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Debt Rattle April 13 2026

Apr 132026
 
 April 13, 2026  Posted by at 10:07 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,  63 Responses »


Thomas Cole The Course of Empire – The Arcadian or Pastoral State 1834


• US Block Strait of Hormuz Over Iranian Mines as Iran Says ‘No Deal’ (Salgado)
• Trump Eyes Limited Iran Strikes, Hormuz Blockade (ZH)
• Trump Statement on the Iranian Refusal to Stop Building a Nuclear Weapon (CTH)
• The Trump Card The President Holds If Iran Won’t Bend: A Naval Blockade (JTN)
• Trump Blasts Pope Leo For Criticism of US Foreign Policy (CNBC)
• London Mayor Sadiq Khan Calls For A Gov’t Social Media Disinformation Unit (MN)
• John Cleese Pushes Back Against Islamist Tide In Britain (MN)
• Putin Attends Easter Service For Orthodox Christianity’s Holiest Day (RT)
• A CNN Anchor Just Torched the Left’s Favorite Narrative About Trump (Margolis)
• Pelosi’s Monster: The Creation and Destruction of Eric Swalwell (Turley)
• Eric Swalwell Suspends Gubernatorial Campaign (Matt Margolis)
• Truth-Teller Encounters the Buzz-Saw of the Establishment Narrative (Spencer)

 


 

https://twitter.com/TalbotLionel2/status/2042924466200559693?s=20 ==

I used to believe that Donald Trump was simply an exceptional president.

But then, I watched in real time as the Mainstream Media (mainstream media), the FBI, intelligence agencies, the CIA, Big Tech, and the entire Washington establishment joined forces in an unprecedented campaign to destroy a single man.

The numerous lawsuits, the two impeachments, the endless hoaxes including the Russia one, the Mar-a-Lago raid, the gag orders, the efforts to remove him from the ballot, the attempts to bankrupt him and throw him in prison… all of that was aimed at preventing him from returning to power. Two attempts on his life followed.

With 92% of media coverage being negative for him while 78% of that for Kamala was positive, he managed to secure a convincing victory in the last election. How do you explain that?

That’s when it became undeniable for me: no one faces this level of coordinated and hysterical opposition unless they represent a true existential threat to the system… The system we all know is corrupt and broken. Ordinary politicians don’t trigger this kind of coordinated panic.

At that moment, I stopped thinking of him as a great president.

He is the greatest of all time.
==

https://twitter.com/XKx3_XS3x/status/2043303436209225828?s=20

 


 


Iran is used to negotiating for years on a topic. Trump doesn’t think in years.

It’s simple: No nukes. No blockade.

Trump will not leave the presidency with the mullahs in power in Tehran. I can’t see him leave with the IRGC in power either. Be creative!

• US Block Strait of Hormuz Over Iranian Mines as Iran Says ‘No Deal’ (Salgado)

The Iranian regime would not agree to end their pursuit of nuclear weaponry, so the American delegation to Pakistan did not reach a final agreement with them, President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday. “Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!” Trump threatened.


“So, there you have it, the meeting went well, most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered, NUCLEAR, was not. Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted on Truth Social. The blockade is necessary because the Iranian regime dropped mines all over the Strait of Hormuz and is now claiming it doesn’t remember where they all are and cannot disable them, even though it is insisting upon countries paying tolls to Iran to use the strait.

The genocidal Iranian regime, which violated its ceasefire agreement with the United States within two hours and has been violating it ever since, and has spent almost half a century exporting terrorism, did not come to any agreement with the delegation led by Vice President JD Vance. It is almost as if they are fanatical fundamentalist Muslim terrorists who believe jihad is their moral duty and their shortcut to paradise.

Trump explained further, “At some point, we will reach an ‘ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT’ basis, but Iran has not allowed that to happen by merely saying, ‘There may be a mine out there somewhere,’ that nobody knows about but them. THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION, and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted.”

It is not in the least surprising that the Iranian regime did not agree to a deal, as the people with whom we were negotiating are the exact same tyrants complicit in the recent massacre of perhaps as many as 40,000 of their own people and the build-up and running of an international terrorist network that particularly targeted Americans and Israelis. Among the negotiators from Iran were Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi and parliament speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf (or Qalibaf), both of whom have made the most extreme threats against the United States and Trump personally since the beginning of Operation Epic Fury/Roaring Lion. Ghalibaf, who has a long track record of screaming “death to America”, is especially radical. Meanwhile, back in Iran, the regime is looking to expedite executions of thousands of freedom protesters.

In light of all the ceasefire violations, Trump explained, “I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas. We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits. Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!”The president ended:

“Iran knows, better than anyone, how to END this situation which has already devastated their Country. Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft and Radar are useless, Khomeini, and most of their “Leaders,” are dead, all because of their Nuclear ambition. The Blockade will begin shortly. Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade. Iran will not be allowed to profit off this Illegal Act of EXTORTION. They want money and, more importantly, they want Nuclear. Additionally and, at an appropriate moment, we are fully “LOCKED AND LOADED,” and our Military will finish up the little that is left of Iran!”

It promises to be another tumultuous week.

Read more …

The talks were never going to go anywhere and everyone knew it. iran was never going to volunteer to give up nukes. But they had to go through the step of the “talks”.

“.. the art of the deal… Escalate to De-Escalate… how long can Iran last with no oil revenues at all?”

• Trump Eyes Limited Iran Strikes, Hormuz Blockade (ZH)

• President Trump begins blockading Strait of Hormuz, warns US military will “finish up the little that is left of Iran”
• 2 Supertankers U-turn after peace deal talks fail
• UAE Oil Chief warns Iran blocking Hormuz is “a direct threat to the energy, food and health security of every nation”
The odds of a peace deal by the end of the ceasefire period has collapsed…


President Trump said the US would blockade the Strait of Hormuz following the collapse of peace talks with Iran in Islamabad this weekend. “Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said in a social media post. Trump noted that talks went well… until they didn’t… “So, there you have it, the meeting went well, most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered, NUCLEAR, was not.” The US president is hopeful…

“At some point, we will reach an “ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT” basis, but Iran has not allowed that to happen by merely saying, “There may be a mine out there somewhere,” that nobody knows about but them.” But then came the threats, with Trump apparently widening his purview to international waters: “THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION, and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted. I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas. We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits. Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!”

And the art of the deal… Escalate to De-Escalate… how long can Iran last with no oil revenues at all?

“Iran knows, better than anyone, how to END this situation which has already devastated their Country. Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft and Radar are useless, Khomeini, and most of their “Leaders,” are dead, all because of their Nuclear ambition. “The Blockade will begin shortly. Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade. Iran will not be allowed to profit off this Illegal Act of EXTORTION. They want money and, more importantly, they want Nuclear. Additionally and, at an appropriate moment, we are fully “LOCKED AND LOADED,” and our Military will finish up the little that is left of Iran!”

[..] UAE Oil Chief Warns “Illegal, Dangerous, & Unacceptable” For Iran To Close Strait
On Sunday morning, as vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained muted, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, ADNOC’s managing director and group CEO and one of the most influential people in global energy markets, wrote on X: “The Strait of Hormuz has never been Iran’s to close or restrict.”Al Jaber continued, “Any attempt to do so is not a regional issue; it is the disruption of a global economic lifeline and a direct threat to the energy, food and health security of every nation.” “Setting such a precedent is illegal, dangerous, and unacceptable. The world simply cannot afford it and must not allow it,” he concluded in the X post.

[..] A Wall Street Journal report indicates that President Trump is weighing limited strikes on high-value Iranian assets to break the stalemate in peace talks. The report continued: That is among the options that Trump was considering Sunday, hours after negotiations collapsed in Pakistan, the officials said. Trump could also resume a full-fledged bombing campaign, though officials said that was less likely given the prospect of further destabilizing the region and the president’s aversion to prolonged military conflicts. He could also seek a more temporary blockade while he pressures allies to take responsibility for a prolonged military escort mission through the strait in the future.

U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended late Saturday without an agreement. These periods generally allow both sides to restock weapons and prepare for the next phase of fighting. OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) accounts on X are reporting a steady stream of U.S. Air Force cargo jets heading to the Middle East late Sunday. “My advice to the White House folks I’ve spoken to is secure the strait at any cost and immediately as a matter of economic and national and global security,” said Steve Moore, a former economic adviser to Trump, who was quoted by the WSJ. Moore noted, “We have the power to protect the flow of international trade and must use it. Or the whole world economy could tumble into a global recession.”

Fred Fleitz, a senior National Security Council official during Trump’s first term, told the outlet that Iran’s large delegation to Islamabad showed that a diplomatic solution is possible. “I think Trump’s right, Iran is out of cards,” Fleitz said. “This conflict has only been going on for a few weeks. It’s too early to know how this will come out, but I think it looks promising.”

CENTCOM Says Blockade Will Begin Monday Morning at 1000ET
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces will begin implementing a blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports on April 13 at 10 a.m. ET, according to a statement on X. CENTCOM provided some further clarification regarding who will be blocked, in accordance with President Trump’s earlier proclamation. Specifically, they are only (and impartially) blocking any vessel leaving or entering an Iranian port… The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. But, vessels from non-Iranian ports are free to transit the Strait CENTCOM forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports. Now the fun begins.

Iran Says It Won’t Allow Blockade Of Hormuz Strait, But Room For Diplomacy Remains
As the US failed to open the Strait of Hormuz, it is also “doomed to fail in a naval blockade,” Iran’s military adviser to the supreme leader, Mohsen Rezaee, said in a post on X. Iran’s armed forces “will not allow America to do so and have great untapped leverage to counter it,” he adds. “Iran is not a place to be surrounded by tweets and imaginary plans.”

However, despite defiant statements from the U.S. and Iran, The Wall Street Journal reports that, according to regional officials familiar with the matter said, the door remains open for further diplomacy and a second round of talks could be held within days. Regional countries were also in consultation with the U.S. to secure an extension of the fragile two-week ceasefire period announced late Tuesday, they said.

The Islamabad talks were the highest-level face-to-face meeting between American and Iranian leaders since 1979. The main sticking points, said the officials, were reopening the Strait of Hormuz without collecting fees, the fate of Iran’s highly enriched uranium, and Iran’s demand that about $27 billion in frozen revenues held abroad be released. Iranian officials have presented counterproposals to continue to enrich token amounts or curtail its stockpile of enriched uranium, but the two sides were unable to reach a compromise, the officials said.

Trump’s 6 Red Lines
Fox News reports that Vice President Vance’s final offer delivered to the Iranian delegation in Islamabad includes the following “red lines.”
1) End all uranium enrichment
2) Dismantle all major nuclear enrichment facilities
3) Retrieve highly enriched uranium
4) Accept a broader peace, security and de-escalation framework that includes regional allies
5) End funding for terrorist proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis
6) Fully open the Strait of Hormuz, charging no tolls for passage

Needless to say, Iran refused to agree.

Read more …

“.. all of those points don’t matter compared to allowing Nuclear Power to be in the hands of such volatile, difficult, unpredictable people.”

• Trump Statement on the Iranian Refusal to Stop Building a Nuclear Weapon (CTH)

I am going to outline a contextual background for the Iranian conflict and my opinion of the current situation in detail. In short, I stand with President Trump’s position, but many of the influential aspects are being missed. The anti-interventionist podcasters and the Israel-first advocates are both wrong. An honest and pragmatic review of the entire regional dynamic is needed. Which includes the big picture question that no one is asking. In the interim, here is the statement from President Trump describing the current status, against the backdrop of Vice President JD Vance’s earnest efforts to negotiate a resolution:

[VIA TRUTH SOCIAL] – “Iran promised to open the Strait of Hormuz, and they knowingly failed to do so. This caused anxiety, dislocation, and pain to many people and Countries throughout the World. They say they put mines in the water, even though all of their Navy, and most of their “mine droppers,” have been completely blown up. They may have done so, but what ship owner would want to take the chance? There is great dishonor and permanent harm to the reputation of Iran, and what’s left of their “Leaders,” but we are beyond all of that. As they promised, they better begin the process of getting this INTERNATIONAL WATERWAY OPEN AND FAST! Every Law in the book is being violated by them.

I have been fully debriefed by Vice President JD Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, on the meeting that took place in Islamabad through the kind and very competent leadership of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan. They are very extraordinary men, and continuously thank me for saving 30 to 50 million lives in what would have been a horrendous War with India. I always appreciate hearing that — The amount of Humanity spoken of is incomprehensible.

The meeting with Iran began early in the morning and lasted throughout the night — Close to 20 hours. I could go into great detail, and talk about much that has been gotten but, there is only one thing that matters — IRAN IS UNWILLING TO GIVE UP ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS! In many ways, the points that were agreed to are better than us continuing our Military Operations to conclusion, but all of those points don’t matter compared to allowing Nuclear Power to be in the hands of such volatile, difficult, unpredictable people.

My three Representatives, as all of this time went by, became, not surprisingly, very friendly and respectful of Iran’s Representatives, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, Abbas Araghchi, and Ali Bagheri, but that doesn’t matter because they were very unyielding as to the single most important issue and, as I have always said, right from the beginning, and many years ago, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!

[PART II] – “So, there you have it, the meeting went well, most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered, NUCLEAR, was not.

Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz. At some point, we will reach an “ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT” basis, but Iran has not allowed that to happen by merely saying, “There may be a mine out there somewhere,” that nobody knows about but them. THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION, and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted. I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.

We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits. Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL! Iran knows, better than anyone, how to END this situation which has already devastated their Country. Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft and Radar are useless, Khomeini, and most of their “Leaders,” are dead, all because of their Nuclear ambition. The Blockade will begin shortly. Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade. Iran will not be allowed to profit off this Illegal Act of EXTORTION. They want money and, more importantly, they want Nuclear. Additionally, and, at an appropriate moment, we are fully “LOCKED AND LOADED,” and our Military will finish up the little that is left of Iran!” ~

~President DONALD J. TRUMP

Read more …

From Saturday, seemingly before anyone even thought about it.

• The Trump Card The President Holds If Iran Won’t Bend: A Naval Blockade (JTN)

Before he launched a daring military capture of the dictator Nicholas Maduro, President Donald Trump brought the Venezuelan economy to its knees with a naval blockade that strangled the nation’s oil revenues. If Iran refuses to accept the final deal the United States offered Saturday, Trump could bomb Tehran back to the “Stone Ages” as he vowed. Or he might just reprise his successful blockade strategy to choke an already teetering Iranian economy and ratchet up diplomatic pressure on China and India by cutting them off one of their key sources of oil.


Ironically, the massive USS Gerald Ford carrier that led the Venezuelan blockade is now in the Persian Gulf after a brief hiatus for repairs and crew rest after a deadly fire. And now it joins the USS Abraham Lincoln and other major naval assets. In short, Trump simply could out-blockade Iran’s hold over the Strait of Hormuz, experts said. “It would be very easy for the US Navy to exert complete control over what does and does not go up and down the Strait now,” the Lexington Institute’s national security expert Rebecca Grant told Just the News. “I’ve heard about 10 ships have moved in the last 24 hours. One of them was a reflagged Russian tanker, and we know that cargos have gone out to China, to India, and we’ve seen some inbound traffic.

“If Iran gets intransigent, then absolutely, the US Navy can set up with great overwater surveillance … and watch everything that goes in and out of that Strait and you’ll have to ask the US Navy if you want to move past Kharg Island or past that narrow part by Oman,” she added. After a marathon peace negotiation, Vice President JD Vance left Pakistan late Saturday without a deal with Iran and declared that the United States had offered its “final and best offer” to Tehran. Vance told a press conference that American officials negotiated in good faith for 21 hours, and now it is up to Iran to decide whether to accept the final terms approved by President Donald Trump.

“We leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer,” Vance said. “We will see if the Iranians accept it.”The specifics of what the United States offered were not immediately released. But Vance made clear Iran had not yet agreed to Trump’s “central goal”: abandoning their development of nuclear weapons. “We haven’t seen that yet,” Vance said. With a sand clock waning on the temporary cease-fire, the Trump administration already prepared multiple options if Iran refuses Trump’s final offer.

The idea of a naval blockade was first suggested last week by retired Gen. Jack Keane, one of the nation’s top military strategists. “If the war resumes and after we degrade Iran’s remaining military assets sufficiently, the US military could choose to occupy Kharg — or to destroy it,” Keane wrote it a New York Post column. “Alternatively, the US Navy could set up a blockade, shutting down Tehran’s export lifeline.” If we preserve Kharg’s infrastructure but take physical control, we’d have a chokehold over Iran’s oil and its economy,” he added. “That’s the ultimate leverage we’d need to seize its ‘nuclear dust,’ or stores of enriched uranium, and to eliminate its enrichment facilities.”

Read more …

“If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”

• Trump Blasts Pope Leo For Criticism of US Foreign Policy (CNBC)

President Donald Trump on Sunday bashed Pope Leo XIV over the U.S.-born Roman Catholic pontiff’s criticism of the U.S. war in Iran. The president said he does not “want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do,” in a Truth Social post. Trump linked the pope’s ascension to his return to office as president. “Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise,” Trump said. “He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”


Trump said Leo is “Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons, does not sit well with me, nor does the fact that he meets with Obama Sympathizers like David Axelrod, a LOSER from the Left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested,” referring to a recent meeting between the pope and President Barack Obama’s former political aide. Leo, the first U.S.-born pope who hails from Chicago, has condemned Trump’s war effort with Iran. “Enough with the idolatry of self and money! Enough with the display of force! Enough with war! True strength is manifested in serving life,” Leo said on Saturday, according to CBS News.

The pontiff also said it was “truly unacceptable” for Trump to make a recent threat that he would destroy “an entire civilization” in Iran. Leo also used his Easter message to call for peace. “Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!” he said. Leo and other church leaders have also at times been sharply critical of Trump’s domestic immigration policies.

The pontiff endorsed a November message from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops who said they are “disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement.” “We bishops advocate for a meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures,” the bishops wrote. “Human dignity and national security are not in conflict. Both are possible if people of good will work together.”

Read more …

The capital of a Christian country should not have a muslim mayor. It is not innocent.

• London Mayor Sadiq Khan Calls For A Gov’t Social Media Disinformation Unit (MN)

Sadiq Khan is pushing hard for a new state-backed disinformation unit to silence online criticism of London. The Mayor claims a “dark blizzard of disinformation” is undermining the city, linking it directly to offline harm, and wants government tools to force Big Tech to act – or else.


In a post on X (replies closed of course), Khan declared: “We can’t ignore the link between online disinformation and offline harm. At the Cambridge Disinformation Summit, I spoke about how the ‘outrage economy’ is eating away at the basic bonds of trust that hold our societies together – and why we need urgent action.”

He doubled down in remarks to the media, insisting: “We’re right to expect big tech to do better, but we should not rely on it. If platforms fail to act, the state must have the tools to make them. That’s why I’ll continue lobbying the government publicly and privately to take a much tougher approach.”

Khan called for “a new central body with the agility and authority to protect our democracy from disinformation, and deal with the scale and speed of this crisis. And we need more aggressive enforcement of the rules we already have. Because unless regulators like Ofcom have the power to hit companies where it hurts, they’ll keep on getting away with it.” He added: “The outrage economy is eating away at the basic bonds of trust that hold our societies together. It isn’t just a challenge for progressives like me. It’s a challenge for anyone who believes in democracy – wherever they are.”

Khan further suggested that “The same people attacking the capital have already started targeting other cities around the world. And, in a few years’ time, I think we’ll look back on London as the canary in the coal mine. But I hope we’ll also see it as the place where the fightback began.” Civil liberties group Big Brother Watch sounded the alarm on X:

https://twitter.com/BigBrotherWatch/status/2042640497529790947

As we recently highlighted, Khan is running a campaign to dismiss the chaotic reality on London’s streets as foreign propaganda or American disinformation: While Khan obsesses over online narratives, the actual data from his own city tells a different story.

Every hour in London a rape is reported, and every half hour or thereabouts knife crime is reported. Yet Sadiq khan claims it is the safest city in the world and everything negative you hear is “disinformation.”

Read more …

“Much of Islamic teaching consists of the glorification of the male ego, and the encouragement of its worst manifestations..”

• John Cleese Pushes Back Against Islamist Tide In Britain (MN)

John Cleese has fired off a fresh round of unfiltered truth bombs, exposing the cultural erosion underway in the UK as mass immigration and Islamist influence accelerate. The Monty Python star is zeroing in on the BBC’s latest woke assault and the realities of Islamist culture that open borders have imported. Responding to a BBC claim that the UK education system “wasn’t built for black children” and was instead designed for “whiteness,” Cleese cut through the nonsense with characteristic clarity:


Cleese hit back: “It was built for British children, because it was in Britain. At that time most British children were white. To claim that was some kind of racist conspiracy is insane.” He added, “The BBC has a hidden agenda which is against the beliefs of the majority of British people.” No pandering to identity politics. Just facts about a nation educating its own people—before decades of mass immigration turned basic institutions into battlegrounds for grievance narratives. Cleese’s comments come fresh off demanding a new election over the epidemic of crimes against churches—more than 10 every single day—continues his stand against the forces dismantling British identity.

Cleese slammed Prime Minister Keir Starmer for becoming “so dependent on Muslim votes that he now does not even pretend to be evenhanded,” highlighting how unchecked migration has left historic Christian sites vulnerable while authorities prioritize other communities. Cleese didn’t stop there in his latest tirade. He highlighted a video of an Islamic figure blaming victims for failing to control the emotions of the faithful, posting “This sage is proposing that as his followers are incapable of controlling their emotions, their victims should be the ones blamed and punished.” “Much of Islamic teaching consists of the glorification of the male ego, and the encouragement of its worst manifestations,” he continued.

This comes as Britain grapples with grooming scandals, parallel societies, and demands that native women and girls alter their behavior to accommodate imported cultural norms—while authorities look the other way. No hedging. No virtue-signaling. Just acknowledgment that importing millions who reject British values creates the exact fractures politicians now pretend to solve with more surveillance and speech codes. Cleese also dismantled London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s warning about a “dark blizzard of disinformation” online.

The sarcasm lands because the pattern is unmistakable: mass Islamic immigration brings incompatible ideologies that refuse integration, then critics of the resulting chaos are labeled the problem. Khan and the establishment deflect blame onto social media while churches burn and British streets fill with calls for Sharia. Britain’s historic identity—rooted in Christian values, free speech, and majority rule—is under sustained pressure from open borders policies and the cultural Marxism that cheers it on.

The BBC, Khan, and the Labour government aren’t protecting Britain. They’re managing its transformation, all while criminalizing dissent. The likes of Cleese, who has commented on British society for decades, see where this is heading and are refusing to play along, reminding the public that reality doesn’t bend to slogans about diversity or disinformation. In an age of elite denial, his willingness to state the obvious stands out. Britain’s survival as a cohesive nation depends on rejecting the Islamist cultural takeover and the woke enablers who imported it—before the division Cleese warns of becomes irreversible. As he stresses, the ballot box, secure borders, and unapologetic defense of British heritage remain the only path back.

Read more …

It’s not the birth of Christ, it’s his resurrection. Easter. The Orthodox church will save Europe, not Rome. You got to fight for your right to party!

• Putin Attends Easter Service For Orthodox Christianity’s Holiest Day (RT)

Millions of Russians are celebrating Orthodox Easter, the most important holiday in Christianity and one that carries deep cultural significance across the country. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the Easter night service at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, where Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is traditionally leading the Easter Matins and Divine Liturgy. In Russia, Easter goes beyond its strictly religious meaning. In a country shaped by diverse cultures and faiths, including Islam and Buddhism, the holiday is observed not only by Christians, but also by many non-believers and followers of other religions.


Some 73% of Russians plan to celebrate Easter this year, according to a survey published on Friday by the state-run pollster VCIOM. Only 15% of respondents said they do not intend to mark the holiday. Almost half of respondents said they would focus on preparing traditional Russian Easter dishes, including painted eggs and a sweet bread known as kulich. Almost 40% see it as an opportunity to meet with friends and relatives, planning to host or attend festive gatherings. Only about 20% observe Lent – a nearly seven-week period of fasting preceding Easter in the Orthodox tradition, the poll suggests.

Around 15% of respondents named egg painting as one of the most significant Easter traditions in Russia, while 10% highlighted family gatherings. Millions of Russians are expected to attend church services on Saturday night as part of traditional Easter celebrations.Orthodoxy is experiencing a resurgence in Russia, according to VCIOM, with the number of followers growing, particularly among young people. The share of people aged 18-24 who identify as Orthodox Christians has grown from 25% to 45% in recent years, the agency said in July 2025.

Read more …

“.. after Witkoff and Kushner reported that Iran wasn’t negotiating in good faith, the focus shifted to action. At a February 26 Situation Room meeting, Trump heard arguments from his team. Vance warned against a strike but deferred to the president..”

• A CNN Anchor Just Torched the Left’s Favorite Narrative About Trump (Margolis)

Democrats talk about impeachment and the 25th Amendment pretty much all the time when it comes to President Donald Trump. There were plans to impeach him before he even took office in 2017. They spent years calling him crazy, inviting quack doctors on left-wing media outlets, and claiming he was unstable. So, the recent push to simultaneously push for impeachment and invoke the 25th Amendment is hardly new territory for them, but it’s getting kind of old, even for CNN. On Saturday, CNN’s Michael Smerconish delivered a scathing rebuke of Democrats’ rhetoric and methodically dismantled their favorite talking point that Donald Trump is mentally unfit to serve as president.


Smerconish began by recalling Bill Maher’s now-infamous dinner with Trump at the White House last spring, which triggered the predictable meltdown from the left — including Larry David mocking Maher in the New York Times under the headline “My Dinner with Adolf.” “In a choice between two of my favorite comedians, I stood with Maher on [the] theory that it’s better to have dialogue and to break bread than to demonize,” Smerconish said. Maher had dinner, went right back on television, and kept up his criticism.

As you know, it was Trump’s Truth Social posts during the Iran war that really set things off for the Democrats this past week, sparking the talks of impeachment and the 25th Amendment. The problem was, it worked, and 90 minutes before Trump’s deadline, Pakistan brokered a two-week ceasefire. Funny how that works. Smerconish went on to summarize a New York Times deep dive into what happened behind the scenes in the lead-up to Trump’s decision to bomb Iran.

While Benjamin Netanyahu pushed for action and initially aligned with Donald Trump, key U.S. officials pushed back hard. John Ratcliffe dismissed Israeli regime-change plans as unrealistic, Marco Rubio bluntly rejected them, and J.D. Vance emerged as the most vocal opponent of war. But new intelligence created urgency, showing a rare opportunity to target Iran’s leadership. After failed diplomatic efforts led by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump convened a final meeting, heard all sides, and weighed legal and military input. With a deadline looming, Trump made the call just minutes before time expired, approving the strike and greenlighting “Operation Epic Fury.”

New intelligence revealed Iran’s leadership, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would be exposed in a rare, vulnerable setting, prompting urgency inside the White House. Donald Trump still gave diplomacy one last shot, but after Witkoff and Kushner reported that Iran wasn’t negotiating in good faith, the focus shifted to action. At a February 26 Situation Room meeting, Trump heard arguments from his team. Vance warned against a strike but deferred to the president, while Ratcliffe presented the intelligence, and legal and military officials confirmed the plan was viable. With a deadline looming, Trump made the final call aboard Air Force One, approving “Operation Epic Fury” just 22 minutes before the cutoff. Why did Smerconish bring this up? “It shows airing of competing views, some open to dissent, reliance on legal counsel, and a deliberative process, not the impulsivity with which Trump is so often associated,” he said. “There’s nothing in the Times behind closed doors account of an unstable Trump at the same time that he was playing the madman card in public.” The guy posting about civilizations dying was, simultaneously, going around the table, listening to dissent, consulting lawyers, and making a hard call under enormous pressure. Smerconish put it cleanly: “It’s not that there’s a method to his madness, it’s that the madness is his method.” Now, Smerconish argued that the act is wearing thin, and that’s a debate worth having. But, the New York Times report, Smerconish concluded, revealed the same thing Bill Maher saw over dinner: Trump is capable of exactly what his critics insist he isn’t. “Patience, process, and genuine deliberation. He went around the table. He heard the dissent. He consulted the lawyers; he made a hard call under enormous pressure. And 90 minutes before his own deadline, a ceasefire materialized.” He was direct: “That’s not nothing, and it’s certainly not the behavior of someone who needs the 25th amendment invoked or warrants impeaching.”

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“On the Epstein matter, Swalwell demanded full disclosure and called legal concerns “bulls****” in a screaming match with FBI Director Kash Patel.”

• Pelosi’s Monster: The Creation and Destruction of Eric Swalwell (Turley)

In Mary Shelley’s famous work, Dr. Frankenstein is asked, “‘Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?” This week, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D. Calif.), the leading Democratic candidate for California governor, may wish he could ask that of former Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.). After sexual assault allegations were raised by former staff members, Pelosi, Sen. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.), and even his close friend (and former campaign chair) Sen. Ruben Gallego (D., Ariz.) have withdrawn their endorsements.


The fact, however, is that (regardless of the merits of these latest allegations), Swalwell was always a notorious figure in Washington who was constructed by Pelosi and others to serve their interests. As Pelosi and his other allies now seek to destroy him, they cannot escape their hand in his creation. Multiple women came forward this week to allege sexual assault and other potentially criminal acts by Swalwell. The first allegations came from a former staffer who said that she was raped twice by Swalwell, who had sex with her when she was too drunk to consent. Swalwell is denying the allegations.

Four women spoke to the Chronicle; one former staffer alleged that she tried to fight off Swalwell who left her bruised and bleeding after a rape. Even CNN, which eagerly featured Swalwell on programs as he attacked the Trump Administration, ran detailed accounts of another alleged assault in a hotel room. One of these accounts is from February of this year. The accounts, if true, suggest that Swalwell is not just a sexual harasser but a sexual predator operating in plain view. One woman, Ally Sammarco, alleged that she (like other women) received nude photos of Swalwell as well as inappropriate social media messages.

Swalwell’s scandal is about as surprising in Washington as the return of the cicadas. Swalwell was infamously accused of having an affair with an alleged Chinese spy named Fang Fang. His patron in Congress, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, immediately moved to protect him, declaring, “I don’t have any concern about Mr. Swalwell.” Pelosi even blocked efforts to remove him from the House Intelligence Committee despite obvious concerns that he was susceptible to blackmail over his sexual trysts. She lashed out at those calling for his removal in the interests of national security, declaring “I do think that it is unfortunate that Mr. McCarthy is trying to make an issue of this.”

After sexual assault allegations were raised by former staff members, Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Adam Schiff and even his close friend (and former campaign chair) Sen. Ruben Gallego have withdrawn their endorsements. What these women are describing is a politician who felt that he had a license to prey on female staffers. I wonder who gave him that impression? For years, the Democratic establishment and the media ignored any rumors surrounding Swalwell because he was their useful monster, someone who was an attack dog always straining at the leash.

Swalwell was always the first to a mob. Indeed, he now hopes that voters will not apply the same standard he applied to figures like Justice Brett Kavanaugh. In his confirmation hearing, Kavanaugh faced an allegation of attempted rape from high school, and Swalwell had little patience for those of us arguing for a modicum of due process. Swalwell said that Kavanaugh’s guilt was self-evident: “More and more cases that are separate and independent, that look the same, pretty soon a prosecutor starts to say to a jury … that the arrows are pointing in the same direction.” On the Epstein matter, Swalwell demanded full disclosure and called legal concerns “bulls****” in a screaming match with FBI Director Kash Patel.

Recently, Swalwell took a different view on the release of his own FBI files from the Chinese spy scandal. In a cease and desist letter to prevent public disclosure, attorneys Norm Eisen and Sean Hecker warned Patel, “Your actions threaten to expose you, others at the FBI, and the FBI itself to significant legal liability.” It is now a pile-on as Swalwell’s former enablers run for cover: even Gallego, who posed with Swalwell bare-chested on camels in Qatar. Notably, no one seemed concerned that the trade group US-Qatar Business Council spent more than $84,000 to fly Swalwell, Gallego, and their loved ones to Qatar for the luxurious trip.

The most obvious beneficiary of the scandal, Katie Porter, has denied any involvement in the woman responsible for organizing the disclosures against Swalwell. The irony is that Swalwell’s scandal will remove a candidate who has allegedly physically assaulted staffers in favor of a candidate who has verbally assaulted staffers. The implosion of Eric Swalwell is raising questions about how so many close associates and friends could not have known about the rumors of his misconduct. Now, suddenly, Swalwell has no friends or allies after years of being praised by Pelosi and many in the media.

Mary Shelley made the point most vividly in Frankenstein that there is little difference between the creators and the monsters in such moments: “It is true, we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that account we shall be more attached to one another.”

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“CNN investigated the claims and corroborated many details.”

• Eric Swalwell Suspends Gubernatorial Campaign (Matt Margolis)

Rep. Eric Swalwell has suspended his campaign for governor of California in the wake of multiple sexual misconduct allegations, including sexual assault. The accusations prompted a mass exodus of campaign staff and endorsements. Democrats in Congress, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Adam Schiff, and other key Democrats called on him to end his campaign. “I am suspending my campaign for Governor,” Swalwell wrote in a post on X. “To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past.”mHe added, “I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.”

]


A former staffer says Swalwell had sex with her twice while she was too drunk to consent. Another woman says he cultivated her political ambitions online, then got her intoxicated during a 2025 visit and kissed and groped her without consent, after which she woke up in his hotel room with only blurred memories. Social media creator Ally Sammarco says he sent unsolicited nude photos to her while suggesting he could help her career. Another woman says that after contacting her on social media, Swalwell repeatedly requested explicit photos and sent unsolicited nude videos over several years. CNN investigated the claims and corroborated many details.

Politico has more on this development: “The Democratic congressman’s exit completed a stunningly swift collapse for a candidate who had shown signs in recent weeks of pulling ahead of a crowded Democratic field, with prominent interest groups and elected officials beginning to coalesce behind him. But an ex-staffer’s allegation that Swalwell had sexually assaulted her, detailed in a San Francisco Chronicle report and followed by more misconduct allegations in a CNN report, led those allies to abandon Swalwell en masse as high-level staffers departed his campaign.

Swalwell started last week vehemently denying accusations against him as nakedly political attacks on the race’s frontrunner. He ended it politically isolated, his top campaign surrogates and prominent endorsers withdrawing their support or urging him to exit the race. By Friday afternoon, Swalwell’s two campaign co-chairs, Reps. Jimmy Gomez and Adam Gray, called on Swalwell to drop out, as did Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement saying the accusations “must be appropriately investigated with full transparency and accountability,” and that, “As I discussed with Congressman Swalwell, it is clear that is best done outside of a gubernatorial campaign.”

Suspending his campaign likely won’t be the end of this saga. The allegations against him are currently under investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, and there have been growing calls for Swalwell to resign from Congress or face expulsion.

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The Dhimmi. Do read!

• Truth-Teller Encounters the Buzz-Saw of the Establishment Narrative (Spencer)

What happens when someone dissents from the leftist establishment narrative in a way that is so compelling and convincing that the continued wide acceptance of that narrative is imperiled? What happens is that the leftist media establishment deploys its strongest rhetorical weapons against the offender, hoping to destroy or at least cripple the dissident before he or she is able to amass a significant following, or to dishearten and disperse that following if it already exists. This is why the April 2026 issue of Tablet magazine contains a massive article, over 6,000 words long, damning with faint praise the pioneering scholar of dhimmitude, Bat Ye’or.


Former New York Times writer Judith Miller, who for decades has been a reliable conduit for the establishment line, pulls out all the stops to ensure that her readers will come away with the idea that Bat Ye’or, for all her admirable qualities, is a bit of a nutter. It is a shabby way to treat one of the great thinkers of our age, and demonstrates how deeply threatened the academic left is in the face of the truths Bat Ye’or has uncovered.

Bat Ye’or is a 92-year-old independent scholar, born in Egypt. Her 1990s books, including The Dhimmi, The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam, and Islam and Dhimmitude, shed unprecedented light upon a previously neglected area of the study of Islam: dhimmitude, Islamic law’s institutionalized system of discrimination and persecution of unbelievers, primarily Jews and Christians. Then in her equally groundbreaking 2005 book Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis, Bat Ye’or showed how and why Europe embarked upon the path that is now leading, as more and more people realize daily, to the destruction of its own civilization: the admittance of massive numbers of Muslim migrants without any expectation that they would ever assimilate and adopt European Judeo-Christian values and mores.

If events have vindicated anyone who has written anything over the last quarter-century, they have vindicated Bat Ye’or. Islamic apologists in the West have, over the last few years, sharply curtailed their claims that Islam is tolerant and now are increasingly open about their supremacist designs and contempt for their hosts. Eurabia, for years dismissed as a conspiracy theory, is now obvious and unavoidable on the streets of London, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, and elsewhere.

Bat Ye’or should consequently be celebrated as the visionary she is, and as someone who stood her ground courageously against the ridicule and contempt of the academic establishment, which assured us that Islam was peaceful and tolerant and that Europe would never be in any danger from the Muslim migrants it took in. Instead, Judith Miller gives us more of that contempt. Miller is at least polite about it, and professes to admire Bat Ye’or’s intellectual integrity. Miller semaphores repeatedly throughout her windy piece, however, that right-thinking leftist intellectuals should not dare to take Bat Ye’or seriously, or to notice that she has been proven correct about everything.

Miller’s pull quotes themselves tell the tale: “Critics accused her of inspiring both Anders Breivik [a Norwegian mass murderer] and the ‘Great Replacement’ theory of Renaud Camus.” That’s another “conspiracy theory” that has turned out to be absolutely correct. “Bat Ye’or insists that jihad is central to the practice of Islam.” Miller would have been hard-pressed to find an honest Muslim scholar who would tell her it wasn’t, but she clearly didn’t even bother to look. “Dismissed by academics but revered on the right, the author of ‘Eurabia’ sees Muslim migration as the result of a grand conspiracy.” “For many analysts, the ‘Eurabia’ thesis appeared to have come from Mars.”

While admitting that Muslim migrants have inundated Europe and are rapidly changing its culture and more, Miller insists that Bat Ye’or, in tracing the seeds of this inundation to a series of agreements that the European Commission concluded with the Arab League beginning in the 1970s, allowing Muslim migrants to stream in and not assimilate in exchange for a steady supply of oil, is engaging in baseless conspiracy theorizing.

In support of this claim, Miller quotes an academic from the Saudi-funded Georgetown University: “‘There was no giant plot,” said Lorenzo Vidino, an Italian American writer on Islamism who heads Georgetown University’s Program on Extremism. ‘Not even the Muslim Brotherhood, which plans 200 years ahead, thought of moving millions of Muslims to Europe,’ he said. Rather, it happened ‘serendipitously.’”

Serendipitously? Seriously? But what a remarkable coincidence that this serendipitous occurrence is discussed in a series of conferences and agreements concluded at those conferences, which bore the name… Eurabia. Miller also invokes Daniel Pipes, “a long-standing anti-Islamist activist, said that while Bat Ye’or was right to be concerned that Europeans were acting ‘pre-emptively like dhimmis,’ blaming this development on an obscure Euro-Arab working group from the 1970s was inaccurate. ‘I don’t think that a group of bureaucrats who began meeting 30 or 40 years ago in Brussels ever had that importance,’ he told me.”

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Orban lost; EU won. https://twitter.com/HungaryBased/status/2043060675514138922?s=20 https://twitter.com/DiogenisSinopis/status/2043108388553347214?s=20

 

 

 

 

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