M. C. Escher Still life and street 1937
Weinstein
Bret Weinstein Reacts to RFK Jr & Trump Joining Forces: 'This is Absolutely Monumental'
"This was not a simple endorsement of Trump. This was an endorsement of retaking the White House and using that position to restore the Republic to its proper course…I think the modern… pic.twitter.com/ORkmb3RRoC
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) August 24, 2024
The moment that won the presidency. pic.twitter.com/3UIrrsrxLB
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) August 24, 2024
https://twitter.com/i/status/1827137160694124558
https://twitter.com/i/status/1827252696157712393
OH MY GOD‼️
Did you Catch who RFK Jr Said was Advising Donald Trump Now!!!? — Calley Means! The SISTER of Casey Means, who was Recently on Tucker Carlsons Show
If you did not watch that interview, you have done yourself a disservice… this woman, her sister, brother, along… pic.twitter.com/zBsPp0hAnj
— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) August 23, 2024
Gutfeld
The most impressive and powerful description of Donald Trump that I have ever heard.
WATCH.
— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) August 24, 2024
Vivek Van
https://twitter.com/i/status/1826998015694913973
Dipshizzy
https://twitter.com/i/status/1827035655244828965
So good
https://twitter.com/i/status/1827172947280249138
They will have had elaborate conversations, and RFK will have made many demands, most of which Trump will have said yes to.
We haven’t forgotten those who say he’s an intel asset, but we’ll have to see..
• RFK Jr. Takes a Flame Thrower to the Entire System (Kevin Downey Jr)
Robert Kennedy Jr.’s highly anticipated speech on Friday was much more than the third-party candidate bowing out of the race and endorsing Trump. Kennedy laid waste to the deep state, big pharma, big food, the military-industrial complex, Democrat censorship, and how most, if not all, of these institutions may be working together for sinister reasons. Kennedy apologized for taking the stage 40 minutes late and then immediately jumped into action. “I attended my first Democratic convention at the age of 6 in 1960, and back then, the Democrats were the champions of the Constitution, of civil rights,” Kennedy stated. “The Democrats stood against authoritarianism, against censorship, against colonialism, imperialism, and unjust wars. We were the party of labor, of the working class. The Democrats were the party of government transparency and the champion of the environment.
Our party was the bulwark against big money interests and corporate power. True to its name, it was the party of democracy. As you know, I left that party in October because it had departed so dramatically from the core values that I grew up with.” That was the nicest thing Kennedy would say of his former party. “It had become the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech, big AG, and big money. When it abandoned democracy by canceling the primary to conceal the cognitive decline of the sitting president, I left the party to run as an Independent.” Kennedy then spoke of how the Democratic Party and the mockingbird media mudpuppies unitedly turned on him to chase him out of the 2024 election. After thanking the people who worked on his campaign, RFK Jr. took out his Zippo and went to work. “Now, in an honest system, I believe that I would have won the election, in a system that my father and my uncles thrived in.
A system with open debates with fair primaries… and with a truly independent media untainted by government propaganda and censorship, in a system of nonpartisan courts and election boards, everything would be different,” Kennedy declared. “I’m sorry to say that while democracy may still be alive at the grassroots, it has become little more than a slogan for our political institutions, for our media, and for our government, and most sadly of all for me, the Democratic Party.” “In the name of saving democracy, the Democratic Party set itself to dismantling it, lacking confidence in its candidate that, that its candidate could win in a fair election at the voting booth, the DNC waged continual legal warfare against both President Trump and myself.” He spoke of “DNC-aligned judges” whose job was to throw Kennedy and “other candidates off the ballot and to throw President Trump in jail.”
Kennedy railed over what he called a “primary that was rigged to prevent any serious challenge to President Biden” and the now infamous Trump-Biden debate, which he suggested was a “predictably bungled debate performance,” which resulted in “the palace coup against President Biden.” He then blamed “shadowy DNC operatives” for appointing Kamala Harris without a primary election. He lashed out at Harris for going 35 days without an unscripted interview. Kennedy then set his sights on Biden’s censorship campaign. When a US president colludes with or outright coerces media companies to censor political speech, it’s an attack on our most sacred right of free expression and that’s the very right upon which all of our other constitutional rights rest. President Biden mocked Vladimir Putin’s 88% landslide in the Russian elections, observing that Putin and his party controlled the Russian press, and that Putin prevented serious opponents from appearing on the ballot.
RFK lawfare
The DNC waged continual legal warfare against both President Trump and myself. pic.twitter.com/LitsoUxmvj
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 24, 2024
Not yet.
• Trump Is Back On His A-Game (C.A. Skeet)
But even his critics agree that Trump is a master showman, an indefatigable fighter, and certainly not one to let inept campaign management derail his reelection. By getting in front of the cameras, by doing the hostile interviews, on a near daily basis, Trump has slowly but steadily blunted Harris’s momentum by the simple fact that people see him and they don’t see her. Trump is effectively regaining control of the narrative. Since Kamala refuses to outline her policy positions, Trump went ahead and outlined her policy positions for her online. He is defining her because she won’t define herself. Trump is regaining control of the narrative. While Trump’s interview at the National Association of Black Journalists has been criticized, the fact is that people will remember not so much the pissing match he got into with “moderator” Rachel Scott.
They’ll remember he had the courage to face a tough audience and a lying, prejudiced interviewer. He did the same thing with the Libertarians. Kamala will never, ever agree to speak to, much less sit down for an interview for, a gathering of the Federalist Society or the NRA. Trump is regaining control of the narrative. While Harris picked up endorsements of this union boss or that celebrity pop star, Trump picked up the endorsement of Robert Kennedy Jr., who just suspended his campaign to throw his support behind him. The optics of a Kennedy supporting a Republican presidential nominee are worth a hundred Cheneys and a thousand Hutchinsons supporting the Democrats. The strategic timing of the announcement, meant to disperse any lingering euphoria from the DNC, has Trump’s style written all over it. Trump is regaining control of the narrative.
When Trump controls the narrative, he’s unstoppable. And it looks like, as of now, he is at least partially successful in wresting it back from the Democrat media machine. To this end, Trump should rightly continue trying to win over traditionally Democrat minorities rather than waste too much time with independents. As I’ve previously pointed out in these pages, “independents” are mostly closet liberals, and the lowest informed ones at that. Wasting precious time and resources trying to make them see reason is like wasting a division trying to claw across a quarter mile of no-mans-land on the fields of Flanders. By appealing to Democrat minorities, Trump is bypassing this futile war of attrition and hitting them right in the trenches. To this day, Democrats still don’t know how to counter Trump’s inexplicable (to them) rise in popularity among minorities other than to scream “RACIST!” ever louder and to accuse these minorities of being race traitors.
You’ll always have your Oprah Winfreys, the billionaire sellout who spoke to the field workers from the loftiest porch on the DNC plantation, warning them against “the old tricks and tropes that are designed to distract us from what actually matters” by talking about…segregation in the 1950s. You’ll always have your John Shapiros, the almost-VP pick turned kapos guard, passed over solely because he is Jewish, who nonetheless stood before a frothing crowd of antisemites in Chicago and told them to vote for the pro-Hamas candidate. But, as evidenced by Trump’s rising popularity among minorities, their rank-and-file is slowly but surely souring on the empty promises of racist, divisive identity politics. If Trump can continue to (1) drive the narrative, (2) keep making inroads with minorities, and (3) maintain the same discipline that he showed in his debate against Biden in his upcoming debate(s) against Harris, he might be able to not only hold onto his slim lead, but to expand it beyond the margin of cheat.
Mere hours after the Friday announcement, RFK was already doing a press-op about this.
• RFK Jr. & Trump To End War On Small Farms, Save Nation’s Food Supply Chain (ZH)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent decades as an environmental lawyer fighting polluters and supported ‘green’ organizations for environmental justice. He is now setting his crosshairs on the pharmaceutical industry and cleaning up the nation’s food supply chain of ultra-processed foods and seed oils that poison consumers. He has determined that suspending his presidential campaign to team up with former President Trump will be necessary for the strongest success rate in making Americans healthier again, not through big pharma’s Ozempic shots but instead revitalizing small farms and shaking up corrupted federal agencies. Lifelong liberals like RFK Jr. backing Trump is one of the strongest indicators of just how extreme the ticket, unoriginal Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrats have become. Harris’ team recently announced their first proposed economic policy, which was rooted in communism and included disastrous price controls. It appears the far-left ticket is being advised and heavily influenced by Marxists.
Between RFK Jr’s special announcement earlier Friday and his speech at Trump’s packed campaign rally in Glendale, Arizona, the liberal with millions of supporters nationwide appears to have made a deal with Trump to join the campaign with a shot at waging war against corrupt federal health and food agencies, resetting the nation’s poisonous food supply chain, and launch a crusade against big pharma if the Trump team wins in November. RFK Jr. informed journalists at his special press conference in the early afternoon of Friday that America’s health crisis stems from ultra-processed foods pushed by giant food/pharma companies that have corrupted various federal agencies: “Autism rates were about one in 10,000 in my generation – in my kids Generation 1 in 34. I’ll repeat in California 1 and 22. Why are we letting this happen? Why are we allowing this to happen to our children? These are the most precious assets that we have in this country, how can we let this happen to them.
This is the most important 3 minutes you'll watch today about America's health crisis.
RFK explains how ultra processed food, seed oils, pesticides, and food additives are messing up kids.
"We are mass poisoning all of our children." pic.twitter.com/qguwgoSGbN
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 23, 2024
About 18% of American teens now have fatty liver disease, that’s like one out of every five – that disease when I was a kid only affected late stage alcoholics who were elderly. Cancer rates are skyrocketing in the Young and the old young. Adult cancers are up 70 79%. One in four American women is on anti-depressant medication. About 40% of teens have a mental health diagnosis and 15% of high schoolers are on Aderall, and half a million children on SSRIs. So what’s causing this suffering? I’ll name two culprits first and the worst is ultra-processed food. About 70% of American children’s diet is ultra-processed that means industrial manufacturing – these Foods consist primarily of processed sugar, ultra-processed grains, and seed oils. Scientists who, for many of them, formerly worked for the cigarette industry, which purchased all the big food companies in the 1970s and 80s, deployed thousands of scientists to figure out chemicals new chemicals to make the food more addictive, and these ingredients didn’t exist a 100 years ago.
Humans aren’t biologically adapted to eat them. Hundreds of these chemicals are now banned in Europe but ubiquitous in American processed foods. The second culprit is toxic chemicals in our food and our medicine and our environment pesticides food additives pharmaceutical drugs and toxic waste permeate every cell of our bodies. The Assault on our children’s cells and hormones is unrelenting – name just one problem many of these chemicals increase estrogen – because young children are ingesting so many of these hormone disruptors, America’s puberty rate is now occurring at age 10 to 13, which is six years earlier than girls were reaching puberty in 1900 our country has the earliest puberty rates of any continent on the Earth and no this isn’t because of better nutrition – this is not normal – breast cancer is also estrogen-driven and it now strikes one in eight women. We are mass poisoning all of our children.”
RFK Jr. then touched on the processed food industry lobbyists who have corrupted Washington, resulting in a food supply chain filled with poison that is killing Americans. He said several federal agencies that are supposed to protect consumers have also been corrupted. He pointed out that the processed food industry has been “destroying small farms, and they’re destroying our soils.”
“The Biden White House repeatedly spurned Russia’s offers to settle this war peacefully..”
• RFK Jr. Blames Biden For Ukraine Conflict (RT)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has accused US President Joe Biden of disrupting peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in 2022, because Washington “wanted the war.” Kennedy made the statement on Friday during a speech in Arizona, where he announced the suspension of his third-party campaign for the White House in the swing state and endorsed Republican Donald Trump. According to Kennedy, Washington had deliberately drawn Moscow into the Ukraine war with the objective of regime change in Russia. “President Biden sent [then-UK Prime Minister] Boris Johnson to Ukraine to force President [Vladimir] Zelensky to tear up a peace agreement that he and the Russians had already signed, and the Russians were already withdrawing troops,” said the son of the 1960s-era Democratic US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy.
Moscow has previously blamed London for blocking the Ukraine peace deal. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in April that Kiev abandoned a proposed peace treaty with Russia, approved by negotiators in Istanbul, in 2022 under British pressure. Boris Johnson visited Kiev in April of that year, and reportedly told Zelensky to “just fight,” prompting the latter to pull out of the discussions. The former prime minister has since denied derailing the peace talks. Kennedy also accused the US government of staging a coup against the democratically-elected government of Ukraine in 2014 and rejecting the Minsk Agreements, a series of peace protocols negotiated between Ukraine, Russia and the European nations in 2019, pushing Kiev into a conflict with Moscow. “The Biden White House repeatedly spurned Russia’s offers to settle this war peacefully,” Kennedy claimed.
The US has sought to exhaust the Russian Army and degrade its capacity to fight, he added, arguing that the objectives of the US government “had nothing to do” with protecting Ukraine’s sovereignty. Kennedy has described Ukraine as a “victim of the West” and “a proxy in a geopolitical struggle initiated by the ambitions of the US neocons for American global hegemony.” He went on to explain that Trump’s promise to reopen negotiations with Russia and end the war as soon as he takes office were among the reasons for him to endorse the former president’s campaign. Kennedy made clear that he wasn’t formally ending his bid for the White House and called on his supporters to continue to back him in other states where their votes are unlikely to sway the outcome.
“They feel that they’re in the position they were 30 years ago. And the world has changed.”
• Putin Outplayed US Neocon Plan to Balkanize Russia (Sp.)
During his August 23 speech in Arizona Robert F Kennedy Jr., a nephew of President John F. Kennedy, endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump and accused the Biden administration and the US foreign policy establishment of provoking the Ukraine conflict. “Tiny Ukraine is a proxy in a geopolitical struggle initiated by the ambitions of the US neocons for American global hegemony,” Kennedy said. “In April 2022, we wanted the war. President Biden sent [then-British prime minister] Boris Johnson to Ukraine to force President [Volodymyr] Zelensky to tear up a peace agreement that he and the Russians had already signed,” he added. “That peace agreement would have brought peace to the region.” Kennedy noted that Donald Trump’s decision to reopen peace negotiations with President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine “alone would justify my support for [Trump’s] campaign.”
Kennedy “stated correctly the neocons are in control of [US] foreign policy,” Earl Rasmussen, a retired lieutenant colonel with over 20 years in the US Army and international consultant, told Sputnik. “We basically are looking for confrontation.” The commentatior said Kennedy has a real grasp on the ongoing situation and the historical background of the unfolding conflict. “Biden is not interested in peace,” Rasmussen said. “They’re not interested in democracy. They don’t care about Ukraine. And Georgia, for that matter, has always been looked at as a mechanism to further encircle and weaken Russia,” the expert said. Washington made preparations for the proxy war with Russia in Ukraine for years, the retired lieutenant colonel argued. He said the scheme probably originated in the 1990s, when the infamous ‘Wolfowitz doctrine’, aimed at retaining Washington’s sole superpower status, was formulated. The US-backed 2014 coup d’etat in Kiev was the continuation of this policy, the expert said.
“Now that we know that Minsk agreements were never meant to be implemented based on statements made by [former German chancellor Angela] Merkel and [former French president François] Hollande,” Rasmussen said. “We also know up to 50,000 Ukrainian troops were trained by NATO during that eight year period,” he added. “So this is a planned thing.” Anti-Russia sanctions, intended to halt Moscow’s energy cooperation with Western Europe, and the Nord Stream sabotage were not formulated overnight, the pundit said. The end goal was to foment regime change in Moscow and then “balkanize Russia,” he believes. “I think Putin saw that,” Rasmussen said, adding that the West completely underestimated Russia. “They didn’t understand the Russian people and the Russian culture and how the Russian would react to the situation. I think they thought Putin would just back down.” Rasmussen condemned the arrogance of US foreign policy: “They feel that they’re in the position they were 30 years ago. And the world has changed.”
“This is impossible. There will be no buffer zone on the territory of Russia..”
• Putin Has Chosen Response To Ukraine’s Incursion – Envoy (RT)
President Vladimir Putin has decided on how to respond to Kiev’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region and everyone responsible will undoubtedly be punished, Moscow’s Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov told journalists on Thursday. Earlier this month, Kiev launched its largest cross-border attack to date on Russia, sending in some of its best-equipped and most experienced soldiers in to Kursk Region in an attempt to seize Russian territory. The Ukrainian government has expressed hope that the operation will relieve pressure on its forces elsewhere on the front line, and strengthen Kiev’s position at eventual peace talks with Moscow. However, Russia’s Defense Ministry has reported that the incursion has effectively been halted and, while Kiev’s troops still hold a number of territories in the region, they have been experiencing heavy casualties throughout the fighting.
Moscow has estimated Ukrainian losses at some 4,700 servicemen as well as hundreds of pieces of heavy weaponry, including 68 tanks, since the start of the incursion. Commenting on Moscow’s future steps in response to the invasion, the ambassador stated that president Putin has already “made a decision.” He also said that he is “firmly convinced that everyone will be severely punished for what happened in Kursk Region.” Kiev has stated that it intends to create a “buffer zone” through its incursion into Russian territory. These plans have also been confirmed by Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh. Antonov, however, insisted that the Ukrainian operation will fail in establishing this zone. “This is impossible. There will be no buffer zone on the territory of Russia,” the envoy stressed.
He also claimed that Washington could put an end to Kiev’s incursion into Kursk Region with “a snap of the fingers” but that it apparently doesn’t deem such a move “expedient or necessary.” “I am firmly convinced that Kiev does nothing without an okay from its [Western] masters,” Antonov told TASS. “Given how many advisers are around Zelensky, and what power is given to Zelensky’s regime, to say that [Washington] does not know about anything… [Kiev] simply would not dare to lift a finger, to point a machine gun in our direction without Washington’s consent! Or at least they wouldn’t be sure that any of their actions would be supported by Western countries,” the ambassador added.
“The US and its allies have imposed a record 22,000 sanctions on Moscow since 2014..”
• US In Agony Over Ineffectiveness Of Sanctions – Moscow (RT)
Washington’s latest round of sanctions against Moscow is aimed at underscoring US Vice President Kamala Harris’ “anti-Russian essence,” Ambassador Anatoly Antonov has said, dismissing the “fruitless” measures as ineffectual. On Friday, the US State and Treasury departments announced additional restrictions against 400 individuals and companies in Russia, Asia, Europe and the Middle East which Washington accuses of supporting Moscow’s military-industrial supply chains. “The administration [of US President Joe Biden] is in agony. The fruitless Russophobic ‘salvos’ are multiplying,” Antonov wrote in a Telegram post on Saturday. By introducing the new sanctions, the White House is trying to underline its “anti-Russian essence against the backdrop of the boiling election campaign,” he stressed.
“The negative aspects of US actions are obvious to everyone. The administration’s reckless steps lead to a crisis, but not to something creative,” the ambassador said. The restrictions “are harming not only domestic consumers, but also America’s partners in third countries,” he added. “It is obvious that in order to achieve true independence in the economic sphere, it is high time to abandon the hegemony of the dollar in the international monetary and financial system,” Antonov stressed. The US and its allies have imposed a record 22,000 sanctions on Moscow since 2014, when Crimea rejoined Russia and a conflict between Ukraine and the Donbass republics broke out as the result of a Western-backed coup in Kiev. Moscow deemed the curbs illegal, responding with travel bans on Western officials and other moves.
“Sanctions against Russia have been so multifaceted that we essentially don’t care what else the administration comes up with to ‘punish the Russian people’,” the ambassador pointed out. According to Antonov, the Russian authorities will act “to ensure that our citizens feel at ease and do not look back at American attacks.” Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal said that the “biggest ever sanctions” have failed to stop Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. Western officials have been forced to acknowledge that the restrictions “hit more slowly than they hoped,” the outlet stressed.
And what do you do when sanctions don’t work?
• US Announces New Sanctions On Russia (RT)
The US government has sanctioned almost 400 individuals and companies in Russia and around the world, including Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov’s son and his wife. Departments of State and Treasury announced the measure on Friday, on the eve of Ukraine’s independence day, to signal Washington’s ongoing support to Kiev in the conflict with Moscow. The sanctions also extended to entities and individuals in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. In keeping with the practice of sanctioning family members of Russian officials, the US has blacklisted Pavel Belousov and his wife Yevgenya, as well as a consulting company in their ownership. Belousov’s father Andrey became the Russian defense minister in May.
“Companies, financial institutions, and governments around the world need to ensure they are not supporting Russia’s military-industrial supply chains,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement. According to the Treasury, there are “almost a dozen distinct networks” consisting of over 100 individuals and entities across 16 jurisdictions, including China, Switzerland, Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates. Notably, 18 companies based in Hong Kong have been accused of ties to the Russian military industry. Treasury and State also warned financial institutions in other countries to “be cautious about any dealings with overseas branches or subsidiaries of Russian financial institutions,” including those that have not yet been sanctioned.
Friday’s designations mean that any property or interests in property of the listed individuals, directly or indirectly, have been blocked and must be reported to the government. Any transactions between US citizens – or foreign nationals within the US – are forbidden. Washington and its allies have placed over 22,000 sanctions on Russia since 2014, when Moscow responded to the US-backed coup in Kiev by welcoming Crimea’s reunification. Russia has called the blacklist illegitimate and responded with travel bans for Western officials and activists.
“While the announcement lists Trump as an “invited guest speaker,” the former president will not attend the event in person..”
“..inclined to pardon many of them.” “I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control..”
• Trump Invited To J6 Awards Gala’ Celebrating January 6 Rioters (RT)
Former US President Donald Trump has been linked to a gala event aimed at raising funds for a group of January 6 Capitol rioters who are currently on trial. The ‘J6 Awards Gala’ at Trump’s Bedminster Golf Club will be held on September 5 to “honor and celebrate” the defendants, with ticket options starting at $1,500. A crowd of Trump’s supporters descended on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in an attempt to prevent lawmakers from certifying what they believed to be Joe Biden’s fraudulent victory in the presidential election the previous November. The demonstration quickly devolved into a riot, with US Capitol Police taking hours to restore order. Biden and his fellow Democrats characterized the events as an “insurrection.” The authorities arrested and charged 1,358 participants, most of whom received misdemeanor trespassing offenses, although 127 have faced more serious charges.
The gala announcement appeared on the website of ‘The America Project’ political group, and invited people to “join us for an unforgettable evening as we honor and celebrate the twenty defendants who contributed to the powerful ‘Justice For All’ song.” The latter was recorded last year by a group of defendants comprising the so-called ‘January 6th Prison Choir.’ The track features them singing the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star-Spangled Banner, overlaid with excerpts of Trump’s speeches. The event is meant as a “night of recognition, solidarity, and support” as well as a “crucial fundraiser to provide much-needed assistance to the January 6th defendants who continue to face significant challenges,” the organizers explained. While the announcement lists Trump as an “invited guest speaker,” the former president will not attend the event in person, the New York Times reported, citing an unnamed person familiar with the politician’s plans.
In a post on his Truth Social platform in March, Trump vowed: “My first acts as your next President will be to Close the Border, DRILL, BABY, DRILL, and Free the January 6 Hostages being wrongfully imprisoned!” The Republican has repeatedly referred to the rioters as “political prisoners” and “hostages.” At a CNN town hall event last year, Trump revealed that he was “inclined to pardon many of them.” “I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control,” he added. The Republican presidential nominee himself is facing federal charges for allegedly instigating the riot by urging his supporters to “fight like hell” against congressional certification of Biden’s victory. Trump’s lawyers insist that he was well within his rights to make such a statement, noting that he also encouraged his supporters to act “peacefully and patriotically.”
“It’s almost like we’ve wandered into a Tower of Babble and come out on the other side babbling…”
• ‘End of Empire’: US Ruling Class Fatally Out of Touch (Sp.)
America’s political class is unable to address or even speak to voters’ most pressing needs. “The political class, Washington, DC, people inside the Beltway – they’ve grown more and more estranged from everyday people like you and me,” claimed journalist Jon Jeter on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program Friday. The author joined hosts Garland Nixon and Wilmer Leon to break down Democratic Party presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s acceptance speech on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, during which she advocated a hawkish foreign policy to the exclusion of focus on the material needs of working-class Americans. “I thought that speech was ridiculous and if I were a betting man I would say that it lost the election for the Democrats in November,” said Jeter.
“I don’t know who she thinks her audience was when she attacks Vladimir Putin. If I may paraphrase Muhammad Ali, Vladimir Putin ain’t never called me the N-word.” “Most people, particularly in the states and particularly the people who she’s depending on to win this election, Blacks and particularly Black men, particularly in Philadelphia and Detroit and Milwaukee – I don’t think they care so much about Kim Jong Un, about Vladimir Putin, about the threat from China,” he continued. “I think they care a lot about jobs, wages, debt reduction, things like that. So I thought that speech was almost odd and that it seemed to lack self-awareness about exactly who the Democrats are and who they need.” The analyst claimed the Democratic party is in the habit of abusing its voters, constantly attacking its activist base.
“I think people are ultimately going to feel like they’re being gaslit,” said Nixon, claiming voters are more likely to be concerned with inflation and the cost of living. The media outlet Bloomberg calculated the rise in the cost of basic goods and services in 2023, finding that the cost of natural gas has risen by 29% while the costs of groceries and electricity have risen by 25%. “I have to admit, I have very, very low expectations of our political class,” said Jeter. “This was a stunning speech for its lack of self-awareness. The Democrats’ problem is that they are unresponsive, wholly unresponsive to their base, to labor unions.” “It’s almost like we’ve wandered into a Tower of Babble and come out on the other side babbling. We don’t even speak the same language anymore. This is just a bewildering turn of affairs which I can only attribute to the end of empire.”
“Washington is still assessing how Kiev’s offensive “fits into their strategic objectives on the battlefield itself..”
• US Hesitant Over Kursk Incursion Aid – WaPo (RT)
President Joe Biden’s administration is not convinced by Ukraine’s strategy in Kursk Region and fears a possible escalation with Moscow, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing sources. Kiev launched its largest incursion to date into internationally-recognized Russian territory on August 6. The Russian Defense Ministry said the advance into Kursk Region had been halted; however, Kiev’s forces continue to occupy a number of settlements there. Kiev has said it intends to establish a “buffer zone” on Russian soil and has touted the land it occupies as a potential bargaining chip for future peace talks. Moscow, however, ruled out negotiations with Kiev following the incursion, citing “indiscriminate” attacks on civilians by Ukrainian troops. The US remains unsure whether to help Kiev hold and perhaps even add to the land it now occupies, an unnamed diplomat told the Washington Post.
The Pentagon has, however asked the Ukrainians what they need to make their offensive a success, US officials have claimed, adding that no concrete decisions have been made. The Ukrainian Armed Forces has lost over 5,000 soldiers since the start of the incursion, as well as 69 tanks, 27 infantry fighting vehicles, 55 APCs, 350 armored combat vehicles, 34 artillery units, five anti-aircraft missile systems, and 11 MLRS launchers (including three US-made HIMARS), among other pieces of heavy equipment, the Defense Ministry reported in an update on Friday. The US announced the same day that $125 million worth of supplies, including howitzer and artillery ammunition, TOW antitank missiles, and unmanned aerial systems and ammunition would be provided to Ukraine.
As discussions continue over new aid amid the Kursk offensive, however, Washington reportedly says it’s uncertain of Ukraine’s goals in seizing territory inside Russia, and has no idea if it intends to hold or expand upon the territory it has seized. “They may have a plan, but they’re not sharing it with us,” the paper wrote, citing an anonymous US official. Washington is still assessing how Kiev’s offensive “fits into their strategic objectives on the battlefield itself,” Pentagon deputy spokesperson Sabrina Singh said on Thursday. “We’re still working and still have some questions,” she added.
US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said earlier this week that Washington’s ammunition stockpiles are now “empty” due to aid provided to Ukraine. In June, Trump also made it clear that he would stop donating tens of billions of dollars’ worth of handouts to Ukraine. While US and Ukrainian officials “publicly tout a strong relationship”, the paper wrote, their ties have been “repeatedly tested by frustrations and fundamental disagreements about strategy and the level of support the West should provide.” Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov claimed earlier this week that Washington could put an end to Kiev’s incursion with “a snap of the fingers” but that it apparently hasn’t deemed such a move “expedient or necessary.”
“Anything that stands in the way of a diplomatic settlement of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev is “wrong..”
• Ukrainian Attack On Kursk Is ‘Wrong’ – Hungary (RT)
Hungary does not approve of Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region because the government in Budapest remains “pro-peace,” Gergely Gulyas, the head of the Hungarian prime minister’s office, has said. Gulyas became the most high-ranking Hungarian official to date to comment on the ongoing Ukrainian attack when asked about the issue during a briefing on Thursday. “Ukraine is not only defending, but also attacking. We want a ceasefire and peace,” Gulyas stated. Anything that stands in the way of a diplomatic settlement of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev is “wrong,” including a “spillover of the hostilities into Russian territory,” he added. Gulyas’ statement on the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Region is in stark contrast to those from other officials in the EU and NATO.
The bloc’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said he had “reiterated the EU’s full support to the [Ukrainian] people’s fight” when he met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba last week. Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has insisted that “Ukraine has the right to self-defense and it is clear that they can do their operation in Kursk,” while Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal has wished luck to the Ukrainian troops involved in the attack. Hungary has taken a neutral stance since the escalation between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022. It has provided Kiev with humanitarian aid, but has refused to send weapons, allow other EU states to ship military supplies through its territory, or to train Ukrainian troops, despite strong pressure from Washington and Brussels. The government of Viktor Orban has also criticized EU’s sanctions, arguing that they hurt the bloc more than Russia.
Moscow has repeatedly voiced readiness for dialogue with Kiev throughout the conflict. However, shortly after the launch of the incursion into Kursk Region, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that there can be no talk about negotiations with Ukraine. Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Thursday that Ukraine has already lost more than 4,700 troops and several hundred units of military equipment, including 68 tanks and 53 armored personnel carriers, since the start of the incursion in Kursk Region on August 6.
“We should find an agreement as soon as possible because we wouldn’t like to pay large amounts on a daily basis,” Gulyas said. “But if Brussels wants to take in migrants, we can help.”
• Hungary May Send Migrants To Brussels To Avenge Asylum Fine (ZH)
Several years ago, Texas had a brilliant idea: take the millions of illegal immigrant that were flooding its territory as a result of policies adopted in faraway places like DC, and bus them to places like New York and DC, other so-called sanctuary cities and, best of all, Martha’s Vineyard where those who run New York and DC tend to go on vacation. The result was an immediate revulsion by the false virtue-signaling NIMBY crowd, which cried foul at having to suffer the consequences of its actions. Turns out Texas’ idea was so good it is now being adopted across the Atlantic, where another illegal alien invasion has been taking place for the past decade, slowly replacing the indigenous population with millions of immigrants from northern Africa and the middle east.
Now, one European country has decided it also has had enough: Hungary suggested that it might – like Texas – start transporting migrants who show up at its border straight to Brussels, unless it can resolve a dispute with the European Union on penalties for its asylum policies, Bloomberg reported. The European Court of Justice has slapped a €200 million ($223 million) penalty, plus an extra €1 million daily fine, on the country for Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s non-compliance with the court’s earlier judgment on the protection of asylum seekers. Orban already promised retaliation in June for the ruling, one of several issues clouding the start of his stint in the rotating presidency of the EU in the second half of 2024. Negotiations with the European Commission will start in September, Gergely Gulyas, the minister in charge of the prime minister’s office, told reporters in Budapest Thursday.
Should those talks fail, Hungary will start handing migrants “one-way tickets to Brussels,” Gulyas said. “We should find an agreement as soon as possible because we wouldn’t like to pay large amounts on a daily basis,” Gulyas said. “But if Brussels wants to take in migrants, we can help.” Though Gulyas provided no details on how such a scheme would work, the idea echoes disputes not only among US states over migrants – like those being bused to New York from the Texas border – but also elsewhere in Europe. In the UK, socialist Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed his new Labour government would scrap predecessor Rishi Sunak’s plan to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda.
Separately, Hungary was criticized by human rights groups this week for withdrawing state-funded shelter from Ukrainian refugees arriving from regions not directly affected by the fighting on the frontlines with Russia. A group of Hungarians from Ukraine’s western Transcarpathia region temporarily became homeless after the move, though Gulyas said aid groups helped provide accommodations for them. The EU’s executive arm is looking into the decree, according to a spokesperson but said the EU is united in providing protections, including accommodation, for those fleeing the conflict.
Another 6 months… For what was a weeklong trip… Bye bye Boeing..
• SpaceX To Rescue Stranded Astronauts After NASA Dumps Boeing (ZH)
NASA said it has selected Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring home the US astronauts who were forced to extend their stay at the International Space Station because of the latest debacle plaguing the woke DEI disaster that is Boeing, whose space capsule suffered major technical issues. Boeing’s spacecraft will return without people on board, the US space agency said during a Saturday news conference announcing its decision, in which it said that it was too risky to bring two astronauts back to Earth in Boeing’s troubled new capsule. What should have been a weeklong test flight for the pair will now last more than eight months. The contingency plan means that NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams will hitch a ride home on SpaceX’s rival Crew Dragon capsule during a mission slated to launch in late September. That would put them back on US soil in February, when that capsule is slated to return and months later than originally planned.
Their empty Starliner capsule will undock in a week or two and attempt to return on autopilot. The seasoned pilots have been stuck at the International Space Station since the beginning of June. A cascade of vexing thruster failures and helium leaks in the new capsule marred their trip to the space station, and they ended up in a holding pattern as engineers conducted tests and debated what to do about the trip back. As Starliner’s test pilots, the pair should have overseen this critical last leg of the journey, with touchdown in the U.S. desert. It was a blow to Boeing, adding to the safety concerns plaguing the company on its airplane side. Boeing had counted on Starliner’s first crew trip to revive the troubled program after years of delays and ballooning costs. The company had insisted Starliner was safe based on all the recent thruster tests both in space and on the ground.
Retired Navy captains with previous long-duration spaceflight experience, Wilmore, 61, and Williams, 58, anticipated surprises when they accepted the shakedown cruise of a new spacecraft, although not quite to this extent. Before their June 5 launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, they said their families bought into the uncertainty and stress of their professional careers decades ago. During their lone orbital news conference last month, they said they had trust in the thruster testing being conducted. They had no complaints, they added, and enjoyed pitching in with space station work. Wilmore’s wife, Deanna, was equally stoic in an interview earlier this month with WVLT-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee, their home state. She was already bracing for a delay until next February: “You just sort of have to roll with it.” There were no other options.
The SpaceX capsule currently parked at the space station is reserved for the four residents who have been there since March. They will return in late September, their stay extended a month by the Starliner dilemma. NASA said it would be unsafe to squeeze two more into the capsule, except in an emergency. The docked Russian Soyuz capsule is even tighter, capable of flying only three — two of them Russians wrapping up a yearlong stint. So Wilmore and Williams will wait for SpaceX’s next taxi flight. It’s due to launch in late September with two astronauts instead of the usual four for a routine six-month stay. NASA yanked two to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return flight in late February. NASA said no serious consideration was given to asking SpaceX for a quick stand-alone rescue. Last year, the Russian Space Agency had to rush up a replacement Soyuz capsule for three men whose original craft was damaged by space junk. The switch pushed their mission beyond a year, a U.S. space endurance record still held by Frank Rubio.
Starliner’s woes began long before its latest flight. Bad software fouled the first test flight without a crew in 2019, prompting a do-over in 2022. Then parachute and other issues cropped up, including a helium leak in the capsule’s propellant system that nixed a launch attempt in May. The leak eventually was deemed to be isolated and small enough to pose no concern. But more leaks sprouted following liftoff, and five thrusters also failed. All but one of those small thrusters restarted in flight. But engineers remain perplexed as to why some thruster seals appear to swell, obstructing the propellant lines, then revert to their normal size.These 28 thrusters are vital. Besides needed for space station rendezvous, they keep the capsule pointed in the right direction at flight’s end as bigger engines steer the craft out of orbit. Coming in crooked could result in catastrophe.
“POV: It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re being executed for liking a meme..”
• ‘Darkness Descending’: Tucker Carlson Reacts To Telegram Founder’s Arrest (RT)
The arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France is a warning to platforms that stand up to censorship, American journalist and political commentator Tucker Carlson has said. According to French media, the Russian-born entrepreneur was detained at Paris-Le Bourget Airport on Saturday and will appear in court on Sunday evening. The French authorities had reportedly issued an arrest warrant, arguing that insufficient moderation allows for Telegram to be widely used by criminals. The news of Durov’s apparent prosecution has raised concerns online, including suggestions that it could be politically motivated.
“Pavel Durov left Russia when the government tried to control his social media company, Telegram. But in the end, it wasn’t Putin who arrested him for allowing the public to exercise free speech,” Carlson wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday. “It was a Western country, a Biden administration ally and enthusiastic NATO member, that locked him away.” Durov’s arrest is “a living warning to any platform owner who refuses to censor the truth at the behest of governments and intel agencies,” Carlson argued. “Darkness is descending fast on the formerly free world.”
Ep. 94 The social media app Telegram has over 900 million users around the world. Its founder Pavel Durov sat down with us at his offices in Dubai for his first on-camera interview in almost a decade. pic.twitter.com/NEb3KzWOg8
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) April 16, 2024
Carlson recorded a rare interview with Durov in April, in which the Telegram owner spoke about his disagreements with the Russian government, as well as the pressure he faced in the US. He said that the American government had wanted him to set up a surveillance “backdoor” on his messaging service, and he refused. X owner Elon Musk also condemned the reported arrest. “POV: It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re being executed for liking a meme,” he wrote in a comment to the news story. Telegram was launched in 2013 and currently has more than 950 million active monthly users. Durov is a native of St. Petersburg, Russia, but has been mostly been living in the UAE since the mid-2010s. He became a French and an Emirati citizen in 2021.
Houthi
https://twitter.com/i/status/1827074505505960328
Bad parrot
https://twitter.com/i/status/1827284727381778524
Collie
Border collie knows how to do his job well. pic.twitter.com/gjMWOzmx2A
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) August 24, 2024
Cup
The way this cat goes into its cup pic.twitter.com/mrZK6rlsQ1
— Why you should have a cat (@ShouldHaveCat) August 24, 2024
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