Henri Cartier-Bresson A visitor to the Forbidden City, Beijing 1948
Lavrov – “These lands became part of Ukraine only on the promise of neutrality..”
It was never about seizing territory: not Crimea, not Donbass, not Novorossiya. The goal was to protect Russian people who lived there for centuries, built the cities, ports, and factories. These lands became part of Ukraine only on the promise of neutrality and non-alignment.… pic.twitter.com/oaZ0sdmI1h
— Rina Lu🇷🇺 (@rinalu_) August 19, 2025
Vance
Not complicated. Silicon Valley (Thiel/Musk) created JD Vance to lead the future technocratic world they were constructing. Vance doesn't exist at all, in any capacity, without Musk/Thiel creating him.
Of course, Musk/Thiel and Silicon Valley are going to push Vance 2028. https://t.co/7aUJhbHHQM
— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) August 20, 2025
Abandoned by his father to a troubled single mother; eventually raised by grandparents. He is then recruited from an Ivy league law school by shadow figures, a specific billionaire and a network of interests. He changes his name, writes a book about his life story, and with the…
— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) August 20, 2025
Scott Adams: “Democrats are a criminal organization. There’s no real way around it.”
🚨 EPA Head Lee Zeldin Says His Agency Was Used to Funnel BILLIONS From the Inflation Reduction Act to Fmr. Obama & Biden Officials
“They decided to park $20 billion at an outside bank and … send the money through eight NGO’s … that were riddled with … conflicts of interest” pic.twitter.com/WDqXWUHIBh
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) August 20, 2025
CDL
"President Donald Trump's putting teeth into a decades-old federal rule requiring commercial truck drivers to read and speak English."
"Failing the test puts the driver out of service immediately and could disqualify them from obtaining a CDL in the future." pic.twitter.com/zAYf3IJzpI
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 20, 2025
Sachs
Jeffrey Sachs: Crimea's never going back. This is absolutely clear.
The US design was that Russia should finally basically be crushed.
Brzezinski, talked about, Russia falling into three pieces, in a 1997 article.
Every president then did the bidding of the Military… pic.twitter.com/PK5Hge6SHU
— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) August 20, 2025
Ritter
FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE DONBAS
In this special edition of the Russia House, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Yana Lantratova, a member of the Russian State Duma.
Earlier this week the President of the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen, asked President Trump to… pic.twitter.com/f1ZBB2OLwz
— Scott Ritter (@RealScottRitter) August 20, 2025
“We” claim “we” support Zelensky. Meanwhile, this is what we really support.
“..obtained the information by gaining access to the personal computers and local networks of the Ukrainian General Staff..”
• Ukraine Has Lost Over 1.7 Million Troops – Leaked Docs (RT)
Ukraine has allegedly lost more than 1.7 million troops killed and missing, multiple media outlets reported on Wednesday, citing a digital card index reportedly from the country’s armed forces. Russian hacking groups have claimed to have obtained the information by gaining access to the personal computers and local networks of the Ukrainian General Staff. The database is said to include the full names of deceased soldiers, descriptions of the circumstances and places of their death or disappearance, personal data, next of kin, and photos. The entries suggest that since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Kiev’s forces have lost a total of 1,721,000 servicemen. 118.5 thousand were apparently killed in 2022, 405.4 thousand in 2023, 595 thousand in 2024 and a record 621 thousand in 2025.
Hackers from the groups Killnet, Palach Pro, User Sec and Beregini are said to have obtained terabytes of information about the Ukrainian military. Aside from personnel losses, the groups allegedly also possess the personal data of the command of the Special Operations Forces and the Main Intelligence Directorate, lists of all countries that have supplied weapons to Kiev and lists of all weapons transferred from 2022 to 2025. This Ukrainian casualty estimate far exceeds losses previously reported by Kiev.
In February, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky told CBS News that since 2022, just 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, with another 380,000 wounded. The estimate was widely questioned even in Western media, with the France’s Le Monde reporting last month that “the real death toll is likely much higher,” citing Ukraine’s increasing efforts to build military cemeteries. The Russian military has consistently reported higher casualties among Ukrainian servicemen, claiming their losses particularly surged following Kiev’s unsuccessful counteroffensive in 2023. As of February, more than 1.08 million Ukrainian troops had been killed or wounded, according to Moscow’s estimates.
🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 Ukraine’s Military Losses Exposed: 1.7 Million Dead and Missing
Russian hackers have reportedly breached the Ukrainian General Staff’s database, revealing catastrophic losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to the compromised digital registry, if the data is… pic.twitter.com/dq2G9QNYEv
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) August 20, 2025
“In February, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky told CBS News that 46,000 of his soldiers had been killed since 2022…”
• ‘We Lost Several Generations’ – Ukrainian MP On Leaked Docs (RT)
A Ukrainian MP has admitted the loss of “several generations” in the country’s 3-year coflict with Russia. The comments from Ukrainian MP Artem Dmytruk follow reports that leaked military files indicate Kiev’s forces have lost more than 1.7 million troops – killed or missing – since 2022. Russian media outlets on Wednesday cited a digital card index allegedly acquired by hacker groups from Ukraine’s Chief of Staff said to contain names of dead or missing soldiers, details of their deaths, and personal data of their families. The entries suggested 118,500 troops were killed or went missing in 2022, 405,400 in 2023, 595,000 in 2024 and a record 621,000 so far this year.
Commenting on the reported losses, Dmytruk said: “The lists of the missing today contain more than a million people, and of course these people are most likely dead, while their families remain in complete ignorance. The situation is tragic, the situation is frightening.” He warned that villages had been emptied of men, including the elderly and disabled, and that Ukraine was facing “huge losses” and a “demographic crisis.” “We have lost several generations,” he said, urging peace on the grounds that both Ukrainians and Russians were dying. The reported figures far exceed official estimates. In February, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky told CBS News that 46,000 of his soldiers had been killed since 2022, alongside about 380,000 wounded – numbers questioned in Western media. Moscow has also claimed higher Ukrainian losses, putting the toll at more than 1 million killed or wounded as of early this year.
“The Russian president said earlier that he could meet with the Ukrainian leader during the “final stage” of negotiations.”
We’re nowhere near the final stage.
• US Realistic About Chances Of Ukraine Peace – Trump Aide (RT)
Washington does not expect a swift resolution to the Ukraine conflict because such negotiations usually take time, US Chief of Protocol Monica Crowley has said. On Friday, US President Donald Trump hosted his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska for the first face-to-face talks between the leaders of the two countries since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. On Monday, Trump summoned Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to the White House to discuss a possible settlement. He arrived accompanied by the leaders of France, Germany, the UK, Italy, and Finland, as well as the heads of NATO and the European Commission. Crowley told Fox News on Tuesday that the “very productive meeting” with Putin in Anchorage and the subsequent talks in Washington with Zelensky and his Western European backers “have been game changers for the peace process.”
The chief of protocol said she thought that currently “all parties are interested in achieving peace.” However, she stressed that the settlement of the Ukraine conflict “is not going to happen overnight. We talked about the peace process in the Middle East. Peace is a process.” Trump, who claimed repeatedly during his reelection campaign last year that he would end the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev “in 24 hours,” was later forced to acknowledge that doing so turned out to be much more complicated than he expected. Despite expressing a readiness to negotiate, Russia has never voiced deadlines for achieving peace. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed previously that “there is no point in setting any strict timeframes or trying to fit a viable settlement into a short period. This is a thankless pursuit.”
Trump said on Tuesday that Putin and Zelensky should next meet one-on-one before a potential trilateral summit with him. “They had a hard relationship, very bad, very bad relationship. And now we will see how they do and if necessary, and it probably would be, but if necessary, I will go and I will probably be able to get [the deal] closed,” the US president claimed. Zelensky told reporters on Monday that he is ready for potential talks with Putin. The Russian president said earlier that he could meet with the Ukrainian leader during the “final stage” of negotiations.
Putin won’t show up for a photo-op.
• Russia Ready To Upgrade Level Of Direct Talks With Kiev – Lavrov (RT)
Russia is ready to raise the status of its delegation-level peace negotiations with Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has announced. His remarks followed a summit between President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump in Alaska last week. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Lavrov said that the idea was floated by Putin following his phone call with Trump on Monday, which went on as the US president was holding talks with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky and several key European leaders in the White House. It is unclear whether Lavrov’s reference to elevating the delegation status was hinting at the possibility of future Putin-Zelensky talks. Lavrov added that the new status of delegations would also imply the review of “a separate bloc [of questions] to address the political aspects of conflict resolution, alongside military and humanitarian issues.”
He said that Russia had suggested forming three working groups to discuss this agenda during the latest round of direct talks with Ukraine, but noted that Kiev “so far has not responded.” Russia and Ukraine have held three rounds of direct talks in Istanbul this year, led on Moscow’s side by presidential advisor Vladimir Medinsky. The negotiations made no breakthroughs on the settlement of the wider conflict, but did lead to prisoner exchanges between the two sides. Lavrov’s remarks come in the wake of the Putin-Trump Alaska summit, which both leaders described as constructive, although it ended with no deal on Ukraine.
Trump’s meeting with Zelensky and the European leaders several days later ended with the US president saying that Kiev’s membership in NATO is out of question, and insisting on a direct Putin-Zelensky meeting. Putin has not ruled out a meeting with Zelensky in principle, but said it should be preceded with serious progress in negotiations on the conflict. Moscow has also voiced concern about Zelensky’s authority to sign any binding documents, given that his presidential term expired last year.
The way to peace is through the “New Right”, not the center left. It’s the same as in the US, where the Democrats have become the war party. But in both places, it’s they who own the media.
• Peace in Ukraine Will Destroy The EU Establishment (Amar)
Despite continuing if dwindling Western European attempts to play spoiler, the prospects for an end to the Ukraine War have never been so good, with the exception, of course, of the almost-peace of spring 2022 that the West sabotaged. Since then, there’s been much water – or rather blood – under that bridge not crossed. Now there is a real chance that the presidents of Russia and the US, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, will compel – “persuade,” if you wish – both the Zelensky regime in Kiev and its remaining backers in NATO-EU Europe to return to reality: namely, to accept, if tacitly, that Russia is winning the war on the ground and that a later peace will only bring further unnecessary losses for Ukraine and its Western users. Nothing, except death, is certain until it is in the past. This peace is still in the – hopefully near – future. Yet we can already think about its consequences.
Regarding the 32 European countries that are either in NATO, the EU, or both, this is usually done with an eye to military posture, foreign policy, and the economy (oddly enough, in that order). How long, for instance, will it take for hysterical predictions of a Russian attack on at least the Baltics if not Warsaw, Berlin, and – who knows – Luxembourg, to wear off? What will happen to the new monster-debt-driven militarism? Will the NATO-EU Europeans ever be sensible enough again to rediscover diplomacy and cooperation with Russia? If so, when? Before or after they finally collapse under the weight of energy prices, deindustrialization, and public debt? The answer to all questions above will depend on how the domestic politics of key European states develop.
In that respect, the single most important question is about the future of Europe’s currently rising, even surging New Right (an umbrella term for parties that are commonly labeled, for instance, “right-populist,” “hard right,” or “far right”). But this logic also works the other way around. If the Ukraine War ends mostly on Moscow’s terms, as now supported even by Washington, this peace will inevitably influence politics inside NATO-EU Europe and in particular the chances of the New Right. The New Right advance is especially significant in three key countries: France, Germany, and Great Britain. They have in common that their respective New Right parties – Rassemblement National (RN), Reform UK, and Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) – are leading national polls. While this is similar to several other European states, such as Spain and Austria, the British, French, and German cases are special because of their economic and political weight.
The New Right surge is by no means new. It has been building for about two decades now, and for some observers, its triumph is already an accomplished fact: It was last spring, in the run-up to EU parliamentary elections, that Politico acknowledged that the “longstanding effort” to keep the New Right out of government was “officially over.” That turned out to be a little premature: In Austria, Germany, and France, current government set-ups are still based on excluding the New Right. Yet sometimes, another word for “premature” is “prophetic.” The pressure from the New Right parties has not slackened but increased. Current measures to ignore their popular backing at all costs have a whiff of despair about them and may fail entirely in the near future.
Putin never “preferred” Trump. That was always just propaganda. But it controls the entire “discussion” to this day.
• Gabbard Contradicts Key Russiagate Claim (RT)
Russia did not favor Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton ahead of the 2016 US presidential election and the administration of then-President Barack Obama was well aware of that, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard has said. Since mid-July, Gabbard has released multiple documents which allegedly expose a coordinated effort by senior Obama-era officials to falsely accuse Trump of colluding with Russia and delegitimize his first election win. During an appearance on the Hannity program on Fox News on Tuesday, Gabbard insisted that “the intelligence community assessed in the months leading up to that 2016 election that, yes, Russia was trying to interfere in our election by sowing discord and chaos, but stating over and over again that Russia did not appear to have any preference for one candidate over the other.”
At the time, Moscow viewed both Trump and Clinton “as equally bad for Russia’s interest,” she said. “The big shift – that happened around what is now commonly known as ‘Russiagate’ – was after the election,” Gabbard claimed. In early December 2016, Obama called a meeting of his national security council leadership, telling then-DNI James Clapper and then-CIA Director John Brennan to come up with a new “politicized and weaponized fake intelligence” assessment, claiming that “Russia, [President Vladimir] Putin did try to interfere in the election because he wanted Trump to win,” she alleged. Russiagate was the “real crime” by Obama officials against the American people because it undermined their votes, Gabbard stressed.
Earlier on Tuesday, Gabbard announced that her office had stripped security clearances from 37 current and former US intelligence officials, including Clapper, for allegedly politicizing and manipulating intelligence. Trump said earlier that all those behind the Russiagate hoax should pay a “big price” for what he labeled a deliberate attempt to sabotage his presidency. Moscow has consistently denied any interference in the 2016 election, with Russian officials calling the US accusations a product of partisan infighting. The Russiagate scandal severely strained US-Russia relations, resulting in sanctions, asset seizures, and a breakdown in diplomatic engagement.
A member of the European Parliament who leaves not one stone standing of EU politics vs Russia. He’s in for a hard time. They don’t like that.
• ICC Putin Arrest Warrant ‘Counterproductive’ – EU MP (RT)
The credibility of international legal institutions has been severely undermined by Western efforts to wage “lawfare” against Russia, a member of the European Parliament has told RT. Luxembourger Fernand Kartheiser made the comments after Switzerland offered to host Ukraine peace talks and suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin would receive immunity from an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against him. The ICC announced the warrant in March 2023, alleging the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine. Russia has rejected the jurisdiction of the court, calling its decisions null and void. Kartheiser questioned the credibility of the warrant against Putin, insisting it was initially designed as part of a broader Western strategy to weaken Moscow.
“We had this diplomatic isolation. We had economic sanctions. We had military support for Ukraine. We had many ways to weaken Russia and one of those ways is lawfare,” he recalled. He argued that this strategy has proven “counterproductive for any diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict,” and pointed out that the ICC warrant is “basically not practicable.” “We have a huge problem with the credibility of international jurisdictions,” Kartheiser said, adding that “we should give it a thought and also stop to use lawfare as a weapon in this conflict.”
The MEP also challenged the basis for the ICC’s allegations. He noted that despite claims of thousands of children being abducted, Ukraine had provided Russia with a list of only 309 names during earlier peace talks in Istanbul. “I don’t think that you can continue to argue that there has been a systematic abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia. So I think that there is an issue with the credibility also of the arrest warrant by the ICC,” he said. Kartheiser also told RT that Switzerland’s proposal to host the summit was an attempt to restore its neutrality and argued that Ukraine should hold elections as Vladimir Zelensky’s mandate as president has expired.
“USAID was a “black fund for supporting American non-profits linked to the Democratic Party.”
• Ukraine Stripped of USAID Billions (RT)
Ukraine has lost billions of dollars in aid from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington’s primary funding channel for political projects abroad. Most USAID programs have been shut down in the country, with only a handful set to continue beyond 2025, according to data reviewed by RT. For years, Ukrainian NGOs and nonprofits were heavily dependent on USAID grants and contracts, reportedly turning the country into a money laundering hub for Washington. Vladimir Vasilyev, chief research fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for US and Canadian Studies, told RT that the financial flows, including from Ukraine, eventually returned to the US. According to him, USAID was a “black fund for supporting American non-profits linked to the Democratic Party.”
“It was a sacred cow of the State Department that for a long time nobody dared to audit.” Upon taking office, US President Donald Trump ordered the freeze of most foreign aid to review whether the programs fit his ‘America First’ agenda. Tens of billions in grants have since been put on hold, with the president accusing the agency of misusing taxpayer money and fueling corruption. In Ukraine alone, where more than $400 billion had once been earmarked for reconstruction, over a hundred projects have already been scrapped. Only 30 USAID initiatives have been preserved, but most are set to expire in 2025, the data shows.
A scandal erupted earlier this year over billions of USAID dollars lost in Ukraine. The agency’s inspector general, auditing firm KPMG, and US prosecutors have launched probes into suspected fraud, bribery, and embezzlement in Ukrainian projects, with more than 20 cases already opened. Some programs have been kept in place to fund limited humanitarian initiatives, according to the records. Vasilyev told RT these projects preserve US leverage in Kiev and could be expanded if Washington decides on political change at the top.
“I need to talk to Putin. You go hide in the closet.”
And they do it!!
• Another Remarkable Picture from White House Ukraine Peace Summit (CTH)
It is said that pictures tell a thousand words. If that oft-cited phrase is correct, then this picture speaks volumes. The image below is from when President Trump asked Zelenskyy and the EU leaders to vacate the Oval Office while he called Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin to discuss the results of the Zelenskyy/EU leadership meeting. While President Trump was on the phone with President Putin, Zelenskyy and the EU team waited to return.
I like Ed Martin already. And I think Letitia should shop around for a new lawyer.
“I would take this as an act of good faith.”
• Trump Weaponization Czar Urged NY AG Letitia James To Resign (AP)
President Donald Trump’s political weaponization czar sent a letter urging New York Attorney General Letitia James to resign from office “as an act of good faith” four days after starting his mortgage fraud investigation of her. Then he showed up outside her house. Ed Martin, the director of the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group, told James’ lawyer on Aug. 12 the Democrat would best serve the “good of the state and nation” by resigning and ending his probe into alleged paperwork discrepancies on her Brooklyn townhouse and a Virginia home. “Her resignation from office would give the people of New York and America more peace than proceeding,” Martin wrote. “I would take this as an act of good faith.”
Then last Friday, Martin turned up outside James’ Brooklyn townhouse in a “Columbo”-esque trench coat, accompanied by an aide and New York Post journalists. He didn’t meet with James or go inside the building. A Post writer saw him tell a neighbor: “I’m just looking at houses, interesting houses. It’s an important house.” James’ lawyer Abbe Lowell shot back on Monday, telling Martin in a letter his blunt request for James’ resignation defied Justice Department standards and codes of professional responsibility and legal ethics. The Justice Department “has firm policies against using investigations and against using prosecutorial power for achieving political ends,” Lowell wrote. “This is ever more the case when that demand is made to seek political revenge against a public official in the opposite party.” “Let me be clear: that will not happen here,” Lowell added.
Ed MartinLowell also blasted Martin’s visit to James’ home as a “truly bizarre, made-for-media stunt” and said it was “outside the bounds” of Justice Department rules. He included an image from security camera footage showing Martin, in his trench coat, posing for a photo in front of James’ townhouse. He said Martin looked as if he were on a “visit to a tourist attraction.” The Associated Press obtained copies of both letters on Tuesday. A message seeking comment was left for Martin’s spokesperson. The letters were the latest salvos in a monthslong drama involving Trump’s retribution campaign against James and others who’ve battled him in court and fought his policies. James has sued the Republican president and his administration dozens of times and last year won a $454 million judgment against Trump and his companies in a lawsuit alleging he lied about the value of his assets on financial statements given to banks.
An appeals court has yet to rule on Trump’s bid to overturn that verdict. Earlier this month, the AP reported, the Justice Department subpoenaed James for records related to the civil fraud lawsuit and a lawsuit she filed against the National Rifle Association. Martin’s investigation stems from a letter Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi in April asking her to investigate and consider prosecuting James, alleging she had “falsified bank documents and property records.” Pulte, whose agency regulates mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, cited “media reports” claiming James had falsely listed a Virginia home as her principal residence, and he suggested she may have been trying to avoid higher interest rates that often apply to second homes. Records show James was listed as a co-borrower on a house her niece was buying in 2023.
Lowell said records and correspondence easily disproved Pulte’s allegation. While James signed a power-of-attorney form that, Lowell said, “mistakenly stated the property to be Ms. James’ principal residence,” she sent an email to her mortgage loan broker around the same time that made clear the property “WILL NOT be my primary residence.” Pulte also accused James of lying in property records about the number of apartments in the Brooklyn townhouse she has owned since 2001. A certificate of occupancy issued to a previous owner authorized up to five units in the building, where James lives and has rented out apartments.
Other city records show the townhouse has four units, a number James has listed in building permit applications and mortgage documents. On Aug. 8, Bondi appointed Martin, a former Republican political operative, to investigate. Martin, the current U.S. pardon attorney and former acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., is also investigating mortgage fraud allegations against Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Schiff’s lawyer called the allegations “transparently false, stale, and long debunked.” Lowell said it appears the working group Martin leads “is aptly named as it is ‘weaponizing’” the Justice Department “to carry out the President’s and Attorney General’s threats.”
“Then he showed up outside her house.”
• Ed Martin Suggests Letitia James Resign to Avoid Further Conflict (CTH)
As noted by the Associated Press, “President Donald Trump’s political weaponization czar sent a letter urging New York Attorney General Letitia James to resign from office “as an act of good faith” four days after starting his mortgage fraud investigation of her. Then he showed up outside her house.” Letitia James’ lawyer, Abbe Lowell, shared the content of the letter with the media as both James and her legal representatives continue efforts to leverage media as a defensive strategy.
NEW YORK – President Donald Trump’s political weaponization czar sent a letter urging New York Attorney General Letitia James to resign from office “as an act of good faith” four days after starting his mortgage fraud investigation of her. Then he showed up outside her house. Ed Martin, the director of the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group, told James’ lawyer on Aug. 12 the Democrat would best serve the “good of the state and nation” by resigning and ending his probe into alleged paperwork discrepancies on her Brooklyn townhouse and a Virginia home. “Her resignation from office would give the people of New York and America more peace than proceeding,” Martin wrote. “I would take this as an act of good faith.”
Martin’s investigation stems from a letter Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi in April asking her to investigate and consider prosecuting James, alleging she had “falsified bank documents and property records.” Pulte, whose agency regulates mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, cited “media reports” claiming James had falsely listed a Virginia home as her principal residence, and he suggested she may have been trying to avoid higher interest rates that often apply to second homes. Director Pulte also accused James of lying in property records about the number of apartments in the Brooklyn townhouse she has owned since 2001.
It’s evidently very tempting to fool around with “primary residence” status.
• Trump Demands Fed Governor “Must Resign Now” Amid Mortgage Fraud Probe (ZH)
The director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency is urging Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over a pair of mortgages, the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration to increase legal scrutiny of Democratic figures and appointees. FHFA Director Bill Pulte wrote a letter to Bondi and DOJ official Ed Martin on Aug. 15 suggesting that Cook may have committed a criminal offense. The letter alleges that Cook “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statute.” Bloomberg reports that Pulte said Cook took a mortgage on a property in Ann Arbor, Michigan, signing a mortgage agreement that stipulated she would use the property as her primary residence for at least a year.
Two weeks later, according to the letter, she took another mortgage on a Georgia property and also declared it would be her primary residence. Pulte also called on Bondi to look into whether Cook misrepresented her circumstances by later listing the Georgia property for rental. The letter includes copies of mortgage documents in Cook’s name, as well as an apparent rental listing from 2022, a little over a year after she bought the Georgia property. Here is the Criminal Referral Letter on Lisa Cook, the current Fed Governor.
Here is the Criminal Referral Letter on Lisa Cook, the current Fed Governor. pic.twitter.com/aG0LGnokei
— Pulte (@pulte) August 20, 2025
— Pulte (@pulte) August 20, 2025
And President Trump was swift to respond… demanding that “Cook must resign, now!!!”
…as the full court press to pack The Fed continues. Cook was nominated to the Fed by President Joe Biden and took office in 2022, becoming the first Black woman to serve on the Fed’s board of governors. She was later nominated by Biden for a full term, which expires in 2038. Bloomberg reports that no charges have been filed and it’s not clear whether Bondi will investigate. The Justice Department declined comment. The Federal Reserve declined comment. Cook did not respond to requests for comment late Tuesday.
“Damn straight there’s no “cavalry” coming across the hill: That’s the upside to securing the border. The Democrats will have to woo real, actual Americans…”
Note: the Democratic party won’t be allowed to die. That would leave the US with a one-party system. A new party? Just about impossible.
• NYT: The Death Cycle of the Democratic Party (Pinsker)
Instead of a donkey as its mascot, maybe the Democrats should consider a Mohican. It’d be more accurate: They’re dropping like flies. Since April of 2024, six U.S. congressmen have died in office. All six were Democrats. (Fun fact: Even if you go all the way back to 2022, the last EIGHT congressmen who died in office were ALL Democrats.) Turns out there are a few unfortunate consequences to relying on a geriatric workforce. Those dead congressmen cost the Democrats dearly. But in hindsight, perhaps we should applaud the Democrats for being such sticklers for accuracy in representative government: A dying party, after all, deserves to be represented by a dying congressman. This morning, the New York Times released a fascinating study — one that should send shockwaves throughout D.C.: “The Democratic Party Faces a Voter Registration Crisis.” Among its findings:
“The Democratic Party is hemorrhaging voters long before they even go to the polls. Of the 30 states that track voter registration by political party, Democrats lost ground to Republicans in every single one between the 2020 and 2024 elections — and often by a lot. That four-year swing toward the Republicans adds up to 4.5 million voters, a deep political hole that could take years for Democrats to climb out from.” So, just your standard story about the Democratic Party going… wait: 0-30 in ALL 30 STATES that track voter registration? Welp, that ain’t good. This means that it is clearly a national movement. We can’t dismiss it as a Red State phenomenon, or a regional skirmish in the Culture War. This is far bigger than that:
“The stampede away from the Democratic Party is occurring in battleground states, the bluest states and the reddest states, too, according to a new analysis of voter registration data by The New York Times. The analysis used voter registration data compiled by L2, a nonpartisan data firm. Few measurements reflect the luster of a political party’s brand more clearly than the choice by voters to identify with it — whether they register on a clipboard in a supermarket parking lot, at the Department of Motor Vehicles or in the comfort of their own home. And fewer and fewer Americans are choosing to be Democrats.”
The New York Times is using lots of loaded language — phrases like “stampede away from the Democratic Party” and “hemorrhaging voters.” We should always be mindful of their not-so-subtle editorializations because they reflect certain biases. So let’s strip away the pearl-clutching nonsense and narrow our focus to the “bottom line” numbers in a specific timeframe: 2020 through 2024. Really, how bad was it? All told, Democrats lost about 2.1 million registered voters between the 2020 and 2024 elections in the 30 states, along with Washington, D.C., that allow people to register with a political party. (In the remaining 20 states, voters do not register with a political party.) Republicans gained 2.4 million. Holy Guacamole! One party is growing; the other is dying. Some of the Donkeys’ attrition is clearly due to ex-Democrats joining the GOP, but lots of the GOP’s gains were from an influx of new voters:
“In 2018, Democrats accounted for 34 percent of new voter registrations nationwide, while Republicans were only 20 percent. Yet by 2024, Republicans had overtaken Democrats among new registrants. In six years, the G.O.P.’s share rose by 9 percentage points; the Democratic share dropped nearly 8 points. […] Not so long ago, in 2018, Democrats had accounted for 66 percent of new voters under 45 who registered with one of the two major parties. Yet by 2024, the Democratic share had plunged to 48 percent, the Times analysis of L2’s data found. In other words, Republicans went from roughly one-third of newly registered voters under 45 to a majority in the last six years. The story is even bleaker for Democrats in some key states. In Nevada, which releases particularly detailed data, Republicans added nearly twice as many voters under 35 to the rolls as Democrats did last year, state records show.”
The bad news for the Democratic Party is that its popularity with men has plummeted. But the good news is, its popularity with women has plummeted, too. (Wait. That’s not good news.) “Nearly 49 percent of men newly registering with a major party chose the Democrats in 2020. In 2024, that figure was down to roughly 39 percent. At the same time, the Democratic edge among women registering to vote has shrunk. The combination inverted a gender gap that in recent years had heavily benefited Democrats.” So, congrats to the Democrats on FINALLY achieving gender equality. (And now it makes sense why they keep insisting there are dozens of different genders to choose from: If men AND women rejected me, I’d be looking for a third, fourth, and fifth gender, too. Maybe somewhere, someone will love me!) There also seems to be a mass exodus of Latino voters: Few states offer partisan registration data by race. But those that do reflect the Democratic Party’s fading allure to Latino voters, according to the Times analysis of the L2 data.
“In Florida, a slim 52 percent majority of new Latino registrants who chose one of the two major parties had aligned with the Democrats in 2020. By last year, the party’s share of new Latino voters had collapsed to 33 percent. Democrats fared only slightly better in North Carolina: The party’s share of Latino registrants picking one of the two major parties declined from 72 percent in 2020 to 58 percent last year.” The New York Times lamented the deathblow of the old liberal canard of using “nonprofits” to juice Democratic registration artificially: Because of Trump’s popularity with minorities, that no longer works:
“For years, the left has relied on a sprawling network of nonprofits — which solicit donations from people whose identities they need not disclose — to register Black, Latino and younger voters. Though the groups are technically nonpartisan, the underlying assumption has been that most new voters registering would vote Democratic. Mr. Trump upended that calculation with the inroads he made with working-class nonwhite voters. “You can’t just register a young Latino or a young Black voter and assume that they’re going to know that it’s Democrats that have the best policies,” Ms. Cardona said.” Right! Those mercurial Latinos and disloyal blacks might do something loco — like think on their own — and leave the Democratic Party plantation. Why, the nerve of them! One of the so-called “experts” quoted in the New York Times’ study believes these political trends are permanent:
“I don’t want to say, ‘The death cycle of the Democratic Party,’ but there seems to be no end to this,” said Michael Pruser, who tracks voter registration closely as the director of data science for Decision Desk HQ, an election-analysis site. “There is no silver lining or cavalry coming across the hill. This is month after month, year after year.” Damn straight there’s no “cavalry” coming across the hill: That’s the upside to securing the border. The Democrats will have to woo real, actual Americans — as opposed to simply importing their next generation of voters — and they don’t like it one bit. Well, okay. Things are looking awfully bleak for the Democratic Party, but surely there’s SOMETHING positive for liberals to hang their hat on, right? Like, President Trump has done such a miserable, terrible, abysmal job as president, so the American people MUST have come to their senses since then, right? Wrong:
“Any hope that the drift away from the Democratic Party would end organically with Mr. Trump’s election has been dashed by the limited data so far in 2025. There are now roughly 160,000 fewer registered Democrats than on Election Day 2024, according to L2’s data, and 200,000 more Republicans. “It’s going to get worse,” Mr. Pruser, of Decision Desk HQ, said of the outlook for Democrats, “before it gets better.” Ah, so another 360,000 vote swing over the last nine months. That’s a 40,000 Democratic net loss each month! And we’re still about 15 months away from the midterms — and 38 months away from Election Day 2028. Do the math: It’s not good for Democrats.
“A Schiff spokesperson immediately blamed Donald Trump and his supporters for supposedly weaponizing the justice system.”
• The Walls Are Closing in on Adam Schiff and He Knows It (Margolis)
Adam Schiff has always loved the spotlight, but not like this. The California senator, best known as the face of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax and the architect of the first impeachment circus, is now launching something very different: the “Senator Schiff Legal Defense Fund.” Schiff filed the paperwork with the IRS last week. This move doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in his future. You don’t create a legal defense fund unless you expect things to get messy. And he knows he’s in serious trouble over his alleged mortgage fraud. According to his camp, this isn’t about a real scandal but revenge. A Schiff spokesperson immediately blamed Donald Trump and his supporters for supposedly weaponizing the justice system.
“It’s clear that Donald Trump and his MAGA allies will continue weaponizing the justice process to attack Senator Schiff for holding this corrupt administration accountable,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “This fund will ensure he can fight back against these baseless smears while continuing to do his job.” Translation: Schiff knows the walls are closing in, but he wants his donors to pay the bill. The problem is that the allegations against Schiff don’t look like political fiction. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) referred him to the Justice Department last month. Investigators say Schiff falsified bank documents and property records related to a Potomac, Md., home, securing sweetheart loan terms between 2003 and 2019. Schiff denies everything, calling it politically motivated. Of course, that’s what he always says. The Maryland Attorney General is now actively investigating the case.
Schiff has a long history of playing fast and loose with facts when it serves his purpose. Back during the Russia collusion hoax, he insisted he personally saw “evidence” that Trump’s campaign conspired with Moscow to steal the 2016 election. Spoiler alert: he hadn’t. It was a complete lie. White House Spokesman Harrison Fields blasted Schiff as “a sleazy and corrupt politician who betrayed his oath to the Constitution by prioritizing his selfish and personal animosity toward the President over the interests of the American people.” Fields added, “No amount of money can shield Adam from the truth that he is a fraud.” In recent weeks, we’ve learned that whistleblowers have accused Schiff of authorizing leaks tailored to smear Trump and even bragged that those leaks would lead to an indictment.
“For years, certain officials used their positions to selectively leak classified information to shape political narratives,” FBI Director Kash Patel said earlier this month. “It was all done with one purpose: to weaponize intelligence and law enforcement for political gain. Those abuses eroded public trust in our institutions.” FBI files later confirmed that had Hillary Clinton won in 2016, she planned to reward Schiff for his efforts to undermine Trump by appointing him CIA director. This is a man who has built his career on dishonest narratives and has never faced consequences for them until now.
Adam Schiff has spent years peddling lies, abusing his power, and weaponizing government institutions against his political enemies. Now, with investigators circling and a legal defense fund in place, the same man who smeared Trump with fabricated scandals is finally staring down a real one of his own. Schiff may try to spin this as partisan revenge, but the truth is simple: after decades of dishonesty, the reckoning he has long evaded may finally be at hand. The walls are closing in on him.
“D. C. gave Fake Crime numbers to create a false illusion of safety,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday night. “This is a very bad and dangerous thing to do, and they are under serious investigation for so doing!”
• Jeanine Pirro Launches DOJ Probe To Find If DC Has Been Faking Crime Data (ZH)
Four weeks after a DC police commander was suspended amid accusations that he manipulated crime statistics, the Department of Justice has launched a wide-ranging investigation into whether the department has been faking data to make crime rates lower, the Washington Post reports, citing two senior law enforcement officials. The investigation is run out of DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office following the accusation lodged against Metro PD commander Michael Pulliam, who was put on leave in May after the department began investigating whether he altered crime data. Pullman has denied the allegations. Pulliam’s paid administrative leave came a week after he filed an equal employment opportunity complaint against an assistant chief over accusations that the department deliberately falsified crime data.
The Police union, meanwhile, claims police supervisors in the department manipulate crime data to make it appear violent crime has fallen considerably compared to last year. The DOJ investigation, however, will go much further – and will include other police and city officials who may have also fabricated or altered crime data. “D. C. gave Fake Crime numbers to create a false illusion of safety,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday night. “This is a very bad and dangerous thing to do, and they are under serious investigation for so doing!” he continued, adding “Until 4 days ago, Washington, D.C., was the most unsafe ‘city’ in the United States, and perhaps the World. Now, in just a short period of time, it is perhaps the safest, and getting better every single hour!”
The DOJ has yet to articulate what specific crimes DC police officials have committed beyond ‘manipulating data.’ DC Mayor Muriel Bowser flipped out, of course, touting what she says is a drop in violent crime that happened before President Trump brought in hundreds of National Guard troops and federal law enforcement officers to join local PD – also taken over by the Trump admin – in fighting what Trump called a crime emergency. DC statistics showed violent crime down 27% year-over-year, and homicides down 11% – numbers that are now being called into question. “We are not experiencing a spike in crime,” Bowser told MSNBC. “In fact, we’re watching our crime numbers go down.” Sure you are!
They were always destined for each other.
• Musk Reportedly Scales Back ‘America First Party’ Plans (ZH)
There are emerging signs that Elon Musk and President Trump have reached a détente – well, at least for now. The public bickering has stopped, tensions over Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ have faded, and both men have found common ground in backing the deployment of federal troops to curb violent crime across Washington, D.C., after DOGE’s ‘Big Balls’ was injured in an attack. Now, a new report from the Wall Street Journal, citing sources, says Musk has dialed back plans to launch a political party to challenge Trump ahead of next year’s midterms. Recall that Musk had called for the ‘America First Party’ to challenge the Washington ‘uniparty’ following Trump’s passage of the BBB in early July. He was also infuriated by the failure to codify a broad range of DOGE cuts. The tit-for-tat social media fight between Musk and Trump was fierce between June and July.
WELCOME BACK, ELON!!!❤️🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/PTMHj0rbzo
— il Donaldo Trumpo (@PapiTrumpo) August 20, 2025
Here are key points from the WSJ report (citing sources): • Focus on Tesla/SpaceX & GOP Ties: Musk is prioritizing his companies and preserving his relationship with Vice President JD Vance, seen as Trump’s political successor. He has privately admitted forming a party could strain that alliance. • Future Support for Vance: Musk is considering channeling financial support into Vance’s potential 2028 presidential run, after spending nearly $300 million to back Trump and Republicans in 2024.
An excerpt from WSJ: “As he has considered launching a party, the Tesla chief executive officer has been focused in part on maintaining ties with Vice President JD Vance, who is widely seen as a potential heir to the MAGA political movement. Musk has stayed in touch with Vance in recent weeks, and he has acknowledged to associates that if he goes ahead with forming a political party, he would damage his relationship with the vice president, the people said. Musk and his associates have told people close to him that he is considering using some of his vast financial resources to back Vance if he decides to run for president in 2028, some of the people said. Musk spent close to $300 million to support Trump and other Republicans in the 2024 election.”
WSJ was careful to note that Musk or his team didn’t respond to requests for comment. So it’s only a matter of time before Musk comments about the story on X. Interestingly, WSJ sources reported that the America First Party canceled meetings with third-party organizers, including notable figures such as Andrew Yang and Mark Cuban. Yang and Cuban are weak men in the era of ‘MAGA’ – probably for the best. Steven Nekhaila, chair of the Libertarian National Committee, confirmed to WSJ that Musk’s team has had an “eerie silence” and “doesn’t seem like anything has been in action, neither at the state level or at the ground level.” Was Musk’s America First Party merely political theater, as the billionaire pivoted from neutering the Democratic Party through DOGE strike teams in federal agencies back to the private sector, aiming not to alienate customers amid weakening Tesla sales?
“European censors” at the Commission and EU countries “target core political speech that is neither harmful nor illegal…”
• The EU’s Latest Plan to Stifle Online Privacy Is Terrifying (NC)
Regular readers are by now familiar with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which we have covered on several occasions since July 2023. For those who aren’t, a quick primer: the DSA imposes a legal requirement on very large online platforms (VLOPs), and very large online search engines (VLOSEs) to take prompt action against illegal content hosted on their platforms, either by removing it, blocking it, or providing certain information to the authorities concerned. VLOPs and VLOSEs are also required to take action against risks that extend beyond illegal content, including vague threats to “civic discourse”, “electoral processes” and “public health”. It is down to the Commission or national authorities to define what those threats might entail. This is where the EU’s mass censorship regime began to take form.
The overarching goal of the DSA is to combat — i.e., suppress — mis- and disinformation online, not just in Europe but potentially across the world. It is part of a broader trend of Western governments and UN institutions pushing to censor information on the Internet as they gradually lose control over key narrative threads. Platforms that fall foul of the Act face potentially ruinous fines of up to 6% of their global annual turnover. As such, it’s probably safe to assume that they err on the side of caution, deleting content that could be considered harmful, even when it is entirely lawful. So begins the slippery slope of systemic online censorship. As retired German judge Manfred Kölsch warned in an op-ed in Berliner Zeitung, the DSA not only poses an existential threat to the freedom of speech in Europe, it contravenes many of the EU’s own laws on freedom of expression and information:
“A careful look behind the facade of the rule of law reveals that the DSA knowingly undermines the right to freedom of expression and information guaranteed by Article 11 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 5 of the Basic Law (Germany’s written constitution, agreed by the allies back in 1949 when the first post-war government was established in West Germany).” The text of Article 11 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights reads as follows: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.” As we warned back in 2023, the reverberations of the DSA are likely to extend far beyond the EU’s borders and could even go global, much like its predecessor, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Those concerns were echoed by a report released in January by the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, which singled out the DSA as a “foreign censorship threat.” From Politico: “[The report] includes non-public information about how the European Commission and national authorities implement the rules, including confidential information from EU workshops, emails between the EU executive and companies, content takedown requests in France, Germany and Poland and readouts from Commission meetings with tech firms.” “On paper, the DSA is bad. In practice, it is even worse,” the report said. “European censors” at the Commission and EU countries “target core political speech that is neither harmful nor illegal, attempting to stifle debate on topics such as immigration and the environment,” it said. Their censorship is “largely one-sided” against conservatives, it added.”
Putin and Trump should turn this into an international feel-good story. Make a few phone calls.
• Wanted For Lonely Russian Female: Sanctions-Buster (RT)
A female pygmy hippopotamus named Eva who lives at the city zoo of Ekaterinburg in central Russia cannot meet a mate. Western sanctions have blocked efforts to deliver a male hippo from abroad, according to the zoo director, RIA Novosti reports. Svetlana Prilepina told the news agency on Tuesday that the zoo had found a suitable male pygmy hippo from a partner institution in the Czech Republic. However, logistical and legal barriers tied to international sanctions have prevented the animal from being transported to Russia, she lamented. ”Due to sanctions, we are unable to bring the male to Russia and therefore cannot form a breeding pair with Eva,” the director said. She explained that sourcing a mate within Russia was not feasible due to genetic compatibility concerns. Prilepina emphasized that the zoo had to look abroad to maintain healthy breeding lines, with the search extending across Asia and Europe.
Pygmy hippos are classified as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); fewer than 3,000 are estimated to live in the wild. Eva arrived at the Yekaterinburg Zoo in 2013 from Edinburgh and is now 13 years old. Like all hippos, she is mostly active in the evening and at night. She enjoys swimming in her pool and playing with a ball, while during the day she prefers to rest in the water, often covering herself with a mat. Adult pygmy hippos typically stand 75–83 centimeters tall at the shoulder, measure between 150 and 177 centimeters in length, and weigh between 180 and 275 kilograms. Unlike their larger relatives, pygmy hippos are more solitary and less aquatic, spending much of their time hidden in forested areas.
Shiong
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong: "The Disease of Cancer is a Symptom. The Root Cause is a Collapse of the Immune System."
A startling discovery is changing everything we know about cancer and longevity. The key isn't found in a new drug, but in a simple, often-ignored number on your… pic.twitter.com/6jSdgwV8Dd
— Camus (@newstart_2024) August 20, 2025
How it started
How it started vs how it's going. pic.twitter.com/uZxyzgwJyh
— Daniel Foubert 🇫🇷🇵🇱 (@Arrogance_0024) August 19, 2025
Monks
🚨 BREAKING: 70 THOUSAND MONKS just NOMINATED President Trump for the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 🚨
Trump stopped SEVEN global conflicts in SEVEN months… and now the EUROPEANS are buying “TRUMP 2028” HATS (Zelenskyy bought TWO) 🧢
Trump says he’s not ENDING the Ukraine War for awards,… pic.twitter.com/gZY19CUhgC
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) August 20, 2025
Song
The Song is considered to be one of the most difficult arias ever written for a soprano. And yet she makes it look so easy, and with such power. And she was only 17 years old when she performed it.pic.twitter.com/SwYlXx5B4q
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 20, 2025
Chongqing
Guinness World Record broken by more than 11,600 drones celebrating Chongqing’s 28th anniversary of becoming one of China's largest regionspic.twitter.com/6gxkVi2Nis
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 20, 2025
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