providence Archives - The Automatic Earth

Elon Musk was asked what happens to people when the machines no longer need them.

He didn’t soften it.

Musk: “There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cannot do better. These are not things I wish would happen. They probably will.”

Sit with that second sentence.

He is… pic.twitter.com/WmNzI4WztS
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) April 4, 2026

SHOCKING: Treason at the highest level…

DNI Tulsi Gabbard has once again stated that the Obama Regime manufactured the entire Russia Hoax to launch a treasonous coup against President Trump.

Obama's inner circle didn't just spy…they staged a silent overthrow. pic.twitter.com/8XA4z3EhnV
— Liz Churchill (@liz_churchill10) April 4, 2026

It’s outrageous how Britain’s deliberate push for war between Russia and Ukraine—advancing their new world order—draws far less outrage than Iran. The US has poured roughly $188 billion into Ukraine, yet we hear endless noise about Israel while Britain’s warmongering gets a free… pic.twitter.com/aUbUYX0ADf
— Star S.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@DominguezH31015) April 4, 2026

“Americans shouldn’t fight for a suicidal continent.”

• Time for Europe to Defend Itself (J.B. Shurk)

]Four years ago, the Biden administration was working with the United Kingdom and the European Commission to pay for diminutive comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s war with the Russian Federation over territories where supermajorities of the population identify as Russian. We were told that the Russian-speaking people of Ukraine “belonged” to Ukraine and that the only way to “preserve democracy” was to deny those people a democratic vote to join the Russian Federation. “Democracy” also apparently requires the installation of a Ukrainian dictator, a complete crackdown on an independent press, widespread censorship of public debate on social media, the denial of religious freedom, and a brutal campaign of press-ganging men into military service to die as cannon fodder for a corrupt Ukrainian regime that launders money from U.S. and European taxpayers into the bank accounts of the West’s political and financial elites.

Just as globalists in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and across Old (and increasingly Islamic) Europe turned the “Reign of COVID Terror” into an opportunity to bilk taxpayers, enrich elites, and grow the totalitarian national security State, the same globalist scum quickly turned the Ukraine conflict into another “emergency” requiring more taxes, censorship, and public sacrifice. All of a sudden, anything criticizing the official public policies of Western governments was labeled “Russian disinformation.” If you disagreed with whatever the West’s vaunted “experts” said, you were dismissed as “Putin’s puppet.” Pro tip for information warfare enthusiasts: When government authorities identify dissent as “propaganda,” that’s propaganda!
The COVID propaganda project gave us a chorus of World Economic Forum buffoons posing as national leaders all singing, “We must ‘Build Back Better.’” When that schtick got old — or, rather, when ordinary citizens across the West started to show signs of resistance against their imperial rulers — the West’s globalists turned Ukraine’s Chief Munchkin into a “freedom fighter” battling the pernicious authoritarianism of Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The same yahoos — Biden, Trudeau, Macron, Queen Ursula, and the rest of the WEF’s rump-kissing claque — who screeched like wounded cockatoos, “Build Back Better,” now all huffed in unison, “Ukraine! Ukraine! Ukraine!” It never ceases to amaze me that the day after Canada’s “Freedom Convoy” protests against COVID “vaccine” mandates came to an end, the official launch of the new hit television drama, “WAR: Ukraine,” began.
It’s almost as if Western globalists yank us commoners along by the leash from one spectacular production of nonsense to the next (just to see how much money they can steal from our pockets when their hands aren’t busy groping small children). Some people in the U.S. and Europe were made to really care about a country that has long been considered so incorrigibly corrupt that other corrupt countries can’t help but blush. Lemmings who had been walking around with multiple paper masks over their faces to magically protect themselves from viruses that don’t fear masks all of a sudden waved Ukrainian flags with gusto as if they could identify Dwarf-King Zelenskyy’s money-pit-proto-nation on a map!
Nobody wanted to admit that the same übermenschen from sub rosa groups such as Bilderberg and the Trilateral Commission — who have made a financial killing from “green energy” and mRNA “vaccines” over the years — had simply returned to their favorite investment of all: actual killing. War brings new taxes, new regulations, new forms of censorship, new military investment, and new ways to exploit asymmetric information for financial gains. In short, wars bring profits! And what better place for corrupt globalists to make tons of money than to take advantage of the corrupt swindlers putatively governing the traveling circus known as Ukraine!
The United Kingdom (still smarting from its misadventures in the Crimean War one hundred and seventy years ago) demanded that Russia hand back Crimea to its MI6-managed Ukrainian friends. Queen Ursula of the pan-European (and increasingly Islamic) empire demanded that Russia respect the right of Europeans to overthrow any Ukrainian governments that Brussels doesn’t like (see the U.S.-E.C.-organized 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine, or what Western propagandists still shamelessly call the “Revolution of Dignity”). BlackRock and other multinational investment firms selflessly volunteered to help finance the war, purchase Ukraine’s assets on the cheap, and invest heavily in the subsequent reconstruction projects of a destroyed nation. Google and Facebook promised to censor all public debate averse to globalists’ interests as “Russian propaganda.”

Absolutely.

And they can’t stop now: Von der Leyen, Starmer, Macron etc., they all bet against Putin. And their people will pay a steep price.

The only normal people are in eastern Europe. That’s the next battleground.

• EU Acting Like ‘Suicide Ship’ By Keeping Russia Sanctions – Fico (RT)

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has urged the EU to lift the sanctions on energy exports from Russia and resume dialogue, comparing the bloc’s policies to a “suicide ship.”Since the beginning of the US-Israel war with Iran in late February, oil prices have risen by 60% and gas prices by 70% in the EU, according to European Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen. The bloc previously experienced price hikes after deciding to phase out deliveries from Russia due to the Ukraine conflict. In a post on Facebook on Saturday, Fico blasted the EU for “ideological blindness and incompetence” and accused Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky of exacerbating the crisis.

“I am not calling for anything else – only for a return to common sense. The whole EU, and especially the European Commission, are beginning to look like a suicide ship when it comes to energy security,” Fico wrote. He called on the EU to lift “the absurd sanctions” and take “vigorous steps” to restore flows via the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline, which delivers Russian oil to the EU through Ukraine.Kiev, which has long tried to pressure Slovakia and neighboring Hungary to abandon energy supplies from Russia, claimed that the pipeline was rendered inoperable by a Russian strike. Zelensky said last month that Ukraine would repair it if the EU prevents Hungary and Slovakia from blocking a $104 billion loan to Kiev.
Earlier this week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that the bloc could face “one of the most severe economic crises in its history” unless the sanctions on Russian energy are lifted. The bloc’s energy commissioner, Dan Jorgensen, has ruled out the easing of sanctions, despite warning on Friday of a potential “long-lasting” energy shock that could force member states to ration fuel.

Asia.

• US Does Not Rely on Strait of Hormuz Oil, but Impact Still Hits Pump Prices (ET)

The Strait of Hormuz has been called the jugular vein of the world’s oil supply, and as Operation Epic Fury continues, Iran continues to have a chokehold on the critical supply route.

About one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas is typically shipped through the narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea. But Iran’s attacks on commercial vessels have brought traffic through the strait to a virtual standstill since the start of the conflict on Feb. 28. In March, just 220 vessels transited the strait, according to data from maritime analytics platform Marine Traffic. Prior to the war, thousands of ships traversed the waterway each month. These actions have caused oil and gas prices to surge. Brent, a global benchmark for oil prices, has risen firmly above $100 a barrel overseas. The average gas price in the United States has surged past $4 per gallon.
President Donald Trump has threatened to launch strikes on Iran’s oil wells, power plants, and critical oil infrastructure on Kharg Island unless the strait is reopened. He delayed the strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure until April 6, pending talks with the regime. Here’s a look at how much oil travels through the Strait of Hormuz and where it goes. An average of 20 million barrels of oil and refined products flowed through the narrow gateway between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran each day in 2025. That’s roughly 25 percent of the world’s sea-borne oil trade, according to a February analysis from the International Energy Agency. The strait is only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, with shipping lanes just two miles wide in each direction.

The vast majority of crude oil and condensate—a natural gas byproduct—went to Asia (91 percent), according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration analysis based on Vortexa tanker-tracking data from the first half of 2025. Of those Asian nations, China and India absorbed about half of the crude moving through the strait—37 percent and 14 percent, respectively—followed by Japan and South Korea at 12 percent each. Sixteen percent went to other countries in Asia and Oceania. The United States and Europe remained marginal buyers, receiving just 3 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

Roughly three-quarters of crude oil travel by tanker ship through the strait came from Saudi Arabia (38 percent), Iraq (22 percent), and the United Arab Emirates (14 percent). Iran shipped just 11 percent. Additionally, the strait accounts for nearly 20 percent of the global liquefied natural gas trade. Qatar, the world’s largest gas exporter after the United States, represents 93 percent of that volume. In 2025, Asia received almost 90 percent of the liquefied natural gas flowing through the strait. Europe received just over 10 percent. Of Asian countries, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan sourced almost two-thirds oztheir total liquefied natural gas supplies via the Strait of Hormuz last year.

The American people will not let them send ground troops. He’s got to win without them.

• Trump Tells Iran ‘Time Is Running Out’ — and Then It Does (Robert Spencer)

On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump gave the surviving rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran another ultimatum: “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”’This follows the president’s announcement on March 26: “As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time. Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

Just a few hours after he issued the Saturday morning ultimatum, however, Trump wrote: “Many of Iran’s Military Leaders, who have led them poorly and unwisely, are terminated, along with much else, with this massive strike in Tehran! President DONALD J. TRUMP.” It was unclear whether this meant that the 48-hour ultimatum was still in place or not, but the “massive strike” certainly removed any lingering doubt that Trump was in earnest.
And so what will the rulers of the Islamic Republic do now? A great deal is riding on whether the rulers of Iran, whoever exactly they may be in the continued absence of the putative new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, decide to acquiesce to a deal with Trump. An agreement, any kind of agreement, between the mullahs and/or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the United States will not only end the present conflict. It will also ensure, at least for the immediate future, that the Islamic Republic will survive.
As much as its own people detest it, and as inhuman as it is toward them, the Islamic regime in Tehran has all the guns. The Iranian people, on the other hand, have neither weapons nor a leader, for anyone within Iran who dares to stand publicly against the regime is taking a tremendous risk, and anyone who looks as if he could emerge as the leader of a resistance movement is swiftly imprisoned and often killed.
Then there is the question of whether there is any real possibility that the Islamic Republic’s top dogs would honor the terms of an agreement with the United States even for a brief period. As The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran explains, the Islamic concept of taqiyya, lying to deceive one’s enemies, is a particularly Shi’ite concept, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is a Shi’ite nation, although a startling 2020 survey showed that a majority of Iranians are so disgusted with Islam itself after 47 years of the Islamic Republic that they don’t consider themselves Muslim anymore.
The doctrine of taqiyya was formulated in the middle of the eighth century, when the Sunni caliph al-Mansur was persecuting the Shi’ites. Taqiyya allowed Shi’ites to pretend to be Sunnis in order to protect themselves from Sunnis who were killing Shi’ites.
This was necessary because Sunnis were in the majority almost everywhere, and would not infrequently take it upon themselves to cleanse the land of those whom they referred to as Rafidites, or rejecters: those who rejected the caliphates of Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman, the first three successors of Muhammad, all of whom were chosen over the man Shia believe Muhammad chose for the job, Ali Ibn Abi Talib. Until the conversion of Persia to Shi’ism, taqiyya was an indispensable tool for the very survival of the Shi’ites. Sunnis practice it as well, as it is based upon the Qur’an (3:28), but the Shi’ites raised it to the level of a precisely and elaborately articulated theological concept.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.”

• ‘Open The F**kin’ Strait’: Trump Threatens To ‘Blow Everything Up’ (ZH)

Shortly after President Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,” the president spoke with Fox News reporter Trey Yingst for 15 minutes early Sunday. Trump provided Yingst with new details on the behind-the-scenes negotiations with the Iranians and what would happen if Iran does not reach a good-faith deal. Yingst said Trump told him, “If they don’t make a deal, and fast, I’m considering blowing everything up and taking over the oil.”

The reporter went on to say that the president added that if there is no deal, bridges and power plants will go down all over the country. Yingst asked the president about the possibility of an agreement with the Iranians. The president said those negotiating on behalf of Tehran have been granted amnesty for now so they can continue the talks. The reporter noted that Trump thinks a deal can be reached by Monday. Trump said, “I think there’s a good chance tomorrow. They’re negotiating now.”

NEW:

"If they don't make a deal and fast, I'm considering blowing everything up and taking over the oil," President Trump told me.

President Trump added that he believes he'll be able to get a deal with Iran by tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/a7EDL6hQUJ
— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) April 5, 2026

International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol told the Financial Times this weekend that governments must avoid panic hoarding and refrain from imposing fuel export bans as the Gulf energy shock ripples outward to Asia, Africa, Europe, and eventually reaches the US West Coast.”I urge all countries not to impose bans or restrictions on exports,” Fatih Birol emphasized in the interview. “It is the worst time when you look at the global oil markets. Their trade partners, their allies and their neighbors will suffer as a result.”
The FT noted that Birol was “careful not to name China directly,” but made very clear his warning was likely aimed at Beijing, which has already moved to restrict exports of critical refined products, including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. Birol said that “major countries in Asia who hold major refineries” should reconsider their current bans, adding, “If those countries continue to restrict or totally ban exports, the impact on the Asian markets will be dramatic.”
Birol’s hoarding warning in Asia comes shortly after the IEA’s coordinated release of 400 million barrels from emergency reserves. Such hoarding by major countries would directly undercut efforts to stabilize global energy markets. He also warned that if the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz persists, losses of crude and refined products in April could reach roughly double the levels seen in March.Early in the US-Iran conflict, energy economist Anas Alhajji joined UBS analysts on a call in which he warned of panic hoarding risks in the oil market. He said that he questioned back in January why the Trump administration was hoarding Venezuela’s oil after the Maduro raid, instead of bringing it to market.
Alhajji noted then, “I’m not talking about conspiracy theories. We were criticizing the Trump administration, companies, and trading houses that bought Venezuelan oil, and asking why they weren’t able to sell it to end users and why they were hoarding it. Now we know.” He was implying that this hoarding was in preparation for Operation Epic Fury.Asia has been hit hardest so far. JPMorgan’s top commodities expert warned about the falling dominoes of how the energy shock transmits from Asia, then spreads to Africa and Europe, before reaching the US, especially California, shortly thereafter.

“Unfortunately, we see that some countries are adding to their existing stocks during our coordinated oil stock release,” Birol said. “They are stocking up. This is not helpful. In my view, this is a time for all countries to prove they are responsible members of the international community.” Jeff Currie of Carlyle recently outlined the hoarding risks in a note titled “A Crude Awakening”: “The physical shortfall is the trigger; the behavioral response is the multiplier.”

Earlier on Easter morning, President Trump unleashed a fierce message on Truth Social: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.” Is the pressure building on Trump from the rest of the world (and domestically) to end this ‘operation’? And/or are we getting closer to quagmire-inducing boots on the ground?

“We must rely on our own strength and actively support our real allies. There are no such allies in the West. None.”

• Only Strength Matters (Alexander Dugin)

In the current situation, Russia needs to act much more firmly. The enemy does not understand nuance, hints, or the refined language of diplomacy. They consistently read our politeness as weakness. That is how they see it—nothing more. And they are preparing for a full-scale, frontal war against us, one they will launch when they believe they are ready. The US and Israel are currently focused on their war with Iran and Shiite forces in the Middle East. But the EU, Britain, and the Democrats in the United States are oriented specifically towards a conflict with us. If we behave in ways they interpret as weakness, there will be no chance of avoiding war. Only strength matters. This is a moment for strength: direct, credible, visible, and unmistakable.

It is also essential to disabuse them of the notion that they will choose when to start the war while we simply wait and comply.We must act with clarity and resolve, and we must act now. In global politics, a true sovereign is the one who shapes events and initiates decisive processes, rather than fitting into those set in motion by others. After the geopolitical disaster of the 1990s—the collapse of the USSR—the West concluded that we had lost our sovereignty. They have treated us accordingly ever since. There is no reason to expect any consistent logic from Trump’s behavior. c

PCR: “Alexander Dugin on the clown emperor and the delusional war machine.”

“A war machine driven by decay and delusion “

• Trump’s Address to the Idiocracy (Alexander Dugin)

Trump delivered his address to the nation. It was brief. He appeared pitiful and broken. His cheeks sagged; his eyelids were swollen. He had clearly deteriorated. Yet at the same time, he threatened Iran with a continuation of the war. The timeline has shifted; now it is a matter of several years. A ground operation is more than likely, though Trump has not yet openly declared it. For now, using almost the exact same wording Hillary Clinton once used about Libya, he promised to “bomb Iran back into the Stone Age, to which it belongs.” It is difficult to say to which “age” the civilization of Jeffrey Epstein belongs, especially since in the West great epochs and periods of total decline seem to have been confused and rearranged.

Most of all, what we are seeing now resembles an idiocracy. Comments on Trump’s speech across social media are largely mocking, sarcastic, and negative, aside from desperate attempts by bots to soften the epic failure, repeating identical and crudely constructed praise. The overwhelming majority of Trump’s former supporters openly claim that “the old man has lost it” (“he’s gone”). Short videos comparing Trump to Boris Yeltsin—portraying Trump as a disgrace to America and Yeltsin as a disgrace to Russia—are appearing more and more frequently; in them, both seem to be dancing and gesticulating. At the same time, to give Trump his due, he does not drink alcohol. Only Diet Coke. His vices are of a different nature. Many in the United States are convinced that, having been caught in those very vices by Epstein and Israeli intelligence services, he became a victim of blackmail and therefore initiated the war with Iran, which he is now compelled to pursue against all odds, despite the American public’s complete lack of desire to fight.
Trump also stated that healthcare, the cost of living, and food security are not his concern. His concern is war. Such is this “president of the whole human world.” He was elected on promises that were strictly the opposite. In summary, Trump’s speech amounts to a complete political and psychological fiasco against the backdrop of an escalating major war. It increasingly resembles a Third World War. The United States (represented by Trump alone and the group of Zionist maniacs surrounding him) seeks to wage war for Israel against Iran, while European leaders aim their efforts against Russia. NATO is fractured, yet peace seems to have been forgotten by nearly all parts of the cracked—if not shattered—collective West.
Whether we want it or not, we too are participants in this world war—on our Ukrainian front. In a large-scale war, one must never underestimate the opponent, no matter how pitiful he may at times appear. One’s own strength must be increased rapidly and by any means. However degraded Trump himself may seem, the United States remains a powerful military force. And the European countries of NATO are still a fairly serious opponent. Therefore, for Russia, despite all our peaceful intentions, there is no other option but to fight—truly fight, not half-heartedly. Our enemies (if not these, then others) intend to wage war for a long time and with great ferocity, including against us. This cannot be ignored, and any talk or dreams of peace should be postponed to an indefinite future.
Peace or war, peace or war, peace or war? War!
Freedom or death, freedom or death, freedom or death? War!

— Egor Letov
(Translated from the Russian)

The EU conquers its own territory.

• Battle for Bulgaria: The EU Opens a New Front in its Election War (RT)

Though the Hungarian election is only a week away, another threat is already manifesting for the EU’s elite: This time in Bulgaria, where left-wing populist and former President Rumen Radev wants to shut off the money tap to Ukraine, and his opponents want Brussels’ censorship machine to save them. Here we go again.On April 19, Bulgarians will vote in the country’s eighth parliamentary election in five years. Called after the resignation of Rosen Zhelyazkov following street protests in November, the election pits centrist Boyko Borissov – a former prime minister – and his pro-EU GERB-SDS coalition against the emerging left-leaning Progressive Bulgaria coalition, headed by Radev.

Who is Bulgaria’s Rumen Radev?
Radev served as Bulgaria’s president from 2017 until his resignation this January. He frequently clashed with Borissov during the latter’s tenure as prime minister, accusing him of incompetence and corruption – allegations substantiated in 2020 when an image of Borissov lying half naked on a bed next to a pile of money and a handgun spread on social media.The Radev-Borissov rivalry would not concern Brussels if Radev wasn’t a vocal opponent of the EU’s Ukraine policy.
Radev has opposed the bloc’s “self-destructive” sanctions on Russia since 2022, views a Ukrainian victory as “impossible,” opposes military aid to Kiev, and has declared that “ending the war in Ukraine requires more diplomacy and negotiations with Russia.” For a country with four NATO military bases and a ten-year defense deal with Ukraine, the issue is critical for Kiev’s backers.With two weeks to go, Progressive Bulgaria is leading Borrisov’s GERB-SDS by ten points, according to a polling aggregate compiled by Politico. Faced with this outbreak of popular democracy that challenges its fundamental policy positions, the Bulgarian establishment has called for EU reinforcements.
Is the EU meddling in the Bulgarian election?
The playbook will be familiar to anyone following our ‘Battle for Hungary’ series, with one difference: Brussels’ censorship tools are being deployed in Budapest to oust the incumbent Viktor Orban; in Sofia, they’re being used to squash a rising anti-establishment political force. Last week, caretaker Bulgarian Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov requested that the EU activate its ‘Rapid Response System’ (RRS), claiming that Russia is interfering against Borissov. Activated in Hungary last month, the RRS empowers EU-approved ‘fact-checkers’ to flag online content as ‘disinformation’ and request its removal from social media platforms such as TikTok and Meta.
Platforms that refuse to comply are liable to fines under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force in 2022. The EU has activated the RRS in five elections since 2024 – in France, Germany, Hungary, Romania, and non-EU member Moldova – and in every case, an investigation by the US House Judiciary Committee this year found that fact-checkers “almost exclusively targeted” right-wing and populist candidates and organizations. “Moreover, the requirement that these fact-checkers be approved by the European Commission creates a clear structural incentive for the participants to censor Euroskeptic opinion and content,” the committee noted.
An EU spokesperson told Politico this week that it was ready to take action in Bulgaria, “in particular via the Rapid Alert System for real-time information exchanges.” Not to be confused with the Rapid Response System, the Rapid Alert System allows the EU to compile information about supposed ‘disinformation campaigns’, so that more severe measures, including the RRS, can then be taken.
How the EU is outsourcing its dirty work – again
Gyurov’s government is already preparing the proof the EU needs. Last week, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry set up a temporary unit to “counter disinformation and combat hybrid threats,” which will be “advised” by former Bellingcat investigator Christo Grozev. Grozev, whose allegations of Russian poisoning plots were considered too outlandish by even Vladimir Zelensky’s officials, is a wanted man in Russia over his role in encouraging Russian fighter pilots to defect to Ukraine with promises of money and EU citizenship. According to the ministry, Grozev will “assist the organization with specific information exposing malicious influences,” which will then “be able to be addressed both at the national and European levels through mechanisms developed by the European Commission.”
If Grozev’s research is not enough, the Center for the Study of Democracy – an EU-funded think tank – has already published a report alleging that Bulgaria “faces sustained Russian information manipulation pressure,” and that certain “high-risk narrative pressure points” must be tackled. These include online content “framing leaders as corrupt,” “framing candidates as warmongers dragging Bulgaria toward conflict,” and “Promoting the claim that sanctions harm Bulgaria (and the EU) more than Russia.” The report explicitly calls for the activation of the RSS and the punishment of online platforms on which this content is posted.
Working hand in hand with the Bulgarian government, the EU is paying researchers to justify the use of its own censorship tools, in order to stifle legitimate political speech that harms its broader geopolitical agenda. This will come as no surprise to anyone who’s been following the Hungarian election. There, the activation of the RSS was justified by a report alleging that Russian President Vladimir Putin had dispatched a team of “political technologists” to Budapest to rig the election for Orban. The report was published by an EU-funded opposition journalist, and quoted anonymous EU spies. Tails are wagging dogs in the EU, and the “request” for Grozev’s involvement could easily be seen as another such case.

Shameless freaks. That image will haunt me for the rest of my days. But will I ban it from my view? This girl was seconds away from being brutally slaughtered when the picture was taken. And that’s too divisive? What part of it is?

• Providence Destroys Mural to Murder Victim as too “Divisive” (Turley)

John Adams once wrote: “America … the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant.” Unfortunately, this week, the “grand scene and design in Providence [R.I.]” “illuminated” rather than eliminated the ignorance of our times. Liberals in that city, including the mayor Brett Smiley, demanded the removal of a mural in the memory of Iryna Zarutska, a young woman murdered on a train. Unlike memorials to figures like George Floyd or others, a memorial to the young white woman was deemed triggering and “divisive.”

On Aug.22, Zarutska was stabbed to death in a random and unprovoked attack on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina. Shocking surveillance video of the incident showed suspect Decarlos Brown Jr. allegedly stabbing Zarutska in the neck before walking away. Brown has a long record in the criminal justice system with more than 14 arrests and prison stints of five years.Iryna Zarutska pictured moments before her death cowering in her seat on a Charlotte commuter train The mural was set on the exterior of The Dark Lady, an LGBT bar in Providence. The bar immediately became the focus of a cancel campaign and eventually caved.
Providence’s Democrat Mayor Brett Smiley then joined the mob and denounced the mural to Zarutska, calling it “divisive” and saying that it “does not represent Providence.” He seemed to strike out at artist Ian Gaudreau and said that the city would “support local artists whose work brings us closer together rather than divide us.” Providence is not the only place where these memorials have been defaced or destroyed. In Chicago, a mural to Zarutska was defaced. Gaudreau lashed out at the campaign and the local politicians who destroyed his artwork as an attack on free expression. Smiley and other Democrats, however, piled on the artist and the work as an attack on minorities and a message of white victimization.

Smiley told WPRI that memorializing this young woman is an effort of right-wing billionaires, and it found its way to our community.” Smiley suggested the usual claim that “I support diverse opinions but just not this one”: “I didn’t stifle anyone’s speech, it was his decision whether to continue with it or to take it down, but it certainly wasn’t bringing us together as a community…so I don’t think we’re a stronger, more united community because of this mural, and so I thought the best thing to do was just to take it down.”
What is most striking is how hypocrites like Smiley actively fuel this rage while insisting that they are the voices of tolerance. He and other liberals in Providence cannot tolerate even the image of a murdered young woman in their city. This is a city that loves to repeat its motto, “What cheer, Netop,” the greeting from 1636 from early interactions with local Native Americans, meaning “Greeting Friend.” It seems the faux welcoming culture doesn’t extend to those with opposing views or different values.

Money laundering.

• Forced Mobilization Failing To Stop Ukraine’s Manpower Collapse (RT)

Ukraine’s military is sliding deeper into a manpower crisis, as a chronic shortage of volunteers forces authorities to rely on increasingly aggressive mobilization. Vladimir Zelensky’s vehement opposition to withdrawing troops from Donbass – which voted to join Russia in 2022 – remains a key roadblock in negotiations. Russia, and reportedly the US, is demanding that Kiev pull its forces out and open the way to a peace deal. But Zelensky, encouraged by his European backers, is choosing to continue fighting, apparently hoping that Ukraine can maintain its foothold in the region.

As warnings grow louder – including from within Ukraine – about the critical state of the army, teams of conscription officers have been unleashed to hunt down potential recruits. Violent confrontations repeatedly break out as people resist, and deaths have been reported both among the hunters and hunted. Meanwhile, morale among those sent to the front against their will is practically non-existent. Desertion has become a widespread phenomenon, reaching tens of thousands each month.
Many soldiers have spent years on the front lines with little or no rotation. With losses mounting, attention is turning to new sources of manpower. Officials are increasingly pushing to draft women and public campaigns have been launched with such an aim. However, critics say life on the front lines has brought nothing but abuse and misery for female personnel.

Trump needs arrests.

• Asst Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon Campaigns Hard to Replace Pam Bondi (CTH)

AAG Harmeet Dhillon, DOJ head of the Civil Rights Division, is campaigning hard to be the person President Trump and Susie Wiles select to replace Attorney General Pam Bondi. Mrs Dhillon has a significant personality and political trait-parallel with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and that likely explains why many of the alligator emojis are supporting her not-so-subtle bid to gain the position.

Only the first.

• Czech Government Imposes Fuel Price Cap and Cuts Diesel Tax (RMX)

The Czech government has moved to cap fuel prices and slash diesel taxes in an effort to curb rising costs due to the ongoing international energy crisis, announcing a system that will see the state set maximum daily prices for fuel across the country. Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the intervention follows concerns that fuel retailers were charging excessive margins, despite earlier pressure from the government to bring prices down voluntarily. Under the new system, the Ministry of Finance will determine a maximum fuel price each day, applying to all gas stations nationwide. Officials estimated that diesel, if the cap came into force on Thursday, would currently be capped at 46.43 Czech crowns per liter, or around €1.89.

“We monitored the margins and at the beginning of the conflict they were within the norm, but gradually they became excessive,” Babis said, adding that negotiations with distributors had only partially reduced prices. “We decided to intervene.” The government will also introduce a cap on retailer margins, setting the maximum allowable profit at 2.50 crowns (€0.10) per liter for both petrol and diesel.Alongside the price controls, ministers approved a targeted tax cut on diesel fuel. Excise duty will be reduced by 1.939 crowns per liter, equivalent to 2.35 crowns (€0.10) including VAT, in a move officials say is permitted under EU rules. The Ministry of Finance estimates the measure will cost the state budget around 1 billion crowns (€40.8 million).
Finance Minister Alena Schillerová said the combined approach of price caps and tax cuts was designed to immediately lower costs while preventing excessive pricing behavior in the market. “It is calculated as the average of wholesale indices from Cepro, Orlen, and MOL, plus a margin of 2.50 crowns and VAT,” she said, outlining how the daily maximum price will be set. The ministry will publish the price each weekday at 2 p.m. for the following day. Schillerová added that the margin cap was based on historical data adjusted for inflation, with the aim of eliminating what she described as disproportionately high pricing by retailers. The measures will formally take effect on April 8.

Joe Biden’s 10+ million illegals.

• ICE Uses the DMV as Bait to Lure Illegal Alien Truck Drivers (Tim O’Brien)

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may have dropped off the radar a little bit after things settled down in Minneapolis, but a flurry of arrests just outside Pittsburgh suggests that ICE is as active as ever and addressing a problem that’s been a long time coming. ICE arrested a reported 13 people at a driver’s license center in a quiet, rural location 40 miles north of downtown Pittsburgh on April 3.

According to WPXI-TV, the local East Franklin Police Department placed calls to ICE “after concerned citizens reported an abnormally large amount of individuals outside the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) driver licensing center in Kittanning, Pennsylvania.” The center, which is normally only open two days a week, was “overrun” by fighting-age young men from other countries applying for driver’s licenses and seeking other services. Witnesses said the center was filled with long lines.
https://twitter.com/ImMeme0/status/2040244230304510118
When ICE arrived, federal agents were able to arrest 13 illegal aliens from countries including Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. At least one person allegedly resisted arrest and reportedly assaulted a law enforcement officer. Local residents praised ICE for its quick response to the situation and for taking their calls seriously. Jason Koontz, a DHS spokesperson, said, “Residents thanked ICE for investigating their concerns and responding to their calls.” This was more than your usual roundup of illegal aliens. These individuals may have been involved in more illicit activity. Here is more from Koontz:
The West Kittanning Driver License Center was processing medical form updates for current holders of non-domiciled commercial learner’s permit or driver license holders, which resulted in a large number of customers at West Kittanning today. If you’re wondering what “non-domiciled” means, the U.S. Supreme Court spent a lot of time on that very word when it heard oral arguments in the birthright citizenship case. Non-domiciled people are individuals who don’t live here. Their home is in another country. So, a group of foreign nationals who likely speak little or no English show up unannounced in a sleepy little country town in Pennsylvania, and, if I’m reading this right, they needed to update their commercial learner’s permit — not their driver’s license — as part of the process of updating their medical forms?
PennDOT issued a statement of its own: Pennsylvania uses the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to verify legal presence for all non-domiciled commercial learner’s permit or driver license applicants. That federal system confirms immigration status in real-time. For non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits and driver licenses, we remain under a pause of issuing those documents, as directed by the United States Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Per the direction of FMCSA, no non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits or driver licenses were issued or reissued.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that Armstrong County Sheriff Frank Pitzer said when he forwarded information in the morning on the unusual activity at the driver’s license center, ICE did not give him any indication that it would follow up, visit the site, or arrest anyone. He said the federal agents showed up before 1:30 p.m., without any advance notice, and immediately commenced arresting the suspected illegals. The sheriff said some of the illegal aliens who were at the center when ICE arrived may have fled and may still be hiding in the area. As a result, local law enforcement is on the lookout for these stragglers.
Other reports are that this entire operation was a sting, organized by ICE. More to the point, ICE may have sent notices to commercial truck drivers that their licenses were expiring and instructed them to go to this specific Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) office at the assigned date and time. Apparently, dozens of illegal aliens showed up, and ICE was in the shadows waiting for them. Sting or no sting, the end result is very encouraging, and I’m here for it.

Everyone was in on it. So no penalties. They’re all very busy trying to save face. And counting profits,.

• Pfizer Cancels COVID Vaccine Trial for Lack of Interest (JTN)

Five years after their wide deployment, first on a voluntary basis, then under threat of firing for nearly 100 million Americans at the direction of the White House, COVID-19 vaccines for at least low-risk groups may be on the way out amid higher regulatory requirements and indifference to the jabs by the vast majority of Americans. Pfizer and its COVID mRNA vaccine partner BioNTech abruptly pulled the plug on their trial for healthy 50-64 year-olds, telling trial investigators in a March 30 letter they were coming up short on the 25,000-30,000 enrollment needed to generate enough data to evaluate the jabs, Reuters reported, citing a letter it viewed.

Friday was the last day that Pfizer was scheduled to monitor trial participants for signs of COVID illness, the letter reportedly said. “Two sources from companies” that manage 9% of trial sites told the wire service that Pfizer told them in writing weeks earlier to stop recruitment. “This study is not ending as a result of any safety or benefit-risk concerns,” Pfizer and BioNTech told the wire service, citing their “inability to generate relevant post-marketing data” with lagging enrollment. They said they already told the Food and Drug Administration, which did not answer a query from Just the News, they were throwing in the towel.
Pfizer appears to see more dollar signs in the first serious vaccine candidate for Lyme disease since GSK’s vaccine reportedly crashed and burned in 2002 due to relatively low efficacy and strain coverage, no testing in children and widespread reports of serious adverse events. The drug maker is planning to seek regulatory approval with its partner Valneva for the Lyme vaccine despite admitting the trial missed its “primary endpoint” because not enough people got the tick-borne illness. Pfizer made the same big bet on its pricey COVID antiviral Paxlovid, which did no better than a placebo against “long COVID.”
Pfizer is also losing a purported ally in the Trump administration, Attorney General Pam Bondi, who before being fired last week was trying to tank clinical trial whistleblower Brook Jackson’s False Claims Act lawsuit against Pfizer for allegedly using fraudulent data to obtain emergency use authorization for its COVID vaccine and a related massive payout from taxpayers. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard arguments in December, is expected to rule in the case “any Friday now,” Jackson wrote on X Thursday. “You can’t certify a lie. So what is an FDA authorization built on fraud?”

ELON MUSK: “Our next product is Blindsight, which will enable those who have total loss of vision, including if they've lost their eyes or the optic nerve, or maybe have never seen even blind from birth, to be able to see again.” https://t.co/yQsjrJIdUt pic.twitter.com/I9xU3tFZJW
— Dima Zeniuk (@DimaZeniuk) April 4, 2026

Tesla is not a car company, it never was.

David Friedberg, scientist, billionaire investor, and one of the sharpest long-term thinkers in Silicon Valley just laid out the most important prediction about Tesla that almost nobody is talking about.

Tesla began as an electric car… pic.twitter.com/o60wF4uqbS
— Milk Road AI (@MilkRoadAI) April 4, 2026

True https://t.co/Us670hk97I
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 4, 2026

SpaceX now has over 10,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, which is honestly an absurd engineering achievement.

And no, they are not just up there freelancing and hoping for the best.

They stay separated because they are placed in organized orbital lanes, constantly tracked, and… pic.twitter.com/IsWZOyWAgQ
— Sovey (@SoveyX) April 4, 2026

Elon Musk just said aging is one of the most solvable problems in existence.

He also said solving it might be one of the most dangerous things we ever do.

No one in the longevity space is holding both of those thoughts at once.

Musk: “I’ve never seen someone with an old left… pic.twitter.com/TPBhyEoWg8
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) April 5, 2026

Asia Minor: An ancestral cradle of Hellenism for 3,000 years. From the Ionian philosophers and Byzantium to Smyrna and Pontus, the Greek presence shaped world civilization until the tragic displacement of 1922. One land, one identity, an eternal memory. We dont forget. pic.twitter.com/8wCwgCaDzd
— well-meaning (@FreshSummerWind) April 5, 2026

Even though this is from an older podcast, Jimmy Carr’s take still hits different:

“The Roman Empire didn’t fall. It became the Church.”

And the British Empire? According to Jimmy, it didn’t collapse either — it simply turned into a bank.

We handed the colonies back with a… pic.twitter.com/3ouK4KaMw4
— Camus (@newstart_2024) April 5, 2026

A hunter finds a deer trapped in a fence, struggling to breathe. What he does next is incredible! pic.twitter.com/JBsQL2Ekcw
— SULLY (@SULLY10X) April 4, 2026

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

Debt Rattle February 12 2025

Feb 122025

February 12, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:40 am Finance Tagged with: Bhattacharya, DOGE, Elon Musk, judges, Klitschko, providence, PTSD, stubbornness, Trump, Ukraine, Zelensky 68 Responses »

Leonardo da Vinci (?) La Joconde nue or Monna Vanna 1515

• Stubbornness, Divine Providence and Donald Trump (Miele)

• Trump Orders Federal Agencies To Comply With Musk’s DOGE Cuts (RT)

• Democrat Senator Accuses Trump And Musk Of ‘Billionaire Takeover’ (RT)

• Judge Blocks Federal Government From Cutting Medical Research Funding (ET)

• US Tax Dollars Fuel Ukrainian Elites’ Lavish Lifestyles – Tucker Carlson (RT)

• DOGE Investigating Feds Whose Net Worths Have Exploded (ZH)

• Zelensky’s 100 Days Might End In Florida As Trump Prepares Ukraine Plan (Jay)

• Musk Reacts To Zelensky’s ‘Ukrainians Don’t Want Elections’ Claim (RT)

• Trump’s Envoy To Shift Ukraine Burden Onto Europe (RT)

• Trump To Send Treasury Secretary To Kiev (RT)

• Europe Told To Brace For Flood Of Ukrainian Soldiers With PTSD (RT)

• Kiev Mayor Predicts ‘Painful Compromise’ To End Ukraine Conflict (RT)

• Kiev Plotting Provocations To Drag NATO Into War – Moscow (RT)

• Trump Nominees, COVID Dissenters Launch Science Journal (JTN)

• “Get Violent and Fight”: Tennessee Minister Calls for Violence (Turley)

• Clinton Probe to Expose Gates, Soros and Epstein Links (Sp.)

• Russia Treated US ‘Very Nicely’ – Trump (RT)

DOGE 2024
https://twitter.com/i/status/1889188421400154472

MAGA minute

pic.twitter.com/aE4XMOwiPR

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 10, 2025

Leavitt

Karoline Leavitt just DOUBLED DOWN even more.

"President Trump and Elon Musk and our entire administration are going to continue to go line by line and treat this federal government like a business. Money in, money out."

DOGE will continue busting the Democrat's money… pic.twitter.com/akv3FeWMmQ

— George (@BehizyTweets) February 11, 2025

Gutfeld
https://twitter.com/i/status/1889115655565091300

FEMA

JUST IN – Four FEMA Employees to Be Fired Today Over 'Egregious' NYC Hotel Payment |

Justice is coming.

Fox News has confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement regarding the $59 million FEMA allocated last week to house illegal aliens in New York… pic.twitter.com/Vxzs1lbYqU

— Overton (@overton_news) February 11, 2025

https://twitter.com/i/status/1889081920560189890

Jennings

pic.twitter.com/FzUAy9BjtF

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 11, 2025

Elon Musk Puts a ‘Thorn in the Side’ of Sam Altman

“What Elon is basically doing is throwing sand in the gears of the offer from SoftBank to invest in the company. SoftBank valued [OpenAI] at what, $260 billion? Elon is undercutting that, but he's doubling the offer of the… pic.twitter.com/mDJrsGm70r

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) February 11, 2025

pic.twitter.com/VJwnOv1Z2J

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 10, 2025

Elon Musk

“I provided almost all the money in the beginning, almost $50 million to get it going.

How is it possible to go from there to a company that's now largely worth over $100 billion & seems to be maximizing profit & is not open source?” pic.twitter.com/UCADHKWKSA

— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) February 11, 2025

Rogan nice man
https://twitter.com/i/status/1889195160044486728

NEW: Joe Rogan goes on an epic rant about Elon Musk and DOGE exposing billions in waste and corruption while natural disasters in Maui, North Carolina, and Los Angeles remain unresolved.

"People on the left are completely ignoring the rampant corruption and conflicts of… pic.twitter.com/uwQVo3xAO7

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) February 11, 2025

Joe Rogan: “If Bobby Kennedy really does get in and if Tulsi Gabbard really does get in, like this is a crazy time.”

“This is like an unprecedented cabinet of people that are kinda unified and all know each other.”

Bridget Phetasy: “RFK Jr. brought so many people over.”

“I… pic.twitter.com/zNEcypsMr4

— End Tribalism in Politics (@EndTribalism) February 10, 2025

Kayleigh

Kayleigh: I did not anticipate an Obama judge striking down the treasury secretary from accessing data. Where to get that precedent?

Trump literally puts his hand on the Bible and is sworn in… pic.twitter.com/LuQF1jWUtP

— Acyn (@Acyn) February 10, 2025

Judge Nap/Mearsheimer

Ethnically cleansing Gaza is a mistake cuz not only will no one will take in refugees, Palestinians don’t want to leave. They endured a genocide for their desire for statehood.
Also no relevant country supports this making it realistically impossible to dopic.twitter.com/W8I6HdJlNt https://t.co/C7pbDcEh7N

— Mearsheimer Jr (Fan) (@Real_Politik101) February 11, 2025

What would the world be like if Trump had won a 2nd consecutive term? No Butler murder attampt, no Elon, no RFK, no JD Vance…

• Stubbornness, Divine Providence and Donald Trump (Miele)

Donald Trump has always been a complex character, but to fully understand him now, one must begin with the assassination attempt at Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. Listen to how Trump described that experience in his second inaugural address: “Those who wish to stop our cause have tried to take my freedom and indeed to take my life. Just a few months ago, in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.” Even his harshest critics were hesitant to challenge Trump’s grandiose assertion because – at some level – they could put themselves in Trump’s shoes. And now, three months after the election and a mere three weeks after he was sworn in, the evidence is plain that Trump is a politician reborn, with a purpose renewed. If Making America Great Again started as an election slogan, it has been transformed into a divine mission.

Trump 2.0 is the Democrats’ worst nightmare. If he had won a second term in 2020, forcing him to govern with a Chuck Schumer-controlled Senate, he would have been virtually powerless. He would have limped through that second term with the usual bluster and name-calling, but without any new vision or agenda. His mandate would have been simple – keep the economy strong and don’t rock the boat too hard. Play golf whenever possible. There would have been no Elon Musk and no Department of Government Efficiency. There would have been no Bobby Kennedy Jr. or Make America Healthy Again. It is unlikely there would have even been a housecleaning at the FBI or CIA. Remember, there would not have been a raid at Mar-a-Lago, nor a “deranged” special counsel, nor a Jan. 6 riot in the U.S. Capitol. We would be living in an entirely different world, led for four years by an entirely different Trump on a glide path to retirement.

The 2024 election would have been a complete unknown. Republicans would have scrambled to find a worthy successor to Trump, but there would be no anointed one. Almost certainly not Mike Pence, but then who? Josh Hawley? Tom Cotton? Nikki Haley? Tim Scott? Not J.D. Vance, who would still be a mid-level literary author and never have been elected senator from Ohio. The Democrats would not have had to suffer through the embarrassment of a senescent President Joe Biden. They would have had a legitimate primary battle in 2024 between Govs. Newsom, Shapiro, Pritzker, and Hochul, and Sens. Klobuchar, Warren, Gillibrand, and maybe Sanders. Kamala Harris would have been an afterthought – or withdrawn before Iowa just as she did in 2020.

The likelihood of a Democratic victory after two consecutive Trump terms would have been high. MAGA itself might have fizzled out from attrition and eight years of mainstream media overkill. So it’s easy to theorize about the role of divine providence bringing us to this point, but one can’t discount the importance of Trump’s own character in asserting his will against the established order either. His ability to withstand the full court press of two impeachments, two special counsels, two assassination attempts, and multiple felony indictments and convictions to convince the American public to return him to the White House is nothing short of miraculous. If Trump was indeed “saved by God,” there must have been a reason – something that made Trump a perfect vessel for reshaping our times, even though not perfect himself. So what is it?

I’ve tried to think of analogs for Trump’s persona in life and literature and largely come up empty. As a politician, Trump is sui generis. You can scan the Bible for other examples of imperfect perfection such as King David and Cyrus the Great, but it’s best not to impute to a contemporary such as Trump the authority of the Old Testament. So where else do we turn? A few authors have noted the similarity of Trump to Napoleon Bonaparte, including for his ego, his exile, and his support from the common man. I myself have written twice about such a connection, including once in 2016 before he was elected and once in 2022 after he was banished to Mar-a-Lago. The columns stand the test of time, but there might be one avatar for The Donald drawn from literature that is even more appropriate.

I am thinking of the character known simply as the Mule in Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” trilogy. Book two of the science fiction series, “Foundation and Empire,” introduces the Mule as a character of such intense individuality that he has the power to break every expectation, exceed every limit, and avoid virtually every trap put in his way as he attempts to conquer the galaxy. As Asimov has another character explain, “He has no name other than that of the Mule, a name reportedly applied by himself to himself, and signifying, by popular explanation, his immense physical strength, and stubbornness of purpose.”

We need not worry about physical strength in our comparison, but “stubbornness of purpose” can be applied to Trump and to only a few others in U.S. history, including George Washington during his role as commander in chief of the Continental Army and Abraham Lincoln as commander in chief of the Union Army. Were it not for Trump’s extraordinary second term, his divine commission, we might never have even understood his stubbornness of purpose. Oh yes, he was considered mule-headed for his unwillingness to follow political conventions, but until his return from exile, he still tried to curry favor with the ruling class by trying to fit in with expectations rather than imposing his will through brute force.

“..agencies may hire only one employee for every four who depart..”

• Trump Orders Federal Agencies To Comply With Musk’s DOGE Cuts (RT)

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order mandating US federal agencies to implement workforce reductions and efficiency measures outlined by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk. Signed on February 11, 2025, the order directs agencies to limit hiring to essential positions and collaborate with DOGE to identify areas for significant staff cuts and potential agency eliminations. Appearing alongside Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Musk defended the initiative, stating that the American “people voted for major government reform, and that’s what they’re going to get.” “It’s not optional for us to reduce federal expenses – it’s essential. It’s essential for America to remain solvent as a country,” Musk said.

“We have this unelected, unconstitutional fourth branch of government – the bureaucracy – which, in many ways, currently holds more power than any elected representative,” he added. “It does not reflect the will of the people. So it’s something we’ve got to fix.” “And we’ve also got to address the deficit – a $2 trillion deficit. If we don’t do something about this, the country is going bankrupt. I mean, it’s astounding that the interest payments alone on the national debt exceed the Defense Department’s budget,” Musk noted.

That was one of the most incredible political press conferences I’ve ever seen.

Trump + Elon standing in the Oval Office, telling the American people directly what they are doing… basic financial management of our out of control spending.

“This isn’t optional, it’s essential.” pic.twitter.com/DDSGVjnQtW

— Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) February 11, 2025

Trump’s executive order establishes a hiring ratio in which agencies may hire only one employee for every four who depart, with exemptions for roles related to public safety, immigration enforcement, and law enforcement. Agency heads must develop data-driven plans, in consultation with DOGE team leads, to ensure new hires are allocated to high-need areas. The order also requires agency heads to submit reports within 30 days, evaluating whether their departments or sub-agencies could be eliminated or consolidated. It does not apply to military personnel, and agency heads may exempt “any position they deem necessary to meet national security, homeland security, or public safety responsibilities.” Critics have raised concerns about the potential impact of these measures on public services and the concentration of power within DOGE, with reporters pressing Musk on potential conflicts of interest.

REPORTER: Are you policing yourself for conflicts of interest? What are the checks and balances?

MUSK: We post our actions to the DOGE handle on X pic.twitter.com/j0TPjIi0Is

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 11, 2025

Trump’s latest push for large-scale federal workforce reductions follows previous efforts by his administration to streamline government operations, including a foreign aid and hiring freezes. The Department of Government Efficiency has been granted expanded authority to oversee these reductions, aiming to identify and eliminate wasteful spending within the federal government.

Musk is a Chinese puppet.

• Democrat Senator Accuses Trump And Musk Of ‘Billionaire Takeover’ (RT)

US President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk are seizing power in Washington “for corrupt purposes,” according to Democratic Senator Chris Murphy. The lawmaker from Connecticut accused the president of punishing his enemies and rewarding his friends in what he called “the billionaire takeover of government.” Trump has repealed dozens of executive orders signed by his predecessor, Joe Biden, since returning to the Oval Office on January 20. Amid a broader push to cut government spending, the president has suspended all US foreign aid and halted numerous projects assigned to USAID, Washington’s main agency for administering funding to political projects abroad.

Trump also appointed Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X, as a “special government employee” to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). “This is the most serious constitutional crisis the country has faced, certainly, since Watergate,” Murphy said in an interview with ABC News aired on Sunday, accusing Trump of “attempting to seize control of power for corrupt purposes.” The lawmaker claimed that the president is planning to single-handedly address public financial issues in order “to reward his political friends” and “punish his political enemies,” branding the administration’s latest decisions, in particular disbanding USAID, an “evisceration of democracy.”

Murphy also said the agency was “a thorn in the side of the Chinese government,” claiming that Trump’s move to eliminate it will “make America much less safe around the world” but will benefit Beijing. The senator accused Musk, who has branded USAID a “criminal organization,” of pursuing his own ends by taking steps to shut down the agency. “Elon Musk has many major business interests at stake inside Beijing, and so making Beijing happy is going to accrue to the financial benefit of Elon Musk and many billionaires who outsource work to China,” the lawmaker stated. Last week, Trump accused USAID of funnelling billions of taxpayer dollars into media companies to promote positive media coverage of the Democrats. At the same time, Musk accused USAID of funding bioweapons research.

Waiting for Jay Bhattacharya to be confirmed as NIH director.

• Judge Blocks Federal Government From Cutting Medical Research Funding (ET)

U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley entered a temporary restraining order on Feb. 10 preventing the federal government from cutting medical research funding in 22 states in response to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Massachusetts. The order is in place until further word from the court, Kelley said. Government lawyers were also ordered to, within 24 hours, and at biweekly intervals thereafter, confirm with the judge that they are regularly disbursing medical research funding in the states, which include Arizona, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon. California, New York, and Massachusetts receive the most funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The legal challenge targets the U.S. National Institutes of Health directive that imposes a lower cap on indirect research costs for institutions receiving government funding after a quarter of $35 billion in NIH research funds went to indirect costs in 2024.

The new cap was set in the Feb. 7 directive at 15 percent, which is largely in line with private funding limits, and down from what the NIH said was an average of 27 percent to 28 percent. “The United States should have the best medical research in the world. It is accordingly vital to ensure that as many funds as possible go towards direct scientific research costs rather than administrative overhead,” according to an NIH memorandum from the agency’s Office of the Director. Dr. Matthew Memoli is the acting NIH director while the Senate considers President Donald Trump’s nominee, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. In an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, attorneys general representing the states alleged that institutions, if the change were allowed to go through, would lead to “catastrophic financial consequences, which could result in layoffs and furloughs, research program closures, financial defaults, and disruptions to clinical trials, potentially jeopardizing people’s lives and health.”

The states also said the change violates a law that prohibits the NIH from changing the cap on indirect research costs. “Even were NIH to have the authority it claims, a demanding regulatory process would be required; but NIH took none of the steps mandated by that process. In addition, the agency did not consider the detrimental effect of its decision on ongoing research that NIH itself has determined is integral to public health,” the motion stated. “Nor did NIH address the considerable reliance interests that are impaired when thousands of existing grants, totaling billions of dollars, are changed unilaterally over a weekend.” The government has not issued a response to the motion. After granting the request for a restraining order, Kelley set a hearing on the matter for Feb. 21.

“All the visitors are Ukrainian, and they’re rolling into Hermes, and dropping a million dollars in an afternoon. It’s all through Europe you see this.”

• US Tax Dollars Fuel Ukrainian Elites’ Lavish Lifestyles – Tucker Carlson (RT)

Ukrainian elites have enriched themselves from embezzling US taxpayer money sent to fund the conflict with Russia, American journalist Tucker Carlson has claimed. He recounted his observations of affluent visitors at an elite ski resort, during an interview with retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis on Monday. Carlson, a former Fox News host and a vocal opponent of US support for Ukraine, described his visit to a pricey resort in the Alps, where he discovered that “the whole town is Ukrainian.” “All the visitors are Ukrainian, and they’re rolling into Hermes, and dropping a million dollars in an afternoon. It’s all through Europe you see this. The richest people are the Ukrainians,” he said, adding that the money they’re throwing around “belongs to me and you and every other American taxpayer.”

Carlson went on to say that Ukrainian corruption not only squanders American resources but also endangers US citizens. He cited allegations of Ukrainian military personnel selling weapons on the black market, which have reportedly reached the Mexican drug cartels. He claimed to know this for a fact, but did not provide evidence. He also criticized US funding for the Ukrainian special services, saying they have orchestrated “terrorist attacks” within Russia.”Everyone who wants to know what’s going on knows,” Carlson said, accusing the media and officials from the administration of former President Joe Biden of covering up for Kiev. The contrast between the amount of assistance for Ukraine and the affluence of some Ukrainians in the EU has fostered resentment in countries such as Poland, which has welcomed nearly a million Ukrainian refugees since the conflict escalated in 2022.

In an interview last October, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said Poles are appalled by “the sight of young men from Ukraine, driving the best cars, spending weekends in five-star hotels.” Opinion polls suggest a shift in public sentiment against Ukrainians.In recent remarks, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky claimed that his country has received substantially less US aid than reported, saying the total is $76 billion, rather than $200 billion, which is often cited. He added that around 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in the conflict so far. Carlson highlighted both of these claims, calling them examples of blatant lies that the Western media reports uncritically.

This one will piss you off the most today.

I’m having a hard time just hearing this without wanting to EXPLODE

just wow pic.twitter.com/V8KYUqYbDs

— Dr. C (@OG_DrC) February 10, 2025

Normal in DC.

• DOGE Investigating Feds Whose Net Worths Have Exploded (ZH)

DOGE head Elon Musk said on Tuesday that DOGE is going to investigate federal employees whose net worths have exploded despite their comparatively low pay. The announcement – which came after President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to work with DOGE, follows a bombshell report that Samantha Power, former head of USAID, saw her net worth explode to $30 million despite an annual salary under $250,000. “We don’t know why. Where did it come from? I think the reality is that they’re getting wealthy at the taxpayer expense,” Musk said on Tuesday. Power, a former ambassador to the United Nations under President Obama, and was sworn in as head of USAID in May of 2021, reported a net worth between $6.7 million-$16.5 million in January of 2021 on a disclosure form. Her net worth is now estimated as high as $30 million, according to the website Biden’s Basement.

President Trump and Elon Musk exposes the EX-USAID Chief Samantha Power who accumulate a $30 million of net worth over a matter of years with a $180k annual salary. pic.twitter.com/3auDYginRs

— DeVory Darkins (@devorydarkins) February 11, 2025

According to various reports, Power’s sources of income have varied over the years. After serving as UN Ambassador, she reportedly made $471,000 per year as a Harvard professor, and made $351,000 from speaking engagements with major firmst such as Nestle, Google and UBS, along with $1 million in book royalties. Most notably, however, was an $11.73 million gain in her investment holdings. If we had to venture a guess, DOGE’s access to information from the Treasury, USAID, and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), run through Palantir’s intelligence apparatus (including AI), will quickly unravel graft hidden through multiple layers of organizational fog.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1888581827285148067

Meanwhile, there’s the issue of lawmakers who have become unbelievably ‘lucky’ when it comes to growing their net worth via insider trading.

In July, a bipartisan group of senators including Josh Hawley (R-MO) came to an agreement on a renewed effort to ban members of Congress from trading stock. “Congress should not be here to make a buck,” Hawley said at the time. “There is no reason why members of Congress ought to be profiting off of the information that only they get.”

“.. it is quite wrong of both Lammy and Zelensky who claim Putin doesn’t want to talk. This is coded talk which means simply “he’s not prepared to give us what we want”.

• Zelensky’s 100 Days Might End In Florida As Trump Prepares Ukraine Plan (Jay)

Are we witnessing the final days of caretaker President Zelensky? Two recent media events where he clearly stated, some would even say ‘begged’, for a deal with Donald Trump might indicate that he is now in panic mode. Zelensky’s recent offer to Trump for the U.S. to take Ukraine’s mineral reserves reveals a lot about the former comedian turned politician. In numerous speeches and various media events he has repeatedly talked about the Ukrainian people, Europe and the sanctity of democracy all being under threat when Russia wins the war. But now we can see all that was BS and that now, without Hollywood movie stars raising his profile of hundreds of media outlets pumping out the fake news to support him, we get to what really matters above all: mineral wealth.

The problem or dilemma Zelensky has is not unlike that of a dying old man who has millions in the bank. Does he hand over all his wealth to the best doctors to buy a few more years of life, based on their promises, or does he accept the end is near? His logic is not complicated. His chief focus is his own power and positon above all. But is a peace deal, with or without a mineral sweetner compatible with his presidential incumbency? Something, it would seem, has to give. What he is now doing is certainly panicking. There can be no other way to look at the recent media spots. With practically now all U.S. and UK media taking the line that the war is being lost now to Russia and further reports that Moscow could be planning a major push with one or two brigades, time is of the essence. He needs to think clearly.

Perhaps delusional western powers like the UK are preventing any lucid, realistic thinking, given that David Lammy, the British foreign secretary recently visited him and handed him a cheque for over 60 million USD and told him that Britain is prepared to replace the U.S. militarily. Yes, that’s 60, you read correctly. While it’s unclear what an army in defeat could do with this small change, given that U.S. experts are estimating that just for the Ukraine army to continue for one more year they would need between 50 and 100 BILLION dollars, the British should thank Zelensky for keeping a straight face at the farce. Zelensky’s problem is how to secure a peace deal and come out looking like a winner. Add to that almost mission impossible is his insistence on “western security” guaranties – read NATO membership – and you can see why things are not exactly moving forward very quickly.

Trump has announced a peace deal to be agreed in April. Like the 600-pound gorilla in the room, he is likely to make it happen, or at least a ceasefire of sorts, but will Zelensky still be president when it happens? Zelensky is rapidly realizing the trap and just how entangled he is in the centre of it. Give Trump a huge bribe? It might not cut it given that Trump must already be looking at who to replace Zelensky, who would probably offer more. Both Trump and Zelensky need to come out of it as victors and it was interesting how he used the word “victory” when explaining it to the Reuters journalists (do they actually ask questions or is it just their job to be his PR apparatus?). Yet the question of Putin being a victor has not been tackled, given that he’s already winning and holds all the cards. While it is true that the intensity of fighting is certainly the case on the Russian side, it is quite wrong of both Lammy and Zelensky who claim Putin doesn’t want to talk. This is coded talk which means simply “he’s not prepared to give us what we want”.

It’s unlikely Zelensky will be the broker to make the deal happen as we head towards Trump’s 100-day deadline and I predict, as I have been doing so for months, that both Putin and Trump will conclude that he needs to be removed for a deal to be made. NATO membership of Ukraine is a joke and cannot happen for any deal to be struck and it is telling that the West still clings to this fantasy, but explains why Zelensky is still harping on about it. At the time of writing Trump hinted to journalists that he was about to meet with Zelensky so we should estimate that this will be the ‘either piss or get off the pot’ moment where all diplomatic endearment will be put aside. Trump will tell him the plan and tell him there and then, you’re either with it or you’re out.

As easily as the Obama and Biden administrations ushered Zelensky and his predecessor into power, Trump will prove that he can counter the move. Watch very closely in the coming weeks for top aides of Zelensky to be fired, but who in reality have resigned. Trump’s specialty for years in NYC getting deals done was to threaten his competitors with seducing their wives. Many gave into this tactic. Almost certainly Trump’s people will be working on Zelensky’s entourage who might wipe him out financially with higher payoffs – if he chooses to stay. But will he stay?

“..claimed that NATO is planning to oust Zelensky as it believes that he is one of the main obstacles to peace talks between Moscow and Kiev.”

• Musk Reacts To Zelensky’s ‘Ukrainians Don’t Want Elections’ Claim (RT)

Elon Musk has taken a jab at Vladimir Zelensky over his claim that Ukrainians are opposed to holding presidential elections while the conflict with Russia continues. Zelensky’s term officially expired in May 2024, but he has refused to hold presidential elections since, citing active martial law. While Kiev’s backers in the West continue to recognize Zelensky as Ukraine’s president, Russia deems him illegitimate, insisting that legal power in the country now lies with the parliament and its speaker. In an interview with ITV on Friday, Zelensky explained Kiev’s reluctance to hold the new vote by arguing that “during this war, our population is against elections, all people are against it.” He claimed that holding elections under such circumstances would undermine Ukraine’s defense posture, adding, “If we suspend martial law, we will lose the army.”

Musk, a close ally of US President Donald Trump and the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), offered a response full of irony, posting “Sure” on social media. In November, the billionaire mocked Zelensky’s claim that the “US cannot force us to ‘sit and listen’ at the negotiating table. We are an independent country.” “His sense of humor is amazing,” the tech entrepreneur wrote at the time. According to the Ukrainian outlet Telegraf, Zelensky has already decided to run in the potential next election, if it is held. While the report estimated that the Ukrainian leader – who has a trust rating of around 52% – has a reasonable chance of winning, the situation could drastically change if former top general Valery Zaluzhny, currently Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, enters the presidential race.

The Ukrainian outlet claimed that to suppress the candidacy of the popular general, Zelensky could press criminal charges against Zaluzhny, including a probe related to the fall of Kherson to Russian forces in 2022. According to RBK-Ukraine, Zelensky’s team is also hoping that military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov could counter Zaluzhny’s potential bid for the presidency. Meanwhile, the Trump administration appears to be pressuring Kiev to organize a new presidential election. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s top envoy for Ukraine, told Reuters earlier this month that Washington wants Kiev to hold the vote, potentially by the end of the year, especially if a ceasefire with Russia can be agreed upon in the coming months. “Most democratic nations have elections in their time of war. I think it is important they do so. I think it is good for democracy,” he said. Earlier this month, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claimed that NATO is planning to oust Zelensky as it believes that he is one of the main obstacles to peace talks between Moscow and Kiev.

From Friday, at the Munich Security Conference, we’ll have Vance, Kellogg, Rubio … and Zelensky.

• Trump’s Envoy To Shift Ukraine Burden Onto Europe (RT)

Keith Kellogg, the US presidential envoy for the Ukraine conflict, will meet with European officials in the coming weeks to advance President Donald Trump’s objectives, according to Bloomberg and The Telegraph. The diplomatic campaign will reportedly kick off at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) on Friday, as the new US administration aims to recoup funds expended on the conflict in recent years. On Monday, the outlets cited insider sources outlining Kellogg’s plans to gather feedback from trans-Atlantic partners before finalizing a strategy for achieving a truce with Russia. He is interested in Europeans’ “willingness to take the lead on providing deterrent forces to ensure that any peace settlement holds,” a source reportedly told Bloomberg.

Kellogg is also expected to make it clear that the US has no intention of deploying troops to protect Ukraine and wants European NATO allies to increase their defense spending. The Telegraph claimed that Kellogg has reassured European officials of Trump’s commitment to maintaining some level of military assistance to Kiev. Concerns have been raised about the extent of Kellogg’s influence over Trump, after he reportedly said he was surprised by the president’s announcement of scheduled talks with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky.

Trump aims to recoup money expended for support for Ukraine allocated under his predecessor, Joe Biden, by seeking rights to the country’s natural resources. In an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, he said he had effectively secured $500 billion worth of rare-earth minerals as compensation, regardless of the outcome of negotiations with Russia. “They may make a deal, they may not make a deal, they may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday, but we’re gonna have all this money in there, and I say, I want it back.”

US Vice President J.D. Vance will lead the American delegation at the MSC, where he is expected to meet with Zelensky. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the conference is an opportunity for American officials to “lay out a broad path forward” on Ukraine. Zelensky has claimed that Trump can achieve “peace through strength” with continued military assistance. He has conceded that without US support, the Ukrainian army risks collapse. Russian officials have rejected the idea of freezing the conflict along the current front lines, insisting on a comprehensive resolution addressing the underlying causes of hostilities, which include NATO expansion in Europe and discriminatory policies against ethnic Russians in Ukraine.

Got the money? Got the money?

• Trump To Send Treasury Secretary To Kiev (RT)

US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he will be sending Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine. The trip, which could take place as soon as this week, will include discussions of a potential deal for rare-earth minerals in exchange for aid to Kiev, according to various media reports. Trump recently demanded that Kiev must ensure a return on “America’s $300 billion” in aid by providing the US with critical minerals. He told Fox News on Tuesday that it would be “stupid” to keep funding Ukraine without tangible benefits. Rare-earth metals, which are essential for producing the magnets that convert power into motion in electric vehicles, smartphones, missile systems, and other advanced electronics, have no viable substitutes, and their demand is expected to rise significantly in the coming years. Bessent will be the first cabinet-level official in Trump’s administration to visit Kiev.

In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump said he is sending Bessent to meet Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, stating that the conflict between Moscow and Kiev “must and will end soon.” Trump further claimed that the US had spent “billions of dollars globally, with little to show.” Though Trump did not specify Bessent’s travel date, Bloomberg and Reuters report it will happen this week for preliminary negotiations. Zelensky has signaled openness to such a deal but acknowledged that nearly half of what Kiev claims as its rare earths are located in areas controlled by Russia. He said Kiev’s supporters must help push Russian forces out of the mineral-rich areas before any investment can take place.

Before the 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict, the country held Europe’s largest titanium and lithium reserves, critical for military and energy industries. Around $7 trillion of Ukraine’s total mineral wealth of around $14.8 trillion is in its former Donbass regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, according to Forbes. However, these two regions declared independence from Ukraine in 2014 after the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev and later voted to join Russia. Trump’s demand has sparked strong criticism, including from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who argued that it “would be very selfish” to use Ukraine’s resources to finance defense support.

The US leader has been calling for a swift resolution to the conflict, signaling potential peace talks between Moscow and Kiev. He has reportedly tasked his special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, with negotiating a settlement within 100 days. However, no concrete details of a plan have been disclosed. Moscow has expressed openness to talks but insists that any negotiations must be based on equal and mutually acceptable terms, reflecting the realities on the ground and Russia’s national interests. According to Bloomberg, Kellogg plans to present Trump with potential strategies to end the conflict in the coming weeks.

Lovely.

• Europe Told To Brace For Flood Of Ukrainian Soldiers With PTSD (RT)

Ukrainian soldiers returning from the front could pose a threat to civilians across Europe due to untreated mental health issues, Polish military psychiatrist Radoslaw Tworus has warned. In an interview with Wirtualna Polska published on Sunday, Tworus, who heads the department of psychiatry, combat stress, and psychotraumatology at the Military Medical Institute in Warsaw, said trauma from the battlefield may lead to serious psychological problems, potentially endangering society. His warnings come amid growing concerns in the region that Ukrainian soldiers will emigrate en masse to neighboring countries after the conflict. “These extreme experiences related to stress, threats to life, witnessing injuries, destruction, hunger, and exhaustion will have great significance not only for Poland but for Europe. Because these people are in Europe,” Tworus stated.

“We have to prepare,” he added. Tworus emphasized that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is among the major concerns, but is only part of the issue. “If we are talking about the battlefield, we are talking about a very stressful environment… a person can face a number of different problems: adaptation issues, psychosis, depression, addictions. The spectrum of these disorders is very wide.” He warned that the most problematic cases involve individuals who are unaware of their mental health issues and therefore do not seek help. “There may be depression, but there may also be euphoria, agitation, and aggressive states. There are many of these symptoms,” Tworus said, noting that any problems related to sleeping, eating, nervousness, quick mental fatigue, exhaustion or euphoric states “require consultation.”

He cautioned that soldiers with unresolved mental health issues might project their struggles onto family members or even the countries hosting them, potentially leading to unpredictable consequences. Tworus’ comments follow a recent report by Personnel Service, a Polish recruitment company, which claimed that up to one million Ukrainians could emigrate to Poland after the conflict ends. Based on a poll conducted in December, the report indicated that one in four Ukrainian men and one in five Ukrainian women are considering leaving Ukraine post-conflict. The primary reasons cited were Ukraine’s economic difficulties and lack of security.

Poland initially saw the largest influx of Ukrainian asylum seekers in the EU following the escalation of the conflict with Russia, with the number peaking at 1.36 million in 2022. Across the EU, as of November 2024 approximately 4.2 million Ukrainians had been granted temporary protection status under a bloc-wide initiative. The program, which offers access to housing, education, and employment, was recently extended to March 2026, though it has faced opposition from some member states.

“I am very much afraid that it could lead to riots or worse – to an internal standoff and a civil strife..”

• Kiev Mayor Predicts ‘Painful Compromise’ To End Ukraine Conflict (RT)

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine could end “in a month or two,” Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko claimed on Tuesday, warning that a potential peace deal could be “very painful to every Ukrainian.” US President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to seek a swift end to the hostilities. He has not revealed his peace plan, but it reportedly involves freezing the conflict along the current front line, establishing a demilitarized zone patrolled by European soldiers, and suspending Kiev’s bid to join NATO. Russia has said it remains open to negotiations but insists that any agreement must include “reliable, legally binding agreements eliminating the root causes of the conflict” instead of just freezing it.

“I am sure that it would be difficult to call it a positive result,” Klitschko said, commenting on the peace prospects at a forum in Kiev. “The so-called compromise could turn out to be very painful for every Ukrainian.” The mayor believes that the end of the conflict could lead to social tensions and political strife that would lead to a “war of extermination” inside the country. Kiev is unlikely to be able to keep its wartime army after the conflict ends, he stated, adding that around a third of the current armed forces personnel would have to be discharged and reintegrated into civilian life. The end of the conflict would also mean the start of an election contest, the mayor said, adding that this could also spiral out of control.

“I am very much afraid that it could lead to riots or worse – to an internal standoff and a civil strife,” Klitschko warned. Elections are “traditionally accompanied by mutual accusations,” the Kiev mayor stated, adding that it could become “a difficult challenge” for Ukraine. The politician said he is “sure” that Ukraine is not ready to face this scenario and needs to seek a solution. Last week, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky stated that the nation cannot hold any votes under the present circumstances because it would supposedly “lose” its army. He also claimed that the whole election narrative was supposedly only peddled by Moscow, which would be the only one to benefit from a vote in Ukraine.

Moscow has repeatedly questioned Zelensky’s legitimacy since his presidential term officially expired in May 2024. Russian President Valdimir Putin has said the parliament is the only legitimate governing body in Ukraine. According to Klitschko, “everyone is talking about elections” in Ukraine even as the hostilities continue. “Political electoral processes have already begun,” the Kiev mayor added. Klitschko, a former world heavyweight boxing champion, was one of the most prominent figures in the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev in 2014 and became the capital’s mayor the same year. He has long had strained relations with Zelensky. In 2023, he accused the Ukrainian leader of steering the nation towards authoritarianism. Last month, he also stated that Zelensky’s team was seeking to “usurp power” by undermining local authorities.

“.. the Kiev regime will not only actively hinder peace settlement processes but is also prepared to extend hostilities far beyond Ukraine’s borders..”

• Kiev Plotting Provocations To Drag NATO Into War – Moscow (RT)

Ukrainian special services, with Western support, are preparing a series of high-profile provocations to implicate Moscow and draw NATO into a direct military confrontation, according to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). In a statement on Tuesday, the SVR claimed that Kiev plans to use Russian-made naval mines to orchestrate an explosion involving a foreign vessel in the Baltic Sea. The alleged goal is to blame Moscow and prompt NATO to restrict Russia’s access to the Baltic on the pretext of ensuring maritime security. NATO has been increasing its military activities along Eastern Europe’s borders in recent years, citing security concerns over Russia. Last month, it announced plans to expand its presence in the Baltic Sea, launching a new mission to safeguard undersea infrastructure following a series of disruptions and damage to cables between member states.

Russia, which perceives the Baltic Sea as a strategic area for its naval operations and energy exports, has vowed to do everything necessary to protect its interests. Last year, Nikolay Patrushev, the former head of the Russian Security Council who currently serves as an aide to President Vladimir Putin, warned that NATO is using its newest members, Sweden and Finland, to turn the Baltic into an “internal sea” under Western control.Moscow has stressed that it has no intention of attacking any NATO member states, but has criticized the military buildups on its border. It has also warned that direct confrontation between Russia and NATO could escalate into a nuclear conflict, adding that it will respond to any hostile moves.

In its statement, the SVR also alleged that Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), in collaboration with intelligence agencies from several European countries, is planning attacks on Russian “non-systemic opposition” figures and businessmen residing abroad. The plan reportedly involves recruiting perpetrators from Asian and Middle Eastern countries, offering up to $20,000 for participation, with instructions to blame the Russian intelligence services if apprehended. Russia has accused Ukraine of planning various provocations in order to blame Moscow. Ukraine has dismissed the claims as propaganda. In recent months, Russia’s security services have on numerous occasions arrested Ukrainian agents tasked with targeting prominent public figures. The SVR cited reports indicating that Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and his associates are willing to resort to provocations to preserve their positions.

“To this end, the Kiev regime will not only actively hinder peace settlement processes but is also prepared to extend hostilities far beyond Ukraine’s borders,” it said. Zelensky remains in office despite his term expiring last May. He has refused to step down and postponed elections, citing martial law, which was imposed in 2022 following the escalation of the conflict with Russia.In a separate report this month, the SVR claimed that NATO is exploring ways to remove Zelensky from power by undermining his credibility before potential elections next year. It claimed that some Western officials see him as a roadblock to peace talks with Moscow. Moscow has expressed willingness to engage in peace talks, though Putin has insisted that negotiating with the current Ukrainian leadership will not have any legal meaning.

Jay Bhattacharya, Marty Makary and Martin Kulldorff. One step away from crucifixion just a few years ago. Times change.

• Trump Nominees, COVID Dissenters Launch Science Journal (JTN)

Before President Trump nominated them to lead the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration, Jay Bhattacharya and Marty Makary, respectively, laid the groundwork for an academic journal on public health that would stand athwart the squelching of scientific dissent and narrative policing endemic to academic publishing around COVID-19. Now awaiting confirmation, the Stanford and Johns Hopkins medical school professors are handing the reins of the Journal of the Academy of Public Health to their collaborators, including founding editor-in-chief and epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff, who endured social media censorship for his COVID views and firing from Harvard Med for his medical choices.

The house organ of the newly formed Academy of Public Health, JAPH stands apart from similar journals not only in its enthusiasm to challenge COVID-19 dogmas and bite the federal hand that feeds researchers, as evident in its first crop of articles Jan. 30, but in its business model, peer-review process and transparency practices. APH is an international nonprofit organized under the RealClearFoundation, a sibling to RealClearPolitics and itself a donor-financed 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which announced the journal Wednesday and called Bhattacharya and Kulldorff its cofounders. While at least one author must be an APH member, received papers are published immediately and reviewers are each paid a $500 honorarium and publicly credited, and reviews are published alongside the papers – unusual practices in academic publishing.

JAPH will even publish “external article reviews” of influential papers published in journals without the “same philosophy of open peer-review and scientific discourse” – an unsolicited, public layer of peer review – and invite the authors to respond. More common: Its open-access model makes JAPH free to read, while authors pay $2,000 to publish research, “literature syntheses” and history articles and $500 for unreviewed “perspectives,” though the honorarium for reviewers may be applied to their own publications. Each APH member gets one free research, synthesis and history article, and an annual free perspective, while authors without research grants or institutional funds can also apply for waived publication fees on a case-by-case basis.

Kulldorff elaborated on the problems in science journals, which in “some ways” are now “hampering rather than enhancing open scientific discourse,” and called JAPH a “proof of concept” for proposed solutions in his opening perspective Jan. 30. Beneficiaries of the new model include funding agencies, which are “not allowed to see the reviews they paid for” but “will get an external evaluation of the research they fund” through JAPH’s model, he said. Other first-issue articles include a study that found no “significant” differences in COVID case rates or “incidence rate ratios” between neighboring K-12 school districts when one had a mask mandate or when neither had one, and Kulldorff and Bhattacharya’s analysis of the “fundamental design flaws in the Covid vaccine trials” contrasted with polio vaccine trials.

“..When Elon Musk forces his way into the United States Treasury, and threatens to steal your personal information and your social security check..”

• “Get Violent and Fight”: Tennessee Minister Calls for Violence (Turley)

Clearly, Dr. Steve Caudle of Greater Second Missionary Baptist Church in Chattanooga is not the “turn-the-other-cheek” type of minister. Caudle called upon his flock to choose violence in responding to the policy changes in progress in Washington with the new Administration. It is a further escalation of the rage rhetoric from Democratic politicians and pundits. In a sermon live streamed to YouTube on Sunday, Caudle denounced Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for threatening to “steal” Americans’ information and money, and said that a violent “conflict” will be coming:

“In this nation, I’m worried that we are on the verge of bloodshed. This is an attempt to take us back to a day that we do not want to go, and we will not go. Therefore, there will be conflict. I pray that the peace of God will win out and overcome the madness that is attempting to take over this nation.” “And I will say to you, beloved: no one likes violence, but sometimes violence is necessary. When Elon Musk forces his way into the United States Treasury, and threatens to steal your personal information and your social security check, there is a possibility of violence. Sometimes the devil will act so ugly, that there is no other choice but to get violent and fight!”

Invoking Matthew 11:12, he added: “… Why not talk this way? Because Jesus did… Jesus said in this key verse… ‘The kingdom of Heaven suffers — what — violence. And the who — the violent — take it by force. The kingdom of God is a warzone, it is a battlefield. You did know this, right?”

There is a normalization of such violent rhetoric with mainstream figures. The result can be a sense of license for some willing to turn to violent forms of expression, particularly when given the patina of moral justification. As I have previously written, rage rhetoric has long been a part of our political process. However, when religious figures rationalize violent action, we cross a dangerous Rubicon in the use of such rhetoric.

“Hundreds of billions in grants could be returned to US and foreign governments if fraud is proven..”

• Clinton Probe to Expose Gates, Soros and Epstein Links (Sp.)

The fall of the House of Clinton would trigger a domino effect, upending globalist entities like Bilderberg, billionaires such as Bill Gates & George Soros, and their bought politicians worldwide, says Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel. Ortel calls CF the largest unprosecuted fraud. If true, its trustees, executives and donors – both US and foreign – could face IRS and legal probes at home and abroad. Hundreds of billions in grants could be returned to US and foreign governments if fraud is proven, according to the analyst.

Australia, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Sweden, the UK, Ukraine and others funded CF, public records show. The largest known donor is UNITAID (WHO), which has sent hundreds of millions more than CF has reported to the IRS since 2006. Other suspicious donors: DFID, AusAID, NORAD and aid agencies from Canada, Ireland and Sweden, Ortel says. Private foundations also funded Clinton frauds. The Gates Foundation has donated since 2005 – while convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein collaborated with Bill Clinton. George Soros is another key donor.

Harvard, Yale and Columbia University gave credibility to Clinton charity frauds, Ortel says. Legacy media & publishers boosted Clinton Global Initiative events, ignoring that none were legally registered charities. A full probe into CF and its offshoots is needed ASAP, Ortel says. A 2018 hearing revealed CF owes $2.5 billion to the US government for acting as a foreign agent instead of a nonprofit. But the scandal exceeds $2.5 billion – Bill Clinton used the charity as a front, with no honest accounting for AIDS, climate, or Haiti’s missing $10 billion, Ortel concludes.

“..marijuana and hashish oil [..] ..carefully concealed in his personal belongings..”

• Russia Treated US ‘Very Nicely’ – Trump (RT)

President Donald Trump has said that Moscow agreed to release Marc Fogel, a former US embassy employee sentenced to 14 years in prison on drug trafficking charges, without asking “much” in return. Moscow has not yet commented on the development, but US officials have praised the move as a “show of good faith” after US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff’s private jet departed Russia with Fogel on board on Tuesday. “We were treated very nicely by Russia, actually. I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war and millions of people can stop being killed,” Trump told journalists at the White House later in the day.

Asked whether Washington had given Moscow “anything in return,” Trump paused briefly before responding: “Not much. No, they were very nice.” Fogel, a teacher at an Anglo-American school in Moscow, had previously worked at the US embassy in Russia. He lost his diplomatic immunity in May 2021. In August of the same year, he was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow after authorities found marijuana and hashish oil in his possession. He was later sentenced to 14 years in prison after Russian officials accused him of attempting to establish a drug trafficking route, alleging that the banned substances were carefully concealed in his personal belongings.

Aluminum
https://twitter.com/i/status/1889332373222797385

Koala

Love is a need for all living things. pic.twitter.com/PfbQA0wlnQ

— The Figen (@TheFigen_) February 10, 2025

Yelp

Who else really needed this? pic.twitter.com/LxJ34Dw6hh

— South Dallas Foodie (@SouthDallasFood) February 11, 2025

Welcome
https://twitter.com/i/status/1888946524182528022

Chauvet (read the whole thread)

36,000 years ago, humans painted mammoths, cave lions, and woolly rhinos in a cave in France.

The Chauvet Cave paintings aren't just cave art.

They are a time capsule of Ice Age artistic masters.

Here's why: >yi› pic.twitter.com/vXHGkywWrn

— Classical Aegis (@ClassicalAegis) February 11, 2025

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