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Debt Rattle June 21 2026

Jun 212026
 
 June 21, 2026  Posted by at 10:14 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  31 Responses »


Vincent van Gogh Self portrait with pipe 1886


• Vance ‘Skeptical’ That Iran Closed Hormuz Strait Again (ZH)
• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer Expected To Resign On Monday (ZH)
• New Air Force One Turns the Presidency Back Into a Statement (David Manney)
• Biden Admin Buried Whistleblower Report Alleging Fauci Lied To Congress (JTN)
• President Trump Notes Opposition Effort to Destroy DC Reflection Pool (CTH)
• The Left is Trying to Sabotage the Reflecting Pool (Margolis)
• Trump -v- Meloni (CTH)
• Moderate Expectations of Acting DNI Bill Pulte (CTH)
• Trump: Ukraine War Would Never Have Started If Russia Remained In G8 (ZH)
• Zelensky Threatens To Attack Belarus (RT)
• The Nord Stream Narrative Explosion: Why You’ve Only Read Half The Story (RT)
• Elon Musk vs. the Democrats: Outcomes vs. Process (Soukup)
• Is the iPhone Birth Control? (AmG)

 


 

https://twitter.com/TRUMP_ARMY_/status/2067995272538661070?s=20 https://twitter.com/GlobalDiss/status/2068228841101762741?s=20 https://twitter.com/LangmanVince/status/2068126070407102493?s=20 https://twitter.com/MrWhiplash_/status/2068012044117504192?s=20 https://twitter.com/QuantumGuard17/status/2068083408958599666?s=20

 


 


Merry solstice!

One way to deal with Iran: Just ignore their statemennts.

“Pentagon Declares Safe Passage Remains ‘Intact Today’

• Vance ‘Skeptical’ That Iran Closed Hormuz Strait Again (ZH)

Vice President JD Vance has newly told Fox News that he’s ‘skeptical’ of the morning reports and claims that the Iranians once again ‘closed’ the Strait of Hormuz.


US Central Command is also trying to portray that all is well. It issued this statement after the Iranians announced it closed the vital oil transit waterway: Commercial ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz increased June 20 as U.S. forces continued operating in the general area to support freedom of navigation. Safe passage through the international waterway remained intact today as 55 merchant ships transited, moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets.

The Joint Maritime Information Center issued an advisory this week affirming safe passage for all vessels along a designated route that is free of arbitrary requirement claims or impediments. The Pentagon says it is remaining vigilant with regional forces on high alert. Overall, it seems the White House is keep to at least see its delegation get in the same room with the Iranians in Switzerland. This will certainly be a real start in terms of face-to-face engagement, after the MoU was remotely signed by each side.

Iran says Hormuz Strait Closed Again
As has become the ‘norm’ after well over 100 days of war – which some pundits have been calling the “third Gulf war” – there are deeply conflicting headlines emerging Saturday. On the one hand, diplomacy based in Switzerland is said to be in motion, with a potential top level Trump delegation (led by Witkoff and to be joined later by Kushner reportedly/allegedly) – but fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in south Lebanon still rages, with the death toll climbing, and also with Hezbollah rockets still landing against IDF positions as well as in northern Israel.

Will the US and Iranian sides actually meet in Europe for the ‘technical’ side of further talks toward final peace? Saturday has seen reports of Iran having again ‘closed’ the Strait of Hormuz, citing Israeli aggression in Lebanon, after Tehran has insisted that the tenuous freshly signed MoU included a Lebanon ceasefire and peace. The latest newswires out of Iranian state media:

IRAN SAYS HORMUZ TO CLOSE, CITING CEASEFIRE VIOLATION: TASNIM
IRAN SAYS STRAIT OF HORMUZ HAS BEEN CLOSED: TASNIM
IRAN’S IRGC NAVY SAYS HORMUZ STRAIT CLOSED TO ALL VESSELS: FARS
*VESSELS WARNED TO AVOID STRAIT OF HORMUZ OVER SECURITY: FARS

VP Vance Expected in Switzerland, But He’s Ambiguous in FOX Appearance

https://twitter.com/BarakRavid/status/2068334966660837678?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2068334966660837678%7Ctwgr%5E27d3c3b6010ec53a8064cf4ef0e71d788bf1410d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fdiplomacy-back-motion-witkoff-kushner-en-route-switzerland-despite-overnight-rising

And yet, some of the same state sources have been saying that an Iranian delegation will travel to Switzerland where it will seek to hold Washington to its commitments. “In Switzerland, we intend to press for the fulfilment of the other side’s commitments and clarify how they plan to act on their obligations,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, according to Fars, also as cited in Al Jazeera. Per the same report Saturday mid-morning (US time): “The delegation will leave for Switzerland in a few minutes, Mehr news agency also reported. The spokesperson also said that if the US refuses to implement its commitments, Iran will respond with necessary measures.” Vance non-committal in Saturday FOX interview:

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The UK is very close to being ungovernable. These guys are all so unpopular. Just 2 years ago, Rishi Sunak had to go.

• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer Expected To Resign On Monday (ZH)

Keir Starmer’s premiership appears to have entered its final act. Just over a week after Andy Burnham stormed back into Parliament with a crushing by-election win, the Prime Minister is – according to senior Labour figures cited by The Observer – preparing to set out a timetable for his own departure, with a “clear statement” possible as early as Monday. It would be a remarkable collapse. Starmer led Labour to a landslide less than two years ago. He now looks unable to command the confidence of his own benches for much longer, with cabinet ministers, union leaders and donors reportedly among those who have been involved in the conversations about his future.


Burnham, the outgoing Greater Manchester mayor, did not just win Makerfield – he buried it. Official figures show him taking 24,927 votes, 54.8% of the total, beating Reform UK’s Rob Kenyon by a 9,231-vote margin in a seat where Nigel Farage’s party had been threatening to turn Labour’s crisis into a rout. The result gives Burnham the Commons seat he needs, clears his path to a leadership challenge, and leaves Starmer’s position looking terminal.

Also, Starmer’s former Chief of Staff – Morgan McSweeney – was the sacrificial lamb in the Mandelson scandal (recall that Starmer appointed Jeffery Epstein pal Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US). McSweeney also targeted Zerohedge, The Federalist and Breitbart in a clandestine campaign against alternative-media outlets. He resigned in February, two weeks before Mandelson was arrested on suspicion of passing insider info to Jeffrey Epstein in 2009, when he was serving as Business Secretary.

Markets Eye The Monday Open The political risk did not go unnoticed by bond traders. UK 10-year gilt yields climbed to 4.84% on Friday, up roughly 0.09 percentage points on the session, as markets weighed Burnham’s victory, domestic political uncertainty, and the possible fiscal implications of a future leadership bid. With markets shut over the weekend, the next read comes at Monday’s open, and any Starmer statement setting out an exit timetable will land straight into it.

Burnham is due to be sworn in as an MP on Monday and to meet Starmer early in the week, with a cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Senior Labour figures expect a “deliberate slow march in good order” – most likely a September handover timed to the party conference – rather than an immediate vacuum.

According to the report, Burnham’s supporters claim he has secured backing from more than 201 Labour MPs if Starmer refuses to step down voluntarily. The Observer framed that as a critical number because it would represent more than half the Parliamentary Labour party and would make it increasingly difficult for Starmer to argue that he still commands the confidence of his own side. A formal challenge requires far fewer names. Under Labour’s rules, any challenger needs nominations from 20% of Labour MPs – currently 81 – plus the required support from local parties and affiliates. On every count, the door is open.

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It turns Boeing into the past tense.

• New Air Force One Turns the Presidency Back Into a Statement (David Manney)

President Donald Trump stepped onto the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews and did what he often does best: he turned a government asset into a message. The new Air Force One, a converted Boeing 747-8 once owned by Qatar, is bigger, sharper, and painted in the red, white, and blue colors Trump has wanted for years. https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/2068049231911194715?s=20


It’s not just an airplane; for better or worse, it’s a flying argument about how Trump sees the presidency. The Air Force calls the jet a VC-25B Bridge aircraft that’s meant to serve while Boeing finishes the long-delayed replacement planes that were supposed to modernize presidential travel. From Newsmax: The new aircraft eschews the Kennedy-era robin’s egg blue exterior of the old plane for a bolder look, with the underbelly of the plane painted navy blue with a red stripe above it. The plane’s left side, where the president boards, features the presidential seal, while the tail of the aircraft has a massive American flag on it.

“The workmanship of this plane is, when you see it, you won’t believe it,” Trump said from inside the massive Andrews Air Force Base hangar, as a couple hundred assembled Air Force personnel looked on. He spoke after stepping off the new plane in a dramatic flourish, as his signature tune “God Bless the USA” played. The gift from Qatar is serving as a so-called “bridge” aircraft to carry the president until the new planes ordered directly from Boeing arrive. That is currently slated for 2028.

The administration formally accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jet from Qatar last year to be used as the presidential airplane, despite questions about the ethics and legality of accepting such an expensive gift from a foreign nation. Trump has insisted in the past that he would not fly around in the Qatari jet once he leaves office and said it would instead be donated to a future presidential library. The Air Force has said in the past that security modifications to the jet would cost less than $400 million.

Any U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying the president uses the call sign Air Force One, so the name belongs to the mission, not one specific plane. The old blue-and-white 747s remain part of the fleet, but the Qatari jet now gives Trump something Boeing hasn’t delivered on time: a visible upgrade. Also from Newsmax: Other government jets that carry other top administration officials will also use the similar red, white and navy color scheme, the Air Force said earlier this year.

An Air Force spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive plans, told The Associated Press that the two current planes, known as VC-25As, will not be retiring. Instead, they will remain in the fleet until the new Boeing planes, referred to as VC-25Bs, come into service, the spokesperson said. It is unclear how the older jets will be used but the spokesperson said that both the Qatari jet as well as the VC-25As will be available for use and “the Presidential Airlift Group will select the appropriate aircraft for each mission based on operational requirements.”

The controversy was baked in from the start: the jet came from Qatar, and critics raised legal, ethical, and security questions as soon as the deal became public. A foreign government giving a luxury aircraft to the United States for presidential use is bound to draw fire. Trump’s answer has been typically blunt, framing the plane as a smart deal for taxpayers because America needed a bridge aircraft while Boeing dragged its feet. Security concerns deserve a real answer. Air Force One isn’t a campaign bus with wings; it’s a command post, a communications hub, and a symbol that must keep working during a crisis.

The Air Force says the aircraft completed modification and flight testing. The public doesn’t need every classified detail, but it does need confidence that a foreign-owned plane was scrubbed, rebuilt, and tested to the standard required for a president of the United States. Boeing’s failure hangs over the whole rollout. The company won the contract for the next presidential aircraft years ago, and the delivery date kept sliding. The Air Force now expects the first new VC-25B presidential aircraft around mid-2028. In normal Washington fashion, delay became background noise. Trump has a way of pulling that noise into the open and forcing everybody to look at it.

The new plane also breaks with a visual tradition older than many voters. The Kennedy-era blue had grace and carried history, but it also came from another age, when the presidency still tried to look above the fray. Trump has never believed that power should whisper; his Air Force One looks like a flag, a billboard, and a challenge all at once. Some will call it gaudy, others will call it overdue, but nobody will miss it in the sky. That’s the real political story. Trump understands that symbols work because people see them before they study them. A border wall, a Space Force uniform, a restored military parade, and a new presidential aircraft: all of it tells voters that national power should look like national power.

His critics recoil because they believe the performance cheapens the office. Those are the same people who also believed the Obama administration was the most scandal-free government in history, and that President Joe Biden was more energetic and sharper than people much younger working around him. Trump supporters cheer because they believe the old restraint often looked too much like surrender. Both sides have something to argue about here. The Qatar connection should be examined, the security work should be serious, and most importantly, Boeing should answer for years of delay.

But the larger point is simple enough: the presidency is never just paperwork, policy, and process. It’s also presence. Trump’s new Air Force One may be temporary, but the message isn’t. He wants America to look strong again, even when it’s sitting on a runway. After years of scolding, managed decline, and apologetic leadership, that message still lands with millions of people who want their country to stop acting embarrassed by its own power.

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Who’s going to go to jail?

• Biden Admin Buried Whistleblower Report Alleging Fauci Lied To Congress (JTN)

An intelligence community whistleblower formally accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of lying to Congress during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Biden administration took the unusual step of yanking the complaint from the government’s independent watchdogs and referring it instead to the political appointee overseeing the Health and Human Services Department, bombshell memos released by departing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard show.


The effort to divert the investigation of Fauci to then-HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra occurred shortly after the government’s top pandemic doctor engaged in a discussion with the CIA about evidence that workers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China had been sickened in fall 2019, potentially explosive evidence that the virus emerged from a lab leak at the very facility where Fauci’s office was funding dangerous research on bat viruses, the memos show.

“On the 3 sick WIV researchers, Dr. Fauci said key gaps that need to be filled are 1) If they were sick, what does their medical records show; 2) Do we have blood culture of these sick researchers; and 3) Did we ask China about/for this information?” one summary of the June 2021 meeting at the CIA stated. Despite the evidence of a potential lab leak sickening workers, Fauci continued to double down on his claim that the COVID-19 virus had emerged naturally from a wet-market in the same areas as the lab. Fauci also continued to insist in congressional testimony that his office had not funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab, a claim that an intelligence official believed was false and potentially prosecutable, the memos show.

Shortly after the June 2021 CIA meeting, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence received a whistleblower complaint formally alleging that Fauci testified falsely to Congress. “The complaint alleges Dr. Fauci provided false testimony to Congress related to the conduct of gain of function research at the National Institutes of Health, thereby ‘misleading the American people and Congressional oversight,’” Acting Intelligenve Community Inspector General Tamara Johnson wrote Aug. 11, 2021, to then-DNI Avril Haines.

Rather than refer the alleged lie to the independent watchdog at HHS, which was responsible for probing misconduct in Fauci’s office, Haines referred the concerns instead to Becerra, a Biden political appointee who is now running to be California governor.] Johnson also made clear she didn’t want to send the complaint to her peer at HHS, the inspector general. “The general dispute about ‘gain-of-function’ research is already in the public domain making it highly probable that the HHS-OIG would already be aware of the allegation that the Dr. Fauci’s testimony was inaccurate (albeit from a different source, not our ICWPA submitter). Consequently, we determined there would be no merit in referring the matter to HHS OIG,” she wrote.

Gabbard said the documents she released late Thursday in her final hours as DNI demonstrate that government officials, including Fauci, engaged in a cover-up to mislead the public about how the COVID-19 pandemic started. “The tactics used to hide the truth are straight from the deep state playbook: politicized self-serving leaders like Dr. Fauci covered up their own wrongdoing and abuses of power, manipulated intelligence, lied to Congress, and undermined a duly elected President by restricting his access to vital facts needed to keep the country safe,” Gabbard said, “It’s time the American people learn the real story.”

Fauci, who retired before President Donald Trump returned to the White House, has repeatedly denied in engaginfg in wrongdoing or lying to Congress. But he did accept a pardon from President Joe Biden in late 2024. Beyond the intelligence community whistleblower’s allegations, Gabbard said she too believed Fauci lied to Congress on another matter in 2024 when he claimed he had not talked to intelligence agencies about virus research.

“The correspondence released today directly contradicts Fauci’s 2024 testimony to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic,” her statement said. “In that hearing, while under oath, Fauci was repeatedly asked whether he spoke to ‘FBI, CIA, DIA or any U.S. intelligence agency concerning viral research’ before, during, or after the pandemic. Fauci repeatedly dodged the questions, before falsely stating, ‘not to my knowledge about COVID.'” Two GOP senators — Rand Paul and Ron Johnson — told Just the News this week they believe the Trump DOJ should challenge the legality of Fauci’s pardon — which was signed by an autopen — and try to prosecutor Fauci.

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Is it Reflecting Pool or Reflection Pool?

• President Trump Notes Opposition Effort to Destroy DC Reflection Pool (CTH)

Team Algae and Filth has been busy at work, supported by CNN, ABC and various leftist media, in an attempt to grow algae back in the DC reflection pool, and cut out the newly installed lining. A few arrests have been made by DC park police. Yes, these folks are that unstable. Liberalism is a mental disorder.


President Trump responds to the effort via Truth Social:
“We’ve cleaned, renovated, and beautified over 45 Monuments and Memorials, 28 Statues, and 22 Fountains in Washington, D.C. Things are really looking good in our Nation’s Capital, and add to that the fact that when I became President, Crime was rampant, and now, Washington, D.C., is one of the Safest Cities anywhere in the United States. However, we’ve had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool, which sits between The Washington Monument and The Lincoln Memorial.

Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the Pool, they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed. No different than the chemicals that were used on the National Mall, they used something similar in the Reflecting Pool to try to destroy and demean our beautiful work. Lightweight ABC Reporter, Jonathan Karl, was seen sticking his hand into the Pool, and trying to rip the rubber off of the surface. The algae is 75% gone, and the condition will soon be completely remedied, and the area that was vandalized, fortunately, is just a small area of damage, and will be fixed early next week. It’s a shame that the Radical Left Lunatics, most likely Dumocats, who have spent their lives trying to ruin our Country, are free to do so. Law Enforcement is actively investigating this situation and will hopefully have it resolved soon. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

~ DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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Leave it alone!

• The Left is Trying to Sabotage the Reflecting Pool (Margolis)

The Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool has become the latest target in the left’s war on anything Donald Trump touches, and the radical left isn’t even trying to hide it anymore. According to reports circulating on social media, the National Guard and Park Police have ramped up patrols around the reflecting pool amid threats from leftists vowing to sabotage the recently renovated landmark. Independent journalist Nick Sortor sounded the alarm on the brazen plot. “American workers are pushing around the clock to finish the pool by July 4, but liberals have a vested interest in destroying it for some reason,” Sortor wrote.


We all know the reason: Trump Derangement Syndrome. It’s truly a shame how badly these people want to humiliate our country on the world stage, and they’re not even subtle about it anymore. President Trump confirmed on Friday in a Truth Social post that vandals damaged the newly renovated pool, and he didn’t hold back. Trump pointed out that his administration has cleaned, renovated, and beautified more than 45 monuments and memorials, 28 statues, and 22 fountains in the nation’s capital, and that Washington, D.C., has gone from a crime-ridden disaster to one of the safest cities in the country on his watch.

“We’ve had some real problems with vandalism at the beautiful reflecting pool,” Trump wrote. “Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the pool; they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed.”Days before Trump’s birthday on June 14 and the UFC event held at the White House, someone carved “86 47” into the grass on the National Mall itself. The U.S. Park Police are reportedly investigating that incident too. Trump said the vandals used chemicals similar to those deployed elsewhere on the National Mall in an apparent effort to destroy and demean the freshly completed work.

He also called out ABC’s Jonathan Karl by name, saying the reporter was caught on camera sticking his hand into the pool and trying to tear off the sealant on the surface. Trump said the algae plaguing the pool is now 75% gone and that the damaged section, which he described as small, will be repaired early next week. “It’s a shame that the radical left lunatics, most likely Dumocrats, who have spent their lives trying to ruin our country, are free to do so,” Trump wrote, adding that law enforcement is actively investigating the situation. On Thursday, a video surfaced showing the phrase “86 47” painted on the bottom of the pool. It’s the latest entry in a disturbing pattern.

Think about that for a second. These people are so consumed by hatred for one man that they’re willing to deface national monuments, vandalize sacred public spaces, and scrawl assassination-coded slogans into the grass just to make a point. They don’t care about the country. They don’t care about the symbols that belong to all Americans, regardless of party. They hate Trump so much that they’ll destroy anything out of spite. This is who the left has become. Not protesters with grievances, but vandals with grudges, willing to wreck a national treasure rather than let Trump’s D.C. cleanup succeed. The investigations are ongoing, but the message from radical leftists is already loud and clear: if Trump built it, they want it destroyed.

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That photo does it for me.

• Trump -v- Meloni (CTH)

On the heels of the G7 in France, U.S. President Trump and Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni have been engaged in a geopolitical spat. The core of the issue centers on Italy’s refusal to allow the U.S. military to conduct flight operations for the conflict against Iran from U.S. airbases in Italy. President Trump, Vice-President Vance, Secretary of State Rubio and Secretary Hegseth have all remarked on their disappointment with Italy and Spain that has led to a full review of U.S. NATO operations in Europe.


The issue became personal at the G7 when President Trump ignored Meloni’s repeated attempts to repair the friction. President Trump was no longer tolerating the two-faced approach. Actions speak louder than words.



Understanding, a very specific image sensitivity Prime Minister Meloni carries, President Trump stated, “Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France. She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a Nuclear Weapon (But so did NATO, for that matter!). She wouldn’t even let us use Italy’s landing strips or runways, a great logistical inconvenience, and this despite the fact the U.S. contributes hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year to protect Italy, and other “so-called” NATO Allies. Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her “numbers up.” No thanks!!!
~ President DJT

Meloni then hit back with: “these constant, unprovoked attacks are senseless. As for my popularity, being your friend certainly has not helped it, nor does it depend on my relationship with you. My popularity depends on my ability to defend Italy’s national interest, and that is exactly what I have always done,” Meloni said in a post on Instagram. She added that “in any case, my popularity is none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours.”

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“The entire DC system is fully aware of the corrupt nature of the FBI as it functions.”

• Moderate Expectations of Acting DNI Bill Pulte (CTH)

A lot might be said, but little of it will be grounded in reality. Here’s a general outline that may provide context for the next few weeks. > First, contrary to popular opinion, leaks from inside the IC related to activity within the ODNI will likely come as an outcome from bad actors in the FBI and the attached liaison office. {EXAMPLE HERE} As you may or may not be aware, every intelligence community silo has a liaison attached to the office of the Director of National Intelligence. What that means is that every IC agency has a person(s) inside the ODNI that can then be the source of information within the larger parent silo. The most frequent leaking child from within the parent agency is the FBI liaison. Understand this reality and you begin to understand frustration around Kash Patel’s inability to control his agency.


Second, contrary to popular opinion, CIA Director John Ratcliffe will not be able to partner with Acting DNI Pulte in the same direct manner he was with fully confirmed DNI Tulsi Gabbard. Despite the ODNI technically sitting atop the CIA within the construct of the overall Intelligence Community, there are rules about information flows to non-confirmed “acting” positions. Deputy DNI Aaron Lukas will have more intelligence capabilities than Pulte.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe will likely not be the source of conversation about this standard, the information to Pulte will likely come from the DNI Legal Counsel Jack Dever, and/or Deputy CIA Director Michael Ellis who also carries the role of General Counsel for the Central Intelligence Agency.

When SSCI Vice-Chair Mark Warner says he is in communication with IC leadership about isolating Acting DNI Bill Pulte from national security information, he is likely outlining contact with the general counsel of the DNI or CIA, or with the Intelligence Community Inspector General’s office. That said, the National Security Advisor, Marco Rubio, could mitigate some of that isolation by requesting IC information Pulte may desire to review.

Regarding ‘declassification’ authority. CTH is not sure what power an Acting position as DNI carries as it relates to independent cross-silo declassification authority. However, information presented to the President can be declassified by the President. The key is to get the silo stakeholder to approve the release, then take to the Office of the President for approved public release pending stakeholder redactions. That is the basic outline of limitations that could become pertinent. However, the Acting DNI can do something very valuable. The ADNI can ‘manage’ the office and how it operates. Pulte can make staffing decisions as well as curb the issues within the liaison offices.

I somewhat predict that Pulte could find the problem with FBI leaking; he could even do something about it – with presidential support. Unfortunately, this would put Pulte on a collision course with FBI Director Kash Patel. It’s an issue that needs to be dealt with, but the timing is not good considering the looming midterm election. A more likely scenario is Kash Patel’s unchecked deep state FBI analysts/agents will be managed without Patel’s direct involvement. Essentially, none of the ‘good guys’, and there ain’t that many ‘good guys’, have any trust in the FBI silo.

The entire DC system is fully aware of the corrupt nature of the FBI as it functions. The ‘establishment’, including Mark Warner and Tom Cotton, is favorable to the FBI. Meanwhile, the ‘reformers’, and I suspect that might include HPSCI Chairman Rick Crawford, are not. The larger IC elements will watch this play out, dropping their thumbs on the narrative (via selected leaking) as it pertains to their individual interests. There’s a reason why scrutiny against Patel has lessened from within the DC mechanisms.

Ironically, all the negative information against Pulte will almost certainly come from the FBI, it will just be positioned as if it comes from another silo. Watch carefully and we just might catch them in real time Ultimately, all of the bad actors within the IC (both branches of government) want “702” reauthorized, so this does create a subject that can be leveraged for actionable value to the office of the President. All of that said, Pulte remains an unknown entity within the larger IC system, and his motives and intentions are generally also unknown. It will be interesting to watch things unfold, and to see exactly who is willing to surface as an ally.

Yeah, that!

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He needs to address the nazi issue.

• Trump: Ukraine War Would Never Have Started If Russia Remained In G8 (ZH)

This isn’t the first time that President Trump has said something like this, but he’s newly explained in a wide-ranging fresh interview with Axios published Friday his view that the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine likely would likely have been averted if Russia had remained a member of the then-Group of Eight (G8). “You probably wouldn’t have the war with Russia and Ukraine if they did,” Trump told the publication, referring to the decision to expel Moscow, making the group the G7.


The forum “would have been much better” had it maintained its original structure, with Russia included. He laid ultimate blame in the fresh remarks on former President Barack Obama. It was during the Obama administration, in 2014, that Washington pushed allies to expel Russia from the group of leading economies over its takeover of Crimea through a ‘popular referendum’. Trump this week attended G7 Summit held in Evian-les-Bains, France. “They should have kept the G8. You probably wouldn’t have the war with Russia and Ukraine if they did, but Obama didn’t want Putin there,” Trump said.

“It used to be the G8. (It) would have been much better if they kept that that way,” he added. Again, this is not the first time he’s articulated this view: Trump has expressed this position before — in June 2025, he made a similar statement, blaming Obama and former Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau for Russia’s exclusion from the G8. He’s long attacked Biden and the Democrats for setting the conditions for the war to start. But beginning a year ago he also started basically blaming everyone – from Zelensky to Putin to Biden.

“That’s a war that should have never been allowed to start and Biden could have stopped it and Zelensky could have stopped it and Putin should have never started it,” Trump said last year. “Everybody is to blame.” nTrump added at the time: “If Biden were competent and if Zelensky were competent, and I don’t know that he is, we had a rough session with this guy — he just kept asking for more and more.” As for Putin, he has seemed to welcome this repeat rhetoric from Trump stating that Russia should belong to the G7/G8. Without doubt, Moscow would welcome an invitation back in.Among Russia’s conditions for final peace settlement in Ukraine, a prospect which still seems a long way off, would be the lifting of US and EU sanctions, and readmittance to the global economy.

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The ungovernable UK pushes war elsewhere.

• Zelensky Threatens To Attack Belarus (RT)

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has issued an ultimatum to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, threatening him with military action if Belarus fails to dismantle the air defense radar array along its southern border, just days after a deadly Ukrainian drone strike on a bus carrying a children’s soccer team from the country. Earlier this week, Lukashenko said that those seeking to drag his nation into the conflict “will have to pay dearly for that,” demanding answers from Kiev regarding the strike on the bus and other “provocations.” The attack in Russia’s Bryansk Region left six children injured and killed the wife of a Belarusian school soccer team coach who was accompanying the young athletes to a Russian seaside resort.


Kiev has denied responsibility, while Zelensky claimed that it was Lukashenko who must “be honest” and prove Minsk’s peaceful intentions by removing air defenses and relay transmitters along the border with Ukraine. “I think one week would be enough for him to accomplish this,” the Ukrainian leader stated at a press conference in Kiev on Friday. “If he does not do it, we will.” Lukashenko has repeatedly said that Belarus has no intention of engaging in a war against any nation and “is not threatening anyone.” Zelensky, however, stated that there was “no need for unnecessary words,” and issued another veiled threat against the Belarusian oil refining industry.

“Just like his, for example, oil refining industry,” Zelensky said, claiming that Minsk is one of Russia’s “main” suppliers of petroleum products. “Can this be stopped? I am sure that it is within his power.”Belarus, a close Russian ally, has largely stayed out of the conflict since 2022, while calling on Moscow and Kiev to engage in dialogue and expressing its readiness to contribute to a diplomatic resolution. In September 2025, Lukashenko stated that he was ready to meet Zelensky personally to discuss possible compromises, but the Ukrainian leader rejected the offer.

In November, Minsk released 31 Ukrainian citizens from detention in a “goodwill gesture” at the request of Kiev and US President Donald Trump, who was also seeking to mediate the conflict.Over the past few weeks, Zelensky has been ramping up his rhetoric about an allegedly growing threat posed by Belarus – and threatened it with a preemptive strike. Earlier this year, the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces warned that Kiev had already identified some 500 potential military and logistical targets across the country.

Read more …

Explains a bit better why Hersh’s story is the right one. It’s f**king difficult.

• The Nord Stream Narrative Explosion: Why You’ve Only Read Half The Story (RT)

The Nord Stream saga has taken a turn for the absurd, with a new book claiming that the star saboteur who blew up the gas pipelines was a Ukrainian erotic model-turned-deep sea diver. This detail is the latest addition to an ever-shifting story – while one key coincidence has completely flown under the radar. nPublished on June 19, ‘The Nord Stream Conspiracy: The Greatest Sabotage in History’ promises an inside look at the operation that destroyed the Nord Stream lines. Author Bojan Pancevski doesn’t quibble with the ‘official’ story circulated by the German media – that a Ukrainian commando unit carried out the attack, but adds some pulp-fiction flourish to the tale.


Pancevski claims that a former erotic model identified only as ‘Freya’ was “the bravest diver in the whole group,” without whose experience diving to depths of 100 meters the operation could not have been pulled off. Another of the divers was sick with Covid-19, but Pancevski nevertheless claims he carried out the kind of dive that has killed experienced military frogmen before. After the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022, ‘Freya’, a Ukrainian who posed naked for soft-porn magazines before turning to diving, apparently “contacted a dubious intelligence unit through her diving colleagues,” and volunteered her services. Asked if she would be willing to take part in the costliest act of industrial sabotage in history, ‘Freya’ supposedly replied “where do I sign.”

Most of Pancevski’s claims cite Ukrainian intelligence sources, with his imagination filling in the gaps (Pancevski insists that the alleged saboteurs inherited their appetite for risk from the Zaporozhian cossacks of the 15th century). Marketed by its publisher as “compelling as a spy thriller,” the book is, according to a New York Times review, pitched “a little too eagerly in the direction of Hollywood.”

Although the story plumbs the depths of 1960s spy-caper silliness, it is no more far-fetched than the official narrative to date. In the most recent retelling of the operation, Der Spiegel claimed in February that a “Ukrainian secret commando unit” approached the CIA in spring 2022 with plans to blow up the four individual gas pipelines that make up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 connectors. Der Spiegel’s Ukrainian sources told the outlet that the CIA “liked the plan,” shared technical data on the pipelines, and was even willing to finance the operation, until it abruptly withdrew its support in early summer.

The Ukrainians, or so the story goes, went ahead and blew up the pipelines without American permission, using a rented yacht to transport the explosives to the blast sites. The latest report is unlikely to raise any eyebrows in Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has dismissed the entire premise of a small team of Ukrainians pulling off an operation beyond the capability of most state militaries as “ridiculous.” To understand just how ridiculous the German story is, it’s necessary to jump back to 2022.

A junction in the story
On September 26, 2022, a seismometer on the Danish island of Bornholm detected two spikes consistent with underwater explosions – one just after 2am, and another just after 7pm. Danish and Swedish authorities then determined that both Nord Stream 1 lines had been destroyed and one Nord Stream 2 line damaged roughly 60 km northeast of Bornholm, while an explosion around 25 km southeast of the island had destroyed the other Nord Stream 2 line.

As images of bubbling gas leaks hit international media, a separate story went almost entirely unreported: less than 24 hours after the second round of blasts, Poland and Norway celebrated the opening of the Baltic Pipe, a gas pipeline transiting Norwegian gas to Poland via Denmark, passing over Nord Stream just south of Bornholm.

Built between 2020 and 2022, the Baltic Pipe joins the larger Norway-Netherlands Europipe II in the North Sea. It allows 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas to reach Poland every year – less than a tenth of Nord Stream’s capacity, but enough to cover two-thirds of Poland’s total imports in 2024. Poland sells some of this gas on to other EU countries, which after the destruction of Nord Stream were guaranteed to need a new source for the foreseeable future.

[..] Means:
The Nord Stream pipelines sat on the seabed at a depth of between 80 and 110 meters. At this depth, divers must breathe hypoxic Trimix gas, carry around 90 kg of equipment, and spend (very roughly) 90 minutes decompressing on the way up for every two minutes spent on the seabed. Furthermore, a single diver or pair of divers would rarely attempt more than one of these dives in a single day, meaning the crew of the yacht – described in one report as “not the vessel anyone would choose” for such a mission – would have had to remain at sea amid active military exercises for days on end.

RT spoke to a scuba diving expert who said it was “not impossible, but highly unlikely” that a small team of divers could pull off such an operation. Even 50-meter dives can kill the most experienced military divers, but the divers of the US Navy’s Diving and Salvage Center in Florida possess the equipment and the know-how to carry out engineering operations at this depth. The CIA recruited these divers, commandeered a Norwegian mine-hunting vessel, and planted shaped explosive charges on the pipelines in June 2022, Hersh’s source claimed.

{..] Opportunity:
Planting each charge was an hours-long endeavor, and the presence of military divers wouldn’t go unnoticed, unless they had an excuse to be in the area. NATO’s BALTOPS exercises gave the CIA the cover it needed. Running from June 5 to June 17, the BALTOPS drills involved 14 NATO states, and included US-led experiments with mine-hunting drones and deep-sea communications technology in the Baltic Sea.

Hersh predicted that American and German intelligence agencies would soon come up with an alternate story and feed it to friendly media outlets. In April 2023, The New York Times, Die Zeit, and Der Spiegel published the first versions of this tale.

Read more …

“Tesla was the nation’s largest EV auto seller at the time, and 100 percent of its vehicles were fully electric. Yet Musk and his company were left off the Biden team’s guest list.”:

• Elon Musk vs. the Democrats: Outcomes vs. Process (Soukup)

Years ago, when my oldest son was a Boy Scout, he was asked to write a report/make a presentation on a modern American “hero.” He chose Elon Musk, and I, of course, rolled my eyes so hard they nearly popped out of my head. I knew Musk was a successful businessman, but I also knew that he was both an advocate for and a seasoned manipulator of Big Government. Tesla, for example, received a $465 million Department of Energy loan in 2010 under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, a Big Government scheme to encourage private companies to advance Big Government priorities (namely, fighting Climate Change by reducing carbon emissions).


Likewise, Tesla was, at least at the time, commercially viable only because of the more than $1 billion ($7,500/vehicle) in federal EV tax credits claimed by its buyers. Without government greasing the proverbial wheels a bit, Tesla would have struggled to get the literal wheels rolling out the sales floor doors. Moreover, Musk publicly acknowledged that he voted for Obama and presented himself as part of the “green” business revolution, men and women who could and would “do well by doing good.”

My, how things change.

Just a short decade later, Elon Musk is, indeed, regarded as a genuine hero by most on the American political Right—and by anyone who favors free enterprise—while he is loathed and actively derided by his former friends and allies on the Left. Especially this past week, after the SpaceX IPO made him the world’s first trillionaire, the Democrats and other leftists who once loved him, partnered with him, and sang his praises loudly have shown nothing but contempt for him and hatred for his inarguable business success. As the controversial Democratic Senate nominee from Maine, Graham Platner, ominously put it, “Elon Musk just became the world’s first trillionaire. Let’s make sure he’s also the last.”

How, exactly, did we get here? The biggest part of the story is Musk’s own political evolution, which proceeded slowly, in stages, but was accelerated at a handful of inflection points. Of these inflection points, two stand out among the others.

The first of these took place during President Biden’s first year in office. Biden and his administration were knee-deep in pushing a new, far more aggressive climate agenda. On his first day in office, Biden issued 17 executive orders, several of which addressed climate change and other environmental matters. Most notably, he signed an order to reinstate the nation’s participation in the Paris Accords, thereby placing a policy-making emphasis on electrification and decarbonization. A big part of that effort—as would be evinced in the “Inflation Reduction Act” passed the following year—was pushing the purchase of electric vehicles.

To that end, on August 4, 2021, Biden hosted an EV “summit” at the White House. He invited three EV makers—General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis—to watch him sign another executive order, this one mandating that half of all new vehicles sold in the United States by 2030 be EVs. Of the three, GM had the largest percentage of its sales derived from fully electric vehicles—1.5 percent. Ford sat at 1.3 percent, and Stellantis didn’t even have an electric vehicle for sale in the American market. Meanwhile, Tesla was the nation’s largest EV auto seller at the time, and 100 percent of its vehicles were fully electric. Yet Musk and his company were left off the Biden team’s guest list.

What GM, Ford, and Stellantis did have, of course, was the support of the United Auto Workers Union. In fact, the three also just happened to be the largest UAW employers. Tesla, by contrast, had long fought the unionization of its factories and had been embroiled in a rather ugly dispute with the UAW. In response to the snub, Musk vented a bit, tweeting: Biden held this EV summit. Didn’t invite Tesla. Invited GM, Ford, Chrysler, and UAW. EV summit at the White House, didn’t mention Tesla once and praised GM and Ford for leading the EV revolution. Doesn’t it sound a little bias? It’s not the friendliest of administrations. Seems to be controlled by the unions.

Just under a year later, Musk reached the second inflection point, which also turned out to be his breaking point. In May 2022, the S&P 500 ESG Index conducted its annual rebalancing. And when it did, it removed Tesla. ESG stands for “environmental, social, and governance” investing, a strategy that purports to push corporations to address issues beyond traditional profits and losses, focusing on the broader societal impacts of their operations. I wrote a whole book about ESG (The Dictatorship of Woke Capital) in which I made the case that its flaws are numerous and disqualifying. One of the most significant of these is that ESG has no set definition. It means whatever its practitioners decide it means in the moment, based on little more than preference and convenience. And this is precisely where the S&P’s index ran into problems with Tesla.

By any objective measure, Tesla should have been a mainstay of any investment strategy focused on environmental benefits. It was and is a pioneer in carbon reduction strategies in the personal transportation market. What could be more environmentally friendly than that? The S&P, however, objected to Tesla’s procedural strategies, or lack thereof. It argued that Tesla didn’t have a published “low-carbon strategy,” or verifiable “codes of conduct.” It noted that the automaker had been accused of racial discrimination and didn’t do a great job of handling a National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation. In short, the ESG index tossed the innovator in “E” technology off its list of acceptable companies because it valued the process of the ESG strategy more than it did the outcomes.

Read more …

What?

• Is the iPhone Birth Control? (AmG)

When I call you up, your line’s engaged


have had enough, so act your age

We have lost the time that was so hard to find

And I will lose my mind

If you won’t see me . . .

Time after time

You refuse to even listen

I wouldn’t mind

If I knew what I was missing

—The Beatles, “You Won’t See Me”

As one heads into senescence, the milestones begin to fade in the rearview mirror. Yet every now and again, something jars the memory to refocus your recognition of such milestones and on how time has truly flown. Recently, I was reminded that nearly an entire generation of Americans has been born after the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. As a Gen Xer born before the introduction of the answering machine, I felt the weight of my sixty years, along with a gnawing anxiety about the future.

No, not because I won’t be around all that much longer. Despite the myths of the ubiquitous cult of youth promoted by our callow commercial culture, the increasing aches and pains accompanying my journey into old age are an insistent reminder that no one lives forever. Rather, my concern is how few Americans will be born to replace me and the other older members of our aging nation. As reported by Elise Winland in Zeale News, a new study suggests the 2007 introduction of the iPhone has played a significant role in the declining U.S. fertility rate.

Written by Caitlin K. Myers and Ezekiel Hooper and issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the title of the working paper says it all: “Is the iPhone Birth Control? Causal Evidence from AT&T’s 2007–2011 Carrier Monopoly.” The study’s methodology is straightforward, as are its implications for our nation. As succinctly explained by Ms. Winland: “The paper draws on a natural experiment created by Apple’s exclusive deal with AT&T. When the iPhone launched in June 2007, it was available only on AT&T’s network until February 2011, giving researchers a way to compare areas with different levels of early iPhone access.”

While this deal was fortuitous for the researchers, the consequences were disastrous for the nation’s birth rate. According to Myers and Hooper: The diffusion of the iPhone deepened the decline in births among women under 30 while suppressing the rise in births among older women. Overall, the diffusion of the iPhone explains 33–52% of the decline in the general fertility rate among women aged 15–44. National-survey evidence on time use and sexual behavior is consistent with the iPhone reducing in-person interactions, increasing pornography use, and reducing sexual frequency.

Importantly, Myers and Hooper are not asserting that the iPhone is the sole cause of the steep decline in America’s birth rate, which they cite as having dropped by 22 percent since 2007, again, the year of the iPhone’s introduction. For, as Winland notes, the researchers believe the nation’s record low birth rate of 53.1 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 “cannot be fully explained by the common explanations such as the Great Recession, increased access to contraception, rising housing and childcare costs, and delayed marriage.”

The researchers do argue that “studies imply that access to the iPhone reduced births by 4.5–8.0% at ages 15–19 and 3.2–6.6% at ages 20–24, with statistically significant but smaller declines among older cohorts.” (It is worth noting that the iPhone had a salubrious impact on reducing teen pregnancies; however, the enduring detrimental effects stemming from the loss of social interaction and its accompanying skills will be carried into the future by today’s teens.)

Anyone with a cursory acquaintance with Marshall McLuhan’s work will see his dictum, “the medium is the message,” at work here. Every new technology affects human beings, both in how they interact with that technology and in how they subsequently interact—or fail to interact—with other people by using it.

The math—specifically subtraction—is elementary: by spending more time in your virtual cocoon, you have less time for interacting with real human beings. One must therefore consider how much of the iPhone’s contribution to the birth dearth stems from the technology’s unconscious effects on its users. Indeed, unlike, say, birth control or a career choice, the iPhone is not being used deliberately to delay or prevent pregnancy. Rather, the birth dearth is exacerbated because the iPhone user is more rapt with the device and the stimulation it provides than by another person. After all, there are only so many hours in the day—and night.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/MrJohnJnr/status/2067995870952399138?s=20

 

 

 

 

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Debt Rattle June 6 2026

Jun 062026
 
 June 6, 2026  Posted by at 9:22 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , ,  37 Responses »


Henri Gervex Rolla 1878


• Iran FM Warns American Bases Are Legitimate Targets (ZH)
• US Military Shoots Down Inbound Iranian Attack Drones Over Hormuz (ZH)
• Trump Softens Red Line: Iran’s Nuclear ‘Dust’ ‘Effectively ‘Entombed’ (ZH)
• May Jobs Report Crushes Expectations (Matt Margolis)
• US Attorney to Expose ‘Dumocrats’ California Fraud, Sketchy Elections (Salgado)
• Fannie, Freddie Jump After Trump Floats $1 Trillion Valuation (ZH)
• Trump’s Beautifully Restored Reflecting Pool (Tim O’Brien)
• Trump Just Got the Last Laugh on Immigration (Cameron Arcand)
• The French Never Wanted Mass Immigration (RMX)
• Putin Rejects Open Letter By Zelensky Urging Meet: ‘Pointless’ (ZH)
• British Witness DEI Outcome and Two-Tiered Policing in Brutal Murder (CTH)
• Candace Owens Would Back Tucker Carlson For US President (RT)
• How Did Pakistan Become 96 Percent Muslim? (Uzay Bulut)
• How Realistic Are Musk’s Visions for Mars? (Rainer Zitelmann)

 


 

 


 


Why are they shooting paper planes then?

• Iran FM Warns American Bases Are Legitimate Targets (ZH)

At a moment it’s become more than clear that the US and Iran are not anywhere closer to the negotiating table, and after they’ve shown little progress after a week of clashes – as one Friday morning Bloomberg headline reads, Tehran has again putting US bases in the region on notice, while admitting “no tangible progress” in negotiations on ending the conflict. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in fresh remarks has said that “standing against the world’s greatest power, equipped with nuclear weapons, for 40 days is no joke,” and that “the world has realized the true power of the Iranian nation.”


Araghchi also again issued a direct warning to regional Gulf states: “We warned regional states that US bases used for any aggression against Iran are legitimate targets” – he was quoted Friday by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) as saying. However, the Iranian foreign minister also cautioned that there is a way forward, stressing that despite conflict, “We are committed to fostering sustainable, constructive ties with Saudi Arabia.” The war is fast approaching the 100-day milestone, which comes Sunday, since Trump first initiated his Operation Epic Fury. He had in the opening ‘assured’ the American public of only a short conflict lasting but a few days or weeks.

Iran’s supreme leader too has been signaling defiance while apparently in hiding, saying that the US and Israel had been dealt a “decisive blow”. Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s message was read out by a prayer leader at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of the Islamic republic’s founder on Thursday: In his message, Khamenei said his country’s enemies, after “facing a decisive blow,” were now “experiencing a deeply meaningful and profound humiliation.” He went on to accuse them of seeking to “plant the seeds of doubt, despair, fear, mistrust and division” among the public, calling for unity to “neutralize their sinister plot.”

Tehran is still seeking to integrate the Lebanon situation into a broader US-Iran peace deal. But in Lebanon itself, sporadic fighting has raged despite declaration of a ceasefire – of which Hezbollah has declared itself not part of. On Friday, “The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee on Friday warned residents of six towns and villages including south Lebanon’s Sarafand, a town on the coastal road between Tyre and Sidon, to immediately evacuate,” according to CBS.More reports of mystery explosions in Strait of Hormuz, off Oman… https://twitter.com/DropSiteNews/status/2062748657443594744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2062748657443594744%7Ctwgr%5E5a25d7e3b03e0a7aef3fe37321882469aeb8d725%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Firan-fm-warns-american-bases-are-legitimate-targets-cites-no-tangible-progress-talks

“Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported mass displacement from the three villages named in the warning, and it subsequently reported a strike on one of the villages, Arqoun,” the report continues. And Al Jazeera also reports Friday that “Israel’s deadly strikes continue across Lebanon, killing at least six today, despite the announcement of a new US-brokered ceasefire agreed between Lebanese and Israeli officials in Washington, DC.”

Read more …

Both sidea are lobbing softballs.

• US Military Shoots Down Inbound Iranian Attack Drones Over Hormuz (ZH)

Things are again popping off in the overnight hours in the Strait of Hormuz, but so far it may be looking like another limited action and exchange. The US military reportedly intercepted and shot down at least four Iranian one-way attack drones on Friday into possibly early Saturday (local). According to US Central Command (CENTCOM), the incoming unmanned aerial vehicles were heading directly toward the Strait of Hormuz and posed an “imminent threat to maritime traffic.”


Following the drone shootdowns, American forces immediately launched retaliatory strikes against key military targets inside Iranian territory. CENTCOM further detailed that American assets hit Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites located in Goruk, a city in the Hormozgan province, as well as on Qeshm Island, a strategically vital Iranian outpost in the mouth of the strait. The Pentagon justified the immediate counter-offensive by stating the radar sites were targeted specifically to “defend against further attacks.” One thing is clear: these ‘limited’ escalations are becoming more regular, and even almost nightly at this point, raising the stakes and possibility of a more full-on, dangerous renewed war. Currently, there are reports of air defenses active over Kuwait: KUWAITI AIR DEFENSE SYSTEMS INTERCEPTING DRONE, MISSILE ATTACKS

Iran Military Fires “Warning Missiles” At US Destroyers In Gulf of Oman
AFP is reporting that Iranian military forces fired “warning missiles” at two U.S. Navy destroyers transiting the Gulf of Oman, citing Iranian state media. “In continuation of operations to counter maritime misconduct and harassment, as well as the hijacking of commercial vessels and oil tankers by the terrorist naval forces of the United States, following the firing of warning missiles, the hostile destroyers DDG-103 and DDG-8 have left the Gulf of Oman towards the Indian Ocean,” Iranian military forces wrote in a statement published by state news agency IRNA.

Meanwhile… “US DENIES REPORT IRAN ATTACKED OR FIRED AT US NAVAL SHIPS”

https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/2062886477105623083?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2062886477105623083%7Ctwgr%5Eac16e3c58d0adaebd213ee136b0e6e52cdece1c7%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Firan-fm-warns-american-bases-are-legitimate-targets-cites-no-tangible-progress-talks

Read more …

“Trump remarks suggest the fate of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is no longer be the central issue it once was.”

Is this new info for him, that it’s entombed? You’d almost think so.

• Trump Softens Red Line: Iran’s Nuclear ‘Dust’ ‘Effectively ‘Entombed’ (ZH)

Trump’s Thursday late afternoon remarks to reporters suggested that the fate of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium may no longer be the central issue it once was. Asked about reports that the US could attempt to seize or recover Iran’s remaining nuclear material, Trump repeatedly downplayed the prospect, saying there was “no reason” to retrieve what he called Iran’s nuclear “dust” because it is now effectively “entombed.”


The president stressed that Washington is “not considering” any covert operation to seize Iran’s uranium, adding that the US already has “powerful cameras watching Iran’s uranium” and remains confident in its ability to monitor the situation. While Trump at one point boasted that America and China are the only countries capable of recovering the material and suggested “we’ll get Iran’s nuclear dust,” his broader message now seems that the stockpile no longer represents an urgent concern. Instead, Trump framed the dispute around a much simpler objective: ensuring that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon. He reiterated that the “main part” of any agreement would be that Iran “can’t have a nuclear weapon,” while adding that a broader deal could also include guarantees regarding the Strait of Hormuz remaining open to global commerce.

Expressing optimism about diplomacy, Trump again said talks with Tehran are “going well” and suggested that a successful agreement could even lead to a personal meeting with Iran’s supreme leader. “I would be honored to meet the Ayatollah,” he remarked, adding that if a deal is reached, Iran “won’t have a nuclear weapon.”

At the same time, Trump declared in an oddly stated reference that the US would ultimately prevail “on paper, or militarily.” He warned that any future attack resulting in the deaths of American troops would trigger a rapid return to hostilities, while asserting that Iran’s military capabilities have been severely degraded. Trump claimed Tehran has only a handful of missiles remaining, reiterated that Iran effectively has “no navy” and “no air force,” and even said the US possesses photographs of sunken Iranian vessels. He further boasted that Washington had “wiped out almost all” of Iran’s leadership during the conflict.

On regional tensions, Trump linked developments in Lebanon directly to the broader confrontation with Iran, saying the various fronts are “interconnected.” He disclosed conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding Lebanon and expressed hope that the country could finally enjoy “some peace.” Trump also claimed that Hezbollah had contacted the United States during the crisis.

Read more …

Impressive.

• May Jobs Report Crushes Expectations (Matt Margolis)

Friday’s May jobs report landed like a gut punch to every Democrat who thought he could run on the economy this midterm cycle. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 172,000 jobs added in May 2026, more than double the 85,000 economists had forecast. To say that the report significantly beat forecasts is an understatement.

https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2062884560006701316?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2062884560006701316%7Ctwgr%5E7006456454e8392fc7f843038a0d6a9d90933d30%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpjmedia.com%2Fmatt-margolis%2F2026%2F06%2F05%2Fmay-jobs-report-crushes-expectations-democrats-most-hurt-n4953630


Of those 172,000 jobs, the private sector is responsible for 120,000. And if the headline number wasn’t impressive enough on its own, April’s figures got revised upward by more than 60,000 jobs, jumping from 115,000 to 179,000. That’s three straight months of robust job growth, with each revision reinforcing a trend that’s getting harder for the left to explain away. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%.

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2062906789004300682?s=20

“Thanks to President Trump and Republicans, the number of new jobs in May more than DOUBLED expectations,” RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said in a statement. “Jobs are up, small businesses are growing again, and wages and paychecks are rising. Democrats sabotaged our economy for four years, but President Trump is fixing it.” “Senate Republicans and President Trump’s pro-growth policies continue delivering more jobs, lower taxes, and higher wages. Jon Ossoff voted in lockstep with the Biden-Harris administration’s reckless tax and spending agenda that left Georgians with less money in their pockets,” said NRSC Regional Press Secretary Nick Puglia.

Kevin Hassett, Director of the National Economic Council, went deep on what’s driving the numbers. “You know, I think that basically what we’re seeing is an enormous amount of positive momentum in hiring,” Hassett said. He pointed to the back-to-back strength: “Obviously, you’re right that a couple of hundred and seventies in a row, that’s a great couple of months.”

He added, “But then having upper divisions of around 100,000 means that this is a job market that’s hitting on all cylinders. And it’s our belief that this is happening because of all of the supply-side policies that the president has put in place,” Hassett said. “We’ve got the Big, Beautiful Bill with the, you know, expensing for new factories. We’ve got, you know, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. So people are out there working harder. We’ve got quit rates down to about as low as we’ve ever seen. We’ve got layoffs about as low as we’ve ever seen. This is about the strongest market of my lifetime and of your lifetime.”

The state-level picture is worth sitting with. Sixteen of the top 21 states with the lowest unemployment rates have Republican governors. Nine of the 10 states with the highest unemployment rates have Democrat governors. The left’s economic model produces the same result wherever its governors apply it. Heading into the 2026 midterms, Democrats need an economic message that resonates. Right now, all they have is a streak of solid job numbers that belong to President Donald Trump and the GOP.

Read more …

“Republican Steve Hilton was actually in the lead, but ever since election night, the number of votes that authorities say they still have to count has been suspiciously increasing each day..”

• US Attorney to Expose ‘Dumocrats’ California Fraud, Sketchy Elections (Salgado)

A hardcore warrior against all criminal fraud in California is on the case to discover exactly what Democrats are doing in controversial primary elections that first trended in Republicans’ favor, but after days of “counting” are now phasing Republicans out. Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, confirmed on Friday that there is evidence of election fraud in California, and he is certainly investigating the ongoing primary counts for governor, Los Angeles mayor, and other key state and city positions.


Essayli highlighted a recent case of voter fraud in California, where Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong pleaded guilty to spending decades bribing homeless people to register to vote and often used her address so she could receive their ballots. But Essayli also addressed the election uppermost in so many people’s minds, the one California Democrats are trying to drag out until they find enough ballots to squeeze Republicans out of runoffs.

On June 5, Essayli posted more at length about his efforts. “Protecting the integrity of California’s elections is a top priority for my office,” he stated. “California’s election system has serious structural vulnerabilities. Universal vote-by-mail with no voter ID requirements creates conditions where fraud can go undetected and unpunished, eroding public confidence.” He cautiously continued, “Without commenting on any specific investigation, my office has multiple election fraud investigations underway in coordination with @FBILosAngeles. We will follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violations of federal election law to the fullest extent.”

He confirmed that he is also working with Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, “to conduct a comprehensive audit of California’s voter rolls. The state has stonewalled every effort to verify that only eligible U.S. citizens are registered to vote. This case is now before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal.” The only reason to oppose an investigation into whether illegal aliens are voting is if you know that illegal aliens are voting and in your favor.

Essayli promised, “My office will not look the other way. We will investigate and prosecute. Every legal vote deserves to be counted. Every illegal vote cancels one out.” Some interesting facts that have raised suspicions in California include that in the Los Angeles mayor race, only a few hundred thousand votes are involved, and yet authorities are stubbornly refusing to declare that registered Republican Spencer Pratt made it into a runoff against Democrat Mayor Karen Bass as they sit on the last batch of votes.

In the governor’s race, Republican Steve Hilton was actually in the lead, but ever since election night, the number of votes that authorities say they still have to count has been suspiciously increasing each day, according to the counter on NBC News. And as more votes are added, Democrat Xavier Becerra narrows Hilton’s lead. More votes have also magically appeared in the mayoral race as of Friday morning. Amazing how some countries can count all their votes in one night, but California can’t do it in a week.

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“I don’t believe I will ever see Fannie and Freddie released from conservatorship, at least not in my lifetime.”

• Fannie, Freddie Jump After Trump Floats $1 Trillion Valuation (ZH)

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shares jumped on Friday morning after President Trump said late Thursday that the mortgage giants were “probably worth $1 trillion,” reviving Wall Street hopes for a long-awaited exit from government control. President Trump praised FHFA Director Bill Pulte on Thursday for turning around Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying the mortgage giants “probably have $1 trillion in value.” Full transcript:


“…a person who’s got high integrity. He’s done a phenomenal job at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. You probably have $1 trillion in value there. When he took over it was much less, and I guess I’m responsible for that too because everybody wanted me to sell it in my first term for 10% of what it’s worth right now. If I would’ve sold it, we would’ve lost $900 billion. We would’ve lost. Think about it. It’s probably worth $1 trillion. People want me to sell it at $100 billion — a very small percentage of what it’s worth now. And he built up a lot. Did a great job. And it’s an acting position. He is not going to be permanent because I don’t think you’d want to be. But he was a smart guy. You may find out some things about the rigged elections, etc. etc. I think he wants to do it. He’s got a lot of energy but will be very good. He’s not a permanent position. We’re looking at — we are interviewing people right now. But it is somebody just to take over for a little while.”

Fannie and Freddie were both up in the early cash session, rising 5% and 3%, respectively. Shares in both mortgage giants tumbled earlier this week after Trump named Pulte as acting Director of National Intelligence, raising concerns that the dual role could delay the sale of the government’s stake. As of Friday morning, Fannie shares are down 34% YTD, while Freddie has slumped 38% YTD, as traders grow uneasy over the pace of the Trump administration’s privatization plans. Optimism around potential share sales drove large gains in 2025.

Bose George, managing director at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW), wrote in a note, “We’re comfortable with our most recently published numbers on the valuation—a current combined fair value in the $200–$250 billion range.” Christopher Maloney, mortgage strategist at BOK Financial, noted, “I don’t believe I will ever see Fannie and Freddie released from conservatorship, at least not in my lifetime.”

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The title originally included “Leftists Are Crying Over “. Let’s cut out that stuff. Let’s just agree the pool is beautiful.

• Trump’s Beautifully Restored Reflecting Pool (Tim O’Brien)

You just knew this day would come. President Donald Trump is really sprucing up the nation’s capital ahead of the country’s celebration of its 250th anniversary. One of the signature improvements has been the restored reflecting pool that sits between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. As I noted on April 25, the very act of fixing this deteriorated site was universally attacked by the left, which is par for the course when it comes to leftist reaction to everything Trump does. Keep in mind, earlier reports indicated that traditional Washington had this project pegged at a cost of $300 million and years to complete.


Trump got it done in months at a fraction of the cost – somewhere around $13 million when all is said and done. Perhaps most significantly, the pool is stunningly beautiful. The navy blue that Trump chose as the base color for the pool’s sealant adds to the richness of the entire look of it. Knowing that the people who repaired the pool sealed all of the leaks and addressed infrastructure problems provides reassurance that, with some basic routine maintenance, this iconic landmark will shine for years to come.

https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2062652076862157126?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2062652076862157126%7Ctwgr%5E5682aee8970a5769f1ce5715f6b2a346130a5987%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpjmedia.com%2Ftim-o-brien%2F2026%2F06%2F05%2Fwatch-trumps-restored-lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool-makes-leftists-cry-n4953627

In the process, Trump is making leftists cry. Not tears of joy: tears of regret that they have to admit they actually like it.

You may remember that when the project was first launched, leftists came up with every excuse in the book as to why it was a dumb idea. The blue color was a problem, with leftists turning to AI to come up with gaudy swimming pool blue renditions of the project, and then reacting negatively to their own fake imagery. They were still using their AI pics up until the water was turned on. As the project proceeded and it appeared the final product might actually be tasteful, leftists then started to complain about the cost. That’s right: Something they were willing to spend $300 million on over a period of years under a Democrat administration now costs too much at $13 million over a couple of months.

The same leftists who want to give millions of illegals free housing, free food, free health insurance, thanks to you, the taxpayer, all of a sudden care about a project that wouldn’t be necessary if the Obama administration didn’t already screw it up. Barack Obama spent $34 million over a couple of years on this, and it was a mess in the end. In a “feel-good Friday” Truth Social post, the president kind of punctuated the whole event in Trump style. https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2062922835387982001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2062922835387982001%7Ctwgr%5E5682aee8970a5769f1ce5715f6b2a346130a5987%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpjmedia.com%2Ftim-o-brien%2F2026%2F06%2F05%2Fwatch-trumps-restored-lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool-makes-leftists-cry-n4953627

What’s the moral of this story? The left will never be happy about anything, but on the rare chance you catch them liking something that Trump did, it will most certainly bring them to tears.

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“[Democrats] don’t care about ICE and ICE operations,” he added. “They just wanna stop ICE from doing what they are required to do, which is deport illegal aliens.”

• Trump Just Got the Last Laugh on Immigration (Cameron Arcand)

The reconciliation bill to fund ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is now headed to the House after most Senate Republicans passed the proposal on Thursday night, and it ultimately accomplished funding through 2029 for the agencies and sidelined Democrats’ immigration enforcement demands. Many Democrats were calling for the use of judicial warrants for immigration-related arrests as opposed to administrative ones, as well as an end to masked agents and roving patrols.


Republicans opted to pursue reconciliation to fund the immigration enforcement agencies to get DHS reopened after a lengthy shutdown of the department, as reconciliation allows for only 51 votes for Senate passage as opposed to the standard 60-vote threshold. “Democrats side with illegals over American citizens every chance they get. But thanks to reconciliation, we didn’t need their votes or have to accept their radical demands that would have tied the hands of federal law enforcement,” Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) told Townhall in an exclusive statement Friday.

“Now ICE and CBP have the funding they need to keep the border secure and continue mass deportations through the end of President Trump’s term,” he added.= A significant portion of funding for Trump’s immigration goals was already obtained through the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” last July, but other DHS agencies like FEMA were hung out to dry when the DHS shutdown ran from February through April. Meanwhile, the reconciliation bill is expected to close other immigration-specific funding gaps that were not covered when DHS reopened in April.

Former Acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey explained to Townhall on Friday morning that the movement on reconciliation showed that Democrats “gave up the game on this thing with their list of demands.” “Because when there were situations where the Republicans were willing to concede or to give them some of the things they wanted, they rejected that in favor of just shutting down the agency,” Fahey said. “[Democrats] don’t care about ICE and ICE operations,” he added. “They just wanna stop ICE from doing what they are required to do, which is deport illegal aliens.”

Fahey explained that some of the Democrats’ wishes, like judicial warrants, were some of the “problematic” points for potential compromise. “As probably most people know, you can’t get a judicial warrant from these ICE arrests. They’re issued out of the Executive Branch. So it didn’t even mechanically make any sense,” Fahey said, calling it an “unworkable part” of the party’s demands.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer fired back against the proposal early Friday morning, saying that Republicans “pumped another $70 billion into Trump’s personal police force.”

“The Republican agenda is now written in black and white: a slush fund for Trump, tax dodges for Trump, a ballroom for Trump, a private militia for Trump,” Schumer stated. “For hard-working Americans? Nothing.” The Republican-majority House is expected to pass the legislation before it heads to Trump’s desk for a final signature. A third reconciliation bill is expected to be pushed by congressional Republicans this summer, which is expected to focus on anti-fraud policy and other budgetary proposals.

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“.. there are now fewer foreigners in all of China, at 845,000, than there are in just one European city, Berlin.”

• The French Never Wanted Mass Immigration (RMX)

French leaders know how to manipulate their voters, but the voters are also apparently easily manipulated. Every leader from French President Emmanuel Macron to François Mitterrand in the 1980s has decried immigration numbers and promised a crackdown, all while allowing immigration numbers to continuously climb year after year. Here are just some relevant quotes:


• Emmanuel Macron said in 2023: “There is an immigration problem in France.”
• In 2016, then French President François Hollande said, “There are too many arrivals, immigration that shouldn’t be there.”
• In 2023, then leader Nicolas Sarkozy said: “There are too many immigrants in France.”
• In 1991, former leader Jacques Chirac said, “We must stop family reunification. We must completely revise the right of asylum. We must open the debate on the right of all foreigners to social benefits.”
• In 1989, the famous leader François Mitterrand said, “On immigration matters, we have crossed the tolerance threshold.”

The age-old adage is that “nobody voted for this.”It is true that the specific question of mass immigration never came to a referendum, but it is also fair to say that some very pro-migrant candidates, such as Macron, have continuously made it into office. Still, one would assume that in a democratic system, with leader after leader calling for a halt to immigration, that immigration levels would tend to trend lower. However, this is not how Western democracy has worked over the last decades. The same developments have been seen in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States.

Leaders know the masses are unhappy about immigration, so they make proclamations against immigration to placate the masses, all while actual policy serves an entirely different purpose. Macron is arguably the worst offender the French have ever seen when it comes to migration. In 2023, he said France must reduce immigration, beginning with legal entrants in a wide-ranging interview with weekly political magazine Le Point. Macron’s remark comes after he said in 2022 that migration “is part of France’s DNA” and oversaw a record increase in immigrants in 2022.

What has his record been since then? Well, Macron was lying, as this chart clearly shows:


The foreign population has soared year after year, reaching record after record. In 2025, a record number of first-time legal residence permits were issued, totaling 384,000. In short, France is being buried in a wave of mass immigration that only a minority of French actually wanted. The estimates of how many foreigners are now living in France varies wildly, with some figures going as high as 9 million. However, there are also millions of legal French citizens who also have a migration background, which has led to a massive demographic shift.

Poll after poll has shown the French are remarkably opposed to mass immigration.
• In a CSA poll for CNews in 2023, 64 percent of French said “we should stop non-European immigration to France.”
• In a CSA poll for Europe 1 in 2024, 48 percent of French people said they wanted zero immigrants coming to the country, including 53 percent of women respondents.
• In an Ifop poll in 2026, 60 percent of French people said they believe France is witnessing “a replacement of the French population by non-European populations, mainly from the African continent.”
• In a poll from Odoxa-Backbone Consulting for Le Figaro in 2023, 74 percent of French said they believe there are too many migrants in France and 72 percent said they want a referendum on immigration.
• In a CSA poll for CNews in 2023, 80 percent of French said they support a total ban on more immigration.

Meanwhile, in communist China, where there is not even an illusion of a democratic vote, foreigners only make up 0.06 percent of the population of 1.4 billion people. It may be hard to believe for many, but there are now fewer foreigners in all of China, at 845,000, than there are in just one European city, Berlin. The political leaders that have governed the West have lied every step of the way on immigration, and in the process, they have gravely imperiled democracy. Many looking to authoritarian China see a country on the rise, where high-speed trains and critical infrastructure are quickly and efficiently erected, where crime is low, and social cohesion generally high.

Meanwhile, Europe is throwing up protectionist barriers against China at a time when China is pulling ahead in green energy, automobile manufacturing, machine tools, and AI. Mass immigration has been an unmitigated economic, educational, security, and budget disaster for the West. Democracy itself should not necessarily be condemned, however. Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, all thriving democracies, have managed to keep their borders almost entirely closed to mass immigration while growing their economies, all based on the will of the people.

In the end, it may have something to do with Europeans themselves and their culture of guilt, self-righteousness, and virtue signaling, which are attitudes that tend to dominate amongst European populations. The trend has been remarkably uniform across the Western world. It is not only France, but also the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom, all marching in lockstep. While we can point our fingers at the mass media and academia, we also have to look at ourselves in the mirror and ask how we collectively allowed this to happen.

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“..or maybe is this letter meant to make sure that no personal meetings can take place at all,” he remarked, concluding: “I think it’s the second.”

I think he’s right,

• Putin Rejects Open Letter By Zelensky Urging Meet: ‘Pointless’ (ZH)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded dismissively to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s open letter issued the day prior, which urged that the two leaders meet in order to finally forge a peace deal and bring an end to the war, now it its fifth year. Putin made clear Friday that he sees no point in holding a personal meeting with Zelensky. He was asked directly about the letter while attending the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). In response the Russian leader addressed not the “authors of the epistolary genre,” but to Russian soldiers on the frontline: “The whole country is proud of you and is counting on you. Keep up the good work, brothers!” And then, per TASS:


“Asked to clarify if this response means that he doesn’t plan to meet with the letter’s author, Putin said, “So far, I see no point in this.” He went on to reject the idea of “meeting just for the sake of meeting” – but did reveal for the first time that only last month he sent an informal envoy to Ukraine at Kiev’s request. Apparently that was the opening of a serious diplomatic overture. But then, he noted, Ukrainian forces bombed a college dormitory in Lugansk merely soon after the Russian envoy arrived. The brutal attack killed 21 people, mostly teenage girls – and injured many dozens more. The Kremlin was outraged at the ‘terrorist act’ and the following week heavily bombed various Ukrainian cities, especially the capital.

State media featured more of Putin’s response: The letter is either “a means to create an environment for a personal meeting, or maybe is this letter meant to make sure that no personal meetings can take place at all,” he remarked, concluding: “I think it’s the second.” Zelensky’s lengthy Thursday letter had said Ukraine is also ready for a “full ceasefire.” Zelensky wrote: “Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us – and you. I am proposing a meeting. Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations,” he added.

The letter also at one point said, “The choice is yours now. Enough of war” and then spells out that “Ukraine proposes to end this war.” “This must be done honestly, with dignity, and with guarantees that the war will not be reignited,” Zelensky added. And then interestingly, “We see that the United States is fully focused on the issue of Iran, and it would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the center of its attention.” Despite the long appeal, President Putin and the Kremlin have demonstrated a willingness to allow a long war to drag on, and are unlikely to be moved. Putin has said there’s no need for a truce unless a deal is already close or about to be signed. But the two sides aren’t any closer to being at the negotiating table as yet.

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The reactions are about as uglyas the actual episode.

• British Witness DEI Outcome and Two-Tiered Policing in Brutal Murder (CTH)

New information about the brutal stabbing murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak continues to surface, and each revelation is seemingly worse than the last. In the latest development the Daily Mail now outlines that Nowak’s killer, Vickrum Digwa, actually recorded his victim lying on the ground in agony as the murderer mocked him. Incredibly the judge in the trial ruled the killer’s own recording of his murder, “too disturbing to be shown” in court. Digwa did not call for an ambulance after stabbing his victim but did take pictures and record Henry Nowak. However, the killer’s own video was NOT shown in court! The footage the court ruled too disturbing to show was five minutes of Vickrum Digwa filming the 18-year-old as he bled to death on the pavement.


The entire event is highlighting a two-tiered policing system in the U.K, and now police are revealing documents and training material that specifically tell them to treat encounters with racial minorities differently than encounters with white people. The outrage is growing and British politicians are afraid to talk about it. Reform party leader Nigel Farage did not stay silent, and immediately he began facing backlash for speaking truthfully about the murder of Henry Nowak and the circumstances that led to a horrific encounter with police. WATCH:

Below is the initial statement from Nigel Farage that was mentioned in the interview above.

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”In an exclusive interview with RT the US commentator joked that she would only run herself if voters accepted her as “dictator”

• Candace Owens Would Back Tucker Carlson For US President (RT)

Conservative US commentator Candace Owens would back journalist Tucker Carlson if he ran for US president, but would only run herself if voters accepted her as “dictator.” Speaking exclusively to RT’s Rick Sanchez at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Owens was asked about speculation in the US that she could one day run for the White House. “I always tell my listeners I’d never run for president. I’d only run for dictator,” Owens said. “I’m not dealing with Congress, I’m not dealing with lobbying, I’m not dealing with Lindsey Graham calling for another war.”


She joked that if voters wanted her, they would have to accept the terms that she will be “dictator of the United States,” adding that she has no short-term interest in political office because of the “inauthenticity” of Washington. The former Daily Wire host said she would instead be willing to campaign for someone like Tucker Carlson if he chose to run. She added that she would be ready to travel the country on Carlson’s behalf, comparing the idea to her previous political partnership with Charlie Kirk.

She said Carlson had also been one of the few prominent conservative voices willing to speak honestly about Charlie Kirk’s changing views toward the end of his life, alongside Megyn Kelly. Owens initially rose to prominence in the late 2010s by urging black voters to stop supporting the Democrats. She later became one of the most prominent voices in conservative media before splitting with the Daily Wire following a public dispute over Israel’s war in Gaza.

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Warning for France and UK?!

• How Did Pakistan Become 96 Percent Muslim? (Uzay Bulut)

Today, 96% of Pakistan’s population follows Islam, with most of that percentage adhering to the Sunni tradition. According to Pakistan’s constitution, the right to free speech can be restricted to ensure “the glory of Islam.” However, Pakistan was once majority-Hindu. It was part of the Indian civilization with significant religious, ethnic, and cultural diversity. This is no longer the case. Native Hindu and other non-Muslim cultures were systematically and largely erased by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Moreover, attempts at reviving the Hindu and other pre-Islamic names of geographical locations are met with backlash from Muslims in the country.


India Today reported on May 27 that the provincial government of Pakistan’s Punjab has deferred its decision to restore several pre-Partition Hindu and British-era names of roads and localities in its capital of Lahore. The Punjab government is led by Maryam Nawaz, who in March proposed restoring several Lahore landmarks to their older (Hindu, Sikh-origin or British) names. This effort was cleared by the Nawaz-led Punjab Cabinet in May. However, retired Lahore Deputy Commissioner Captain Muhammad Ali Ijaz replied to the queries of the Pakistani daily, Dawn, by saying that “no such decision has been taken as yet.” According to reports, authorities in Lahore have made a U-turn: they are experiencing opposition from “extremists” and social media vloggers.

“Even after partition, many colonial [British] and Hindu-era names continue to survive in public memory despite official changes of names by various governments in Pakistan,” India Today reported. Despite the denial of many in the region, present-day Pakistan was once predominantly Hindu. The Indian subcontinent was home to one of the oldest and most influential civilizations known as the Indus Valley civilization or Harappan civilization. This Bronze Age urban culture reached its peak around 2500 BC. The culture itself might have been older, as religious practices and farming settlements in the fertile region by the Indus River can be dated back thousands of years.

Before the arrival of Islam in the 8th century, the region that is now called Pakistan and the broader Indian subcontinent was exceedingly diverse. Throughout millennia, the region’s religious diversity included a rich mix of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, other local/folk beliefs, and later, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity. Throughout the last 14 centuries, the Islamization of the Indian subcontinent has been shaped by massacres, pogroms, persecutions, and forced conversions. This spans the initial Arab expansions, the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal Empire, and the partition of India, up to the present.

The organization “Log Sabha” prepared a comprehensive report entitled “Hindu for Justice: A Historical Account of Genocides and Massacres Against Hindus.” It describes the long history of Hindu persecution in and outside of the Indian subcontinent at the hands of Islam. The report notes: Throughout various historical periods, forced conversions and the destruction of Hindu temples were recurring themes. In many cases, the violence was not only aimed at suppressing Hindu religious practices but also at erasing Hindu cultural heritage. This systematic approach to cultural destruction had long-lasting effects on Hindu communities.

The Indian subcontinent has been significantly impacted by the Islamic campaigns committed by various armies and empires. These invasions altered the political and demographic landscape of the region. They also brought widespread destruction to Hindu and other non-Muslim cultures, religious practices, and communities. The landscape began to shift in the early 8th century when the Umayyad Caliphate’s general Muhammad bin Qasim invaded the Sindh region. The local population’s conversion to Islam was a gradual process lasting several centuries. His campaign was characterized by both military conquests and acts of violence against Hindu populations.

The invasion led to the establishment of a Muslim administration and initiated a series of forced conversions, persecution, and the destruction of Hindu temples. One of the most brutal invaders was Mahmud of Ghazni, who raided the Indian subcontinent between 1000 and 1027 AD. His campaigns were characterized by the large-scale destruction of Hindu temples and cities, driven by both religious zeal and the lure of wealth. The city of Mathura, a sacred site for Hindus, faced massive devastation during one raid. Temples were razed to the ground, and countless Hindus were either massacred or enslaved. His most infamous attack occurred at Somnath, one of the most revered temples in Hinduism: tens of thousands of Hindus were slaughtered and the temple’s treasures looted.

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Time is an important factor. He does’t want it all tomorrow morning.

And just think: a million humans on Mars. That will take a very long time.

• How Realistic Are Musk’s Visions for Mars? (Rainer Zitelmann)

In the current prospectus for the IPO, Musk reiterates that the goal of SpaceX is to make humanity a multi-planetary species and to colonize Mars. The company’s mission is described as follows: “Our mission is to build the systems and technologies necessary to make life multiplanetary, to understand the true nature of the universe, and extend the light of consciousness to the stars.”


But so far, only probes and robots have been to Mars, not humans. Many critics consider plans for Mars to be science fiction. Not so the renowned NASA Ames researcher Harry W. Jones, who says: “It has seemed there must be overwhelming difficulties preventing our going to Mars. We have not reached Mars even though it has been NASA’s horizon goal since Apollo. We do not have a detailed feasible mission plan. There has not been sufficient funding to make tangible progress. Mars plans usually propose developing advanced technology, before we can begin the mission.”

Between the lines, you can sense his frustration – directed not only at politicians, but also at NASA itself. For over fifty years, there have been repeated excuses for indefinitely deferring a mission to Mars. And yet, there is no shortage of plans to reach Mars. Since the 1950s, over 1,000 plans have been devised. Even if you only count those that meet scientific standards, there are still 55 plans.

However, in a detailed analysis, Jones concludes that there are “no showstoppers” – that is, no insurmountable obstacles on the path to Mars. He identifies seven key challenges: hostile surface environment, human performance, life support, medical care, radiation exposure, reduced gravity, and telecommunication delays – and shows that there are viable solutions for each and every one of them based on the current state of technology. Solutions for all these problems exist today, he argues, in part thanks to the recent great reduction in launch costs.

The primary technical challenges for a Mars mission are long-term life support, radiation exposure, and reduced gravity. According to Jones, solutions for solar flares and cosmic microwave background radiation already exist, made possible by reduced launch costs. For instance, a small, shielded shelter within the spacecraft, measuring two meters in diameter with 7.5-centimeter-thick walls, could protect against solar storms during transit. Additionally, a shorter transit time and the use of Martian regolith to shield surface habitats could mitigate the effects of cosmic microwave background radiation.

Regarding the challenges of weightlessness during space travel and the more than 60 percent reduction in gravity on Mars: A rotating spacecraft, similar to those depicted in science fiction films, can generate artificial gravity during the journey. And there are also viable solutions for habitation on Mars itself: “One suggestion is a large rotating underground wheel. The floor must be tilted so that the 0.38 g Mars gravity pulling down combines with a 0.92 g horizontal spin force to provide 1 g. The rotating wheel would be underground to provide radiation shielding.”

All in all, yes, a flight to Mars, and even more so its colonization, presents substantial challenges – some we can anticipate, and many others will be unforeseen. But having developed countless plans for how it could be done, the time for action has come. If Roald Amundsen and his team, the first to reach the South Pole in 1911, had required the same level of safety and perfection as NASA demands for its mission to Mars, they certainly would never have launched their expedition.

If there are no “showstoppers,” as Harry W. Jones argues, why aren’t we already on our way to Mars? As so often, it is also a question of money and economic incentives. Elon Musk’s plans to bring one million settlers to Mars cannot possibly be financed through taxpayer money. But how could private financing become feasible?

The economic incentive is missing because, according to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, nations are prohibited from owning celestial bodies or land on celestial bodies. Whether this also applies to private individuals and companies is disputed among legal scholars. In my book New Space Capitalism, I show how it could work: If the private appropriation of land on celestial bodies were possible, an enormous economic incentive would suddenly emerge — one that is currently absent. So, who should have the right to acquire property in space? My answer: Those who have the financial means to get there, develop, and use the land.

For instance, if SpaceX succeeds in reaching Mars and starts to build permanent settlements on the Red Planet, then the ownership of land should initially go to SpaceX. Not the entire planet, of course, but a practicable area, for example, the size of Singapore. The surface area of Mars is 200,000 times that of Singapore, so SpaceX would initially own only 0.0005 percent of Mars. That would be enough to develop multiple settlements, but not so much that others would no longer have a chance.

SpaceX could finance its flight and development costs by listing the land on Mars in a real estate investment trust (REIT). The price would then be determined by the market. Most people would buy shares not because they intend to live there themselves, but in the hope of future appreciation in value. It would be the greatest real estate story in history.

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https://twitter.com/MCarbonaraFL/status/2062525163518726520?s=20

 

 

 

 

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