Cy Twombly Untitled 1964
“.. any illegal seizure of arrested Russian funds or income from them must be converted into additional territories and other property of country 404. Or by confiscating the valuables of the British Crown. There are still enough of them in various places, including those located in Russia.”
https://twitter.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1963515368141467821
NATO
"We gave categorical assurances to Gorbachev that if a United Germany could remain in NATO, NATO would not be moved Eastward"
Jack Matlock, US Ambassador to the Soviets 1987-1991 speaking 30 years ago
NATO did, however, move Eastwards towards Russia, and the rest is history pic.twitter.com/21EjyDetYm
— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) September 3, 2025
Sachs
Professor Jeffrey Sachs "FIRED" Starmer, Merz & Macron
Now, we have the return of the most primitive kind of Russophobia imaginable. So Europe meets, as, as you note, every two or three days in terror of Russia with these fools around the table, without talking to the Russians… pic.twitter.com/GVUrNc69uy
— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) September 4, 2025
Kaja
https://twitter.com/peacemaket71/status/1963457298078089567
Putin
https://twitter.com/nxt888/status/1963309350921060686
AfD
AfD polling at a sensational 39% in Sachsen-Anhalt, exactly a year out from state elections there.
1) 39% of the vote would give the AfD 41 seats of the 97-seat state parliament – just 8 seats short of an outright majority.
2) The only way to exclude the AfD from government… pic.twitter.com/c9MUSyvMtT
— eugyppius (@eugyppius1) September 4, 2025
And most of Europe shares that dream. Provided the US fights their fight.
• Zelensky’s Dream Is NATO-Russia War – Ex-Polish President (RT)
Vladimir Zelensky’s “dream” is to draw NATO directly into the conflict with Russia on Ukraine’s behalf, former Polish President Andrzej Duda said Tuesday. Speaking in an interview with journalist Bogdan Rymanowski, Duda recalled an incident in November 2022, when a Ukrainian air defense missile struck near a Polish border village, killing one person. Zelensky immediately blamed Russia and urged Warsaw to invoke NATO’s collective defense clause. Duda said the Ukrainian leader pressured him to publicly declare the weapon Russian in origin, which he refused to do.
“From the very beginning, they’ve been trying to drag everyone into the war. That’s obvious,” Duda said. “Any leader of a nation in a situation like Ukraine’s would want the entirety of NATO to fight on its side.” “Having NATO support for the army, NATO tanks and soldiers fighting side by side against Russia – that’s a dream [in such circumstances],” he added, stressing that “Poland, being a NATO state, could never have agreed to that.” Poland has been one of Kiev’s staunchest backers, providing both arms and diplomatic support. Moscow has claimed that Polish nationals make up a significant portion of foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine’s military ranks.
The relationship between Warsaw and Kiev has also seen disputes. In 2023, several eastern European states, including Poland, banned EU-facilitated Ukrainian grain imports, citing market disruptions. Tensions have also repeatedly flared over Kiev’s veneration of nationalist figures responsible for the mass killing of Poles during the Second World War. Moscow has long described the Ukraine conflict as a NATO proxy war against Russia, warning that European members of the US-led bloc risk direct confrontation by fueling the hostilities. Prior to the escalation in 2022, Russia sought a legally-binding pledge that NATO would freeze its expansion eastward, a proposal that was rejected.
No, Russia will not allow troops inside Ukraine. Every word about it is a waste of everybody’s time.
• Europeans Ready To Offer Security Guarantees To Ukraine – Macron (RT)
A number of European countries are prepared to offer security guarantees to Ukraine once a peace deal between Kiev and Moscow is signed, French President Emmanuel Macron has said. He made the comments after months of debate within NATO about possible models for post-conflict Ukraine, which have coincided with US President Donald Trump’s renewed efforts to mediate a deal with Russia. “We Europeans are ready to offer security guarantees to Ukraine and its people on the day a peace deal is signed,” Macron said following a meeting with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky in Paris on Wednesday.
“The contributions prepared, documented, and confirmed this afternoon at the level of defense ministers, in an extremely confidential manner, allow me to state that the preparatory work is complete,” he added, without specifying the details. “We are ready for a robust peace and a lasting peace for Ukraine and for Europeans,” Macron said.Zelensky expressed confidence that “firm security guarantees” would be agreed upon during the meeting of Ukraine’s backers, known as the Coalition of the Willing, on Thursday. Kiev has been pressing the West to provide guarantees that could serve as a substitute for NATO’s collective defense after the US effectively blocked Ukraine’s bid to join the bloc.
Several European nations, including France and the UK, have voiced their readiness to deploy peacekeepers, while Germany recently said it has no such plans. Trump has ruled out sending US troops to Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly warned that it would not tolerate NATO countries’ soldiers on Ukrainian soil, even under the guise of a peacekeeping force. President Vladimir Putin has listed an end to Western military aid to Kiev as one of the conditions for a ceasefire.
As long as the West refuses to admit that Russia won, they can demand peace talks on an equal basis. Or so they think.
• Kremlin Blasts ‘Unacceptable’ Western Plan For Ukraine Security Guarantees (ZH)
After earlier this week European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen boasted to The Financial Times that the European Union had “pretty precise plans” for deploying a multinational force to Ukraine, and which is backstopped by the Untied States, the Kremlin has made clear it has flatly rejected such a prospect. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that Moscow would not even discuss or entertain in any way deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine as part of a future peace deal. There will be no international post-conflict security force “in any format” – she made clear. “Russia is not going to discuss the fundamentally unacceptable and security-undermining foreign intervention in Ukraine in any form, in any format,” Zakharova told reporters on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
Suggesting that it’s entirely a waste of time for the West to be talking about such a topic, she said “next time they aim to discuss this topic, they should have a pointer in the form of Russia’s position.” “Judging by Ukraine’s losses, the European Commission has simply outdone itself,” Zakharova added, at a moment Russia’s ground forces continue to make gains in the east, and even into the more central Dnipropetrovsk region. And yet Europe is still forging ahead, with French President Emmanuel Macron hosting a summit of European leaders on Thursday. He declared, “We are ready, we the Europeans, to offer the security guarantees to Ukraine and Ukrainians the day that a peace (accord) is signed.”
He called details of guarantees “extremely confidential” but indicated that the preparations had been complete. Various allied defense ministers will take up the issue in the Paris meeting on Thursday. But confidential or not, Russia has clearly already rejected whatever multinational force plan that the Western allies have on the table. Moscow has consistently made clear its position, stretching back months or even over the last year, but this doesn’t seem to have gotten through to Western capitals. President Putin while speaking from Beijing Wednesday, after observing Xi’s big military parade along with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, didn’t sound like he’s in a hurry to make compromises at the negotiating table.
He painted a picture of his troops having the clear battlefield momentum and upper-hand, describing that “Ukrainian combat-ready units are staffed at no more than 47-48%,” in a speech. “Ukrainian military is constantly forced to redeploy units from one part of the front, to another,” he said. That’s when he underscored that if the Ukraine conflict “cannot be resolved peacefully, Russia will be forced to achieve its objectives by military means.”
BREAKING: France’s Macron:
26 countries committed to taking part in reassurance force in Ukraine, be it land, sea or air role.
In next few days, US support to security guarantees will be finalised. pic.twitter.com/rHmnOu7ptO
— Clash Report (@clashreport) September 4, 2025
He did say that “If Zelensky is interested in meeting, let him come to Moscow” – but that such a meeting can only happen once clear understandings are reached, and if something substantial can be agreed up, and not just for the sake of optics or having a meeting just to have it.
They’re attacking (the sovereignty of) NATO members.
• Ukrainian Attacks On EU Oil Supplies Are ‘Sanctions’ – Zelensky (RT)
Kiev’s attacks on Hungarian and Slovakian energy supplies from Russia are a form of “sanctions,” Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has claimed. In August, Ukraine repeatedly struck the Druzhba pipeline, a key conduit transporting Russian and Kazakh crude to Slovakia and Hungary. Both EU nations have since accused Kiev of threatening their energy security. US President Donald Trump is “very unhappy” that nations in Western Europe are still buying oil from Russia, Zelensky said at a joint press conference alongside French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Thursday. “Among others, there are two countries, we know that these are Hungary and Slovakia,” he said.
Ukrainian attacks on the Russian energy pipelines “reduce the possibilities of [Hungary and Slovakia] obtaining the corresponding oil,” he added. Therefore, you see, Ukraine has found these types of sanctions. However, according to Budapest, Trump has voiced displeasure at Kiev’s attacks on the Druzhba pipeline. “I am very angry about it. Tell Slovakia,” he said in a letter to Prime Minister Viktor Orban shared by Hungarian officials last month. Both Budapest and Bratislava have demanded that the European Commission act against Ukrainian attacks on a pipeline “indispensable” to their energy security, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said last month.
The EC has since said that it contacted Kiev and asked all sides to “ensure the security of critical infrastructure.” Szijjarto announced on Monday that Hungary would accelerate the development of a joint oil pipeline with neighboring Serbia. He added that gas supplies to the country via Serbia and the TurkStream route have grown to 21 million cubic meters a day. Slovakia will “retaliate very harshly” against Ukrainian attacks on the Druzhba pipeline, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico told Putin in China on Tuesday, adding that he will raise the issue in talks with Zelensky later this week.
His grandfather was a card-carrying member of the nazi party. Which lost to Russia in1945.
• Merz Driven By Desire For ‘Maniacal Revenge’ Against Russia – Moscow (RT)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz harbors a “maniacal drive for revenge” against Russia based on Nazi-era grievances, according to the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) in Moscow. The chancellor’s stance – including his push for Ukraine to use German missiles against Russia – has reportedly caused concern in Berlin. Merz has pledged to supply long-range Taurus missiles to Kiev but has not commented publicly on the details. According to a press release from the SVR on Thursday, the chancellor’s anti-Russian stance is partly fueled by a personal family grievance tied to Nazi Germany’s defeat in World War II. “Desire for revenge grew in him from childhood and morphed into an overwhelming passion after the launch of his political career,” the statement said, adding that Merz’s attitude is well known to his inner circle.
The agency accused Berlin of preparing a batch of Taurus missiles with identifying markings removed to conceal their origin. It further alleged that any potential launches from Ukraine would be carried out by German troops, as training local forces to operate the systems would take too long. “Merz’s maniacal drive for revenge is causing growing concern among the political elites [in Germany],” the SVR said, adding that politicians in Berlin fear Russian retaliation if the missiles are used. Earlier this week, Merz urged Western allies to pursue “economic exhaustion” of Russia through sanctions on its trade partners, saying military aid for Ukraine alone was inefficient. He also labeled Russian President Vladimir Putin “perhaps the most serious war criminal of our time,” insisting there could be no “leniency” toward Moscow.
Putin dismissed the accusations, suggesting Merz was attempting to absolve the West “of responsibility for the tragedy currently unfolding in Ukraine.” Moscow characterizes the conflict as a NATO-driven proxy war waged “to the last Ukrainian.” Merz’s family history has also drawn scrutiny. Local media have cited archives showing that his maternal grandfather, Josef Paul Sauvigny, who served as mayor of Brilon under the Nazis, was granted NSDAP membership at least in May 1937, after applying sometime between 1933 and 1936. Merz had previously denied the connection, but acknowledged Sauvigny’s Nazi ties during his campaign for the chancellorship. He stressed that his grandfather had died in 1967, when Merz was 13 years old.
“..Merz’s maniac desire for revenge is causing increasing concern among the German political elite, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service concluded.”
• Merz Instructs To Hide German Involvement In Taurus Deliveries To Ukraine (Sp.)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz gave instructions to hide Germany’s involvement in the Taurus missile deliveries to Ukraine as much as possible, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said on Thursday.
Last week, the German cabinet passed a draft bill to introduce voluntary military service, which may pave the way for mandatory conscription if extra troops are required. Merz said Germany needed to enhance its military capabilities in light of an alleged threat posed by Russia. “The Chancellor, admittedly, takes into account the risks of Germany’s direct involvement in military operations against Russia. In this regard, he instructed to hide Berlin’s involvement in the supply of such weapons to Kiev as much as possible,” the statement said.German politicians fear that the use of Taurus missiles on Russia can trigger a retaliatory strike, under which all the territory of Germany would be at risk, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service said. The factory markings are being removed from the missile components and individual parts are being replaced from the Taurus systems, the statement said. “However, Merz cannot escape the fact that the Taurus will be operated by German military personnel sent to Ukraine,” the statement added. Many European experts are puzzled by Merz’s harsh anti-Russian rhetoric in the context of advancing the Russia-US dialogue on Ukraine, and Merz’s maniac desire for revenge is causing increasing concern among the German political elite, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service concluded.
“..Russia could displace up to half of the more than 40 million tons of LNG China currently imports each year, including from the US..”
• Russia-China Gas Deal To ‘Turn The LNG Market On Its Head’ (RT)
Russia’s announcement this week of expanded pipeline gas exports to China could shake the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market and squeeze out US suppliers, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. During his visit to China, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Moscow and Beijing had reached consensus on a major new pipeline across Mongolia, which would significantly boost existing supplies. Although Chinese officials did not immediately comment, Bloomberg noted that “the ties binding Russia to its most important consumer have undoubtedly tightened.” The proposed Power of Siberia 2 pipeline could be operational by 2030.
Combined with other supply increases, Russia could displace up to half of the more than 40 million tons of LNG China currently imports each year, including from the US, Bloomberg estimated. ”Given that China is the largest importer of LNG, this would turn the LNG market on its head,” analysts at AB Bernstein, a Wall Street research and brokerage firm, wrote in a note cited by the outlet. “For LNG projects that are still being contemplated, this would be a big negative.” The report framed the development as a signal from Beijing to Washington that it does not need US LNG for long-term growth, a message sent as relations between the two countries sour.
Bloomberg added that China appears comfortable with deeper reliance on Russian supplies, which Bernstein predicted could cover 20% of its gas demand by the early 2030s, up from around 10% today. This week, China also received its first shipment from Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project, despite US sanctions. Moscow has accused Western governments of prioritizing geopolitics over fair competition, pointing to the freezing of Russian sovereign assets and attempts to curtail its energy exports through economic restrictions. Russian officials argue such actions are pushing Moscow to seek more dependable customers, particularly for pipeline gas, which requires heavy infrastructure investment and long-term cooperation.
Bulgaria should sue the European Commission.
“..the Commission cited Bulgarian authorities as suggesting the incident was “due to blatant interference from Russia.”
“In an interview with Bulgarian channel bTV, Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Grozdan Karadjov denied that the government had submitted any information on the matter to the European Commission, contradicting the Commission’s assertion that Bulgarian authorities suspected the disruption was the result of the Kremlin’s hybrid warfare.”
• Bulgaria Debunks von der Leyen Jet Claims (RT)
There is no evidence Russia interfered with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s airplane during her recent flight to Bulgaria, the country’s authorities have said. The European Commission earlier claimed Bulgarian authorities had confirmed the incident. On Sunday von der Leyen’s pilots allegedly reported issues with their navigation systems while landing in Plovdiv on a PR exercise to visit “Europe’s frontline states.” The Financial Times Brussels bureau chief Henry Foy, who was on board the press junket, reported that the flight was “forced to circle for an hour.” EU officials later told Sky of suspected “blatant Russian interference.”
NATO chief Mark Rutte claimed “we are all on the eastern flank now, whether you live in London or Tallinn. ”However, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov has outright contradicted Brussels’ claim and the reporting, telling parliament on Thursday that no evidence of a Russian attack had been found and that von der Leyen’s plane did not suffer any serious issues, only short-term signal degradation, which is common in densely populated areas.
“After checking the onboard records, we saw that the pilot did not express any concerns. The plane was in the holding area for about five minutes, and the signal quality remained good the entire time,” Zhelyazkov was quoted as saying by Bild. Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Grozdan Karadjov has also confirmed that there is “not a single fact that confirms the claim that the plane’s GPS signal was jammed,” citing empirical data, radio intercepts, recordings of our civil and military departments. In an interview with bTV, Karadjov also denied sharing any information about the incident with the European Commission.
Moscow on Thursday dismissed the “preposterous” accusations pushed by Brussels, pointing to publicly available flight tracking data which indicates that von der Leyen’s jet had reported good GPS signal quality throughout the flight. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested that the EU’s accusations were “not just paranoia, but a cynical plot to distract their own population from the EU’s worsening economic situation and from considering the real culprits behind the European crisis – the irresponsible, kleptocratic political elites of the European Union.” Since 2024, the Nordic and Baltic countries have accused Russia of disrupting communications on planes and ships as a form of “hybrid warfare,” allegations Russia has denied.
A couple days ago, the FT hyped a "Russian active measures" hoax claiming Russia jammed the GPS on von der Layen's plane. The story has already unraveled, but no correction from the FT. It all feels so Trump-1st termy. pic.twitter.com/LOzc1YnlTq
— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) September 4, 2025
Made up from A to Z.
• Did Russia Really Jam Von der Leyen’s Plane? The Data Says Otherwise (RT)
A flurry of reports from EU officials and Western media claimed this week that Russia jammed the plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen into Bulgaria. The tale of “hybrid warfare” in the skies made front-page news across an unquestioning mainstream press. But flight-tracking data shows something very different to what has been widely reported, and Bulgaria has backed it up.
1) What Brussels claimed happened. On Sunday, von der Leyen traveled to Plovdiv as part of an Eastern Europe tour of “frontline states” in a chartered jet with the elite of Brussels media. The junket was intended to harden Western backing for Kiev. Together with Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, she visited the VMZ arms plant in Sopot and praised Sofia as a critical supplier of weapons to Ukraine. Yet the headlines were less about the factory floor and more about the flight path. Upon landing the Financial Times bureau chief Henry Foy claimed that Russia had “blatantly interfered” with the Commission President’s aircraft, knocking out its GPS navigation system on approach. According to those accounts, the plane was forced to circle for an hour and the pilots had to fall back on paper charts before landing in Plovdiv.
2) How the scare took off. Once seeded, the story raced through the Western press: The Financial Times carried the initial claims of “blatant Russian interference,” Politico described a “GPS scare gripping Europe,” The Guardian tied the episode into a string of alleged Russian plots. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte declared the alliance was working “day and night” to counter jamming and spoofing. Italy floated the idea of hiding the routes of official flights altogether. The narrative slotted neatly into von der Leyen’s larger mission: selling a new round of defense spending as protection from a threatening Russia.
3) Does data back the drama? No. FlightRadar24, the go-to service Western journalists themselves usually rely on for in-flight information on Monday quietly brought the claims flying out of Brussels back down to Earth.
• Its data showed “good GPS signal quality from take-off to landing.”
• The aircraft touched down nine minutes late, not an hour.
When activists online tried to poke holes, FR24 doubled down with a second statement: the telemetry is clear, no signal loss, no blackout. Furthermore, the flight path published by FR24 shows a standard figure of either approach and landing, no circling. In other words: no evidence of Russian jamming, no missing hour, no emergency fallback to paper maps.4) Official walk-backs, muted corrections. Zhelyazkov on Thursday told the Bulgarian parliament that there had been no attempts to jam the GPS signal and that any break was consistent with flying over heavily populated areas. “After checking the plane’s records, we saw that there was no indication of concern from the pilot. Five minutes the aircraft hovered in the waiting area, with the quality of the signal being good all the time,” he told lawmakers. The European Commission itself quietly denied there had been any “targeted actions” against von der Leyen’s plane. Despite that, the original “Russian plot” framing still stands, uncorrected, in most coverage.
5) Moscow cries foul. Moscow was quick to seize on the contradiction. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the reports “preposterous” and part of a Western “web of lies.” The point, she argued, was not aviation safety but distraction – keeping Europeans focused on an external enemy while their economies strain under sanctions and defense bills.
6) Bottom line.The EU got its headline about Russian interference. But von der Leyen’s jet didn’t circle for an hour, didn’t lose GPS, and didn’t need paper maps. FlightRadar24’s data doesn’t match the drama.
Politico EU is now having to report that the Bulgaria GPS story was made up. Very humiliating.
POLITICO: The alleged attack on von der Leyen could have triggered a major diplomatic crisis — or worse. But days later, the incident is being brushed aside by the Bulgarian… pic.twitter.com/ThWGLfjS6T
— Alex Christoforou (@AXChristoforou) September 4, 2025
“In a Tuesday court filing, Cook’s lawyers said she “did not ever commit mortgage fraud.”
• DOJ Opens Grand Jury Criminal Investigation Fed Governor Lisa Cook (ZH)
The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook – and has issued multiple subpoenas as part of the inquiry into whether she committed mortgage fraud, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing ‘officials familiar with the matter.’ The probe – for which a grand jury has been assembled, will begin by looking at Cook’s properties in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Atlanta. It comes on the heels of two criminal investigations from Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, who has been dropping receipts for weeks with evidence that Cook committed fraud – including claiming two properties as her “primary residence” – as well as claiming that a rented out third property was her ‘second home’ – all things that would qualify her for better rates and tax treatment.
“Pulte accused Cook of misleading banks on multiple mortgage applications to receive favorable lending terms, such as lower interest rates, typically given to a buyer who intends to occupy the home they purchase. A judge is considering Cook’s request for an emergency order stopping her from being removed from the Fed board while the case proceeds. The Fed’s next meeting is set to begin Sept. 16.” -WSJ. Last Thursday, Cook filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after President Donald Trump fired her that Monday ‘for cause.’ Among the excuses contained in the lawsuit for alleged mortgage fraud was a possible clerical error.
Except, Cook described herself in her 2023 nomination hearing as having “significant experience in banking and finance, as is evidenced by my service on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and of a Community Development Financial Institution in Michigan, in addition to my employment at an investment bank and a large commercial bank.” What’s more, the Federal Reserve Act allows the president to fire Fed governors ‘for cause’ – which the Trump administration claims applies. In a Tuesday court filing, Cook’s lawyers said she “did not ever commit mortgage fraud.”
.@pulte: "I don't believe for the last 4 years that the Fed has been independent…
You've got Lisa Cook who's being represented by Norm Eisen. Norm Eisen is the guy who tried to TAKE DOWN Trump, failed at it, but led the first impeachment… This is a raging Democrat." pic.twitter.com/7yZFoJlBeC
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) September 4, 2025
Pulte shot down any notion that the fed wasn’t political in a Thursday appearance on CNBC, saying “I don’t believe for the last 4 years that the Fed has been independent.” According to the report, the DOJ investigation involves Ed Martin, a top DOJ official who AG Pam Bondi designated to investigate mortgage fraud among public officials.
More Lisa Cook. She thought that nobody would dare touch her.
“In 2024, there were 38 federal mortgage fraud offenders who received an average prison sentence of 14 months..”
• Lisa Cook May Be in Real Trouble Now (Margolis)
Last month, President Donald Trump fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook amid allegations of mortgage fraud, and the left promptly freaked out, with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) calling for Trump’s ouster via the 25th Amendment. Now, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Cook’s legal problems have just become very real. “The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, issuing subpoenas as part of an inquiry into whether she submitted fraudulent information on mortgage applications, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter,” the paper reported Thursday. The initial scrutiny has centered on Cook’s properties in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Atlanta, with investigators using grand juries as part of the probe, the officials said.
The investigation comes on the heels of two criminal referrals from Bill Pulte, the Trump-appointed director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who has publicly alleged that Cook engaged in mortgage fraud. President Trump has cited those allegations in his bid to fire Cook and wrest control of a central bank that has historically remained independent. [..] Cook filed a lawsuit last month alleging Trump’s move to fire her was unlawful. She argued Trump “concocted” a basis for her firing to vacate a seat on the board that he can fill to “forward his agenda to undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve.” Cook has argued in court that her firing was illegal. She points out that the Federal Reserve Act allows a president to fire a governor only “for cause,” not because of political disputes or unsubstantiated claims.
Cook says she never received a fair hearing or proper notice, adding that she “has been deprived of her Fifth Amendment right to due process, and of her right to process under the Federal Reserve Act.” Despite her claims, recent reports have shown that Cook has indeed listed multiple residences she owns as her primary residence, a move that property owners commonly make to obtain better mortgage terms. Both Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and New York Attorney General Letitia James are facing similar accusations.
“Felony convictions of mortgage fraud are relatively rare. In 2024, there were 38 federal mortgage fraud offenders who received an average prison sentence of 14 months, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission,” the Wall Street Journal notes. “A 2023 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that one-third of single-family home investors misrepresent their occupancy status on their mortgage applications.” But that’s not really the point here, is it? Cook wants due process, and she’s getting it. Whether the DOJ decides to prosecute her or not, as a former Federal Reserve governor, she should have known better than to claim multiple homes as her primary residence. Her willingness to do so raises serious questions about her judgment, which makes her unfit for a position that demands integrity and accountability.
Gotta do it. This is the ultimate lawfare. $83.3 million for the script of a detective series episode, it makes no sense. It turns the entire US justice system into a laughing stock.
• Trump Tells Supreme Court He Will Appeal in E. Jean Carroll Case (ET)
President Donald Trump plans to ask the Supreme Court this fall to overturn a civil jury verdict that found he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll and defamed her, his attorneys said in a new court filing. Trump’s intentions were revealed in an application docketed by the nation’s highest court on Sept. 2. In the application, his lawyers asked the court to extend an upcoming Sept. 10 deadline for filing a petition to challenge the $5 million verdict to Nov. 10. The application was directed to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who handles urgent appeals from New York. Trump “intends to seek review” of “significant issues” arising out of the trial and what he termed the “erroneous” ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that affirmed the verdict, according to the application.
On June 13, a divided Second Circuit denied a rehearing in the case. Circuit Judges Steven Menashi and Michael Park dissented from the ruling. “These holdings conflict with controlling precedents and produced a judgment that cannot be justified under the rules of evidence that apply as a matter of course in all other cases,” Menashi said in a dissent joined by Park. Trump’s attorney in the case, Justin D. Smith of James Otis Law Group LLC in St. Louis, Missouri, said more time was needed to file the petition. “Undersigned counsel faces a significant press of business due to many upcoming deadlines,” Smith said. Carroll gave evidence during a 2023 trial that Trump attacked her in 1996 in a dressing room in a Manhattan department store near the Trump Tower.
In its May 2023 verdict, the federal jury held Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her when he made statements in October 2022 denying her allegations. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages. In another lawsuit filed by Carroll, a federal jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million in damages over statements he made in 2019 denying the sexual assault allegations. A three-judge panel of the Second Circuit affirmed the verdict in December 2024, rejecting Trump’s argument that the trial judge’s ruling invalidated the trial by allowing others who accused Trump of sexual abuse to testify. Three women said Trump carried out similar acts against them in 2005 and the 1970s. Trump denied the allegations.
“President Trump has consistently and unequivocally denied Carroll’s allegations in both cases,” the new application said. Carroll obtained the $5 million award based on “incorrect findings,” after which the federal district court “wrongly” interpreted the law and “improperly [prevented] President Trump from contesting the merits in that action,” the filing said. After that, Carroll secured the “unjust judgment of $83.3 million,” the application said. “We do not believe that President Trump will be able to present any legal issues in the Carroll cases that merit review by the United States Supreme Court,” Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, said on Sept. 3.
Bernie and Pocahontas. Time did stand still.
There are 1,000 different people coming after RFK. Big pharma wants its profits.
• RFK Jr Spars With Senators During Wild Testimony (ZH)
Update (1520ET): Well that was actually pretty interesting. As Democrat Senators read prepared zingers to try and corner RFK Jr. over vaccines and other malarkey, Kennedy hit back with several very specific haymakers during the three-hour session – calling the Democratic lawmakers ‘liars’ – and even pointing out the Elizabeth Warren has taken nearly a million dollars from pharmaceutical companies. At the center of Thursday’s hearing was Kennedy’s surprise decision last week to fire CDC Director Susan Monarez, just a month after she took the job. The move plunged the agency into turmoil, prompting several senior officials to resign. Kennedy accused Monarez of lying in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published the same morning, in which she claimed she was removed for refusing to “rubber stamp” vaccine recommendations from Kennedy’s advisory committee.
“We are the sickest country in the world, that’s why we have to fire people at CDC,” Kennedy said. Kennedy also defended his June purge of 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, known as ACIP, framing the move as an effort to “depoliticize” the committee. “I didn’t politicize ACIP, I depoliticized it,” he insisted. Kennedy also said that that leading medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, were compromised because they accept pharmaceutical industry funding. That prompted an exasperated retort from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT): “In your eyes, everybody but you is corrupt.” During one fiery exchange with Senator Elizabeth Warren, Kennedy said “I know you’ve taken $855K from PHARMA COMPANIES, SENATOR!”
https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1963635271578038376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1963635271578038376%7Ctwgr%5E0f72b4e1d2c1fc8daa8fcbd861acce5571871756%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fwatch-live-rfk-jr-testifies-senate-amid-cdc-turmoil
https://twitter.com/thecjpearson/status/1963614024421031956?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1963614024421031956%7Ctwgr%5E0f72b4e1d2c1fc8daa8fcbd861acce5571871756%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fwatch-live-rfk-jr-testifies-senate-amid-cdc-turmoil
Sounds like the power structure of the whole AI industry is sort of settled. It isn’t. Far too early for that.
• Musk Snubbed From Trump’s Tech CEO Party At Rose Garden (ZH)
The Hill has obtained the invitation list for an exclusive White House gathering later today in the newly renovated Rose Garden. This event will follow a White House event on artificial intelligence hosted by First Lady Melania Trump. Among those set to attend are Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg. “The Rose Garden Club at the White House is the hottest place to be in Washington, or perhaps the world. The president looks forward to welcoming top business, political, and tech leaders for this dinner and the many dinners to come on the new, beautiful Rose Garden patio,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told the media outlet.
President Trump hosting a dinner for the who’s who of tech CEO’s at in the newly renovated Rose Garden Thursday.
I took a photo of the Rose Garden after getting out of the Oval Office today for meeting between President Trump and the President of Poland. #RoseGarden #WhiteHouse pic.twitter.com/23OkYjm0DR
— Edward Lawrence (@EdwardLawrence) September 4, 2025
Noticeably absent, according to The Hill, was Elon Musk, whose strained relationship with President Trump earlier this year likely kept him off the guest list. Trump last night, commenting about Musk: “He’s got 80% super genius and then 20% he’s got some problems.”
https://twitter.com/ScottJenningsKY/status/1963347028198781416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1963347028198781416%7Ctwgr%5E262f9ef54462efe829319af83a888e94f771ba1a%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Ftechnology%2Fmusk-snubbed-trumps-tech-ceo-party-rose-garden
The snub is reminiscent of the Biden-Harris administration’s decision not to invite Musk to a 2021 White House EV summit. Other attendees include many top tech leaders and CEOs, such as Sergey Brin and Sundar Pichai, founder and CEO of Google, respectively; Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle; David Limp, CEO of Blue Origin; Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron Technology; and Greg Brockman, President of OpenAI. White House AI czar David Sacks will be in attendance, along with Jared Isaacman, CEO of Shift4, who recently withdrew his nomination to lead NASA.]
“The only question remaining is whether those responsible will be held accountable or whether the ruling elite are just too powerful to ever be held accountable.”
• The Power Resides in the Enemies of Truth (Paul Craig Roberts)
RootsAction is an activist site founded by two progressives to defend the public interest from “an increasingly extremist Republican Party.” RootsAction believes that both parties are compromised by corporate money and power, is against the wars, and was endorsed by Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Daniel Ellsberg, and Naomi Klein, all principled persons whether or not you agree with them. Some of the organization’s positions are reasonable–put limits on Super PACs to limit the amount of bought government; consider the risks of nuclear power plants–others are half-baked by ignoring the adverse consequences. Therefore, I was surprised to receive from RootsAction an email addressed specifically to me, not a mass mailing, calling for Robert F. Kennedy’s removal as Health Secretary.
Their case against Kennedy is that the limits he has put on the Covid vax, now proven to have caused more deaths and health injuries than Covid, and on other vaccines associated with the plethora of new childhood illnesses that did not previously exist, together with regulations to improve food safety, “is causing future deaths and suffering on a large scale.” As there is no evidence for this charge, the question arose in my mind whether RootsAction was being paid by Big Pharma as a part of Big Pharma’s policy of putting its profits ahead of Americans’ health and safety. Just as President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s uncle, was considered a risk to the power and profit of the US military/security complex, Robert F. Kennedy Jr is considered a risk to the power and profit of Big Pharma.
This suspicion increased when I saw that RootsAction was predicting future deaths from constraints Kennedy placed on the corrupt revolving door between Big Pharma and the CED, NIH, and FDA and cessation of federal funding for Big Pharma-serving propaganda. How is it possible that RootsAction has learned nothing from the proliferation of scientific peer-reviewed studies documenting the disastrous effects of the Covid Vax, lockdowns, and masks? As the whore media continues to hide these established results from the public in exchange for Big Pharma advertising revenues, it is possible that RootsAction simply doesn’t know the facts. The CDC directors and bureaucrats who were fired were fired for putting Big Pharma’s profits ahead of the public’s health. Many of them came from Big Pharma and many returned to Big Pharma.
The Covid Pandemic was an orchestration. Just as RootsAction disapproves, I assume, of the current orchestrations to promote wars, such as Iran’s alleged “nuclear weapons” and Venezuelan President Maduro’s alleged “narcotics cartel,” like Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction” and Assad’s “use of chemical weapons,” RootsAction should disapprove of Big Pharma’s orchestration to remove Robert Kennedy. For many years my columns have emphasized the decline in the ability of truth to get a hearing. There are many reasons for this: The rise of ideological agendas for which truth is an obstacle, the concentration of the print and TV media in six mega-companies thereby making it possible to establish official narratives regardless of their truthfulness, and an insouciant and largely ignorant population without the interest and ability to examine the official narratives.
Indeed, today in the US education consists of indoctrinating students with official narratives and cancelling those who challenge the narratives. The simple fact is that truth is disappearing, because it does not serve the agendas of the ruling elites. This explains why it is so difficult for Robert Kennedy, Donald Trump with his mandate, and anyone else to set things right. The power resides in the enemies of truth. Consequently, important issues, often crucial ones, are settled by canceling the narrative challenger, smearing him, arresting him on false charges, passing a law to protect the narrative, or simply by ignoring the challenge which is the whore media’s response to the Covid scandal.
Impossible you say? Think about the recent Russiagate hoax. The entirety of the Biden regime, Democrat Party, TV, print, and NPR media, liberal-left intellectuals and professors, RINO Republicans like Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, the Entire UK and EU press and public figures supported the Russiagate hoax. Yet, as we now know for certain, never was a greater lie perpetuated on the world. The only question remaining is whether those responsible will be held accountable or whether the ruling elite are just too powerful to ever be held accountable.
10 years too late.
• New Greek Law Promises Prison For Rejected Asylum-Seekers (ZH)
In the latest example of a European government taking stronger measures to curb illegal immigration, the Greek Parliament on Wednesday passed a law that promises lengthy prison sentences for migrants who stay in the country after their asylum requests have been rejected. “The Greek state does not accept you. You only have one choice: to go back. You’re not welcome,” said Migration Minister Thanos Plevris after the bill passed. The new law is the second major tightening of Greek immigration in the last two months. On July 9, conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis completely suspended asylum applications for three months, saying he was effectively notifying human smugglers that “the passage to Greece is closed.”
The two moves came after the pace of illegal-immigrant arrivals on Crete reached crisis levels this summer, with the number of illegals landing on the island in the first six months of 2025 tripling over the same period last year. The last straw that prompted Mitsotakis’ three-month asylum ban was the arrival of more than 2,600 illegals on Crete just during the first week of July. The move quickly paid off, slashing arrivals to just 500 over the first 27 days of August. Under the new law, which was championed by Mitsotakis, migrants who fail to leave the country after their asylum request is rejected face up to five years in prison and fines of up to 30,000 euros. The penalty for illegal entry is tripled to 10,000 euros.
The deadline for leaving after being rejected was slashed from 25 days to 14, and authorities are now authorized to outfit rejected applicants with ankle monitors so they can be tracked until they leave, the New York Times reports. The law also abolished illegal immigrants’ previous privilege of applying for residence after they’d been in Greece for seven years. During parliamentary debate on Tuesday, Plevris said asylum-seekers fell into two categories: “There are those who are downtrodden, and then there are some who are spoiled, who think that Europe owes them. We need to put emphasis on the voluntary returns, but there will be consequences for those who do not choose to return to their countries.” Crete became a preferred dumping ground for migrant-smugglers after other European countries imposed tougher asylum processes or increased their offshore patrols and other security measures.
When asylum requests were barred, Plevris told a reporter: “All European countries now understand that it is not possible to have open borders, it’s not possible to welcome illegal migrants with flowers. There should be a clear message that countries have borders, (that) Europe has exceeded its capabilities and will not accept any more illegal migrants.” In one of the continuing consequences of Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton’s utterly catastrophic regime-change operation, most of the diversity landing on the shores of Crete this year has come from Libya. Cursed by geography, Greece has long suffered from the effects of US-led destabilization campaigns, particularly in 2015-16, when hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa flowed through the country.
Ladapo
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1963254999204442607
Siberia2
New on Substack: Power of Siberia 2… the EU’s greatest self-own.
For fifty years Russian gas kept German factories humming and it was the quiet fuel behind Western Europe’s prosperity, the lifeblood of its middle-class strength.
Now that same gas will flow east, across… pic.twitter.com/ifLHl1WJvq
— Brian McDonald (@27khv) September 3, 2025
Wealth
The top 1% of Americans now sit on more wealth than the whole middle class.
Years back, an elderly Russian man said to me: “The worst losers from the Soviet collapse weren’t in Moscow… they were in Ohio.”
It sounded like a joke then. Now it feels like an epitaph. pic.twitter.com/jTpf8yAA7c
— Brian McDonald (@27khv) September 3, 2025
Pirro
You are looking at the largest seizure of precursor chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine in U.S. history. China was sending over 700,000 lbs on the high seas to the Sinaloa Cartel before my office seized them.
Because President Trump and Secretary Rubio declared the… pic.twitter.com/kAyijtTlTM
— Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) September 3, 2025
https://twitter.com/KathleenWinche3/status/1963192428246040749
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