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Debt Rattle January 7 2025

Jan 072025
 
 January 7, 2025  Posted by at 11:18 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  55 Responses »


Jan van Eijk The Arnolfini portrait 1434

 

• Trump Urges GOP to Pass Bill Advancing His Policies (ET)
• Dollar Reverses Losses After Trump Blasts WaPo’s “Fake News” Tariff Report (ZH)
• Curtain to Fall on Merchan’s Hamlet on the Hudson (Turley)
• The Lawfare Sentencing of Trump On January 10 Will Backfire (ZH)
• US Congress Formally Certifies Trump’s Election Victory (ZH)
• Musk and Trump Can Bring A New Era That Blends Technology and Tradition (RT)
• Conspiracies Too Awful to Imagine? (Victor Davis Hanson)
• Prank-O-Rama (James Howard Kunstler)
• Bannon Goes Off On Musk Over “Social Credit Score” Changes On X (ZH)
• Moscow Reacts To Zelensky’s Request To Trump For Frozen Russian Cash (RT)
• Ukraine Should Be ‘Realistic’ – Macron (RT)
• Italy In Talks With Starlink For $1.6 Billion Telecom Security Deal (ZH)
• Pfizergate: What is EC Chief Von Der Leyen Accused of? (Sp.)
• Migrants Arrested For Sex Crimes At Triple The Rate Of Brits – UK Stats (RT)
• Amazon Confirms Melania Trump Documentary (RT)
• Nuclear Fusion Offers Safe And Clean Energy (JTN)

 

 

 

 

Starmer

Galloway

Poilievre

Dana White

 

 

 

 

Less than 2 weeks to go.

“..pass Trump’s legislative policies through a reconciliation bill, which would enable the policies to be passed with a simple majority, bypassing the Senate’s 60-vote threshold..”

• Trump Urges GOP to Pass Bill Advancing His Policies (ET)

President-elect Donald Trump has called on Republican lawmakers to pass “one powerful bill” to advance his policies on border security and tax cuts as he prepares to return for a second term. In a social media post on Sunday, Trump said members of Congress will work on a single bill that is packed with policy items aimed at making America “greater than ever before.” “We must Secure our Border, Unleash American Energy, and Renew the Trump Tax Cuts, which were the largest in History, but we will make it even better – NO TAX ON TIPS,” the president-elect stated. Trump suggested that he plans to offset the taxes by imposing tariffs on imports from countries that “have taken advantage of the U.S. for years.” “Republicans must unite, and quickly deliver these Historic Victories for the American People. Get smart, tough, and send the Bill to my desk to sign as soon as possible,” he stated.

His remarks came after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) unveiled a plan to pass Trump’s legislative policies through a reconciliation bill, which would enable the policies to be passed with a simple majority, bypassing the Senate’s 60-vote threshold. Johnson told Fox News that the vote on the reconciliation bill could happen as early as April 3, and then move to the Senate. He said the bill could be delivered to Trump’s desk for signature by the end of April. “We’re 15 days out from the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump for his second term. And we want to make sure that we’re jump-starting the agenda now over the next two weeks, so that he’s prepared and ready on day one,” Johnson told the news outlet.

“At the end of the day, President Trump is going to prefer, as he likes to say, one big, beautiful bill. And there’s a lot of merit to that, because we can put it all together, one big up-or-down vote, which can save the country, quite literally, because there are so many elements to it. And it’ll give us a little bit more time to negotiate that and get it right.”

Johnson said that the reconciliation bill would address Trump’s priorities, such as the economy, border security, tax cuts, energy, and incentivizing U.S. companies to manufacture domestically. GOP Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on the Senate floor in December that a reconciliation package “with a once-in-a-generation investment in border security and immigration enforcement” would be passed within the first 100 days of the Trump administration. Thune said the GOP also planned to use the Congressional Review Act to “undo some of the Biden administration regulations that are weighing down our economy” and pass another reconciliation package to expand the tax relief provided to Americans during Trump’s first administration.

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“That is wrong. The Washington Post knows it’s wrong. It’s just another example of Fake News..”

• Dollar Reverses Losses After Trump Blasts WaPo’s “Fake News” Tariff Report (ZH)

Update (0930ET): On Truth Social, President-elect Donald Trump blasted the Washington Post for “quoting so-called anonymous sources, which don’t exist, incorrectly states that my tariff policy will be pared back.” “That is wrong. The Washington Post knows it’s wrong. It’s just another example of Fake News,” the former president said. Right away, we called out this malarkey. WaPo’s fake news reporting sent the Bloomberg Spot Dollar Index tumbling by over 1%, one of the biggest intra-day drops since 2023. There is nothing like fake news from legacy corporate media to start the week.

***
The US dollar slid on Monday after reports emerged that President-elect Donald Trump’s aides are considering a revised, less strict tariff plan. While Trump’s 2024 campaign promised a universal tariff on most imports, the new proposal would focus instead on imposing tariffs specifically on critical imports, according to the Washington Post, citing three people familiar with the plan. Trump repeatedly claimed during the campaign that he would implement a “universal” 10% to 20% import tariff on all foreign-made goods into the United States. He also spoke about a 60% import tariff on Chinese goods and a 100% tariff on all imported cars. According to WaPo: “Two weeks before Trump takes office, his aides are still discussing plans to impose import duties on goods from every country, the people said.

But rather than apply tariffs to all imports, the current discussions center on imposing them only on certain sectors deemed critical to national or economic security — a shift that would jettison a key aspect of Trump’s campaign pledge, at least for now, said the people, who cautioned that no decisions have been finalized and that planning remains in flux.” While the Biden administration has not rescinded most of the existing tariffs enacted under Trump 1.0, a universal blanket of tariffs on all imports would have been part of the ‘America First’ trade policies. However, it seems unlikely that Trump would abandon such a key policy initiative right out of the gate. The sources familiar with the potential tariff change were unclear about which imports would be affected.

More from WaPo… “Preliminary discussions have largely focused on several key sectors that the Trump team wants to bring back to the United States, the people said. Those include the defense industrial supply chain (through tariffs on steel, iron, aluminum and copper); critical medical supplies (syringes, needles, vials and pharmaceutical materials); and energy production (batteries, rare earth minerals and even solar panels), two of the people said.” WaPo’s report sent the Bloomberg Dollar Index tumbling early Monday, breaking below $108. This marked a sharp reversal following the multi-month 9% rally that started at the beginning of October.

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Meannwhile, Merchan has rejected another appeal.

The Supreme Court will throw this out. But that’s not enough. Trump will have to ask them to retroactively strike Merchan’s verdict, so it will no longer be part of the record.

• Curtain to Fall on Merchan’s Hamlet on the Hudson (Turley)

At 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 10, 2025, the curtain will fall on the longest performance of “Hamlet” in history. Acting Justice Juan Merchan will finally decide whether “to be or not to be” the judge to sentence Trump to jail. (Spoiler alert: He appears set to avoid a jail sentence and likely reversal.) Since Trump’s conviction in May 2024, Merchan has contemplated his sentencing options. This was to be the orange-jump-suit moment many longed for over years of unrequited lawfare. They will likely be disappointed. As some of us noted after the verdict, this type of case would often result in an unconditional discharge or a sentence without jail time. That prediction became more likely after Trump was reelected in November. Limits on Trump’s freedom or liberty would likely result in a fast reversal, and Merchan knew it. While various pundits predicted that Trump “will go to jail” after the trial, more realistic lawfare warriors had other ideas.

The next best thing was to suspend proceedings and leave Trump in a type of legal suspended animation. Merchan would hold a leash on the president as a criminal defendant awaiting punishment. But the whole point of a trophy-kill case is the trophy itself. Merchan will not disappoint. While indicating that he is inclined to a sentence without jail or probation, he will finalize the conviction of Trump just 10 days before his inauguration. In so doing, he will formally label the president-elect a convicted felon. It will be punishment by soundbite. Trump will become the first convicted felon to be sworn into office, a historical footnote that will be repeated mantra-like in the media. Merchan seems at points to be writing the actual talking points for the talking heads. In his order, he states grandly that the jurors found that this “was the premediated and continuous deception by the leader of the free world.”

He then adds that he could not vacate the conviction because it would … constitute a disproportionate result and cause immeasurable damage to the citizenry’s confidence in the Rule of Law.” Of course, this did not work out as many hoped. That apparently includes President Biden. Last week, the Washington Post reported that Biden was irate over the Justice Department’s failure to prosecute Trump more quickly to secure a conviction before the election. He also reportedly regretted his appointment of Attorney General Merrick Garland as insufficiently aggressive in pursuing Trump. It appears Garland was not sufficiently Bragg-like for Biden’s lawfare tastes. The sentencing, however, will have another impact. Trump will finally be able to appeal this horrendous case. It has always been a target-rich opportunity for appeal, but Trump could now launch a comprehensive appeal until after he was sentenced.

Those appellate issues include charges based on a novel criminal theory through which New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg not only zapped a dead misdemeanor into life (after the expiration of the statute of limitation) but based a state charge on federal election law and federal taxation violations. So, after the Justice Department declined to prosecute federal violations, Bragg effectively did so in state court with Merchan’s blessing. The issues also include Merchan’s absurd instructions to the jury. The novel theory demanded a secondary offense, the crime that Trump was seeking to conceal by listing payments as legal expenses. Merchan allowed the jury to find that the secondary offense was any of an array of vaguely defined options. Even on the jury form, they did not have to specify which crimes were found. Merchan did not require even a majority, let alone a unanimous jury, to agree on what actually occurred.

Under Merchan’s instruction, the jury could have split four-four-four on whether this was all done to conceal a federal election violation, falsification of business records or taxation violations. Neither Trump nor the public will ever know. Even CNN’s senior legal analyst Elie Honig denounced the case as legally flawed and unprecedented. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) recently put it more simply and called the case total “b—s–t.” While expectations are not great for the New York legal system itself, this case will eventually go to the United States Supreme Court. Of course, like so much else in the vortex of Merchan’s courtroom, the final leave to appeal comes at a cost. While Merchan admits begrudgingly that incarceration is no longer “practical,” Trump will now have to appeal this case over the course of his presidency.

When the sentence is imposed on Jan. 10, it is likely to feel comically downsized given the effort. After years and millions spent in the various Trump cases, Trump will likely receive an unconditional discharge and sent along his way . . . to the White House. As predicted, the two federal cases never saw a trial in Florida or Washington, D.C. In Georgia, Fani Willis was dropped from her racketeering case, which has gone nowhere due to her own misconduct. It is like the Allied forces launching the Normandy Invasion to capture Monaco.

In the meantime, the 2024 election proved to be the largest verdict in history after years of lawfare and biased media reporting came to nothing. Merchan showed little self-awareness in claiming that he was only trying to avoid “immeasurable damage to the citizenry’s confidence in the Rule of Law” in continuing the case. Polls show the public saw these cases as lawfare and Merchan is widely viewed as causing precisely that “immeasurable damage” with his handling of the case. Given this record, it may be fitting that the trophy from the New York case is a media talking point, while it lasts. So, Merchan’s performance of Hamlet on the Hudson will close off Broadway long after the audience has left. The reviews will be mixed since few minds will be changed. As the protagonist himself proclaimed, “I must be cruel only to be kind; thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.”

Merchan

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“Every effort has been made to put Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and Hillary Clinton above the law. And every effort has been made to put Trump beneath the law..”

• The Lawfare Sentencing of Trump On January 10 Will Backfire (ZH)

Update (1220ET): President-Elect Donald Trump is attempting to halt proceedings in his business records case, with his attorneys stating that they intend to file an appeal to reverse a decision setting sentencing for Jan. 10. His request came on Jan. 6, just days after Merchan’s decision on Jan. 3. Trump’s lawyers argued that their appeal should trigger what’s known as an automatic stay, or pause, in the proceedings. If that doesn’t happen, they argued, Merchan should then grant a pause and prevent sentencing from happening on Friday as scheduled. “Today, President Trump’s legal team moved to stop the unlawful sentencing in the Manhattan D.A.’s Witch Hunt,” Trump’s spokesperson, Steven Cheung, said. “The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the state constitution of New York, and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed.” As a reminder, in December, Merchan rejected Trump’s various immunity-related objections to the evidence used during trial.

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As MishTalk.com’s Mike Shedlock detailed earlier, MAGA supporters rail against Trump’s sentencing ahead of his inauguration. Instead, they should be pleased. Let’s discuss why… Sentencing on January 10. Politico reports Trump Will Be Sentenced but Won’t Get Jail Time. “A New York judge plans to sentence Donald Trump on Jan. 10 for his criminal hush money conviction, rejecting efforts by the president-elect to sweep aside a jury’s verdict that found him guilty of 34 felony counts. But Justice Juan Merchan indicated he will not sentence Trump to prison time, acknowledging that incarceration is not a “practicable” option. And the judge said Trump may attend the sentencing virtually rather than reporting to court in person. The long-delayed sentencing — unless a higher court blocks it — will force Trump to revisit the sordid hush money case just 10 days before his inauguration.

And by maintaining the jury’s verdict, Merchan all but ensured that Trump will take office with his sole criminal conviction still on his record. In an 18-page decision Friday, Merchan ruled that the Supreme Court’s July decision on presidential immunity does not shield Trump from facing sentencing for the conviction. And the judge rejected Trump’s arguments that the entire case should be thrown out in light of his victory in the 2024 election, calling the suggestion an affront to the justice system. Merchan also sharply criticized Trump for his “disdain” for the legal process. In addition to continually criticizing the case itself, Trump repeatedly argued for Merchan to recuse himself, claiming the judge was biased. During the trial, he disobeyed the judge’s gag order and often appeared to fall asleep in court.”

Democrats Cheer, for Now Sentencing ahead of the inauguration will let Democrats claim Trump will take office with his sole criminal conviction on his record. I view this as mostly good news. Q: Why? A: Sentencing now will speed up the appeals process. This is a sham trial that never should have happened. And the mistakes made by Merchan ensure the case will be tossed out. Had Merchan delayed sentencing, Democrats might have held sentencing over Trump for four more years. Hunter Biden Convicted On June 11, I commented Hunter Biden Convicted, Unlike Trump, Hunter’s Conviction Won’t Be OverturnedHey Joe, how does it feel to have a son convicted of a felony? For now you can call Trump a felon, but that won’t last due to numerous and flagrant judicial errors.

Trump Found Guilty – a Travesty of Justice for America I commented on Trump in my post Trump Found Guilty – a Travesty of Justice for America: I Am Outraged. I am outraged but not surprised. But the hypocrites will cheer hoping for a knockout. They will say “No one is above the law”. Indeed. But no one should be beneath the law either. Every effort has been made to put Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and Hillary Clinton above the law. And every effort has been made to put Trump beneath the law, including judicial instructions. Everyone should be outraged. The trial was unfair because there should not have been a trial at all. The judge’s actions were outrageous.

Pardon vs Overturned Conviction President Biden lied about Hunter. Then in a disgraceful move, the president pardoned his son. However, accepting a pardon implies guilt. Hunter won’t go to prison where he belongs. But no one can say he wasn’t guilty. If New York Governor Kathy Hochul offers Trump a pardon, he should refuse it on grounds of innocence. And as soon as the Trump conviction is overturned, and it will be, no one will be able to call Trump a felon. Sentencing now will speed up an appeal, and the conviction will be tossed, hopefully with prejudice. So let the hypocrites have another month or whatever of bragging. Then reality will set in with an easy overturn on multiple grounds.

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“For both sides of the aisle, the certification of Trump’s re-election four years later is likely a reminder of the magnitude of the political comeback the president-elect has achieved.”

• US Congress Formally Certifies Trump’s Election Victory (ZH)

Update (1335ET): Trump captured the presidency with 312 electoral votes to Harris’s 226 — a total that was confirmed during the certification on Monday, marking the final step in the election process before Trump formally takes back the White House on Jan. 20.. Republicans gave a standing ovation in the chamber when Harris announced Trump’s victory was now certified. A bipartisan standing ovation broke out in the House chamber after Harris declared the joint session of Congress dissolved. In a video released ahead of the certification, Harris hailed the “peaceful transfer of power” as a bedrock of U.S. democracy, calling her duty a “sacred obligation.” “As we have seen, our democracy can be fragile,” Harris said. “And it is up to each of us to stand up for our most cherished principles.” This year’s counting of the electoral votes was declared a “national special security event,” unlocking federal, state and local resources.

* * *
As The Epoch Times’ Joseph Lord detailed earlier, Congress will formally certify President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election on Jan. 6, marking the final ceremonial step to confirm Trump as the next commander-in-chief. Vice President Kamala Harris, as president of the Senate, will officiate the certification during a joint session of Congress and declare her erstwhile rival the winner in the presidential contest. It’s expected to be largely a quiet, formal process this year. Harris has said she intends to treat her role as ceremonial. Democrats in Congress have already made clear that they accept Trump’s win. For members of both parties, the day can’t help but recall the events that unfolded four years prior. During the certification of the 2020 election results on Jan. 6, 2021, pro-Trump protesters entered the Capitol, placing the certification process on hold and putting an end to a Republican effort to object to certain electoral slates.

Following the Capitol breach, Republican leaders like Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) distanced themselves from Trump, joining Democrats in saying he was ultimately responsible for the incident. The House quickly pushed through a second impeachment resolution against Trump, though it failed in the Senate. Pundits believed Trump’s political future was at an end. For both sides of the aisle, the certification of Trump’s re-election four years later is likely a reminder of the magnitude of the political comeback the president-elect has achieved.

The Process. Lawmakers from both chambers will gather in the House chamber, which is traditionally used for joint sessions, at 1 p.m. ET to begin the process of certification. Under the process mandated by law, the official electoral slates will be transported into the House chamber in large mahogany boxes. Harris will then open the sealed electoral slates and hand them to the congressional tellers to be read aloud in alphabetical order. As these votes are read off, lawmakers have the opportunity to raise any objections they see fit, so long as both a representative and a senator sign off on the objection. At that point, both chambers would meet for two hours to debate the objection before returning to a joint session. These objections have been a relatively common fixture of American political life in the 21st century, with objections to certain electoral votes brought in 2001, 2005, 2017, and 2021. This year, however, Democrats have indicated that they expect no objections will be brought against certifying Trump’s win.

Jan. 6, 2021. Though Jan. 6 was once seen as a relatively uneventful day in American political life, for the past four years, the date has been a cultural flashpoint. During a speech at the Ellipse four years ago, Trump, alleging that the 2020 election results were tainted by fraud, told his supporters to go to the Capitol to “peacefully and patriotically“ protest the certification of the results. In the speech, Trump urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject certain electoral slates from key battleground states. When the crowd arrived at the Capitol, chaos ensued as some protesters entered the Capitol. Most entered through the main entrances, though a minority entered through smashed windows. Ultimately, the Capitol was cleared of protesters after Trump urged his supporters to leave. Though some damages had been done to the building and some offices, certification proceeded without further objections. Critics of Trump alleged that the Capitol breach was the culmination of an attempted insurrection against the U.S. government. Supporters of Trump say the narratives surrounding the events of the day have been misrepresented and note Trump’s role in ending the breach and how he left office unchallenged on Jan. 20, 2021.

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Archeofuturism.

• Musk and Trump Can Bring A New Era That Blends Technology and Tradition (RT)

Elon Musk’s technological ambitions and Guillaume Faye’s Archeofuturist philosophy come together in a vision where advanced innovation revives ancient values, blending tradition with progress. Under Trump’s conservative leadership, this synergy could forge a future where ancestral spirit and technological power redefine civilization. Elon Musk, the trailblazing entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX, and Guillaume Faye, the French thinker known for his concept of Archeofuturism, converge in their advocacy for a future that harmonizes technological advancement with traditional values. Musk builds rockets, electric cars, and brain-computer interfaces, but beneath the silicon and steel lies a worldview positively aligned with Faye’s vision of a world where cutting-edge technoscience intertwines with the primordial myths and ethoses of ancient societies.

Archeofuturism proposes that mankind’s future must reject linear progressivism in favor of a cyclical model where archaic principles are revived and fused with world-renewing technologies. Musk’s projects are engineering feats as well as vessels of a philosophy that reawakens mankind’s different ethnic souls while propelling it towards the stars. During Donald Trump’s second presidency, a unique synergy will emerge between Musk’s technological endeavors and the administration’s conservative policies. Trump’s emphasis on deregulation and national sovereignty will dismantle bureaucratic obstacles, creating fertile ground for Musk’s Faustian ambition to thrive. While many view Trump’s administration as emblematic of an older, more traditionalist America, Musk represents the forward-facing engine of a society redefining itself.

Together, their approaches provide the scaffolding for a world where technological innovation makes its influence felt without compromising the foundational principles of identity and sovereignty. Faye’s Archeofuturism predicts this dynamic: a synthesis of traditionalism and futurism, where governance nurtures innovation and cultural renewal in tandem instead of pitting them against each other. SpaceX, under Musk’s leadership, is a monumental expression of Archeofuturist ideals. The company’s reusable rocket technology shatters the constraints of old models, both economically and ideologically, paving the way for mankind’s long overdue exploration of the cosmos. Musk’s rhetoric about making life multiplanetary is not science fiction. It brings to mind Faye’s call to reignite mankind’s heroic spirit.

Musk’s planned colonization of Mars is framed both as a technological achievement and a necessity for human survival – a reclamation of the explorer archetype that has driven civilizations since antiquity. During the Trump administration, which celebrates American exceptionalism and a revived interest in space exploration, SpaceX will truly prosper. By partnering with NASA, Musk is able to leverage Trump’s nationalist energy into a cosmic ambition that goes beyond the political, tapping into the primal yearning to break frontiers. Tesla’s rise provides another layer to this Archeofuturist narrative. Electric vehicles have long been seen as symbols of sterile modernity, but Musk reshapes them into icons of power, speed, and autonomy.

Tesla cars, with their sleek design and state-of-the-art performance, marry ecological consciousness with technological dominance, reaffirming Faye’s insistence that future societies must balance environmental concerns with bold, dynamic solutions. Tesla’s emergence as the world’s most valuable car company is not just a market success. It symbolizes the cultural shift towards a future where sustainability is not synonymous with mediocrity. Trump’s administration, which prioritizes reducing regulatory burdens, will allow Tesla to innovate at an unprecedented pace, demonstrating how conservative policies can catalyze technological revolutions aligned with Archeofuturist principles.

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“This was a holistic effort, Ball proudly wrote, that helped guarantee a Biden victory.”

• Conspiracies Too Awful to Imagine? (Victor Davis Hanson)

2. Indeed, during the Trump administration, we witnessed once more undreamed-of efforts to sabotage a presidency:

a) A former Pentagon lawyer publishing a call for either immediate Trump impeachment, 25th Amendment removal, or a military coup.

b) A planning session of the Deputy Attorney General and Interim FBI Director to discuss stealthily recording the President of the United States in hopes of finding enough off-the-record embarrassing conversations to justify a 25th Amendment removal.

c) A later 2020 campaign effort jumpstarted by the current Biden Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the former interim CIA Director Mike Morrell, with help from former CIA Directors John Brennan and Leon Panetta, along with former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, to round up 51 “former” (but actually many enjoying then-current CIA contractor status) “intelligence authorities” to publicly mislead the public by signing a letter that the incriminating Hunter Biden laptop (then in the hands of and authenticated as genuine by the FBI) was once again a Russian effort to throw the election to Trump. It was an obvious scripted lie, but timely scheduled before the last debate to arm Biden with plausible denials and thus to help swing the election to him. And it likely did.

d) There was, in addition, an effort by the heads of the NIH, Francis Collins, and NIAID, Anthony Fauci, deliberately to obfuscate, and allegedly in the case of Fauci, to lie under oath, about the efforts of American health authorities 1) to evade U.S. prohibitions on gain-in-function viral research, by funding the third-party EcoHealth Alliance to facilitate the transference of American money, instrumentation, and consulting to partner with the Chinese communist Wuhan virology lab; 2) to obfuscate the truth that the lab had somehow leaked the lethal, manmade virus—birthed with the help of U.S. expertise—that was killing millions worldwide; 3) to promulgate a false scenario of a bat/pangolin origin; 4) to deny under oath the American government’s role in the birth of the virus; 5) to suppress dissident scientific voices; and 6) to advise radical quarantine policies that would virtually destroy the U.S. economy along with the Trump 2020 reelection effort, and then shift blame from their own culpability to a false narrative that Trump was the chief driver of a disastrous national shutdown that had ruined the economy and yet was supposedly nearly criminally lax in controlling the outbreak.

e) The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, took it upon himself to 1) violate his own legal prerogatives as an advisory military official by unlawfully interrupting the chain of command when ordering theater commanders to report directly to him rather than as legally required to the Secretary of Defense in times of national crises, and 2) without presidential or Pentagon written authority, contacted his Chinese communist counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army. His stated aim apparently was to reassure the Chinese military that in Milley’s own view, if he should diagnose Trump, his own commander-in-chief, as unbalanced and intending to escalate tensions to the threshold of a possible nuclear war, Milley again would first contact General Zuocheng to reassure him that an erratic Trump would then be not in full command of American strategic forces.

Then he, Milley, with others, would seek to de-escalate tensions and preclude a conflict. Milley denied any impropriety. But he could not negate that he had no such authority to act on the part of the executive branch and was doing so in direct opposition to the President of the United States. Milley was also de facto creating a dangerous precedent for any future ambitious, freelancing chairmen of the Joint Chiefs, both to interrupt the chain of command and to self-diagnose their commander-in-chief to justify excluding him from exercising his responsibilities entailed in his oath of office.

f) In the 2020 election cycle, left-wing-funded legal teams systematically and under the guise of the COVID lockdown sued in favorable courts to overturn or modify state balloting laws to ensure the most radical and abrupt changes in U.S. voting procedures in history. The net result was that in many key states, traditional Election Day balloting that had accounted for 60-80 percent of the cast votes was made a mere construct. Instead, some 60-70 percent of voters in many key states cast early- or mail-in ballots, even as the traditional rejection rate of such ballots drastically fell—again, as the numbers to be counted soared.

g) During this same 2020 election, according to liberal journalist Molly Ball, writing triumphantly post facto in Time magazine, a named “cabal” and “conspiracy” of billionaire leftist grandees, Silicon Valley monopolists, Chamber of Commerce, corporate entities, labor, and street activists sought to change balloting laws, street modulate demonstrations, enlist social media to censor and shape the news, partner with the FBI, and provide hundreds of millions of dollars to absorb the work of state registrars by supplying their own adjutant employees and voting materials. This was a holistic effort, Ball proudly wrote, that helped guarantee a Biden victory.

h) During 2021-2024, there were 91 local, state, and federal felony indictments launched against the ex-president and then-current front-running Republican candidate and opponent of the sitting president Biden. The charges were so blatantly political, and the principals in direct or indirect contact with either the White House counsel, the Department of Justice, or each other, that the multifaceted effort could be rightly termed a conspiracy to warp the legal system by destroying a political opponent. The charges would never have been brought against any other political candidate or against Trump himself—had he not publicly announced his intention to run a third time for president.

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“They found a cure for gluttony. Now do narcissism.” — Peachy Keenan

• Prank-O-Rama (James Howard Kunstler)

Poor “Joe Biden” can’t help himself as the sun sets on his ignominious career. He ordered the American flag to fly at half-staff into January 20, inauguration day, to signal grief and distress at Donald Trump’s swearing-in — not realizing, apparently, that Mr. Trump’s first act in office will be to order the flag raised back up, signaling symbolically the end to America’s grief and distress under “Joe Biden.” You might wonder: what other sort of vicious mischief the Party of Chaos has in store in the final ramp-up to a momentous change of government? Well, no sooner had ol’ “JB” draped the Wegovy-slenderized neck of Hillary Clinton with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, than Bill Clinton went on ABC’s The View to declare he was “open to talking with [‘President Biden’]” about a preemptive pardon for Hillary. Say, whu. . . ?

What crimes did Bill have in mind that such a pardon might avail? Skolkovo? Uranium One? The Clinton Foundation’s sketchy activities in Haiti after the earthquake there? Bill preemptively mentioned the old emails bidness as a ruse. Nothing to see there, folks, he protested. (Just don’t look anywhere else!) You must imagine that the incoming Solicitor General, John Sauer’s, first act in office will be to ask SCOTUS for a ruling on the legitimacy of preemptive pardons — blanket pardons for crimes alive perhaps in guilty consciences but nowhere extant as yet in the legal system. The justices might detect a certain logical incoherence in that proposition. “Joe Biden” should have just draped wreaths of garlic around the necks of Mrs. Clinton, Liz Cheney, and Alex Soros (standing in for ol’ George).

Judge Juan Merchan did not get a medal. He’s warming up for his January 10 stunt of sentencing Mr. Trump for the “felony” of recording a payment to lawyer Michael Cohen as a “legal expense” (times thirty-four) so Democrats can holler “nyah nyah, felon!” as Mr. Trump re-enters the Oval Office. Judge Merchan himself has racked-up an impressive list of federal offenses around deprivation of Mr. Trump’s civil and due-process rights as well as judicial misconduct, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power. Justice may await the judge. Today, January 6, of course, is electoral vote certification day in a joint session of Congress. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has been making noises about contesting certification on the grounds that Mr. Trump is an “insurrectionist” under the disqualification clause in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Don’t be surprised if Jamie makes a show of it to justify all his loose talk, but it will only be a performance.

He might as well bring a chicken into the chamber and bite its head off. The shadowy claque behind “Joe Biden” has been super-busy cooking up documents for the demented old bird to sign before leaving office, anything that supposedly might discommode the incoming Mr. Trump. “JB” is like a bandit fleeing the scene of a crime, throwing his stolen booty into the road off the back of his truck to trip up the police closing in. Close down offshore oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts for evermore. . . ban gas-powered water heaters. . . any old thing to make life more uncomfortable for the people of this land. The shadowy claque seems oblivious to the fact that the people won’t appreciate these pranks, that they just give more reasons for them to drive a wooden stake through the heart of the Democratic Party — as if it even had one.

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Does Bannon have evidence that Musk is “owned lock, stock, and barrel by the Chinese Communist Party?”

• Bannon Goes Off On Musk Over “Social Credit Score” Changes On X (ZH)

To say Steve Bannon is not a fan of Elon Musk would be putting it lightly. In 2023, the former White House chief strategist suggested that Musk is a “total and complete phony,” who is “owned lock, stock, and barrel by the Chinese Communist Party.” Then last week, after Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy sparked a firestorm of criticism over H-1B visas, Bannon said that Musk and other tech companies utilizing H-1B labor “want a tech feudalism.” And on Saturday, Bannon suggested that Musk has “masters in Beijing” during a Sunday episode of WarRoom in which Bannon discussed Musk’s decision to change the algorithm on X to reduce “negativity.” “This is the CCP. This is a social credit score,” said Bannon, adding “He’s got a glass jaw…he’s got the maturity of an 11-year-old. It’s obvious, he can’t take criticism.”

“One of his weaknesses is that he needs to be loved. He needs the masses to love him. He needs the masses to love him, you can tell when he’s on the stage, he needs that glory.” Bannon then circled back on the H-1B visa debate for which Musk started catching major shit from the right. “So then when his apparatus turns against him, and particularly people that cheered him who said ‘hey, we hate what you’re doing to this country, we know now that you’re lying to us, bald-faced lie, these are not high-skilled people,’ and they turn, all of a sudden, he has to go to what is a Chinese credit score,” he continued.

“They have a digital ghetto. And to only have raised up what praises him. That is like the little boy’s mentally of ‘I want to be the superhero, I want to put the cape on and kind of skip around.'” “It’s an absolute indication of immaturity, of not being able to deal with things as an adult. And that’s what you’re seeing being implemented on Twitter here,” Bannon said. Musk’s decision to change the X algorithm to “maximize unregretted user-seconds” has not gone over well – particularly among the ‘free speech absolutist’ crowd, which recoiled in shock during the H-1B visa debate when those critical of the program found themselves demonetized or outright banned from the platform.

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“..a “hellish mixture of neo-Nazism and terrorism with drug delirium.”

• Moscow Reacts To Zelensky’s Request To Trump For Frozen Russian Cash (RT)

Vladimir Zelensky’s claim that he told US President-elect Donald Trump that Kiev could use frozen Russian assets to buy American weapons is proof of “deep-rooted corrupt ties” between the Ukrainian leader and the West, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has claimed. During his three-hour-long interview with podcaster Lex Fridman on Sunday, Zelensky said he had proposed that Trump give Ukraine the $300 billion in Russian central bank funds that had been frozen by the US and EU after the escalation of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022. The money would serve as one of the security guarantees to Ukraine during a possible diplomatic settlement of the conflict, he explained.

According to Zelensky, he told Trump to “take the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets. We will take it. Take money, what we need for our domestic production, and we will buy all the weapons from the US.” Such an arrangement “will be very good for your industry, for the US,” he added. Zakharova reacted to the claim in a post on Telegram on Monday, insisting that the fact that the Ukrainian leader “offered Trump ‘other people’s money in exchange for weapons’ testifies to Zelensky’s deep-rooted corrupt ties with the Anglo-Americans [the US and UK].”

US President Joe Biden has “firmly hooked the Kiev regime on: steal and kill, and then steal again – a bloody scheme in place since the time of Burisma,” a Ukrainian firm which employed the elderly politician’s son Hunter as a highly-paid director in the 2010s, she wrote. As for Zelensky’s interview as a whole, the spokeswoman described it as a “hellish mixture of neo-Nazism and terrorism with drug delirium.” The Ukrainian leader is “completely out of his mind,” Zakharova suggested.

During his conversation with Fridman, Zelensky, among other things, said that it was “bad” that Ukraine did not have nuclear weapons and confessed that he “despises” the Russian people. In late December, exiled Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk claimed that the “corrupt nature” of Zelensky’s rule is the reason why his country is now ruined. Medvedchuk also suggested that the whole conflict between Moscow and Kiev is “based on one large corrupt scheme that involves leading parties and politicians in Europe and the US.” The Western politicians that support Ukraine are afraid of losing power because it could lead to the new leaders finding out “that they had been robbing their own people under the guise of helping Zelensky,” he said.

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“Continued support for Kiev is vital for the “credibility” of the West..”

• Ukraine Should Be ‘Realistic’ – Macron (RT)

Resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict will not be quick or easy and will require Kiev to face the issue of territory, French President Emmanuel Macron has warned. Speaking to an annual conference of ambassadors at the Elysee Palace on Monday, Macron addressed a number of global issues, including the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. “The Ukrainians need to hold a realistic discussion on the territorial questions and only they can do that,” the French president said. “The United States of America has to help us change the nature of the situation and convince Russia to come to the negotiating table,” while the European members of NATO have the responsibility to craft security guarantees for Ukraine, Macron added.

While no specific peace proposal has been made public, rumors in the media have suggested that US President-elect Donald Trump intends to propose a ceasefire that would “freeze” the conflict along the current front line. Some Western governments have sought to handle Kiev’s expected objections to this by offering Ukraine security guarantees, while stopping short of NATO membership. The French president also warned that there is “no quick and easy solution” in Ukraine, even though Trump has pledged to end the conflict swiftly once he takes office. Continued support for Kiev is vital for the “credibility” of the West, which would be “undermined” by any compromises brought about by “Ukraine fatigue,” Macron told the diplomats in Paris. “The new American president himself knows that the US has no chance of winning anything if Ukraine loses,” Macron said, adding that “capitulation of Ukraine cannot be good for Europeans and Americans.”

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has outlawed any talks with Russia so long as President Vladimir Putin is in office and has insisted on a “peace platform” that would see a unilateral Russian withdrawal from all territories claimed by Kiev, payment of reparations, and war crimes prosecutions. Moscow has dismissed Zelensky’s proposal as delusional. Russia’s terms for ending the hostilities insist on Ukraine becoming neutral, demilitarized and “denazified,” while accepting the “new territorial realities” on the ground and guaranteeing all the rights of ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers. Any peace will also require the removal of all Western sanctions on Russia as well, the Kremlin has said.

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Can Starlink cover all internet services for the whole country?

• Italy In Talks With Starlink For $1.6 Billion Telecom Security Deal (ZH)

President-elect Donald Trump hosted Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday. Following the meeting, Bloomberg reported that a deal between the Italian government and Elon Musk’s SpaceX for Starlink satellite internet service could soon be finalized to provide secure telecommunications. Starlink and the Italian government have been in discussions since mid-2023. According to the report, talks are ongoing and centered around a five-year contract valued at $1.6 billion. This contract would provide a broad range of top-level encryption for the government’s telephone and internet services. Sources indicated that Italy’s Intelligence Services and Defense Ministry have already signed a deal with SpaceX. Italy confirmed on Monday that discussions continue, stating that no deal has been reached. Officials added, “The talks with SpaceX are part of normal government business.”

On Saturday, Trump praised PM Meloni as a “fantastic woman” at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. “This is very exciting,” Trump said, adding, “I’m here with a fantastic woman, the prime minister of Italy. She’s really taken Europe by storm.” Trump and Meloni were joined by two of his nominees: Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) for Secretary of State and Representative Mike Waltz (R-Florida) for National Security Advisor. Following the meeting, Bloomberg reported that a deal between the Italian government and Elon Musk’s SpaceX for Starlink satellite internet service could soon be finalized to provide secure telecommunications.

Starlink and the Italian government have been in discussions since mid-2023. According to the report, talks are ongoing and centered around a five-year contract valued at $1.6 billion. This contract would provide a broad range of top-level encryption for the government’s telephone and internet services. Sources indicated that Italy’s Intelligence Services and Defense Ministry have already signed a deal with SpaceX. Italy confirmed on Monday that discussions continue, stating that no deal has been reached. Officials added, “The talks with SpaceX are part of normal government business.” On Saturday, Trump praised PM Meloni as a “fantastic woman” at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. “This is very exciting,” Trump said, adding, “I’m here with a fantastic woman, the prime minister of Italy. She’s really taken Europe by storm.”

https://twitter.com/Trump_Fact_News/status/1865559780557013248

Trump and Meloni were joined by two of his nominees: Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) for Secretary of State and Representative Mike Waltz (R-Florida) for National Security Advisor. Meloni’s visit to Mar-a-Lago follows her dinner with Trump and Musk in December during the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Last month, Reuters reported that Italy plans to begin tests as early as January to see if Starlink internet will boost the rollout of high-speed internet in the country. Musk’s SpaceX is the leader in rocket launches and satellite deployment, allowing the US to be many years ahead of China and Russia in the global space race. Starlink has more than 7,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit, along with next-gen satellites being launched regularly for direct-to-cell satellite services.

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This says Ursula and Bourla used SMS and then deleted the messages. WhatsApp seems more likely, since it is encrypted.

• Pfizergate: What is EC Chief Von Der Leyen Accused of? (Sp.)

A court in Liege, Belgium, is due to consider whether European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has legal immunity against corruption charges related to her murky involvement in the purchase of coronavirus vaccines. What is the scandal all about? Sputnik explores. In 2022, US media reported that von der Leyen had communicated with Albert Bourla, chief executive of the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, about clinching a long-term contract to purchase 1.8 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines worth €35 billion ($37.6 billion), even before they passed clinical trials. Negotiations on the deal were conducted informally in late 2020 via SMS messages and without prior consent of EU member states.

The European Commission President also texted her husband, Heiko von der Leyen, who serves as the medical director at Orgenesis, a company that collaborates with Pfizer. All the messages were then accidentally deleted, Ursula von der Leyen claimed. As a result, she has been accused of “usurpation of functions and title,” destruction of public documents, and high-level corruption charges that were initiated by Belgian lobbyist Frederic Baldan. The first hearing on his complaint was held on 17 May 2024, when the Liege court confirmed that the so-called Pfizegate case is in line with its jurisdiction and should not be handed to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), created on the initiative of von der Leyen herself, due to an obvious conflict of interests.

The second hearing slated for December 5 was actually disrupted due to a demarche by the EPPO, which sent a counter-request to the court for von der Leyen’s immunity. The EPPO argues that von der Leyen has immunity from prosecution for corruption. European Commission spokesperson Stefan de Keersmaecker said on January 5 that von der Leyen had canceled all “external engagements” in the coming days after contracting “severe pneumonia.”

https://twitter.com/i/status/1876278016722010115

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“According to three separate reports published in 2013, 2014, and 2015, local politicians and police alike opted to cover up the rapes partly out of fear that bringing the perpetrators to justice would be seen as “racist.”

• Migrants Arrested For Sex Crimes At Triple The Rate Of Brits – UK Stats (RT)

Foreigners are more than three times as likely to be arrested for sex crimes in the UK as British citizens, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis by the Centre for Migration Control using data from the Home Office and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The report comes amid claims that the government has purposefully suppressed information on migrant crime stats, as well as a renewed uproar over institutional cover-ups in the ‘grooming gangs’ scandal. Groups of men across the UK, predominantly of Pakistani origin, have reportedly raped and tortured thousands of underage girls in towns across northern England over the last two decades. Police in England and Wales arrested more than 9,000 foreign nationals for sexual offenses between January and October last year, according to the data, which was released through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

That figure represented 26.1% of the total estimated 35,000 arrests for sexual offenses. The data show almost 165 arrests per 100,000 of the migrant population, in comparison to 48 arrests per 100,000 British citizens. In the City of London, foreign nationals accounted for almost 67% of arrests for sexual offenses. Looking at all crimes, the report showed that foreign nationals were arrested at twice the rate of Britons, with 131,000 arrests over the same period last year. While foreigners make up nine percent of the population, they accounted for more than 16% of arrests. Albanians were the nationality most likely to be arrested for sex crimes, followed by Afghans, Iraqis, and Algerians. Romanians accounted for the most arrests for crimes overall, followed by Poles, Albanians, Indians, Pakistanis, and Nigerians.

Robert Bates, the founder of the Centre for Migration Control, told The Telegraph that the government must implement “far stricter visa protocols” for those nationalities with a “disproportionately high propensity to engage in criminality.” A government spokesman said on Monday that the Ministry of Justice “already publishes the data on convicted foreign nationals serving in our prisons” and has a plan for “smashing the criminal gangs” in Britain. Calls have grown for a public inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal in recent days after Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk publicly attacked Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s handling of the issue when he led the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service, from 2008 to 2013.

In a series of posts on X, Musk pointed to reports that the Home Office allegedly urged the police forces in 2008 not to investigate sexual exploitation of underage girls. Musk called Starmer a “national embarrassment” and said he “must go.” According to three separate reports published in 2013, 2014, and 2015, local politicians and police alike opted to cover up the rapes partly out of fear that bringing the perpetrators to justice would be seen as “racist.”

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A guaranteed hit.

• Amazon Confirms Melania Trump Documentary (RT)

A documentary about Melania Trump will be released later this year, Amazon has confirmed, touting the forthcoming release as “an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look” at the former and incoming US first lady. Filming began in December with former Hollywood heavyweight Brett Ratner as the director, Variety reported on Monday. “We are excited to share this truly unique story with our millions of customers around the world,” an Amazon spokesperson told the outlet. “Prime Video will be sharing more details on the project as filming progresses and release plans are finalized.” The film will reportedly be released in theaters as well as on the Prime streaming platform. Trump herself is listed as an executive producer, alongside Fernando Sulichin of New Element Media. Sulichin has worked with Oliver Stone on documentaries about NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and Brazilian president Luiz Inacio ‘Lula’ da Silva.

Work on the project began about a month after her husband Donald decisively won the 2024 US presidential election. Slovenian-born Melania is Trump’s third wife and the mother of his youngest son, Barron. Amazon’s Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos also owns the Washington Post, which was openly critical of Trump during his first term in the White House (2017-2021). Bezos has recently signaled a change of approach, praising Trump for “tremendous grace and courage under literal fire” after an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July. Ahead of the November election, he blocked the Post from endorsing Trump’s rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Last month, Bezos also announced he would be making a $1 million donation to Trump’s inauguration fund and another $1 million in-kind contribution by streaming the ceremony on Prime Video. Ratner’s involvement has attracted some controversy in Hollywood. The director of ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ and the ‘Rush Hour’ franchise has not worked since 2017, when several actresses publicly accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior. No charges were ever filed, however, and the entire episode played out in the court of public opinion at the height of the ‘Me Too’ era triggered by accusations against producer Harvey Weinstein.

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After all these years, the best they can do is “power a small refrigerator for about 3.5 hours”.

• Nuclear Fusion Offers Safe And Clean Energy (JTN)

Virginia Gov. Glenn Younkin announced last month that the largest private fusion company in the U.S. had selected the state to be the location for a multi-billion dollar investment in the world’s first grid-scale fusion power plant. Commonwealth Fusion Systems promises to deliver power to the grid within a decade from a facility 16 miles south of Richmond. Fusion power has been getting a lot of attention lately, including a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing in September, with a panel of experts speaking optimistically on the development of the technology. Even if developers manage to overcome the technical challenges of bringing fusion energy to fruition, nuclear proponents say that the barriers to development of nuclear fission remain political and not technical or economical. There’s little reason to think the same political challenges could stand in the way of fusion, even if the technology is realized.

The International Atomic Energy Commission explains that while fission splits a heavy element (with a high atomic mass number) into fragments; fusion joins two light elements (with a low atomic mass number), forming a heavier element. In both cases, energy is freed because the mass of the remaining nucleus is smaller than the mass of the reacting nuclei. Nuclear fission power plants have the disadvantage of generating unstable nuclei; some of these are radioactive for millions of years. “Fusion on the other hand does not create any long-lived radioactive nuclear waste. A fusion reactor produces helium, which is an inert gas.” Too cheap to meterFusion works by combining isotopes together, in a process that releases energy. It’s the same process that the sun uses. Theoretically, a fusion reactor could generate massive amounts of electricity, without any carbon dioxide emissions.

It also doesn’t carry the risks of a nuclear meltdown that, while very rare, can occur in a fission reactor, which releases energy by splitting atoms apart. There’s no chance of a chain reaction in a fusion generator. Fusion also doesn’t produce nuclear waste. While the prospect of an abundant, carbon-free energy source is attractive, the promise of fusion is nothing new. At an Atoms for Peace conference in 1955, Homi Bhabha, an influential Indian nuclear physicist predicted fusion would be a reality by the 1970s. “I venture to predict that a method will be found for liberating fusion energy in a controlled manner within the next two decades,” Bhabha said.

The prediction, of course, turned out to be wrong, and 70 years later, there are no commercial fusion reactors powering the grid anywhere in the world. While fission reactors have been deployed and have provided about 9% of global energy in 2023, that technology too had its share of hype, once promising to be “too cheap to meter.” In 2022, the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, became the only facility to achieve what’s called “net fusion energy,” which is a fusion reaction producing more energy than the reaction required. The reaction released 3.15 million joules of energy and required 2.05 million joules of laser power to produce it. The 3.15 million joules is the equivalent of 875 watt hours. That could power a small refrigerator for about 3.5 hours.

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Jan 6

 

 

Biden Is ‘Unequivocally’ More Mentally Fit Than Trump

 

 

Errol

 

 

Octopus

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle December 8 2024

Dec 082024
 
 December 8, 2024  Posted by at 10:35 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  82 Responses »


Alfred Sisley Snow at Louveciennes 1878

 

• Syrian Army Informs Officers Of Regime Change – Reuters (RT)
• ‘Not Our Fight!’: Trump Weighs In On Syria’s Unraveling (ZH)
• Ukraine ‘Would Like To Make A Deal’ With Russia – Trump (RT)
• Meeting With Trump And Macron Was ‘Productive’ – Zelensky (RT)
• Megyn Kelly Warns Deep State Is Coming For Hegseth, Gabbard, RFK Jr (ZH)
• The Clintons Need Biden’s ‘Blanket Pardons’ More Than Other Democrats (Sp.)
• Musk Spent $260 Million On Trump (RT)
• Prosecutor Blocks Lawsuit Against Ursula von der Leyen Over Pfizergate (Sp.)
• How Russia Plans To Win In Ukraine (Dmitry Trenin)
• Teenagers Preparing To Flee Ukraine – The Times (RT)
• The Syria Tragedy and the New Omni-War (Pepe Escobar)
• Russia Warns Against Geopolitical Use of Terrorists in Syria’s Conflict (Sp.)
• Russia, Iran Call For ‘Internal Dialogue’ To Resolve Crisis In Syria (Cradle)
• Romanian Presidential Frontrunner Claims He’s Victim Of Coup D’état (RT)
• France Is A Perfect Example Of Centrist Elites Wrecking The West (Amar)
• Pop Art: The Value of Hunter Biden’s Art Expected to Collapse (Turley)
• Durov Subjected To First Detailed Questioning In Court (RT)

 

 

 

 

Alina


https://twitter.com/i/status/1865244916961726923

Leavitt

Tulsi

McEnany

 

 

 

 

The speed at which the Assad regime unraveled provokes a whole new additional set of questions. Where were Russia, Iran, China? Were they ever going to help? There was hardly any resistance from Syrian troops, no fighting.

• Syrian Army Informs Officers Of Regime Change – Reuters (RT)

The Syrian Army command announced on Sunday that President Bashar Assad’s 24-year rule has come to an end, according to a Syrian officer who spoke to Reuters. The announcement follows a rapid offensive by jihadist forces in the capital. The jihadists claim that Damascus is “now free of Assad” and are expected to make their first public statement via state TV, Reuters reports, citing two anti-government sources. In response to the political uncertainty, Prime Minister Mohammad al-Jalali stated that he is “ready to cooperate with any leadership chosen by the people,” as quoted by Al Jazeera. He added that he remains at home and is inclined to support the continuity of government.

Ahmed Al-Sharaa, a prominent commander for the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has issued orders prohibiting all militant forces in Damascus from approaching public institutions or firing weapons into the air. He went on to say that government institutions will remain under the supervision of the “former prime minister” until they are officially transferred to the new authorities. Over the weekend, HTS fighters and other anti-government militias entered Damascus, effectively taking control of the capital. Flight tracking websites indicate that Assad’s plane has left the city.

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“HTS, the group backed by NATO member Turkey and leading this anti-Assad onslaught, is a US-designated terror organization..”

• ‘Not Our Fight!’: Trump Weighs In On Syria’s Unraveling (ZH)

President-elect Donald Trump has weighed in on the rapid-moving events in Syria, where jihadist groups backed by Turkey are entering the outside environs of the capital of Damascus. The embattled President Bashar al-Assad still appears to be in residence, but his future is far from certain. “Opposition fighters in Syria, in an unprecedented move, have totally taken over numerous cities, in a highly coordinated offensive, and are now on the outskirts of Damascus, obviously preparing to make a very big move toward taking out Assad,” he began the statement on Truth Social.Trump emphasized that Washington should stay completely out, calling the situation a “mess” and that it is “not our fight”. He posted the same message on X.

It alludes to Russia’s inability to continue protecting Syria, given it is bogged down in the nearly three year long Ukraine war, while also blasting former President Obama’s past Syria policies and that he laid down ‘red lines’. Below is the full statement: “Russia, because they are so tied up in Ukraine, and with the loss there of over 600,000 soldiers, seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years. This is where former President Obama refused to honor his commitment of protecting the RED LINE IN THE SAND, and all hell broke out, with Russia stepping in. But now they are, like possibly Assad himself, being forced out, and it may actually be the best thing that can happen to them. There was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia, other than to make Obama look really stupid.”Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!”

It must be remembered that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group backed by NATO member Turkey and leading this anti-Assad onslaught, is a US-designated terror organization. A big question is: what comes next? While HTS has morphed from Syrian Al-Qaeda, it is trying to present to the West a softer image, claiming that it will protect minorities including Christians. However, its recent past clearly demonstrates that it rules territories under its control with Taliban-style force and brutality. Much of the nation’s population until now has stuck with Assad given the alternative is Somalia-style fracturing and rule by competing jihadist warlords. One thing is for sure: Trump will inherent dealing with an absolute tragic mess in Syria, the heartland of the Middle East, upon his opening days in office. Currently, US forces still occupy one-third of Syria, in the oil and gas areas of the northeast. During Trump’s first term he expressed an effort to “bring the troops home” but it’s widely reported he was stymied by his generals and national security officials.

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600,000 Russian soldiers vs 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers?

• Ukraine ‘Would Like To Make A Deal’ With Russia – Trump (RT)

Ukraine “would like to” make a peace deal with Russia, US President-elect Donald Trump has signaled after meeting with Vladimir Zelensky in Paris. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump called for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations between Moscow and Kiev. Trump’s remarks came after reports emerged of a regime change in Syria, Russia’s ally in the Middle East, where jihadists claimed to have taken over the Syrian capital Damascus and toppled President Bashar Assad’s 24-year rule. Trump speculated that this happened because Assad’s “protector,” Russia, “was not interested in protecting him any longer.”

“[Russia] lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine, where close to 600,000 Russian soldiers lay wounded or dead, in a war that should never have started, and could go on forever, Trump stated, claiming that Russia is currently “in a weakened state… because of Ukraine and a bad economy.” “Likewise, Zelensky and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness. They have ridiculously lost 400,000 soldiers, and many more civilians. There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin,” the President-elect said, adding that if the conflict is not resolved, “it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse.”

Notre Dame

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It was suggested Trump shook Macron’s hand so hard, the latter needed a chiropractor.

• Meeting With Trump And Macron Was ‘Productive’ – Zelensky (RT)

US President-elect Donald Trump has met briefly with French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky in Paris. No joint statement was released after the trilateral talks, but Zelensky hailed the conversation as “good and productive.” Trump arrived in Paris on Saturday to attend the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral, extensively damaged in a fire in 2019. The trip was Trump’s first foreign visit since he defeated Kamala Harris in last month’s presidential election, but he nevertheless arrived at the Elysee Palace 40 minutes late, French media reported. Trump and Macron shared a warm embrace outside the palace, and speaking to reporters inside, Macron said that it was a “great honor” to host the incoming US president. Trump returned the compliment, before declaring that “the world seems to be going a little crazy right now.”

Zelensky, who was originally due to hold a one-on-one meeting with Macron, arrived nearly an hour later, before the three met for roughly 35 minutes, according to BFMTV. The three men did not speak to the press afterwards, and left for Notre Dame separately after posing for pictures. In a post on X, Macron said that the meeting was focused on “common action for peace and security.” Zelensky, also posting on X, described the talks as “good and productive.” “President Trump is, as always, resolute. I thank him,” Zelensky wrote. “We all want this war to end as soon as possible and in a just way,” he continued. “We spoke about our people, the situation on the ground, and a just peace.” “We agreed to continue working together and keep in contact. Peace through strength is possible,” he concluded, using a catchphrase regularly deployed by Trump to describe his foreign policy.

Throughout his campaign, Trump repeatedly promised that he would end the Ukraine conflict within “24 hours” of taking office, without offering any specifics on how he would achieve this beyond pushing Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin into negotiations. Recent media reports suggest that he intends to ‘freeze’ the conflict along the current line of contact, using the threat of a reduction in US aid to force Zelensky to negotiate, and the threat of increased aid to Kiev to pressure Putin into talks. Zelensky insists that his ten-point ‘peace formula’ is the only viable path to what he calls a “just peace” with Russia. However, the Kremlin has dismissed this document as “delusional,” with its demands that Russia restore Ukraine’s 1991 borders, pay reparations, and surrender its own officials to war-crimes tribunals.

Moscow maintains that any settlement must begin with Ukraine ceasing military operations and acknowledging the “territorial reality” that it will never regain control of the Russian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye, as well as Crimea. In addition, the Kremlin insists that the goals of its military operation – which include Ukrainian neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification – will be achieved.

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“If you don’t think they’re going to do this to RFK Jr., you haven’t been paying attention,” Kelly urged.

• Megyn Kelly Warns Deep State Is Coming For Hegseth, Gabbard, RFK Jr (ZH)

As Pete Hegseth – president-elect Trump’s pick for SecDef – runs the gauntlet of the nomination process, amid a cornucopia of media amplified unsubstantiated accusations against him, Sirius XM host Megyn Kelly has warned that the political establishment, both Democrats and Republicans, are attempting to derail Trump’s second term before it has even begun by targeting his cabinet picks. As Steve Watson writes at Modernity.news, Kelly pointed to Pete Hegseth, who who is fighting to stay in the running for Secretary of Defense amid a cornucopia of media amplified unsubstantiated accusations against him. Kelly warned that if Hegseth falls like Matt Gaetz did, then RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and anyone else Trump picks will likely be next. “If you don’t think they’re going to do this to RFK Jr., you haven’t been paying attention,” Kelly urged.

“I realize that Pete has his belly exposed. He has not led a perfect life, and there’s plenty if you want to start attacking his character in terms of his marital history and so on,” Kelly noted. “But as he said to me yesterday, he found around 20, I think it was 18 or so, he found his two J’s: his wife, Jen and Jesus, and started changing his life in a profound way,” she further explained. The host continued, “Let’s say they get Pete’s scalp like they got Matt Gates’s scalp, Bobby Kennedy’s history makes Pete look like the consummate Boy Scout. He looks like he’s ready to enter the priesthood.” “He’s a lot older, with a lot more of a checkered past… It’s not going to be pretty at all. So we are really at a crossroads here about whether we are going to sacrifice these nominees because of checkered personal pasts or not. It’s not going to get easier after Pete,” Kelly emphasized.

But, as Gery Berntsen writes at American Greatness, when Pete Hegseth is confirmed as Secretary of Defense, he will be a forceful agent of change for the betterment of the United States of America. The abridged version of a famous Machiavelli quote, “Nothing is more difficult or dangerous than to attempt to change the order of things,” is in full view as we watch the process of confirming President Trump’s Secretary of Defense. When Pete Hegseth is confirmed as Secretary of Defense, he will be a forceful agent of change for the betterment of the United States of America. President-elect Trump’s nominee, retired Army National Guard Major and Fox News host Peter Hegseth, is receiving considerable fire amid allegations of misconduct while CEO of Concerned Veterans for America (CVA).

I am writing this article because I was one of the founding members of CVA. I am an Air Force veteran and retired senior operations officer and chief of station in the Central Intelligence Agency. While at the CIA, I held major field command positions and was a senior manager in the CIA’s Counter-Terrorism Center (CTC). I led the CIA’s largest paramilitary element on the ground during the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, seizing Kabul, initiating the battle of Tora Bora, and leading teams around the globe in several dangerous crises. I worked hand in glove with the most important elements of the National Security Council, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, and the FBI to secure and safeguard American interests. Based on 30 years of this experience and my personal knowledge of Pete Hegseth, I have no doubt that he will excel as Secretary of Defense.


Megyn Kelly is joined by The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles

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“The Trump administration, working with Chris Rufo, a new IRS chief, and [attorney general nominee] Pam Bondi, could raise hundreds of billions of dollars merely by enforcing the strict rules and laws pertaining to nonprofit organizations..”

• The Clintons Need Biden’s ‘Blanket Pardons’ More Than Other Democrats (Sp.)

After President Joe Biden issued an unusual blanket pardon for his son, Hunter, Democratic Congressman Ed Markey has urged the president to extend “preemptive pardons” to other top Democrats whom Donald Trump believes “harmed him” and might otherwise be treated by him in a “fascistic way.” “After nearly four years of weaponizing US government resources against perceived enemies of certain dynastic political families, Markey and Biden have some nerve suggesting that the Trump administration will be engaging in ‘fascist’ retaliation starting January 20, 2025,” Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel tells Sputnik, referencing Biden’s prosecution of January 6 protestors and labeling MAGA supporters as “extremists.” US journalist Jonathan Martin reported on December 4 that Biden’s senior aides are debating the issue, and the alleged pardon list might include Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, former COVID czar Anthony Fauci.

“The public has yet to learn how deep the rot became across America ever since 1988, when elites embraced unregulated globalism and a turbocharged spoils system where trillions of dollars in spending that is not audited (by design) can be pilfered or diverted to fund political campaigns and multiple-mansion lifestyles,” Ortel says.According to the analyst, the political trajectories of the Biden, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Pelosi, and Cheney dynasty families warrant close scrutiny for alleged influence-peddling and other questionable conduct. “Those who howl loudest now anticipating Trump’s return likely include many with guilty knowledge of their own roles perpetrating a raft of crimes, believing the system will remain rigged to protect them,” he notes. As Joe Biden’s White House reportedly considers “preemptive pardons” for some top Democrats, Ortel suggests that the Clintons might be on the list.

“‘The Clinton Foundation’ (in quotes because I challenge an informed lawyer to demonstrate that it validly and lawfully exists as a public charity) has yet again issued false and materially misleading public filings as it continues to solicit donations in various ways across state lines and national boundaries,” says Ortel, who has conducted a private investigation into the charity’s alleged fraud for several years. In 2018, two forensic investigators-turned-whistleblowers, John Moynihan and Larry Doyle, testified before the US Congress that the Clinton Foundation does not operate as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization but acts as a foreign agent and owes the US government between $400 million and $2.5 billion in taxes. Additionally, Special Counsel John Durham’s probe indicated that Hillary Clinton and her team played a significant role in shaping and promoting the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.

According to Ortel, this hoax was used to prevent Trump from investigating the Clintons’ apparent pay-to-play schemes, mishandling of classified information, and alleged money laundering. “The Trump administration, working with Chris Rufo, a new IRS chief, and [attorney general nominee] Pam Bondi, could raise hundreds of billions of dollars merely by enforcing the strict rules and laws pertaining to nonprofit organizations. Many of these ‘elite’ entities have brazenly abused the law in countless ways, especially the Clintons since October 23, 1997,” Ortel says. “[One] report notes that the Biden family may now have greater exposure since Hunter can no longer readily invoke the Fifth Amendment,” Ortel points out. The Washington Free Beacon reported on December 3 that Hunter will no longer be able to rely on his Fifth Amendment right to silence regarding any potential federal crimes for which he’s been pardoned, according to two former House general counsels.

The Fifth Amendment protects against self-incrimination; however, with Hunter no longer at risk of federal prosecution for the period between January 2014 and December 2024, he appears to be ineligible for this protection. The newspaper alleges that Republican lawmakers should jump at the opportunity to subpoena Hunter Biden for new information about his family’s knowledge or involvement in his apparent influence-peddling schemes. There are a lot of questions concerning the Biden family’s conduct in post-coup Ukraine where Hunter helped secure millions of dollars of funding for Metabiota, a Pentagon bio-reseach contractor, and where he got a hefty salary from Bursima gas firm. “Finally, offering Hunter pardons for federal crimes back to January 1, 2014 raises suspicions that Joe may know of illegal activities in which Hunter engaged, years before crimes alleged in the indictments in the gun (2018) and tax (2019) cases,” Ortel stresses.

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“The value of shares in his electric vehicle company, Tesla, rose by 80% in the past month.”

• Musk Spent $260 Million On Trump (RT)

The world’s richest person, entrepreneur Elon Musk, spent at least $260 million to get Donald Trump re-elected as US president, various media outlets have reported, citing Thursday’s filings with the Federal Election Commission. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has emerged as a top Republican donor and one of the most prominent members of Trump’s inner circle, noted the Washington Post. Some $238 million of the donations went to a political action committee (PAC) that Musk founded this year, America PAC, CNN said, citing the filings. Other groups backing Trump benefitted as well, with the entrepreneur giving $20.5 million to RBG PAC, and $3 million to the MAHA Alliance.

According to the Washington Post, Musk spent $232 million supporting Trump and other Republican candidates before the election. After the vote and through November 25, he gave nearly $45 million more to America PAC, taking his total political spending to at least $277 million. Following the election victory, Trump appointed Musk as his government efficiency adviser. The entrepreneur will oversee a new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, aimed at cutting government spending. The billionaire has pledged to audit the entire US government, aiming to cut up to $2 trillion in spending.

The entrepreneur’s influence has led to the media and some conservatives dubbing him the “co-president of the United States” and “the Soros of the right,” referring to billionaire investor and prolific liberal donor George Soros. Musk is the world’s richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with an estimated total net worth of $362 billion as of December 6. The value of shares in his electric vehicle company, Tesla, rose by 80% in the past month. The world’s most valuable carmaker is expected to benefit from streamlined regulation on self-driving cars during the new Trump administration.

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This is how rotten the EU is. Secret deals for €35+ billion kept secret. Zero accountability.

“The prosecutor secretly contested the case, arguing that von der Leyen should be immune from prosecution due to her official duties..”

• Prosecutor Blocks Lawsuit Against Ursula von der Leyen Over Pfizergate (Sp.)

A Belgian court was unable to review the charges against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen due to the intervention of the European Prosecutor’s Office, according to activist and prosecution representative Frédéric Baldan. A lawsuit against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been postponed indefinitely by a Belgian judge. The postponement follows a hearing that took place on Friday at the Liège Palace of Justice, focusing on potential violations in the procurement of coronavirus vaccines by von der Leyen. The hearing was closed to the public and von der Leyen is currently abroad. “The European Prosecutor’s Office made a move that effectively blocked the court proceedings,” Baldan told Sputnik. The prosecutor secretly contested the case, arguing that von der Leyen should be immune from prosecution due to her official duties. As a result, the judge postponed the hearings indefinitely.

The issue of whether von der Leyen’s immunity applies to the charges will be addressed on January 6. Baldan believes the European Prosecutor’s Office acted in her favor. In 2021, The New York Times reported that von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla exchanged SMS messages discussing a massive vaccine procurement contract. The deal, which could be worth up to €35 billion, raised suspicions about von der Leyen’s direct influence on negotiations, sparking a media scandal dubbed “Pfizergate.” Despite calls to release the text messages, the European Commission refused to make them public in June 2022. In October the same year, the EU’s Public Prosecutor’s Office announced it was investigating the centralized procurement of vaccines on behalf of EU member states, though details remain confidential. Additionally, a separate investigation was launched in Belgium after Baldan filed a lawsuit against von der Leyen, claiming her actions caused economic harm to the country.

In March 2024, it was reported that the case had been transferred to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which confirmed it is continuing its investigation, though it refused to disclose further details. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg is also reviewing a complaint filed by The New York Times, which had requested von der Leyen’s communications with Pfizer but was denied access. The European Commission argued that these messages were not official documents and could not be retrieved. A ruling is expected in the coming months. During the pandemic, the European Union mainly purchased vaccines from the BioNTech-Pfizer consortium, along with other pharmaceutical companies. These procurements, involving billions of euros, have been the subject of ongoing scrutiny and legal disputes due to delays in supply and lack of transparency.

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Oreshnik = no nukes needed.

• How Russia Plans To Win In Ukraine (Dmitry Trenin)

The Ukrainian crisis exposed a troubling reality for Russia: its concept of strategic deterrence proved incapable of preventing enemy aggression. While it has successfully deterred a massive nuclear attack by the United States or large-scale conventional aggression by NATO, it has failed to address a new and insidious form of conflict. Washington and its allies have gambled on inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia through a client state—one they control, arm, and direct. Moscow’s nuclear doctrine, designed for a very different set of circumstances, proved inadequate. It failed to prevent Western intervention at the outset and allowed its escalation. In response, the Kremlin has recognized the need to adapt. In the third year of the operation, a long-overdue update to the doctrine has been announced. This summer, President Vladimir Putin outlined the necessary changes.

By November, the new document—entitled Fundamentals of the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence—was in place. The updated doctrine represents a profound shift in Russia’s nuclear policy, transforming it into a proactive deterrent. Previously, nuclear weapons could only be used in conventional conflicts when the very existence of the state was at risk. The threshold was set so high that it effectively allowed adversaries to exploit it. Now, the conditions have been broadened significantly. One key addition is the recognition of “joint aggression.” If a non-nuclear state at war with Russia operates with the direct support of a nuclear power, Moscow reserves the right to respond, including with nuclear weapons. This sends a clear and unmistakable message to the United States, Britain, and France: their facilities and territories are no longer immune to retaliation.

The doctrine also explicitly accounts for scenarios involving massive aerospace attacks, including drones and cruise missiles, as well as aggression against Belarus. Another important change is the expanded list of threats deemed unacceptable to Russia’s security. These changes collectively signal a more assertive posture, reflecting the reality of today’s conflict and deterring potential Western miscalculations. Western reactions to these updates were predictable. Media hysteria painted Putin as reckless, while politicians feigned calm, claiming they would “not be intimidated.” The military and intelligence communities have remained largely silent, quietly drawing their own conclusions. These updates come against an increasingly grim backdrop for the West. Realists within NATO understand the war in Ukraine is effectively lost. The Russian army holds the initiative across the front and is advancing steadily in the Donbass.

The Ukrainian armed forces are unlikely to turn the tide in the foreseeable future, if ever. Consequently, Western strategists are now eyeing a ceasefire along the battle lines as the only viable option. Notably, there has been a subtle shift in the narrative. Articles in Reuters and other Western outlets suggest that Moscow, too, may consider freezing the conflict. However, such a scenario would need to align with Russian interests. For Moscow, anything less than full victory equates to defeat, and such an outcome is simply not an option. The administration of US President Joe Biden, despite the Democrats crushing election defeat, has apparently decided to ‘help’ Donald Trump stay on course. The authorization to use US and British long-range missiles to hit targets in the Kursk and Bryansk regions is both a defiant challenge to Putin, and a ‘gift’ to the president-elect.

Likewise the transfer to Kiev of anti-personnel mines banned by the Ottawa Convention, a new batch of anti-Russian sanctions (including against Gazprombank) and an attempt to ‘push’ the latest Biden aid package for Zelensky through Congress. Russia’s response to the escalation has not been limited to updating its doctrine. The recent test of the ‘Oreshnik’ intermediate-range hypersonic missile under combat conditions marked a pivotal moment. By striking the Yuzhmash missile factory in Dnepropetrovsk, Moscow signaled to NATO that the vast majority of its European capitals are within range of this new weapon. ‘Oreshnik’ carries both conventional and nuclear warheads, and its speed — reportedly reaching up to Mach 10 — renders existing missile defense systems ineffective. Although still experimental, its successful deployment paves the way for mass production. The message is clear: Moscow is not bluffing. This shift from verbal warnings to decisive actions underscores the seriousness of the Kremlin’s resolve.

The West has long convinced itself that Putin would never strike NATO countries. With the advent of ‘Oreshnik,’ that belief has been shattered. The United States and its allies continue to escalate recklessly, betting on provoking a Russian overreaction. The authorization of long-range missile strikes on Russian territories like Kursk and Bryansk, combined with the transfer of banned weapons and the constant drumbeat of sanctions, reflects their desperation. More dangerously, there are whispers of Ukraine’s potential NATO membership or even the transfer of nuclear weapons to Kiev. While the latter remains unlikely, the risk of a “dirty bomb” cannot be ruled out. The West’s hope, however, is that Russia might strike first with atomic weapons, handing NATO the moral high ground. Such an outcome would allow Washington to isolate Moscow globally, undermining its relationships with key players like China, India, and Brazil. Yet Moscow has countered these provocations with calculated precision, refusing to take the bait.

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Blinken: “Getting younger people into the fight, we think, many of us think, is necessary..”

Putin: [Zelensky] has “no right to push people to their death and drive them into battle.” The orders that Zelensky gives are “criminal..”

• Teenagers Preparing To Flee Ukraine – The Times (RT)

Many Ukrainian teenagers are planning to leave the country and never return as the US increases pressure on Kiev to lower the mobilization age, the Times has reported. Earlier this week, outgoing US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said it was not right that “18 to 25-year-olds are not in the fight” against Russia. “Getting younger people into the fight, we think, many of us think, is necessary,” he stressed.In an article on Thursday, the British paper quoted a teenager from the city of Kharkov, who said that “many” of his friends are now choosing to study abroad because “it is safer there.”“There is no risk of being taken into the army at a foreign university,” he explained, adding that he plans to study in Poland, and may not return after graduation.

“When I have finished, I will decide whether to return to Ukraine or stay there. It will be safer there, there are no bombs falling and there is no danger that I will be mobilized for the war without my consent,” he said. Another teenager who spoke to The Times said he also wants to attend higher education in a foreign country. Ukrainian lawmaker Aleksandra Ustinova told the paper that a decision to lower the mobilization age to 18 would be met with “huge opposition inside Ukraine and we would not get the results [on the battlefield] that we want because this is not such a large amount of people.”“It would also be a clear signal for families to get their children out. So, if we want to lose our future generation, then, yeah, this is the thing to do,” Ustinova stressed.

The number of men aged between 18 and 25 in Ukraine is estimated to be at least 300,000.According to UN data, at least 6.8 million Ukrainians have fled the country and become refugees since the escalation between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022. Most of them are women and children, as men of fighting age are banned from travelling abroad.Since the start of the conflict, officials in Moscow have repeatedly accused the US and its allies of wanting “to fight to the last Ukrainian” in their effort to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, who canceled a presidential election earlier this year, has “no right to push people to their death and drive them into battle.” The orders that Zelensky gives are “criminal,” Putin stressed.

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“..a Final Confrontation – with several overtones ranging from expanding lebensraum to provoking the Apocalypse.”

• The Syria Tragedy and the New Omni-War (Pepe Escobar)

Until recently, a serious geopolitical working hypothesis was that West Asia and Ukraine were two vectors of the standard Hegemon modus operandi, which is to incite and unleash Forever Wars. Now both wars are united in an Omni-War. A coalition of Straussian neo-cons in the US, hardcore revisionist Zionists in Tel Aviv and Ukrainian neo-nazi shades of grey is now betting on a Final Confrontation – with several overtones ranging from expanding lebensraum to provoking the Apocalypse. What stands in their way is essentially two of the top BRICS: Russia and Iran. China, self-protected by their collective lofty dream of “community of a shared future for mankind”, warily watches on the sidelines, as they know that at the end of the road, the true “existential” war by the Hegemon will be against them. Meanwhile, Russia and Iran need to mobilize for Totalen Krieg. Because that’s what the enemy is launching.

The total destabilisation of Syria, with heavy CIA-MI6 input, now proceeding in real time, is a carefully engineered gambit to undermine BRICS and beyond. It proceeds in parallel to Pashinyan removing Armenia from the CSTO – based on a US promise to support Yerevan in a possible new clash with Baku; India being encouraged to ramp up a weapons race with Pakistan; and across-the-board intimidation of Iran. So this is also a war to destabilize the International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC), of which the three major protagonists are BRICS members Russia, Iran and India. As it stands, the INSTC is totally geopolitical risk-free. As a top BRICS corridor-in-the-making, it carries the potential to become even more effective than several of China’s cross-Heartland corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The INSTC would be a key lifeline for a great deal of the global economy in case of a direct confrontation between the US/Israel combo and Iran – with the possible shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz leading to the collapse of a multi-quadrillion pile of financial derivatives, economically imploding the collective West. Turkiye under Erdogan, as usual, is playing a double game. Rhetorically, Ankara stands by a genocide-free and sovereign Palestine. In practice, the Turkiye supports and funds a motley crew of Greater Idlibistan jihadis – trained by Ukrainian Neo-nazis in drone warfare and with weapons financed by Qatar – who have just marched on and conquered Aleppo, Hama, and possibly beyond. If this army of mercenaries were real followers of Islam, they would be marching in defense of Palestine.

At the same time, the real picture inside the corridors of power in Tehran is extremely murky. There are factions favoring getting closer to the West, which clearly would have ramifications for the Axis of Resistance’s ability to fight Tel Aviv. On Lebanon, Syria never wavered. History explains why: from the point of view of Damascus, Lebanon historically remains a governorate, so Damascus is responsible for the security of Beirut. And that’s one of Tel Aviv’s key motives to propel the current Salafi-jihadi offensive on Syria – after smashing virtually every communication corridor between Syria and Lebanon. What Tel Aviv could not accomplish on the ground – a victory over Hezbollah in southern Lebanon – has been replaced by isolating Hezbollah from the Axis of Resistance.

Wars in West Asia are a complex mix of national, sectarian, tribal and religious vectors. In a sense, they are endless wars; controllable to an extent, but then back again. The Russian strategy in Syria seemed to be very precise. As it was impossible to normalize a completely fragmented nation, Moscow opted to free the Syria that really matters – the capital, the most important cities, and the Eastern Mediterranean coast – from the Salafi-jihadi mobs. The problem is that freezing the war in 2020, with direct implication by Russia, Iran and (reluctantly) Turkiye, did not solve the “moderate rebel” problem. Now they’re back – in full force, supported by a vast Rent-a-Jihadi mob, with NATOstan Intel behind them. Some things never change.

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Too late now?!

• Russia Warns Against Geopolitical Use of Terrorists in Syria’s Conflict (Sp.)

The offensive by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)* terrorist group in Syria has been long in the making, and Russia will oppose attempts by the militants to alter the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. Moscow has called for restraint from all parties in the unraveling conflict in Syria. “The situation has sharply escalated in recent days due to the clearly premeditated aggressive offensive on government forces by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (former Al-Nusra Front*), an organization designated by the UN Security Council as a terrorist group, which has been joined by several smaller factions,” Lavrov said during a press conference following his visit to Doha. He emphasized the urgent need to stop the hostilities and said that Russia would actively oppose any attempts by HTS militants to change the situation on the ground in Syria.

“We are absolutely convinced of the inadmissibility of using terrorists like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to achieve geopolitical goals, as is happening now with the organization of this offensive from the Idlib de-escalation zone,” Lavrov explained during a session at the Doha Forum. The main task now in the situation surrounding Syria, according to Lavrov, is to halt the clashes. UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen has promised to involve influential external actors to stop the fighting and resume negotiations between the government and opposition, Lavrov added. The top Russian diplomat also reiterated Moscow’s efforts to counteract terrorism in Syria: “We are doing everything to prevent terrorists from gaining the upper hand, even if they claim that they are no longer terrorists.” “On the military front, Russia is helping the Syrian army with support from the [Russian Aerospace Forces], based in Khmeimim, and we assist the Syrian army in repelling terrorist attacks,” he added.

Additionally, Lavrov stated that Russia, along with Iran and Turkiye, will take steps to ensure that calls for de-escalation in Syria are heard. The terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, along with several armed factions from the so-called Syrian armed opposition, launched a large-scale operation on November 29, advancing from northern Idlib towards the cities of Aleppo and Hama. By the following day, November 30, the second-largest city in Syria, Aleppo, along with its surroundings, including the international airport and the Kuweires military airbase, came under the control of the terrorists. This marked the first time that the militants had fully taken over Aleppo since the beginning of the Syrian crisis in 2011. Until late 2016, the armed opposition controlled only the eastern part of the city, which was recaptured by the Syrian army with Russian air support.

After the capture of Aleppo, the terrorist units attempted to advance towards the city of Hama, capturing the town of Maaret al-Numan. The Syrian army fought off heavy terrorist attacks in the Hama province from three directions for several days, preparing for a counteroffensive. However, on December 5, the SAR military command officially announced the redeployment of its units from the city of Hama. The city of Hama, located in central Syria, has been under the control of the Syrian army throughout the conflict, which began in the spring of 2011. Hama holds strategic geographic importance, lying between the provinces of Homs and Damascus and connecting through mountain ranges to the Latakia province. The last attempt at an armed insurgency by radical Islamist underground forces, supported by the Muslim Brotherhood*, in Syria’s fourth-largest city took place in 1982. At that time, thanks to prompt action by the Syrian military command, the city was freed from terrorist groups, and control was restored to official authorities.

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They must have known what would happen.

• Russia, Iran Call For ‘Internal Dialogue’ To Resolve Crisis In Syria (Cradle)

The Foreign Ministers of Russia, Turkiye, and Iran on 7 December called for an immediate end to hostilities in Syria and for ‘”internal dialogue” between the Syrian government and the “legitimate opposition.” “We called for an immediate end to hostile activities … and for this purpose called for the dialogue between the government and legitimate opposition,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated during talks in the Qatari capital, Doha. “We stated, all of us, that we want the [United Nations] Resolution 2254 to be fully implemented,” Lavrov added. Resolution 2254 calls for a commitment to the “sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity” of Syria and an end to the conflict through “an inclusive and Syrian-led political process.” Lavrov did not specify which opposition forces Russia regarded as legitimate but made clear it considered Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) a terrorist group.

HTS is led by Abu Mohammad al-Julani, a former deputy of the notorious ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Formerly known as the Nusra Front, HTS now claims it is no longer a sectarian Salafi-Jihadi group and welcomes ethnic and religious diversity in Syria. Western media is now promoting HTS, which includes many foreign fighters and remains on the US terror list, as moderates that will protect Syria’s religious minorities. During the US-led covert war on Syria that began in 2011, the Nusra Front and ISIS carried out large numbers of massacres of Christians, Shiites, Alawites, Yezidis, and even Sunnis who were supportive of the governments of Iraq and Syria. HTS and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) launched an invasion of the Aleppo countryside on 27 November. In the past ten days, they have captured two of Syria’s largest cities, Aleppo and Hama.

HTS and SNA militants are now gathering their forces at the edge of Homs City in preparation for an assault. In Doha, Foreign Minister Lavrov stated further, “It’s inadmissible to allow the terrorist group to take control of territory in violation of agreements.” Asked how the situation in Syria would develop and what would happen to Russian military bases there, Lavrov said he was “not in the business of guessing.”

Russia has an airbase in Latakia and a key naval base in Tartous. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi similarly called for “political dialogue” between the Syrian government and the “opposition groups” that are now threatening Damascus. Araghchi said that the parties in Doha agreed to initiate “political dialogue between the Syrian government and the legitimate opposition groups.” For its part, a Turkish foreign ministry source emphasized the importance of restarting the Syrian political process during the talks with Russia and Iran in Doha. The source added that the talks were constructive.

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He’s right. Exposing the real EU.

• Romanian Presidential Frontrunner Claims He’s Victim Of Coup D’état (RT)

The invalidation of Romania’s presidential election results by the country’s top court is a formalized coup d’etat, according to independent candidate Calin Georgescu, who clinched a surprise win in the first round last month. Georgescu outperformed the other candidates in the first round of the election with 22.94%, beating out liberal leftist candidate Elena Lasconi, who received 19.18%, and the country’s Social Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who finished third with 19.15%. On Friday, Romania’s Constitutional Court dismissed Georgescu’s victory, citing a clause in the nation’s laws that emphasizes the need to ensure the correctness and legality of the election. The judiciary body announced that the whole process would be resumed later.

“Essentially, this is a formalized coup d’etat. The rule of law is in an induced coma, and justice subordinated to political orders has practically lost its essence. It is no longer justice, it obeys the orders,” Georgescu, a known critic of Romania’s pro-NATO and pro-Ukraine policy, said on Friday, as cited by Realitatea TV. The politician also stressed that the court’s decision represents more than a legal controversy, adding that “the corrupt system in Romania showed its true face by making a pact with the devil.” Georgescu also said that the power of the people is the basis for a democratic state, and the authorities are obliged to respect the results of the national vote. He stated that the current Romanian government is afraid of losing power and facing revelations.

Earlier this week, Western media outlets reported that declassified information from Romania’s intelligence agencies had revealed that the sudden rise of Georgescu in the first round of the election was “not a natural outcome.” According to the claims, his win emerged thanks to a coordinated social media effort, most likely orchestrated by a “state actor” meddling in the candidate’s mostly Tik-Tok-based campaign, helping to get his message out to the voters. The annulment came amid accusations that Moscow had assisted Georgescu’s campaign, which Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has dismissed as “absolutely groundless.” She said that Romanian elections are carried out in a climate of “an unprecedented surge of anti-Russian hysteria” that is set “to influence the consciousness and will of the country’s citizens.” Washington, meanwhile, has praised the move. On Friday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the US reaffirms its “confidence in Romania’s democratic institutions and processes, including investigations into foreign malign influence.”

Calin

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“It’s an epic battle of light and darkness, Hobbits and Orcs, almost as if lifted straight from a fantasy novel..”

• France Is A Perfect Example Of Centrist Elites Wrecking The West (Amar)

In the most immediate terms, Macron’s reckless early-election gamble in the summer and his devious and undemocratic maneuvering to keep out the victorious Left after his party’s predictable trouncing, has left France, in effect, ungovernable. Barnier’s predictable failure makes no difference to that fact. Fresh parliamentary elections, once again, would probably not help either. And anyhow, they are ruled out by the constitution before next summer. Macron will now try out yet another prime minister, number six since he became president. That is a high attrition rate: In 7 years, the would-be embodiment of “institutional stability” has gone through as many heads of government as De Gaulle in 19 years. It’s also an accelerating attrition rate: Macron’s prime ministers get used up ever faster. The future will show if this trend can be broken. If so, then not because of but despite the president’s baneful influence.

As a French commentator noted, he won’t provide a solution, but he can still cause a lot of problems. There are good reasons for declaring this moment the death of Macronism. Its core project of leaving behind the politics of left and right and replacing them with a combination of Centrism and a “Jupiterian” (Macron’s own, early term) personality cult now lies in tatters. Specifically, Macronism’s claim to, at the very least, stave off the populist right of Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN) is a sad joke: No matter what you think about the RN, there is no doubt that its power has never been as great as now, and its chances of capturing the presidency, with or without Marine Le Pen in the lead, have never been better. Macron has become the Biden of France: in both cases, while building their rule on a promise to keep out right-populist challengers, the two presidents’ incompetence and egotism has facilitated the rise of those challengers.

And how do the French feel in the midst of all of this? Spoiler alert: Not grand. According to French newspaper Le Monde’s summary of comprehensive polling by Ipsos, France is a “country anxious and discontent, hit by a political crisis,” and bereft of trust in its “political personnel and institutions.” In terms of their individual experiences, only 50% are content, 70% believe that the conditions of their life are “less and less favorable,” and 55% say they find it hard to make ends meet. Regarding their country as a whole, a whopping 87% consider it in decline, which is 18% worse than when Macron was elected for the first time in 2017: National slow claps for “Jupiter.” But the rest of the political elites don’t look much better: Solid, even preponderant majorities consider them “corrupt” (63%), “not representative” (78%), and out for their own, personal good (83%).

In principle, there’s a difference between being miserable and being afraid. But the two states of mind go together really well, too: Almost all of the French (92%) have a bad feeling they are living in a “violent society”, and almost a third think “very violent” is the more precise term. You may say things could hardly get worse. Yet the French firmly believe they can: 89% see violence on the rise, and the majority of those respondents (61%) think it is rising “a lot.” In sum: A selfish boss from hell (who could fire himself but swears he won’t), no functioning government, a tanking economy, and a mood like there’s no tomorrow. How did that happen to the “Grande Nation”? This is where we get back to the third factor mentioned above: the overarching historic trend. Let’s zoom out from unhappy France and small-minded, selfish Macron, and what we are seeing is an exemplary case of Centrism ruining a country.

True, you would never guess that if you relied on, for instance, The Economist. There, the same old, tired, and dim story is relentlessly told: How a heroic “center” and its stalwart defenders are resisting (or not so much) dastardly attacks from the “populists” and “extremists.” It’s an epic battle of light and darkness, Hobbits and Orcs, almost as if lifted straight from a fantasy novel. It even features glorious last stands: For the New York Times, Britain’s Keir Starmer, “one of the last centrist leaders on the global stage” is “trying to fight populism from the lonely center.” “Remember the Alamo,” I guess.

And yet, look at the real world: Clinton, Biden, Harris, Scholz, Macron, to name only a few – What do they all have in common? They stand for the failed, rejected project of elitist Centrism, dragging down their countries. For a stubborn, snobbish, and manipulative style of politics, complete with lawfare, mass media campaigns of calumny and disinformation, incipient authoritarianism and police-state methods, a dead-end foreign policy of blaming others (Russia and China most of all) for their countries’ problems and decline, and a resolute surrender to the forces of “the market,” which, here, is simply code for globalized capitalist interests.

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1/ Pop=Joe.

2/ Pop goes the value.

• Pop Art: The Value of Hunter Biden’s Art Expected to Collapse (Turley)

We have previously discussed the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden’s art sales. Many viewed the art as another avenue for political allies to funnel money to the Bidens. That was reinforced when it was discovered that the lucrative sales heralded by Hunter’s allies were found to have been largely the results of purchases by his “sugar bro” Kevin Morris. Now, experts say that whatever value is left in Hunter’s art will likely collapse with his father’s departure — the clearest indicator of the actual value of the art for “investors.” Hunter’s art appears to be moving from an impressionistic to a harsh realism period. Georges Bergès, Hunter Biden’s art gallerist, contradicted claims of the White House on the handling of the art. Hunter reportedly knew who purchased roughly 70% of the value of his art, including Democrat donors Morris and Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali.

While Biden allies hyped the sales to show that Hunter was a legitimate artist, Bergès admitted that Morris actually purchased most of the art. Morris has reportedly given Hunter millions to cover unpaid taxes and expenses. Hunter only sold paintings to ten people for $1.5 million, according to congressional testimony from 2024. Morris bought 11 works for $875,000 in total. The drop in the value of art reflects not the volatile art market but the fluctuating influence peddling market. The Bidens are finally cashing out of Washington. In the meantime, Hunter is facing a bizarre claim from one of his debt holders that, in return for allegedly walking out on over a year of rent, Hunter sent him art made with his own feces to sell. Shaun Maguire claims that Hunter rented his $4.25 million home in California in 2019. When Hunter’s lawyers denied the story, he posted pictures on social media.

Without getting into the merits of this claim, the question is whether Hunter will sue for defamation. I was previously threatened with a defamation lawsuit for discussing the scandal involving Morris. I continued to write about the allegations (and the threat of a lawsuit) but was never sued. It was an example of the scorched Earth approach of the Hunter team. This is such a bizarre story that it is hard to imagine that it could be true. Conversely, Maguire must have known of the litigious reputation of the Biden team when he decided to go public with this claim. If this story is untrue, it could constitute defamation per se as a statement that impugns his professional and business reputation. A simple testing of the art would tend to establish the truth of the matter. However, there is no indication of any demand for a retraction or notice to sue. Hunter generally has two years for such a lawsuit, but California has a shorter one-year period.

In the meantime, Hunter has pledged to continue to do his art after his father granted him a sweeping pardon for any crimes committed in the last ten years. Given his past excessive spending on a lavish lifestyle, the art alone does not appear to be a viable source of income. However, Morris has helped create a new movie based on his life. Hunter reportedly celebrated the pardon by watching an early showing of the film. In the end, Hunter’s work may be the ultimate Pop art, work that only holds value so long as Pop is in power. Of course, if Nietzsche was right that “the essence of all beautiful art…is gratitude,” Hunter has much to be grateful for. For past and prospective buyers, perhaps less so.

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Regretting his French passport more than ever…

• Durov Subjected To First Detailed Questioning In Court (RT)

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been questioned by a Paris court for the first time on the charges against him, more than three months after his arrest, AFP news agency reported on Friday, citing an unnamed source. Previous court hearings had focused on procedural issues relating to the terms of the tech billionaire’s detention. The charges against Durov relate to the alleged involvement of the messaging platform in a wide range of criminal activities. Durov reportedly arrived at the court accompanied by two lawyers, David-Olivier Kaminski and Christophe Ingrain. The entrepreneur said he “trusts French justice,” but refused to comment on the progress of the case or the charges against him. The Russian national, who is also a citizen of France, the UAE and Saint Kitts and Nevis, was arrested after landing in Paris on August 24.

Durov was charged with multiple offenses, including complicity in distributing child pornography, and enabling drug dealing and money laundering. The charges stem from accusations that Telegram’s lax moderation rules allow for the widespread misuse of the messenger service. The billionaire was later released on bail of €5 million ($5.5 million), but has been barred from leaving France while his case is ongoing. Some of the charges against him could carry sentences of up to ten years. Durov has vehemently denied the allegations. In October, the entrepreneur revealed that the messenger service had been complying with privacy policies in several countries, and had been disclosing information about criminals to authorities for the past six years.

According to one of Durov’s lawyers, as cited by the French news agency, it was “absurd” to think that his client was “involved” in crimes committed via the messaging platform. An unnamed source close to the investigation told AFP that the entire legal procedure was having a positive effect in France and elsewhere, as Telegram has begun responding to legal requisitions more actively. Commenting in August on Durov’s detention, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov highlighted the absurdity of holding the entrepreneur accountable for crimes committed using his network. Peskov quipped that Paris could use the same grounds to arrest the CEOs of Renault or Citroën, as terrorists use cars.

Read more …

 

 

 

McCullough RFK

 

 

Cancer
https://twitter.com/i/status/1865082844680175821

 

 

AOC
https://twitter.com/i/status/1865215257943146917

 

 

Sand cat

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle May 1 2024

May 012024
 
 May 1, 2024  Posted by at 8:54 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  48 Responses »


Edvard Munch Separation 1894

 

• Trump Held in Contempt With Fine, Jail Threat For Violating Gag Order (ZH)
• There Is No Crime”: Dershowitz Says Bragg’s Case Against Trump Will Fail (ET)
• Trump Fined For Breaching Gag Order (RT)
• Does the CIA Run America? (Jeffrey Tucker)
• MAY DAY! MAY DAY! Celebration For Russia, Not A Stress Test (Helmer)
• “Have You No Sense of Decency?” (Michael Hudson)
• The Kiev Regime Must Not Get Away With It (Karganovic)
• “All of the Conspiracy Theorists are Republicans.” (Turley)
• Russia Defends Traditional Values The West Is Abandoning – Dugin to Carlson (RT)
• Pfizergate: Ursula von der Leyen’s Shady Covid Vaccine Deals (Marsden)
• US Politicians ‘Living In Wonderland’ – Moscow (RT)
• This Isn’t Fascism (Patrick Lawrence)
• Cars Used to Make Us Happy (Paul Craig Roberts)

 

 

 

 

Goofball
https://twitter.com/i/status/1785006072844964021

 

 

Nap Jan 6

 

 

Mike Davis
https://twitter.com/i/status/1785467744114073939

 

 

Eva
https://twitter.com/i/status/1785434550346346708

 

 

Elon Letterman 2009

Cramer Musk China

 

 

 

 

“That said, Merchan is allowing Trump to attend his son Barron’s high school graduation on May 17..”

• Trump Held in Contempt With Fine, Jail Threat For Violating Gag Order (ZH)

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan has held Donald Trump in contempt of court for ‘repeatedly violating’ a gag order in his so-called hush money trial in New York. According to Merchan, Trump violated the gag order nine times in online posts which targeted jurors or likely witnesses in the trial. The former president was fined the maximum of $1,000 per violation, or $9,000 – and was ordered to remove all of the offending posts by 2:15 p.m. ET on Tuesday. What’s more, Merchan threatened to toss Trump in jail if he willfully violates court orders again. “Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” wrote Merchan in his ruling, CNBC reports. Merchan read the order aloud before the trial resumed with more testimony from a banker who worked with the former president’s lawyer on a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

That payment is at the heart of Manhattan prosecutors’ case accusing Trump of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election. Gary Farro, a former senior managing director at First Republic bank, took the stand Friday and continued testifying Tuesday. On his way into the courtroom, Trump repeated his call for Merchan to both recuse himself from the case and dismiss it entirely. -CNBC. “The judge should terminate the case because they have no case,” said Trump in response, adding that he’s been unable to campaign for president because he’s stuck in court. That said, Merchan is allowing Trump to attend his son Barron’s high school graduation on May 17. The historic trial began last week, which has included testimony from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, as well as Trump’s longtime personal secretary, Rhona Graff.

Pecker testified to his efforts to “catch and kill” stories that could be damaging to Trump – including one instance in which his company American Media paying $30,000 for the rights to a former Trump Tower doorman’s story about Trump having a secret love child – though Pecker believes the story is untrue. The company also inked a $150,000 deal with former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claimed to have had an extramarital affair with Trump, according to Pecker. Pecker said he did not pay to silence Daniels, who claims she had sex with Trump. As the Epoch Times notes further, Court was resuming Tuesday with Gary Farro, a banker who helped President Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen open accounts, including one that Mr. Cohen used to send a payment to adult film performer Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. She alleged a 2006 affair with President Trump, which he denies.

Read more …

“In Bragg’s case, what they’re trying to do is add one and one and come up with 11..”

• There Is No Crime”: Dershowitz Says Bragg’s Case Against Trump Will Fail (ET)

Retired Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said on April 28 that he believes that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against former President Donald Trump could fail because prosecutors have charged the former president with fake crimes. “There is no crime,” Mr. Dershowitz said during an interview on Fox News on April 28, referring to the case in which Mr. Bragg’s office has charged the former president with 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide so-called hush money payments that prosecutors allege amounted to a criminal conspiracy to influence the 2016 presidential election. Mr. Dershowitz argued that making nondisclosure payments is not a crime and that neither is paying for the non-publication of potentially embarrassing stories (the so-called catch-and-kill dimension of the case), both of which prosecutors have alleged were part of a conspiracy to sway voters.

The retired law professor argued that Mr. Bragg’s office is in danger of having the case thrown out on grounds similar to those on which the conviction of Harvey Weinstein was recently overturned, namely that prosecutors prejudiced the case by a number of “egregious” improper rulings, including allowing testimony that was unrelated to what Mr. Weinstein was charged with. “They ought to be very careful about this because the Supreme Court of the Appellate Court in Albany just reversed Harvey Weinstein’s conviction on the ground that they put in too much information that wasn’t really relevant to the case,” Mr. Dershowitz said, adding that this is “what’s happening” in the trial against President Trump. “There is no crime in Manhattan. You cannot figure out what the crime is. That’s why they’re putting on all this evidence of non-crimes,” Mr. Dershowitz said.

“Trying to persuade the jury that ‘catch-and-kill’ is a crime—it’s not. Paying hush money is a crime—it’s not. Putting a corporate statement is a misdemeanor barred by the statute of limitations. You can’t suddenly resurrect that and turn that into a crime by invoking a federal statute which the federal government refused to invoke—the Federal Election Commission refused to invoke.” The former Harvard law professor has repeatedly criticized Mr. Bragg for elevating the charges against President Trump from misdemeanors to felonies on what Mr. Dershowitz has argued was an invalid legal premise because the Manhattan district attorney invoked federal statutes over which New York has no jurisdiction. Republicans have accused Mr. Bragg of bringing the case against the former president for political reasons.

[..] Under New York state law, falsifying business records is a misdemeanor. However, if the records fraud was used to cover up or commit another crime, the charge could be elevated to a felony, though a number of legal experts—including Mr. Dershowitz—have challenged the way that has been done in this case. “In order to turn the state statute into a felony, you have to borrow a federal statute,” Mr. Dershowitz told The Epoch Times in March 2023. He said that this combining of laws “seems to raise real serious legal questions.” “In Bragg’s case, what they’re trying to do is add one and one and come up with 11,” Mr. Dershowitz said. “No rational person would look at these two statutes and say that Trump violated them.”

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“The Gag Order imposed on me, a political candidate running for the highest office in the land, is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Nothing like this has ever happened before..”

• Trump Fined For Breaching Gag Order (RT)

Former US President Donald Trump has been ordered to pay $9,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order imposed by the judge overseeing his ‘hush money’ trial in New York. Trump was threatened with jail if he continues to breach the order. At a hearing in Manhattan on Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan fined Trump $1,000 for nine separate instances in which he violated the gag order. Merchan explained in his ruling that while a $1,000 fine ultimately matters little to a man of Trump’s wealth, he could not legally issue a larger fine. However, the judge added that he would consider whether “jail may be a necessary punishment” if Trump continues to break the order in future. Trump is currently on trial for allegedly misreporting ‘hush-money’ payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Since last month, Merchan has forbidden him from making public statements about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg or the jurors working on the case, and from uttering anything that could interfere with the work of the court. Nevertheless, Trump has spoken to the media outside the courthouse every day since the trial began earlier this month. In these appearances and in posts on his Truth Social platform, the former president has denounced the “sham case” against him, often quoting conservative pundits and journalists in an apparent bid to skirt the gag order. “The Gag Order imposed on me, a political candidate running for the highest office in the land, is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Nothing like this has ever happened before,” Trump wrote last week. “The Conflicted Judge’s friends and party members can say whatever they want about me, but I am not allowed to respond.”

Trump’s lawyers have argued that Merchan’s connections to the Democratic Party – his daughter owns a consulting firm that creates fundraising campaigns for Democratic politicians, including President Joe Biden – make him unsuitable to judge the case. However, Merchan has refused multiple requests to recuse himself, saying that Trump has “failed to provide” evidence of a conflict of interest. In addition to the ‘hush money’ trial, Trump is also facing two federal criminal cases concerning his alleged incitement of the January 6, 2021 riot on Capitol Hill and his alleged mishandling of classified documents, as well as a state-level racketeering case in Georgia concerning his alleged efforts to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory in the state. Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee to challenge Biden in November’s presidential election. Despite the ongoing trial effectively halting his campaign in its tracks, a CNN poll published on Sunday showed him leading Biden by a 49%-43% margin, with six in ten respondents disapproving of Biden’s performance as president.

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“..we live in a country today where most people readily admit that the CIA probably killed the president. Amazing.”

• Does the CIA Run America? (Jeffrey Tucker)

[..] let’s not dismiss the theory completely. Based on a New York Times (NYT) piece that appeared last week, it contains more than a grain of truth. The article is titled: “Campaign Puts Trump and the Spy Agencies on a Collision Course.” Quote: “Even as president, Donald J. Trump flaunted his animosity for intelligence officials, portraying them as part of a politicized ‘deep state’ out to get him. And since he left office, that distrust has grown into outright hostility, with potentially serious implications for national security should he be elected again.” Ok, let’s be clear. If the intelligence community led by the CIA is not the “deep state,” what is? Further, it is proven many times over that the Deep State is in fact out to get him. This is not even controversial. Indeed, there is no reason for these journalists to write the above as if Donald Trump is somehow consumed by some kind of baseless paranoia.

Let’s keep going here: “Trump is now on a possible collision course with the intelligence community …. The result is a complicated and possibly destabilizing situation the United States has never seen before: deep-seated suspicion and disdain on the part of a former and perhaps future president toward the very people he would be relying on for the most sensitive information he would need to perform his role if elected again.” Wait just a moment. You are telling us that all previous presidents have had a happy relationship with the CIA? That’s rather interesting to know. And deeply troubling too, since the CIA has been managing regime change the world over for a very long time, and is now directly involved in U.S. politics at the most intimate level. Any president worth his salt should absolutely have a hostile relationship with such an agency, if only to establish clear civilian control over the government, without which it’s not possible to say that we live in a Constitutional republic.

And now, according to the NYT, we have one seeking the Presidency who does not defer to the agency and that this is destabilizing and deeply problematic. Who does that suggest really rules this country? Is the NYT itself guilty of the most extreme conspiracy theory imaginable, or is it just stating facts as we know them? I’m going to guess that it is the latter. In this case, every single American should be deeply alarmed.Crazy huh? As for the phrase “never seen before,” we have to push back. What about George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, and Calvin Coolidge? They were all previous presidents, according to the history books that people once read. There was no CIA back then. If you doubt this, I’m pretty sure that your favorite AI engine will confirm it. One must suppose that when the NYT says “never seen before,” it means in the post-war period. And that very well might be true. John F. Kennedy defied them. We know that for certain.

The mysteries surrounding his murder won’t be solved fully until we get the documents. But the consensus is growing that this murder was really a coup by the CIA, a message sent as a lesson to every successor in that office. Think of that: we live in a country today where most people readily admit that the CIA probably killed the president. Amazing. [..] Have you considered that maybe the crackpots are exactly right? If so, shouldn’t we, at bare minimum, seek to support a Presidential candidate with a hostile relationship to the intelligence community? Indeed, that ought to be a bare minimum standard of qualification. There is simply no way we can restore civilian control of government and constitutional government until this agency can be thoroughly reigned in or abolished completely.

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“.. the party has announced two dozen slogans for May Day..”

“The vote for the Communist Party candidate for president, Nikolai Kharitonin, in the March election was just 4.37% — the lowest level ever reached. ”

• MAY DAY! MAY DAY! Celebration For Russia, Not A Stress Test (Helmer)

Every spring, when it’s certain no more snow will fall on Moscow, it helps to remember what the celebration stands for, and look forward with hope. Hope doesn’t come cheaply. In English and many other languages including Latin, May Day meant the return of fecundity, flowers, food harvests, and so hopefulness after winter, with entertainment from the randiest, cleverest, and silliest of the field creatures, the hare and the goat. Mayday! Mayday! That started in 1927 as an internationally recognized distress call put out on radio, which had nothing to do with the month of May. It started in French – m’aidez! “Help me!” That replaced the Morse code for SOS (“Save our Ship”) which was first adopted internationally in 1905. Mayday!, the radio call for help, was needed when radio replaced the telegraph and a speaking voice was required instead of taps and pips.

These days it’s the traditional left wing, based on workers’ movements, which need help. In France they have been superseded by spontaneous mobilizations, like the gilets jaunes, but they are failing against the Macron presidency; Keir Starmer’s British Labour Party is already a failure of the left before it defeats the Tories. There are leftwing movements in Germany and the US, but it is unlikely that such splinters can achieve more than splinters can – that’s pinpricks. Altogether, this left contributes next to nothing to the defeat of their governments, arms, and armies on the Ukrainian and Middle Eastern battlefields compared to the Russian Army and the Axis of Resistance. In Russia, the party of Marx and Engels has one leader embalmed and horizontal in Red Square; and a stone’s throw away in the State Duma, the current leader, Gennady Zyuganov, embalmed and vertical. The vote for the Communist Party candidate for president, Nikolai Kharitonin, in the March election was just 4.37% — the lowest level ever reached.

For this year’s May Day, the Communist Party has published no analysis of the current situation in Russia or party programme. Instead, it has called for a rally at the Karl Marx statue in front of the Bolshoi Theatre. In addition, the party has announced two dozen slogans for May Day. These include: “Long live the red May Day!”, “Proletarians of all countries, unite!”, “A job! Salary! Confidence in the future!”, “No increase in prices and tariffs!”, “Affordable housing for a young family!”, and “Scholarships at the minimum wage level!” The alternative leftwing Russian leaders, Sergei Glazyev and Mikhail Delyagin, have published nothing for May Day. Without mentioning May Day, Vzglyad, the semi-official platform for national security and economic analysis, has issued a report on a new government planning document setting out three scenarios for Russia’s economic future. The author is Vzglyad’s economics reporter, Olga Samofalova.

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“..to criticize Israel is anti-Semitic. That is the “enabling slur” of today’s assault on academic freedom.”

• “Have You No Sense of Decency?” (Michael Hudson)

The recent Congressional hearings leading to a bloodbath of university presidents brings back memories from my teen-age years in the 1950s when everyone’s eyes were glued to the TV broadcast of the McCarthy hearings. And the student revolts incited by vicious college presidents trying to stifle academic freedom when it opposes foreign unjust wars awakens memories of the 1960s protests against the Vietnam War and the campus clampdowns confronting police violence. I was the junior member of the “Columbia three” alongside Seymour Melman and my mentor Terence McCarthy (both of whom taught at Columbia’s Seeley Mudd School of Industrial Engineering; my job was mainly to handle publicity and publication). At the end of that decade, students occupied my office and all others at the New School’s graduate faculty in New York City – very peacefully, without disturbing any of my books and papers.

Only the epithets have changed. The invective “Communist” has been replaced by “anti-Semite,” and the renewal of police violence on campus has not yet led to a Kent State-style rifle barrage against protesters. But the common denominators are all here once again. A concerted effort has been organized to condemn and even to punish today’s nationwide student uprisings against the genocide occurring in Gaza and the West Bank. Just as the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC) aimed to end the careers of progressive actors, directors, professors and State Department officials unsympathetic to Chiang Kai-Shek or sympathetic to the Soviet Union from 1947 to 1975, today’s version aims at ending what remains of academic freedom in the United States.

The epithet of “communism” from 75 years ago has been updated to “anti-Semitism.” Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin has been replaced by Elise Stefanik, House Republican from upstate New York, and Senator “Scoop” Jackson upgraded to President Joe Biden. Harvard University President Claudine Gay (now forced to resign), former University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill (also given the boot), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth were called upon to abase themselves by promising to accuse peace advocates critical of U.S. foreign policy of anti-Semitism.

The most recent victim was Columbia’s president Nemat “Minouche” Shafik, a cosmopolitan opportunist with trilateral citizenship who enforced neoliberal economic policy as a high-ranking official at the IMF (where she was no stranger to the violence of “IMF riots) and the World Bank, and who brought her lawyers along to help her acquiesce in the Congressional Committee’s demands. She did that and more, all on her own. Despite being told not to by the faculty and student affairs committees, she called in the police to arrest peaceful demonstrators. This radical trespass of police violence against peaceful demonstrators (the police themselves attested to their peacefulness) triggered sympathetic revolts throughout the United States, met with even more violent police responses at Emory College in Atlanta and California State Polytechnic, where cell phone videos were quickly posted on various media platforms.

Just as intellectual freedom and free speech were attacked by HUAC 75 years ago, academic freedom is now under attack at these universities. The police have trespassed onto school grounds to accuse students themselves of trespassing, with violence reminiscent of the demonstrations that peaked in May 1970 when the Ohio National Guard shot Kent State students singing and speaking out against America’s war in Vietnam. Today’s demonstrations are in opposition to the Biden-Netanyahu genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. The more underlying crisis can be boiled down to the insistence by Benjamin Netanyahu that to criticize Israel is anti-Semitic. That is the “enabling slur” of today’s assault on academic freedom.

By “Israel,” Biden and Netanyahu mean specifically the right-wing Likud Party and its theocratic supporters aiming to create “a land without a [non-Jewish] people.” They assert that Jews owe their loyalty not to their current nationality (or humanity) but to Israel and its policy of driving the Gaza Strip’s millions of Palestinians into the sea by bombing them out of their homes, hospitals and refugee camps. The implication is that to support the International Court of Justice’s accusations that Israel is plausibly committing genocide is an anti-Semitic act. Supporting the UN resolutions vetoed by the United States is anti-Semitic. The claim is that Israel is defending itself and that protesting the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank frightens Jewish students. But research by students at Columbia’s School of Journalism found that the complaints cited by the New York Times and other pro-Israeli media were made by non-students trying to spread the story that Israel’s violence was in self-defense.

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“..this hideous practice on the part of the Ukrainian authorities also unmistakably exhibits the legal elements of ethnic cleansing..”

• The Kiev Regime Must Not Get Away With It (Karganovic)

The neo-Nazi regime in Kiev engages in an unperceived, generously glossed over but extremely grave violation of humanitarian principles. It is one of many breaches in that regard, of course. But it must be held to account for this and ultimately for every single one. In the zone the regime still controls in Ukraine, as Russian troops advance the neo-Nazi junta compels the local population to abandon its habitations and to withdraw alongside the retreating Ukrainian armed forces. Since generally that occurs in predominantly ethnically Russian areas, the reluctance of the population to withdraw with what it regards as occupation troops is understandable. For that reason, this hideous practice on the part of the Ukrainian authorities also unmistakably exhibits the legal elements of ethnic cleansing. The political objective behind these compulsory population movements is to project the propaganda illusion that the civilian population in Ukraine are averse to the arrival of Russian forces and would prefer to live under Kiev regime rule.

Reports of forced deportation of local residents are plentiful (also see here, here, and here). A quick search of the internet will yield much additional evidence. Western governments and “human rights monitors” have remained utterly silent about this egregious conduct, which in the past they would have denounced vociferously whenever the perpetrators could be presented as actors hostile to the collective West’s political interests. In the present case, however, the perpetrators happen to be their Ukrainian proxies, recently rewarded with another tranche of multibillion dollar largesse. Hence the studious silence of the Western governments and media. The enablers are loath to publicise their vassals’ transgressions. What does international humanitarian law have to say about the forced displacement of civilians during armed conflict? Individual or mass deportations are prohibited, regardless of their motive, by the Fourth Geneva Convention (Art. 49).

Deportation refers to the forced transfer of civilians (or other persons protected by the Geneva Conventions) from the territory where they reside to the territory of the occupying power or to any other territory, whether occupied or not. Such acts are prosecutable according to the universal jurisdiction principle (Geneva Convention IV on Civilians, Art. 147). They can also be constitutive elements of crimes such as ethnic cleansing and genocide. There is a degree of ambiguity in the scope and application of the norm, which in Article 49 holds that “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.” The presence of the related concept of “population transfer” further complicates the legal analysis because it seems to describe a forced movement of the population which takes place within the national territory and thus, perhaps, under the direction of the domestic authorities.

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“..It is not accurate to say everyone in the Republican Party is a conspiracy theorist but as with racists, all of the conspiracy theorists are Republicans.”

• “All of the Conspiracy Theorists are Republicans.” (Turley)

There has been a notable shift toward more and more extreme rhetoric in the media from predicting that democracy will end with this election to “disappearing” journalists and gays to ending all rights for everyone. On Monday, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace added to this litany with a claim that “as with racists, all of the conspiracy theorists are Republicans.” After discussing how GOP candidates have stated that they believe that the last election was “stolen,” Wallace added “It is not accurate to say everyone in the Republican Party is a conspiracy theorist but as with racists, all of the conspiracy theorists are Republicans.” It was a crushingly ironic moment. Wallace has been repeatedly criticized for spreading false news. For example, the “Deadline: White House” host told viewers that they should not take the Hunter Biden laptop seriously: “We shouldn’t look at it as anything other than a Russian disinformation operation.”

Wallace heralded the Mueller investigation while pushing the now debunked Russian collusion claims. However, on the Durham investigation, she told viewers that they could ignore it despite the fact that the report stands uncontradicted: “Durham’s whole thing is predicated on it’s like a rabbit hole conspiracy that suggests that the Trump-Barr paranoia infected his ability to stand back and evaluate whether the probe yielded guilty convictions of people who would have had nothing to do with any of these questions he looked at.” Wallace and MSNBC also pushed false claims about Bill Barr clearing Lafayette Park for a Trump “photo op.” On August 5th, 2019, MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace falsely claimed that Trump had talked about “exterminating Latinos.”

Wallace and MSNBC pushed the false story of border agents whipping migrants in Texas. Wallace claimed that the lab theory of the Covid 19 was a “conspiracy theory.” It has been embraced by various federal agencies despite being called racist by many experts. Many on the left now routinely call opposing views as spreaders of disinformation or conspiracy theories. The Biden Administration has funded various groups to blacklist or bar those with opposing views as disinformation, malinformation, or misinformation. Indeed, new groups are being formed before the election to echo these claims, including one headed by the former “Disinformation Czar.”

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Interesting man.

• Russia Defends Traditional Values The West Is Abandoning – Dugin to Carlson (RT)

The ever-growing anti-Russia sentiment in the West stems from the fact that Russia adheres to traditional values that Western “progressives” are trying to destroy, philosopher and political commentator Aleksandr Dugin said in an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson that was posted on the latter’s YouTube channel on Monday. During the interview, Dugin laid out his view of the contemporary Western world and what he sees as the historical origins of its current ideology. He explained that the West has moved from “classical liberalism” – which professed individual freedom and democracy as understood as the rule of the majority – to a “new liberalism” defined by the rule of minorities and woke-ism. Rather than emphasizing freedom of the individual, the new incarnation of liberalism prescribes adherence to certain progressive values that are completely at odds with traditional values and in fact seeks to abolish them.

Carlson asked Dugin why many Westerners, even those who previously supported the Soviet Union, turned against Russia when President Vladimir Putin came to power in the early 2000s and started professing Russophobic ideas. The philosopher said that “Putin is a traditional leader” who defends traditional values, which run counter to those currently in vogue in the West. “When [Putin] came to power, from the very beginning, he started to extract Russia from global influence. He started to contradict the global progressive agenda… tried with success to restore traditional values – sovereignty of the state, Christianity, traditional family,” he said, explaining that Western progressives saw these developments as being in opposition to their values. This hatred is not something casual… it’s metaphysical. If your main task and main goal is to destroy traditional values – traditional family, traditional state, traditional relations, traditional beliefs – and someone with a nuclear weapon… stands strong defending traditional values you are going to abolish – they have some basis for this Russophobia and hatred for Putin.

In 2022, Dugin’s daughter Darya was killed in a car bombing in Moscow, which the Russian authorities claim was orchestrated by Ukrainian agents, a version also expressed by the US government. Darya, a journalist and political activist in her own right, was a vocal supporter of Russia’s military operation against Kiev. Russophobic sentiment has been growing exponentially in light of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the outbreak of which in 2022 the West has blamed squarely on Russia. NATO has branded Russia the “most significant and direct threat” to its members’ peace and security, and many Western leaders have claimed that Moscow would attack Europe if it secures victory in Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly said it has no such plans, with Putin last month dismissing such claims as “nonsense.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov last week called such ideas “horror stories” made up to divert attention from domestic problems in the West.

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“We’re talking about 11 contracts, 4.6 billion vaccines, and €71 billion of public money transferred to Big Pharma.”

• Pfizergate: Ursula von der Leyen’s Shady Covid Vaccine Deals (Marsden)

Forget this whole “election” charade and just glue the crown onto her head, already.Ursula von der Leyen, the unelected European Commission President, is up for job renewal in June. She’d have to be re-nominated by the majority of EU member state leaders and then re-confirmed by members of the newly-elected European Parliament. They’d have to be crazy to dethrone this ultimate incarnation of true EU values, like transparency and foresight (or rather, lack thereof). One particular tale about Queen Ursula comes to mind that perfectly illustrates the point.

During Covid, the European Union rolled out a bloc-wide QR code system as proof of vaccination for travel, leisure, and in some cases a condition of employment – even as reports started raising doubts about how reliable the shot really was when it came to stopping infection, transmission, and death. It’s like there was this interest in Brussels to move fast in getting shots into arms as quickly as possible, and setting up this digital identity system linked to jab status before the scary music stopped or people just tuned it out. Skeptical members of the European Parliament have been demanding to know what kind of deal the bloc’s leadership actually signed with the manufacturers of these injections. We’re talking about 11 contracts, 4.6 billion vaccines, and €71 billion of public money transferred to Big Pharma.

So far, neither the citizens who paid for all of it, nor their elected representatives have been able to get full transparency on those deals. According to research published last year by the French NGO Global Health Advocates, and the UK based health nonprofit, StopAids, the European Commission “agreed to extensive confidentiality requirements with pharmaceutical corporations that may not be fully consistent with EU legislation,” and that of the contracts analyzed with AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Moderna, “the Pfizer contract was the most significantly redacted.” Specifically, they noted that the European Commission “redacted the most information about product safety and indemnification in the Pfizer and Moderna contract,” concluding that “it looks like most of the risk was borne by the EU in a desperate attempt to get access to these vaccines.”

The reports also draw attention to the lack of interest on the part of certain Big Pharma CEOs when it comes to accountability towards their customers – their end-clients who received and ultimately paid for the jabs: average EU citizens. “We provided Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Moderna the opportunity to react to the claims… but we did not receive a response,” the NGOs said. It turns out that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla is also the same person who was exchanging private text messages with von der Leyen the month before the Pfizer contract was negotiated. How do we know that? Because she said so herself in April of 2021 in a New York Times interview. While she was busy doing that, questions arose over how German defense contracts were being awarded. Politico reported on it in 2019, citing the increased use of consultants during her time in office, and she ultimately copped to “mistakes” having been made. Nor would they be the last of their kind, apparently.

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“Everything has gone haywire in the White House,” Zakharova said.”

• US Politicians ‘Living In Wonderland’ – Moscow (RT)

US calls for Russia to hold talks on ending the Ukraine conflict seem detached from reality and ignore Moscow’s previous attempts to reach a settlement, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted on Monday that Moscow’s alleged plans “to erase Ukraine from the map… failed.” He added that he hopes Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken note of Western support for Ukraine, “gets the message, and demonstrates a willingness to genuinely negotiate consistent with the basic principles… of the international community and the UN Charter: sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence.” Responding to Blinken’s remarks later that day, Zakharova said American politicians seem to live in a “wonderland.”

She recalled that in 2014 and 2015, Russia “showed respect for international law” by promoting the now-defunct Minsk agreements, which sought to end the bloodshed in the region by giving the two Donbass republics special status within the Ukrainian state. Moscow has claimed that Kiev and Western countries never intended to implement the deal in the first place. Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko, ex-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and ex-French President Francois Hollande have admitted that the primary purpose of the agreements was to help Kiev buy time to build a stronger military force. Zakharova also noted that Moscow was ready to engage in peace talks in 2022. At the time, negotiations in Istanbul, Türkiye initially made headway, but later collapsed after what Russia claims was interference by then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who allegedly advised Kiev to keep fighting. Johnson has denied the accusation.

The spokeswoman stated that Blinken himself had proposed settling the conflict “based not on international law,” but on the ‘peace formula’ proposed by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, which demands that Russia withdraw all troops from the territory Kiev claims as its own and includes several other clauses that Moscow has rejected as unacceptable. “Everything has gone haywire in the White House,” Zakharova said. Moscow maintains that it is open to talks with Ukraine. However, Zelensky signed a decree in autumn 2022 barring negotiations with the current leadership in Moscow. The move came after four former Ukrainian regions voted overwhelmingly to join Russia.

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“There is a straight line between this relentless, politically motivated fear-mongering and the thought that Fascism in some American incarnation is hard upon us..”

• This Isn’t Fascism (Patrick Lawrence)

On April 19, just as a court in Lower Manhattan finished selecting a jury to hear the farcical “hush money” case against Donald Trump, a 37-year-old Floridian named Max Azzarello set himself ablaze across the street from the courthouse. Azzarello, by subsequent accounts, was a peaceable man, an agreeable neighbor, and was much taken up with questions of social justice. He was also no slouch on the academic side: Azzarello had a degree in anthropology from the University of North Carolina and a master’s in urban planning from Rutgers. To go by the mainstream press reports, Azzarello seems to have lost it somewhat after his mother died two years ago this month. But it is not anyone’s place, other than those close to him, to go any more deeply, or even this far, into the man’s psychiatric profile. Max Azzarello did have something to say to the rest of us as he stood in the park across from the Center Street Courthouse, however.

Just before setting himself ablaze, he held up a placard that read, in all caps, “TRUMP IS WITH BIDEN AND THEY’RE ABOUT TO FASCIST COUP US.” We ought to pay attention to this. An apparently capable man, by all accounts a compassionate man, died dreading an imminent Fascist takeover in America. This makes me very angry. To go straight to my point: A human life is wasted in consequence of a ridiculous, paranoiac idea that has for some time circulated among us either out of foolishness or for the most cynical of political motives. I was very sad to learn of Aaron Bushnell’s self-immolation before the Israeli Embassy in Washington on February 25. I was sad to read of Max Azzarello’s final act, too, but in a different way. Bushnell died for “what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers,” as he put it in his final moments. An Air Force enlistee, Bushnell declared he could “no longer be complicit in genocide.” His last words were “Free Palestine!” One would rather Bushnell were still with us, but his was an honorable death.

Azzarello died in a state of confusion and delusion, and I draw this conclusion from the message on his placard. His death honored no one. I will go so far as to say there are many among us who dishonorably bear responsibility for it. Readers of this column may have noted over the months that I am a stickler for nomenclature. To name things properly is essential to our understanding. It enables us to act, if we are so inclined, because we are clear in our minds as to what is to be done. To name things improperly causes all kinds of problems. It leaves us confused and deluded, as in the case of Max Azzarello. It can paralyze us. Or if we choose to act, we are likely to act wrongly. As in the case of Max Azzarello. There are so many misnomers abroad among us, amid the panic on our sinking ship, one sometimes grows weary of language altogether. Russia is an aggressor, China is an imperialist power, Israel is a democracy, and so on through the Orwellian lexicon: War is peace, etc.

On the domestic side, the Jan. 6, 2021, protests at the Capitol were an attempted coup. Or an insurrection. We have Donald Trump is a tyrant. We have Donald Trump is a dictator — “King Trump,” I am now reading in The New York Times. And we have it that America, as per the late Max Azzarello and countless other like him, is on the eve of a Fascist takeover. Much of this, let’s call it the pollution of public discourse, comes from the liberal authoritarians. Rachel Maddow, to take one of the more pitiful cases, wants us to think Trump the dictator will end elections, destroy the courts, and render the Congress powerless. The MSNBC commentator has actually said these things on air. One-man rule is the theme, if you listen to the Rachel Maddows. The evident intent is to cast Donald Trump in the most fearsome light possible, as it becomes clear Trump could well defeat President Biden at the polls come Nov. 5. We can mark this stuff down to crude politicking in an election year, surely. There is nothing new in it. But this is not the point.

There is a straight line between this relentless, politically motivated fear-mongering and the thought that Fascism in some American incarnation is hard upon us — a straight line, this is to say, from our Rachel Maddows to the self-immolation of Max Azzarello. This is the point.

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Muscle cars.

• Cars Used to Make Us Happy (Paul Craig Roberts)

I attended a classic car show recently and realized why my generation was so happy compared to the current ones. Cars in those days were beautiful and the muscle car element had glorious sounds. Beginning in 1954 but especially with the advent of the 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air coup and Ford Fairlane coup you were looking at beauty enhanced by two-tone paint jobs. Some were a combination of pastels. Others were combinations of strong colors–red and black, yellow and black, red and white, and some were a combination of a strong color and a pastel–navy blue and French blue, pink and black. In 1955 Chevrolet brought back the V-8 for its cars, and it was a performer. A stock ’55 Chevy V-8 was a match for our souped up 1950 Ford flatheads. What you could do to that 55 Chevy V-8 was something else. So many of the cars, not only Chevrolets and Fords, but also Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Dodges had beautiful two-tone paint jobs and delightful styling. The cars also offered wonderful visibility. You could see where you were going, backing up, and what was on either side.

For us what constituted safety was visibility, good brakes, and maneuverability. The mid to late 60s into 1972-73 was the muscle car era. The cars had appealing design as they were designed by designers and not by safety bureaucrats. Some of the colors were outrageous–plum crazy purple, bright lime green, triple black, orange. Such outstanding colors usually indicated potent performance. How fast were the muscle cars of a half century ago? Very. Plymouth Barracudas, Superbirds, Dusters, Roadrunners, Dodge Daytonas, Chargers, Ford Torinos, Oldsmobile Cutlasses, 442s, Pontaic GTOs, Firebirds, Chevrolet Chevelles, Cameros could compete in quarter mile times with the supercar of the era, a Lamborghini Miura S (1970). The muscle cars would leave in the dust James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5, Ferrari’s 250 GT Lusso, and even beat fast cars from 20 and 30 years later such as the Lotus Esprit Turbo (1988) and Subaru’s 2001 WRX.

Moreover, a muscle car could be souped up to high heaven. Some of them run 9 and 10 second quarter mile times, which beats the entire range of today’s supercars, such as Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, Corvettes, and Shelby Mustangs. Not many of the souped up muscle cars from a half century ago can beat the present day Dodge Demon, but they can run with it. The thing about muscle cars is that they were so fast that you didn’t need to soup them up like you did a 1950s Ford flathead or a 55 Chevy. Muscle cars date from the days of 30 cents per gallon gasoline, and in those days it was 100 octane. The combination of low purchase cost (a Plymouth Barracuda with a Hemi engine cost $4,000), operating cost, style, and performance made them a deal that no longer exists. Today’s cars are loaded down with electronics and “safety” that you don’t need and that is difficult to live with and costly. If the tire pressure in my safe car drops from 32 to 31 on come warning lights and notices on my screen.

You have to go through a pointless exercise and then spend half an hour figuring out how to turn off the warning indicators. Moreover, the accepted safety style comes from federal safety bureaucrats. Consequently, unless you can see the Mercedes star, you can’t tell one from a Toyota. Today all cars look alike. And you have 4 color choices–white, black, gray, and a dark red. Mopar performance cars, Corvettes, and performance Mustangs are bringing back striking colors and their performance products have a striking appearance. They certainly get your attention, but they are not beautiful. At a large car show cars from the past and present will be on display. The older cars are beautiful. The new ones are aggressive and heavy in appearance. They don’t inspire. They drive well but they don’t make you happy. They look brutish, like American foreign policy. In my teenage years driving down a road was like driving along a rainbow. Colors everywhere. Distinctive styles with no possibility of confusing one make with another, glorious sounds if a muscle car passed you, and wonderful visibility.

All of this ended when the fools up high decided to make us safe. One of the consequences has been that we can’t see out of our cars. My safety designer car has great forward vision unless I turn left down hill. Then the massive pillar that makes me safe blocks all vision. There could be a dog, a child, a huge pothole in the road and I am unable to see it. Rear vision depends on cameras, but they are useless when you are backing out of a parking slot in a shopping center. You can see behind you but not on your side as the enormous pillar blocks all vision. When the massive trucks of today are parked along side of you, it is a game of Russian Roulette to back out. The emphasis on safety has homogenized car design. There is no distinction, and there are no shapes that work with two-tone paint. The modern car world is drab, and drabness produces depression. Thus, the cost of our bureaucratic imposed safety is depression. We are mired in sameness and brutal shapes. When did you last see a happy American?

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Change of guard

 

 

Bukele bribery

 

 

Dog trust
https://twitter.com/i/status/1785120887844266358

 

 

Cowswim

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle October 23 2022

Oct 232022
 
 October 23, 2022  Posted by at 8:36 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  49 Responses »


Rembrandt van Rijn Landscape With the Rest on the Flight into Egypt 1647

 

• Elite US Unit Ready To Fight In Ukraine If Conflict ‘Escalates’ – CBS (RT)
• US-Led Force Might Intervene In Ukraine Conflict – Petraeus (RT)
• Hungarian Foreign Ministry Criticizes ‘Pro-war’ EU (RT)
• Ukraine War Evolves: Slouching Toward Armageddon (Falk)
• Ukraine Confiscates Russian Cargo Ships (RT)
• Russia Urges UN To Prevent Ukraine’s ‘Terrible Provocation’ (RT)
• Zelensky Calls On ‘World’ To Strike Russia (RT)
• Net Zero Bombshell: The World Does Not Have Enough Lithium and Cobalt (DS)
• Electric Cars In Germany May Fall Victim To Energy Crisis – Spiegel (RT)
• A Judge is About to Rule on Pfizergate Case (BN)
• Fauci’s Calendar: What Was He Doing in the Months Before the Pandemic? (CHD)
• Fauci (et al) Fraud Finale? (El Gato)
• EU Sets Out Commitment to “Legally Binding” Global Pandemic Treaty (DS)
• Inside the Proton, the ‘Most Complicated Thing You Could Possibly Imagine’ (QM)

 

 

 

 

I am not a robot: what that means

 

 

 

 

Keri Lake
https://twitter.com/i/status/1583511672995528705

 

 

 

 

Biden

 

 

Assange

 

 

 

 

America’s finest reduced to a propaganda stunt. And sitting ducks. On national TV. So Americans will think: now the Russkies will be afraid!

• Elite US Unit Ready To Fight In Ukraine If Conflict ‘Escalates’ – CBS (RT)

The US Army 101st Airborne Division would not hesitate to enter Ukraine should a conflict break out between Russia and NATO, CBS News reported on Friday citing the unit’s military commanders. The elite division is currently conducting war games in Romania, close to the NATO country’s border with Ukraine. The unit’s commanders told CBS that they would be prepared to cross into Ukraine if the fighting escalates – without elaborating what that would entail – or if NATO were to come under attack. They highlighted that their current deployment in Europe, the first since WWII, is “to defend NATO territory.” “We’re ready to defend every inch of NATO soil”, Deputy Commander Brigadier General John Lubas told the news network.

In Romania, the 101st Airborne Division is holding joint live-fire ground and air assault exercises. According to Colonel Edwin Matthaidess, Commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, his division is the closest US unit to the fighting in Ukraine. He noted that the US troops, have been “closely watching” the Russian military while “building objectives to practice against” and organizing the drills to “replicate exactly what’s going on” in Ukraine. “It keeps us on our toes,” he added. In total, about 4,700 American soldiers from the 101st Airborne’s base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, have been sent to Europe. NATO has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the conflict and will not send its troops into Ukraine.

In late June, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the US-led bloc would significantly increase the number of its forces on high alert from 40,000 to over 300,000. Since the start of Russia’s military offensive on February 24, Ukraine has received substantial military aid from NATO countries, with billions of dollars’ worth of weaponry pouring into the country – which Moscow has repeatedly criticized. The 101st Airborne Division, also known as the “Screaming Eagles,” has a distinguished military history. It took part in the airborne operations during the D-Day landings in Normandy in 1944 and in the Battle of the Bulge, where it fought in a complete encirclement. The unit was also involved in the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

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“.. a multinational force led by the US and not as a NATO force..”

“Petraeus commanded US forces in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2011, presiding over America’s highest death tolls during the 20-year war, and increased civilian casualties.”

• US-Led Force Might Intervene In Ukraine Conflict – Petraeus (RT)

The US and its allies might directly intervene in the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev, even when there is no threat to any NATO member states, retired US Army general David Petraeus told France’s L’Express weekly on Saturday. Washington might form a new coalition of the willing in such a scenario and use it instead of NATO, Petraeus, who also briefly served as the CIA director, believes. Russia could take some actions in Ukraine that would be “so shocking and so horrific” that it would prompt a response from the US and other nations, he said, adding that they “might react in one way or another, but as a multinational force led by the US and not as a NATO force.” The military alliance would still likely be bound by its treaty and would only join the conflict if Article 5 is invoked, i.e. if one of its members is attacked, the general believes.

Petraeus also said that Moscow is not interested in escalating the conflict and turning it into a global war. A wider conflict is “the last thing” Russian President Vladimir Putin needs right now, he added. Earlier in October, Petraeus claimed that the US could wipe out all Russian forces in Ukraine, alongside with the Russian Black Sea fleet, if Moscow uses nuclear arms in Ukraine. On Saturday, he doubled down on these words by saying that Washington’s response to such a move on Russia’s part would involve “more than diplomatic … economic and legal actions.” At the same time, Petraeus said that his earlier words had described “just one” of “many options” America has in store in case Russia resorts to the use of nuclear arms, which he called an “extremely bad decision.”

The general also said that he still thinks there is nothing Russia could do to change the situation on the frontlines, which, according to Petraeus, is unfavorable to Moscow. Petraeus commanded US forces in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2011, presiding over America’s highest death tolls during the 20-year war, and increased civilian casualties. The general helped persuade then-President Barack Obama to deploy an additional 30,000 US troops to the country, but his counterinsurgency plan, which hinged on “securing and serving” the local population, flopped. He then became CIA director in 2011, only to resign the following year after having an extramarital affair with the woman who was writing his biography.

Judge Nap and Scott Ritter

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“..we need immediate peace instead of a longer war. Peace requires an immediate ceasefire and dialogue.”

• Hungarian Foreign Ministry Criticizes ‘Pro-war’ EU (RT)

The Hungarian Foreign Ministry has rejected EU calls for Russia to be defeated in Ukraine, saying the bloc needed peace, not a prolonged conflict. EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson made several statements on the hostilities this week, stressing the bloc’s “determination, resolve and unity to stand by Ukraine as long as it takes.”She also insisted that “to end this crisis, first, Putin must lose.” Responding on Friday, Tamas Menczer, State Secretary at Hungary’s Foreign Ministry, accused Johansson of making “a very dangerous statement because it links the end of a crisis with a military event, about which we don’t know when will it happen or if it happens at all.” “This pro-war stance of Brussels extends the conflict and suffering. This is extremely dangerous and unacceptable,” he insisted.

Menczer reiterated the position of the Hungarian government, which is that “we need immediate peace instead of a longer war. Peace requires an immediate ceasefire and dialogue.” Hungary has remained relatively neutral since the outbreak of fighting in Ukraine in late February. It has refused to send arms to Kiev unlike many fellow EU members and consistently criticized the sanctions imposed by Brussels on Moscow. Budapest, which is heavily dependent on Russian fuel, was also able to negotiate an exemption for itself from the bloc-wide ban on Russian oil. Moscow, which has repeatedly invited Kiev to come to the negotiating table, has blamed the Ukrainian side for undermining any potential for a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed a declaration that officially made it “impossible” to hold any negotiations with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The move followed the inclusion of the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, and the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, into Russia as result of referendums in those territories. Kiev and its Western backers have labeled September’s votes a “sham” and continue to view the areas as parts of Ukraine.

More for oligarchs
https://twitter.com/i/status/1583771357544083457

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‘to be so far from God and yet so close to the United States.’

• Ukraine War Evolves: Slouching Toward Armageddon (Falk)

[..] even if it can be argued that Russia/Putin have launched a war that is unlawful, immoral, and unjustified, the wider geopolitical context remains crucial if peace is to be restored and catastrophe avoided. For one thing, the Russian attack may be all of those things alleged, and yet form part of a geopolitical pattern of established behavior that the U.S. has itself confirmed in a series of wars starting with the Vietnam War, and notably more recently with the Kosovo War, Afghanistan War, and the Iraq War. None of these wars were legal, moral, and justifiable, although each enjoyed a geopolitical rationale that made them seem desirable to U.S. foreign policy elites and its closest alliance partners.

Of course, two wrongs do not make a right, but in a world where geopolitical actors enjoy a license to pursue vital strategic interests within traditional spheres of influence, it is not objectively defensible to self-righteously condemn Russia without taking account of what the U.S. has been doing around the world for several decades. Antony Blinken may tell the media that spheres of influence became a thing of the past after World War II, but he must have been asleep for decades not to notice that the Yalta Agreement on the future of Europe reached in 1945 by the Soviet Union, United States, and the United Kingdom was premised on precisely the explicit affirmation of such spheres, which in retrospect, however distasteful in application, deserve some credit for keeping the Cold War from becoming World War III.

Such compromised sovereignty of these borderland countries is descriptive of the prerogatives claimed by so-called Great Powers throughout the history of international relations, not least by the United States through the Monroe Doctrine and its extensions. In this sense, Ukraine finds itself in the long unenviable position of Mexico, and indeed all of Latin America. Many years ago the famous Mexican cultural figure, Octavio Paz, proclaimed the tragedy of his country ‘to be so far from God and yet so close to the United States.’

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“Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer pointed out that any decision to transfer Russian assets to help Ukraine would have to be made in court..”

• Ukraine Confiscates Russian Cargo Ships (RT)

Kiev has handed over nine vessels belonging to Russia to a Ukrainian company, the country’s authorities announced on Saturday. “The income received from managing the vessels will go to the state budget of Ukraine. The total cost of the ships is over UAH 532 million (nearly $14.5 million),” the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a message on its Telegram channel. The ships entered Ukrainian ports in late 2021 and early 2022 and, according to the agency, were transporting cargo. They were then “arrested” and transferred to ARMA, a government agency for the search and management of assets.


In August, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky announced that Kiev had confiscated $765 million worth of Russian assets on Ukrainian territory, and was going to seize more assets belonging to the Russian state, and to use the proceeds for Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction. On Friday, the EU said it would look into ways of using the €300 billion ($292 billion) worth of Russian assets it has frozen as part of sanctions against Moscow, to finance Ukraine. After a summit in Brussels, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer pointed out that any decision to transfer Russian assets to help Ukraine would have to be made in court, as Europe was committed to the rule of law. Moscow has repeatedly condemned the seizure of its assets by Western nations and has described it as theft.

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Of course, the west says it’s Russia that threatens the dam.

• Russia Urges UN To Prevent Ukraine’s ‘Terrible Provocation’ (RT)

Russia has formally asked the United Nations Security Council to prevent Ukraine from destroying the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric dam in Kherson Region. Such a disaster could result in the deaths of thousands of civilians, Moscow’s ambassador to the UN warned on Friday. Speaking at a Security Council briefing, Vassily Nebenzia noted that as the West chooses to ignore “any criminal acts” committed by Ukraine, the country has been “consistently conducting strikes on civilian infrastructure in its former territories”, including the town of Novaya Kakhovka in Kherson Region, which was recently incorporated into Russia. According to the envoy, most of the missiles are being launched from US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).

“Ukrainian forces are aiming at the Kakhovskaya dam in order to break it, causing the water level to rise and the adjacent areas to flood,” the diplomat said. Should this happen, Nebenzia warned, “thousands of civilians may be killed, and thousands of homes damaged.” The envoy said Russia has distributed a letter to Security Council members, calling on the UN leadership to prevent “this terrible provocation.” The Ukrainian military frequently shells settlements and civilian infrastructure in the Kherson Region. Aside from the Kakhovskaya plant, Kiev has been targeting the Antonovsky Bridge and a pontoon crossing over the Dnepr River in the city of Kherson, in a bid to disrupt Russian logistics in the area.

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin imposed martial law in Kherson Region, as well as three other former Ukrainian territories, amid reports that Kiev’s forces were preparing a large-scale offensive against the area’s capital city. A day earlier, local authorities announced the relocation of civilians from the province. Kiev’s forces have also repeatedly targeted Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which is located in the neighboring region, with Russian authorities warning that the attacks could trigger a disaster that would eclipse the Chernobyl incident.

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Kolomoisky should withdraw his puppet.

• Zelensky Calls On ‘World’ To Strike Russia (RT)

The world should make it clear to Russia that it would have to face immediate military response if it decides to use nuclear arms against Kiev, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky told CBC and CTV broadcasters in an interview this week. The Ukrainian leader accused Russia of using “terrorist” blackmail tactics and said that Moscow only understands the language of force. Zelensky accused Moscow of repeatedly threatening to strike “decision-making centers” in Ukraine, including with nuclear arms and said that the world should respond if such a strike does take place. “It does not matter if Ukraine is a NATO member or a non-NATO nation,” he said, adding that no one should be allowed to “blackmail [other nations] like a terrorist.”

According to the Ukrainian president, the world should tell the Russians: “If you strike Bankova Street [the Ukrainian President’s Office], there will be a strike at where you are.” If Moscow does strike Kiev, there should be “a strike at the decision-making centers” in Russia the next “second,” regardless of the results of the Russian attack, he added. Such a stance would be, in turn, not a blackmail but a kind of self-defense that would supposedly prevent those issuing a threat from following through on their plans, Zelensky argued. “One can talk about humanism for a long time,” the Ukrainian president told journalists, adding that his nation lives in a situation, where it has a “neighbor that does not understand anything but force.”

The Ukrainian president also squarely blamed all Russians for what happens in Ukraine. “The society of the Russian Federation must know that they attack our [Ukrainian] society,” he said, adding that the Russians “support a terrorist authority.” If the Russians “do not exert pressure” on President Vladimir Putin, “the world will isolate itself from you,” Zelensky warned, adding that nobody would talk to Russia since it only speaks “the language of threats.” The Ukrainian president also said that the world must itself decide who to talk to in Russia since “they are terrorists now. All of them.”It is not the first time the Ukrainian leader makes such appeals. Earlier, he already called on NATO to carry out preventive strikes on Russia to deter the use of nuclear weapons.

At that time, his words sparked an angry reaction from Moscow that accused Zelensky of trying to spark a third world war. Zelensky later walked back his remarks, claiming that he actually meant “preventative kicks” and blaming the ‘misunderstanding’ on the translation. The Ukrainian president then walked back his statement, claiming it was mistranslated and that he really meant to say preemptive sanctions, not “preemptive strikes.” Back in September, Putin said that Russia would defend its territory using all means available and would do “everything to ensure the security of its people.” At the same time, he also said that Moscow was ready for talks with Kiev and called on Ukraine to “to cease all hostilities” and return to the negotiating table.

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Not a bombshell.

• Net Zero Bombshell: The World Does Not Have Enough Lithium and Cobalt (DS)

Influential elites are either in denial about the horrifying costs and consequences of Net Zero – witness last Wednesday’s substantial vote against fracking British gas in the House of Commons – or busy scooping up the almost unlimited amounts of money currently on offer for promoting pseudoscience climate scares and investing in impracticable green technologies. Until the lights start to go out and heating fails, they are unlikely to pay much attention to a recent 1,000 page alternative energy investigation undertaken for a Finnish Government agency by Associate Professor Simon Michaux. Referring to the U.K.’s 2050 Net Zero target, Michaux states there is “simply not enough time, nor resources to do this by the current target”.

To cite just one example of how un-costed Net Zero is, Michaux notes that “in theory” there are enough global reserves of nickel and lithium if they are exclusively used to produce batteries for electric vehicles. But there is not enough cobalt, and more will need to be discovered. It gets much worse. All the new batteries have a useful working life of only 8-10 years, so replacements will need to be regularly produced. “This is unlikely to be practical, which suggests the whole EV battery solution may need to be re-thought and a new solution is developed that is not so mineral intensive,” he says. All of these problems occur in finding a mass of lithium for ion batteries weighting 286.6 million tonnes. But a “power buffer” of another 2.5 billion tonnes of batteries is also required to provide a four-week back-up for intermittent wind and solar electricity power.

Of course, this is simply not available from global mineral reserves, but, states Michaux, it is not clear how the buffer could be delivered with an alternative system. Michaux sounds a clear warning message. Current expectations are that global industrial businesses will replace a complex industrial energy ecosystem that took more than a century to build. It was built with the support of the highest calorifically dense source of energy the world has ever known (oil), in cheap abundant quantities, with easily available credit and seemingly unlimited mineral resources. The replacement, he notes, needs to be done when there is comparatively very expensive energy, a fragile finance system saturated in debt and not enough minerals.

Most challenging of all, it has to be done within a few decades. Based on his copious calculations, the author is of the opinion that it will not go fully “as planned”. Last Sunday, Sir David Attenborough concluded six episodes of pseudoscientific green agitprop Frozen Planet II by demanding that the world embrace Net Zero, “no matter how challenging it may be”. Net Zero is a political command-and-control project, the full horror of which is yet to be inflicted on the general population. Michaux is quite clear what it entails: “What may be required, therefore, is a significant reduction of societal demand for all resources, of all kinds. This implies a very different social contract and a radically different system of governance to what is in place today.”

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Make that the entire German car industry. Who’s buying cars?

• Electric Cars In Germany May Fall Victim To Energy Crisis – Spiegel (RT)

The current energy crisis in Europe could put the brakes on electric mobility in Germany and make e-vehicles unattractive to potential customers, Der Spiegel reported on Friday. With electricity getting ever more expensive, charging an e-vehicle is sometimes pricier than filling up a petrol or diesel vehicle, the newspaper writes. The combustion engine is more than €30 cheaper per month on average with a mileage of 15,000 kilometers, the publications writes. By the end of next year, an e-car should “clearly be at a disadvantage,” Der Spiegel quotes Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer from the Center for Automotive Research as saying.

The state bonuses for buying electric vehicles were also reduced by 25%. With an almost a year-long wait for an ordered electric car to arrive, the buyer will get a smaller bonus than they were expecting, the outlet writes, adding that there’s no longer any state subsidy for hybrid cars. In the current climate, consumers may have little desire to buy a new car. The situation was described as a “toxic mixture of energy crisis and inflation” by Sabine Jaskula from ZF, Germany’s second largest car systems supplier. Electric car production will collapse in Europe next year, she predicts, as only 11 million cars could roll off the assembly line across the industry instead of the planned 18 million.

Another ZF representative described the EU plans to stop selling petrol and diesel cars by 2035 as “illusory.” There’s also a shortage of public charging stations across Germany, according to Der Spiegel. In some metropolitan areas, a single station has to be shared between as many as 60 vehicles, and a large-scale station refurbishment is needed to provide enough charging spaces for everyone. According to veteran battery car dealer Wolf Warncke, “There is a risk that prospective buyers will turn their backs on e-mobility.”

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Brook Jackson. “Staff who conducted quality control checks were overwhelmed by the volume of problems they were finding.”

• A Judge is About to Rule on Pfizergate Case (BN)

The last shred of hope for holding Big Pharma accountable for fraud now rests on a lawsuit against vaccine manufacturer Pfizer. In an update provided to Becker News, a judge is soon expected to issue his ruling on whether or not the ‘Pfizergate’ fraud case proceeds to trial. “The judge is deciding, as I type, whether we go to discovery or the case is dismissed,” Pfizer whistleblower Brook Jackson tells Becker News. After the CDC this week voted to add the Covid shots to its Childhood Vaccines Schedule, under the PREP Act, it has effectively been granted legal immunity to lawsuits. There is no legal immunity if Pfizer committed fraud, however. In September, Pfizer whistleblower Brook Jackson came forward with her explosive report about the company’s alleged malfeasance, citing ‘falsified data’ and manipulated clinical trials.

In January, she filed a lawsuit against Pfizer for committing fraud against the American people. In February, the judge ruled that the lawsuit, being led by attorney Robert Barnes, can proceed to pre-trial discovery phase. It is now on the verge of potentially going to trial. Brook Jackson is a former clinical trial auditor who was fired after raising her concerns. She first came forward with inside information and documented evidence about Pfizer’s operations in a BMJ investigation conducted by Paul Thacker. The report raises serious red flags that the FDA and Pfizer engaged in massive fraud to justify vaccine mandates. “A regional director who was employed at the research organisation Ventavia Research Group has told The BMJ that the company falsified data, unblinded patients, employed inadequately trained vaccinators, and was slow to follow up on adverse events reported in Pfizer’s pivotal phase III trial,” the BMJ reported. “Staff who conducted quality control checks were overwhelmed by the volume of problems they were finding.

After repeatedly notifying Ventavia of these problems, the regional director, Brook Jackson, emailed a complaint to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Ventavia fired her later the same day. Jackson has provided The BMJ with dozens of internal company documents, photos, audio recordings, and emails.” “Jackson has told The BMJ that, during the two weeks she was employed at Ventavia in September 2020, she repeatedly informed her superiors of poor laboratory management, patient safety concerns, and data integrity issues,” the report added. “Jackson was a trained clinical trial auditor who previously held a director of operations position and came to Ventavia with more than 15 years’ experience in clinical research coordination and management.” The U.S. government has moved to dismiss the case, which cites the False Claims Act.

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His entire calendar, minus redactions.

• Fauci’s Calendar: What Was He Doing in the Months Before the Pandemic? (CHD)

On Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, at 9 a.m., Dr. Anthony Fauci joined staff at the National Security Council (NSC) — the President’s national security and foreign policy advisory shop — for a meeting in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building about the novel coronavirus. Fauci would continue to have meetings in classified settings throughout the month. Fauci’s calendar entries included NSC meetings, White House Situation Room meetings and meetings in other classified settings, as COVID-19 was breaking in China. (To our knowledge, the existence of these meetings before Jan. 28, 2020, was not previously disclosed.) On Friday, Jan. 24, four days after China admitted human-to-human transmission of the virus, Fauci started attending a small group COVID-19 discussion that first took place in “Anthony’s Office” in a building next to the White House.

Anthony, in this case, appears to be an NSC employee and an expert in biodefense and China. Flashing back to December 2019, when patients in Wuhan were showing up at hospitals with unidentified pneumonia cases, Fauci attended the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — National Institutes of Health (NIH) dinner and workshops on Dec. 19 and 20 — the sixth annual event for NIH staff and Gates Foundation executives. On the morning of Dec. 19, billionaire Bill Gates tweeted out his own hopes for the coming year and his now prescient prediction: “one of the best buys in global health: vaccines.” Today, we only know about these meetings, because our organization at OpenTheBooks.com, in partnership with the public-interest law firm Judicial Watch, sued the NIH in federal court.

NIH had refused to even acknowledge our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. So, for the first time, here is our exclusive release of Fauci’s official calendar. For a government bureaucrat, this sure was one tightly held calendar. The refusal by NIH to follow open records law was a strategy to delay transparency: NIH forced us into expensive taxpayer-paid litigation to slow-walk 156 pages of semi-redacted calendar production. Fauci’s calendar has 933 events during this five-month period — including 224 media interviews and 84 redacted events (only significant redactions that prevented analysis and understanding were counted, for example, phone number redactions were not included). It’s a document that NIH and Fauci didn’t want you to see … Why? What did Fauci know? And when did he know it?

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“..Tony made written response to questions to which he was required to provide verified answers under penalty of perjury but failed to sign them. They were instead signed by an underling.”

• Fauci (et al) Fraud Finale? (El Gato)

The lawsuit Missouri et al vs about the whole of US public health is progressing in its exploration of the explicit and deliberate role of the us government and many of its agents including Fauci, Murthy, Biden, and Jankowicz (amidst a cast of dozens and several agencies) in the systematic shaping, suppression, and censorship of information regarding covid. As those quaint few who still believe in things like “the 1st amendment” may recall, this is a bit of a constitutional no no. The government is not allowed to dominate the press. This is a matter of sound and settled law. 2. A private entity violates the First Amendment “if the government coerces or induces it to take action the government itself would not be permitted to do, such as censor expression of a lawful viewpoint.” Biden v. Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia Univ., 141 S. Ct. 1220, 1226 (2021) (Thomas, J., concurring). “The government cannot accomplish through threats of adverse government action what the Constitution prohibits it from doing directly.” Id.

These practice date back to well before covid and appear to have been a widespread program by which one political party stifled the views of the other, enhancing left leaning messaging and suppressing the right. It’s been part and parcel of a behavioral package dating back to at least the beginnings of the obama administration, the politicized weaponization of the IRS, the FBI, and who knows how much media right up through such hit singles’ as “the Hunter Laptop is misinformation but the Steele Dossier is real” and “questioning the 2016 election is patriotism but questioning 2020 is insurrection.” The fun part of this is perfectly encapsulated by this quote: “Missouri AG Eric Schmitt: “No one has had the chance to look under the hood before – now we do.”

But a funny thing happened on the way to discovery: Most of the subjects of the investigation have been steadfastly refusing to testify (a crime for which Bannon just got jail). The refusals, prevarications, and slights of hand have been wild. It’s been the entire teflon tony playbook. But it looks like the courts have has just about enough of this slippery behavior. in an exemplary act of evasiveness, Tony made written response to questions to which he was required to provide verified answers under penalty of perjury but failed to sign them. They were instead signed by an underling. This astonishing action serves as its own indictment and fits neatly into a longstanding pattern of lying to Congress and to the American people and it appears that judge doughty (huge win for nominative determinism on that one) is declaring an and to the shenanigans.Folks are going to get deposed under oath, penalty of perjury, and under threat of contempt.

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As well as Lockdowns, Vaccine Passports, Mask Mandates. What justification is left by now?

• EU Sets Out Commitment to “Legally Binding” Global Pandemic Treaty (DS)

The document emphatically reinforces the EU’s commitment to a new “legally binding” pandemic treaty with a “reinforced WHO at its centre” and commits over half a billion euros (equivalently, dollars and pounds) to making it happen.

“Lastly, the EU believes it is vitally important to build on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and to strengthen the global health architecture – with a reinforced WHO at its centre. The EU is determined to be a driving force in the negotiations on a new, legally binding, international agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response and on targeted amendments to strengthen the International Health Regulations 2005. These complementary processes are a priority for the EU and provide a historic opportunity to find multilateral solutions to common challenges, based on the principles of collective solidarity, equity, fairness, inclusiveness and enhanced transparency. Moreover, the new Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF) for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, to which Team Europe has already pledged at least €588 million, will provide funding to support pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, including the implementation of the amended International Health Regulations and the new international agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.”

The document also trails a forthcoming “EU global health strategy” which “will provide the political framework with priorities, governance and tools, enabling the EU to speak with one influential voice and making the most of Team Europe’s capacity to protect and promote health globally”. This is a very disturbing document. For those of us who still hold to the evidence-based pandemic strategies of pre-2020, premised only on mitigating impacts by expanding emergency healthcare capacity and finding safe and effective treatments, and not imposing intrusive, harmful and unproven methods of trying to prevent the spread of a disease that is anyway harmless to most people, this bodes ill indeed for the current direction of travel in Europe and globally.

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“The proton is a quantum mechanical object that exists as a haze of probabilities..”

• Inside the Proton, the ‘Most Complicated Thing You Could Possibly Imagine’ (QM)

More than a century after Ernest Rutherford discovered the positively charged particle at the heart of every atom, physicists are still struggling to fully understand the proton. High school physics teachers describe them as featureless balls with one unit each of positive electric charge — the perfect foils for the negatively charged electrons that buzz around them. College students learn that the ball is actually a bundle of three elementary particles called quarks. But decades of research have revealed a deeper truth, one that’s too bizarre to fully capture with words or images. “This is the most complicated thing that you could possibly imagine,” said Mike Williams, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “In fact, you can’t even imagine how complicated it is.”

The proton is a quantum mechanical object that exists as a haze of probabilities until an experiment forces it to take a concrete form. And its forms differ drastically depending on how researchers set up their experiment. Connecting the particle’s many faces has been the work of generations. “We’re kind of just starting to understand this system in a complete way,” said Richard Milner, a nuclear physicist at MIT. As the pursuit continues, the proton’s secrets keep tumbling out. Most recently, a monumental data analysis published in August found that the proton contains traces of particles called charm quarks that are heavier than the proton itself.

The proton “has been humbling to humans,” Williams said. “Every time you think you kind of have a handle on it, it throws you some curveballs.” Recently, Milner, together with Rolf Ent at Jefferson Lab, MIT filmmakers Chris Boebel and Joe McMaster, and animator James LaPlante, set out to transform a set of arcane plots that compile the results of hundreds of experiments into a series of animations of the shape-shifting proton. We’ve incorporated their animations into our own attempt to unveil its secrets.

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Dog dewormer

 

 

 

 

Centripetal force

 

 

 

 

Halloween

 

 

 

 

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