Salvador Dali Spain 1936-38
What’s that glass for again?
BREAKING: A woman just fainted in the stands at the Trump rally, and Trump walked out from behind the protective glass to make sure she was ok
He gave her a hug as EMTs brought her out pic.twitter.com/xmdvjeU9hn
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) August 21, 2024
Gouge
"Why didn't the corporations gouge for 40 years if that's what caused [inflation]? How did it suddenly happen? They learned how to gouge 3.5 years ago?!!”
Completely demolishing Kamalas conspiracy theory.
pic.twitter.com/PlZc1mIYwf— aka (@akafacehots) August 21, 2024
2025
https://twitter.com/i/status/1826513047201944040
Russell Crowe
.@joerogan and @russellcrowe point out the obvious, “The person that's actually in office is saying what she's going to do if she gets in office….She's been in there for three f%%%ing years.”
For every promise Kamala makes using vague rhetoric or poor policy proposals—whether… pic.twitter.com/J9E29XMJtO
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) August 21, 2024
Bill
https://twitter.com/i/status/1826445094905675913
Trump SNL 2015
Did you know?
In 2015, Donald Trump appeared in an SNL skit depicting what life would be like in the White House in 2018: pic.twitter.com/424kMkC6dM
— Wojciech Pawelczyk (@WojPawelczyk) August 22, 2024
Oprah
Amazing how everybody turned on him when he decided to run as a Republican. This video speaks for itself. pic.twitter.com/V9QqUfFDpd
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) August 22, 2024
Von Trump
.@realDonaldTrump | This Past Weekend #526 pic.twitter.com/zy6pfStBjJ
— Theo Von (@TheoVon) August 21, 2024
https://twitter.com/i/status/1826346571400970330
“..a “satanic new wave” of ideas which are “very popular among the Western elite, but absolutely disgusting to the rest of humanity.”
• Russian Residency Law Helps Westerners Escape Posthuman Globalist Madness (Sp.)
Russia has rejected globalism and now serves as a safe haven for Westerners who are feeling oppressed by neoliberal destructive ideas in their homeland, US journalist Timothy Kirby told Sputnik. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on August 19 providing foreigners who share Russia’s spiritual and moral values, and who seek to escape the West’s destructive neoliberal ideals, with a temporary residence permit in Russia. “The law provides Westerners something that they’ve sought for a long time – the opportunity to move to Russia,” Timothy Kirby, an American-born journalist and radio host, told Sputnik. Earlier, Western foreigners couldn’t immigrate to Russia without a legal basis, but now “the door has finally started to open,” he added. Under the new law, the temporary residence permit would be granted outside the quota approved by the Russian government, and without the need for confirmation of the applicants’ knowledge of the Russian language, Russian history, and basic laws.
However, they would have to submit a written statement, stating reasons for moving, to their local Russian diplomatic mission or consular office. In addition, Putin has instructed the Russian Foreign Ministry to draw up a list of states imposing destructive neoliberal values. “In a lot of ways, Russia is the country that is leading the fight against some of the absolute madness that comes from the West,” Kirby added, referring in particular, to the absurd idea that “gender” is some sort of social construct that has nothing to do with one’s sex assigned at birth. Another Western theory says that patriarchy is designed to “repress women for some reason, even though women aren’t particularly repressed,” he continued. Kirby emigrated from the US to Russia in 2006 and calls himself “an advocate for life in Russia” for those who oppose a “satanic new wave” of ideas which are “very popular among the Western elite, but absolutely disgusting to the rest of humanity.”
“Russia and the Russian people are facing the challenges of the 21st century; a lot of intellectuals would basically call it the era of postmodernism,” Kirby said. “The average person in Russia, whether they understand it or not, rejects this. Russians have chosen to remain human, to keep going with society, to reject globalism, to reject some sort of post-human and post-modern bizarre future. And that’s a good thing… And God bless Russia for it.” Conservative Westerners have been relocating to Russia for quite a while. Speaking to Sputnik last year, Father Joseph Gleason, an American-born Orthodox priest, had expressed hopes that moving to Russia could be simplified for family-oriented, hard-working Christian immigrants. Gleason moved to Russia with his wife and eight children in 2017 to escape the Western aggressive neoliberal agenda. Since then, he has been assisting other conservatives to settle in the country.
“Now, in America, there are cases of people losing their jobs, not being able to find a new job, being denied an education, and not being able to get into a university – simply because they’re opposed to homosexual behavior, and because they’re opposed to this lie of homosexual marriage, or because they’re opposed to transgenderism,” Gleason told Sputnik in August 2023. Earlier this month, Irina Volk, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, announced that another American Christian family is seeking shelter in Russia. Leo and Chantelle Hare and their three children decided to move to Russia as traditional, moral and family values are increasingly under attack in the US. In the future, the Hares plan to obtain Russian citizenship. The couple understands that the level of education and security is higher in Russia, and that the state protects traditional values and provides support to large families, stated Volk while speaking to the press.
Didn’t see much on Kamala’s speech last night. It’ll come.
Note: what are the odds they have a bet going behind the curtain, that they can elect even the least competent person president?
• ‘Muslim Women for Harris’ Disbands After DNC Controversy (RT)
The campaigning group Muslim Women for Harris has disbanded following reports that pro-Palestine speakers were denied a platform at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago. Pro-Palestinian activists and allied groups have been demanding that US Vice President Kamala Harris commit to cutting military aid to Israel and push more urgently for a ceasefire in Gaza. They had planned to voice their position at the DNC, which wrapped up on Thursday. “We cannot in good conscience continue Muslim Women for Harris-Walz, in light of this new information from the Uncommitted movement, that VP Harris’ team declined their request to have a Palestinian American speaker take the stage at the DNC,” the group wrote in a statement on Instagram. “We pray that the DNC and VP Harris team makes the right decision before this convention is over. For the sake of each of us,” it added.
Earlier on Thursday, Abbas Alawieh, one of the leaders of the Uncommitted National Movement, said Democrats had refused to allow Palestinian-Americans to speak at the DNC. “We think that’s unacceptable. We think that this is the party where we shouldn’t be silencing people’s voices,” he said in a video posted on X (formerly Twitter). Speaking to Al Jazeera, Alawieh argued that “the Palestinian speaker situation is a mistake on the party’s end.” He and other activists launched a sit-in outside the convention venue to protest the decision. According to the Washington Post, the Democratic leadership was concerned that a pro-Palestinian speech would “threaten the unity” displayed at the convention. No specific reason was given for the denial, however, the newspaper said.
During her DNC speech on Thursday night, Harris said that the White House was “working around the clock” to secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas and to reach a “ceasefire deal.” At the same time, the Democratic presidential candidate reaffirmed that she “will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself.” Harris became the Democratic candidate after US President Joe Biden quit the race last month. She will face Republican nominee Donald Trump on Election Day in November.
Ha ha ha! He knows how to get them going. “..the Queen “said it to friends of mine that ‘President Trump was my favorite president.’”
Why couldn’t she have liked him? She spent her whole life without any real human contact. Wouldn’t she have longed for that? And here’s someone who acts natural with her, and who holds the job perhaps closest to hers: president of America.
• Trump Says He Was Queen Elizabeth II’s ‘Favorite President’ – Daily Mail (RT)
Former US President Donald Trump has insisted that he was in Queen Elizabeth II’s good graces following claims to the contrary in a new biography of the late monarch. In an interview with the Daily Mail on Wednesday, the Republican firebrand dismissed Craig Brown – the author of ‘A Voyage Around the Queen’ – as a “sleazebag” who is “looking for some publicity for a book that probably is phony.” Trump met the late monarch twice during his term in office. The first time was in 2018 when she received him and his wife informally for tea. The following year, the then-US head of state was greeted with a full state banquet. Observers at the time claimed that Trump had violated royal protocol on several occasions. The Daily Mail quoted the 78-year-old as insisting that the Queen “said it to friends of mine that ‘President Trump was my favorite president.’”
The former president went on to characterize his relationship with the late British monarch as “great” and “unbelievable.” “She liked me and I liked her,” he claimed, recounting how they had “spent hours together at a state dinner.” According to Trump, the author of the biography had intentionally smeared him with “totally false” allegations in a bid to promote his work. The book suggests that Queen Elizabeth II found Trump “very rude,” and told another guest that she had “particularly disliked” the way he looked over her shoulder, as if in search of someone more interesting. ‘A Voyage Around the Queen’ also describes how the monarch supposedly believed Trump “must have some sort of arrangement” with his wife Melania, “or else why would she have remained married to him?”
In July 2018, Trump, along with the first lady, had tea with Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle toward the end of his UK trip. He later described the monarch as a “fantastic woman… smart and sharp [with] so much energy.” However, observers were quick to point out several instances in which Trump had apparently broken etiquette. First, he failed to greet the Queen properly, omitting to bow. Melania, too, failed to perform the customary “small curtsy.” While not strictly obligatory, these are considered good manners and implicitly expected of officials visiting the royal family. Later during the meeting, Trump walked ahead of the Queen and turned his back to her while inspecting the royal guard – both gestures were viewed as impolite.
Hard to believe that this pops up again. Then again, how many days to the election? Remember, this (also) seeks to defend Engoron’s claim that Mar-a-Lago is worth $18-26 million.
Letitia James and Arthur Engoron pay no price and run no risk here. They can run the system against Trump till the cows come home. And they will still get paid.
• New York AG Asks Appeals Court to Uphold Trump $454 Million Judgment (ET)
New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office asked an appeals court on Wednesday to uphold the $454 million civil fraud judgment against former President Donald Trump from earlier this year. In a 168-page submission, state attorneys said there is “overwhelming evidence” supporting Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoran’s Feb. 16 decision finding that Trump misrepresented his wealth to insurers, banks, and other entities to build his real estate empire. Trump appealed that ruling in July. Among other things, he and his attorneys argue that the judge, who they say “struggled to understand basic banking concepts” before handing down the penalty, made an erroneous decision. State attorneys, responding in their submission to the First Department of the State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division on Wednesday, said that Trump’s appeal is filled with “meritless legal arguments.”
They say his appeal disregards substantial evidence from the bench trial that demonstrated “fraud and illegality on an immense scale.” “Supreme Court’s liability determinations are supported by overwhelming evidence that, in each Statement, defendants used a variety of deceptive strategies to vastly misrepresent the values of Mr. Trump’s assets,” Assistant Solicitor General Daniel S. Magy wrote, referring to annual statements they said misrepresented Trump’s wealth. Magy said that Trump, along with his company and top executives, engaged in deceptive practices to maintain loans worth more than $500 million and illicitly gained more than $360 million in profits. “On appeal, defendants tellingly ignore almost all their deceptions. Instead, they primarily argue that [the New York State Office of the Attorney General] failed to prove that defendants’ counterparties relied on the misrepresentations to their financial detriment,” Magy added.
“But it is well-established that neither reliance nor victims’ losses—which are elements of common-law fraud—is required for fraud or illegality claims where, as here, [state attorneys] seeks disgorgement and injunctive relief rather than damages or restitution.” In his July appeal, Trump’s attorneys objected to the legal mechanics of James’s lawsuit, arguing that it used a statute—meant to protect consumers from being ripped off—“in a way never seen before.” Trump and his attorneys argued that there were “no victims and no losses.” They contended that the case should never have gone to trial, the statute of limitations barred some allegations, and the state shouldn’t be policing private business transactions. They also argued that the ruling is a disaster for the New York economy, as it gives the attorney general’s office “limitless power to target anyone.”
State attorneys, defending the statute of limitations, argued that the law empowers the attorney general to act against fraudulent business conduct, regardless of whether it directly “targets consumers, small businesses, large corporations, or other individuals or entities.” They also rejected Trump’s claims that the case should never have gone to trial and that the state should not interfere in private business transactions. The Appellate Division has scheduled the appeal’s oral arguments for Sept. 26. A ruling is expected about a month later, shortly before the end of Trump’s presidential campaign. The outcome of the appeal could see the court uphold, modify, or overturn Engoron’s ruling. The $485 million sum continues to accrue interest while the appeals process plays out. Trump has paid a $175 million bond to halt collection while he appeals. Should the ruling be upheld, Trump and his sons will be liable for the full sum.
“..I’m talking about a big group of former agents [who] are on fire about what happened here – they are horrified about what’s going on with this agency.”
But it’s already forgotten… No media.
• Secret Service Agents Placed on Leave After Trump Assassination Attempt (RCP)
Three weeks ago, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe angrily pushed back on senators’ calls to immediately fire or discipline key agents directly responsible for the security failures that led to the assassination attempt against former President Trump at last month’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Since that time, Secret Service leaders have placed several members of the Pittsburgh Field Office on administrative leave, according to three sources in the Secret Service community. (Administrative leave occurs when a federal employee temporarily leaves their position and work duties – either because of a misconduct investigation or medical or mental health issue. These employees usually still receive pay and benefits, but those decisions are left to the discretion of agency leadership.) While these members of the Pittsburgh Field Office were placed on leave, a different set of agents, several assigned to Trump’s permanent protective detail, are still on the job providing Trump protection, the sources say.
They remain operational even though they too were deeply involved in devising the Butler rally’s security plan. The differing treatment of the two teams is spurring internal dissension and speculation that the Pittsburgh office could bear the brunt of the serious security failures that day, even though there’s plenty of blame to go around. During a joint Senate committee meeting July 30, Rowe said he couldn’t understand or defend why the roof where shooter Thomas Crooks fired from wasn’t better secured. He said the Secret Service is investigating whether any employees broke the rules or didn’t follow established protocol to protect obvious vulnerabilities. If so, he said they would be held accountable through the agency’s disciplinary process and face punishment, including termination.
Yet, Rowe and other senior officials back in Washington headquarters should share the blame, these sources argue. The agency’s top brass were almost certainly involved in declining at least some of the security assets requested for the Butler rally despite a heightened threat level brought on by a specific Iranian assassination plot against Trump. Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned in late July amid bipartisan outrage over her lack of transparency about the rally security failures. But critics in Congress and the Secret Service community are calling for more accountability in the wake of the worst security failure since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
Dan Bongino, a popular conservative personality who spent 11 years in the Secret Service, has blasted his former agency’s “apocalyptic security failure” and called for a full house-cleaning of the upper leadership ranks in its Washington headquarters. Rowe, he said, is just as bad, if not worse than Cheatle because he was her hand-picked deputy and played a key role in her management decisions. “My Secret Service colleagues I worked with, where nothing like this ever happened at our advances, are horrified at Ron Rowe, ashamed at what this agency has become,” he said in on his podcast the day after Rowe testified before the Senate. “… I’m not talking about a small cadre of them. I’m talking about a big group of former agents [who] are on fire about what happened here – they are horrified about what’s going on with this agency.”
“..Kennedy would be censored by the action of one Government Defendant in response to another.”
• Judge Rules RFK Jr. Can Sue Biden Admin Over Censorship (ZH)
A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can continue to pursue his lawsuit against the Biden administration over censorship at the direction of the government. The decision comes after a June ruling by the Supreme Court, which established who can sue the Biden administration for violating their First Amendment rights when government officials pressured social media companies to suppress free speech did not have standing to sue. According to District Court Judge Terry Doughty, Kennedy meets the standard set by the Supreme Court because there is “ample evidence” to show he was censored at the direction of government actors, and is at “substantial risk” that the censorship will continue, the Daily Caller reports.
Under the Supreme Court’s Murthy v. Missouri ruling, Doughty explained that “a court must make specific findings that a particular defendant pressured a particular platform to censor a particular topic before the platform suppressed a particular plaintiff’s speech on that topic.”
Kennedy was named by one of the “Disinformation Dozen” – and was specifically targeted by the government over what they alleged was COVID-19 misinformation, Doughty noted in his ruling – adding that there is “not much dispute” that Kennedy, and his organization – Children’s Health Defense, “were specifically targeted by the White House, the Office of Surgeon General, and CISA [Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency].” “The Court finds that there is further risk for future risk injury here because Kennedy is a 2024 presidential candidate,” wrote Doughty. “For example, if, hypothetically, the FBI saw a piece of information related to the 2024 presidential election posted by the Kennedy campaign on social media that it deemed to be ‘misinformation,’ then it reached out to CISA, who worked closely with the EIP, who then removed the posts, Kennedy would be censored by the action of one Government Defendant in response to another.”
“Doughty granted Kennedy an injunction in February blocking multiple federal agencies from coercing or significantly encouraging platforms to suppress protected speech, which he put on hold pending the Supreme Court’s ruling. In response to the government’s appeal, the Fifth Circuit in July sent the case back to the district court to rule on the plaintiffs’ standing.” -Daily Caller. According to New Civil Liberties Alliance litigation counsel Jenin Younes, “It is gratifying that Judge Doughty found RFK, Jr. and Children’s Health Defense have standing, even under the draconian requirements the Supreme Court developed in Murthy,” adding “We are assessing next steps for the Murthy plaintiffs in light of Judge Doughty’s opinion, which will also assist us in crafting discovery requests to ensure we can demonstrate standing going forward.”
He did it a few hours ago.
• Tucker Carlson, Trump Jr. Pushed Kennedy to Endorse Donald Trump (Sp.)
Independent US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was pushed to support Republican nominee Donald Trump by people including journalist Tucker Carlson and the former president’s son Donald Trump Jr., NBC News reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter. Kennedy has not yet endorsed Trump, although he is scheduled to address the nation about his “path forward” on Friday, after running mate Nicole Shanahan said the campaign is considering dropping out and supporting Trump. Carlson, Trump Jr., and business executive Omeed Malik have been privately working to persuade Kennedy to end his campaign and endorse Trump instead, the report said on Wednesday. Kennedy is set to announce the suspension of his campaign on Friday and back Trump, the report said. However, talks are still ongoing, the report added.Kennedy endorsing Trump would not come as a surprise to Democrats, Harris campaign communications chief Michael Tyler told Sputnik on Thursday.
RFK
America is lucky it’s not in a civil war right now, yet we are in a kind of cold civil war. What is this experiment we call America? Let us look back and remember who we are, and how our greatest leaders—like Abraham Lincoln—comported themselves in the face of civil war. We must… pic.twitter.com/KiaHXYpPph
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 21, 2024
Note that none of Ukraine’s backers speaks out.
• Ukraine Tried To Attack Russian Nuclear Plant – Putin (RT)
Ukrainian forces have attempted to strike Russia’s Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), President Vladimir Putin has said during a cabinet meeting. Kiev sent thousands of troops into Russia’s Kursk Region earlier this month, attempting to reach the town of Kurchatov, where the nuclear facility is located. Moscow has declared the incursion an act of terrorism and has deployed additional troops to repel the invaders. “Last night, the enemy attempted to strike the atomic power plant,” Putin said at a cabinet meeting on Thursday afternoon. “The International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] has been informed. They promised to come themselves and send specialists to assess the situation. I hope they actually do so.” The IAEA already has observers working at the Zaporozhye NPP, Europe’s largest such facility. The mission was deployed in the summer of 2023, as Ukrainian troops attempted to seize the plant.
Earlier this month, a Ukrainian drone attack set one of the cooling towers at the plant on fire. Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev has discussed the situation at both power plants with IAEA director Rafael Grossi, and invited him to visit Kursk to personally assess the situation, according to the Russian media. Grossi has accepted the invitation and is planning to visit Kursk next week, an IAEA spokesman told AFP. Afterwards, he will visit Kiev and speak with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. According to Grossi, the IAEA is very concerned about any combat operations near the Kursk NPP, since it operates the same kind of reactors as the infamous Chernobyl NPP.
“They don’t have a protective dome around them, just the normal roof, which means that the reactor’s core is pretty exposed,” Grossi said. The presence of troops within artillery range “is a source of enormous concern to me and the agency,” he added, without specifying which forces he meant. Moscow has repeatedly criticized the international agency for never identifying the perpetrator of the attacks on nuclear facilities, even though the IAEA staff has known perfectly well that Kiev is to blame. Last week, Russian military journalist Marat Khairullin reported that Ukraine was preparing a “dirty bomb” for a false flag attack on either the Kursk or Zaporozhye NPP. Moscow said it was taking the report seriously and warned that any such attack would be met immediately with “tough military and military-technical countermeasures.”
“..when he claimed that the Nord Stream gas pipelines were a “legitimate target” for Ukraine..”
• Czech President Sounds Like An International Terrorist – Moscow (RT)
Czech President Petr Pavel sounded like an international terrorist when he claimed that the Nord Stream gas pipelines were a “legitimate target” for Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. Pavel made the remarks in response to an article in the Wall Street Journal, which reported last week that Kiev had carried out the September 2022 sabotage that ruptured the key infrastructure built to deliver Russian gas to Germany and the rest of Western Europe. Speaking to the Novinky.cz news outlet on Wednesday, the Czech president argued that if the Nord Stream attack “was aimed at cutting off gas and oil supplies to Europe and [the flow of] money back to Russia, then… it would be a legitimate target [for Ukraine].” Pavel stressed, however, that he does not have “clear incriminating” proof that Kiev was behind the sabotage.
Responding to Pavel’s remarks, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova wrote in a Telegram post on Wednesday that they were “too much, even for such an eccentric fringe [figure].” “Previously, such ‘ideas’ were only voiced by representatives of banned international terrorist cells,” she added. As an example, Zakharova shared calls by senior figures in Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and Al-Qaeda for their supporters to target the US, which according to the Russian diplomat are similar in nature to the remarks by the Czech president. Sources claimed to the Wall Street Journal that Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky had initially approved the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines, but later tried to call it off under pressure from the CIA. However, the then-Ukrainian commander-in-chief, Valery Zaluzhny, allegedly allowed the operation to continue.
The article by the US outlet was published on the same day that Germany issued its first arrest warrant over the Nord Stream blasts. A suspect, believed to be a Ukrainian diving instructor, was identified as ‘Vladimir Z,’ according to media reports. Kiev has denied any role in the Nord Stream sabotage, insisting that Russia blew up its own infrastructure. Moscow has dismissed the allegation as “ridiculous.” Senior Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have previously pointed the finger at the US as the possible culprit behind the Nord Stream explosions. They have argued that Washington had the technical means to carry out the operation and stood to gain the most, considering that the attack disrupted Russian energy supplies to the EU and forced a shift to more expensive US-supplied liquefied natural gas.
“..the Ukrainian military “accompanied” Walsh and had reviewed the videos his crew filmed prior to their release “for operational security reasons.”
• Moscow Charges CNN Journalist With Illegal Border Crossing (RT)
Russian authorities have charged CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, who had been reporting from the Ukrainian-held town of Sudzha, with illegally crossing the state border. Similar charges have been brought against two journalists working for the Italian broadcaster RAI as well as two Ukrainian reporters. Kiev’s forces overran Sudzha, which had a pre-conflict population of 5,000, during their incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region, which began on August 6. Although many residents have fled the area, some civilians remain. Walsh was part of the team of Western reporters who arrived in Sudzha at the invitation of the Ukrainian government. They traveled in an armored convoy with Ukrainian soldiers, filmed damaged buildings in the center of the community and spoke to remaining civilians, some of whom were taking refuge in a shelter.
According to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, the Ukrainian military “accompanied” Walsh and had reviewed the videos his crew filmed prior to their release “for operational security reasons.” The Ukrainians “had no editorial control” over CNN’s reporting, however, he added. CNN rejected Moscow’s accusations, insisting that the channel “has delivered factual, impartial reporting covering both the Ukrainian and Russian perspectives on the war.” It said that Walsh had acted “in accordance with the rights afforded to journalists under the Geneva Convention and international law.”
Moscow has accused the Western reporters of providing “propaganda” on behalf of Ukraine. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova argued this week that foreign journalists embedded with the Ukrainian troops were staying silent on “Kiev’s crimes against civilians” and “manipulating public opinion.” According to Russian officials, at least 31 civilians were killed during Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk Region and 143 were wounded. Since 2022, the EU has banned several Russian news organizations, including RT, citing “systematic information manipulation” in connection to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Moscow has responded by banning dozens of Western news outlets.
“The more serious issue is that Germany is really losing its position as an economic giant, as an economic superpower..”
• Nord Stream Ecocide & Fall of Germany ‘Engineered by Western Powers’ (Miles)
The United States must answer some day for the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline and the resultant collapse of its German ally’s economy, says analyst George Szamuely. The senior research fellow at London’s Global Policy Institute joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program this week to discuss the controversial incident, which some experts claim represented “the largest single methane gas” release ever recorded. “It’s always remarkable that the most belligerent actors in any drama are the ones who are the furthest away from the action,” said Szamuely, responding to reports that the UK has taken a leading role in providing drones and other equipment for Ukraine’s proxy war against Russia. “The British have been consistently the most belligerent on Ukraine. “If the stakes are so high, why don’t you get involved directly yourself?” the analyst wondered. “Why are you allowing Ukraine to do all the heavy lifting? …
They [the United States] have been consistent in thwarting any possibility of any kind of negotiated outcome, any temporary ceasefires, temporary resolutions. And without doubt they are involved, and they have been involved in this incursion into Kursk. “There is no way in the world it can be done, an invasion, without very accurate satellite intelligence. You can’t do it. You can’t just simply launch an invasion without knowing the terrain, the exact disposal of Russian forces. So clearly this was engineered by the Western powers, the British obviously – the British are now boasting about it – but above all, the Americans.” German authorities claimed they had found a new lead in the case of 2022’s Nord Stream pipeline explosion last week, pinning the blame on a small group led by a Ukrainian diving instructor. The whereabouts of the new suspect are conveniently unknown, the officials claimed.
Germany’s economic growth has cratered in the wake of the country’s loss of cheap Russian natural gas, with the European Commission estimating the country’s GDP will only expand by .1% this year. Polling has shown most Germans remain concerned over the lack of clarity over the pipeline’s explosion, which has widely been alleged by journalist Seymour Hersh and others to have been engineered by the United States. “The more serious issue is that Germany is really losing its position as an economic giant, as an economic superpower,” said Szamuely. “It’s now steadily going from one quarter after another into recession. But even more seriously, the German industries are being sidelined. They’re moving out of Europe and they’re being priced out of markets because there’s just simply the energy costs. They’re now really going through the roof.”
“It has been cheap Russian energy that has powered this German economic miracle,” he noted. “So it doesn’t have it anymore. Germany is ceasing to be competitive and that’s why Germany is now invariably in a recession.” Host Garland Nixon agreed that the situation is “very dangerous,” speculating that the US and its allies are likely escalating their involvement in the Ukraine proxy war to attempt to negate the threat of a newly-reelected President Donald Trump seeking to end the conflict. Szamuely suggested that Republican allies such as notorious neoconservative Lindsay Graham would likely move to impeach Trump in such an event.
“It’s ironic because they talk about media manipulation, they talk about false narratives, they talk about misinformation and so on and so forth… It’s not that they are scared of misinformation, it’s that they’re scared of the truth.”
• FBI Promises Continued Crackdown on US Journalists, Dissidents (SP.)
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation reportedly plans to continue its “crackdown” on journalists and other dissidents connected to foreign news organizations, with criminal charges under consideration. The agency’s plans were revealed by anonymous officials cited Wednesday in The New York Times. “This month, F.B.I. agents searched the homes of two prominent figures with connections to Russian state media: Scott Ritter, a former United Nations weapons inspector and critic of American foreign policy, and Dimitri K. Simes, an adviser to former President Donald J. Trump’s first presidential campaign in 2016,” the controversial newspaper reported. “More searches are expected soon, some of the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss investigations. Criminal charges are also possible, they said.” Electronic equipment was reportedly seized from Ritter, while Simes claimed agents removed artwork from his home in Virginia and froze multiple bank accounts. Both men are American citizens.
Attorney and independent journalist John Jackman joined Sputnik’s The Final Countdown program Thursday to discuss the development. “The reach of the deep state – the FBI, CIA – they’re looking at all of us right now,” said Jackman. “They’re really looking to just chill free speech. That’s really what it is at the core of all of this.” “And they’re using all of these different legal justifications – FARA, the Foreign Agents Registration Act – to justify coming after a dissident,” he claimed. “That’s really what it is.” Originally passed in 1938, the Foreign Agents Registration Act was initially conceived as a response to Nazi propaganda during the runup to World War II. The law was revised during the Cold War era to target people engaging in alleged political lobbying, but a handful of prosecutions under the act before 2015 resulted in no criminal convictions. FARA has been enforced more frequently in recent years, however, chiefly against figures associated with Trump.
“The First Amendment should be being screamed from the rafters by the ACLU,” said host Steve Gill in response to the apparent acts of political intimidation. “Why aren’t they defending Scott Ritter? You know, when you’ve got the Democrats having their convention, why aren’t they screaming, in addition to democracy, First Amendment?” “These are politically motivated at the end of the day,” agreed Jackman. “It’s just really what they are. And, they can give all of these different excuses for why they’re targeting certain individuals, but it’s facially obvious.” “We’re heading to another election cycle here in just a couple of months. And so we’re going to start hearing ‘Russia, Russia, Russia.’ Russia is going to be in the paintings, they’re in the walls. They’re everywhere.” “What you’re seeing is not people who are actually, in most cases, even in direct coordination with any legitimate institutions that are based in Russia,” he added. “But it’s people who, on their own accord, are speaking what they feel is the truth, right? … It’s because they’re looking at the world, they’re determining that our media is lying to us at every turn.
Our government, especially on issues of foreign policy, has lied to us repeatedly, the Ukraine war [and] the conflicts between Israel and Palestine being some of the latest examples.” Ritter has been paid small amounts of money for contributing articles to the website for the Russian television network RT, according to the former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, with Ritter retaining ultimate control over the content of his writing. The former UN weapons inspector’s career suffered after he prominently rejected US officials’ claims of alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction during the runup to the United States’ catastrophic war on the Middle Eastern country in the early 2000s. Ritter has offered his analysis to Russian radio and television programs along with other prominent dissidents such as John Kiriakou, a former CIA intelligence officer who was sentenced to prison after revealing the agency’s secret torture program.
“There’s some conflation; I think they’re starting with Russia because if that works then they can move on to, you know, sort of the Martin Niemöller [dynamic],” said host Ted Rall, referring to the German pastor’s famous poem. “First they came for RT, then they came for etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.” “We’re in an environment, in a geopolitical environment that we haven’t been in in a long time,” Jackman observed. “This really does remind me quite a bit of McCarthyism, but I think that this might even be a level beyond that. Because today we’re in a situation where the fundamental dynamics of the elites, the ruling class in this country, are shifting in such a way that their reality is kind of being pulled out from underneath them.” “It’s ironic because they talk about media manipulation, they talk about false narratives, they talk about misinformation and so on and so forth… It’s not that they are scared of misinformation, it’s that they’re scared of the truth.”
Dog walking
Walking the dogs.. 😂 pic.twitter.com/aeBMbH8GB1
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) August 21, 2024
Donkey
This donkey is reunited with the girl who raised it
pic.twitter.com/6UTmz8Sn1Y— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) August 21, 2024
Test
Test haha pic.twitter.com/9d1yUifC7R
— Enez Özen (@Enezator) August 22, 2024
Octo shark
Octopus meets a Swell shark
pic.twitter.com/k8xIsQcqwD— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) August 22, 2024
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