Apr 102025
 


Salvador Dali Bacchanale 1939

 

Trump Hikes China Tariff To 125% (RT)
Trump “Pauses” Reciprocal Tariffs For 90 Days On Every Nation -Except China (ZH)
Trump Tariff Shock Sends Oil To Four-Year Low (RT)
House Republicans Block Democratic Bid to Force Vote on Tariffs (ET)
Trump Admits He Reacted To Stock Market Plunge (RT)
Chinese Companies Could Be Removed From US Stock Markets – Bessent (RT)
Bessent Responds to China Raising Tariffs on US Goods to 84% (Barkoukis)
The EU Is Aligning With China? (CTH)
China Vows to “Fight to the End” in Economic War with America (CTH)
Scott Bessent Provides More Details on Global Trade Reset Strategy (CTH)
DOGE Exposed Our Immigration Asylum Disaster. The Tip of the Iceberg (Ries)
To Team Trump, Tariffs Are a National Security Issue (Saunders)
What Would It Take to Destroy the United States? (Victor Davis Hanson)
Biden White House Secured Trump’s Phone For FBI in Jan. 6 Probe (JTN)
Sen. Kennedy Goes Absolutely Savage on AOC (Margolis)
Ukraine ‘Betrayed’ Its History – Lavrov (RT)
‘European Aggression’ Behind All Global Tragedies – Lavrov (RT)
Kiev Targeting Russian Gas Supplies To Southern Europe – Moscow (RT)
US ‘Just Lost A War With Russia’ – Tucker Carlson (RT)

 

 

 

 

Bessent

iPhone
https://twitter.com/LangmanVince/status/1909565870818328873

SSN

Turley

Takedown

Gracias

Banks

VDH

Proud

 

 

 

 

Things moved and changed so fast through yesterday, there issn’t even a trend visible anymore. We are all over the place. Some of today’s Debt Rattle articles will overlap.

Trump Hikes China Tariff To 125% (RT)

US President Donald Trump has raised the tariffs on Chinese goods to 125% in response to retaliatory measures imposed by Beijing earlier on Wednesday. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that “based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately.” He expressed hope that Beijing would realize that “ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.” The move came hours after China’s Finance Ministry announced a tariff hike of its own, which brought tariffs levied on American imports to a total of 84%, thus mirroring Washington’s previous increase by 50%.

The continual tit-for-tat escalation of the trade war between the world’s two top economies was set in motion when Trump imposed a 20% tariff on all Chinese goods in March. Last week, he added an additional 34%, to which Beijing responded in kind. Writing on Truth Social, the US president also announced a 90-day pause and a “substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately” granted to the multitude of other nations that Washington has recently imposed sweeping tariffs on. Trump cited calls made by “more than 75 countries” to the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the Office of the United States Trade Representative. According to the president, these nations expressed willingness to discuss trade barriers, tariffs, currency manipulation, and non-monetary tariffs. Trump also pointed out that, unlike China, “these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States.”

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Keep it simple?! Why deal with 100 diffferent countries if you can focus on one?

Trump “Pauses” Reciprocal Tariffs For 90 Days On Every Nation -Except China (ZH)

Update (1320ET): And President Trump finds an off-ramp for non-retaliating countries. The President wrote on his Truth Social account:

“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately. At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable. Conversely, and based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, … …I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

• The result is a massive surge in US equity markets (up 7-9%)…
• …cutting losses post-Liberation Day in half…
• Bitcoin is also soaring…
• Oil prices are also spiking…

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called China, “the biggest source of US trade problems,” adding that he seeing Japan, Vietnam, India, and South Korea today for negotiations. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick added:. “Scott Bessent and I sat with the President while he wrote one of the most extraordinary Truth posts of his Presidency. The world is ready to work with President Trump to fix global trade, and China has chosen the opposite direction.” Bessent also confirmed that both Mexico and Canada are included in the ‘pause’ (despite what appeared to be retaliation). No mention of Europe yet, which also retaliated. Additionally, Bessent said that the bond market meltdown did not impact this decision… sure!

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Four-year low oil prices. And then yesterday they spiked. Hard to keep up.

Trump Tariff Shock Sends Oil To Four-Year Low (RT)

Oil prices have dropped to their lowest point in over four years, with losses deepening on Wednesday as markets respond to fears of recession and slowing energy demand. Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell to about $61 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) dropped to around $58, both reaching their lowest levels since February 2021. The slide began after US President Donald Trump announced a round of sweeping tariffs on most imports last week. Since then, prices have tumbled around 16%, as concerns grow that a global trade war could damage growth and reduce fuel consumption. The situation escalated on Wednesday when Trump’s tariffs took effect. While energy imports were exempt, the markets reacted sharply.

The new round of tariffs brings the rate on Chinese goods to 104%, up from the 34% initially announced. China had responded with a matching 34% tariff, prompting the White House to raise the stakes. China’s Commerce Ministry vowed to respond decisively, raising fears of a broader economic slowdown. Analysts worry that prolonged tensions between the two top economies could drag down trade and stifle investment. OPEC and its allies, including Russia, added pressure to the market by announcing a 411,000 barrel-per-day production increase for May. Analysts say this could lead to oversupply and deepen price drops.

“Crude oil has been in free-fall ever since President Trump unveiled fresh tariffs on US imports Wednesday evening,” Trade Nation senior market analyst David Morrison said in a note seen by Business Insider. He added the OPEC+ production boost was a “double whammy.” Morrison said oil prices may stabilize within a narrow range, as investors anticipate weaker demand and strong supply. He noted this trend supports Trump’s goal of providing cheap energy to strengthen manufacturing. The White House has pushed to bring crude prices down to $50 or lower, according to J.P. Morgan. Trump reinforced this goal on Monday, writing on Truth Social: “Oil prices are down, interest rates are down,” while highlighting the benefits of his trade strategy.

Russia was left out of the new tariffs. The White House explained that the existing sanctions already “preclude any meaningful trade,” making further restrictions unnecessary. However, Russia’s central bank warned that the collapse in oil prices and the expanding trade conflict could harm its economy. “If the escalation of the tariff wars continues, this usually leads to a decline in global trade and the global economy, and possibly, demand for our energy resources,” central bank head Elvira Nabiullina said on Tuesday. Russia’s Urals crude also dropped sharply, briefly nearing the $50-per-barrel mark for the first time in almost two years, before recovering to around $67.

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“The president has paused new tariffs on dozens of countries for 90 days and raised levies on Chinese goods to 125 percent.”

These politicians get 1000 calls a day from worried voters. They’re looking for some quiet. They don’t want to get the blame.

People don’t like change. They’ll only admit change is needed when it’s too late.

House Republicans Block Democratic Bid to Force Vote on Tariffs (ET)

House Republicans blocked on April 9 an effort by Democrats to force a vote on halting the reciprocal tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, which are currently paused for three months. The maneuver was done through a rule, which the House of Representatives must vote on to advance to votes on measures. The House Rules Committee advanced the rule 9-3 on April 9, which mainly deals with the unrelated budget resolution to unlock the reconciliation process to pass Trump’s signature legislative agenda. The rule punts the vote on the resolution to September. The disapproval resolution would block the emergency authority that allowed Trump to enact the tariffs, which were announced on April 2. The reciprocal tariffs took effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

The resolution was introduced by Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), and Richard Neal (D-Mass.). It has an additional 23 co-sponsors. “By implementing these tariffs, Trump has now imposed the largest and most regressive tax in modern history, sent the stock market into its worst plunge since COVID, and is risking a global recession,” they said in a statement. “These tariffs are nothing more than a sales tax on American families, driving up prices on everything from groceries to cars.” Disapproval resolutions force a vote in the House and Senate, where a simple majority is needed for passage as opposed to being subject to the 60-vote filibuster threshold. The Senate passed a resolution last week to block Trump’s 25 percent and 10 percent tariffs on Canadian goods and energy, respectively. All Democrats and four Republicans voted in favor of it. The House is not expected to take it up, and the president is expected to veto it should it pass Congress. House Republicans blocked a similar disapproval resolution last month through a rule.

Trump announced on Wednesday a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for dozens of countries and retained a baseline 10 percent tariff for all countries, except China. The president increased tariffs to 125 percent on China, after Beijing announced 85 percent retaliatory tariffs on the United States. “At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” posted Trump on Truth Social, announcing the pause. The president said he paused most reciprocal tariffs because more than 75 countries have reached out to the administration, requesting trade negotiations.

Congressional Republicans have largely expressed support for Trump’s tariffs. Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) told reporters that the president is “making good on a campaign promise to shake things up, to reorder the world system whether it’s trade or whether it’s alliances or military organizations.” Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) told reporters that the tariffs finally put China on notice. “If China needs our market more than we need their market, because they already put unfair tariffs and regulations and restrictions on us, they’re going to suffer way more from this than we are in a trade war,” he said. “If the rest of the world’s going to come to the table, why shouldn’t China too?” he added.

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“..a little bit yippy, a little bit… afraid..”

“I was watching the bond market. The bond market is very tricky. I was watching it. But if you look at it now, it’s… it’s beautiful..”

Trump Admits He Reacted To Stock Market Plunge (RT)

President Donald Trump has admitted that his decision to delay further tariff hikes was driven in part by a sharp downturn in US financial markets, saying he was closely monitoring investor sentiment as people grew too “yippy” and “afraid” before announcing a 90-day freeze. On Wednesday morning, Trump urged Americans to “be cool” and told investors that “this is a great time to buy,” after US markets lost more than $1.5 trillion in capitalization the day before. The sell-off came ahead of the implementation of a 104% tariff on Chinese imports and sweeping new levies on dozens of other countries. Just hours later, the president announced his decision to keep most tariffs at a “baseline” 10 percent – except for China, which saw its rate raised even further to 125 percent. Speaking to reporters later that day, Trump said he had been tracking the markets closely before taking action.

“I was watching the bond market. The bond market is very tricky. I was watching it. But if you look at it now, it’s… it’s beautiful,” he said. “But, yeah, I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy.” I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippy, you know? They were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit… afraid. Trump’s announcement triggered a historic rally on US stock markets. The S&P 500 closed up 9.5 percent – its biggest gain since 2008. The Dow Jones rose 7.9 percent, marking its best day since 2020, while the Nasdaq soared 12 percent, its largest single-day increase in 24 years. While Wednesday’s surge added over $5 trillion in market value, US markets have yet to fully recover losses sustained since the president launched the tariff war last week. Still, Trump insisted his “reciprocal” trade actions marked a turning point.

“The big move wasn’t what I did today. The big move was what I did on Liberation Day. We had Liberation Day in America. We were liberated from all of the horrible trade deals that were made,” he said. Asked whether certain American companies could be granted exemptions during the 90-day period, Trump said the administration would evaluate requests on a case-by-case basis. “Some [companies] get hit a little bit harder, and we’ll take a look at that – just instinctively, more than anything else,” he said. “You almost can’t take a pencil to paper. It’s really more of an instinct.” Trump also cautioned that the situation remains fluid, adding that “nothing is over yet,” with dozens of countries – including China – now seeking to secure “fair” deals with the United States to avoid the full impact of the levies.

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“If China starts devaluing, then that is a tax on the rest of the world, and everyone will have to keep raising their tariffs to offset the devaluation..”

Chinese Companies Could Be Removed From US Stock Markets – Bessent (RT)

Washington is considering delisting Chinese companies from US markets amid the escalating tariff war, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said. Speaking to Fox Business on Wednesday, Bessent described China’s latest move to raise its tariffs on American goods to a total of 84% as “unfortunate.” The measure was announced after US President Donald Trump increased the tariffs on all Chinese imports to 104% earlier this week. “I think it’s unfortunate that the Chinese actually don’t want to come and negotiate because they are the worst offenders in the international trading system,” Bessent claimed, suggesting that the US could end up imposing even higher tariffs. “If China starts devaluing, then that is a tax on the rest of the world, and everyone will have to keep raising their tariffs to offset the devaluation. So I would urge them not to do that and to come to the table,” he said.

Asked whether Washington is considering delisting Chinese companies from US stock exchanges, Bessent stated that all options are on the table and that it’s up to the president to do so. Currently, 286 Chinese companies, including Alibaba, one of the world’s largest retailers and e-commerce operators, are listed on US stock exchanges. “That will be Trump’s decision,” he said. The new threats come after China introduced an additional 50% tariff – due to take effect on Thursday – on all American goods. The measure comes on top of the previously imposed 34% tariff, China’s Finance Ministry announced earlier on Wednesday. “The US’ practice of escalating tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake, which seriously infringes on China’s legitimate rights and interests and seriously damages the rules-based multilateral trading system,” the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier this week, Beijing vowed to fight the trade war with the US “to the end” and “firmly defend its interests.” Apart from cranking up tariffs, China has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization against the US over its practices, as well as placing certain American businesses on its ‘unreliable entity’ list or subjecting them to export controls. The escalating trade war comes amid Trump’s efforts to straighten out America’s import-export balance, which involves the introduction of massive retaliatory tariffs on most countries. In March, Trump imposed a 20% tariff on Chinese imports. Last week, he added an additional 34%, bringing the total to 54%. Beijing retaliated in kind, introducing a 34% tariff on US goods – after which Trump added another 50%, bringing the total to 104%.

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“I do business in China. They don’t play by the rules,” he added. “They’ve been in the WTO for decades, they have never abided by any of the rules they agreed to when they came in.”

Bessent Responds to China Raising Tariffs on US Goods to 84% (Barkoukis)

China said it is raising tariffs on U.S. imports from 34 percent to 84 percent starting Thursday, an announcement that came hours after President Trump’s tariffs went into effect. “If the U.S. insists on further escalating its economic and trade restrictions, China has the firm will and abundant means to take necessary countermeasures and fight to the end,” the Ministry of Commerce wrote in a document, reports USA Today. The latest tariffs on the U.S.’s trading partners includes a 104 percent tax on Chinese goods. “It was a mistake for China to retaliate,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. “When America is punched, [the president] punches back harder, and that’s why there will be 104% tariffs going into effect on China tonight at midnight.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the escalation a “loser” for China. “I think it’s unfortunate that the Chinese actually don’t want to come and negotiate because they are the worst offenders in the international trading system,” he said. “And I can tell you that this escalation is a loser for them.” He seemed unfazed by China’s response. “They can raise their tariffs, but so what?” Some argue a 104 percent tariff on Chinese goods doesn’t go far enough. “I’m advocating 400 percent,” Shark Tank star and investor Kevin O’Leary said on CNN’s Laura Coates Live. “I do business in China. They don’t play by the rules,” he added. “They’ve been in the WTO for decades, they have never abided by any of the rules they agreed to when they came in. For decades. They cheat, they steal, they steal IP. I can’t litigate in their courts. They take product technology, they steal it, they manufacture it and sell it back here.”

When Coates followed up, O’Leary doubled down. “I want [President] Xi [Jinping] on an airplane to Washington to level the playing field,” he said. “This is not about tariffs anymore. Nobody has taken on China yet. Not the Europeans. No administration for decades. As someone who actually does business there, I’ve had enough. I speak for millions of Americans who have IP that have been stolen by the Chinese. I have nothing against the Chinese people. They brought great literacy, art and tech to the world. The government cheats and steals and finally an administration — you may not like Trump, you may not like his style or his rhetoric — finally, an administration that puts up and says ‘Enough! 400% tariffs tomorrow morning!’

“I’ll tell you why,” he continued. “Xi can only stay the Supreme Leader if people are employed. If we wipe out any business there because we are still 39 percent of all consumables on Earth and 25 percent of the world’s GDP. America is the No. 1 economy on earth with all the cards. We will not have that forever. It’s time to squeeze Chinese heads into the wall now!”

https://twitter.com/MAGAVoice/status/1909838439253786943?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1909838439253786943%7Ctwgr%5Edf272215fdbe810e37320439d0f7ba2cd4470e8b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftownhall.com%2Ftipsheet%2Fleahbarkoukis%2F2025%2F04%2F09%2Fchina-tariffs-n2655238

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“None of these other countries, not even China, not all of them combined, can replace what the U.S. can do for them and has been doing for generations.”

The EU Is Aligning With China? (CTH)

The EU is aligning with China? Yes, and I think “D One” nails it here. “The time for polite pretending is over.” ….”This all makes perfect sense now. Von der Leyen and the rest of the Eurocrat leadership are desperate to avert the Trump tariffs. They cannot do it on their own and do not care who they have to sidle up with to get it done. If it came down to it, they would even ditch Ukraine and align with Russia to make it happen. This is because the money the EU has been getting from the old arrangement of one-sided tariffs and other one-sided trade restrictions is the money they are using to keep the EU in existence. Not just to keep it functioning, but to keep it in power. To keep it in their power.

The internal contradictions and old resentments and national and ethnic differences and animosities are too much to be held down by good will and appeals to altruism alone. It takes money and a lot of it. Consider what happened starting in 2009 with the Greek debt crisis. The northern Europeans (in particular the Germans) believed the Greeks caused the crisis through their own incompetence and mismanagement and they really hated the idea that they had to save the Greeks by bailing them out with their own money. The news reports back then were full of explanations about how the northern European economies had to carry the southern European economies. Stories about how unfair it all was that the harder-working and more frugal northern Europeans were having to face bailing out the easier-going and less diligent southern Europeans, and so on.

Many of you probably remember those reports. I think it gets to the crux of what is going on now regarding the fright and desperation that von der Leyen and the other Eurocrat leaders are now experiencing. What was it that finally smoothed over everything between northern Europe and bailing out and pacifying the Greeks and other struggling countries in southern Europe? It was the access to American dollars that the old trade arrangements provided that allowed them to make the Greek crisis go away without having to hit German and other northern European bank accounts and slow down their economies. Those old trade arrangements were what they relied upon every time there was an internal threat to the stability of the EU. And the whole EU is even weaker now, due in no small part to their stupid green policies and other decisions, than it was in 2009.

Now that Trump is threatening that ability to tamp down their internal contradictions with U.S. money, the next internal crisis may well blow the EU apart for good, and with it the good life of the Eurocrats would disappear. That is why they will side with anyone, even the Chinese, to get the U.S. to back off and let them continue on as they have. Trump has the upper hand with the EU. I think he can pretty much demand anything he wants from them, and they will end up giving it to him. None of these other countries, not even China, not all of them combined, can replace what the U.S. can do for them and has been doing for generations.”

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That was only yesterday morning.

China Vows to “Fight to the End” in Economic War with America (CTH)

Full dragon, no panda mask. Beijing begins using war terminology to discuss the trade conflict with the United States. Through a series of cumulative trade tariffs, President Trump has now placed Chinese imports into the USA in a position of 104% tariffs. 104%! In response Beijing has devalued their currency and dumped treasuries, but no amount of subsidy, devaluation or use of their sovereign wealth fund is going to compensate for 104% taxes on Chinese products. Very soon all purchase orders from the USA for Chinese manufactured products will stop. The Beijing dragon is looking at the future through a zero-sum position. Now, they vow to fight to the death.

BEIJING, April 9 (Xinhua) — With firm will and abundant means, China will resolutely take countermeasures and fight till the end if the United States insists on further escalating economic and trade restrictive measures, China’s Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday. “I want to emphasize that there is no winner in a trade war, and China does not want a trade war, but the Chinese government will by no means sit by when the legitimate rights and interests of its people are being hurt and deprived,” said an official with the ministry. The official made the remarks when responding to media questions regarding a white paper released Wednesday by the State Council Information Office on China’s position on some issues concerning China-U.S. economic and trade relations.”

Noting that the successes of China and the United States are opportunities rather than threats for each other, the official said that China hopes the United States will immediately remove its unilateral imposition of tariffs, and work with China to strengthen dialogue, manage differences, and promote cooperation. China is willing to communicate with the U.S. side on key bilateral economic and trade issues, address their respective concerns through dialogue and consultations on an equal footing, and jointly advance the steady, healthy and sustainable development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations, the official noted.

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“The objective was to give all nations’ time to absorb the impact while reducing the reverberation noise.”

Scott Bessent Provides More Details on Global Trade Reset Strategy (CTH)

Appearing 4/8/25 on CNBC, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent outlined some of the specifics within the negotiation strategy of President Trump as it pertains to the ongoing global trade reset. Bessent notes at the request of President Trump, all administration officials were to pull back from commentary following the “liberation day” tariff announcement. The objective was to give all nations’ time to absorb the impact while reducing the reverberation noise. After a few days, President Trump then began to assess the inbound communication from various country leaders and their request for renegotiation. The priority schedule permits the honest trade allies to come first in the queue to the office of U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer, as approved by President Trump.

Japan and South Korean delegations and trade representatives will be the first trade teams engaged; not coincidently both of those ASEAN nations have pre-positioned manufacturing investment in the USA, the truest measure of a trade partnership. The outcome of these first agreements will form the baseline for every nation thereafter. Both Japan and South Korea have North American manufacturing systems in place; however, it is likely more investment in U.S jobs and products being created in mainland USA will remain a top priority. Additionally, for these nations the largest element of their “reciprocity” will come from a commitment to reduce the trade deficit with better terms and bigger contracts for U.S. product imports.

Bessent

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“Under the Biden administration, so many employment documents were issued to immigration parolees (without congressional authorization), asylum applicants, and other temporary aliens that DHS could not keep up with renewing the authorizations..”

DOGE Exposed Our Immigration Asylum Disaster. The Tip of the Iceberg (Ries)

Elon Musk, Antonio Gracias, and the Department of Government Efficiency team recently exposed how rampant immigration fraud and government corruption became under the Joe Biden administration. Specifically, they showed how aliens “getting” asylum can receive work authorization and, with it, an automatic Social Security number, which enables them to obtain driver’s licenses, commit voter fraud, and receive other benefits. This already sounds alarming. But the truth is even worse. Under current U.S. regulations, asylum applicants can apply for a work authorization document with the Department of Homeland Security five months after their asylum application is filed (rather than five months after it’s granted). There’s no filing fee for asylum applications—meaning there is literally no cost involved in applying.

This creates a huge incentive for inadmissible aliens to file fraudulent asylum applications to gain U.S. work authorization. And while adjudicating the asylum application can take DHS or the Justice Department years to complete, DHS prioritizes granting employment authorization applications, averaging mere months to complete such applications. In other words, individuals can fraudulently apply for asylum and then receive work authorization shortly after, safe in the knowledge that their asylum application may not be decided for years. Asylum was created to protect the persecuted. But this system means it’s more prone to be exploited by inadmissible aliens as a way to get work authorizations, Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses, and other government benefits.

As a result, the system is being flooded. Under the Biden administration, so many employment documents were issued to immigration parolees (without congressional authorization), asylum applicants, and other temporary aliens that DHS could not keep up with renewing the authorizations. To “solve” the problem, Biden’s DHS finalized a rule in December 2024 to permanently increase the automatic extension period for expiring employment authorization from six months to 18 months. That is, DHS chose to automatically extend work authorization without ever considering whether the aliens should continue to have it. According to one chart (shown by DOGE’s Gracias at a recent Wisconsin town hall), 270,000 new aliens were issued Social Security numbers in fiscal year 2021. That number rose to 590,000 in fiscal year 2022, 964,000 in fiscal year 2023, and approximately 2.1 million in fiscal year 2024.

According to Gracias, the Social Security Administration automatically mails aliens Social Security numbers—without requiring them to prove their identity or complete an interview. Gracias says, “The defaults in the system from Social Security to all the benefit programs have been set to max inclusion, max pay for these people. And minimum collection.” During its investigations, DOGE found 1.3 million aliens who were already receiving Medicaid. It also found among the millions a subset who were registered to vote—and some who did indeed vote. All this is the result of broad administrative state abuse of alien work authorization—something Congress needs to end by reclaiming its own constitutional authority and by returning asylum (our nation’s second-most important immigration benefit, after U.S. citizenship) back to its intended role of protecting people from persecution.

Specifically, Congress should legislate the principle that immigration benefit applicants (including those receiving asylum) may not receive work authorization until the underlying benefit (e.g., asylum) is granted, not just filed. While waiting for their applications to be adjudicated, applicants should fund their stay in the U.S. via a sponsor responsible for their financial well-being. Congress should also enact anti-fraud asylum measures, which would significantly decrease the number of fraudulent asylum applications—and, by extension, would decrease the yearslong wait for DHS and DOJ to adjudicate legitimate asylum applications. DOGE can also step in and examine immigration benefit applications at DHS and DOJ to identify fraudulent applications and remove them from the 9.4 million and nearly 3.7 million respective agency backlogs. This would decrease the processing times for the remaining valid applications and restore integrity to our lawful immigration process.

Finally, DOGE should set automatic notifications across the benefits lifecycle so that when a non-citizen is denied an immigration benefit, downstream systems and parties are likewise notified to terminate their respective benefits. Under this system, if an alien’s asylum application or employment authorization application were denied or terminated, the alien’s employer, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, and the alien’s state(s) of residence would be notified to ensure the alien was no longer working, receiving benefits or voting—and, ultimately, that he was removed from the country. By acting now, DOGE and Congress can decrease the deportable alien population, ensure U.S. taxpayer benefits go to Americans first, and incentivize better compliance with our generous immigration laws.

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“Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on “Face the Nation” Sunday: “We don’t make medicine in this country anymore. We don’t make ships,” he said. “We don’t have enough steel and aluminum to fight a battle, right?”

To Team Trump, Tariffs Are a National Security Issue (Saunders)

“Don’t be a PANICAN,” President Donald Trump cautioned on social media. Critics have questioned the universal tariffs he unleashed last week, and Americans have had to steel themselves before checking the balance of their 401(k)s. The Trump tariffs came fast and larger than expected. The markets responded. Now Republicans and Wall Street big shots find themselves defending an economic approach that was anathema to them not long ago. But the world has changed. “Their export-based economy is, I think, beginning to hit the end of its course,” Chuck DeVore of the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation opined over the phone Monday. After years of manufacturers quitting the USA, tariffs could be good for national security. My favorite sound bite in favor of Trump’s tariffs came from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on “Face the Nation” Sunday.

“We don’t make medicine in this country anymore. We don’t make ships,” he said. “We don’t have enough steel and aluminum to fight a battle, right?” Lutnick’s right, and the beneficiaries have been college-educated voters like me, as the offshoring of manufacturing offered cheaper goods, but also fewer jobs for non-college graduates—who, coincidentally, voted for Trump. Trump is the rare U.S. politician who wants to do something about the working class. Wall Street is coming to the same table. JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon is a hardcore capitalist. But in his annual shareholder letter, Dimon acknowledged the downside of tariffs when he wrote, “Whether or not the menu of tariffs causes a recession remains in question, but it will slow down growth.” Even still, on CNBC, Dimon remarked, “If it’s a little inflationary, but it’s good for national security, so be it. I mean, get over it.”

“You’ve got Wall Street caterwauling and wanting the government to back off,” DeVore told me. But: “The president is serious about applying what he sees as medicine to this economy.” Trump used the same term on Air Force One on Sunday when he said, “Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.” Confession time: I’m not a huge fan of tariffs. On the one hand, they’re a tax hike that is spooking the markets and costing some people their jobs. Last week, Stellantis laid off 900 U.S. workers as the automaker assesses the impact of Trump’s move.

On the other hand, Trump campaigned telling voters he would raise tariffs, and he won the election. The elephant in this room is China. “The Chinese believe that the United States are a great power in inevitable decline,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued during his confirmation hearing, “and that they are in inevitable rise.” DeVore warned, “The last thing you want to do at this point is show weakness.”

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In short: 4 (more) years of Biden admin. That’s what it would take.

What Would It Take to Destroy the United States? (Victor Davis Hanson)

Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. I was looking at the news this week and I thought of an experiment. What if you really wanted to destroy the United States? What if you’d had ill intention for America? What would you do? What agenda would you pursue? And then I started thinking of civilizations. What was the stuff of civilizations that made them work? And it’s basic: their borders, their finances, their unity, their fuel, their food. So, if you really wanted to, in civilizational terms, destroy the United States, the first thing I would do if I were an enemy of the United States is I would destroy the borders. In other words, I would just let anybody come across our version of the Rhine or the Danube, as they happened in fifth century. And that’s pretty much what we have done the last 40 years, but particularly, the last four years.

We talked about comprehensive immigration reform as needed to stop the influx, but President Donald Trump, before the Biden administration and after the Biden administration, had no such recourse. He just simply stopped it, temporarily. And he has now. But what was behind all that? Former President Joe Biden, apparently, thought that if he let in 12 million people, without audits or background checks—would it alter the demography? Would it give him new constituencies for big government? What was the thinking about it? But it’s caused billions of dollars in increased expenses. It’s really damaged the inner city. It’s damaged the Rio Grande Valley. It’s damaged the San Joaquin Valley. We have all of this crime spike. Was it deliberate?

If you also wanted to hurt the United States, you know what I would do if I had nefarious intent? I would keep printing money. And I would call that, in fact, “Build Back Better.” And the more inflationary it got, I would say it was going to be the “Inflationary Reduction Act.” And in that process, I would borrow maybe $7 trillion within four years, maybe $8 trillion, and add to an existing $38 trillion in national debt, $37 trillion, so that the interest per day would be $3 billion. That would really hurt the United States. You know what I’d also do? If I looked at the United States and I said, “Oh my gosh, they’ve got almost limitless supplies of natural gas, they’ve got almost more coal than any European country, they’ve got all of this oil. They once had a vibrant—they were the nuclear energy, they were the founders of nuclear power. They have all these dams of hydroelectric,” I know what I’ll do.

I will castigate all of that and say it makes either the environment too hot, global warming, or it ruins the natural landscape with dams. Or it will kill us all through radiation. Whatever particular complaint I’d have, I would stop it as much as I could. Dismantle nuclear power plants. Cut back on natural gas. Stop full drilling, fracking. Blow up dams rather than build them. And I’m talking about California, for example, where the result would be 40 cents a kilowatt. Would make it unaffordable. That way, if you did all of that, a quarter of all the people who paid their power bills would default. And that model would sweep across the United States.

The third thing that I would do—and I think it’s besides debt and borders and fuel—I would sow disunity. And I would say that the content of our character is not as important as the color of our skin. And I would go back and reinterpret all of the hard-won progress of the civil rights movement and sort of get rid of it. I would just say the color of our skin matters more than anything and so we’re going to hire on the basis of superficial appearance. We’re gonna have reparations to go back eight generations and adjudicate who might have had an ancestor that owned a slave and who didn’t. And then I would say I’m gonna predicate graduations, dorms—who gets to go into a dorm, who gets to go into a library, a safe space—oh, on the basis of race. But I’m not gonna call it racism or segregation. I’m gonna call it diversity, equity, and inclusion and mainstream it.

If I also wanted to create disunity, I would just say, from now on, after 7,000 years of civilization, there are three sexes, not two. And women’s sports must include biological males. Not that it was an important topic, but it would create enormous tension and disunity. What am I getting at? It seems to me that in the last four years, if you had an agenda that was designed to hurt the United States, in terms of an influx of 12 million foreigners that were unaudited, an unprotected border, a repression on energy, a desire to print money rather than to cut expenses and save money and go toward a balanced budget, and a way to divide the people—if you wanted to do all that, you couldn’t have done a better job than what we have seen from 2021 to 2025.

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Will the whole story ever surface?

Biden White House Secured Trump’s Phone For FBI in Jan. 6 Probe (JTN)

Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley and Senator Ron Johnson published new emails from FBI whistleblowers showing that President Joe Biden’s then-Deputy White House Counsel Jonathan Su personally assisted the FBI in securing President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence’s cell phones to assist the nascent “Arctic Frost” investigation over January 6. The new whistleblower emails also show that a future member of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team and an anti-Trump FBI agent were closely involved in the origins of the FBI probe. Operation Arctic Frost formed the basis of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s false elector case under which former President Donald Trump was later charged with a conspiracy to defraud the United States for his campaign’s attempts to assemble alternate slates of electors under claims that the 2020 election had been stolen.

The new emails are contained in a letter the senators sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel urging cooperation with their requests for all information related to the FBI probe. “Overall, these newly disclosed emails show the extensive collaboration between and among select FBI agents from the Washington Field Office and prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office – Washington D.C. to plan, approve and execute Arctic Frost,” Grassley and Johnson wrote. “The emails also provide further support that ASAC Thibault played a central role in advancing its approval to a full field criminal investigation when other agents had concerns the supporting evidence only allowed for a preliminary investigation.”

“Lastly, the emails illustrate the Biden White House’s personal involvement in providing former President Trump and former Vice President Pence’s phones to the FBI at their request when neither of them was a subject of the investigation at that point in time,” they added. The emails turned over to the committee by whistleblowers show that the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Chief John Crabb emailed Su at the White House on May 2, 2022 and copied Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault.

“Jonathan, Would you please coordinate with Tim Thibault (who’s copied on this email) about picking up the telephones,” Crabb wrote. “Thanks John. Tim, it is good to meet you, and please let me know what works for you in terms of timing the next couple days,” Su replied. By May 4, other committee records show, the FBI had successfully obtained both President Trump and Vice President Pence’s official phones from the Biden White House, even though then-former President Trump had not yet become a criminal subject of the Arctic Frost probe.

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“I think she’s the reason there are directions on a shampoo bottle..”

Sen. Kennedy Goes Absolutely Savage on AOC (Margolis)

Once again, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) has proven that he’s the king of political zingers. He appeared on Sean Hannity’s show last night with several other Republican senators, where he delivered what might be the most savage takedown of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) we’ve heard yet. Kennedy has a gift for cutting through the nonsense with his signature southern wit. “What do you think of the new leadership: Jasmine, AOC, and Bernie?” Hannity asked. “I consider Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez to be the leader of the Democratic Party,” Kennedy said. “She’s entitled to her opinion. I’m entitled to mine.” And then he went for the jugular. “As I’ve said about her before, I think she’s the reason there are directions on a shampoo bottle,” he said. That’s it. Game over.

https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1909803276528501103

To really drive the point home, he added, “Our plan for dealing with her is called Operation Let Her Speak.” Last month, after Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted to let the continuing resolution advance in the Senate, Kennedy described the backlash against the Senate Minority Leader in a similarly savage manner. “Among them right now, we’ve all seen the news, he’s about as popular as chlamydia,” he said. Kennedy nailed it when he said, “The loon wing of the Democratic Party is firmly in control,” which perfectly summed up the radical circus the Democrats have become, especially with their denial of basic biological truths. “These people are deeply weird,” he added, which might be putting it mildly. “Our Republican secret plan for dealing with the Democrats is called Operation Let Them Speak.”

Kennedy didn’t shy away from the hard truth behind the Democrats’ downward spiral, saying, “That’s good for our party, but it’s bad for America.” He’s right. Democrats have become so unhinged that while it makes the GOP look better, having such a radical political party as one of the two mainstream parties in the country isn’t a good thing. Kennedy’s ability to dismantle the Democrats is nothing short of masterful. His barbs aren’t just accurate; they’re downright hilarious. With his trademark folksy sharpness, he slices through the progressive façade and lays bare the intellectual emptiness at its core.

So yes, as he wisely says: let them speak. Let AOC keep pitching her latest plan to wreck the economy. Let Jasmine Crockett keep proving she’s wildly unqualified to hold public office. Let Bernie Sanders continue playing the role of elder statesman for a party that’s lost its grip on reality. Frankly, we couldn’t have picked better representatives for the left if we tried. Sometimes the smartest move is to step back and let the radicals do what they do best: implode.

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“The forgetting of history, their spiritual and moral values, their roots, if you like, all this has become one of the main reasons for what we are now seeing in Ukraine..”

Ukraine ‘Betrayed’ Its History – Lavrov (RT)

Ukraine has “betrayed” its own history by allowing the West to bring a Nazi regime to power in Kiev, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. In an interview for the TASS Children project released on Wednesday, the diplomat said the West’s actions were deliberate, aimed at bringing about a “strategic defeat” of Russia. “The forgetting of history, their spiritual and moral values, their roots, if you like, all this has become one of the main reasons for what we are now seeing in Ukraine,” he said, referring to the ongoing conflict, which he described as one that pitted the authorities against their own people from the outset. Lavrov accused the West of trying to rewrite history by “instilling oblivion of Russian roots” and promoting ideas in Ukrainian society that led to what he called “social amnesia.”

“This was used by the Americans and Europeans to bring an openly Russophobic Nazi regime to power in Ukraine that declared war against its own people, seizing power through an illegal coup d’etat, calling those who disagreed with this coup terrorists, and starting a real war against them,” he said. Lavrov noted that among European countries, there are two views on confronting their own history with Nazism – some seek to “quickly erase the pages of their national shame,” while others see Nazi ideology as a “tool for maintaining their positions on the European political scene.” He pledged that Russia would continue to fight both trends. “Our ambition is to ensure that this sacred memory never leaves history, never leaves the memory of all generations, that it remains unchanged. And we are convinced of our historical, moral and human rectitude,” he concluded.

Commemorations of World War II-era nationalist figures with ties to Nazi Germany have been common in Ukraine. Ukrainians hold annual torchlight marches in honor of Stepan Bandera, a leader in the militant Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), which collaborated with Nazi Germany and was involved in the massacre of more than 100,000 Poles, Jews, Russians, and Soviet-aligned Ukrainians. Less than two months ago, the Ukrainian city of Rivne marked the 120th birthday of Ulas Samchuk, a Nazi collaborator and anti-Semitic propagandist who welcomed the mass killings of Jews during the war. Moscow has repeatedly warned of a Nazi revival in Ukraine, citing “denazification” as a central aim of its military operation against Kiev. Western officials and media, however, have largely downplayed such concerns, often dismissing the allegations as “Russian propaganda.”

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“After all… all global tragedies began with aggressive actions by Europeans: The Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II..”

‘European Aggression’ Behind All Global Tragedies – Lavrov (RT)

Western European countries have once again “taken up arms” against Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, commenting on the increasingly hostile stance of many governments toward Moscow. Addressing the constant calls to prepare for a presumed Russian attack – a notion which Moscow has dismissed as baseless – Lavrov said all previous global conflicts were sparked by similar aggressive actions from Europe. “We are witnessing another wave in which Europe is taking up arms against Russia, and by the looks on some faces, even growling at Russia. After all… all global tragedies began with aggressive actions by Europeans: The Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II,” he said in an interview for the TASS Children project released on Wednesday. Lavrov added that during World War II, nearly all “neutral” European countries, in addition to those officially aligned with Nazi Germany, fought alongside Germany – including France.

“They did have a resistance movement, but like most other European countries, the official authorities in Paris meekly surrendered to the will of the victors… and French troops fought battles on the side of Hitler’s Germany, taking part in a number of punitive operations,” he said, adding that “there were many examples of this.” Lavrov went on to say that France and the UK are “obsessed” with “defeating Russia on the battlefield,” as evidenced by the billions they have spent on Kiev’s war effort and recent discussions about deploying troops to Ukraine, supposedly in a peacekeeping role. He accused the West, including Washington, of installing what he called an “openly Russophobic Nazi regime” in Ukraine as part of its goal of defeating Russia. “Some want to quickly and finally erase from history the pages of their national shame, collaborationism, connivance with the Nazis,” he said.

“While others see in Nazi ideology some new instrument for maintaining their positions on the European political scene.” Lavrov added that Russia has long tried to warn the West against rewriting history. “Consigning history to oblivion, one’s spiritual and moral values, one’s roots, if you will, all this has become one of the main reasons for what we are now seeing in Ukraine,” he said, in reference to the authorities in Kiev who honor World War II Nazi collaborators as national heroes and “undermine and denigrate” the role of the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany. “We will fight against this,” Lavrov said, expressing hope that “not everyone has forgotten the lessons of history.” “Many leaders… are beginning to understand the dead end and catastrophic consequences,” he said, referring to attempts to defeat Russia.

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All of southern Europe. Who will stop them? The EU?

Kiev Targeting Russian Gas Supplies To Southern Europe – Moscow (RT)

The Ukrainian military has launched multiple drone attacks overnight, targeting a a Russian gas pumping station which supplies fuel to southern Europe via the TurkStream pipeline, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said. The ministry has accused Kiev of continued violations of an energy ceasefire agreed by Russia, the US and Ukraine last month. On Wednesday, the Russian military announced that it intercepted eight Ukrainian drones targeting the energy facility near the town of Korenovsk in the southern Krasnodar Region. The attack on Tuesday night was detected by defenses and caused no damage, as all aircraft were successfully intercepted, the report stated.

“This was a deliberate attack by the Kiev regime against an international energy site,” the ministry emphasized, adding that since Russia accepted a US-proposed moratorium on strikes targeting energy infrastructure, Ukrainian forces have not paused such attacks “for a single day.” Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an immediate suspension of strikes on Ukrainian energy sites following a phone conversation with US President Donald Trump in mid-March. Moscow maintains it is observing the partial ceasefire, despite Ukrainian violations, in a bid to foster goodwill with Washington.

The Korenovskaya compressor station targeted by Kiev is part of the Pochinki-Anapa pipeline, which entered service in July 2022 to enhance supplies for the TurkStream link under the Black Sea. The ground section of the pipeline has a maximum capacity of 63 billion cubic meters of gas per year, though the Defense Ministry noted it is currently functioning at about half that flow rate. TurkStream is one of the primary export routes for Russian natural gas directly to Türkiye, facilitating further supplies to Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Greece. In late February Hungary accused Kiev of threatening its sovereignty by jeopardizing its energy supplies, after a Ukrainian drone raid targeted the Russkaya gas compressor station, which feeds fuel into TurkStream.

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“Moscow will employ all tools at its disposal against what it perceives as an existential threat. Ukraine and its Western supporters have dismissed the Russian leader’s statements as “nuclear blackmail.”

US ‘Just Lost A War With Russia’ – Tucker Carlson (RT)

American policymakers are too arrogant to acknowledge that they have “lost a war with Russia” over Ukraine, US journalist Tucker Carlson has said. Russian officials perceive the Ukraine conflict as a NATO proxy war – a notion that some Western politicians, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have openly agreed with. In an interview with Alex Jones published on Wednesday, Carlson accused those perpetuating the hostilities of ignoring that Russia has emerged victorious. ”We just lost a war with Russia,” the former Fox News host declared. “The US was running that war – the US military, the Pentagon, State Department, CIA – running the war against Russia. It was not… was never about Ukraine.”

Carlson expressed concern that “nobody will say that out loud – that we’re overstating our power.” He likened the US to a divorced 60-year-old man attempting to woo a 25-year-old woman, oblivious to how absurd and humiliating he appears. “That’s called hubris and that’s how empires get destroyed and populations vaporized,” Carlson warned. “Maybe we should readjust our expectations a little bit.” Jones argued that many advocating for unconditional support of Kiev are “militarily ignorant,” mentioning actor Sean Penn’s dismissal of nuclear escalation risks with Russia. He emphasized that the scenario of major nuclear conflict is termed ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ for a reason.

In response, Carlson referenced a Pentagon assessment indicating that at one point the risk of the Ukraine conflict escalating to nuclear war reached 50%, arguing that any policymaker comfortable with such odds belongs “in prison for the criminally insane.” Senior Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have publicly asserted that Moscow will employ all tools at its disposal against what it perceives as an existential threat. Ukraine and its Western supporters have dismissed the Russian leader’s statements as “nuclear blackmail.”

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One
https://twitter.com/toobaffled/status/1909741736924155971

Cancer
https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1909597411627986982

Hugo

EarthVenus
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1909522433242968229

 

 

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Apr 022025
 


Pablo Picasso Sleeping girl 1935

 

‘Liberation Day’: Trump To Announce Tariff Plans In Rose Garden (Whedon)
Sen. John Kennedy Destroys Nationwide Injunctions (Margolis)
Judges Block Trump Orders Targeting Firms Tied To Russia Collusion Hoax (JTN)
Warning Against Judges Intruding On Presidential Powers And Actions (JTN)
Ukraine Has Secret Nuclear Doomsday Plan (RMX)
Wisconsin Supreme Court Race Should Turn on Principle Not Politics (Turley)
Republicans Pad US House Majority With Two Florida Special Election Wins (JTN)
Trump Dials Back Putin Criticism, Renews Attacks On Zelensky (ZH)
DOGE Finds Massive Social Security Fraud Scheme (ZH)
Trump ‘Investment Accelerator’ Fast-Tracks Investments Over $1 Billion (JTN)
France’s Courts Keep Sidelining The Establishment’s Political Rivals (Marsden)
Italy Calls Le Pen Sentence A Blow To Democracy (RT)
Trump Cites Grenell As Potential UN Ambassador Nominee (jTN)
Trump National Security Team Used Gmail For Government Matters – WaPo (RT)
Donald Trump Jr. Says Le Pen’s Verdict Proves Vance Right About EU (TASS)
NATO Will ‘Survive’ Trump – EU’s Top Diplomat (RT)
Germany To Target ‘Internal EU Enemies’ – Politico (RT)
BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin Might Dethrone US Dollar as Global Reserve Currency (Sp.)
USAID and the Architecture of Perception (Stylman)

 

 

 

 

Marine

Lagarde Le Pen

Drenched in blood

Tucker Bukele

Benz Obama

 

 

 

 

Fluid till the last moment.

“..the President wants to ensure that all Americans make out well, particularly Main Street, that’s the focus of these tariffs.”

‘Liberation Day’: Trump To Announce Tariff Plans In Rose Garden (Whedon)

President Donald Trump is set to announce his decision on the implementation of an array of new tariffs Wednesday as some of the tariffs he has already announced will take effect. Trump has dubbed Wednesday “Liberation Day” and is planning an event at the White House’s Rose Garden to unveil his decision on broader tariffs. Trump announced tariffs on Mexico and Canada earlier in his administration, but agreed to postpone both following negotiations with the leaders of those countries that led to agreements to bolster border security. Each tariff adds 25% on goods from the respective country. While those tariffs were part of border security negotiations, Trump is expected to unveil broader tariffs to achieve his stated goal of rebalancing American global trade. On Tuesday, he received reports from the Treasury, Commerce Department, and Office of the Trade Representative on possible tariffs and their potential impacts, though he reportedly has already made up his mind on what to implement. “I’ve settled, yeah,” he told the The Wall Street Journal on Monday.

Ahead of the Rose Garden event, moreover, he unveiled a 25% tariff on auto imports that earned praise from union workers, including from United Auto Workers (UAW) leaders who opposed his candidacy. Trump notably feuded with UAW President Shawn Fain during the election, but Fain had high praise for the commander-in-chief after the auto tariffs. “We applaud the Trump administration for stepping up to end the free trade disaster that has devastated working-class communities for decades,” Fain said. “Ending the race to the bottom in the auto industry starts with fixing our broken trade deals, and the Trump administration has made history with today’s actions.” Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs are expected to go much broader, though the details remain unclear as of press time and interested parties are expected to push for limited exemptions all the way to the deadline.

The point of conjecture at present is whether Trump will announce an across-the-board 20% tariff on all foreign imports, with few if any exceptions, or whether he will opt for a more targeted, reciprocal tariff policy of matching each nation’s respective rates and negotiating on an individual basis. During the press briefing on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to offer a preview of Trump’s exact decision, but spoke to broader tariff policy and the pledged foreign investments that the administration has already secured. “It’s simple. If you make your product in America, you will pay no tariffs. We have already seen a number of the largest companies in the world respond to this economic approach,” she said. “For example, Project Stargate, led by Japan-based Softbank and US-based OpenAI and Oracle, announced a $500 billion private investment in the United State-based artificial intelligence infrastructure.”

“Apple announced a $500 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing and training. Nvidia announced it will invest hundreds of billions of dollars over the next four years in U.S.-based manufacturing, and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced a $100 billion investment in U.S.-based chips and manufacturing,” she added. “These are just a few of the investment announcements that have already been made, and it is clear that President Trump’s America First approach is already working.” In anticipation of Trump’s announcement, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich signed an order to remove all remaining import tariffs on American goods, subject to the approval of the Knesset Finance Committee, according to the Times of Israel. Trump himself has indicated he expects other nations to drop their tariffs on American goods in response to his moves and has stated that India would soon drop many of its tariffs. “I heard that India is going to be dropping its tariffs substantially. A lot of countries are going to drop their tariffs,” he told reporters on Monday.

Trump’s support for tariffs during the 2016 campaign was a substantial challenge to long-established Republican free-trade orthodoxy and his second term already threatens to rewrite the party dogma on global commerce altogether. Some lawmakers, however, are less than thrilled by the prospect, and an unusual coalition of moderate Republicans and conservative libertarians have joined forces to express their disagreements. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., has led a resolution to end the emergency declaration that prompted Trump’s tariffs on Canada. So far, three Republicans have aligned with Democrats to back the measure, including Sens. Thom Tillis, N.C.; Rand Paul, Ky.; and Susan Collins, Maine, Politico reported. At least one more Republican would need to sign on to pass the measure, which would still likely fail in the House. Nonetheless, the vote will prove a metric for internal support for tariffs on the Republican side.

Some Republicans are enthusiastically on board with the tariffs. Speaking on the “Just the News, No Noise” television show on Tuesday, Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.V., pointed to how free trade practices had led to job losses in his own district. ”The American workers have been living in a trade war for over 40 years, and they’ve seen their jobs be decimated, like in my state of West Virginia, where just last year, because the Biden administration would not implement tariffs on 10-plate steel that was being dumped into the market by China and Canada and some other countries, we lost 1,000 jobs in my district alone, and we had to idle that steel plant,” he said. “That’s not putting the American worker first. It’s not putting America first,” he added. “So, President Trump is the first person in my lifetime who is really trying to reset this table and put us in a good position to be able to succeed here as a country,” Moore added.

Stock markets have reeled in the wake of some of Trump’s tariffs thus far, with key indices such as the DOW Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 plunging significantly in the subsequent days, though they have since stabilized to some degree. Should Trump opt for broader tariff options, equities are likely to witness a similar drop. Nevertheless, the White House offered its assurances on Tuesday that the markets would ultimately adjust to the changing state of affairs. “Yesterday, Dow futures were up, and there’s been a lot of talk about the market, and it was up yesterday,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “So look, the President wants to ensure that all Americans make out well, particularly Main Street, that’s the focus of these tariffs.” Leavitt also predicted that “Wall Street will be just fine.”

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Brilliant from John Kennedy. Dso watch.

“How can a federal judge issue an order that affects everyone else outside of that courtroom?”

Sen. John Kennedy Destroys Nationwide Injunctions (Margolis)

By now, you know that I’m a big fan of Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) and his unmatched ability to dismantle weak arguments with his signature Southern wit. On Monday, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, he was at the top of his game, systematically exposing the complete lack of legal authority for district judges to issue universal injunctions — a favorite tactic of the left to block Trump’s agenda. Questioning Assistant Attorney General nominee Brett Shumate, Kennedy systematically dismantled any justification for these sweeping judicial orders. “Mr. Shumate, what’s a universal injunction?” Kennedy asked. Shumate explained, “Senator, a universal injunction is an order from a court enjoining the government in a way that goes beyond the parties to the case but applies nationwide or in some cases universally.”

Kennedy pressed further, asking, “What’s the statutory basis for a federal judge issuing an order that affects people other than the parties before the court?” “I’m not aware of a statutory basis, Senator,” Shumate admitted.”There is no statutory basis, is there?” Kennedy reiterated. “No, Senator,” Shumate confirmed. Kennedy then challenged Shumate to name a Supreme Court ruling that interprets the Constitution to allow such injunctions. “Can you name me that case?” he asked. “I’m not aware of one, Senator,” Shumate responded. “There isn’t one, is there?” Kennedy pressed. “I’m not aware of one, Senator,” Shumate repeated. Kennedy then laid out the fundamental issue: “You have a plaintiff and a defendant, and the plaintiff files a lawsuit in federal court. The judge has jurisdiction over those parties. How can a federal judge issue an order that affects everyone else outside of that courtroom?”

“Uh, it shouldn’t be possible, Senator, but district courts do it all the time,” Shumate admitted. “I think on the theory that courts need to enjoin a federal policy from going into effect, and they often will enjoin it nationwide so that all non-parties are protected.” “I thought that if you wanted to affect parties who aren’t in court, you had to file a class action,” Kennedy countered. “That’s correct, Senator,” Shumate agreed. Kennedy pointed out that instead of filing class actions, plaintiffs often seek universal injunctions, which have no legal foundation. “Does this encourage forum shopping?” he asked. “Yes, Senator. Not only does it encourage forum shopping, but also district shopping and filing multiple strategic lawsuits to find one judge who will enjoin a single policy nationwide,” Shumate said. “If you have five lawsuits, only one of those cases needs to be successful.”

Kennedy then turned to historical precedent. “Universal injunction is basically an equitable remedy. Did this exist in common law courts in England?” he asked. “I don’t believe so, Senator,” Shumate responded, citing Supreme Court precedent that equitable relief was traditionally limited to the parties in a case. Recommended: The Atlantic Caught Pushing Another Anti-Trump Hoax Story Kennedy then points out that judges issued only about 27 universal injunctions in the entire 20th century. “But 86 of them were issued against President Trump in his first term. Is that correct?” Kennedy asked. “I don’t know the specific number, but it was a high number,” Shumate conceded. “And so far in President Trump’s second term, 30 universal injunctions have been issued against him. Have they not?” Kennedy continued.

“Senator, I don’t have the specific number, but that sounds about right,” Shumate said. “The universal injunction has become a weapon against the Trump administration, has it not?” Kennedy asked. “Yes,” Shumate affirmed. In his closing remarks, Kennedy highlighted the constitutional issue at hand: “Tell me the basis for universal injunction in Article III. Where does it mention universal injunction?” “It does not, Senator,” Shumate said. “It says courts are to decide the case or controversy before them, which is based on the parties to the case.” Kennedy concluded, “So Congress could act and say, ‘Look, federal judges, you render a decision to a plaintiff or a defendant, but you can’t impact people outside of your courtroom other than through a class action.’ That’s why God created class actions, isn’t it?” “Yes, Senator,” Shumate agreed. Kennedy’s questioning explained that universal injunctions lack any basis in statutory law, Supreme Court precedent, or historical common law and exposed their use as a judicial overreach that disproportionately targets President Trump’s policies.

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“..the FBI ignored the fact that at no time before, during, or after Crossfire Hurricane were investigators able to corroborate a single substantive allegation in the Steele dossier reporting.”

Judges Block Trump Orders Targeting Firms Tied To Russia Collusion Hoax (JTN)

Multiple judges have blocked efforts by President Donald Trump to hold “Big Law” firms accountable for their connections to lawyers closely tied to the Russia collusion hoax. The executive orders make allegations against some of the most powerful law firms in the nation: the WilmerHale law firm for previously employing former Special Counsel Robert Mueller and two of his top prosecutors; against Jenner & Block in part for previously employing top Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann; and against Perkins Coie in large part for previously employing Democratic-party-aligned election lawyer Marc Elias, for helping Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign fund British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s debunked anti-Trump dossier. Elias, who worked at Perkins for many years as the chair of the Political Law Group, went on to serve also as the general counsel for now-former Vice President Kamala Harris’s failed 2020 presidential bid. Perkins announced in 2021 that Elias and others were leaving to form Elias Law Group.

Judges have blocked significant portions of Trump’s executive orders aimed at each of those firms, although the Paul Weiss law firm — targeted by Trump in part for employing former Mueller prosecutor Jeannie Rhee — acquiesced to Trump’s demands, with Trump announcing last week that the firm would now be “taking on a wide range of pro bono matters representing the full political spectrum; committing to merit-based hiring, promotion, and retention, instead of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies; [and] dedicating the equivalent of $40 million in pro bono legal services during my term in office to support causes including assisting our Nation’s veterans, fairness in the justice system, and combating anti-Semitism.” Trump has used similar language in multiple executive orders addressing the “significant risks” posed by so-called “Big Law” firms which “engage in conduct detrimental to critical American interests.”

“Many firms take actions that threaten public safety and national security, limit constitutional freedoms, degrade the quality of American elections, or undermine bedrock American principles,” Trump said in these executive orders. “Moreover, law firms regularly conduct this harmful activity through their powerful pro bono practices, earmarking hundreds of millions of their clients’ dollars for destructive causes, that often directly or indirectly harm their own clients. Lawyers and law firms that engage in such egregious conduct should not have access to our Nation’s secrets, nor should such conduct be subsidized by Federal taxpayer funds or contracts.” The common thread in this batch of executive orders is that each of the firms targeted centers around the previous litigation and law enforcement activity executed against Trump. Those cases did not pan out.

An investigation by special counsel Mueller “did not establish” any criminal Trump-Russia collusion. DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz found huge flaws with the FBI’s investigation, criticizing the “central and essential” role of the dossier in the FBI’s politicized surveillance of former Trump campaign associate Carter Page. Special Counsel John Durham’s report concluded that “neither U.S. law enforcement nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.” The special counsel noted that “the FBI ignored the fact that at no time before, during, or after Crossfire Hurricane were investigators able to corroborate a single substantive allegation in the Steele dossier reporting.” Trump’s executive order on “Addressing Risks from WilmerHale” was issued on March 27, and it included a heavy focus on Mueller and members of his team.

The Trump order said that WilmerHale “is yet another law firm that has abandoned the profession’s highest ideals and abused its pro bono practice to engage in activities that undermine justice and the interests of the United States” and argued that the firm “is also bent on employing lawyers who weaponize the prosecutorial power to upend the democratic process and distort justice.” “WilmerHale rewarded Robert Mueller and his colleagues — Aaron Zebley, Mueller’s ‘top aide’ and ‘closest associate,’ and James Quarles — by welcoming them to the firm after they wielded the power of the Federal Government to lead one of the most partisan investigations in American history,” the executive order contends. “Mueller’s investigation epitomizes the weaponization of government, yet WilmerHale claimed he ‘embodies the highest value of our firm and profession.’ Mueller’s ‘investigation’ upended the lives of public servants in my Administration who were summoned before ‘prosecutors’ with the effect of interfering in their ability to fulfill the mandates of my first term agenda. This weaponization of the justice system must not be rewarded, let alone condoned,” Trump said in the executive order.

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“..exceeding constitutional mandates as a matter of judicial philosophy does nothing more than blight justice itself.”

Warning Against Judges Intruding On Presidential Powers And Actions (JTN)

Judicial warfare is eroding the confidence in Americans’ justice system, leaving a blight on justice itself, says a North Carolina congresswoman who leads the Rules Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C, is speaking out against judges blocking the president’s decisions as granted in the Constitution ahead of a Tuesday congressional hearing. “As of late, we have certainly seen a slew of rulings by rogue judges that surpass their own constitutional authority,” she said in a post to social media Monday afternoon. “This is judicial warfare in the flesh. If it is not remedied in a commonsense and expeditious fashion, these exercises in partisanship will do further irreparable damage to the nation and to the confidence of Americans in our justice system.”

More than a dozen orders from President Donald Trump – more than in the entire time Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W. Bush served as presidents – have been thwarted or attempted to be blocked. Among the judges in the spotlight is U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, a pivotal figure in the deportation of people accused of being in gangs, in addition to just being named to preside in a case involving military operations and a messaging app. Boasberg, appointed by Bush to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 2002, was nominated to the federal bench by Obama and confirmed in the Senate 96-0 in 2012.

Boasberg on Wednesday issued and on Friday extended a temporary restraining order that prevents Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport people believed to be part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. A hearing, Judicial Overreach and Constitutional Limits on the Federal Courts, is at 10 a.m. Tuesday to be conducted jointly by the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet, and the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government from within the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. California Republican Darrell Issa is chairman of the former committee, Texas’ Chip Roy the latter. North Carolina Democrat Deborah Ross is a minority member of the former; North Carolina Republican Mark Harris is a majority member of the latter.

Witnesses scheduled include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Cindy Romero, a victim of criminal activity believed perpetrated by Tren de Aragua in Aurora, Colo. Also on the invite list are witnesses from the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation. Other federal judges drawing fire from supporters of the president include Biden appointees Amir Ali, Loren AliKhan, Deborah Boardman, Angel Kelley and Brendan Hurson; Obama appointees Paul Engelmayer, Amy Berman Jackson, John McConnell and Leo Sorokin; Bush appointee Joseph Laplante; Bill Clinton appointee William Alsup; and Ronald Reagan appointees John Coughenhour and Royce Lamberth. “Without question,” Foxx said, “exceeding constitutional mandates as a matter of judicial philosophy does nothing more than blight justice itself.”

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Blackmail Kiev style. Blow everything up, including all the neighbors. Scorched earth. Let’s give them another $100 billion.

Ukraine Has Secret Nuclear Doomsday Plan (RMX)

Ukraine has a secret last-ditch “scorched earth” plan to render its entire territory uninhabitable in the event of a Russian victory in the war – and perhaps the rest of Europe with it. This is according to Oleksiy Arestovych, a former adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In an interview with a Ukrainian journalist that he gave last month, Arestovych claimed that Ukraine’s current head of military intelligence, Kirill Budanov, has floated a plan to blow up all of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, and possibly some of Russia’s as well, if all other defensive measures fail. Ukraine currently operates four nuclear power plants with a total of 15 reactors. One of them, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station, is the largest plant in Europe and has been under Russian occupation since March 2022. Russia, for its part, has 37 reactors divided among 11 power plants.

https://twitter.com/MyLordBebo/status/1903424504723829246?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1903424504723829246%7Ctwgr%5Edf7b04cdf48090001566b3c7db9961a15c2fa7c5%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Frmx.news%2Farticle%2Fukraine-has-secret-nuclear-doomsday-plan-according-to-former-zelensky-adviser%2F

If all or even some of these reactors were attacked and destroyed simultaneously, the destructive impact would be beyond calculation. The Chernobyl nuclear accident that occurred in Ukraine in 1986, and which remains the worst disaster involving nuclear energy in history, killed dozens and led to long-term health problems for thousands of others. It also led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people and rendered the surrounding area permanently uninhabitable, spreading radioactivity over a large area and even into Western Europe. Moreover, the Chernobyl disaster required the combined resources of the Soviet Union, as well as the assistance it received from other countries, to contain it. In a scenario where several nuclear plants were destroyed simultaneously, it would likely exceed the ability of any nation to bring it under control.

The resulting casualties and damage to the environment would therefore be many times worse than what happened in 1986. Nor would this catastrophe be limited to Ukraine and Russia: Harmful radioactivity would undoubtedly be carried by the atmosphere and spread over the rest of Europe as well. Arestovych raised the alleged plan in the context of U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine’s nuclear reactors should be brought under American control. The White House reported that the president had proposed the idea to Zelensky in a phone call they had last month, arguing that this would offer the “best protection” for the country’s nuclear energy infrastructure. While some accused the American president of wanting to seize control of Ukraine’s energy resources for his own country’s benefit,

Arestovych asserted that the real reason was that Washington knows about Budanov’s apocalyptic plan. He said that the Trump administration sees the Ukrainian government as “apes with a grenade” and wants to “take these dangerous toys out of our control.” “They know about our plans to blow up all the nuclear power plants if Ukraine starts losing,” Arestovych said. “Budanov was running around with this [idea] a year and a half ago. Blow up everything, the Russian plants we can reach as well as our own, so that nobody gets them.”The rationale behind this doomsday scenario, the former adviser claimed, is “we all bite the dust, but so will they.” He referred to Zelensky and his senior staff as “a group of deranged people.”

Arestovych further stated that American efforts to gain control over Ukraine’s nuclear facilities actually date back to the Biden administration, when such plans were proposed under the guise of scientific research. The U.S. Republicans, he says, prefer a more direct approach. Arestovych also alluded to the efforts of Ukrainian banker Oleh Gorokhovsky to raise funds for a nuclear weapons program for the country following Trump’s explosive clash with Zelensky in the Oval Office last month. His fundraiser brought in more than half a million euros. Originally a military officer, Arestovych predicted in a video interview that he gave in 2019 that Russia would attack Ukraine between 2020 and 2022, and that the resulting war would be used as a pretext for Ukraine joining NATO. He was appointed as a government advisor on national security and defense in 2020.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Arestovych gave daily briefings at the president’s office. In January 2023, he claimed that what the Ukrainian government said was a deliberate Russian attack on a residential complex was in fact the result of an error by Ukraine’s own air defense forces. This angered many and he resigned from his position the same month. Arestovych has continued to comment publicly on the war and has been critical of Zelensky’s handling of it. He eventually left Ukraine out of fear of being arrested. He still has a significant social media following, and has said that he will run for president of Ukraine when the next elections are held. Several attacks have already been launched against both Ukrainian and Russian nuclear reactors since the current war began, although fortunately no significant damage has been caused so far. Each side has accused the other of being behind these assaults.

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Lost the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, but..

Wisconsin Supreme Court Race Should Turn on Principle Not Politics (Turley)

(Update 2210ET): According to multiple outlets, Democrat-endorsed Susan Crawford has won the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, beating Republican-endorsed Brad Schimel in the most expensive judicial election in US history. The campaigns and their supporters spent more than $81 million, and drew the involvement of Elon Musk, Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders, and other political figures. Crawford’s win means that liberals will retain a 4-3 majority in the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

***
Today, the voters of Wisconsin go to the polls in what may be the single most expensive and important judicial race in modern history. Both parties are spending millions with the balance of the state Supreme Court in the balance. If liberal Susan Crawford wins, the expectation is that she will vote with the Democratic majority to approve a gerrymandering of congressional districts to guarantee the loss of two Republicans and possibly flip control of the House of Representatives to the Democrats. The raw political pitch in the election is disturbing. It assumes that both candidates will blindly support the objectives of their respective parties. The real reason to cast a vote today should be on judicial ideology. Ironically, the United States Supreme Court made that plain in an important Wisconsin case argued just the day before the state election.

The case is Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission. In the decision below, the Democratic-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Catholic Charities could not benefit from a religious exemption to the state’s unemployment tax because its charitable work was not sufficiently religious. Catholic Charities is one of the world’s oldest and most respected charities. However, the church believes that it has a duty to help people of every faith who are in need. Thus, the church does not proselytize in offering such aid and services. A state labor commission ruled that the charity’s lack of such religious expression and prayer makes it secular, even if it has religious motivations.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed and ruled that the charity is not operated primarily for religious purposes because it does not “attempt to imbue” beneficiaries “with the Catholic faith nor supply any religious materials to program participants or employees.” In other words, the fact that Catholic Charities helps everyone and does not proselytize worked against it. The Wisconsin Supreme Court essentially argued that it needs to pray more to offer such charity as a church. It is a disturbing ruling that would allow the state to choose between religions in weighing their relative manifestations of faith.

Even liberal justices cried foul over the standard. Justice Elena Kagan suggested it was “pretty fundamental that we don’t treat some religions better than others. And we certainly don’t do it based on the content of the religious doctrine that those religions preach.” Kagan noted, “Some religions proselytize. Other religions don’t. Why are we treating some religions better than others based on that element of religious doctrine?” She noted that the standard “basically puts the state on the side of some religions with some doctrine versus other religions with a different doctrine.” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson suggested that the Wisconsin Supreme Court was asking the wrong questions about what it means to be an organization “operated primarily for religious purposes.”

Justice Neil Gorsuch virtually mocked the standard of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, asking if Catholic Charities have to require the people receiving their services to “repent.” He then asked: “is mandatory church attendance versus optional church attendance, that’s the line?” Gorsuch then delivered the haymaker: “Isn’t it a fundamental premise of our First Amendment that the state shouldn’t be picking and choosing between religions, between certain evangelical sects, and Judaism and Catholicism on the other, for example?” The case shows that there are far more important issues dividing these candidates on judicial philosophy that should drive this election. I am not a fan of state elected judges and justices precisely because of the raw political element to these contests. The Catholic Charities case shows that the Wisconsin Supreme Court is divided along more than just a party line.

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..but this win may prove to be more important.

Republicans Pad US House Majority With Two Florida Special Election Wins (JTN)

Republicans padded their slim U.S. House majority Tuesday after winning two Florida special elections to replace a pair of members who resigned their seats. In the 6th Congressional District, state Sen. Randy Fine was projected to defeat Democrat Josh Weil with about 56% of the vote with 98% of ballots counted, according to unofficial results. The race was necessitated by the resignation of former U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, a Republican who became President Donald Trump’s national security advisor. Tuesday’s outcome was closer than Waltz’s last race, when he won by 34 points.

Florida Republican Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis was the projected winner over Democrat Gay Valimont with 56% of the unofficial vote tally with 93% counted to replace former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz in Florida’s 1st Congressional District. Gaetz resigned his U.S. House seat after being nominated by Trump to be the U.S. attorney general, but he later dropped out of the running because the Republican firebrand and Trump ally faced a tough confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate due to a House ethics investigation. Trump instead nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was easily confirmed. With the wins, the GOP will pad their U.S. still slim House majority to 220 seats to 213 for Democrats.

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“..one wonders then: Why does the Trump administration even bother?”

Trump Dials Back Putin Criticism, Renews Attacks On Zelensky (ZH)

It was only on Sunday that President Trump declared he’s “very angry” at Russian President Putin, statements which featured the threat of secondary tariffs on Moscow, but now the US leader is already dialing back this criticism, Bloomberg observes. Instead he’s once again focused his ire on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, warning of “big problems” if he doesn’t sign the controversial minerals agreement and tries to renegotiate. “I see he’s trying to back out of the rare earth deal. And if he does that, he’s got some problems. Big, big problems,” Trump earlier told reporters aboard Air Force One. “We made a deal on rare earth and now he’s saying, ‘well, you know, I want to renegotiate the deal.’” “He wants to be a member of NATO. Well, he was never going to be a member of NATO. He understands that. So if he’s looking to renegotiate the deal, he’s got big problems,” Trump said.

Zelensky has signaled that Ukraine is positive about the deal but has complained that its conditions are “constantly changing”. Trump has still kept up some pressure on Putin, however, saying Monday of the Russian leader, “I want to make sure that he follows through, and I think he will.” He continued in Monday remarks from the Oval, “I don’t want to go secondary tariffs on his oil, but I think, you know, something I would do if I thought he wasn’t doing the job.” All of the weekend criticisms of Putin appeared to arise from the Russian president’s comments late last week declaring that Zelensky’s ‘illegitimacy’ could be fixed by a UN transition process guiding Ukraine to new elections. Only then would Moscow negotiate an end the war, Putin stipulated.

“He’s supposed to be making a deal with him, whether you like him or don’t like him,” Trump told reporters Sunday, referring to Putin. “So I wasn’t happy with that. But I think he’s going to be good.” But again, he reserved blunter criticism for US ally Zelensky: “I heard that they’re now saying, well, I’ll only do that deal if we get into NATO or something to that effect,” Trump had said. Bloomberg has concluded the following of this latest back-and-forth: The result is a geopolitical whiplash on the eve of Trump’s global tariff announcement on April 2 and shows US impatience with the process of securing a temporary truce between Russia and Ukraine more than three years after Putin’s invasion of its neighbor. Trump had vowed he would end the war within 24 hours of taking office but has found Russia to be a tough negotiator and able to wrest concessions from the US by exploiting Trump’s desire to get a deal done quickly.

On Sunday, Trump told NBC he was “pissed off” at Putin. Of course, this is also due to Russian forces rolling up several villages and towns on the battlefield in Ukraine’s east and south just this week alone. Putin has less incentive for a hasty deal, and is in the driver’s seat – but surely the White House knows this, which is perhaps why the pressure is ramping up on Zelensky once again. As for the apparently ever-changing draft minerals deal, Ukraine and its supporters have continued to charge that it’s tantamount to a big resource grab by Washington. Ukraine received its latest version of a new draft of the text on Friday, its foreign ministry stated. CNN writes that “The new proposal for a natural resources agreement, of which CNN has obtained a copy, was put forward by the US Treasury Department and goes well beyond the initial draft, particularly on future US rights and reimbursement for past assistance.”

Some independent geopolitical observes have said the deal effectively imposes ‘indentured servitude’ on Ukraine. “This ‘deal’ is pure extortion and robbery. It would bind Ukraine indefinitely. It would also discourage any investment in any natural deposits in Ukraine. There is no chance that any such deal will be ratified by the Ukrainian parliament,” Moon of Alabama writes. The source then questions, “one wonders then: Why does the Trump administration even bother?”

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I’ve seen some questions about this float by. To be continued.

DOGE Finds Massive Social Security Fraud Scheme (ZH)

One day after Elon Musk and Antonio Gracias—founder and CEO of the Chicago-based investment firm Valor Equity Partners, and now a DOGE official—unveiled a “mind-blowing” chart showing a surge in Social Security numbers issued to illegal aliens over the Biden-Harris administration’s first term during an America PAC town hall in Wisconsin on Sunday, Musk’s America PAC hosted an online tele-town hall with Wisconsin voters on Monday night, where he provided more color on the SSN fraud. During the tele-town hall, one Wisconsin voter asked Musk: “You found a lot of fraud in Social Security. Do you know whether the Attorney General will investigate and prosecute that fraud?”

Musk responded: “I believe someone is going to be arrested tomorrow, because there’s someone who actually stole 400,000 Social Security numbers and personal information from the Social Security database… And was selling Social Security numbers and all the identification information in order for people to basically steal money from Social Security.” “This is a particular avenue of fraud for illegal immigrants and voter fraud – because the main way identification is established in the US is via Social Security. If you comprise the Social Security system, you can basically get people to get defacto registered to vote – even if they’re not citizens – and get a bunch of benefits and to milk the system – this is pretty insane,” Musk said.

On Sunday, Musk and Gracias showed the audience of a town hall a chart titled “New Non-Citizen Social Security Numbers Issued” …

Then again, Democrats are against DOGE’s efforts to find waste and fraud at Social Security. Wonder why? American citizens deserve full transparency, accountability, and swift reforms to ensure this kind of fraud is never repeated and used to game elections and drain resources of citizens by illegals. Also, handing out stolen SNNs is a national security threat and can end up in the hands of bad actors, such as members of transnational gangs or terrorist networks.

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“..the president has already secured more than $3 trillion in private investments so far.”

Trump ‘Investment Accelerator’ Fast-Tracks Investments Over $1 Billion (JTN)

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order that creates an “investment accelerator,” which seeks to facilitate and fast-track the approval of any investment into the United States of over $1 billion. The order creates a new office within the Department of Commerce that will speed up the approval process for investments, and encourage countries to invest in the U.S. by reducing regulatory burdens, and increasing communication about investor issues across departments. The new office will also be responsible for administering the CHIPS Program Office, which the White House claims will negotiate “much better CHIPS Act deals than the previous Administration.”

“President Trump believes it is in America’s interest that the Federal Government dramatically expand its assistance to companies seeking to invest and build in the United States,” the White House said in a fact sheet. “By streamlining processes, the Accelerator will attract both foreign and domestic investment, reinforcing America’s position as the premier destination for large-scale investment.” The White House also touted that the president has already secured more than $3 trillion in private investments so far.

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“Le Pen’s party got the most votes, and the anti-establishment left won the most seats – neither of which entitles you to actually govern France anymore, apparently..”

France’s Courts Keep Sidelining The Establishment’s Political Rivals (Marsden)

Earlier this week, the anti-establishment French political leader whom all polls suggest would easily win the presidency, if the vote were held tomorrow, was barred from running for office for five years. How convenient. Right-wing National Rally leader Marine Le Pen has been found guilty in a Paris court of embezzling European Union funds. Accused of enabling a system whereby aides hired to serve in Brussels ended up doing work for the party, she was also fined an sentenced to two years of home detention under electronic monitoring. The allegations against Le Pen, dating back to at least 2014, were so old that they could have qualified for a French pension. But now the verdict conveniently takes her out of the 2027 election cycle. If you were looking for a foolproof way to supercharge support for Le Pen’s party, congratulations, French judiciary – you nailed it.

There’s no better way to fire up a political movement than to turn its leader into a martyr of a state that looks to be meddling with citizens’ democratic options. Just ask Romania’s Calin Georgescu, who was on his way to victory before getting politically kneecapped by the system: arrested, accused of foreign funding, then ultimately just dismissed for a paperwork technicality. And what happened next? His replacement, George Simion, is now surging in the polls. Who could’ve seen that coming? (Spoiler: Everyone.) Disqualifying candidates for crimes like corruption, fraud, and electoral violations wasn’t automatic in France – until Emmanuel Macron’s party conveniently made it so in 2017. Timing is everything: that law landed roughly three years after Brussels put Le Pen in its investigative crosshairs. Surely just a coincidence. The law’s biggest cheerleader? Macron ally and centrist leader, François Bayrou, who championed it – right up until he found himself accused of the exact same EU cash-grab scheme as Le Pen.

Awkward. He lasted a whole month as Macron’s justice minister before getting booted. But don’t worry, he bounced back. Acquitted last year, he was later handpicked as Macron’s prime minister, despite not running for anything. You know who actually won that election? Le Pen’s party got the most votes, and the anti-establishment left won the most seats – neither of which entitles you to actually govern France anymore, apparently. Meanwhile, leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon is also under investigation for – you guessed it – precisely the same kind of disqualifying offense involving EU funding as Le Pen. It’s no wonder Trump looks at this mess and sees himself in Le Pen’s situation. “She was banned for five years and she was the leading candidate,” Trump said. “That sounds like this country.” If Trump had been French, and convicted on some of his own election-related charges, like those in Georgia, he wouldn’t have been able to run for president, either.

Hopefully the fashion capital of the world won’t set a trend with this one. Sure, convict someone. But let the people decide if the convict is still a better electoral option. Democracy means letting people choose – even if their top pick needs a parole officer instead of a campaign manager. There’s a distinct pattern here: every time a candidate starts looking like a real threat to the establishment, the legal system suddenly finds a reason to hit the brakes. It’s almost as if France has an unofficial “Incumbent Protection Act”. Remember Dominique Strauss-Kahn? Back in 2011, as IMF head, he was basically measuring the drapes at the Élysée Palace for his imminent move in. Then – bam! – a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault. Career over. And just to make sure, French authorities later charged him with pimping. Yes, pimping. He was acquitted, but good luck running for office when “IMF President” and “Accused Pimp” are both on your CV.

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“..no one who cares about democracy can rejoice in a sentence that affects the leader of a large party and takes away representation from millions of citizens.”

Italy Calls Le Pen Sentence A Blow To Democracy (RT)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has condemned the conviction of French presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen, saying it undermines the voice of millions of voters. On Monday, Le Pen, the former leader of the conservative National Rally (RN) party, was sentenced to four years in prison for embezzlement, two of them suspended, and barred from holding public office for five years. If the conviction stands, it effectively rules her out of the 2027 presidential race. Commenting on the verdict, Meloni told Italian newspaper Il Messaggero on Tuesday: “I don’t know the merit of the objections made to Marine Le Pen, nor the reasons for such a harsh decision. But I think that no one who cares about democracy can rejoice in a sentence that affects the leader of a large party and takes away representation from millions of citizens.”

Meloni joined a chorus of French and international politicians in criticizing the ruling, which many called undemocratic. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini on Monday described the verdict as a “declaration of war by Brussels.” US President Donald Trump also weighed in, saying the criminal prosecution of Le Pen reminded him of the legal challenges he faced under former President Joe Biden’s administration. According to Le Monde, prosecutors argued that Le Pen and several RN lawmakers misused European Parliament funds by diverting them from official duties to party activities in France. Le Pen denied any wrongdoing, called the verdict politically motivated, and said she would appeal.

Speaking on French television on Monday evening, Le Pen vowed to stay in politics and fight for her right to run. “I’m combative, I won’t let myself be eliminated,” she said. Le Pen has run for president three times, finishing second in 2017 and 2022. Her party currently holds the largest number of seats in the National Assembly. According to an Ifop poll published in Le Journal du Dimanche on Sunday, 34-37% of those surveyed said they plan to vote for Le Pen in 2027 – over ten points more than her nearest rival, former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. A longtime critic of NATO policy in Eastern Europe, Le Pen has opposed Ukraine’s accession to the military bloc and has spoken out against EU sanctions on Russia.

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Grenell is a very effective special envoy. But maybe Trump feels Witkoff can now do with he did.

Trump Cites Grenell As Potential UN Ambassador Nominee (jTN)

President Donald Trump says about 30 people have expressed interest in becoming U.S. ambassador to the United Nations since he pulled the nomination of New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik for the position. Trump made the comment Monday. He also said David Friedman, who was the U.S. ambassador to Israel during his first administration, and Richard Grenell, who was the former ambassador to Germany, as potential nominees. “We have a lot of people that have asked about it and would like to do it,” he said. Trump also said about 30 people are interested in the position.

“Everyone loves that position,” he said. “That’s a star-making position. And so we’ll see what happens.” Last week, Trump pulled Stefanik’s nomination to save House Republicans from losing another member and cutting further into their already narrow majority. House Republicans have already lost two members to Trump nominations, after winning control of the lower chamber in November.

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Unnecessary nonsense.

Trump National Security Team Used Gmail For Government Matters – WaPo (RT)

Members of the US National Security Council (NSC), including national security adviser Mike Waltz, have used personal Gmail accounts to discuss sensitive government information, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing obtained emails and three people familiar with the matter. The report comes after Waltz accidentally added a journalist to a Signal chat group where Defense Minister Pete Hegseth, Vice President J.D. Vance and other senior officials discussed the upcoming US strikes in Yemen. According to the Post, a senior Waltz aide used Gmail for “highly technical conversations” with colleagues, which included “sensitive military positions and powerful weapons systems relating to an ongoing conflict.” The Post cited officials as saying that Waltz had “potentially exploitable information” sent to his Gmail account and posted parts of his schedule into Signal to coordinate meetings and discussions.

Officials are normally required to use secure government-issued means of communication. NSC spokesman Brian Hughes told the Post that Waltz “didn’t and wouldn’t send classified information on an open account.” He added that when “legacy contacts” were emailing Waltz, he always copied the messages to his government email “to ensure compliance with records retention.” Hughes said that NSC staff are instructed to use “only secure platforms for classified information.” In a statement to Fox News, Hughes said that he could not verify the Post’s claims because the journalist “refused to share any part of the document reported.”

The Democrats have criticized the Trump administration for using the Signal chat app when discussing the bombing of Houthi positions in Yemen last month. According to Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, he was added to a group where Hegseth shared the timeline of the March 15 strikes, as well as the weapons systems used in the operation. Hegseth and other White House officials have denied that any classified information was shared in the chat with Goldberg. President Donald Trump has rejected the calls to dismiss Waltz. “I don’t fire people because of fake news and because of witch hunts,” he told NBC News on Saturday.

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“..Europe is afraid of its own voters and is useless to the United States in this form..”

Donald Trump Jr. Says Le Pen’s Verdict Proves Vance Right About EU (TASS)

The sentence handed down to Marine Le Pen, the head of the parliamentary faction of the French National Rally party, proves US Vice President JD Vance is right about the EU, son of the American leader Donald Trump Jr. said on X. “France is sending Le Pen to jail and barring her from running?! Are they just trying to prove [JD Vence] was right about everything?” he wrote. Vance, speaking at the Munich Security Conference on February 14, blasted the EU for censorship, including for blocking social networks. He said that Europe is afraid of its own voters and is useless to the United States in this form. He said that illegal migrants regularly commit crimes in the EU and advised to tighten border controls.

On Monday, a court in Paris found Le Pen guilty of embezzling EU funds and sentenced her to four years in prison, two of which she will have to wear an electronic bracelet (the remaining two years are suspended). The verdict, according to experts, means she will not be able to run for president of France in 2027. As explained by Le Figaro, Le Pen may retain her parliamentary mandate and the post of chairman of the party’s faction, but she will not be able to participate in possible early elections to the National Assembly (lower house) of the French parliament. The US State Department declined to comment. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS earlier that Le Pen’s verdict shows the “agony of liberal democracy.”

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If Kaja Kallas is your top diplomat, you have many problems.

NATO Will ‘Survive’ Trump – EU’s Top Diplomat (RT)

NATO will remain intact despite pressure from US President Donald Trump, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said. She warned, however, that some member states must be ready to make difficult choices to meet the required level of defense spending. In an interview with Spanish daily El Mundo on Monday, Kallas was asked whether “NATO [will] survive Trump’s term.” “I’m sure. It’s a strong alliance that’s alive and well”, she replied, adding that member nations have committed to spending at least 2% of GDP on defense by 2024 – a threshold that a significant portion of the bloc has yet to reach. “I hear the problems some countries are having, but I also think it’s illusory to get out of this situation without making difficult and unpopular decisions,” she said, citing her tenure as prime minister of Estonia during which the country raised taxes.

Pressed on why the EU does not propose direct subsidies for those lagging behind in defense spending, Kallas stated that the bloc must balance the interests of highly indebted countries and those that contribute the most to the EU budget. To address this, the EU has instituted “relief measures in the fiscal rules to give member states more room to operate,” which could give countries a number of options to increase spending, she added. Since his first term, Trump has been pushing European NATO members to spend more on their own defense. While the bloc’s members agreed to reach a 2% threshold, in February, the US president suggested that NATO members should consider spending as much as 5% of GDP on defense. Last month, he warned: “if they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has said Trump was right to demand that European members step up defense spending. NATO leaders have insisted that the hike in military expenditure is aimed at deterring Russia amid the Ukraine conflict. Some officials have suggested that Moscow could launch a full-scale attack on the US-led bloc within a few years. Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed the speculation as “nonsense,” arguing that Moscow has no interest in doing so.

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The new guy dreams of control. Inevitable.

Germany To Target ‘Internal EU Enemies’ – Politico (RT)

The incoming German government plans to play a larger role in EU decision-making, including by punishing nations that dissent against the bloc’s foreign policy, Politico has reported. According to the outlet, a draft coalition agreement targets Hungary, which has defied EU decisions on issues such as the Ukraine conflict and sanctions against Russia. Germany is set to have a new coalition government formed by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democrats (SPD), likely led by Friedrich Merz of the CDU. The parties are currently finalizing agreements on key policy areas, including migration, climate, and EU relations. Merz is reportedly aiming to form the new government before Easter on April 20.

One of the documents reviewed by Politico outlines Berlin’s plans for a more assertive EU strategy. It proposes using the ‘Weimar Triangle’ – a trilateral alliance of Germany, France, and Poland, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency – to influence the bloc’s direction and strengthen Germany’s use of its voting rights.The draft also states that Berlin plans to “defend” the EU against “internal and external enemies” by calling for punitive action against member states that allegedly violate principles such as the rule of law. Proposed penalties include withholding EU funds and suspending voting rights. “We will take even more consistent action against violations,” the document states.

“Existing protective instruments, from infringement proceedings and the withholding of EU funds to the suspension [of] membership rights such as voting rights in the Council of the EU, must be applied much more consistently than before.” The coalition has also proposed the creation of a “comprehensive sanction instrument” to rein in perceived dissenters, including replacing the EU’s foreign policy unanimity requirement with majority voting to prevent countries from blocking decisions such as sanctions. “The consensus principle in the European Council must not become a brake on decision-making,” the document states.

While Hungary is not mentioned by name, the draft agreement appears to be a clear reference to the country, which has long been at odds with EU policies, including over its approach to the Ukraine conflict and its sanctions policy towards Russia. Budapest has argued that sanctions have been detrimental to the bloc’s economy, and has exercised its veto right on several motions to delay or dilute measures. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has repeatedly accused the EU of taking a “pro-war” stance and has pursued independent peace initiatives on the Ukraine conflict. The EU has previously threatened to suspend Hungary’s voting rights. It withheld around €22 billion in funds earmarked for Budapest in 2022, citing rights and judicial concerns, but ultimately released about half of that amount last year.

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“..amid “geopolitical fragmentation” of the world into competing blocs..”

BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin Might Dethrone US Dollar as Global Reserve Currency (Sp.)

BlackRock’s Outlook 2025 called Bitcoin “a tactical hedge against specific risks, like gold.” Larry Fink, the CEO of the world’s largest asset manager, who had once labeled Bitcoin as an “index of money laundering,” experienced a notable change of heart last year amid inflationary pressures and the volatility of traditional markets. America’s mounting national debt, which is currently at $36 trillion, could prompt investors to start viewing the digital currency as a safer bet, Larry Fink has warned. “If deficits keep ballooning, America risks losing that position to digital assets like Bitcoin,” he stressed in his annual letter to investors.

Mandatory government spending and debt service will consume all federal revenue, creating a permanent deficit by 2030, Fink added. Initially, Fink was a skeptic, often dismissing Bitcoin as a speculative asset and referring to it as a “fad.” However, he gradually became more open to the idea of digital assets. In January 2024, BlackRock introduced the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), a Bitcoin ETF that swiftly emerged as the largest cryptocurrency fund globally. BlackRock’s Outlook 2025 referred to Bitcoin as “a tactical hedge against specific risks, like gold” amid “geopolitical fragmentation” of the world into competing blocs.

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Cover all angles of a narrative, and you’re in control.

USAID and the Architecture of Perception (Stylman)

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has long portrayed itself as America’s humanitarian aid organization, delivering assistance to developing nations. With an annual budget of nearly $40 billion and operations in over 100 countries, it represents one of the largest foreign aid institutions in the world. But recent disclosures reveal its true nature as something far more systematic: an architect of global consciousness. Consider: Reuters, one of the world’s most trusted news sources, received USAID funding for ‘Large Scale Social Deception’ and ‘Social Engineering Defence.’ While there’s debate about the exact scope of these programs, the implications are staggering: a division of one of the world’s most relied-upon sources for objective reporting was paid by a US government agency for systemic reality construction. This funding goes beyond traditional media support, representing a deliberate infrastructure for discourse framing that fundamentally challenges the concept of ‘objective’ reporting.


Source: USASpending.gov database

But it goes deeper. In what reads like a Michael Crichton plot come to life, the recent USAID revelations show a staggering reach of narrative control. Take Internews Network, a USAID-financed NGO that has pushed nearly half a billion dollars ($472.6m) through a secretive network, ‘working with’ 4,291 media outlets. In just one year, they produced 4,799 hours of broadcasts reaching up to 778 million people and ‘trained’ over 9,000 journalists. This isn’t just funding – it’s a systematic infrastructure of consciousness manipulation. The revelations show USAID funding both the Wuhan Lab’s gain-of-function research and the media outlets that would shape the story around what emerged from it. Backing organizations that would fabricate impeachment evidence. Funding both the election systems that facilitate outcomes and the fact-checkers that determine which discussions about those outcomes are permitted. But these disclosures point to something far more significant than mere corruption.

These revelations didn’t emerge from nowhere – they come from government grant disclosures, FOIA requests, and official records that aren’t even hidden, just ignored. As my old friend Mark Schiffer noted the other day, ‘The most important truths today cannot be debated – they must be felt as totalities.’ The pattern, once seen, cannot be unseen. Some may question DOGE’s methods or the rapid pace of these disclosures, and those constitutional concerns deserve serious discussion. But that’s a separate conversation from what these documents reveal. The revelations themselves – documented in official records and grant disclosures – are undeniable and should shock anyone who values truth. The means of exposure matter far less than what’s being exposed: one of the largest narrative control operations in history.

No domain is untouched – markets, tech, culture, health, and obviously, media – and you’ll find the same design. Intelligence agencies are deeply embedded in each domain because shaping how we perceive reality is more powerful than controlling reality itself Just as fiat currency replaced real value with declared value, we now see the same pattern everywhere: fiat science replaces inquiry with predetermined conclusions, fiat culture replaces organic development with curated influence, fiat history replaces lived experience with manufactured narratives. We live in an era of fiat everything – where reality itself is declared, not discovered. And just as they create artificial scarcity in monetary systems, they manufacture false choices everywhere else – presenting us with artificial binaries that obscure the true complexity of our world.

As Schiffer wrote elsewhere, reality no longer requires consensus, only coherence. But there’s a crucial distinction: real coherence emerges naturally across multiple domains, reflecting deeper truths that cannot be fabricated. The coherence imposed by perception management isn’t truth – it’s a controlled discourse engineered for consistency, not discovery. The USAID receipts now provide concrete evidence of how this manufactured coherence is built: a scripted reality where the appearance of logic is more important than actual substance.

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Amateur hour

Sachs

Lungs

Backrub

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Jan 172023
 


Hasui Kawase Mimhae Pavilion, Kyongju, Korea 1940

 

How The Davos Elite Took Back Control (Fazi)
Global Political Elite Skipping Davos (RT)
All Quiet (Panic) on the Western Front (Escobar)
Kiev Coaching EU On Path To Ruin – Exiled Ukrainian Politician (RT)
West Sees Ukraine As Spoils Of Cold War – Medvedchuk (RT)
Croatian President Weighs In On ‘Proxy War’ Against Russia (RT)
Biden Uses His Lawyers To Shield His Classified Docs From The FBI (Turley)
More Documents Marked As Classified Found At Biden’s Home – White House (CBS)
Adam Schiff Admits Biden May Have Endangered National Security (CB)
Did The Deep State Turn on Biden? (Roach)
Turns Out Hillary Clinton, Not Russian Bots, Lost the 2016 Election (Jacobin)
‘Twitter Files’ Expose Big Pharma Bullying (ZH)
China Records First Population Decline In 60 Years (RT)
The Black Album (Trish Wood)
There Is Nothing Green About Green Energy (Pettimore)
The Age of Exterminations: How to Kill a Few Billion People (Ugo Bardi)

 

 

 

 

The Woke Mind Virus
https://twitter.com/i/status/1613830456243273730

 

 

Dowd sudden death epidemic
https://twitter.com/i/status/1615116979030966278

 

 

Forget about the housing market. It’s done.

 

 

BBC stickers

 

 

Pregnant women are not getting vaxxed.

 

 

Carpe
https://twitter.com/i/status/1615019200921182217

 

 

 

 

 

 

The business elite.

How The Davos Elite Took Back Control (Fazi)

Founded in 1971 by Schwab himself, the WEF is “committed to improving the state of the world through public-private cooperation”, also known as multistakeholder governance. The idea is that global decision-making should not be left to governments and nation-states — as in the post-war multilateralist framework enshrined in the United Nations — but should involve a whole range of non-government stakeholders: civil society bodies, academic experts, media personalities and, most important, multinational corporations. In its own words, the WEF’s project is “to redefine the international system as constituting a wider, multifaceted system of global cooperation in which intergovernmental legal frameworks and institutions are embedded as a core, but not the sole and sometimes not the most crucial, component”.

While this may sound fairly benign, it neatly encapsulates the basic philosophy of globalism: insulating policy from democracy by transferring the decision-making process from the national and international level, where citizens theoretically are able to exercise some degree of influence over policy, to the supranational level, by placing a self-selected group of unelected, unaccountable “stakeholders” — mainly corporations — in charge of global decisions concerning everything from energy and food production to the media and public health. The underlying undemocratic philosophy is the same one underpinning the philanthrocapitalist approach of people such Bill Gates, himself a long-time partner of the WEF: that non-governmental social and business organisations are best suited to solve the world’s problems than governments and multilateral institutions.

Even though the WEF has increasingly focused its agenda on fashionable topics such as environmental protection and social entrepreneurship, there is little doubt as to which interests Schwab’s brainchild is actually promoting and empowering: the WEF is itself mostly funded by around 1,000 member companies — typically global enterprises with multi-billion dollar turnovers, which include some of the world’s biggest corporations in oil (Saudi Aramco, Shell, Chevron, BP), food (Unilever, The Coca-Cola Company, Nestlé), technology (Facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple) and pharmaceuticals (AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna). The composition of the WEF’s board is also very revealing, including Laurence D. Fink, CEO of Blackrock, David M. Rubenstein, co-chairman of the Carlyle Group, and Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestlé. There’s no need to resort to conspiracy theories to posit that the WEF’s agenda is much more likely to be tailored to suit the interests of its funders and board members — the world’s ultra-wealthy and corporate elites — rather than to “improving the state of the world”, as the organisation claims.

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CEOs take over.

Global Political Elite Skipping Davos (RT)

The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland has kicked off on Monday with a number of top-tier leaders absent. US President Joe Biden is skipping this year’s gathering, along with French President Emmanuel Macron, and new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also passing on the event, along with the entire Russian business elite, which has been forced off the guest list by Ukraine-related sanctions. Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Chinese businessmen will also miss the forum following the aftershocks of a recent spike in Covid-19 cases and troubles on the domestic stock market, which saw some $224 billion erased last year from the fortunes of China’s wealthiest people.


Of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders, only German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is set to attend Davos this year, along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Despite the shrinking number of political leaders, this year’s attendance list is rich in top managers. Among 2,700 participants in the official WEF sessions, “we’re likely to surpass the old record from 2020 with 600 global CEOs – including 1,500 C-suite level overall,” according to WEF head of digital and marketing, George Schmitt. According to Bloomberg, a total of 116 billionaires are attending the WEF this year, a 40% rise from ten years ago. Representatives from the US will form the largest group with 33 delegates. Some 18 more billionaires are coming from Europe, and 13 from India, including industrialist Gautam Adani, the world’s fourth-richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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“Analyst Peter Koenig has developed a convincing thesis that the WEF, the WHO and NATO may be running some sort of sophisticated death cult.”

All Quiet (Panic) on the Western Front (Escobar)

Cynics of all persuasions may be excused for lamenting Mr. Zircon – currently on oceanic patrol encompassing the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and of course “Mare Nostrum” Mediterranean – won’t be presenting his business card at Davos. Analyst Peter Koenig has developed a convincing thesis that the WEF, the WHO and NATO may be running some sort of sophisticated death cult. The Great Reset does mingle merrily with NATO’s agenda as agent provocateur, financer and weaponizer of the proxy Empire vs. Russia war in black hole Ukraine. NAKO – an acronym for North Atlantic Killing Organization – would be more appropriate in this case. As Koenig summarizes it, “NATO enters any territory where the ‘conventional’ media lie-machine, and social engineering are failing or not completing their people-ordaining goals fast enough.”

In parallel, very few people are aware that on June 13, 2019 in New York, a secret deal was clinched between the UN, the WEF, an array of oligarch-weaponized NGOs – with the WHO in the front line – and last but not least, the world’s top corporations, which are all owned by an interlinked maze with Vanguard and BlackRock at the center. The practical result of the deal is the UN Agenda 2030. Virtually every government in the NATOstan area and the “Western Hemisphere” (US establishment definition) has been hijacked by Agenda 2030 – which translates, essentially, as hoarding, privatizing and financializing all the earth’s assets, under the pretext of “protecting” them. Translation: the marketization and monetization of the entire natural world.

Davos superstar shills such as insufferable bore Niall Ferguson are just well rewarded vassals: western intellectuals of the Harvard, Yale and Princeton mould that would never dare bite the hand that feeds them. Ferguson just wrote a column on Bloomberg titled “All is Not Quiet on the Eastern Front” – basically to peddle the risk of WWIII, on behalf of his masters, blaming of course “China as the arsenal of autocracy”. Among serial high-handed inanities, this one stands out. Ferguson writes, “There are two obvious problems with US strategy (…) The first is that if algorithmic weapons systems are the equivalent of tactical nuclear weapons, Putin may eventually be driven to using the latter, as he clearly lacks the former.” Cluelessness here is a euphemism. Ferguson clearly has no idea “algorithmic weapons” mean; if he’s referring to electronic warfare, the US may have been able to maintain superiority for a while in Ukraine, but that’s over.

[..] Nobody with an IQ over room temperature will expect Davos next week to discuss any aspect of the NATO vs. Eurasia existential war seriously – not to mention propose diplomacy. So I’ll leave you with yet another typical tawdry story about how the Empire – who rules over Davos – deals in practice with its vassals. While in Sicily earlier this year I learned that an ultra high-value Pentagon asset had landed in Rome, in haste, as part of an unscheduled visit. A few days later the reason for the visit was printed in La Repubblica, one of the papers of the toxic Agnelli clan. That was a Mafia scam: a face-to-face “suggestion” for the Meloni government to imperatively provide Kiev, as soon as possible, with the costly anti-Samp-T missile system, developed by an European consortium, Eurosam, uniting MBDA Italy, MBDA France and Thales.

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Medvedchuk is the voice of reason in Ukraine politics. So of course he’s in exile.

Kiev Coaching EU On Path To Ruin – Exiled Ukrainian Politician (RT)

Kiev’s adopted policy of hatred and intransigence towards Russia is inevitably driving it into poverty, a former Ukrainian opposition-party leader, who was forced from his home nation, has concluded. Now Kiev is teaching Europe the same approach, leading to the same outcome and to possible nuclear war, he added. Viktor Medvedchuk’s political party had the biggest opposition faction in the current Ukrainian parliament. The government of President Vladimir Zelensky launched a crackdown on the group and on its leader personally. A proponent of reconciliation with Russia, he has written a keynote article published on Monday in Russian newspaper Izvestia, explaining the roots of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Both Zelensky and his predecessor Pyotr Poroshenko had been elected after the 2014 coup in Kiev on a platform of peace, and each made a U-turn after getting into office, Medvedchuk pointed out.

He argued that this shows a pattern of betrayal of the Ukrainian people by its leadership and by what he termed a “party of war.” Being enemies with Russia is against Ukraine’s economic interest, Medvedchuk asserted. Not only is Russia a major market and source of raw materials from which Ukraine can benefit, the country’s industrial sector was mostly in the east and people there, who for historic reasons have emotional ties to Russia, were antagonized by Kiev. Economic ruination is an inevitable consequence of the conflict, the politician wrote. “It is no longer Europe that teaches Ukraine politics, but Ukraine that teaches Europe how to achieve economic decline and poverty with the help of a policy of hatred and intransigence. And if Europe continues to support this policy, it will be dragged into a war, possibly a nuclear one,” he warned.

He accused Western nations of giving the incumbent Ukrainian government “triumph after triumph, while no military breakthrough is observed,” referring to the parades that generals in Ancient Rome were given after major victories. Meanwhile, the “party of peace” gets no voice either at home or in Western nations, Medvedchuk lamented. “Those who stood for peace were slandered, intimidated and repressed on incitement from the West. The Ukrainian party of peace simply did not fit into Western democracy.” “This eloquently suggests that most US and European politicians do not want any peace for Ukraine. But this does not mean at all that Ukrainians do not want peace, and Zelensky’s military triumph is more important to them than their lives and destroyed homes.” he reasoned. Only when pro-peace politicians are allowed to make their case freely can there be hope to resolve the situation, Medvedchuk believes.

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“Western nations must recognize that Russia has legitimate interests in Ukraine. Otherwise, it will “grow further, spilling over to Europe and other countries..”

West Sees Ukraine As Spoils Of Cold War – Medvedchuk (RT)

The West’s insistence that it won the Cold War and was entitled to the spoils at the expense of Russian interests is at the root of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, the country’s exiled opposition leader has said. Viktor Medvedchuk was forced to leave his home nation under the threat of prosecution for alleged treason. His Opposition Bloc – For Life party had the biggest faction in the Ukrainian parliament and advocated reconciliation with Russia. However, the government of President Vladimir Zelensky cracked down on it and ultimately forced many of its members into exile or silence. In an article published by Russian newspaper Izvestia on Monday, Medvedchuk analyzed the causes of the current crisis, arguing that the origin of the conflict lies in the way that the end of the Cold War is perceived by Washington and Moscow.

“The West definitely considers itself as a winner and Russia as a defeated party,” he said. Consequently, it considers ex-Soviet territories as “legitimate prey for the US and NATO” under the “woe to the conquered” principle. From Moscow’s standpoint, it simply relinquished confrontation when it decided against pursuing communism. Since the 1990s, it had sought friendly relations with Western nations, as well as economic and political integration into the EU, Medvedchuk wrote. The US plan, as evidenced by the expansion of NATO in Europe despite the objections of Moscow, was at odds with opening the door to its Cold War opponent. Ultimately, it derailed EU-Russian engagement, he argued. Conflicts like the Balkan wars are further evidence that the West had moved to gobble up the former Eastern Bloc, he continued, since they helped to “make it easier for the winner to take it over.”

The West targeted Ukraine for absorption and saw the country as part of its rightful prize, but a lot of resistance had to be overcome in order to split it from Russia, considering Kiev’s historical ties with Moscow, and the economic interest in maintaining good relations, Medvedchuk explained. Kiev antagonized the eastern part of the country, which was both economically stronger and more pro-Russian than the nationalist lands in the east, he suggested. And even then, both Zelensky and his predecessor, Pyotr Poroshenko, had been elected on a peace platform only to become “war party” politicians after taking office. The current conflict can be resolved only if pro-peace politicians are allowed to make their case, and Western nations must recognize that Russia has legitimate interests in Ukraine. Otherwise, it will “grow further, spilling over to Europe and other countries,” and has the potential to escalate into a nuclear war, he warned.

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“They go from war to war. And what should I be? An American slave?”

The president and PM have very different views.

Croatian President Weighs In On ‘Proxy War’ Against Russia (RT)

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic has claimed NATO, a military bloc of which Zagreb is a member, is waging a “proxy war” against Moscow in Ukraine. He also dismissed sanctions against Moscow as “nonsense,” adding that he does not want to be an “American slave.” Speaking to Croatian reporters in the city of Vukovar on Sunday, Milanovic said, among other things: “Washington and NATO are waging a proxy war against Russia through Ukraine,” as quoted by media outlet Istra24. He went on to argue that “The plan cannot be to remove Putin. The plan cannot be sanctions,” adding that such punitive measures are “nonsense and we will not achieve anything with them.” “They go from war to war. And what should I be? An American slave?” Croatia’s president asked rhetorically.

Milanovic voiced his frustration with the US-led military bloc’s policies in the same interview in which he tore into Croatia’s prime minister, Andrej Plenkovic, over his latest Ukraine-related remark. Speaking to news channel France 24 on Saturday, Plenkovic said the Balkan nation’s lawmakers, who in mid-December didn’t support the EU’s program to train Ukrainian military personnel in member states, have “failed to be on the right side of history.” Commenting on the remark, Milanovic, in turn, slammed the premier for bringing “disgrace” to his country “and to its democratic representatives in front of others.” The Croatian president argued that this kind of behavior reaches a low that is “the bottom of the bottom.”

As for the EU’s mission, the Croatian president warned that it effectively means that “for the first time in its history, the EU is participating in a war.” This, according to Milanovic, is “against the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU.” In December 2022, Milanovic argued that having Ukrainian service members train on Croatian soil would “bring war” to the Balkan nation. He also insisted at the time that “Ukraine is not an ally,” criticizing Brussels’ decision last June to grant Kiev candidate status as “cynical.”

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“Using private counsel allows Biden to raise attorney-client privilege. [..] While that attorney-client privilege can be overcome under a “crime/fraud exception,” it adds a level of initial protection.”

Biden Uses His Lawyers To Shield His Classified Docs From The FBI (Turley)

The discovery of a fourth set of classified documents, at the Biden residence in Delaware, has further undermined the White House’s virtual mantra that the president “takes classified documents very seriously.” Putting aside the repeated movement of highly classified documents over six years, one curious element has emerged in this scandal: the use of private counsel. Not only did President Joe Biden enlist lawyers to clear out his private Washington office; he then used them — rather than security officers or the FBI — to search for additional classified documents. The initial use of lawyers is notable. While it seems a fairly pricey moving crew, Biden could argue a trove of documents might require a judgment on where they should be sent and whether they belong to Biden, the Penn Biden Center or the government.

But why was a legal team sent in six years after Biden took the documents on leaving as vice president? Were the lawyers specifically selected because they had clearances, an acknowledgment there might be classified material unlawfully housed in the office? After the fourth batch of documents was discovered this week (the third found in Delaware), Richard Sauber, referred to as the “special counsel to the president,” stressed that he has a clearance. Sauber admits the lawyers who found the first batch at the residence didn’t have clearances but says he found the later documents. It remains unclear which lawyers were involved in which discoveries, whether they had clearances and (if so) at what level. In fact, it seems to suggest Biden continued to use uncleared lawyers after his team found highly classified documents Nov. 2 in the Penn Biden office closet in Washington. That itself could be viewed as gross mishandling of classified information.

It’s strange Biden did not use security officers or the FBI to conduct further searches. The president has a host of people who regularly handle classified material. So why use the lawyers? The answer appears the same as in the case of Hillary Clinton’s emails: control. Using private counsel allows Biden to raise attorney-client privilege. Trump also used counsel, but eventually the FBI raided his home to search and remove not just classified material but documents found in boxes with that material. While that attorney-client privilege can be overcome under a “crime/fraud exception,” it adds a level of initial protection. It also allowed Biden to control the discovery and initial record of the discovery of classified information. The key to any investigation will be the chain of custody extending back to the documents’ removal in 2017 when Biden left office.

How these documents appeared in their discovered locations is known only to his lawyers. It’s a link in the chain of custody that Biden effectively controls. With Mar-a-Lago, the FBI was criticized for staging documents to be shown in the storage room. The photos were then leaked to an eager media. There will be no staged photos of documents alongside Time magazine covers for Biden. Nor were documents he housed with classified documents removed. Indeed, it’s not clear if the FBI will know what documents were stored in the same boxes. What was potentially lost is significant. Classified documents are generally supposed to be in folders with a thick, colored border and large printed classification warnings. Were some of those folders observable before they were moved? If so, anyone could tell a pile contained classified material, including the president and passersby.

Likewise, the initial discovery could show the context of surrounding material. The FBI at Mar-a-Lago carefully photographed that context and its search. Here, we’re relying on counsel to have kept such a record when most lawyers would be reluctant to do so given the risk to their client. The key is that unlike FBI agents, these lawyers are not acting on behalf of the public interest but for the president’s personal interests. If there are criminal charges, the key witnesses will be lawyers representing the president as an individual. They are more likely to minimize incriminating or embarrassing elements.

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Turley’s comment on this: “Biden counsel continues to make statements seemingly against their client’s interests. Sauber said that the lawyers who discovered the documents on Wednesday night did not have clearances…”

More Documents Marked As Classified Found At Biden’s Home – White House (CBS)

Lawyers for President Biden found more documents marked as classified at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, than previously known, the White House acknowledged in a statement Saturday. White House lawyer Richard Sauber said in a statement that a total of six pages of documents marked as classified were found during a search of Mr. Biden’s private library. The White House had said previously that only a single page was found there. The latest disclosure is in addition to the discovery of documents found in December in Mr. Biden’s garage and in November at his former offices at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, from his time as vice president. The apparent mishandling of classified documents and official records from the Obama administration are under investigation by a former U.S. attorney, Robert Hur, who was appointed as a special counsel on Thursday by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Sauber said in a statement Saturday that Mr. Biden’s personal lawyers, who did not have security clearances, stopped their search after finding the first page on Wednesday evening. Sauber found the remaining material Thursday, as he was facilitating their retrieval by the Department of Justice. “While I was transferring it to the DOJ officials who accompanied me, five additional pages with classification markings were discovered among the material with it, for a total of six pages,” Sauber said. “The DOJ officials with me immediately took possession of them.” The Justice Department declined to comment to CBS News on the newly discovered documents. Sauber has previously said that the White House was “confident that a thorough review will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced, and the president and his lawyers acted promptly upon discovery of this mistake.”

Sauber’s statement did not explain why the White House waited two days to provide an updated accounting of the number of records with classified markings. The White House is already facing scrutiny for waiting more than two months to acknowledge the discovery of the initial group of documents at the Biden office. On Thursday, asked whether Mr. Biden could guarantee that additional classified documents would not turn up in a further search, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, “You should assume that it’s been completed, yes.” Sauber reiterated Saturday that the White House would cooperate with Hur’s investigation. Bob Bauer, the president’s personal lawyer, said his legal team has “attempted to balance the importance of public transparency where appropriate with the established norms and limitations necessary to protect the investigation’s integrity.”

Marco Polo

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Shifty turns.

Adam Schiff Admits Biden May Have Endangered National Security (CB)

In what is a stunning admission, California Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff has admitted that President Joe Biden may have endangered national security by mishandling classified documents. He spoke to ABC “This Week” host Jonathan Karl on Sunday when the topic of the classified document scandal and Attorney General Merrick Garland appointing a special counsel was talked about. “Congressman Schiff, you were on this show just after Attorney General Garland appointed a special counsel in the case of the Trump documents. You said it was the right move. Do you feel the same way about this special counsel?” the host said. “I do think it’s the right move. The attorney general has to make sure that not only is justice evenly applied, but the appearances of justice are also satisfactory to the public.

And here, I don’t think he had any choice but to appoint a special counsel. And I think that special counsel will do the proper assessment,” the Congressman said. “I still would like to see Congress do its own assessment of — and receive an assessment from the intelligence community of whether there was an exposure to others of these documents, whether there was harm to national security, on the case of either set of documents with either president. But, yes, I think the special counsel was appropriately appointed,” he said. “Jonathan, if I could also, though, because my state is still trying to dig out from these terrible storms, I want to thank the president for making an emergency declaration and let Californians know that in the three most affected counties they can now apply for help in terms of rebuilding their homes and their businesses and that other counties need to report their damage as soon as possible so they can qualify for relief as well,” he said as the host brought the conversation back to the documents.

“You raise the possibility of those national security assessment. Is it possible that national security was jeopardized here as – as many, including you, raised that possibility with the Mar-a-Lago documents?” the host said. “I don’t think we can exclude the possibility without knowing more of the facts. We have asked for an assessment in the intelligence community of the Mar-a-Lago documents. I think we ought to get that same assessment of the documents found in the – in the think tank, as well as the home of President Biden. I’d like to know what these documents were. I’d like to know what the IC’s assessment is, whether there was any risk of exposure and what the harm would be and whether any mitigation needs to be done. I think that would be appropriate and consistent with what we requested in the case of Mar-a-Lago,” the Congressman said.

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Well, someone did.

Did The Deep State Turn on Biden? (Roach)

In spite of his manifest unpopularity and refusal even to campaign, Biden was installed as president in 2020. Having rarely met an actual Biden supporter, Trump voters were skeptical and angry. The extended recounts, unceremonious dismissal of legal challenges, and videos of disappearing ballots, along with strident denunciations of “election deniers,” did not reassure anyone. Later revelations showed the coordinated way government officials, the media, NGOs, billionaires, and others conspired to “fortify” the 2020 election. Biden governed as he ran: mostly hidden from the public, beholden to donors and party elders, doing as little as possible. This seemed acceptable for a while, since it allowed the various constituent parts of the government to do what they wanted with little interference.

Everyone knows Biden’s never been that sharp and seems more decrepit than ever, that his vice president is even dumber than he is, and that he’s not really running anything. But this is all a feature, not a bug, for the cabal that brought him to office. For them, the more independence they have from oversight, the better. Lately, it seems there’s a disturbance in force. Biden and his allies have continued their vendetta against Trump, exposing his tax returns and raiding his home for possessing documents he supposedly owed the National Archives. This did not go over as well as Attorney General (and all-around hack) Merrick Garland anticipated, and it seems Garland and the January 6 Committee have each decided to scale back their demands. This is why the recent exposure of top secret documents in Biden’s old office, his garage, and a mysterious third location suggests something is afoot.

We went from a Monday disclosure to a special counsel being appointed on Thursday. Nothing like this happens this quickly unless it is by design. There are, of course, ways to deal with this situation that do not involve public exposure. Couldn’t Biden or his staff order some FBI agents or White House people to pick them up and take them to wherever they’re supposed to be stored? It’s in the news because somehow his lawyers found the documents and reported them before the story could go through White House channels. And, lawyers being lawyers, they followed the street-lawyer rule that if someone has to go to jail, make sure it’s your client and not you. Concerned about individual culpability for obstruction or mishandling documents, they made this hot potato someone else’s problem as fast as possible.

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The Jacobin is one of the Dems’ staunchest supporters. Until now.

Turns Out Hillary Clinton, Not Russian Bots, Lost the 2016 Election (Jacobin)

Amid the generalized media crack-up that surrounded the 2016 presidential election, the bogeyman of “Russian bots” quickly became a load-bearing concept. A Russia-based social media campaign, or so it was said, had saturated sites like Twitter with fake accounts and, in doing so, helped to swing the election for Donald Trump. Becoming axiomatic in liberal circles, this story soon took on a life of its own. It’s since played a prominent role in mainstream media narratives of the 2016 election, been the subject of highly publicized congressional hearings, and also loomed large in the wider global discourse about “fake news.” That the Russian government preferred Trump to Hillary Clinton and that Russia-connected actors engaged in digital skulduggery related to the election are not really in dispute.

Much of the mainstream discussion around Russian bots, however, has been premised on unexamined assumptions about the scale and effectiveness of these efforts. Powerful states including the United States, after all, regularly engage in the likes of online propaganda and sock-puppeting campaigns. Whether they have a more than negligible impact on real world events, electoral and otherwise, is another question. It’s notable, then, that a new analysis published by the Center for Social Media and Politics at New York University finds no evidence whatsoever that Russia-based Twitter disinformation had any meaningful impact on voter behavior in 2016. In place of the terrifying bot army menace that’s periodically been invoked, the researchers instead detail an enterprise with minimal reach or influence, and one overwhelmingly concentrated among partisan Republicans already inclined to vote for Trump.

They estimate that as many as thirty-two million US Twitter users may have been “exposed” to tweets from Russia-aligned accounts over the eight-month period preceding the 2016 election.” In numerical terms that may sound like a lot, but it actually isn’t when you factor in the sheer volume of posts and information encountered by social media users on a daily basis. As the report puts it: While, on average, respondents were exposed to roughly 4 posts from Russian foreign influence accounts per day in the last month of the election campaign, they were exposed to an average of 106 posts on average per day from national news media and 35 posts per day from US politicians. In other words, respondents were exposed to 25 times more posts from national news media and 9 times as many posts from politicians than those from Russian foreign influence accounts.

Sheer exposure, of course, doesn’t even necessarily amount to influence. Like advertising, politically motivated content can functionally be background noise if it fails to reach particular audiences or in turn doesn’t have an impact on those that it does. In both respects, the study is quite unequivocal: not only were Russian Twitter efforts dwarfed by posts from media and politicians, but actual exposure to them was highly concentrated within a subset of partisan conservatives: Results . . . show that the amount of exposure depends substantially on users’ self-identified partisanship: those who identify as “Strong Republicans” were exposed to roughly nine times as many posts from Russian foreign influence accounts than were those who identify as Democrats or Independents.

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Musk Says ZeroHedge Did “Nothing Warranting Suspension”

‘Twitter Files’ Expose Big Pharma Bullying (ZH)

Today’s Twitter Files drop contains several notable pieces of evidence. First, that lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry launched a ‘massive lobbying blitz to crush any effort to share patents/IP for new covid-related medicine,” according to The Intercept’s Lee Fang. As part of this effort, lobbying group BIO “wrote to the newly elected Biden admin, demanding the U.S. gov sanction any country attempting to violate patent rights and create generic low cost covid medicine or vaccines.” Of note, Pfizer and BioNTech raked in $37 billion in revenue in 2021 alone from the COVID-19 vaccine, while Moderna made $17.7 billion the same year (and has recently announced a plan to hike the price of the Covid-19 vaccine by approximately 400%). BioNTech, which developed the Pfizer vaccine, “reached out to Twitter to request that Twitter directly censor users tweeting at them to ask for generic low cost vaccines.”

According to Fang, “Twitter’s reps responded quickly to the pharma request,” while “A lobbyist in Europe asked the content moderation team to monitor the accounts of Pfizer, AstraZeneca & of activist hashtags like #peoplesvaccine.” Meanwhile, the “fake accounts” flagged by the pharmaceutical companies for action were real people – one of whom Fang spoke with on the phone. “For more than two years, a global movement has been speaking out against pharmaceutical greed and demanding that everyone, everywhere has the tools to combat pandemics,” said Maaza Seyoum, a campaigner for the People’s Vaccine Alliance. “Whatever nasty tricks companies and governments pull,” she continued, “we cannot and will not be silenced.” Second, ‘Pfizer & Moderna’s lobbying group, BIO, fully funded a special content moderation campaign designed by a contractor called Public Good Projects (PGP), which worked w/Twitter to set content moderation rules around covid “misinformation.”‘ according to Fang.

BIO funded the PGP campaign, “Stronger,” to the tune of $1.275 million. Its focus? Helping Twitter ‘create content moderation bots,’ selecting which public health accounts would be verified, and helping to crowdsource content takedowns. Of note, the Moderna/Pfizer-funded campaign included regular emails to Twitter officals with takedown and verification requests. “Here’s an example of those types of emails that went straight to Twitter’s lobbyists and content moderators. Many focused on @zerohedge, which was suspended.” Fang includes a screencap of an email with two excel spreadsheets containing said requests.

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One child policy fallout. Like trying to turn an oil tanker around. Population to almost halve by 2100.

China Records First Population Decline In 60 Years (RT)

The population declined in 2022 to 1.411 billion, down some 850,000 people from the previous year, China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced during a Tuesday briefing on annual data. Analysts said the decline was the first since 1961 during the great famine triggered by former leader Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward. “The population will likely trend down from here in coming years. This is very important, with implications for potential growth and domestic demand,” said Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. The birth rate also fell to a record low of 6.77 births per 1,000, down from 7.52 a year earlier and the lowest level since the founding of Communist China in 1949. Some 9.56 million babies were born, compared with 10.62 million in 2021 – despite a push from the government to encourage more married couples to have children.


The new data came alongside the announcement of one of China’s worst annual economic performances in nearly half a century, with the economy expanding by just 3% for the year, far below the government’s target, underscoring the steep economic challenges the country faces as its labor force shrinks and its retired demographic grows. The demographic crisis, which is expected to have an increasing impact on Chinese growth in the years to come, has been a key concern for policymakers. Beijing scrapped its decades-long and highly controversial “one child” policy in 2015, after realizing the restrictive policy had contributed to a rapidly aging population and shrinking workforce that could severely distress the country’s economic and social stability. To arrest the falling birth rate, the Chinese government announced in 2015 that it would allow married couples to have two children. But after a brief uptick in 2016, the national birth rate has continued to fall.

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“At least the Manson Murders were covered by corporate media. We all shared a similar experience.”

The Black Album (Trish Wood)

Later I bought the book, Helter Skelter, written by the man who prosecuted Charlie. But as an adult and a true crime reporter it was a story I steered clear of, never once accepting a production role in any of the many retellings. Like Didion, I remained skittish about it. I couldn’t make sense of Sharon Tate’s astonishing beauty being annihilated and the peace and love ethos of rich Hollywood hippies reduced to feral human remains – for nothing. The True Detective-type photos from Cielo Drive are images that still haunt. So, why am I so gripped by the revelations that Big Tech, legacy media and for sure the government actually silenced the voices of experts honestly trying to stop the unfolding disaster of lockdowns? Why does this feel like a moment as significant as those era-ending murders in the pretty house on a quiet SoCal Drive?

A team of independent journos is uncovering irrefutable proof that our well being was not paramount in the minds of those who peddled a fake consensus to invoke lockdowns — in my view — the most ruinous public health mistake in modern history. Government, its public health officials, legacy media, and even the medical journals were more into narrative stitching than truth and actually saving lives. The stories of governmental and scientific fraud and perfidy are all over Substack and Twitter and Elon is being hailed as a hero — as he should be, despite what my friend CJ Hopkins said on the podcast last week. But corporate media are running their usual smear-games — abdicating their responsibility to their audience — in order to hide their own complicity in a policy scandal that dwarfs all others.

In the meantime, we are on our own, facing an ugly truth about the people who govern us and the agencies they exploit to stay in power. Everything we thought was true about this power dynamic is a lie. At least the Manson Murders were covered by corporate media. We all shared a similar experience.

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Trojan Horse.

Twitter thread.

There Is Nothing Green About Green Energy (Pettimore)

As a miner for 40 years I have worked in various mines around the world. Gold, platinum, copper, coal, lead, zinc, oil and salt. I’m going to tell you something, and here it is. We will destroy the earth in the name of “Green Energy” Follow along and I will explain. MiningWatch Canada is estimating that “[Three] billion tons of mined metals and minerals will be needed to power the energy transition” – a “massive” increase especially for six critical minerals: lithium, graphite, copper, cobalt, nickel and rare earth minerals Over the next 30 years 7.5 billion of us, we will consume more minerals than the last 70,000 years or the past 500 generations, which is more than all of the 108 billion humans who have ever walked the Earth.

Mining requires the extraction of solid ores, often after removing vast amounts of overlying rock. Then the ore must be processed, creating an enormous quantity of waste – about 100 billion tonnes a year, more than any other human-made waste stream. Purifying a single tonne of rare earths requires using at least 200 cubic meters of water, which then becomes polluted with acids and heavy metals. On top of that, imagine the destruction and energy required to obtain these essential metals:
18,740 pounds of purified rock to produce 2.2 pounds of vanadium
35,275 pounds of ore for 2.2 pounds of cerium
110,230 pounds of rock for 2.2 pounds of gallium
2,645,550 pounds of ore to get 2.2 pounds of lutecium

Also staggering amounts of ore are needed for other metals. By 2035, demand is expected to double for germanium; quadruple for tantalum; and quintuple for palladium. The scandium market could increase nine-fold, and the cobalt market by a factor of 24. (Marscheider-Wiedemann 2016 ‘raw materials for emerging technologies’. The potential demand for rare metals is exponential. We are already consuming over two billion tonnes of metals every year — the equivalent of more than 500 Eiffel Towers a day. There is nothing refined about mining. It involves crushing rock, and then using a concoction of chemical reagents such as sulphuric and nitric acid, a long and highly repetitive process using many different procedures to obtain a rare-earth concentrate close to 100% purity.

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“The problem is that we don’t have a discussion on population: we have a clash of absolutes.”

The Age of Exterminations: How to Kill a Few Billion People (Ugo Bardi)

With 8 billion people alive on Earth, it may be reasonable to believe that the planet is becoming a little crowded. Nevertheless, we should not neglect the opposite opinion: that we have resources and technologies sufficient to keep 8 billion people alive and reasonably happy, and perhaps even more. Neither position can be proven, nor disproven. The future will tell us who was right but, in the meantime, it is perfectly legitimate to propose that population growth should be slowed down by birth planning. The problem is that we don’t have a discussion on population: we have a clash of absolutes. The position that sees overpopulation as a problem has been thoroughly demonized over the past decades and, still today, you cannot even mention the subject without being immediately branded as a would-be exterminator.

It happened to Bill Gates, to the Club of Rome, and to many others who dared suggest that the world would be a better place if the human population were to stabilize at levels lower than the present one. The demonization trend is, of course, a knee-jerk reaction: the people who propose population planning would be simply horrified at being accused of supporting mass exterminations. But note also that demonization starts from a real problem. Exterminations DID happen in the recent past, and they were carried out largely on the basis of a wrong evaluation of the overpopulation problem. During the Nazi era in Germany, the idea that Europe was overpopulated was common and it was widely believed that the “Lebensraum, “living space” available was insufficient for the German people. The result was a series of exterminations correctly considered the most heinous crimes in human history.

How was that possible? The Germans of that time were the grandfathers of the Germans of today, who are horrified at thinking of what their grandparents did or at least did not oppose. But, for the Germans of those times, killing the Untermenschen, the inferior races, seemed to be the right thing to do, given the vision of the world that was proposed to them and that they had accepted. The Germans fell into a trap called “utilitarianism.” It is one of those principles that are so embedded in our way of thinking that we don’t even realize that it exists. But it does, and it causes enormous damage. In principle, utilitarianism wouldn’t seem to be such a bad idea. It is a rational calculation of the consequences of taking or not taking a certain action based on the principle of generating the maximum good for the maximum number of people. So defined, it looks both sensible and harmless. But that’s the theory. What we have is a good illustration of the age-old principle that “in theory, theory and practice are the same thing. In practice, they are not.”

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Relativity
https://twitter.com/i/status/1614947859245240325

 

 

Huxley

 

 

This should make a few doctors think.

 

 

Hairdresser
https://twitter.com/i/status/1614661494947340289

 

 

 

 

Cleaner shrimps

 

 

Blue whale
https://twitter.com/i/status/1615041486331969584

 

 


A hummingbird lays back and “relaxes” after drinking flower nectar. Source: Rahul Singh

 

 

Skippy

 

 

 

 

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