government Is From the Dark Ages (Simon Black)

Vaccination rates in Australia are among the highest in the world, and they’re feverishly (no pun intended) administering booster shots to the population. Yet despite this adherence to public health authorities, cases are surging to record highs. In the last 24 hours there were 55,232 new Covid cases in Australia. By comparison, Australia had 10 (yes, ten) new daily cases a year ago in January 2021, just prior to the vaccine rollout.But now that 92.6% of eligible Australians have been vaccinated, the infection rate has increased more than 5,000x from a year ago. Obviously vaccinated people are transmitting the virus to other vaccinated people.Yet the government seems to be asserting that only unvaccinated people like Djokovic can spread Omicron… which is a very flat-earth, anti-science view.

But the Australian government’s dumbest reason to expel Djokovic was that his presence in the country may increase vaccine or booster hesitancy. This one is really extraordinary.Let’s we assume for a moment that their point is true, i.e. Djokovic could infect Australian people with his dangerous ideology.Even so, the Australian government apparently believes that ideas only spread through physical contact.In other words, these politicians think that Australian residents will only become vaccine hesitant if Djokovic is physically present in Australia, as if he’s going to sneeze and his ideas will spread like Omicron droplets.But as long as they keep him out of the country, then Australians will be sufficiently socially distanced from his ideas and no one will be exposed to his heresy.

Just like the rest of their arguments, this notion is completely absurd. And yet it was their ‘rational’ basis for punishing someone whose only transgression was exercising independent thought.Back in the 1600s (and prior), anyone who disagreed with the civil or religious authorities was branded a heretic. And their censorship was especially brutal; people were expelled, imprisoned, tortured, and even put to death for questioning authority and expressing a different view.We have once again returned to medieval intolerance for ideological differences.

Australia’s government is a sad example of this Dark Ages-era mentality– that they (and they alone) dictate truth. And anyone who questions their supreme wisdom must be banished.Back then people faced Inquisition, witch hunts, and public beheadings. Today it’s the Twitter mob, cancel culture, and expulsion.It’s not quite as bloody, but still ruinous.

“..because their risk of infection is higher, a vaccinated person will need to have substantial post-infection protection to have an overall lower risk of serious outcomes.”

• Watch Australia Closely (Berenson)

Australia now averages more than 100,000 new Covid cases per day – equal to about 1.5 million in the United States. One fine day last week, it reported 175,000, the equivalent of about 2.5 million, maybe the highest per-capita total any country has ever reported.Not even six months ago, Australia was still chasing zero Covid and patting itself on the back for “Doughnut Days” – with no new Covid infections. (Because a doughnut is shaped like a zero, see?) By the way, Australia is among the world’s most Covid vaccinated counties. Its policy of open coercion and discrimination against the unvaccinated has “succeeded” – more than 95 percent of Australians 16 and over have received at least one vaccine dose, and 93 percent two doses. Those figures effectively represent full vaccination – many of the people left are probably simply too frail to tolerate Covid vaccines.

Deaths are still relatively low by American standards. But they have risen sixfold in the last two weeks and are now at their highest level ever, equal to almost 700 deaths in the United States a day. The trend adds to other worrisome signs about Omicron in highly vaccinated countries. At this point two facts about Omicron are near-certain: 1: Vaccinated people are at HIGHER risk of being infected with Omicron than the unvaccinated (and whatever protection boosters offer does not last). In Scotland, another highly vaccinated country, vaccinated people are more than twice as likely to be infected as the unvaccinated – and people who have received a booster are 30 percent more likely. 2: Omicron is less dangerous than earlier variants.

But how much less dangerous is not entirely clear, because infections have risen so fast that hospitalizations and deaths are still catching up. In South Africa, the first country to see an Omicron spike, deaths from Omicron didn’t peak until Jan. 11 – almost four weeks after infections peaked. In Britain, infections peaked 10 days ago, but deaths are still soaring; they have tripled since late December. Unfortunately, at this point we still do not know how those two facts interact. In other words, if you are vaccinated and infected with Omicron, will your risk of being hospitalized or dying the same, higher, or lower than someone who is infected but unvaccinated? Remember, because their risk of infection is higher, a vaccinated person will need to have substantial post-infection protection to have an overall lower risk of serious outcomes.

In other words, vaccinations will only help and not hurt against hospitalization or death from Omicron if they somehow substantially reduce the risk of getting very sick even though they substantially increase the risk of infection. Is that tightrope even biologically possible? Sure, it’s possible. The vaccine advocates have lately been writing stories about T-cell protection. But possible doesn’t mean plausible. In reality the vaccines do little to drive broad B- or T-cell responses – and that fact was known before Omicron.

That only took 48 hours.

• Djokovic Facing Fresh Grand Slam Blow (RT)

After his deportation from Australia, Novak Djokovic could be forced to miss another Grand Slam after French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu signaled a vaccination pass will be mandatory for international athletes. World number one Djokovic was deprived of the chance to defend his title in Melbourne after a federal court backed the decision by Immigration Minister Alex Hawke to cancel the unvaccinated tennis star’s visa. Djokovic is due to arrive back in Serbia on Monday, but could now find himself barred from the second Grand Slam of the season after the French National Assembly approved the introduction of a controversial new vaccine pass which will exclude anyone who is not fully jabbed from restaurants, sports arenas and other venues.

The legislation is set to come into force in the coming days, and was backed by Sports Minister Maracineanu. “The vaccination pass has been adopted. As soon as the law is promulgated, it will become mandatory to enter public buildings already subject to the health pass (stadium, theater or lounge) for all spectators, practitioners, French or foreign professionals,” she tweeted. “Thank you to the sports movement for the work of conviction with the last rare unvaccinated. We will work together to preserve the competitions and to be the ambassadors of these measures at the international level.” Sunday’s parliamentary vote in France means Sports Minister Maracineanu appears to have been forced to backtrack on previous comments which suggested Djokovic’s vaccination status would not be an issue for his participation at the French Open.

“He would not follow the same organizational arrangements as those who are vaccinated,” Maracineanu told the FranceInfo radio station earlier this month. “But he will nonetheless be able to compete [at Roland Garros] because the protocols, the health bubble, allows it.” That position now appears to be in doubt after the more stringent rules are due to be imposed.

“It’s hard to sell fear — and jabs — to those who have already been infected if you tell them the truth..”

• Oh Look, MORE BS! (Denninger)

Not only do the shots not work they have negative efficacy — that is, they make it more likely for you to not only get it but get seriously ill with it. Of course that’s exactly the opposite of what the medical “profession” has claimed, isn’t it? When you make pronouncements without evidence that has a way of happening. Let’s not forget you’ve been bull****ting people for quite some time in public, haven’t you?”Not only that, but multiple studies have shown that the Omicron variant itself affects the upper airways far more than the lungs, even as it’s much more transmissible than any other variant. This is exactly what happened in the later stages of 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, according to John M. Barry, author of “The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History,” who spoke to me about it on SiriusXM’s Doctor Radio this week.”

I thought *****-19 was the deadliest plague in history? Oh, you mean it isn’t? In fact its not even close, as you’re well-aware, but scaring people is hard when you admit that there have been many pandemics through history that have been worse, isn’t it? Indeed. And yes, this very same pattern did happen in 1918. It has also happened in every other respiratory pandemic, including the one in the late 1800s that we think was caused by a beta coronavirus that is known as OC43 and circulates today. We can’t prove that one because we have no preserved samples to test, but genetic sequencing and back-fitting does appear to line up with a pandemic that caused disease very similar to what we saw this time around — and both are beta coronaviruses. In fact there is not one respiratory pandemic where this pattern has not been true.

How do I know this is a fact? You and I are both on this planet along with many billions of other humans, that’s how. Were this not true the human race would have ceased to exist long ago — well before anything known as “modern medicine” showed up.Of course admitting that blows up all the screaming and fear-mongering too, doesn’t it, including that nice fear-mongering OpEd you got published in August? Yeah, it does. Especially for those who already had it, they’re ok, and thus no longer have a reason, statistically-speaking, to fear it in any way. It’s hard to sell fear — and jabs — to those who have already been infected if you tell them the truth about how every respiratory pandemic in history has played out isn’t it? Never mind it being rather tough to convince such people they should wear a mask too eh?

Going to have to take a closer look at this.

• Beta and Delta Variants Trigger Fc Effector Function (Cell)

SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) exhibit escape from neutralizing antibodies, causing concern about vaccine effectiveness. However, while non-neutralizing cytotoxic functions of antibodies are associated with improved disease outcome and vaccine protection, Fc effector function escape from VOCs is poorly defined. Furthermore, whether VOCs trigger Fc functions with altered specificity, as has been reported for neutralization, is unknown. Here, we demonstrate that the Beta VOC partially evades Fc effector activity in individuals infected with the original (D614G) variant.

However, not all functions are equivalently affected, suggesting differential targeting by antibodies mediating distinct Fc functions. Furthermore, Beta and Delta infection trigger responses with significantly improved Fc cross-reactivity against global VOCs compared to D614G-infected or Ad26.COV2.S vaccinated individuals. This suggests that, as for neutralization, the infecting spike sequence impacts Fc effector function. These data have important implications for vaccine strategies that incorporate VOCs, suggesting these may induce broader Fc effector responses.

Trumped by Nordstream 2 posturing.

• Poor UK Households May Have To Spend Half Their Income On Energy (G.)

Soaring energy bills could eat up more than half of some UK households’ incomes, a leading poverty charity has said, amid warnings that vulnerable people will be left unable to eat regularly or could even be at risk of death from the cold. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said that while households across the board faced bill increases of 40% to 47% from April, there would be huge variations in the ability of families to cope. Energy bills would amount to 6% of the average income of a middle-income family but 18% for a low-income family. This would rise to 25% for lone parents and couples without children, while single-adult households on low incomes could be forced to spend 54% of their income on gas and electricity when the new energy price cap comes in on 1 April, the JRF found.

“Rising energy prices will affect us all but our analysis shows they have the potential to devastate the budgets of families on the lowest incomes. The government cannot stand by and allow the rising cost of living to knock people off their feet,” said Katie Schmuecker, the deputy director of policy and partnerships at the JRF. The warning came as one of the UK’s most respected financial advisers, Martin Lewis, said ministers must intervene urgently to help vulnerable people whose lives could be at risk. Lewis, the founder of the consumer advice website MoneySavingExpert, said the government must provide billions of pounds in support to millions of poorer households who faced major financial stress and “heat or eat” decisions.

“We absolutely know we need a substantial increase in the billions of pounds funding to vulnerable people, and people on low incomes, or it is not an exaggeration to say some will have to choose between heating or eating, and that is not appropriate in one of the world’s richest economies and a civilised nation,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “What we can’t get away from is we are going to need to put money into the system or we are going to have an absolute, not a relative, an absolute poverty crisis in this country, with people really being unable to eat or dying because of the cold.”

Rollout is tomorrow.

“The ripple effects across both passenger and cargo operations, our workforce and the broader economy are simply incalculable… To be blunt, the nation’s commerce will grind to a halt.”

• Airlines Say 5G Will Create ‘Economic Calamity’ (RT)

Some of the US’ largest commercial and cargo airlines have sounded the alarm about the potentially “devastating” effects of 5G service around airports, saying the technology could effectively grind travel and shipping to a halt. Airlines for America – a lobbying group that represents JetBlue, American Airlines, Southwest, United, Delta, UPS, and FedEx, among others – issued a letter on Monday warning that the new 5G C-Band service could have a massive impact on aircraft operations around the country and create a “completely avoidable economic calamity.” “Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will essentially be grounded,” it said, adding that up to 1,100 flights and 100,000 passengers could experience delays and cancelations per day.

While the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has acknowledged the new cell network could interfere with key aircraft systems – namely radio altimeters, which help pilots land in low visibility – as of Sunday, the agency said it had cleared less than half of the US fleet to operate alongside C-Band towers. The latest update came just days ahead of a planned rollout set for January 19, which itself followed several delays due to the ongoing safety concerns. However, the airlines stressed that the interference goes beyond one system, as altimeters “provide critical information to other safety and navigation systems in modern airplanes,” which could mean that “huge swaths of the operating fleet” are “indefinitely grounded” until the issues are resolved.

MORE valid.

• Eisenhower’s Warning About The Military-industrial Complex Is Still Valid (CST)

President Dwight Eisenhower’s farewell address of Jan. 17, 1961, is just as relevant today as back then. Ike warned American citizens of the “military-industrial complex” and the dangers it presented to our nation and the world. Eisenhower was rightly wary of the armaments industry, which at that time was relatively new. Ike knew that such a massive arms industry could dominate the nation. Eisenhower said in his speech, “This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.”

Resources for this arms industry would come from the American people. And if the arms industry is large, that burden becomes substantial. The more you finance the military, the less money you have for other priorities. With people profiting from armaments and their development, there will inevitably be the push for more weapons. Any arms buildup will encourage other nations to build up their weapons. Arms races remain a continuing danger. Eisenhower further warned, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

Ike believed the American people needed to be politically active when it came to regulating the arms industry. He said, “Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.” We need to question military spending, especially when it comes at the expense of social programs. For example, the Build Back Better legislation is being rejected by many senators complaining about its costs. This means important social programs, such as the Child Tax Credit, free school meals and summer feeding for impoverished children won’t get passed because they claim they’re too expensive.

Yet those same senators are not questioning a nearly $2 trillion program of nuclear weapons modernization. Spending on nuclear weapons simply encourages arms races with Russia and China. Eisenhower warned against such reckless military spending that comes at the expense of the American people. Ike said, “As we peer into society’s future, we — you and I, and our government — must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow.” Eisenhower emphasized in his speech the need for diplomacy and peacemaking. He said, “Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.”

MLK

Share this clip of my father. We must study him beyond the end of ‘I Have a Dream.’ (and that’s taken out of context, too) #MLK #MLKDay pic.twitter.com/bRYlVE1vlU

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) January 18, 2022

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Debt Rattle June 30 2020

Jun 302020

June 30, 2020 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:37 am Finance Tagged with: Biden, coronavirus, Covid19, guns, healthcare, Independence Day, lockdown, MLK, RFK, tourism, Trump 36 Responses »

Pablo Picasso The dream 1951

• China’s Military Becomes First To Use Experimental Coronavirus Vaccine (SCMP)

• California, Texas See Record COVID-19 surges, Arizona Clamps Down (R.)

• Norwegian Air Cancels 97 Boeing MAX And Dreamliners, Claims Compensation (R.)

• Europe’s Recovery Fund: An Instrument of Class War (Varoufakis)

• We Digitized the Mob, and There’s No Place to Hide (Miele)

As we approach the end of the first half of 2020, I’m seriously rethinking how to cover COVID19 going forward. The past five months have been intense in that regard, and at a certain point you need to wonder how useful such time-consuming work still is. For a long time I had the hope and belief that “we” would be able to halt the spread of the coronavirus, if only because that was -and is- the only sensible way to deal with a new pathogen about which very little is known, other than that it is potentially deadly.

But despite a huge number of actions, including lockdowns in many countries and societies, the infection numbers only keep rising. And at this point is is entirely unclear how countries like the US and Brazil will ever be able to get rid of the virus.

The consequences will be grave, albeit different in different places. We will see overwhelmed healthcare systems in some countries and states, while others will remain relatively unscathed, at least for a while. Ironically, in a world used to so much travelling it’s even useful to wonder what good it does to do a lockdown well. How long can New Zealand keep its borders closed?

As for healthcare, there was a report that it will take four years for the UK’s NHS to recover from COVID19, and that based on what they have experienced so far, while there is still plenty room for second or third waves, and/or any unforeseeable extra pressure.

Tourism as we’ve known it will never recover, at least not on a timescale that is meaningful to us. That whole industry needs a great reset. That is of course also true for airlines, plane manufacturers et al. As it is for the entire hospitality industry. People will be cautious when going out, the fear of infection rules supreme, as demonstrated again by this report from NBER, Fear, Lockdown, and Diversion, which shows it wasn’t the lockdowns that did the most damage.

This paper examines the drivers of the collapse using cellular phone records data on customer visits to more than 2.25 million individual businesses across 110 different industries. Comparing consumer behavior within the same commuting zones but across boundaries with different policy regimes suggests that legal shutdown orders account for only a modest share of the decline of economic activity (and that having county-level policy data is significantly more accurate than state-level data).

While overall consumer traffic fell by 60 percentage points, legal restrictions explain only 7 of that. Individual choices were far more important and seem tied to fears of infection. Traffic started dropping before the legal orders were in place; was highly tied to the number of COVID deaths in the county; and showed a clear shift by consumers away from larger/busier stores toward smaller/less busy ones in the same industry.

But I have to admit, over the past few days, when I was silent, I’ve become ever more worried by the American political and societal situation than by coronavirus. The images of people with guns standing outside of their homes, the stories of police and mob violence, shootings in “police-free” zones, it all starts to smell like a civil war.

While I wasn’t writing, I was reading all the more from both sides of aisle, and whatever they may still have had in common appears to disappear rapidly. The hunt for Trump continues unabated with yet another anonymous and unsourced tale about RussiaRussia, while the right is organizing to counter what they see as lawlessness across the nation.

Frank Miele, in a article below, quotes Bobby Kennedy, speaking after MLK was shot:

“The victims of the violence are black and white, rich and poor, young and old, famous and unknown. They are, most important of all, human beings whom other human beings loved and needed. No one — no matter where he lives or what he does — can be certain who will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed. And yet it goes on and on. Why? What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? … No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. … [A]n uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of the people.”

That sounds like a voice of reason that is sorely needed by the country right now. But does anyone see any of those? Ideally, Trump and Biden would get together on live TV to ask their supporters to please calm down. But I don’t see that happening in the present climate either. It’s become too polarized, fed by media and their business models.

I’m just trying to make sense of it all. Trying to find a way out of the mess, a way forward. But right now I’m mostly just thinking that Independence Day could turn into an incredibly messy affair. Or any other day between now and the election.

US has fifth day in a row with over 40,000 new cases

Does anyone want to take on the task of telling NY they need to restrict southern Californians?

Just because northern California has fewer cases per capita, doesn't mean southern California travelers are low risk for NY, NJ, CT. https://t.co/7t5WVTh2an pic.twitter.com/iXDJQ9m1JC

— Yaneer Bar-Yam (@yaneerbaryam) June 29, 2020

Key line: “The candidate is yet to start phase three trials, which would confirm whether it could protect recipients from infection.”

• China’s Military Becomes First To Use Experimental Coronavirus Vaccine (SCMP)

China has approved military use of an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by the People’s Liberation Army and a Chinese pharmaceutical company, in a first for the armed forces of any country. The vaccine, identified as Ad5-nCoV, was jointly developed by a team at the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, led by Major General Chen Wei, and Tianjin-based company CanSino Biologics. It is the first time that a vaccine candidate for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has been authorised for use for the military of any nation. CanSino said on Monday that the candidate had been through two phases of clinical trials, which indicated it was safe and there was “relatively high” immune response to the antigen.

The candidate is yet to start phase three trials, which would confirm whether it could protect recipients from infection. The military has approved its use for a year but it has not been authorised for civilian purposes. Adding Ad5-nCoV to the People’s Liberation Army’s catalogue of special drugs means that it can be deployed in major outbreaks. It is based on an Ebola vaccine that was developed by Chen but did not go into mass production. Scientists are racing to find an answer to the coronavirus that has already infected more than 10 million people and killed over 500,000. New cases continue to surge in the United States and India, with the US confirming more than 40,000 new cases for the third straight day on Monday.

According to the World Health Organisation, clinical trials are under way for 17 vaccine candidates, seven of which have been developed in China. One candidate developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca is in phase three studies. Phase one and two studies typically test if a candidate is safe and whether it can generate an immune response from the recipients, but vaccines must complete all three sets of trials to be licensed. CanSino said it completed phase two trials on June 11, but the company has not yet released data from the study. [..] Many Chinese candidates are planning phase three trials in other countries as the spread of the coronavirus in China is too limited to test the efficacy of the vaccine. CanSino reached an agreement with Canadian government to conduct phase three trials there but details of the studies have not been revealed.

We’ll see anti-police protests and anti-lockdown protests all at the same time.

• California, Texas See Record COVID-19 surges, Arizona Clamps Down (R.)

California and Texas both marked record spikes in new COVID-19 infections on Monday, a Reuters tally showed, as Los Angeles reported an “alarming” one-day surge in America’s second-largest city that put it over 100,000 cases. Los Angeles has become a new epicenter in the pandemic as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations surge there despite California Governor Gavin Newsom’s strict orders requiring bars to close and residents to wear masks in nearly all public spaces. “The alarming increases in cases, positivity rates and hospitalizations signals that we, as a community, need to take immediate action to slow the spread of COVID-19,” Barbara Ferrer, director of public health for Los Angeles County, said in a statement announcing the sharp rise.

“Otherwise, we are quickly moving toward overwhelming our healthcare system and seeing even more devastating illness and death,” Ferrer said. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a “hard pause” on when movie theaters, theme parks and other entertainment venues can reopen. Los Angeles County is the biggest movie theater market in the United States. Los Angeles County said its beaches will be closed for the Independence Day weekend and fireworks displays will be banned.

is there a better example of the future of tourism?

• Norwegian Air Cancels 97 Boeing MAX And Dreamliners, Claims Compensation (R.)

Norwegian Air has cancelled orders for 97 Boeing aircraft and will claim compensation from the U.S. plane maker for the grounding of the 737 MAX and for 787 engine troubles that hit its bottom line, the Oslo-based carrier said on Monday. The airline cancelled 92 of the 737 MAX jets, five 787 Dreamliners and so-called GoldCare service agreements related to both aircraft, just as Boeing on Monday began a crucial set of flight tests of the 737 MAX in an effort to gain regulatory approval for it to return to the skies.

“Norwegian has in addition filed a legal claim seeking the return of pre-delivery payments related to the aircraft and compensation for the company’s losses related to the grounding of the 737 MAX and engine issues on the 787,” the airline said. Norwegian did not specify the amount it would seek to claim from Boeing, which it had been in talks with about compensation, and was not immediately available for comment. Boeing said it was working with Norwegian on a path forward in a challenging time as it was with other operators but it would not comment on commercial discussions.

Nothing has changed in Europe.

• Europe’s Recovery Fund: An Instrument of Class War (Varoufakis)

Europe was never the battlefield on which the frugal North clashed with the profligate South. Instead, every European country has been the battlefield where a vicious class war is fought by a transnational oligarchy-without-frontiers training its armour against the weaker residents of every country, every region, every community. COVID-19, and the European Union’s response to it, only magnifies the human costs of this unremitting class war. All talk of a North-South clash is founded on a gigantic lie, that is based on many small truths, conveniently hiding from Europeans’ gaze the class war that diminishes their life prospects.

The crisis of financialisation in 2008 intensified Europe’s class war massively, holding a majority of Northern and Southern Europeans behind and leaving Europe, including its capitalist class, much weakened in relation to the rest of the world — the United States and China in particular. Twelve years on, COVID-19 gives this crisis a new, violent spin. The weak are weakened much, much more while Europe as a whole falls further and further behind the United States and China. While the EU’s leadership and bureaucracy have been quite active in the past three months, producing one impressive-sounding policy announcement after the next, the sum of their actions boost the class war that enfeebled Europe over the past decade and weakened a majority of Europeans everywhere.

[..] Rumours that Covid-19 caused the EU to lift its game are grossly exaggerated. Good people who took heart from the news that, however reluctantly, the EU has embraced common debt in a bid to further the cause of pan-european solidarity, will soon be deeply disappointed. Behind the heroic pronouncements and the triumphant propaganda lurks a sordid truth: The class war against Europe’s weaker people is escalating. And so is Europe’s descent into global irrelevance.

It all began with the quiet death of the Eurobond. Eurobonds, as advocated by DiEM25, would perform a simple task: They would automatically convert any new Italian, Spanish or Greek public debt (due to the impact of the pandemic on public revenues and expenses) into European debt (in the same way that US Treasury Bills absorb the costs of a recession in Missouri and Wisconsin). But, once the Eurobond was killed off by the Eurogroup in early April, it is now a given that the gigantic increase in national budget deficits will be followed by equally sizeable austerity in every country — a euphemism for the intensification of the class war that depletes the already atrophied incomes of the majority in each of our countries.

Excellent piece, what ever side you’re on.

• We Digitized the Mob, and There’s No Place to Hide (Miele)

The most shocking aspect of the wave of rioting and destruction that has been unleashed on many of our American cities in the wake of George Floyd’s death is not that there is an underlying discontent with the rate of progress in racial equality. That is understandable. What is not is the way that mayors, governors and members of Congress have not just tolerated, but endorsed, mob violence as an acceptable weapon of social change. Growing up in the turbulent 1960s, I was given a very specific warning by my mother: If you ever get caught up in a mob, get out of it as soon as possible because a mob has no brain. It just has emotion — and whether that emotion is anger, hatred or even joyful exuberance, it cannot be controlled.

We saw that in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd while in police custody. People with a brain were outraged by what they saw. They wanted to protest, to speak out, and to demand justice. But when they came together in the streets, they discovered how quickly protest can transform into riot, and how demands for justice can be used to justify injustice. The basic premise of justice, after all, is recompense, making sure that wrongdoers pay a price for their crime. Yet there was no recompense in burning the businesses of innocent bystanders. There was no justice in stealing TVs and PlayStations. This was just brainless mob violence. It was shameful and it should have been easily condemned by the politicians, news media and celebrities who were not part of the mob.

That’s what would have happened in the 1960s. When Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered, leading to riots across America in 1968, Bobby Kennedy appealed for peace amidst “this mindless menace of violence in America which again stains our land and every one of our lives.” The parallel is exact. A black man is unjustly murdered. The nation is outraged. Riots ensue. The only part that is missing today is a respected grown-up like Kennedy who would condemn the violence and recognize that “[i]t is not the concern of any one race.” As Kennedy said,

“The victims of the violence are black and white, rich and poor, young and old, famous and unknown. They are, most important of all, human beings whom other human beings loved and needed. No one — no matter where he lives or what he does — can be certain who will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed. And yet it goes on and on. Why? What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? … No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. … [A]n uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of the people.”

What a refreshing expression of common sense, and what a contrast it offers to the bleating appeasers from the Democratic Party today who have bent a knee in obeisance to the mob, to the rioters, to the monument defacers, to the statue topplers. But it’s not just the Democrats who have bowed to the “voice of madness.” Most Republicans are right there with them. So too are corporate entities such as Intel and Amazon, and sporting organizations such as the NFL and NASCAR. For their part, news outlets such as CNN and MSNBC are promoting the riots and the cleansing of American history that is being pushed by Black Lives Matter. The question is why?

It is easy to understand why someone surrounded by the mob surrenders to its power, but those corporate boardrooms are far from the fray and well-protected from the torches and Molotov cocktails. So why have they turned their backs on law and order and embraced the mob? What has changed since the 1960s that makes it so much harder for leaders in government, business and culture to condemn violence and lawlessness? The answer will not surprise you, but it should scare you. Somewhere along the way, we digitized the mob. The few dozen people surrounding a statue are not the problem. The few hundred people confronting police are not the problem. The few thousand people looting stores and throwing rocks are not the problem. The mob on the street is not the problem. The mob on the street is the symptom.

The millions of people acting without moral restraint, without reason and without fear of consequences on the Internet are the problem. Indeed, the digital mob is the unintended consequence of the Internet itself. Connecting the world via technology was supposed to encourage communication, understanding and a breaking down of barriers. Instead it has resulted in a world divided into silos, special interests, identity groups. We tend to seek out those we have the most in common with and to block, ban or troll those who are unlike us. We feel safety in numbers, and from that safety is often bred outright contempt for those who think differently.

We try to run the Automatic Earth on donations. Since their revenue has collapsed, ads no longer pay for all you read, and your support is now an integral part of the interaction.

Thank you.

I’ll close today with a series of clips of an interview yesterday with Michael Fynn’s attorney Sidney Powell, who’s going to be an important voice in the run-up to November 3, whether you agree with her or not. Stay safe.

Sidney Powell came into this case believing @GenFlynn was innocent and she will not stop until that’s proven or until the Supreme Court denies Her petition for rehearing if necessary. @SidneyPowell1 pic.twitter.com/hMkQUZ4I55

— The Dirty Truth (@RealDirty on Parler) (@AKA_RealDirty) June 30, 2020

The longer Judge Sullivan keeps the case open the more stuff they owe @SidneyPowell1. There’s still a long list of stuff that she knows is there. Like the memo that fully exaggerates @GenFlynn. pic.twitter.com/ezkoFet0rN

— The Dirty Truth (@RealDirty on Parler) (@AKA_RealDirty) June 30, 2020

.@SidneyPowell1 says @GenFlynn isn’t under any kind of gag order. Discretion is valor and he’s full of Valor. pic.twitter.com/JjLIqrR31v

— The Dirty Truth (@RealDirty on Parler) (@AKA_RealDirty) June 30, 2020

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Debt Rattle January 21 2020

Jan 212020

January 21, 2020 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:36 am Finance Tagged with: Boeing, buybacks, coronavirus, Davos, Flynn, Greta, Hunter Biden, impeachment, McConnell, MLK, OPCW, Putin, Senate, Sidney Powell 14 Responses »

Alfred Palmer U.S. Marine Corps glider detachment training camp, Parris Island, SC 1943

• Davos Man Is Richer Than Ever (BBG)

• Markets Tumble As Human-to-Human Transmission Coronavirus Confirmed (ZH)

• Flynn’s Lawyer: FBI Agents Wrote Flynn Didn’t Lie, We Have Eyewitness (ET)

• McConnell Proposes Compressed Schedule For Impeachment Trial (Hill)

• How The Senate Trial’s First Day May Proceed (Fox)

• White House Appoints GOP House Members To Advise Trump’s Impeachment Team (Hill)

• Chief Justice Roberts Under Pressure From Both Sides In Witness Fight (Hill)

• Boeing Scrambles to Borrow $10 Bn After $43 Bn in Share-Buybacks (WS)

• Putin Sends His Constitutional Proposals to Parliament (ET)

• Martin Luther King and the Black Revolutionary Tradition (Eric Mann)

• Ukraine, China Knew Hunter Biden Was Chronic Drug Addict, Hired Him Anyway (GP)

• Former OPCW Specialist Ian Henderson Speaks At UN (YT)

I said all I have to say about this in yesterday’s Go Home Greta.

• Davos Man Is Richer Than Ever (BBG)

Davos Man is richer than ever. A decade after the financial crisis poured flat champagne on the World Economic Forum, gold-collar executives set to gather there this week have bounced back, and then some. David Rubenstein has doubled his fortune since 2009. Jamie Dimon has more than tripled his net worth. And Stephen Schwarzman has increased his wealth six-fold.It’s a remarkable showing given the economic and political tumult of the past decade, from Lehman Brothers to Brexit to Donald Trump. The fortunes of a dozen 2009 Davos attendees have soared by a combined US$175 billion, even as median U.S. household wealth has stagnated, a Bloomberg analysis found.

The data illustrate the ever-widening gap between the true haves—those in the 0.1 percent—and the have-nots of a global economy. Data from UBS and PwC Billionaires Insights reports show that global billionaire wealth has grown from $3.4 trillion in 2009 to $8.9 trillion in 2017.Central bank actions to fight the financial crisis—record low interest rates and bond-buying programs—have underpinned this ballooning wealth by driving up the prices of stocks and other assets.“Ten years ago, ironically at the lows of the market, what you wanted to own was capital and if you did own capital you did incredibly well,” said Michael Hartnett, Bank of America Corp.’s chief investment strategist. It means Davos Man—the conference remains overwhelmingly male—exerts more authority and visibility than ever.

Dimon is returning to the WEF with JPMorgan Chase & Co. larger and more profitable than ever. Schwarzman—recognizable in his tan winter coat over suit—has built Blackstone Group LP into the world’s largest alternative asset manager with $457 billion of assets as of Sept. 30, 2018, up from $95 billion at the end of 2008. And Davos remains as popular as ever. The forum—titled Globalization 4.0—is expected to host 3,000 people. This year, George Soros is hosting a dinner at which he will speak and Dimon’s JPMorgan is throwing a drinks party. Bill Gates will be present again as will billionaire Carlyle Group co-founder Rubenstein, who hosts a show on Bloomberg Television and whose fortune has doubled over the past decade.

“There are now sufficient cases that it’s not going to die out by chance..”

• Markets Tumble As Human-to-Human Transmission Coronavirus Confirmed (ZH)

Dow futures are down over 100 points, AsiaPac equity markets are down harder, and Treasuries are well bid along with gold after a Chinese officials confirmed the coronavirus can be spread by human-to-human contact, and the deadly disease is spreading to other asian nations. “Now we can say it is certain that it is a human-to-human transmission phenomenon,” Zhong Nanshan, a scientist who is leading a government-appointed expert panel on the outbreak, said in an interview on state-run television on Monday. As The New York Times reports, cases have been reported outside China.

“The authorities in Thailand detected the new coronavirus last week in two Chinese women who had flown from Wuhan to Bangkok on separate trips. The government said the women, aged 74 and 61, were in good condition. In Japan, a Chinese man who returned from Wuhan on Jan. 6 was also confirmed to have the disease. He was discharged after five days in a hospital. South Korea confirmed its first case of the coronavirus on Monday in a 35-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan who arrived on Sunday at Incheon International Airport, which serves Seoul. The woman was found with a fever, muscle pain and other symptoms while going through customs and was immediately quarantined for tests, said Jung Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The woman was traveling with five other people intending to spend the Lunar New Year holidays in South Korea and Japan, Ms. Jung said. South Korean officials were running tests on anyone believed to have come in contact with the woman in the plane, she said.” And fear of a SARS 2.0 outbreak have sparked risk-off trades in early Asia trading. “There are now sufficient cases that it’s not going to die out by chance,” said Neil Ferguson, a public health expert at Imperial College London who has studied the new virus.

Michael Flynn’s destiny was turned on its head in June 2019 when he hired Sidney Powell. Good on him. Still wondering how he got from near bankruptcy to hiring an A-list lawyer.

• Flynn’s Lawyer: FBI Agents Wrote Flynn Didn’t Lie, We Have Eyewitness (ET)

Sidney Powell, lawyer of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, said the FBI excluded crucial information from a report on their interview of her client. The report, an FBI 302 form, was used to charge Flynn with lying to the FBI, but the original draft of the 302 stated that Flynn was honest with the FBI, according to a witness who saw the draft, Powell said. Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2017, to one count of lying to FBI agents during a Jan. 24, 2017, interview. A 302 report summarizing the interview was supposed to be filed within five days. But the earliest draft Flynn’s lawyers were provided was from Feb. 10, 2017—more than two weeks after the interview.

Powell, who took over Flynn’s defense in June 2019, has for months asserted that an earlier 302 must exist. Prosecutors have said they don’t have it, stopping short of saying it doesn’t exist. In an Oct. 24, 2019, court filing, Powell rejected the suggestion that the 302 draft was “missing,” saying neither the bureau nor its digital document system “loses the most important of its reports that is supposed to support the federal felony of the President’s National Security Adviser.” On Jan. 16, Powell disclosed that she has a witness who could attest to what was in the original draft. “I’ve now found a witness who says the original 302 did in fact say that Flynn was honest with the agents and did not lie,” she told Larry O’Connor on his WMAL radio show. “So for somebody to delete that from the 302 is just beyond outrageous.”

She didn’t elaborate much further when asked by The Epoch Times. “Can’t say more about witness but yes, person saw it,” she said via email. [..] In June 2019, after Flynn fired his original lawyers and hired a new legal team led by Powell, prosecutors asked Flynn to testify that he signed [his now-defunct consultancy, Flynn Intel Group (FIG)]’s lobbying forms knowing there were lies in them. He refused, saying he only learned there was something wrong with the registration in retrospect. That angered the lead prosecutor, Brandon Van Grack, notes from a June 27, 2019, conference call indicate. Powell said that ever since then, the prosecutors’ behavior has been “retaliatory, vindictive, and in bad faith” because Flynn refused to lie.

Every comma must now be vehemently protested.

• McConnell Proposes Compressed Schedule For Impeachment Trial (Hill)

House impeachment managers will have 24 hours over two days to make their opening arguments when they begin to present their case against President Trump to the Senate Wednesday, according to a resolution circulated by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). President Trump’s team similarly will have two days to present their arguments and then senators will have a chance to ask questions and consider subpoenas of witnesses. The resolution, as expected, does not require additional witnesses to be subpoenaed and does not allow House prosecutors to admit evidence into the Senate trial record until after the opening arguments are heard.

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) quickly pushed back and vowed to force votes on amendments. “Sen. McConnell’s resolution is nothing short of a national disgrace,” Schumer said in a statement Monday afternoon. Both sides will have 24 hours to make their first round of arguments — the same amount of time House impeachment managers and Bill Clinton’s lawyers received in 1999, but on a more compressed time schedule than required more than 20 years ago.

The resolution includes language favored by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and other GOP moderates requiring a debate and vote on subpoenaing new witnesses and documents. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who worked with McConnell and Collins to modify the resolution, said it “guarantees a vote on whether we need additional evidence at the appropriate time.” A Senate GOP leadership aide noted that prosecutors in the Clinton trial didn’t use all of their allotted time and finished their opening arguments within three days. Schumer argues that forcing House managers to cram their opening arguments into a two-day window will force them to present on the Senate floor well into the evening and possibly past midnight.

A handy guide.

• How The Senate Trial’s First Day May Proceed (Fox)

Here is how things are expected go down Tuesday in the Senate for President Trump’s impeachment trial. By rule, the trial session begins at 1 p.m. ET. Expect to see Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger reprising his role from last week, bringing order to the Senate. Stenger may appear at other points along the way, too. The first order of business for the Senate will be to swear-in Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla. Inhofe wasn’t present last week when all other senators were sworn in. He was attending to a family emergency. Then, there will be some short, administrative activity for documents, et al. Viewers are likely to see two women on the dais, whispering to Chief Justice John Roberts, giving advice and passing messages.

They are Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough and Assistant Parliamentarian Leigh Hildebrand. Once the Senate gets through the basics, it’s time for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to offer his resolution dictating the parameters of the trial. McConnell’s proposal is formally known as a “motion” in Senate parlance. And, by rule, the Senate then has two hours per side to debate the McConnell plan. The Senate will have to eat up all of that two hours, unless there is unanimous consent – meaning all 100 senators agree — to cut things short. The seven House managers and members of Trump’s defense team – not any senators – would debate the proposal. So, barring anything strange, this probably gets us close to 3:30 p.m. ET.

Then, it’s up to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to offer his counter-proposal. The Senate has something known as “the amendment tree.” One could think of the McConnell proposal as the “trunk” of the tree. Schumer’s proposal is a “branch” of the tree. Schumer’s proposal, or proposals – so, sprigs growing off of the Schumer branch of the tree – all would represent possible amendments on which the Senate likely will have to debate and conduct a roll call vote on Tuesday evening. What will Schumer propose? Different time allocations for the trial? Different times when they start or stop the arguments? Proposals on witnesses and documents? By rule, Schumer’s proposal gets two hours of debate as well, with no senators participating in the debate — just the impeachment managers and the president’s counsel.

Timing: If they do this by the book, we probably get 5:30 or 6 p.m. ET, if not later. However, a potential wild card is afoot. Fox News is told to expect a closed Senate session after these two debates, meaning lawmakers essentially would kick everyone out of the chamber: the public, the media, the president’s legal team and the impeachment managers. The only people left: senators, Roberts and essential floor staff. Fox News has no idea how long this could go, but it would happen in the Senate chamber itself, not the Old Senate Chamber.

“..provided guidance to the White House team, which was prohibited from participating in the proceedings concocted by Democrats in the House of Representatives”

• White House Appoints GOP House Members To Advise Trump’s Impeachment Team (Hill)

The White House announced Monday that President Trump appointed several prominent Republican House members to advise his impeachment defense team ahead of the Senate trial set to begin this week. GOP Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), John Ratcliffe Texas), Mike Johnson (La.), Mark Meadows (N.C.), Debbie Lesko (Ariz.), Lee Zeldin (N.Y.), Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) and Doug Collins are set to play leading roles. A statement from the White House said the lawmakers “have provided guidance to the White House team, which was prohibited from participating in the proceedings concocted by Democrats in the House of Representatives” throughout the House proceedings and would continue to do so in the Senate.

The lawmakers served as some of the president’s strongest allies during the House’s impeachment proceedings, adamantly defending the president’s dealings with Ukraine. Jordan, a firebrand conservative who serves as the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee and a leading member of the House Freedom Caucus, has garnered a reputation for being one of Trump’s most aggressive attack dogs on impeachment.

Ratcliffe, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee and served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas before being elected to Congress, was previously tapped by the president last year to become the director of national intelligence before he withdrew from consideration. His line of questioning during the public hearings was widely praised by his GOP colleagues in the House. Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee and confidant to the president, played a key role in pushing back against Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) during the final hearings. And Johnson, the chairman of the Republican Study Committee who also sits on the House Judiciary Committee, practiced constitutional law.

Roberts may regret this job.

• Chief Justice Roberts Under Pressure From Both Sides In Witness Fight (Hill)

Senate Democrats are pressing Chief Justice John Roberts to rule in favor of calling witnesses at President Trump’s impeachment trial, while Republicans argue it could force his recusal from potential Supreme Court cases. Democrats say it’s simple: A trial can’t be a fair one without witnesses. Republicans counter that if Roberts rules on witnesses, he will have to recuse himself from any Supreme Court case on Trump’s claims of executive privilege over potential witnesses like former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. “I don’t know how you have a serious trial unless you hear from witnesses who know in fact what the facts are, what happened,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

“I think it would be appropriate for the chief justice to do what I think should be done, and that is to allow witnesses to testify,” he added. While Roberts is expected to refer major disputes over trial procedures to the entire Senate for a vote, some Democrats hope he will make his own rulings on what they say are basic questions of fair jurisprudence. Democrats argue that holding a trial but blocking the consideration of relevant witness testimony and document review would fall well short of what’s considered a fair trial in any court of law.

“We’ve been working to get an agreement with Republicans about the relevant witnesses for the trial and relevant documents and we’re continuing that effort,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). “Those types of questions will have to be considered as the trial proceeds.” Senators who want Roberts to intervene have pointed to the precedent set by then-Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase in the 1868 impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. Chase broke two ties on procedural deadlocks, including a vote on whether he could break ties.

All you need to know: “..its total liabilities ($136 billion) exceed its total assets ($132 billion)..”

• Boeing Scrambles to Borrow $10 Bn After $43 Bn in Share-Buybacks (WS)

The first thing to know about Boeing’s mad scramble to line up “$10 billion or more” in new funding via a loan from a consortium of banks, on top of the $9.5 billion credit-line it obtained in October last year – efforts to somehow get through its cash-flow nightmare caused by the 737 MAX fiasco – is that the company blew, wasted, and incinerated $43.4 billion to buy back its own shares since June 2013, having become a master of financial engineering instead of aircraft engineering. If Boeing had focused on its business – such as designing a new plane instead of doctoring an ancient design to save money and time – and if it hadn’t blown $43 billion on share-buybacks but had invested this money in a new design, those two crashes wouldn’t have occurred, and it wouldn’t have to beg for cash now.

The chart below shows the cumulative share-buybacks in billions of dollars since Q1 2009. In Q2 2019, it belatedly halted the share buybacks. As is always the case with share buybacks, the idea is to buy high in order to drive shares even higher. This is what you learn on the first day of Financial Engineering 101. So Boeing stopped buying back its shares in Q1 2009 when its shares had plunged into the $35-range, at which point they were a good deal, and then recommenced share-buybacks in Q2 2013 when its shares had already risen to the $100-range.

The second thing to know about Boeing’s mad scramble to borrow another $10 billion is that it already has a huge amount of debt and other liabilities, and that its total liabilities ($136 billion) exceed its total assets ($132 billion) by about $4 billion as of September 2019, meaning that it has negative net equity, that the share buybacks have destroyed its equity, which is what share buybacks do to the balance sheet. It also means that every dime in “cash” and “cash equivalent” listed on the balance sheet is borrowed. And this is about to get a whole lot worse. In October 2019, Boeing had already obtained a new credit line of $9.5 billion, which about doubled the size of its existing credit line. Credit lines serve as liquidity backup. And now Boeing is scrambling to pile “$10 billion or more” in new loans on top of it.

Note: Putin will be President until 2024.

• Putin Sends His Constitutional Proposals to Parliament (ET)

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday submitted to parliament a package of constitutional amendments widely seen as an attempt to secure his grip on power well after his current term ends in 2024. Putin first presented the proposed changes in his state-of-the-nation address Wednesday, arguing they are intended to bolster the role of parliament and strengthen democracy. Kremlin critics have argued that they are intended to allow his rule for life. The Kremlin-controlled lower house, the State Duma, received a draft bill on constitutional proposals from the Kremlin and quickly scheduled the first of three required readings for Thursday.

Putin, 67, has been in power for more than 20 years, longer than any other Russian or Soviet leader since Josef Stalin, who led from 1924 until his death in 1953. Under the law now in force, Putin must step down as president when his current term ends. Putin proposed that the constitution must specify the authority of the State Council, an advisory body that consists of regional governors and top federal officials. The Kremlin’s constitutional bill submitted to parliament empowers the Council to “determine the main directions of home and foreign policy,” its specific authority yet to be spelled in a separate law. Observers say that the proposed changes could allow Putin to stay in charge by shifting into the position of the Council’s head.

Mann: “..in 1964 I was a field secretary with the Congress of Racial Equality”. Long piece.

• Martin Luther King and the Black Revolutionary Tradition (Eric Mann)

Every year, until The Revolution comes again, the counter-revolution manipulates the historic birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, that so many people fought for, as their symbol of Black “integration” into imperialism and “non-violent” acquiescence to, at best, Barack Obama’s cynical negation of his dream. As Donald Trump has just assassinated Iranian General Quassem Soleimani—with Democratic Party token opposition at best and acquiescence at worse, Dr. King reminds us that “the United States, my government, is the greatest purveyor violence in the world.”

As Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren squabble for position and too often, reduce the meaning of life to a barren economic populism, Dr. King reminds us that U.S. society is a moral disgrace and we need a revolutionary movement to challenge its “racism, militarism, poverty, and materialism.” His thoughts offer Democrats and the Movement a challenge. There is an urgent need for a revolutionary worldview to challenge the racism and reaction of Donald Trump’s Make America Great fascist appeal. Meanwhile, on the ground, Black and Latino communities and the world are suffering the worst political, economic, and ecological catastrophe with little help in sight. In this context the most engaged and introspective study of Dr. King’s theory and practice is an urgent corrective than can offer hope and inspiration.

“Like anybody, I would like to live – a long life; longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

To blackmail Joe?!

• Ukraine, China Knew Hunter Biden Was Chronic Drug Addict, Hired Him Anyway (GP)

Hunter Biden’s first arrest may have been when he was 18. Hunter was arrested on Jersey Shore related to drug charges in 1988 and had his record expunged. Many years later and after several stops into drug treatment facilities Hunter joined his father the Vice President on a trip to China in 2013 where Hunter — inexperienced and out of place — was able to secure a $1.5 billion from China for private equity fund which he was forming at the time. A year later in early 2014 Hunter was discharged from the Navy for testing positive for cocaine. Then in April 2014, just a couple months later, Hunter Biden Hunter joined the Board of Burisma Holdings in the Ukraine. Hunter served on the Board until early 2019. Hunter was paid approximately $50,000 a month in his position.

The largest oil and gas company in the Ukraine hired a chronic drug addict only a few months after the addict was removed from the US Navy for doing cocaine. In 2016 Hunter Biden returned a rental car with a crack pipe with cocaine residue and a small amount of a white, powdery substance. Hunter was never charged with a crime. In 2018 the IRS placed a tax lien on Hunter Biden seeking $112,805 in unpaid taxes from 2015. And according to Page Six, Hunter Biden allegedly spent time at Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club in New York City in 2018. Hunter allegedly ordered pricey booze, was joined by several strippers in a private room while he did drugs and had strippers run to find him a dildo. These are just a few of the allegations against Hunter Biden. After years of drug abuse there are likely many more episodes not yet public.

Any foreign intelligence service worth their salt would have known Hunter Biden was a chronic drug addict. China and the Ukraine, and likely others, hired Hunter Biden anyway. [..] How many times was Joe Biden warned of his dangerous actions related to his drug addicted son? Will the liberal media ever investigate this? Do Americans really believe that this man and his son should be President? Joe and Hunter Biden would destroy the American dream if Joe was elected President. They would blow it away!

The text here is a Twitter thread from Philip Watson.

• Former OPCW Specialist Ian Henderson Speaks At UN (YT)

The damning words of Ian Henderson at tonight’s OPCW United Nations Security Council Arria-Formula Meeting called for by the #Russia-n Federation into the #Douma affair. All words that follow are direct quotes from Mr Henderson.

“I need to point out from the outset, I am not a whistleblower. I don’t like that term. I am a former OPCW specialist who has concerns in many areas and I consider this a legitimate and appropriate forum to explain again these concerns.” “Secondly, I must point out that I hold the OPCW in the highest regard. As well as the professionalism of the staff members who work there. ” “However the concern I have does relate to some specific management practices in certain sensitive missions. The concern, of course, relates to the FFM investigation into the alleged chemical attack on the 7th April in Douma in Syria.”

“My concern, which is shared by a number of other inspectors, relates to the subsequent management lock-down and the practices in the later analysis and compilation of the final report. ” “There were 2 teams deployed, 1 team which I joined shortly after the start of field deployments was to #Douma in Syria, the other team deployed to Country X. ” The main concern relates to the announcement in July/18, of a new concept, the so-called FFM Core Team which essentially resulted in the dismissal of all the inspectors who’d been on the team deployed to locations in Douma and had been following up with their findings & analysis. “The findings of the final FFM report were contradictory, were a complete turn-around, with what the team had understood collectively. ”

“During and after the Douma deployments and by the time of release of the interim report in July 2018 our understanding was that we had serious misgivings that a chemical attack had occurred. ” “What the final FFM report does not make clear and thus does not reflect the views of the team members who deployed to Douma. (In which case I can really only speak for myself at this stage)” “The report did not make clear what new findings, facts, information, data or analysis in the fields of witness testimony, toxicology studies, chemical analysis, engineering and or ballistics studies…” “..had resulted in a complete turn-around in the situation from what was understood by the majority of the team and the entire Douma team in July 2018.”

“In my case I had followed with a further 6 months of engineering and ballistics studies into the cylinders. The results of which had provided further support for the view there had not been a chemical attack.” “This needs to be properly resolved, we believe (Douma FFM Team), through the rigours of science and engineering. In my situation it is not a political debate. I’m very aware that there is a political debate surrounding this.” “Perhaps a closing comment from my side, is that I was also the inspection team leader who developed and launched the inspections, the highly intrusive inspections, of the Barzah SSRC facility outside of Damascus.” “And I did the inspections and wrote the reports for the 2 inspections prior to and the inspection after the chemical facility, or the laboratory complex at Barzah SSRC, had been destroyed by the missile strike. That however is another story altogether.”

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Debt Rattle Martin Luther King Day 2019

Jan 212019

January 21, 2019 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 11:07 am Finance Tagged with: assassinations, birth rate, China, deadlock, FYROM, Good Friday, Greece, hatred, inequality, Martin Luther King, May, MLK, Plan B, property sales 10 Responses »

Martin Luther King, Jr. following his 1963 arrest in Birmingham

• Rebranding MLK (Fikre)

• A Call to Reinvestigate American Assassinations of the 1960s (CN)

• The Number Of Births In China Hit Its Lowest Level Since 1961 (CNBC)

• China Economic Growth Lowest In 28 Years (MW)

• China Real Estate Sales Growth Slows Down (R.)

• Theresa May ‘Considers Amending Good Friday Agreement’ To Break Deadlock (Ind.)

• May Tries To Break Brexit Deadlock By Winning More EU Concessions (R.)

• No Solutions To Irish Backstop In May’s Brexit Call With Cabinet (G.)

• Bizarre Turn Of Events Could Push May’s Brexit Deal Through After All (Ind.)

• Clashes in Athens Over Neighbour’s Name Change (BBC)

• World’s 26 Richest People Own As Much As Poorest 3.8 Billion (G.)

Martin Luther King Jr. Day. He’s been dead long enough that everyone feels safe, if not entitled to, appropriating his name and celebration. But who in America today truly lives up to his legacy and message? Not many. The screwed up scenes at a high school, and the way media and individuals react to it, make that abundantly clear. There are many voices calling for serious harm to, if not murder of, a group of schoolchildren, voices who will in their very next breath seek to take possession of Dr. King’s name.

It’s time for all Americans, and not just Americans either, to find a nice bright mirror and face the beams in their own eyes. All sides focus on promoting hate of the others, and really, that is the opposite of what Dr. King said. How could you forget? You don’t solve anything be demanding other people change, you solve things only by changing yourself. You have no more right to hate Trump and his supporters than they have of hating you, or anyone else.

MLK: “a slogan ‘Power for Poor People’ would be much more appropriate than the slogan ‘Black Power.’”

• Rebranding MLK (Fikre)

Lost in the chorus of politicians, pundits and media personalities who are praising MLK is the core message that he was pushing before he was felled on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. King evolved in his thinking; instead of seeking Civil Rights for “African-Americans”, he made the fatal decision to fight for economic justice for all. King realized that the infringements against “black” folks in America were interconnected to the injustices felt by marginalized people throughout the world. That awakening is the reason he traveled to Memphis, by standing up for striking sanitation workers, he was hoping to form a bridge between poor folks irrespective of their skin color.

The establishment love people who lead sectional movements—those who seek exclusive justice are doing the work of the status quo—what they will not abide are those who try to unify the oppressed and inspire collective actions. King paid with his life for having the courage to pursue inclusive justice. After he was murdered, institutions of power—from government, academia to mainstream media and beyond—kicked in, stealthy erased King’s legacy and replaced it with disinformation. What has taken place over the past fifty years is a systematic and coordinated effort to blacken his narrative and dilute the power of his message. What MLK fought for, and ultimately died on behalf of, was for equality and fairness for all. By narrowing the scope of his cause and containing his sacrifice to only as a struggle for “black” people, opinion leaders successfully ghettoized him in an effort to lessen his appeal to a broader constituency.

[..] “One unfortunate thing about [the slogan] Black Power is that it gives priority to race precisely at a time when the impact of automation and other forces have made the economic question fundamental for blacks and whites alike. In this context a slogan ‘Power for Poor People’ would be much more appropriate than the slogan ‘Black Power.’” This was a quote from King in August of 1967, eight months before he was executed.

All for it. But who’s impartial and strong enough to do it?

• A Call to Reinvestigate American Assassinations of the 1960s (CN)

To mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day a group of academics, journalists, lawyers, Hollywood artists, activists, researchers and intellectuals, including two of Robert F. Kennedy’s children, are calling for new investigations into four assassinations of the 1960s. On the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a group of over 60 prominent American citizens is calling upon Congress to reopen the investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

* We call upon Congress to establish continuing oversight on the release of government documents related to the presidency and assassination of President John F. Kennedy, to ensure public transparency as mandated by the JFK Records Collection Act of 1992. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform should hold hearings on the Trump administration’s failure to enforce the JFK Records Act.

* We call for a major public inquest on the four major assassinations of the 1960s that together had a disastrous impact on the course of American history: the murders of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. This public tribunal, shining a light on this dark chapter of our history, will be modeled on the Truth and Reconciliation process in post-apartheid South Africa. The inquest — which will hear testimony from living witnesses, legal experts, investigative journalists, historians and family members of the victims — is intended to show the need for Congress or the Justice Department to reopen investigations into all four assassinations.

* On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we call for a full investigation of Reverend King’s assassination. The conviction of James Earl Ray for the crime has steadily lost credibility over the years, with a 1999 civil trial brought by Reverend King’s family placing blame on government agencies and organized crime elements. Following the verdict, Coretta Scott King, the slain leader’s widow, stated: “There is abundant evidence of a major, high-level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband.” The jury in the Memphis trial determined that various federal, state and local agencies “were deeply involved in the assassination … Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame.” Reverend King’s assassination was the culmination of years of mounting surveillance and harassment directed at the human rights leader by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and other agencies.

* We call for a full investigation of the Robert F. Kennedy assassination case, the prosecution of which was a mockery of a trial that has been demolished by numerous eyewitnesses, investigators and experts — including former Los Angeles County Coroner Dr. Thomas Noguchi, who performed the official autopsy on Senator Kennedy. The forensic evidence alone establishes that the shots fired by Sirhan Sirhan from in front of Senator Kennedy did not kill him; the fatal shot that struck RFK in the head was fired at point–blank range from the rear. Consequently, the case should be reopened for a new comprehensive investigation while there are still living witnesses — as there are in all four assassination cases.

I looked this one up: Chinese population in 1961 was about 670 million. Today it’s more than twice that. That would seem to say birth rates have halved.

• The Number Of Births In China Hit Its Lowest Level Since 1961 (CNBC)

The number of babies born in China in 2018 was the lowest the country has seen in nearly 60 years, according to Chinese financial services firm Wind Information. China on Monday reported that there were 15.23 million births last year — the lowest since 1961 when 11.87 million births were reported, data on Wind showed. Last year’s birth figure was 11.6 percent lower than 17.23 million in 2017, according to Wind. The release of China’s latest birth data puts the country’s population at 1.395 billion in 2018, the Associated Press reported, citing data by the National Bureau of Statistics. That means the population grew 3.81 percent compared to a year earlier, according to the news wire. AP also reported that the Chinese government estimated that its population will peak in 2029 at 1.442 billion, and then start to decline in the year after that.

And that’s just official numbers. Economics professor Xiang Songzuo put it as low as 1.67% in December.

• China Economic Growth Lowest In 28 Years (MW)

China’s economic expansion languished to its slowest pace in nearly three decades last year, as a bruising trade fight with the U.S. exacerbated weakness in the world’s second-largest economy. The 6.6% growth rate for 2018 reported Monday is the slowest annual pace that China has recorded since 1990. The economic downturn, which has been sharper than Beijing expected, deepened in the final months of 2018, with fourth quarter growth rising 6.4% from a year earlier. Adding to the gloom was the trade conflict with Washington. The uncertain outlook for Chinese exporters caused companies to delay investing and hiring and in some cases even to resort to layoffs–a practice that is often discouraged by China’s stability-obsessed Communist Party rulers. The official jobless rate ticked up to 4.9% last month from 4.8% in November.

In the southern technology and export-manufacturing center of Shenzhen, for instance, many private makers of electronics, textiles and auto parts furloughed workers more than two months before the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins in February, according to business owners and local officials. The neighboring city of Guangzhou saw growth slump to 6.5% last year–well short of the 7.5% annual target set by the city government–as trade tensions hit the city’s manufacturing sector hard. Some economists and investors have said China’s economy is far more anemic than the government’s 6.6% rate of expansion for 2018. They note the government’s move on Friday, just ahead of Monday’s data release, to cut the 2017 growth rate to 6.8% from 6.9%, which they said provides a slightly lower base, giving a slight boost to the fresh 2018 data.

Consumer spending in general is slowing in China. That’s the biggest danger for its economy.

• China Real Estate Sales Growth Slows Down (R.)

Growth in property investment in China cooled to the second slowest pace in 2018 in December, adding to signs of a further slackening in the real estate market in a blow to a key driver economic growth. Real estate investment, which mainly focuses on the residential sector but includes commercial and office space, rose 8.2 percent in December from a year earlier, down from 9.3 percent in November, according to Reuters calculations based on data released by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday. That was just ahead of the slowest pace of growth last year at 7.7 percent recorded for October. For the full year, property investment increased 9.5 percent from the year-earlier period, down from 9.7 percent in January-November.

In December, property sales by floor area, a major indicator of demand, rose a touch by 0.9 percent from a year earlier, the first gain in four months and compared with November’s 5.1 percent drop. For 2018, property sales by area rose a modest 1.3 percent from a year earlier, official data showed. Analysts say a continued downturn in sales on the back of tight government controls to curb speculation could add to the growing pressure on the world’s second-largest economy. The real estate sector is a key pillar of the economy, so any further weakness in sales could influence the pace and scope of fresh stimulus measures expected from Beijing this year.

It took decades to negotiate the Good Friday Agreement, after 1000s of lives were lost. May should not be allowed to touch it.

• Theresa May ‘Considers Amending Good Friday Agreement’ To Break Deadlock (Ind.)

Theresa May is considering an attempt to amend the Good Friday Agreement in a bid to break the Brexit deadlock and win support for a negotiated exit deal, it has been reported. Ministers believe the move could avoid the UK having to commit to a backstop as part of the prime minister’s “plan B”, The Daily Telegraph reported on Sunday. The EU has insisted on a backstop measure to ensure an open border remains between Northern Ireland and the Republic after the UK leaves the bloc. Ms May has been forced to find alternatives to her original Brexit deal after it was crushed in the Commons on Tuesday.

Under the PM’s plan, it is reported, London and Dublin would either agree a new set of principles or add words to the Good Friday Agreement in order to guarantee an open border. The 1998 peace deal effectively brought an end to the Troubles after years of failed talks, and established a power-sharing structure to accommodate unionist and nationalist politicians. It follows separate reports that Ms May planned to pitch to the Irish government a bilateral treaty that would remove the need for the backstop so hated by many Conservative MPs; the arrangement would see the UK enter into a temporary customs union with the EU, and Northern Ireland agree to abide by European rules on goods until a subsequent deal was reached.

Parliament demanded a Plan B today. May has none. She speaks 1530 GMT.

• May Tries To Break Brexit Deadlock By Winning More EU Concessions (R.)

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday will try to crack the deadlock over Brexit by setting out proposals in parliament that are expected to focus on winning more concessions from the European Union. With just over two months left until the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union on March 29 there is no agreement in London on how and even whether it should leave the world’s biggest trading bloc. After her Brexit divorce deal was rejected by 402 lawmakers in the 650-seat parliament last week, May has been searching for a way to get a deal through parliament.

Attempts to forge a consensus with the opposition Labour Party failed so May is expected to focus on winning over 118 rebels in her own party and the small Northern Irish party which props up her government with concessions from the EU. In a sign of just how grave the political crisis in London has become, the Daily Telegraph reported that May was even considering amending the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which ended 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland. The Daily Telegraph said EU sources cast May’s plan a non-starter as a renegotiation of such a significant international treaty would require the consent of all the parties involved in Northern Ireland. May told British ministers she would focus on securing changes from Brussels designed to win over rebel Conservatives and the Northern Irish DUP, The Times said.

May will make a statement in parliament at about 1530 GMT and put forward a motion in parliament on her proposed next steps on Brexit, though some lawmakers are planning to wrest control of Britain’s exit from the government. After May’s motion is published, lawmakers will be able to propose amendments to it, setting out alternatives to the prime minister’s deal.

Time to send her away. She’s a dead end.

• No Solutions To Irish Backstop In May’s Brexit Call With Cabinet (G.)

Theresa May is expected to reject calls to forge a cross-party consensus on Brexit when she lays out her plan B to parliament on Monday, choosing instead to back new diplomatic efforts in Brussels to renegotiate the Irish backstop. The prime minister held a conference call with her bitterly divided cabinet from the country retreat of Chequers on Sunday evening. Cabinet sources said the consensus on the 90-minute call was to renew efforts to find acceptable changes to the backstop arrangement but that the conversation was light on specifics. One said there were “no actual solutions” proposed during the call. “It is difficult to know – as ever – what she will do,” another said. “But the broad agreement is on the need to bring DUP and Tory rebels on board.”

Despite her claim in the wake of last week’s significant defeat in parliament that she would speak to “senior parliamentarians” from all parties to seek a compromise, government sources insisted her overriding priority was to prevent a historic split in the Tory party. Several senior Conservative MPs have suggested they could form a breakaway party if May opted to support a customs union – one of Labour’s central demands, which is also backed by Tory supporters of a Norway-style soft Brexit. Whitehall sources said the prime minister’s chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, had counselled her to consider a customs union after last week’s catastrophic defeat, when her deal was rejected by an overwhelming majority of 230 votes. But when the government tables a formal statement on Monday, setting out its next steps, it is instead expected to focus on seeking changes to the Irish backstop in order to win over Jacob Rees-Mogg’s European Research Group and the DUP.

Party before country.

• Bizarre Turn Of Events Could Push May’s Brexit Deal Through After All (Ind.)

Yvette Cooper is in many ways the alternative leader of the opposition. The Labour MP who chairs the home affairs select committee will table a bill in the House of Commons on Monday, under the catchy title of the European Union (Withdrawal) (No 3) Bill, which could be decisive in breaking the Brexit deadlock. It could lead to parliament being forced to make a straight choice between Theresa May’s deal and postponing Brexit in order to hold a new referendum. If that is what happens, I think there would be a small majority for the prime minister’s deal. The importance of Cooper’s bill is that it changes the default setting in law. At the moment, if parliament fails to act, the UK will leave the EU on 29 March.

Cooper’s bill says that, if a deal has not been approved by 7 March, the government would be required to seek an extension of the Article 50 deadline. That would mean asking the EU to postpone the UK’s departure until the end of this year – and EU leaders have said they would agree to an extension if it were to hold another referendum. This would transform the situation in the House of Commons. Jacob Rees-Mogg and the rest of the cohort of Conservative MPs who want to leave without a deal would have to think again. At the moment they are happy to vote everything down, knowing that this gets them what they want. But Cooper’s bill would take what they want off the table. They would then have to choose between the prime minister’s deal and putting off Brexit for at least nine months.

They would still get to call themselves Macedonians. Insult and injury. Tsipras should be very careful.

• Clashes in Athens Over Neighbour’s Name Change (BBC)

Protesters have clashed with police in the Greek capital Athens at a big rally to oppose the government’s deal with Macedonia on changing its name. Police fired tear gas at some of those attending a protest which attracted tens of thousands to the city. The deal, which is yet to be approved, designates Greece’s northern neighbour as Republic of North Macedonia. The name Macedonia is sensitive for many Greeks who say it implies a claim on the Greek province of the same name. Years of wrangling finally brought an agreement last June between Greece’s left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart. A vote on the deal, which aims to end a 28-year row between the nations, is set to take place in the Greek parliament this week.

The dispute dates back to 1991 and the break-up of Yugoslavia. Macedonia was a Yugoslav republic and adopted the name Macedonia when it became an independent nation. Greece has long argued the use of the name implied a territorial claim and cultural appropriation. At the UN the country was formally known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Fyrom). [..] Greek nationalists argue that the name Macedonia can only refer to the Greek province of the same name. The dispute has led to Greece to blocking Macedonia’s hopes of joining Nato and the EU. Under the deal, the country’s language would be Macedonian and its people known as Macedonians (citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia). The move has met with sharp resistance in both countries because nationalists believe it erodes their identity.

EPA

They’re not going to solve the issue by themselves, they can’t help it.

• World’s 26 Richest People Own As Much As Poorest 3.8 Billion (G.)

The growing concentration of the world’s wealth has been highlighted by a report showing that the 26 richest billionaires own as many assets as the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of the planet’s population. In an annual wealth check released to mark the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the development charity Oxfam said 2018 had been a year in which the rich had grown richer and the poor poorer. It said the widening gap was hindering the fight against poverty, adding that a 1% wealth tax would raise an estimated $418bn (£325bn) a year – enough to educate every child not in school and provide healthcare that would prevent 3 million deaths. Oxfam said the wealth of more than 2,200 billionaires across the globe had increased by $900bn in 2018 – or $2.5bn a day.

The 12% increase in the wealth of the very richest contrasted with a fall of 11% in the wealth of the poorest half of the world’s population. As a result, the report concluded, the number of billionaires owning as much wealth as half the world’s population fell from 43 in 2017 to 26 last year. In 2016 the number was 61. Among the findings of the report were: • In the 10 years since the financial crisis, the number of billionaires has nearly doubled. • Between 2017 and 2018 a new billionaire was created every two days. • The world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, saw his fortune increase to $112bn. Just 1% of his fortune is equivalent to the whole health budget for Ethiopia, a country of 105 million people. • The poorest 10% of Britons are paying a higher effective tax rate than the richest 10% (49% compared with 34%) once taxes on consumption such as VAT are taken into account.