Feb 082025
 
 February 8, 2025  Posted by at 10:50 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , ,  66 Responses »


M.C. Escher Gravitation 1952

 

How It Worked (James Howard Kunstler)
Trump Administration Sued Over USAID Clampdown (RT)
USAID Corruption At ‘Unexplainable’ Level – Trump (RT)
Trump’s Assault On USAID Could Change US Foreign Policy Forever (Bordachev)
Hungary Moves To Expose USAID Funding (RT)
14 States to File Lawsuit Against DOGE Access to Gov’t Payment Systems (ET)
Trump Nukes All Govt-MSM Contracts After Politico Firestorm (ZH)
Time Mag Puts ‘President Elon Musk’ on Cover, Trump Has Epic Response (PJM)
US ‘Will Lose The Next War Very Badly’ – Musk (RT)
Zelensky Extends Forced Conscription And Martial Law Again (RMX)
Trump Says He ‘Will Probably’ Meet Zelensky Next Week (RT)
UK Trying To Prevent Peace – Ukrainian MP (RT)
US-Russia War Would Be ‘Good For Ukraine’ – Zelensky’s Top Aide (RT)
Border Czar “Expects” Kinetic Warfare Between US Troops & Mexican Cartels (ZH)
TikTok’s Actual Offense? Innovating While Not Being American (Tamny)
Elizabeth Warren DESTROYED by X Community Notes (Bartee)
How Trump Suddenly Became A Feminist Champion (RT)
Microplastic Found in Brain Weighs as Much as a Plastic Spoon (ET)

 

 


Jim Kunstler 2024

 

 

Turley

Alina

Tax cuts

X

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Many lawsuits have been mounted by blob-adjacent attorneys to make all this stop. But one big problem for them is that their gigantic legal fees [..] were previously paid by exactly those NGOs that are getting shut down now.”

How It Worked (James Howard Kunstler)

If you wondered since 2016 how come the blob and the Democratic Party were aligned so exquisitely in their operations to destroy populism (personified by Mr. Trump) and to permanently entrench single party power in America for all time to come, it’s because an endless font of taxpayer money was streamed into countless non-governmental orgs creating a shadow civil service of Democratic Party activists that melded seamlessly with the big policy-making agencies.

The money was laundered through manifold layers of these orgs and their sub-orgs to pay for an ongoing “color revolution” in the USA — lawfare, election fraud, propaganda, censorship, career cancellation, medical fuckery, open borders, and other totalitarian ploys — while enriching political players at all those manifold layers from multi-millionaire congressmen and senators to thousands of NGO officials making six-figure salaries to street hustlers like Patrisse Cullors of Black Lives Matter and “anti-racism” racist Ibram X. Kendi and his $50-million Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University (recently axed) — and, of course, ultimately the former Potemkin president “Joe Biden” and his family.

It was all this money that drove eight years of sponsored insanity. Mainly, it kept the hands of the Democratic Party firmly on the levers of power so that nothing could be done about the insults and injuries they were inflicting on our country. So, is it a mystery now that nobody was prosecuted for burning the cities in 2020, or for magically creating millions of extra “Joe Biden” votes out of nowhere that year, or setting up the kickback machine from Ukraine to Congress, or forcing millions to get a janky vaccine?

Pam Bondi is going to be a busy girl. The DOGE has uncovered a government racketeering operation of which the USAID scandal is but one cog in a colossal engine of grift. What the public, including you readers, may not appreciate is how much planning went on over the past year to mount the DOGE effort, and how comprehensively the work of its many hundreds of computer techies (not just six whiz-kids) has laid bare the money-trails out of previously impenetrable government computers. Their algorithms have pierced the firewalls, revealing decades of fraud and deceit.

Mr. Trump’s cabinet officers have started the job of dismantling the machine by getting rid of the employees who set it up and worked for it. By Thursday, Secretary of State Rubio fired all but 300 of the 10,000 people working for USAID. CIA Director Ratcliffe offered the agency’s entire workforce a “deferred resignation” option that will allow them to bail out and still collect their salaries until September. Look for straight-up firings to ensue. Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered the acting FBI director to terminate eight senior FBI officials and asked for a review of up to 5,000 involved in J-6 investigations (including, presumably, agents who engaged in abusive SWAT-team deployments).

Many lawsuits have been mounted by blob-adjacent attorneys to make all this stop. But one big problem for them is that their gigantic legal fees — hundreds of dollars an hour on the meter multiplied by x-hundreds of lawyers— were previously paid by exactly those NGOs that are getting shut down now. So, perhaps you see exactly how those levers of power worked. The money will have to come from somewhere else, and I doubt that Silicon Valley billionaire blob-supporter Reid Hoffman wants to piss away the rest of his fortune on this.

Some actual persons will have to be held accountable for all the mischief carried out in rogue agencies over many years. It has to start somewhere. I nominate Samantha Power as a first test case. She was in charge of USAID for nearly four years — until Jan 20, 2025 — including the duration of the Ukraine War. She was also personally very busy hands-on in arranging attempted color revolutions in Hungary (failed, against Viktor Orban), Georgia (failed), Mexico (failed), and Brazil (succeeded against Jair Bolsonaro). Ms. Power provided money from USAID-connected NGOs to foster instability in many more countries, including our country. It must have come as quite a shock to her that Kamala Harris did not win the 2024 election. USAID will not be paying for Ms.Power’s legal representation.

Much more will come to shock the blobsters and their legions — though just now, as the reformation of government begins, it’s comforting just to think of all those dedicated seditionists, Wokesters, Marxians, and Jacobins unable to make their rent payments or buy groceries all of a sudden. The paychecks have stopped coming for thousands who wanted to turn American life upside-down and inside-out. This happened most colorfully at the fake-news outfit called Politico this week. Turned out they were a subsidiary of the blob. Who knew? (Everyone who was paying attention to the jive they published.) Management had to send out a memo that reporters and editors would not get paid this week, or maybe ever again. Boo hoo.

It was also revealed this week that the Reuters News Agency, the Associated Press, The New York Times, the Wash-Po, and around 700-other news outfits altogether had been receiving financial support from USAID, the CIA, and other government entities. Now do you understand why the Democratic Party voters are so obdurately deluded and deranged?

USAID
https://twitter.com/i/status/1887844383224922586

Read more …

“The claimants alleged that Trump lacks the powers to dissolve USAID due to it being established under a 1998 law passed by Congress.”

Trump Administration Sued Over USAID Clampdown (RT)

The largest US government workers’ union and an association of foreign service workers have sued the administration of US President Donlad Trump in an attempt to prevent the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington’s primary vehicle for funding political projects abroad. Sources told Reuters on Thursday that the White House intends to keep fewer than 300 employees out of more than 10,000 at the independent agency, which had a budget of some $60 billion in 2023. Trump previously branded USAID “a criminal organization” run by “radical lunatics,” which he claimed had been involved in financing bioweapons research and used its funds to pay for positive coverage on the Democratic Party in the media.

The lawsuit, which was filed in a federal court in Washington, DC on Thursday by the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Foreign Service Association, called the clampdown on USAID “unconstitutional and illegal.” Trump’s order on his inauguration day last month to suspend all US foreign aid for 90 days and the subsequent decision by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to halt USAID projects around the world created a “global humanitarian crisis,” it claimed. The lawsuit named the president and the State and Treasury Departments as the defendants. The claimants alleged that Trump lacks the powers to dissolve USAID due to it being established under a 1998 law passed by Congress. “Not a single one of defendants’ actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization. And pursuant to federal statute, Congress is the only entity that may lawfully dismantle the agency,” the lawsuit read.

Those behind the action seek a temporary and eventually permanent order from the court to restore funding for USAID, reopen its offices and block any further orders by the Trump administration to dissolve it. On Wednesday, hundreds of former and current employees protested in Washington against Trump’s plans regarding the agency. They carried banners reading: “USAID saves lives,” “Stop the coup,” “Save our democracy” and others. Democratic members of Congress, including Senators Mark Warner and Chris Van Hollen, and Representative John Garamendi, were among those to address the crowd. SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who largely oversees the dismantling of USAID as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), said on X earlier this week that the agency “is a ball of worms. There is no apple. And when there is no apple, you have just got to basically get rid of the whole thing.”

Read more …

“USAID stole billions of dollars, “much of it going to the fake news media as a ‘payoff’ for creating good stories about the democrats.”

USAID Corruption At ‘Unexplainable’ Level – Trump (RT)

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is riddled with almost unprecedented levels of corruption, and should be shut down, President Donald Trump has said. In one of the first executive orders after his unauguration, Trump suspended all US foreign aid, pending a three-month review, amid a wider push to cut down on government spending. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio subsequently halted a number of projects assigned to USAID, Washington’s main agency for administering funding to political projects abroad. Elon Musk, leading the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which is evaluating federal agencies’ spending, has branded USAID a “criminal organization.”

“USAID is driving the radical left crazy, and there is nothing they can do about it because the way in which the money has been spent, so much of it fraudulently, is totally unexplainable,” Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social on Friday. “The corruption is at levels rarely seen before. Close it down!” he said. The day before, the US president claimed that the agency funneled billions of taxpayer dollars into media companies to foster positive media coverage of Democrats. USAID stole billions of dollars, “much of it going to the fake news media as a ‘payoff’ for creating good stories about the democrats. the left wing ‘rag,’ known as ‘Politico,’ seems to have received $8,000,000,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. The decision reportedly followed findings by Musk’s team that millions of taxpayer dollars were being spent on Politico Pro subscriptions.

Subsequently, the White House has directed the General Services Administration to terminate all media contracts funded by USAID, Axios wrote on Thursday, citing an internal email the outlet obtained as saying. Politico has denied receiving direct funding from the government, explaining that their premium subscriptions service was being used by some US agencies. According to Reuters, the administration plans to retain fewer than 300 of USAID’s over 10,000 employees. This significant reduction has prompted a lawsuit from a major government workers’ union, challenging the legality of the cuts. The American Federation of Government Employees and the American Foreign Service Association sued Trump, Rubio, as well as the Treasury and State departments, branding the crackdown on USAID “unconstitutional and illegal.”

Read more …

“As significant in its influence as the Department of Defense or the State Department, USAID has long served as a powerful instrument for advancing Washington’s global agenda..”

Trump’s Assault On USAID Could Change US Foreign Policy Forever (Bordachev)

Over the decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has evolved into a “state within a state” within American foreign policy. As significant in its influence as the Department of Defense or the State Department, USAID has long served as a powerful instrument for advancing Washington’s global agenda. However, the recent actions of the new administration in Washington, led by Donald Trump, mark a significant shift, targeting this elite bribery agency with sweeping reforms. For Russia, these developments carry both challenges and opportunities.

USAID’s role in American foreign policy
USAID was created during the early years of the Cold War when the United States realized it could not defeat the Soviet Union in a direct armed conflict. Instead, it opted for a strategy of peaceful competition. Unlike the USSR, which sought to improve the lives of ordinary people in developing nations, the US focused on manipulating elites and influential actors. This philosophical divide between the two superpowers defined their approaches to foreign policy. Armed with substantial financial resources — approximately $40 billion last year — USAID has been the principal instrument of US interference in the internal affairs of other states. Its core mission has been the systematic bribery of elites to secure their loyalty to American interests. This strategy has been employed across Latin America, Asia, the Arab world, and, more recently, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

USAID: An instrument of destabilization
Far from promoting stability or development, USAID’s activities have often led to internal crises and even the collapse of statehood. Ukraine stands as a stark example of this, where the agency’s involvement has contributed to deepening political and social unrest. In other cases, USAID has propped up regimes that offer special privileges to the US, though such instances are relatively rare. The agency’s operations are not about making the United States more attractive to the rest of the world. Soft power, often romanticized in academic circles, is not the result of foreign policy maneuvers but of a nation’s internal appeal. The US is attractive to some because it offers a lifestyle rooted in selfishness and individualism, not because of its diplomatic or military actions.

Trump’s offensive: Reshaping USAID
The Trump administration’s reforms of USAID represent a decisive attempt to curb its unchecked power. Personnel reshuffling, increased oversight by diplomats, budget cuts, and the appointment of Trump-loyal officials are all part of this overhaul. This assault is not driven by a desire to end US interference in other nations’ affairs — such a policy is too central to maintaining America’s global dominance. Instead, it is an effort to reassert control over a bureaucracy that has grown too independent and self-serving. Trump’s disdain for the agency stems from its inefficiency and its bloated structure, which prioritizes its own survival over achieving tangible foreign policy results. For a leader as authoritarian as Trump, allowing such a structure to operate autonomously is unacceptable. All achievements must now be tied directly to his leadership and energy.

Panama: A case study in simplicity
A recent example of this new approach can be seen in Panama. The Trump administration launched a decisive diplomatic offensive against the Panamanian government, pressuring it to abandon cooperation with China. Without the need for elaborate schemes or massive expenditures, the US appears to have secured control over the Panama Canal’s logistics systems. This success raises an important question: if political pressure can achieve results, why waste billions on bribing elites?

Implications for Russia
For Russia, these developments offer both strategic advantages and lessons. The internal divisions within the US caused by such reforms will inevitably limit its foreign policy options. Even a temporary suspension of funding for USAID’s activities will create confusion among grant recipients, undermining their confidence in Washington’s support. Moreover, the changes in Washington highlight the importance of avoiding the pitfalls of copying Western methods wholesale. Russia must remain cautious in adapting American tactics to its own foreign policy. Simplified, traditional approaches, as demonstrated by the US in Panama, often yield better results than overcomplicated schemes.

The legacy of USAID
USAID’s history is one of extensive political manipulation. Initially, it focused on recruiting elites and intellectuals in Latin America, Asia, and the Arab world. After the Cold War, its activities expanded to include officials, law enforcement agencies, and activists in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Recently, the agency has intensified its efforts in the Transcaucasus and Central Asia, aiming to destabilize these regions in light of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. Despite its considerable financial resources and influence, USAID has failed to create lasting stability or prosperity in the regions it targets. Instead, its actions have often exacerbated tensions and conflicts, serving as a tool for advancing American hegemony rather than genuine development.

The way forward
The Trump administration’s actions against USAID signal a shift in US foreign policy, but they also expose the limitations of the American model. The reliance on bribery and coercion as primary tools of influence is unsustainable and increasingly ineffective. For Russia, this presents an opportunity to strengthen its own foreign policy strategies, emphasizing mutual respect and genuine cooperation. As the United States grapples with its internal divisions and reassesses its global role, Russia must continue to assert its interests while remaining vigilant against attempts to destabilize its neighbors. The lessons from USAID’s failures are clear: true influence comes not from manipulation but from fostering genuine partnerships. In conclusion, the Trump administration’s “riot” at USAID may not fundamentally alter America’s interventionist tendencies, but it does offer a glimpse into the vulnerabilities of its foreign policy apparatus. For Russia, this is both a challenge and an opportunity — to counteract American influence while charting a more effective and principled path in global affairs.

Read more …

“..these are people and organizations paid from abroad whose job is to overthrow the Hungarian government..”

Hungary Moves To Expose USAID Funding (RT)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has declared that he will implement measures ensuring the transparency of aid from the United States to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and media outlets critical of his government. Speaking on state radio on Friday, Orban emphasized the need to “eliminate these foreign networks” that meddle in the country’s domestic affairs, referencing US Agency for International Development (USAID) programs. An ally of US President Donald Trump, Orban highlighted the Trump administration’s plan to integrate USAID into the State Department, aligning it with the “America First” policy. “In America, we would call them agents, as they do not serve their own country but accept money from another power… We don’t call them agents… but these are people and organizations paid from abroad whose job is to overthrow the Hungarian government,” the prime minister said.

Orban, who has been in power since 2010 and faces the voters in early 2026, asserted that recipients of foreign funds must face “legal consequences” and be “squeezed out” as they pose a threat to Hungarian sovereignty. In late 2023, his government established the Sovereignty Protection Office to monitor and address the risk of political interference. Foreign financing for parties or groups running for office are banned in the country, with penalties of up to three years in prison. The European Commission launched an infringement procedure over the law in February 2024, citing its potential to undermine the bloc’s democratic values and fundamental rights.

Orban has a long history of taking measures against foreign-funded organizations, particularly those linked to Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros. He has repeatedly accused Soros of meddling in Hungary’s domestic affairs, undermining traditional family values, and promoting a globalist agenda. In 2018, Hungary implemented a “Stop Soros” law aimed at NGOs helping asylum seekers. That year, the Soros-funded Open Society Foundations announced it would move from Budapest to Berlin, citing a repressive environment under Viktor Orban. Hungary also forced the closure of Central European University (CEU), which relocated to Vienna due to regulatory challenges. The European Union has withheld funding from Orban’s government, accusing it of breaching democratic standards.

Read more …

Feels a bit like Audit the Fed.

14 States to File Lawsuit Against DOGE Access to Gov’t Payment Systems (ET)

A coalition of 14 state attorneys general said on Thursday that they will file a lawsuit to stop the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing sensitive federal payment systems. The coalition said that DOGE, an advisory committee led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, has no authority to access federal government systems—which they said contain Americans’ personal data, state bank account data, and “some of our country’s most sensitive data.” “This level of access for unauthorized individuals is unlawful, unprecedented, and unacceptable,” the coalition said in a statement released by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin. “DOGE has no authority to access this information, which they explicitly sought in order to block critical payments that millions of Americans rely on—payments that support health care, childcare, and other essential programs.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent granted DOGE access to the Treasury’s payment system after Trump took office on Jan. 20. DOGE has been tasked with reviewing agencies for potential downsizing and termination, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), to reduce federal spending and boost government efficiency. The attorneys general also argued that President Donald Trump “does not have the power” to grant DOGE access to Americans’ private information or to withhold federal payments approved by Congress. They planned to pursue legal action to defend “our Constitution, our right to privacy, and the essential funding that individuals and communities nationwide are counting on.” The coalition includes Platkin and attorneys general from New York, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

On Feb. 5, a coalition of labor unions sued to block DOGE access to federal payment systems, alleging that it violates “constitutional limits on executive power” and “laws protecting civil servants from arbitrary threats and adverse action.” The plaintiffs—which include the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union, and the Economic Policy Institute—sought a temporary restraining order or administrative stay against DOGE. Justice Department attorneys issued a proposed order on Feb. 5 saying the federal government will temporarily restrict DOGE from accessing information in the Treasury Department’s payment system and allow special government employees “read-only” access to payment records. “The Defendants will not provide access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained by or within the Bureau of the Fiscal Service,” it said.

The proposed order followed an incident in which Democratic members of Congress attempted to enter the Treasury building on Feb. 4, saying they wanted to provide oversight after DOGE was granted access to the federal payment system. Democratic lawmakers have been calling for the access to be revoked. Trump had previously said that Musk would not be able to take any action without approval from the White House and assured that the government would prevent him from acting in cases of conflict of interest. “Where we think there’s a conflict or there’s a problem, we won’t let him go near it, but he has some very good ideas,” the president told reporters at the Oval Office last month.

Read more …

“..the White House is also planning to cut USAID’s staff from roughly 10,000 employees to just 294..”

Trump Nukes All Govt-MSM Contracts After Politico Firestorm (ZH)

In light of the firestorm over tens of millions of dollars going from the US government to various media outlets in the form of subscriptions, particularly Politico, President Trump has directed the General Services Administration to terminate “every single media contract” expensed by the agency, according to an email obtained by Axios. “GSA team, please do two things,” the email begins.
• Pull all contracts for Politico, BBC, E&E (Politico sub) and Bloomberg
• Pull all media contracts for just GSA – cancel every single media contract today for GSA only.

The move comes after internet sleuths discovered tens of millions of dollars going towards Politico Pro subscriptions, with particular focus on one $8 million allocation. On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the executive branch would cancel their contract with Politico……and today we find that it goes much further than just the rag that laundered the deep state’s ’51 intel officials’ Hunter Biden laptop propaganda. For example, the NY Times was also cut off. Politico responded on Thursday, claiming that they have “never received any government funding — no subsidies, no grants, no handouts. Not one dime, ever, in 18 years.” No, just tens of millions in Politico Pro subscriptions from the government. Like Hunter Biden received $200,000 for a painting of his excrement, which was totally not influence peddling.

Deep Cuts To USAID
Meanwhile, the White House is also planning to cut USAID’s staff from roughly 10,000 employees to just 294 – a 97% reduction, after Elon Musk’s DOGE team revealed that the international aid organization has essentially been funding woke pet projects and anti-American activities. On Tuesday, the administration put a stop on all USAID work and placed all employees on leave, with thousands of overseas workers to be recalled within 30 days. According to Reuters, Secretary of State Marco Rubio – who was placed in charge of USAID earlier this week, said that the Trump administration was identifying and designating critical programs that would be exempted from the stop work order and deep cuts. According to the report, over 2/3 of USAID’s workers are located outside the United States. As of 2023, the ‘aid’ organization managed more than $40 billion in projects. USAID’s website informed people that as of midnight on Friday, February 7, “all USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs.”

Read more …

“Is Time magazine still in business? I didn’t even know that.”

Time Mag Puts ‘President Elon Musk’ on Cover, Trump Has Epic Response (PJM)

Leftists have been whining about “President Musk” ever since Trump announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency. Now, Musk is uncovering staggering levels of government waste (as well as active aid and comfort of America’s enemies — which, of course, those who like to illustrate the old adage that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing will insist is not treason). It was inevitable that the empire would strike back. Time Magazine is just an old wheeze of its former self, but in its latest issue, it lashes out at Musk and Trump with all the feeble wallop it can muster. The cover of Time’s latest issue, dated Feb. 24, carries no caption, but its meaning is unmistakable. It depicts Elon Musk staring determinedly and unapologetically at the reader, clutching a cup of coffee, and sitting behind the Resolute Desk, that is, the president’s desk in the Oval Office.

The cover story laments that “for now, millions of government workers find themselves at Musk’s mercy. One described her team at the Department of Homeland Security assuming a ‘defensive crouch’ as they awaited a visit from the DOGE. For an inkling of their fate, she added, her colleagues had turned to a book called Character Limit, which chronicles the way Musk took over Twitter two years ago and fired 80% of its staff, often with chaotic and lasting results.” Chaotic, yeah, got it. Multitudes of useless and unproductive employees were sent packing, and Twitter, that is, X, runs just fine. Time’s apocalyptic hit piece nevertheless piles on much more of the same. An unnamed bureaucrat says: “‘There’s only so much Democrats can do,’ she said, not wanting to give her name lest it attract more attention from DOGE.” Yes, of course, although this fear rings hollow after one of Musk’s employees, not some supposedly courageous government leftist, was just doxxed.

Time concludes with a plea for someone, anyone, to help: “Her official email account had been shut down, and she could no longer access her desk at the agency. Like thousands of her colleagues and millions of Americans, she was left to watch Musk’s moves play out, wondering how far he would go, and what, if anything, could stop him.” Oh, horror! The cover, meanwhile, is directed as much at Trump as at Musk. Time hoped to annoy the president, whom the left loves to lampoon as narcissistic and self-absorbed, by suggesting that he was not actually in charge of his administration. Trump, however, coolly refused to take the bait. As he met with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House on Friday, a reporter asked him: “Mr. President, do you have a reaction to the new Time Magazine cover that has Elon Musk sitting behind your Resolute Desk?”

The reporter and Time’s editors were no doubt hoping that Trump would hit the ceiling and launch into a long rant about how, not Musk, was calling the shots — something that the late-night comics could work with and use to try to regain the offensive from this administration, which has put the left on the defensive more than any other administration in recent memory. Trump, however, refused to play along, and instead tweaked the failing magazine, saying: “Is Time magazine still in business? I didn’t even know that.” This was an apposite response, as, unlike some other establishment publications that still like to pretend that they’re unbiased sources for news, Time’s hatred of Trump has been naked, open, and unapologetic. It made him Person of the Year for 2024, but this was no honor, as Hitler and Stalin both bore the title back when it was Man of the Year.

During Trump’s first term, Time ran a series of covers featuring him melting (twice), painting himself into a corner, barely keeping his head above water in a flooded Oval Office, melding into Vladimir Putin, heartlessly facing down a crying Hispanic child (presumably at the Southern border), and on and drearily on. On the other side of this crude propaganda was the magazine’s Soviet-style cover for its Aug. 26, 2024 issue, which featured Kamala Harris looking confident and resolute, her head tilted slightly upward as she looked calmly into a future that contained no challenges she could not overcome. The caption: “Her Moment.” This image could have hung in Tiananmen Square right next to the big picture of Chairman Mao and no one would have batted an eye.

But for Time magazine, it didn’t work: Harris lost the election anyway. And the Musk cover won’t work either. The Trump administration is clearly determined to be unsparing in rooting out government corruption. Only the corrupt could object.

Read more …

“The current strategy is to build a small number of weapons at a high price to fight yesterday’s war..”

US ‘Will Lose The Next War Very Badly’ – Musk (RT)

The US risks major defeat in the country’s next war unless it urgently reforms its outdated weapons programs, Elon Musk has warned in a stark assessment of the nation’s defense capabilities. Musk, who heads SpaceX and Tesla, has been appointed as a “special government employee” to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under US President Donald Trump and is now among his key advisers. “American weapons programs need to be completely redone. The current strategy is to build a small number of weapons at a high price to fight yesterday’s war. Unless there are immediate and dramatic changes made, America will lose the next war very badly,” Musk wrote on X. The billionaire has long been a vocal critic of inefficiencies within the US defense sector, arguing that excessive bureaucracy and outdated military strategies undermine national security.

Musk’s DOGE department has actively worked to streamline federal operations, including those related to defense. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, the maker of the Predator drone, has urged DOGE to reform the Pentagon’s contracting system, calling the current process too slow and bureaucratic to counter threats from nations such as China and Iran. L3Harris Technologies, a major defense contractor, has provided DOGE with recommendations to improve efficiency in the defense acquisition system. These include eliminating duplicative Cost Accounting Standard requirements and establishing a central contracting arm within the Office of the Secretary of Defense to manage joint procurement programs. DOGE has already canceled approximately $420 million in government contracts within its first 80 hours of operations, taking initial steps toward an ambitious goal of reducing federal spending by $2 trillion.

Musk’s critique also extends to specific defense programs. He has been particularly damning of the F-35 fighter jet program, labeling it a “sh*t design” and advocating for a shift toward unmanned systems, which he believes are more effective and economical in modern combat. Speaking at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York in February, Musk emphasized the transformative impact of drones and artificial intelligence (AI) on warfare, citing the Ukraine conflict as a prime example. “The current war in Ukraine is very much a drone war already,” Musk noted. “If there’s a major power war, it’s very much going to be a drone war.” He called for increased investment in drone production and a significant acceleration in manufacturing, warning against the pitfalls of preparing for past conflicts instead of future ones. “Countries pretty much are geared up to fight the last war, not the next war,” Musk cautioned.

Read more …

Trump is pushing for elections. Zelensky says no way.

Zelensky Extends Forced Conscription And Martial Law Again (RMX)

.Ukraine has long stopped being a democracy and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky just made sure to keep it that way for another 90 days by signing a decree to extend martial law and continue general mobilization effort. The measures in force so far were due to expire on Feb. 7. Parliament voted to extend the provisions on Jan. 15. Ukraine was supposed to have a new vote long ago, but due to the war, Zelensky argued that it was not possible. Ukraine declared a nationwide state of general mobilization on Feb. 24, 2022, and has since extended it several times. Due to staffing problems in the army, a bill on tightening mobilization rules came into force on May 18, 2024. Martial law and conscription come despite the majority of Ukrainians saying they want to end the war and are willing to accept territorial losses in order to do so, according to the independent Gallup Polling agency.

In recent months, mobilization efforts have increasingly involved the use of violence and forced conscription, leading men to attempt to leave the country, often at the risk of their lives. Zelensky, who fears losing power if the war ends, has an incentive to keep the conflict going. However, support for Zelensky has rapidly declined among the Ukrainian population. Almost every week, reports are coming in about forced conscription in Ukraine being carried out using increasingly brutal means. Hungarian channel M1-Hirado recently ran a special compiling some of the latest footage of Ukrainians being beaten and shoved into vans in forced mobilization operations.

As Remix News has previously reported, desertion rates at the frontline are high, with many Ukrainians fleeing before they ever even enter combat. To make up for shortfalls, authorities from the so-called Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center (TCK) are using increasingly aggressive methods to meet monthly draft quotas. After morning briefings, officers split into teams and search various locations around the city – cafes, restaurants, and even nightclubs – for men eligible for military service.

Read more …

“..He added that talks would most likely take place on US soil, as “I’m not going there.”

Trump Says He ‘Will Probably’ Meet Zelensky Next Week (RT)

US President Donald Trump has stated that he will likely have face-to-face talks with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky as early as next week, adding that he would like to talk with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin soon as well. Since his inauguration last month, Trump’s administration has been sending signals regarding potential peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. However, no details have been forthcoming to date. Commenting on the prospect of such dialogue, officials in Moscow have expressed cautious optimism. Addressing the press during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House on Friday, President Trump said: “I will probably be meeting with [Vladimir] Zelensky next week.”

He added that talks would most likely take place on US soil, as “I’m not going there.”“And I will probably be talking to President Putin. I’d like to see that war end,” Trump said, adding “President Putin and I have always had a good relationship.” Trump reiterated his long-standing point that the conflict would never have started had he been in office in February 2022. The US president also said that he would like to discuss the “security” of Ukraine’s rare-earth deposits with Zelensky. On Monday, he similarly stated that “we are looking to do a deal with Ukraine where they are going to secure what we are giving to them with the rare earths and other things.”

Trump once again accused NATO’s European member states of expending far fewer resources than the US on supporting Ukraine, promising to “equalize” the situation. Commenting on Trump’s latest remarks in a post on X, formerly Twitter, late on Friday, Zelensky wrote: “The coming weeks may be very intensive in diplomacy, and we will do what’s needed to make this time effective and productive.” “Right now Ukrainian and American teams are working out the details. A solid, lasting peace shall become closer,” he predicted.

Read more …

“The opposition lawmaker has been in custody since November 2023 facing a litany of charges, including high treason.”

UK Trying To Prevent Peace – Ukrainian MP (RT)

The purpose of UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s recent visit to Kiev was to disrupt peace negotiations with Russia on the settlement of the Ukraine conflict, according to jailed Ukrainian MP Aleksandr Dubinsky. Britain’s foreign secretary visited Kiev on Wednesday and announced a further 55 million pounds ($68.7 million) in financial aid. Dubinsky claimed on his Telegram channel on Thursday that the actual purpose of Lammy’s trip was to disrupt the peace process. The opposition lawmaker has been in custody since November 2023 facing a litany of charges, including high treason. According to him, Lammy’s “urgent” visit to Kiev as well as Vladimir Zelensky’s “urgent” interview with British media “were necessary to prevent a peaceful settlement” and to “discredit” US envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg’s plan to resolve the conflict.

“What is needed for this? An urgent counteroffensive. I believe Zelensky has been brought his plan,” Dubinsky stated. During his visit, Lammy met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrey Sybiga, who urged the UK authorities to scale up investments in Ukraine’s arms production. Bloomberg reported earlier this week, citing insiders, that Keith Kellogg is expected to present a peace plan at next week’s Munich Security Conference. However, in an interview with Newsmax on Wednesday, the envoy clarified that while he will be holding discussions with EU leaders in Germany, he will not publicly unveil the proposition. Instead, he stated that the deal would be presented by US President Donald Trump himself.

Last Friday, Trump said that communication is ongoing between his administration and the Russian government and reiterated his goal of putting a swift end to nearly three years of hostilities. The UK has beefed up its military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the year. Last month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a £4.5 billion boost, which includes the procurement of hundreds of air defense systems, drones, and other equipment to support Kiev’s war effort.

The Istanbul round of peace talks was scrapped in April 2022 when then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a surprise visit to Kiev to discuss military aid and urge Ukraine to keep fighting. David Arakhamia, then head of the Ukrainian delegation at the negotiations, later acknowledged Moscow’s claims that Johnson had played an influential role. While the British politician denied involvement, former US undersecretary of state Victoria Nuland later confirmed that the negotiations fell apart after the US and UK pushed Kiev to reject the Istanbul deal.

Read more …

Leave guys like Zelensky and Podoliak in place and you’ll never have peace.

US-Russia War Would Be ‘Good For Ukraine’ – Zelensky’s Top Aide (RT)

A US-Russian war would be advantageous to Ukraine in the current conflict with Moscow, according to Vladimir Zelensky’s top aide, Mikhail Podoliak. In an interview with local media on Wednesday, published by RBK Ukraine he discussed the possibility of a US troop deployment in the country under President Donald Trump. When asked about the likelihood of US troops coming to Ukraine, Podoliak expressed skepticism but said that pressuring Russian President Vladimir Putin “does not necessarily require pushing for a direct confrontation” between the US and Russia, however such a conflict “would certainly be good for us.” This week, the US leader announced a plan to turn Gaza into a “riviera” owned by the US, not ruling out deploying US soldiers to implement it.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later rejected the notion that Trump was reneging on a promise not to “entangle” the US in foreign conflicts, saying he had not “committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza.” Moscow has accused Kiev of violating the rules of war and employing terrorist tactics due to an inability to overpower Russia militarily. Some supporters of Ukraine concede that its government has resorted to controversial methods of fighting, including a state-sponsored program of targeted assassinations. Among the victims was Russian journalist Darya Dugina, killed by a bomb in 2022. Ukraine is also suspected of orchestrating sabotage missions, including the Nord Stream pipeline attacks. Reports suggest that the Ukrainian military leadership authorized the highly-challenging underwater demolition mission against the Russian-German energy link, though alternate scenarios involve the US.

Trump has pledged to resolve the Ukraine conflict swiftly and has suspended most US foreign aid programs since taking office last month, with Kiev also affected. While military assistance reportedly remains untouched, Zelensky recently acknowledged that without US weapons, his army could face collapse. Historically, Trump has shown a readiness to resort to military action under tenuous circumstances. In 2018, during his first term, he ordered missile strikes on Syria, carried out jointly with the UK and France, in response to an alleged chemical attack. However, a subsequent investigation by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) revealed evidence that contradicted the US-endorsed narrative. The findings were allegedly suppressed, and the OPCW final report did not dispute Western justifications, prompting some inspectors to accuse their organization of scientific malpractice. Its leadership denied any wrongdoing.

Read more …

“..if US special forces operators kill cartel leaders, retaliatory attacks by cartel members could occur at Mexican beach resorts or, worse, on the streets of US cities.”

Border Czar “Expects” Kinetic Warfare Between US Troops & Mexican Cartels (ZH)

Trump administration Border Czar Tom Homan told ABC News in an exclusive interview that he anticipates a potential kinetic engagement between the US military and drug cartels, though he did not specify a location. His remarks come as thousands of US troops have been deployed to the southern border. Additionally, earlier this week, a US Air Force surveillance aircraft conducted a signals intelligence (SIGINT) operation over cartel-controlled areas in Baja California. “Look, I’m looking at numbers this morning, about 14,000 arrests, and about 76% of them are criminals,” Homan told ABC News’ Kyra Phillips and Terry Moran when asked about the ICE raids. “We’re not going to neighborhoods looking for people different than us. These are well-planned, investigated leads,” the border czar said. When Homan was asked whether the US military could get involved if cartels strike, Homan replied: “Yes, and we expect them to,” adding that US troops “need to protect themselves.”

At the start of the week, in what appeared to be the shortest trade war in history, Mexico and Canada each committed 10,000 troops to their respective borders, while the US reinforced its southern border with thousands of soldiers in the last few weeks. By Monday evening, a USAF RC-135V/W Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft conducted a SIGINT operation over the southern half of Baja California, a region home to heavily armed Tijuana Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel members. [..] Last week, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had some strong words for drug cartels.

Dismantling Mexican drug cartels could be a very messy operation, which is why the Trump administration fortified the border with the military. The challenge, however, is that if US special forces operators kill cartel leaders, retaliatory attacks by cartel members could occur at Mexican beach resorts or, worse, on the streets of US cities.

Read more …

“..the political class is taking a page from the antitrust playbook in its attempt to wrest TikTok away from its owners on the cheap..”

TikTok’s Actual Offense? Innovating While Not Being American (Tamny)

Ten days ago the shares of Nvidia corrected 17 percent. How could this have happened to such an “owned” and analyzed company? The answer, at least as of now, is that surprise over inexpensively trained and very capable DeepSeek forced investors to at least rethink Nvidia’s long-term dominance. The news on January 26th gave investors reason to at least question whether the current face of AI would perhaps be disrupted by dynamism within the sector that its chips had helped create. It’s worth thinking about Nvidia and the market meaning of DeepSeek’s surprising rollout with TikTok top of mind. China-fearful politicians have voted to ban TikTok in the United States unless it can find an American owner.

Forget for a moment that TikTok is already American owned, and simply ask the question about whether or not the same politicians would have pursued “sell or ban” legislation if TikTok were an unknown. Hopefully the question answers itself. TikTok’s problem is that it discovered the future of social media much more effectively than its American competition. At which point it can be said that the attacks on TikTok aren’t much different from antitrust attacks over the years on American companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, Live Nation, and many others. What’s important about those suits is that none of them took place when Amazon had the nickname “Amazon.org,” or when Apple was near bankruptcy, when Google was an unknown David to Yahoo’s Goliath, or when Live Nation was one of many cheaply priced entertainment companies trying to divine how the internet and streaming would upend the music industry.

It’s just a comment that antitrust ankle biters never discover dominance in its ascendance. Antitrust is by definition a look backwards, and an attempt to penalize the businesses that had the temerity to discover a previously unknown commercial future. TikTok’s travails are a manifestation of the previous truth. Having led the needs of social media users much better than the American competition, TikTok faces a forced separation from the investors and innovators that made it great in the first place. In short, the political class is taking a page from the antitrust playbook in its attempt to wrest TikTok away from its owners on the cheap. Which requires more thought beyond the odious antitrust flavor of TikTok’s theft.

Its ascendance from unknown to the world’s most popular social media company plainly discredits the excuses bruited by politicians as they attempt to take it. Former Rep. Mike Gallagher has excused his own long fingers with op-eds at the Wall Street Journal asserting that TikTok is “controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.” No, government-controlled businesses are never this popular. Other conservatives (including Gallagher) claim the problem with TikTok is that it will gather data on American users for the Chinese Communist Party. That’s similarly an empty excuse when it’s remembered that all user supported sites attain their value from the data gleaned from those users; data that is subsequently sold.

Which brings us back to the “sell or ban” legislation from a U.S. political class that should hang its collective head in shame. As is the case with all antirust attacks, the attempt to break up and take TikTok personifies obnoxious conceit about the future of a commercial sector defined by relentless change, including change at the top. Assuming the political class can pull off its attempted heist, rest assured that the thieving of successful businesses for innovating while not being American won’t end with TikTok. And that’s because antitrust by its very name is once again a look backwards. See the DeepSeek surprise if you’re confused.

Read more …

“At one point, nearly every candidate decried the practice, before realizing it may be a necessity for survival.”

Elizabeth Warren DESTROYED by X Community Notes (Bartee)

If ever you needed proof that X Community Notes is vastly superior to corporate “fact checks” as a way for real journalists to do real work countering “misinformation” rather than as a bludgeon to suppress dissident narratives, this is it. Lying about being a Native American for DEI leg-ups, it turns out, isn’t the only dishonesty Elizabeth Warren peddles. This lie, however, is much more consequential in terms of policy impact: “I don’t take contributions from Big Pharma executives. I don’t take any corporate PAC money,” Elizabeth Warren says in the Senate hallway when confronted over her smears of RFK Jr.

But the contradictory proof is all right there in the X Community Notes window, just under the lying pharma tool, with links and links and links, rendering my job as a journalist exposing her blatant lies far easier: “Elizabeth Warren has in fact received donations from both Pharmaceutical companies and PAC organizations in the combined tune of millions of dollars.” Warren, in fact, is the second-biggest beneficiary of cash from pharma employees and/or PACs in the entire Congress, next to Bernie Sanders.

Via TIME, 2020: “In an ironic twist, that now makes Warren, who along with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has been the strongest opponent of super PACs in the 2020 campaign, the biggest beneficiary of such a group heading into Super Tuesday — the most prominent reversal yet among the candidates on the issue of high-dollar donations. At one point, nearly every candidate decried the practice, before realizing it may be a necessity for survival. Under campaign finance laws, donors can give unlimited amounts to a super PAC as long as the groups do not directly coordinate with the candidates they are supporting. Since launching her campaign, Warren has prided herself on her refusal to accept money from political action committees or federal lobbyists, and she has promised to disavow any super PAC that formed on her behalf.”

That pledge is still publicly available on her campaign website, but Warren has not distanced herself from Persist PAC. Instead, her rhetoric on the issue started to shift in the past month, as her once-promising campaign underperformed its expectations in the first three states to vote. “If all the candidates want to get rid of super PACs, count me in, I’ll lead the charge,” she told reporters on Feb. 20 in Nevada when asked if she would disavow Persist PAC. “But that’s how it has to be. It can’t be the case that a bunch of people keep them and only one or two don’t.”

Read more …

Just decrying men in women’s spaces doesn’t make you a feminist. It makes you a normal person.

Point in case: Trudeau calls himself a feminist, and he cheers on the craziness.

How Trump Suddenly Became A Feminist Champion (RT)

It was US President Donald Trump – a man who looked at Playboy founder, Hugh Hefner, and thought, “Now there’s a guy with life figured out” – who somehow became the only person in charge willing to pump the brakes on the surreal spectacle of born males bulldozing women on the rugby field, then waltzing right into the women’s locker room along with them. All while intersectional third-wave feminists are on the sidelines, basically acting like the hype squad… for the “dudes.” After allowing a dude to smoke all the women in college swim championships, the NCAA American collegiate sports league announced on Thursday that it was suddenly putting an end to the practice, limiting the participation of transsexuals in women’s events to those whose assigned gender at birth was female.

The move came in the wake of Trump’s executive order earlier in the week withdrawing federal funding from institutions that allowed biological males to compete against women. “If you let men take over women’s sports teams or invade your locker rooms, you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding,” Trump said. Under this Title IX civil rights law, considered a major victory for 60’s and 70s-era second-wave feminist icons like Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, and tennis icon and activist Billie Jean King, colleges receiving federal funding couldn’t just have sports teams and scholarships exclusively reserved for men anymore. Sports suddenly became a social elevator and opportunity springboard for young women, too. But all of that was clawed back, mostly to deafening silence from feminists.

How on earth did Donald “grab her by the p***y” Trump end up being the one to reestablish due north on this issue? One could argue that it’s feminism itself that has been ideologically corrupted by radical leftism, to the point where even the second-wave feminists – who were considered radical back when they were fighting for women to own property, have their own credit cards, or keep their own name in marriage – now seem almost conservative in comparison to this latest crop. Feminism didn’t need intersectionality. That is, to get mixed up with causes that detract from the straightforward focus on improving the lives of women.

There’s more than enough material to work with already when we still haven’t fully emerged from the turbulent wake of the MeToo movement, which shattered the long-standing omertà that mandated women’s silence about systemic second-class or abusive treatment as the price of fame and fortune in Western media and entertainment. I was personally once told, despite supposedly being hired for my political acumen at a certain New York-based American cable news outfit, to just sit there and laugh at my co-host’s jokes, deferring to him while crossing and uncrossing my bare legs on camera. The message was clear: You either leave or comply, because if you don’t, then some other ambitious woman with equally decent legs will.

And if you’re on the political right, good luck finding any feminists in your corner. Because leftist causes now take precedence over the defense of actual women, particularly if the woman in question doesn’t pass the ideological litmus test. Rather than fighting the creeping, increasingly institutionalized corruption-driven brand of globalist leftism, today’s feminists have embraced it, confounding their struggle with all sorts of other causes that dilute their original mission. If one wanted to hijack the feminist movement, and render it totally useless in the actual defense of women, it’s hard to imagine a better way of going about it than by confusing it with issues like climate change and gender bending.

Read more …

“..over just 8 years, the amount of microplastic fragments in the brain has increased by about 50 percent. Brain samples from 2024 contained microplastics equal in weight to a plastic spoon.”

“Brain tissue contained 7 to 30 times more microplastics than other vital organs like the livers or kidneys..”

Microplastic Found in Brain Weighs as Much as a Plastic Spoon (ET)

Microplastics are making their way into human brains at higher levels than in other vital organs, according to new findings. The study, published in Nature Medicine on Feb. 3, confirms that tiny plastic fragments are passing through the brain’s protective blood-brain barrier, potentially impacting health and cognitive function. Researchers from the University of New Mexico (UNM) tested autopsy samples from 2016 and 2024. They found that over just 8 years, the amount of microplastic fragments in the brain has increased by about 50 percent. Brain samples from 2024 contained microplastics equal in weight to a plastic spoon. Brains affected by dementia showed significantly higher concentrations of these plastic particles. Finding such high concentrations in the brain was unexpected and alarming, Matthew Campen, lead researcher and toxicologist, told The Epoch Times during a press conference.

“People are simply being exposed to ever-increasing levels of micro- and nanoplastics,” said Campen. The particles are so small, they’re roughly the width of two COVID viruses standing side by side, he noted. The rate of accumulation “is simply mirroring the environmental buildup and exposure.” As plastic breaks down over time, it degrades and becomes small enough to enter the human body and brain. Brain tissue contained 7 to 30 times more microplastics than other vital organs like the livers or kidneys, making it one of the most plastic-polluted tissues yet examined. Researchers tested 52 human brain samples from both 2016 and 2024, all taken from the frontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for judgment, decision-making, and muscle movement. In the brain, the microplastic concentration reached around 5,000 micrograms per gram—far higher than the liver and kidneys, which carried around 400 micrograms of plastics per gram.

The study also compared earlier brain samples from the eastern U.S. (1997–2013), which had lower microplastic levels, around 1,250 micrograms per gram. Their findings support a trend of gradual increases in plastic accumulation in the organs over time, with 2024 showing the highest levels. To visualize the amount of microplastics in the brain, Campen held up a plastic spoon. Since the brain weighs around 1,400 grams (or three pounds), having 5,000 micrograms of plastic per gram would amount to over 5 grams of plastic in total—roughly the weight of a plastic spoon. In deceased people with dementia, levels reached much higher levels of over 26,000 micrograms per gram. In the dementia samples, some particles were clumped together in areas with inflammation, raising concerns about a possible link between microplastics and brain tissue damage, according to the researchers.

However, while the study correlates microplastics to dementia, the study does not prove that higher plastic levels in the brain directly cause dementia symptoms. It is also possible that the disease process itself may hinder the brain’s ability to clear out the accumulated plastics, Campen added. Researchers found 12 types of plastic in the brain, with polyethylene (PE), commonly used in bottles, bags, and containers, making up 75 percent of the total. Other plastics included types commonly found in packaging, car parts, pipes, flooring, bottles, containers, fabrics, and other industrial products. “It was notable that these are largely mirroring proportions of polymers that we do see in our environment,” Marcus Garcia, study co-author and postdoctoral researcher at UNM, explained to The Epoch Times during the press briefing.

The particles in the brain were mostly sharp nanoscale shards and flakes. These tiny particles are small enough to cross the blood-brain barrier, although Campen says it’s still unclear how exactly the particles enter the brain. Researchers believe that micro- and nanoplastics may enter the body through eating, drinking, and breathing. These particles have been found in various parts of the body, including arteries, hearts, lungs, blood, and placentas. A study published on Jan. 30 found plastic pollution to be significantly higher in placentas from premature births. One possible reason for the buildup, according to Garcia, is that organs like the liver and kidneys are designed to filter toxins, while the brain has more limited clearance systems. Another theory is that brain tissue, which is about 60 percent fat, may better “trap” plastic particles.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

MTV

 

 

Solstices
https://twitter.com/i/status/1887853183935889715

 

 

Bik&smol
https://twitter.com/i/status/1887822482431729769

 

 

Peg leg

 

 

Elephant
https://twitter.com/i/status/1887480828810133504

 

 

Team
https://twitter.com/i/status/1887683356722184314

 

 

@AINTGOTTADOLLAR

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 132023
 
 September 13, 2023  Posted by at 9:07 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  41 Responses »


Michelangelo Pietà 1498 (he was 23 years old)

 

McCarthy Launches Biden Impeachment Inquiry (ZH)
Republicans Fear Giving Biden Popularity Boost With Impeachment Probe (Sp.)
Trump Charges Are Political Persecution – Putin (RT)
Trump Demands Judge in Jan. 6 Case Stand Down (Sp.)
Fani Willis Bankrolls Private Attorneys For Trump Prosecution (WE)
Tucker Tears Into Politicians’ “Betrayal Of American Democracy” (ZH)
Ever More Deadly Arms to Ukraine Reeks of Desperation – Scott Ritter (Sp.)
Africa Will Never Forget That The West Caged Its Children – Putin (RT)
Kiev Reiterates Grain Threat To Poland (RT)
Pocahontas Threatens Musk With Investigation For Blocking Ukrainian Attack (RT)
Nuland: US ‘Supports’ Ukraine Targeting ‘Russia’s Most Precious Assets’ (Sp.)
Ukraine Missile Attack in Sevastopol Leaves 24 People Injured (Sp.)
CIA Bribed Analysts To Change Wuhan Lab-Leak Conclusions (ZH)
France Bans iPhone Over Radiation Concerns (RT)
The Mackinder Strategic ‘Bible’ Reconsidered (Crooke)

 

 


Today Health Canada approved a Moderna fall booster for COVID-19 for all Canadians over the age of 6 months.

 

 


The new FDA approved covid shots were tested. On four rats. Yes, four rats. Four. Rats.

 

 

 

 

Tulsi Watters
https://twitter.com/i/status/1701522107002397183
https://twitter.com/i/status/1701362658329645541

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paxton Trial

 

 

Schumer

 

 

 

 

McCarthy sounds like a girl here. Maybe better not ask Trump what he thinks.

And Dave Collum: “Could you take a brief moment to release the 41,000 hours of J6 tapes? The longer you wait the worse you look…”

McCarthy Launches Biden Impeachment Inquiry (ZH)

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday announced that the House will open an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden over a variety of alleged crimes, skipping a formal House vote he had previously teased. According to McCarthy, Reps. James Comer and Jim Jordan will spearhead it. “Biden used his official office to coordinate with Hunter Biden’s business partners, about Hunter’s role in Burisma – the Ukrainian energy company,” said McCarthy, adding “it appears that the president’s family has been offered special treatment by Biden’s own administration.”

Senate RINOs are downplaying an impeachment inquiry against perhaps the most corrupt president in US history, citing a ‘distraction’ from 2024 election issues such as the economy and border security. In truth, they’re nothing more than uniparty shills protecting their preferred candidate at any cost against the return of the highly disruptive Orange Man Bad. “It really comes to how do you prioritize your time? I don’t know of anybody who believes Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will take it up and actually have a trial and convict a sitting president,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) a member of the Senate GOP leadership team, in a comment to The Hill, adding that House Republicans can already investigate Biden without launching a formal impeachment inquiry.

“Since they got the majority, they got the chairmen of the various committees, they could do all of that now without going to a formal inquiry,” he continued. “Members of the House don’t really care what I think. All I can tell you, it’s unlikely to be successful in the Senate. “Rather than doing something they know is unlikely to end the way they would like, maybe they want to emphasize other things.” Cornyn was joined by GOP Whip John Thune (SD) and Marco Rubio (FL), the latter of whom suggested that attempting to impeach Biden would be frivolous, and “should generally be avoided for the interest of the country.”

“It can’t become routine,” Rubio continued, adding “There are countries like Peru that routinely now impeach whoever the president is, and it’s become almost a national sport.” Yes Marco, the sitting US President is suspected of taking bribes from a Ukrainian oligarch in exchange for abusing his position as then-VP, and his son – with no practicable skills in any art – appears to have been his family’s international bag man for more of the same, but let’s not make this into a ‘national sport.’

Read more …

“Biden’s either going to have to cut a deal and promise not to run again, or perhaps resign, but we are at the beginning of this process..”

Republicans Fear Giving Biden Popularity Boost With Impeachment Probe (Sp.)

US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced on Tuesday the launching of an impeachment inquiry into US President Joe Biden. The leading Republican said there were “serious and credible allegations” about Biden’s conduct and the alleged “culture of corruption” surrounding the Biden family’s foreign business dealings. At the center of the issue is the president’s son, Hunter Biden, long the subject of journalist investigations and Republican denunciations, and questions about Joe Biden’s relationship to Hunter’s business dealings, especially during Joe’s time as US vice president and since he became president in 2021. Republicans have for years promised to launch such an inquiry once they won a majority in the US House of Representatives again, but that majority was reached in early January following the November 2022 midterm elections.

McCarthy became House speaker at that time after hammering out a nebulous set of promises with a pro-Trump faction of the House GOP Caucus – a faction that is increasingly upset with his performance. Democrats have accused Republicans of giving in to the agenda of former US President Donald Trump, who was impeached in 2019 on accusations he abused his power by pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to reopen a probe into the Bidens, including claims that in 2016, then-VPOTUS Biden forced Kiev’s prosecutor-general into closing a previous investigation of Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine. Ted Rall, a syndicated editorial cartoonist, opinion columnist, graphic novelist, author, and co-host of The Final Countdown, told Radio Sputnik’s Political Misfits on Tuesday that while some elder GOP lawmakers are hesitant for the moment over fears they might accidentally help Biden’s reputation ahead of the 2024 election, “Republicans will soon see that this is going to be to their advantage.”

“I think a lot of Republicans are suffering from Clinton Hangover Impeachment Syndrome. This didn’t go well for the Republicans in 1998, [former US President] Bill Clinton left office wildly popular, and they’re worried that something similar could happen. The only thing is: it’s not 1998, it’s a different world now,” he said, noting that when it came to Clinton’s impeachment, the facts were clear. “Here, most liberal Democrats and many moderates – or, for that matter, everyone who’s not a news junkie – doesn’t really know or has been following the story of this Hunter Biden laptop, which has been carefully siloed as a new ‘Benghazi malarkey’ as Biden would say. But that’s not true,” Rall said. “Beyond what McCarthy may or may not want, as the inquiry proceeds, it’s going to be impossible not to move forward with hearings simply because there are too many actionable facts.”

“The call for impeachment, under the most basic definition of the term in the Constitution, which specifically references bribery – I think they’re going to have to impeach him,” Rall asserted. “I think even the Republican senators are going to warm up to it and I think if all the facts are ultimately heard, President Biden’s either going to have to cut a deal and promise not to run again, or perhaps resign, but we are at the beginning of this process,” which he said “has no place to go but ‘down’ for President Biden.” Rall noted there was “a lot to get to the bottom” of in the case.“If my son sells me as a brand, then collects money by doing that, are you effectively bribing me? Especially if I’m 80 years old and I care deeply about my son’s finances and his ability to carry on after I’m gone? That’s a question I think hasn’t been answered and I think we need to answer,” he explained.

Read more …

“As for the persecution of Trump, well, in today’s conditions, in my view, that’s a good thing. Because it reveals the rotten American political system, which should not be able to claim it can teach others about democracy. “Everything that is happening to Trump is the political persecution of a political rival. That is what it is. And it is happening in the eyes of the US public and the whole world. They have exposed their domestic problems. In this sense, if they are trying to fight us, it is good because it shows, as they used to say in Soviet times, the beastly appearance of American imperialism, its beastly snarling grimace.”

Trump Charges Are Political Persecution – Putin (RT)

The numerous criminal charges against former US President Donald Trump amount to persecution and showcase the “rot” in the American political system, Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated. The US in its current state “cannot claim the right to teach others democracy,” the Russian leader said on Tuesday during a panel discussion at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. “The things that are happening to Trump are persecution of a political competitor… That is what it is. And it is done in the full view of the US public and the entire world,” he added. The controversy is beneficial to Russia in the sense that it “exposes” Washington “for what it is,” according to Putin.

The US government chose to be hostile to Moscow and has propagandized its population into perceiving it as such, he argued. “[The US] demonstrates what they called in Soviet times ‘the bestial scowl of imperialism’,” he joked. Moscow does not expect any substantial change in US foreign policy vis-a-vis Russia, regardless of who takes the White House after next year’s election, the president said. “[Trump] was accused of having a special relation with Russia, which is total nonsense and bulls**t. But he was the president who introduced the most sanctions against Russia,” Putin noted.

The American elites predominantly perceive Russia as an existential enemy, Putin believes. The country also has friends in the US, who want good relations and share Russia’s views on traditional values, the president added, but those voices are being suppressed. Since leaving office, Trump has been charged with numerous crimes at both the federal and state level, ranging from election tampering to inciting the January 6 Capitol riot to financial improprieties. The businessman-turned-politician, who is considered the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for presidency, has said that his legal woes amount to a “witch hunt” by his opponents.

Read more …

She’s hated him for years, laments the fact that he’s walking around free.

Trump Demands Judge in Jan. 6 Case Stand Down (Sp.)

Former President Donald Trump has filed a motion in a Washington, DC, court demanding Judge Tanya Chutkan recuse and disqualify herself from his January 6 criminal case, court documents showed. “President Donald J. Trump, through undersigned counsel, respectfully moves to recuse and disqualify the Honorable Tanya S. Chutkan,” Trump’s attorneys said in the court document on Monday. The motion cites what Trump alleges is Chutkan’s compromised impartiality as cause for recusal. “Although Judge Chutkan may genuinely intend to give President Trump a fair trial — and may believe that she can do so — her public statements unavoidably taint these proceedings,” Trump attorney John F. Lauro wrote in the motion.

“The public will reasonably and understandably question whether Judge Chutkan arrived at all of her decisions in this matter impartially,” the motion said, adding that “the law and the overwhelming public interest in the integrity of this historic proceeding require recusal.” US law dictates that judges recuse themselves from any legal case in which they have a personal bias, potential prejudice, or their impartiality could be “reasonably” questioned. A 1994 Supreme Court ruling determined that only in rare cases are judges ever forced out of a legal case; in fact, it must be proved the official demonstrates “deep seated favoritism or antagonism that would make fair judgment impossible.”

Chutkan has given both sides in the case until Thursday to respond to the motion, with the Trump camp given until Sunday to issue its subsequent reply. Trump is presently facing multiple indictments ranging from alleged fraudulent business practices, mishandling classified documents and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The former president has repeatedly voiced his innocence in each case, underscoring that legal filings are part of a larger political attack intended to shutter his chances at serving a second term in office.

Read more …

Taxpayer money.

“..paid massive sums to private sector attorneys for their services..”

“..it avoids the statutory requirements for the appointment of assistant district attorneys, who are paid a fixed salary, and also avoids the administration of an oath of office..”

Fani Willis Bankrolls Private Attorneys For Trump Prosecution (WE)

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has paid massive sums to private sector attorneys for their services, and a portion of those relate to investigating and prosecuting former President Donald Trump, according to county records. Nathan Wade, Willis’s lead prosecutor in the case, has raked in more than half a million dollars from the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office from January 2022 to August 2023, according to a payment history. Christopher Campbell, Wade’s colleague at Wade & Campbell Firm, has been paid $116,670 from April 2021 to August 2023, the same records show. Terrence Bradley, a former colleague of Wade’s, was paid $74,480 from May 2021 to June 2022, according to the records.

Wade, a defense attorney who can bill by the hour, was hand-picked by Willis roughly two years ago to serve as special prosecutor in the Trump case. Wade is a former Cobb County fill-in municipal court judge who ran for Cobb County Superior Court and was defeated in 2012, 2014, and 2016. Willis chose Wade over career prosecutors who work on salaries, and while the legalities of that have not been questioned at this stage, some, like Phil Holloway, an Atlanta-based attorney for more than two decades, have found the use of Wade to be “unorthodox.” “It’s certainly unorthodox and appears to be a cash cow for any lawyer paid by the hour,” Holloway said. “I’ve been practicing criminal law in Georgia for 24 years, and I’ve never seen such an arrangement.”

One of the co-defendants, former Georgia GOP Chairman David Shafer, highlighted in a court filing on Thursday the hefty payments to private prosecutors, asking for Judge Scott McAfee to schedule a hearing “regarding improper contact by special prosecutor’s law firm.” [..] Shafer’s attorney in the court filing said it also violated an “anti-contact” rule, noting that “the harassing, or mocking and intimidating nature of the firm’s communication with Mr. Shafer causes grave injury to the appearance of fairness and propriety of this proceeding.” [..] Holloway observed that Wade could skirt the typical obligations of public servants while working as outsourced counsel. “For starters, it avoids the statutory requirements for the appointment of assistant district attorneys, who are paid a fixed salary, and also avoids the administration of an oath of office,” Holloway said. “The oath of office is intended to protect the public from malfeasance by public officials and carries a criminal penalty if violated.”

Read more …

Sounds like 2028.

Tucker Tears Into Politicians’ “Betrayal Of American Democracy” (ZH)

In a brief clip dropped last night, Tucker Carlson rages (in his inimitable manner) that the current system of governance in the US does not genuinely reflect the majority’s will but benefits a small group of people with power. “Most governments are run by a small group of people for their own benefit without reference to what the majority wants,” he says. Carlson highlights, based on public opinion polls as evidence, that there is often a disconnect between what the people want and what their leaders prioritize: “Take a look at the latest Gallup poll, pick a poll. What are the top 10 issues for people in the United States and then compare those to the priorities of your leaders.”

The former Fox News host takes aim at Governors Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Greg Abbott of Texas as case examples of this disconnect. Regarding Whitmer, who he calls a “low IQ lunatic”, Carlson says her priorities are not in line with the majority of her constituents, specifically regarding social issues like “misgendering”: “The things that people care about, Gretchen Whitmer couldn’t care less about.” Abbott, who Carlson calls a “liar, and betrayer of your own people”, is accused of not taking significant action on illegal immigration, despite having the resources to do so:

“Don’t you have a National Guard? Why don’t you seal the Border? Oh, it’s very complicated. No, it’s not.” Carlson concludes that this deviation from public will is a betrayal of American democracy. “It’s not just frustrating; it’s a betrayal of the core promise of the country, which is the people rule,” he proclaims; suggesting that the current situation represents a “criminal act,” and, in what some have suggested sounded the most like a campaign/stump speech, urges the audience to reconsider their belief that a majority vote will automatically translate into action or law.

Read more …

“..anybody who looks at the situation on the ground in Ukraine knows that Ukraine is losing, Russia is winning. And literally there’s nothing that can be done to prevent a Russian victory..”

Ever More Deadly Arms to Ukraine Reeks of Desperation – Scott Ritter (Sp.)

Over the past year-and-a-half, the US and its NATO allies have adopted a cautious, “two steps forward, one step back” approach to arming Kiev, first assuring that various weapons (be it cluster munitions and long-range cruise missiles or tanks and F-16 fighter jets) would not be sent, citing the danger of escalation tensions with Russia, and then announcing their delivery weeks or months later. “The Biden administration seems to be going through a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-type phase when it comes to the nature of the weapons that it’s willing to provide to Ukraine,” Scott Ritter, a veteran former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, UN weapons inspector, and military analyst, told Sputnik. “A year ago, the Biden administration was very reticent about providing certain categories of weapons out of fear to create the potential of an escalation between the United States, between NATO and Russia over Ukraine.

“The last thing the United States wanted, or so the Biden administration said, was a direct war with Russia.” “Today, all of those inhibitions seem to have been swept away. We see the United States providing M1 Abrams tanks. We see the United States authorizing the delivery of F-16 fighters. And now the United States is considering to provide Ukraine with the ATACMS long-range missile system or the guided multiple launch rocket system, a 45-mile range rocket system delivered by the HIMARS system that has extreme accuracy and could deliver cluster munitions. This, of course, follows on the heels of the decision by the Biden administration made earlier this year to provide Ukraine with the cluster variant of the 155-millimeter artillery shell,” Ritter said.

Desperation over sobering battlefield realities and a desire to “harm Russia,” rather than hopes that the new long-range weapons could turn the tide in the conflict, are the main motivators behind the Biden administration’s escalation strategy, the observer believes. “The Ukrainians, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, have suffered 71,000 casualties over the course of the last four months in a failed counteroffensive effort. And there’s nothing about the nature of these weapons that would improve Ukraine’s chances on the battlefield. These weapons that are being provided are being provided to provide Ukraine with the potential of doing harm to Russia. The ATACMS missiles being provided, simply put, to strike the Crimea Bridge, to destroy that bridge, to enable Ukraine to strike targets deep in the Russian rear area – airfields, command posts, logistics. This is a dramatic escalation of the conflict,” Ritter stressed.

“Why is the Biden administration doing this? Frankly speaking, it’s out of an act of desperation. Look, anybody who looks at the situation on the ground in Ukraine knows that Ukraine is losing, Russia is winning. And literally there’s nothing that can be done to prevent a Russian victory. The provision of ATACMS rockets, the GMLRS rocket system isn’t going to change the outcome on the battlefield. What it will do is provide Ukraine the opportunity to inflict more harm on Russia,” and that, Washington may be hoping, will put political pressure on Moscow domestically, the observer explained.

Read more …

“As late as 1957, “people from Africa were taken to Europe in cages… You can’t watch that without tears. Children sitting in cages, displayed for everyone to see..”

Africa Will Never Forget That The West Caged Its Children – Putin (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin remarked on Tuesday that African nations will always remember the dark chapter of Western colonial oppression when European powers trafficked children from the continent, putting them on display in cages. He also noted that these same countries are trying to push their former dominions into indentured servitude. Speaking at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said he was sure it would not be too difficult for Russia to restore close relations with Africa to the level of the Soviet era when Moscow provided the continent with ample economic aid. The Russian leader argued that African countries remember Moscow’s help in the struggle for independence and that Moscow had never acted as a colonizer.

“Our cooperation has always been based on either mutual grounds or the desire to help,” he said. However, Putin noted that these countries remember not only Soviet aid but also Western ruthlessness. As late as 1957, “people from Africa were taken to Europe in cages… You can’t watch that without tears. Children sitting in cages, displayed for everyone to see,” Putin recalled. “No one in Africa will ever forget it.” The Russian president said the West has not abandoned its subjugation attempts. “Even now, they are trying to boss around and pursue their generally neo-colonial policies,” Putin said, explaining that Western countries have imposed trillions of dollars worth of loans on the region. The West has concocted a credit system with African countries which “by definition… does not allow them to pay back their loans. These are not credit relations; this is some kind of [punitive] indemnity,” he added.

However, Russia adheres to a different approach, which gives it an advantage in fostering ties with its partners worldwide, Putin argued. Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed out that African countries are ready to talk with their Western counterparts. However, the latter should not expect spectacular results if they reduce dialogue to “patting on the back” while failing to address the continent’s “pressing needs.” To foster closer ties with the region, Russia hosted a landmark Russia-Africa forum in St. Petersburg this summer that produced many bilateral agreements in various fields. Dozens of African delegations also attended it despite what Moscow described as “unprecedented pressure from the West” to skip the summit.

Read more …

Poland is one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters. But it won’t kill its own farmers.

Kiev Reiterates Grain Threat To Poland (RT)

Kiev does not want to harm Polish farmers, but it will lobby for its right to export grain into the EU nation under World Trade Organization rules, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal has declared. On Tuesday, the chair of the Ukrainian government reiterated Kiev’s warning that it would seek arbitration if Poland maintained a ban on imports. The current temporary restriction, which was imposed by the EU in May, is set to expire on Friday. “We have no intention of harming Polish farmers,” he stated on X (formerly Twitter). Warsaw’s stated policy of keeping the ban in place would be a “violation of trade law in the interest of political populism before the elections,” he added. Poland is set to hold a general election in October, with the ruling Law and Justice party seeking a third term at the helm.

Earlier in the day, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pledged to make sure that Ukrainian grain would not “flood” his nation, causing distress to local producers. That will be the case regardless of what the EU decides, he assured. When asked about Shmygal’s remark by local media outlets, government spokesman Piotr Muller said Warsaw would maintain the embargo at the national level if its appeal to the EU to renew the ban failed. The Polish government adopted a formal message to the European Commission arguing its case on Tuesday. Brussels’ ban had de facto legitimized prohibitions imposed nationally by Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia. Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania have said they intend to reimpose national bans if the EU prohibition expires.

Read more …

Do your homework first?!

Pocahontas Threatens Musk With Investigation For Blocking Ukrainian Attack (RT)

US Senator Elizabeth Warren has called on Congress to investigate Elon Musk over his refusal to enable a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian naval fleet in Crimea. Despite condemnation in Washington, Musk has defended his decision to cut satellite service to the Ukrainian military. “The Congress needs to investigate what’s happened here and whether we have adequate tools to make sure foreign policy is conducted by the government and not by one billionaire,” Warren told reporters at the US Capitol on Monday. Musk and other Big Tech CEOs are due to meet with US lawmakers to discuss artificial intelligence on Wednesday. However, the subject of the hearing has been overshadowed by news that Musk intervened last year to prevent six Ukrainian naval drones from hitting Russian ships at the Crimean port of Sevastopol.

The Ukrainian military had been using SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service for communications and guidance since the beginning of the conflict with Russia. When Musk learned that the drones were en route to Sevastopol, he ordered SpaceX engineers to shut down the service within 100km of the Russian peninsula, CNN reported on Thursday, quoting an upcoming biography of the billionaire. As a result, the drones “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly,” the report claimed. Ukrainian Digital Transformation Minister Mikhail Fedorov then begged Musk to turn the signal back on via text messages, but Musk refused.

“If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation,” the billionaire explained last week, adding that he never allowed the service to be activated near Crimea in the first place. Musk’s explanation caused outrage in Kiev, with President Vladimir Zelensky’s top aide accusing the SpaceX CEO of “committing evil.” In the US, CNN anchor Jake Tapper argued on Sunday that Musk had “effectively sabotaged” an American ally, and asked US Secretary of State Antony Blinken if he should face “repercussions” for thwarting the attack.

Blinken refused to condemn Musk, but several members of Congress have spoken out against the billionaire. Musk “cannot have the last word when it comes to national security,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed told reporters on Monday. At the time of the thwarted attack, Musk was bankrolling Ukraine’s access to the Starlink network. The Pentagon has since stepped in to partly fund the program, and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said on Monday that future contracts between the military and private firms like SpaceX will likely include “assurances” that these technologies can be used for offensive purposes.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1701424181580124577

Elon
https://twitter.com/i/status/1701648627297362426

Read more …

”..Nuland’s words showed that this was “no longer about Ukraine,” but about “an undeclared hot war with Russia.”

Nuland: US ‘Supports’ Ukraine Targeting ‘Russia’s Most Precious Assets’ (Sp.)

US Acting Deputy Secretary of State and Russophobic hawk Victoria Nuland appears to have let slip that the Biden administration supports Ukraine’s strikes targeting Russian territory. In a video clip circulating on social media, Nuland, who just recently visited Ukraine’s capital, can be heard saying that one “axis” of Washington’s strategy in it proxy war with Moscow in Ukraine is to “put some of Russia’s most precious assets at risk.” This comes amid reports that Washington will be sending long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to the Kiev regime. However, earlier in September, a Pentagon official told Sputnik no decision had been made to supply Ukraine with ATACMS.

According to US media, the Defense Department has warned that its own ATACMS arsenal is relatively small, and the missiles are already deployed to other areas, such as the Korean Peninsula, and therefore their transfer to Ukraine would jeopardize US combat readiness in other regions. In response to the clip on social media, users commented that Victoria Nuland appeared intent on unleashing a “nuclear war” – something that the career civil servant along with US President Joe Biden and senior White House and State Department officials have been repeatedly accused of. Netizens remarked that Washington has “never shown willingness to talk meaningfully with Moscow,” and warned that Nuland’s words showed that this was “no longer about Ukraine,” but about “an undeclared hot war with Russia.”

Others on social media recalled Nuland’s role in the 2014 coup in Ukraine, when the country’s democratically elected government collapsed, and a pro-Western regime was installed. Then-Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland is remembered for strolling the streets of Kiev with Geoffrey Pyatt, the then-US ambassador, handing out free cookies. Later, in February 2014, on the eve of the Euromaidan coup, in a telephone conversation she famously quipped, as per a leaked call, “Yats is the guy!” referring to Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a politician who got less than seven percent of the vote in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election, but would be selected as the first prime minister of the post-coup government.

Nuland has been one of the most avid proponents of Kiev massively hitting Russian military installations in Crimea, considering them to be legitimate targets, as per her remarks on February 16, 2023. Crimea became a Russian region after a referendum was held there in March 2014 following a coup in Ukraine. The Russian leadership has repeatedly stated that Crimean residents democratically, in full compliance with international law and the UN Charter, voted for reunification with Russia. Furthermore, the United States considers it important to provide Kiev with the military “of the future,” Nuland had said at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank.

In response, Igor Girenko, press secretary of the Russian embassy in the US, said Nuland’s comment that the United States supports Ukraine targeting Russian military installations in Crimea shows Washington’s direct involvement in the Ukraine conflict. After both Washington and London agreed to supply the Zelensky regime with longer-range missiles, they claimed that Kiev had promised not to attack Russian soil with them. However, as Kiev’s counteroffensive falters, the risk of a “desperation” attack outside the Donbass is growing, pundits told Sputnik.

Read more …

“..intended to serve as psychological crutch and do not pose a meaningful military intiative.”

Ukraine Missile Attack in Sevastopol Leaves 24 People Injured (Sp.)

Russian air defenses repelled an overnight attack by the Ukrainian armed forces on the city of Sevastopol in Crimea, Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said early Wednesday. Razvozhayev indicated that he is on scene near the area where a fire broke out in the city’s industrial district, detailing that operational services were on site at the Sevastopol shipyard. The governor added that 24 people sustained injuries as a result of the missile strike, four of whom were identified as being in “moderate condition.” The Sevastopol official further said there is no threat to civilian facilities as a result of the fire. The situation in the air continues to be monitored as all operational services remain on standby, he went on to underscore.

A subsequent release issued by the Russian Ministry of Defense stated the overnight strike by the Kiev regime included the use of 10 cruise missile and three drone boats. “Tonight, the Ukrainian armed forces conducted a strike against the shipyard named after Ordzhonikidze in the city of Sevastopol using 10 cruise missiles and attacked a group of ships of the Black Sea Fleet during the movement in the sea using drone boats,” the ministry said. “Air defenses destroyed seven cruise missiles, and the Vasily Bykov patrol ship destroyed all drone boats. As a result of cruise missiles hitting the shipyard, two ships, which were in repair, were damaged.”

Over the last several months, Ukraine has repeatedly carried out drones strikes against Russian territory, more recently in the face of its failed counteroffensive. The Russian government has referred to the repeat drone attacks as a “nuisance” as experts have stressed that such efforts are intended to serve as psychological crutch and do not pose a meaningful military intiative.

Read more …

“The CIA bribing CIA officers to hide the CIA’s work on COVID is simply the most CIA thing you’ll ever hear!”

CIA Bribed Analysts To Change Wuhan Lab-Leak Conclusions (ZH)

A ‘senior-level’ CIA whistleblower has come forward to allege that the agency bribed analysts to change their opinion that Covid-19 most likely originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, according to the NY Post. The whistleblower told House committee leaders that his agency ‘ tried to pay off six analysts who found SARS-CoV-2 likely originated in a Wuhan lab if they changed their position and said the virus jumped from animals to humans,’ according to a Tuesday letter from the chairmen of two House subcommittees investigating the pandemic response and US intelligence, Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) and Mike Turner (R-OH). The pair have requested all documents, communications and pay info from the CIA’s Covid-19 Discovery Team by Sept. 26.

“According to the whistleblower, at the end of its review, six of the seven members of the Team believed the intelligence and science were sufficient to make a low confidence assessment that COVID-19 originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China,” reads the letter from the House panel chairmen. “The seventh member of the Team, who also happened to be the most senior, was the lone officer to believe COVID-19 originated through zoonosis. “The whistleblower further contends that to come to the eventual public determination of uncertainty, the other six members were given a significant monetary incentive to change their position,” the letters continue, adding that the analysts were “experienced officers with significant scientific expertise.”

Wenstrup and Turner also asked for documents and communications between the CIA and other federal agencies, including the State Department, FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Energy Department. In a separate letter, the House committee leaders identified former CIA Chief Operating Officer Andrew Makridis as having “played a central role” in the COVID investigation and asked him to sit for a transcribed interview. -NY Post In June, the US Intelligence Community declassified a 10-page report on COVID origins, in which it found “biosafety concerns” and “genetic engineering” taking place in Wuhan, but that most of its “agencies assess that SARS-CoV-2 was not genetically engineered.”

As the Post points out, however, several scientists at the WIV fell ill in late 2019 with symptoms “consistent with but not diagnostic of COVID-19,” according to the intelligence report, which concluded that the CIA and another intelligence agency “remain unable to determine the precise origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, as both hypotheses rely on significant assumptions or face challenges with conflicting reporting.” ot all former US intelligence officials agree with the declassified report – such as former DNI John Ratcliffe, who told Congress that the “lab leak theory” was the “only” credible explanation for the pandemic. “My informed assessment as a person with as much access as anyone to our government’s intelligence … has been and continues to be that a lab leak is the only explanation credibly supported by our intelligence, by science and by common sense,” he told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in a hearing.

Read more …

Why only France? Why only Apple?

France Bans iPhone Over Radiation Concerns (RT)

Apple must withdraw all iPhone 12 models from the French market immediately, the National Frequency Agency (ANFR) announced on Tuesday, accusing the popular smartphone of emitting far more electromagnetic radiation than European Union regulations allow. “The ANFR expects Apple to deploy all available means to put an end to the non-compliance. Failure to act will result in the recall of equipment that has already been made available to consumers,” the agency said. According to the regulator, tests at an accredited laboratory revealed that the phone exceeded the specific absorption rate (SAR) value mandated by the EU, which is four watts-per-kilogram (W/kg), when held in hand or in a trouser pocket. The “body” SAR, when the phone is in a jacket pocket or a bag at least 5mm away, was within the 2 W/kg limit, however.

Apple must immediately stop the sale of iPhone 12 models and get ANFR approval if it makes updates to them to ensure compliance, the regulator added. ANFR inspectors have been authorized to check “all distribution channels in France” for the banned device, starting Tuesday. The iPhone 12 was introduced in October 2020 and has continued to be popular due to a lower price point than the subsequent models. Apple says the model has a SAR of 0.99 W/kg when measured by the EU standard. Earlier on Tuesday, the California-based Apple announced the iPhone 15 line of devices, featuring the USB-C connector in order to comply with an EU mandate adopted in 2022.

The US Federal Communications Commission has yet to comment on the French announcement. The FCC has a SAR limit of 1.6 W/kg. sFrance’s radiation crackdown comes after several months of bad news for Apple. Last week it was reported that China has banned government employees from bringing iPhones or any other foreign devices into the office or using them for work purposes. Russian officials were advised to stop using iPhones in July, while the state military industry banned them outright, citing security concerns. Later that month, a class action suit in the UK accused the US-based company of monopolistic behavior regarding fees charged by the app store.

Read more …

“..absent Ukraine, Russia would never become the heartland power; but with Ukraine, Russia can and would..”

The Mackinder Strategic ‘Bible’ Reconsidered (Crooke)

In 1997, Zbig Brzezinski, the original ‘driver’ behind the making of Afghanistan as a quagmire of ‘mud’ into which Russia was to be dragged, wrote his celebrated book, The Grand Chessboard. It was a work that ‘forever’ embedded the Mackinder doctrine of ‘he who controls the Asian heartland controls the world’ into the U.S. zeitgeist. Tellingly, its subtitle was American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives. Brzezinski had already written in his book that absent Ukraine, Russia would never become the heartland power; but with Ukraine, Russia can and would. Thus, Mackinder’s doctrine, ‘He who controls the heartland’ dictum, was codified into U.S. ‘cannon law’ – never to permit a united heartland. And Ukraine became seen as the hinge around which heartland power revolved.

Brzezinski further ordained that this ‘Grand Game of Chess’ was to be one of pure U.S. primacy: “No, no one else plays”, he insisted; it is a game purely for one. Once a chess piece is moved; ‘we’ (the U.S.) simply turn the board the other way around – and move the other side’s chess pieces (for ‘them’). There is ‘no other’ in this game”, Brzezinski warned. This is today’s dilemma – It is so long since Brzezinski originally formulated the Mackinder notion, that classical diplomacy has become etiolated. It was Henry Kissinger however, that gave Mackinder its celebrated twist: ‘He who controls money controls the world’ was to become the dollar and banking financialised hegemony. But, Kissinger, in this, was wrong from the ‘get go’. It always has been: ‘He who has manufacturing capacity, raw materials, food, energy (human as well as fossil) and sound money can change the world’.

But Kissinger simply ignored those adjunct conditions, and based the U.S. instead in the creation of a global ‘spider’s web of weaponised dollars (touch it, and the sanctions gossamer poisons you). Additionally, this system was multiplied through Wall Street parsing out access to trillions in newly created money only to the compliant. Kissinger did, however, evolve the doctrine of ‘triangulation’ in a nod to Mackinder: The U.S. should seek to ally with either Russia versus China, or be with China, in opposition to Russia. But never to let China and Russia conjoin against the West. The heartland must always be fractured. These ‘rules’ are imprinted on Washington’s mental circuits. Yet the notions that underpin them have little validity today. Land mass, militarised states (heartland Asia) versus the naval powers (the Atlanticists) hardly reflects today’s more abstract instruments of power.

[..] The present conflict in Ukraine has underlined the deficiencies in hegemonic power that specifically arise from a neglected manufacturing base. Mackinder, were he here today, might thus need to adjust his model, distinguishing between the land that is ‘outside’ the one set of economic policies (the BRICS-led Asian, African and global Southern bloc), and that which is ‘inside’: i.e. within a ‘coastal’ debt-led, consumerist paradigm.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Fluoride

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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