Starmer Archives - The Automatic Earth

Warren Buffet: "I can end the deficit in five minutes. You juts pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for reelection." pic.twitter.com/xloXyu0KAK
— Teddy – PolyBackTest.com (@Bitcoin_Teddy) June 28, 2026

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2071299405211177385?s=20

Trump doesn’t want to restart the bombing. Iran knowa it. And uses it.

• Iran Foreign Ministry Contradicts Trump: No Talks will be Held (ZH)

Earlier Monday a White House official said the Witkoff-Kushner delegation was en route to Qatar for Iran talks, but it’s looking like Tehran will give the US a cold shoulder. Iran state Tasnim is citing Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, who says: “We will not hold any negotiation meetings at any level with the American side in the coming days,” directly contradicting prior reports coming out of Washington. Bloomberg is also confirming the new statement out of the Iranian side. President Trump himself early Monday morning stated on Truth Social: “Iran has requested a meeting. It will take place tomorrow in Doha.” Also Fars has separately stated within the last hours:

“No nuclear negotiations have been held with the US so far, and there will be no negotiations on nuclear issues until Iran’s conditions are met.”
More latest: “IRAN SAYS DELEGATION WILL VISIT QATAR BUT RULES OUT US TALKS” So it seems Witkoff and Kushner will merely meet with Qatari and Pakistani mediators? It remains an open question whether the Iranians will be present in Doha at all. It could be Tehran is issuing the contradictory messaging in order to keep leverage and pressure up, or else to try and humiliate the White House. The Islamic Republic has been warning that more US military action against Iranian territory and in the Hormuz Strait could result in Iran walking away from the negotiating process altogether.
Witkoff-Kushner Delegation En Route to Qatar, Iran Mum
Bloomberg reports Monday that Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will meet with Qatar’s prime minister on Tuesday to discuss the talks with Iran, also citing Axios which spoke to a White House official. Will the Iranians actually be there? On Wednesday US and Iranian technical teams will meet separately with Qatari and Pakistani mediators, Axios says Witkoff and Kushner will travel to Doha today: Axios. So it seems the US delegation is in motion, even as Tehran has as yet offered no concrete public confirmation that an Iranian high level team is in route.

The Supremes are largely in favor of Trump, but they let some nasty pieces slip. The mail-in ballot scene is not tenable. And neither is E. Jean Carroll.

SCOTUS acts as if it not part of what it regulates. Wrong.

• SCOTUS: The Chief Executive Is, You Know, the Chief Executive (Green)

“The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America,” read the very first sentence of Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution defining the executive branch of the United States government. “And it means what it says,” the Supreme Court basically ruled Monday morning in a little case called Trump v. Slaughter. Let me set the stage for today’s momentous decision as briefly as possible. I might even have a little fun with it.

Early in his second term, President Donald Trump fired two Democrat commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter. The 1914 Progressive-era law establishing the FTC says commissioners can only be fired for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” Trump — much to his credit, but stick a pin in that thought — made no such claim against either Bedoya or Slaughter. He fired them because he didn’t want them working for him any longer. Slaughter, whose resumé consists of legal and government positions having apparently nothing to do with trade, sued.
“The President illegally fired me from my position as a Federal Trade Commissioner, violating the plain language of a statute and clear Supreme Court precedent,” she claimed.The precedent Slaughter referred to is the 1935 case, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, upholding Congress’s authority to protect certain executive branch roles — like FTC commissioners — from getting the presidential heave-ho without cause.
So the way I see it, two things were at stake in Trump v. Slaughter. The first is the separation of powers issue concerning Article II, Section 1. Is executive power vested in the President of the United States of America, or can Congress create an executive branch position only partly within the executive power? The second was the precedent set by Humphrey’s Executor v. United States involving just the FTC almost a century ago.
And Another Thing: Sorry-not-sorry about the headline, but the decision in Trump v. Slaughter was just so gobsmackingly obvious to anyone but the most dedicated progressive that it amused me to sum it up in dated Valley Girl-speak. By firing Bedoya and Slaughter at-will instead of for cause, Trump launched a frontal attack on Humphrey’s — and succeeded.
Today, in a six-to-three decision, the Supreme Court upheld the notion that the president is the master of his domain, and effectively obliterated Humphrey’s. You can guess which six and which three, I’m sure. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, and the last lines read, “Subordinates who exercise the President’s power are subject to removal by him. Then, and only then, can they remain accountable to the President, and the President to the people.” That right there is the crux of the issue. This is from my former colleague, Tyler O’Neil: Well said.
The whole notion of “independent agencies” is, in this amateur’s opinion, anathema to the Constitution. If there’s a legal foundation propping up the progressive administrative state existing outside the will of the voters, it’s the idea that there can be administrators immune to public pressure expressed by the only nationally elected official in the entire U.S. government — the President of the United States. Today, SCOTUS potentially blew apart that foundation, which very well might have been the White House’s goal from the start.

“Election Day used to mean something. After Monday, it doesn’t.”

• The Supreme Court Just Californicated Our Elections (Matt Margolis)

For most of us, Election Day is supposed to mean Election Day. Not Election Week. Not Election Month. On Monday, the Supreme Court decided that it no longer matters. In a 5-4 decision in Watson v. Republican National Committee, the Court ruled that federal election-day statutes do not stop Mississippi from counting mail-in ballots: “The federal election-day statutes do not prevent Mississippi from counting absentee ballots postmarked by election day but received up to five days thereafter; nothing in the federal election-day statutes requires ballots to be received by election day.” Mississippi passed that five-day grace period back in 2020 as a COVID-19 emergency measure.

Yet six years later, the “emergency” is still here for some reason, and now it has the Supreme Court’s blessing. Federal law has set a single, uniform Election Day since 1845, with Congress extending the same rule to congressional races in 1872. The Republican National Committee, the Mississippi Republican Party, the Libertarian Party of Mississippi, a Mississippi voter, and a county election official all sued, arguing that a state can’t quietly turn one day into a week just because counting mail-in ballots is inconvenient. A three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit agreed with them. The full Fifth Circuit declined to revisit that ruling, over a five-judge dissent, and Mississippi ran to the Supreme Court instead.
Mississippi’s lawyer, Solicitor General Scott Stewart, told the justices that states have broad authority over how elections are run and that none of this matters because voters make their final decision by Election Day anyway. Paul Clement, representing the challengers, made the obvious point that when Congress created Election Day, casting a ballot and the government actually receiving it were “so inextricably intertwined” that “no one would have thought of one without the other.” In other words, a vote doesn’t count until officials have it in hand. That used to be common sense, but it got lost on a majority of the court.
It was widely expected that this ruling would go the other way. During oral arguments, which lasted more than two hours, a majority of the justices sounded as if they agreed with Clement. Then the actual ruling came down, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts joined the Court’s liberal wing to hand Mississippi the win anyway. Justice Samuel Alito dissented, joined by Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, with Brett Kavanaugh signing on in part. They were right, and it didn’t matter.
Here’s what makes this ruling so infuriating: We’ve already seen what this kind of system produces. Look at the recent Los Angeles mayoral race, where Spencer Pratt held a comfortable second-place finish, putting him on track for a November runoff against Karen Bass. Then the mail-in ballots kept trickling in, Nithya Raman posted a mathematically improbable surge, Pratt’s lead evaporated, and two Democrats walked into the runoff instead. That’s not an accident. That’s what happens when “Election Day” becomes a suggestion instead of a deadline.
More than a dozen other states have laws just like Mississippi’s, which means this ruling isn’t a one-state curiosity. It’s a green light. Expect more late-arriving ballot drops, more “improbable surges,” and more races that get decided long after voters went home thinking it was over. This case may have started in Mississippi, but it is going to make elections in America look a lot like California’s. Election Day used to mean something. After Monday, it doesn’t.

“..more opportunity for fraud and more uncertainty injected directly into the system Americans are supposed to trust..”

• Alito Warns Supreme Court Opened Pandora’s Box for Election Fraud (Margolis)

The Supreme Court just made it a lot easier for late-arriving mail-in ballots to count, and Justice Samuel Alito wants you to know exactly what that means for the integrity of your vote. In a 5-4 decision, the Court ruled that federal law permits states to count non-military mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, authored the majority opinion. Alito wrote the dissent, and he wasted no time laying out why the ruling should worry every American who still believes in free and fair elections.

Alito then argued that the decision “leaves open opportunities for voter fraud that may further undermine Americans’ faith in the integrity of this country’s elections.” We all know he’s right. We’ve been covering the problems with mail-in ballots for years, and Alito also backed up his claim with receipts. Alito pointed to a bipartisan commission from 2005, co-chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker, that concluded absentee voting was “the largest source of potential voter fraud” in American elections. Alito noted that “diverse sources have recognized that mail-in ballots increase the potential for fraud.”
Alito’s dissent goes beyond merely citing an old commission report. He laid out, in detail, why mail voting is inherently riskier than voting in person. “When someone votes by mail, it is harder for officials to verify the identity of the person requesting and completing the ballot,” he wrote. “Mail voting also presents a greater opportunity for voter manipulation, a more vulnerable chain of ballot custody, and a diminished ability to detect improprieties in real time.”
Alito warned that letting absentee ballots “pour in over the days and weeks after election day,” while preliminary results are already public, “creates greater opportunity for fraud and risks further undermining the public’s confidence in election integrity.” He even quoted Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s warning that when “thousands of absentee ballots flow in after election day and potentially flip the result of an election,” then “charges of a rigged election can explode.”
Alito also flagged a mess of unresolved legal questions the ruling raises, including whether ballot-recall services and the Postal Service’s or FedEx’s recall policies now violate Election Day statutes as applied to absentee ballots. He concluded that the majority’s decision “opens Pandora’s box” for state legislatures trying to figure out what the law actually permits going forward.= Republicans didn’t waste time reacting. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) called the ruling “a shockingly wrong” decision. Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-Ariz.) called it “disastrous,” warning that the decision “guarantees we’ll keep drifting away from” Election Day “as our sacred elections get bogged down by endless mail-in ballots and never-ending counts.”
The Democrat Party will tell you this ruling is about expanding voting access. That’s a total crock. Alito’s dissent makes clear what it’s really about: more opportunity for fraud and more uncertainty injected directly into the system Americans are supposed to trust. Pandora’s box is open now, and the worst part is, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett helped make it happen.

“… the court ruled 5-4 in favor of allowing Mississippi to count ballots received up to five days after Election Day ..”

• Supreme Court Decides Crucial Mail-in Ballot Case (Salgado)

The U.S. Supreme Court has finally handed down a ruling on a vitally important mail-in ballot counting deadline case. The decision comes amid controversy over election results altered by alleged mail-in ballots in California.

Unfortunately, the court ruled 5-4 in favor of allowing Mississippi to count ballots received up to five days after Election Day. This is a disaster, obviously a huge opportunity for fraud, an encouragement not to count expeditiously, approval for ballots not mailed in time and possibly harvested, and also indirectly ensures other states like California will count until they get the results authorities want. It was a very disappointing decision from SCOTUS, especially given our supposed conservative majority.

BREAKING: Supreme Court rules 5-4 that federal law does NOT require mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberal justices pic.twitter.com/ynr2E9X9sX
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 29, 2026

Watson v. Republican National Committee addressed whether federal election-day statutes in 2 and 3 U.S. Code preempt state laws that permit election officials to count ballots allegedly cast by election day but received afterward. Michael Watson, Mississippi’s secretary of state, was the petitioner. Democrats — who love to railroad states on parental rights and free speech — are shrieking “states’ rights” in this case. Republicans, in contrast, are pointing out that counting ballots received after election day has nothing to do with constitutionality or lawful state election systems, but rather is an excuse for facilitating fraud.
The case’s importance came into focus with the early July elections in California. A week of Democrats “counting” and miraculously discovering more of a few million ballots in California finally put Democrat Xavier Becerra ahead of Republican Steve Hilton in the gubernatorial race. Meanwhile, distant third socialist Nithya Raman suddenly shot ahead of registered Republican Spencer Pratt for the Los Angeles mayoral runoff, days after Election Day.
DDHQ did confirm at last that Hilton would still be advancing to the general election, but a sudden series of statistically improbable drops managed to shove Pratt out of his second-place slot against Democrat Mayor Karen Bass. And yet, California still went on “counting.” The state accepts ballots that arrive after Election Day. Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, called the state a “fraudsters’ paradise.”As legal expert Jonathan Turley said, “As the Supreme Court readies its decision in Watson v. Republican National Committee (on whether to require votes by ‘election day’ in federal elections), the dysfunctional system in California is not helping those who want states to have the final say on such deadlines.”
“If we want fair and secure elections, Election Day should mean exactly what it says, which is why this decision makes it even more imperative that Congress pass the SAVE America Act,” said RNC Chairman Joe Gruters. “Democrats are inviting chaos at the ballot box by allowing elections to drag on for days and weeks after voters cast their ballots. Republicans are not going to be deterred by this decision, and the RNC will keep fighting to have elections end on Election Day as Americans want.”
When the original states ratified the Constitution, there was one Election Day. The whole process we have now of voting for months and using mail-in ballots and such nonsense would have absolutely horrified the Founders. They would also have understood what Democrats deny now, that such a system is all about creating a lot of opportunities for fraud.

SAVE!

• Supreme Court Mail-In Ballot Decision Leaves Trump With a Simple Message (Arcand)

President Donald Trump called the Republican National Committee’s Supreme Court loss on Monday “tremendous,” and he used it as an opportunity to push for the SAVE America Act once again. bThe court ruled that states are allowed to count mail-in ballots that were obtained after Election Day, as long as they were postmarked before that day. Specifically, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in the majority opinion of the court’s 5-4 decision that “federal election-day statutes do not prevent Mississippi from counting absentee ballots postmarked by election day but received up to five days thereafter; nothing in the federal election-day statutes requires ballots to be received by election day.”

The president wrote on Truth Social that “it is more important than ever to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” which includes documentary proof of citizenship at the time of voter registration and limits for mail-in ballots, with workarounds if somebody is disabled, ill, traveling, or deployed. “The House of Representatives has approved this vital Act, THREE TIMES,” Trump added, before saying that the Senate “seems unable to do so.” “In a time when there is a powerful Communist Movement taking place in our Country, one more dangerous than World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or September 11th, all Dumocrats, and our five Republican Senate Hold Outs, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, Bill Cassidy, and Mitch McConnell must vote to SAVE OUR COUNTRY. There can be no more excuses,” he wrote.
Collins has been supportive of the federal elections proposal; however, she voted against a push to attempt to attach to the “Secure America Act” reconciliation bill earlier this month, according to Fox News. Meanwhile, Cassidy has also been supportive of the bill, but he recently expressed skepticism about its ability to pass. “There are not the votes,” the Louisiana Republican told “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on CBS News on Sunday. In response to Trump’s post on Saturday, Cassidy, will not be returning to the upper chamber after losing his primary, said it’s “it’s irresponsible to postpone signing the Housing bill due to the SAVE Act.”

Mr. President, I don’t know which version of the SAVE America Act you’re referring to, but I am a cosponsor and support the latest version. I don’t know which staffer misled you, but thank you for your attention to this matter!!

Btw, it’s irresponsible to postpone signing the… https://t.co/NY3G62paNj
— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) June 29, 2026

Some Republicans, like Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), have stressed the need to attach the bill to whatever legislation they possibly can. “Let’s add SAVE to the Housing bill. Let’s add SAVE to FISA Reauthorization,” Banks posted to X. “Let’s add SAVE to a new Reconciliation bill. We must pass the SAVE America Act.” “We must secure our elections once & for all,” he added.

Only US citizens should be voting in US elections.

Let’s add SAVE to the Housing bill.
Let’s add SAVE to FISA Reauthorization.
Let's add SAVE to a new Reconciliation bill.

We must pass the SAVE America Act.
We must secure our elections once & for all.https://t.co/jwFq8uU6u3
— Senator Jim Banks (@SenatorBanks) June 29, 2026

“Carroll claims, without any evidence, that Trump sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store ..”

• SCOTUS Just Let a Rigged Verdict Against President Trump Stand (Margolis)

The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it won’t touch a 2023 jury verdict ordering President Donald Trump to pay E. Jean Carroll $5 million for sexually abusing and defaming her. While the court has handed Trump several key wins on challenges to his presidential actions, the refusal stings precisely because it’s the first time since he returned to office that he’s asked the justices to step into a personal legal fight, and they walked away from it. Carroll claims, without any evidence, that Trump sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store back in 1996.

She didn’t go public until 2019, and when she did, she didn’t go to the police; she put it in a book. Trump has always said the story was fabricated to sell that book, and everything she’s done since has just given credence to the accusations that she’s just a grifter. Trump’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court to step in, warning that it’s “deeply damaging to the fabric of our Republic for President Trump, in the midst of a historic presidency, to have to take his focus away from his singular and unique duties as Chief Executive to continue fighting against decades-old, false allegations and the myriad wrongs throughout this baseless case.” They added, “This mistreatment of a President cannot be allowed to stand.”
Trump’s legal team also argued Carroll sat on her “implausible, unsubstantiated assertions” for more than two decades to “maximize political injury to him and profit for herself.” They went further, pointing out that her account “precisely matches the plotline from an episode of one of admittedly her favorite TV shows, ‘Law & Order.'” A story that lines up that neatly with a television script deserved more scrutiny than it got, and that’s before you even get to the rest of Carroll’s track record, including a paid walking tour that conveniently started at the exact spot she claims Trump attacked her.
But the key part of Trump’s case wasn’t about Carroll’s lack of credibility. It was about what the jury never should have heard in the first place. His lawyers argued that jurors were wrongly allowed to hear testimony from two other women accusing Trump of assault, along with the 2005 Access Hollywood recording of Trump bragging about grabbing women. None of that evidence belonged anywhere near a trial about a specific 1996 allegation, and letting it in front of a jury all but guaranteed the outcome before the case even started.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals waved off those objections in 2024, ruling that “taking the record as a whole and considering the strength of Ms. Carroll’s case, we are not persuaded that any claimed error or combination of errors in the district court’s evidentiary rulings affected Mr. Trump’s substantial rights.” Now the Supreme Court has let that ruling stand without explanation.
This isn’t even Trump’s only Carroll headache. A separate 2024 jury ordered him to pay her $83.3 million over public statements disputing her account, a verdict that survived three separate appeals. His lawyers are now drafting a Supreme Court appeal in that case too, which was made possible by a special New York law that opened a limited window for sexual abuse survivors to sue over decades-old claims, a law tailor-made for exactly this kind of lawsuit, which Carroll helped make happen.
Carroll built an entire financial windfall on what was clearly a fiction, and the courts have signed off on every dollar of it. The Supreme Court had a chance to ask hard questions about evidence that should never have reached a jury. It chose not to, and Carroll cashes the check anyway.

A TV show. It shows justice as non-existent.

• Supreme Court Rejects Trump Bid To Appeal E. Jean Carroll Verdict (CNBC)

The Supreme Court on Monday said it would not hear an appeal by President Donald Trump of a New York federal court jury’s verdict awarding the writer E. Jean Carroll $5 million for having been sexually abused and defamed by Trump. Trump separately was found civilly liable by another Manhattan federal court jury for having defamed Carroll. She was awarded $83.3 million in that case, which Trump is appealing at a lower federal appeals court.

The Supreme Court did not explain why it rejected Trump’s request that it hear his appeal of the $5 million verdict from the 2023 trial, as is typical for such orders. None of the justices, three of whom were appointed to the high court by Trump, issued a written dissent to the decision. Trump’s lawyers said the trial judge in the case improperly allowed testimony from two other women who said they were targets of sexual misconduct by Trump.
Carroll, in a 2019 New York magazine article, first publicly alleged that Trump had raped her in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s. She later filed a civil lawsuit alleging rape and that he had defamed her when he denied her claims. A judge in May 2023 found that Trump had sexually abused Carroll and defamed her. CNBC has requested comment from Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, as well as from the White House and Trump’s attorney in the Supreme Court appeal, Michael Martinich-Sauter.

“Like Saturn, the Revolution devours its children.”

• ‘You’re Next!’: Democrats Discover the Mob has a Mind of its Own (Turley)

“You’re next!” This chant, at the victory celebration of the Democratic Socialists this week, was a message not for the oligarchs or the billionaires, but for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and the Democratic establishment. They were threatening that Jeffries would be the next to lose his House seat to a socialist candidate. It was a scene that has recurred throughout history, as establishment leaders are overtaken by the very mobs they sought to use for their own purposes.

For years, Jeffries has joined other Democrats in fueling the rage on the left in the hopes of becoming the next House Speaker. Whether calling for supporters to “fight in the streets,” denouncing the Supreme Court as “illegitimate” or posting an image of himself brandishing a baseball bat, Jeffries sought to portray himself as a class warrior worthy of the mob’s support. Other Democratic leaders followed suit — especially Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. It was Schumer who yelled threats at conservative Supreme Court justices in front of the court. A deranged man triggered by such rhetoric in the media later attempted to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Schumer and others portrayed their opponents as Nazis who threaten the very existence of democracy, and they stoked class conflict to inspire resentment for the wealthy.
Former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison — now Minnesota’s attorney general — celebrated that Antifa would “strike fear in the heart” of Trump and his supporters. Figures like Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) (who is reportedly worth half a billion dollars due to his wife’s inherited fortune) have attempted to ride the rage wave by advocating a billionaire’s tax that is presumptively unconstitutional. By the time these establishment figures realized their armchair-revolutionary rhetoric would not convince the mob, it was too late.
Jeffries and figures like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had endorsed candidates such as Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), who perhaps more than anyone else personified the problem. He was the attack dog of the establishment, fueling rage and promising a spate of impeachments. But what the left saw was a trust-fund baby who had inherited a fortune, owns three houses, and has publicly pledged to use his inheritance to fund his reelection. He came across as the Democratic Richie Rich, and he lost on Tuesday by more than 30 points.
In my book Rage and the Republic, I discuss how these Democratic leaders are following the same self-destructive pattern of prior establishment figures in history who thought that they could use mobs against their opponents while hoping that they would be overlooked.
The American and French Revolutions were contemporary movements based on Enlightenment principles. But whereas our Revolution went on to become the world’s oldest and most stable republic, the French Revolution became the blood-soaked Terror. The French Revolution was not some spontaneous uprising of the proletariat or underclass. It was led by relatively affluent figures on the left, from aristocrats to journalists to lawyers. Maximilien Robespierre, who would later declare terror a virtue, was a lawyer who helped organize the revolutionary Jacobins.
These educated and affluent figures turned to working-class radicals as their muscle to terrorize their opponents. And not long after executing aristocrats and clergy, the radicals turned on the Jacobins themselves. “Moderates” were sent to the guillotine by Robespierre and his henchmen as they clung to power. But eventually, the mob came for them, too. After the Terror, French writer Jacques Mallet du Pan wrote, “Like Saturn, the Revolution devours its children.”
After candidates endorsed by socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani easily swept aside the establishment candidates in Jeffries and Schumer’s backyard, politicians and pundits began to panic. They never imagined the mob would turn on them. Even liberal media figures such as Ezra Klein and pandering academic figures have become targets of the left. Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, who has called for the effective trashing of the U.S. Constitution, had law students staging protests in his own home.
Others have sought to stay at the front of the mob. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) denounced the lengthy sentences handed down to nine violent Antifa figures in Texas for their roles in the ambush and attempted murder of a police officer who had responded to the disturbance they were creating at an ICE facility. The officer, Alvarado Police Lt. Thomas Gross, barely survived a bullet to the neck.

“.. government-imposed multiculturalism that is a far greater threat to white existence than the threats posed by previous wars of conquest…”

• The Most Engangered Species of All is White People (Paul Craig Roberts)

Hanne Herland, the executive director of the highly regarded European News Service based in Norway, The Herland Report, reports that the BBC and the rest of the anti-white British presstitute media have yet to report the week-old Lowe Report’s findings that for 30 years British governments covered up multiple repeated gang rapes of a quarter of a million pre-teen white British girls, and then had them sodomized by dogs. The police would not act, and the parents were helpless.

If the parents made too much of a fuss, the parents, not the rapists, would be investigated for racist hate speech for accusing oppressed black people. The whore British media protected the criminals that corrupt British governmenrts permitted to walk unopposed into Britain by refusing to report the gang rapes. Now the whore British media refuses to report the Lowe Report. The British people know about it, but government and media denial deprive the facts of official status.
The death toll for white ethnicities came from decades of indoctrination that established the belief that there is no guilt in the entire world but white racist guilt and gentile anti-semitic guilt. White people are more demonized than Jews were by Nazis. One might have thought that hundreds of thousands of British fathers and mothers would have armed themselves with whatever weapons they could find and hunted down and killed the rape gangs. And also the whore media. The parents could have killed the police who protect the rape gangs, taken their weapons, and shot down the immigrant-invaders in the streets. They might have cleaned out the BBC and the rest of the scum British media as well.
But they didn’t. The ethnic British, like white ethnics everywhere, have been demonized for so many decades that white ethnics have lost the self-confidence necessary if one is to protect oneself, one’s children, and one’s family. This undeniable fact is why I recently wrote “The 21st Century is the Last Era of White People.” People with no will to survive will not survive. The white liberals’s demonizations of white people for decades have destroyed the self-belief of white ethnicities and broken their will to survive. Exampes abound. The ethnic French people are afraid to elect Marine Le Pen, who speaks for them, because they believe they would be electing a racist.
What we are witnessing in Britain, indeed all over the tiny part of the world that is white ethnic, is a threat to existence of white ethnicities by government-imposed multiculturalism that is a far greater threat to white existence than the threats posed by previous wars of conquest. And there is silence. No warnings have been heeded. Not Enoch Powell’s warning to the British, not Jean Raspail’s warning to the French, not Wilmot Robertson’s warning to Americans. All efforts to wake up white ethnics whose insouciance is dooming them to extermination have been unsuccessful.
The white ethnicities are too busy scrolling their cell phones. Moreover, they lack the will to recognize their danger. They have been too indoctrinated against themselves to confront an existential threat. Not even liberal progressive white people get a pass. They also “perpetuate racial harm” to people of color Robin Diangelo, a professor of education at the University of Washington and a “facilitator for a quarter of a century on issues of racial and social jusice,” assures us in Nice Racism. As racism is regarded by white liberals as the worst of all possible crimes and as aversive racism is allegedly inhernt in white genes, the only way to end racism is to end white people. It implies a holocaust on a wider scale than the one attributed to Hitler.
Their danger is illiustrated to white ethnicities daily, but they turn away from reality and find comfort in false reality. Essentially, white ethnicities lack the self-belief and the moral strength to save themselves and are actively engaged in turning power over to immigrant-invaders. They are too weak and full of indoctrinated guilt to survive. “Massive Racism against Whites: UK Rape Gang Inquiry Report shows 250,000 British girls raped but the Media deems it Not Newsworthy” https://hannenabintuherland.com/currentaffairs/massive-racism-against-whites-uk-rape-gang-inquiry-report/
I have been writing about the inability of white ethnics to defend themselves for many years. I have never had a response to my columns reporting mass rapes of Scandanivian and British females, and sometimes little boys. No white liberal has written: “This is awful. What can we do?”
No feminist has written: “What can we do to protect women and pre-teen girls from gang-rapes?”
No white liberal has written: “Out multicultural ideology was a mistake. How do we recover?”
No American conservative, no “white supremist” has asked what do we do to save ourselves.
Not a word. The weak-minded, weak-willed white ethnics hide their heads in the sand. When I speak it is like speaking to an empty room. This is why I have concluded that white ethnics are doomed. They have been too indoctrinated against themselves by their enemies to survive. Their demonization is institutionalized in the educational system and is finding its way into criminal justice systems. There are more British citizens in prison for complaining about the rape of their children than there are immigrant-invaders who raped the children.
The attack on white ethnicity is two-pronged. Not only can you be imprisoned for racism, but also for anti-semitism. The “privilege” that white ethnicity has is to be prosecuted for being white gentiles. The lack of organized resistence suggests that white ethnicities have accepted their fate. The immigrant-invaders see this and grow bolder. Meanwhile white ethnicities prepare their final war against themselves as the US and Europe prepare for war against Russia.

By year’s end.

• Scott Bessent Bullish on Trump Economy, Predicts 3% Growth, 2% Inflation (JTN)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is confident the United States will weather the Iran conflict and a temporary spike in gas prices and finish 2026 with economic growth above 3% while hitting the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target. Bessent told Just the News that the recent revision upwards of the Gross Domestic Product is one of many signs the economy is still strong.”The president rightly believed that Iran was an existential danger, and had to be dealt with. It was a 90-day intervention there, but the economy, our economy, did the best in the world in terms of any major economy that pushed back on the naysayers, and first quarter, just got revised up to 2.1%,” Bessent said during an interview Friday on the Just the News No Noise TV program.

“I think that we are going to print more than 3% growth for the year, and importantly, the energy-generated inflation, crude oil prices today are lower than they were on February 27,” he added. For comparison, real GDP growth in 2025 was 2.1%, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Bessent also predicted that gasoline prices would “continue coming down” for the summer driving season. “We will be back towards the Fed’s 2% inflation target, and the message is job growth has been substantial. Moving into April, until April, we had seen real wage growth for working Americans,” he said.
“We’re going to get back on that track to try to help the American people recoup some of their big affordability losses under the Biden administration, where it was the worst inflation in 48 years,” he added.

Add that to Europe’s perils: no AI.

• Anthropic’s Exit a Wake-Up Call for Europe’s AI Ambitions (Lyman)

After months of debate in Europe on how to limit AI, Anthropic’s limits on its highest level systems is shining a light on Europe’s lack of large AI companies. Anthropic’s decision to shut off access to its most advanced artificial intelligence models raised alarm bells for European leaders already worried about over-dependence on foreign partners. In recent years, the EU has sounded alarms about too much dependence on Russian energy and Chinese manufacturing. Now, the decision by U.S. artificial intelligence leader Anthropic to suspend access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 systems has leaders worried about overreliance on U.S. technologies.

Earlier this month, the White House ordered Anthropic — owner of artificial intelligence assistant Claude — to cut off access to its highest level systems for “any foreign national, whether inside or outside the United States, over security issues. Anthropic responded by cutting off access to the models for everyone. Fable 5 is the consumer version of Anthropic’s AI agent, while Mythos 5, known for its ability to detect cybersecurity vulnerabilities, is the version that was accessible only to a select network of digital infrastructure companies.
Worries that Trump could “pull the plug”
The development comes after high-level worries that President Donald Trump could “pull the plug” on large swaths of the Internet in Europe. “It is no longer reasonable to assume that we can totally rely on our American partner,” Matthias Ecke, a German member of the European Parliament said last year. It also comes amid debate within Europe over the landmark AI Act designed to regulate artificial intelligence. Even Pope Leo XIV has entered the debate, issuing his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity) in May, calling for artificial intelligence to be reined in to assure that it “serves humanity.” The sprawling document was unveiled last month by the pontiff alongside Christoper Olah, Anthropic’s co-founder.
“Preventing AI from dominating humanity,” Vatican says
“Artificial intelligence now demands to be disarmed, freed from logic that turns it into an instrument of domination, exclusion, and death,” Leo said. “To disarm does not mean rejecting technology but preventing it from dominating humanity.” But European tech startups and their advocates have called for the implementation of the AI Act to be delayed or for the act itself to be weakened, arguing that it makes it too hard for them to compete against rivals in the U.S. and China.
“The EU’s AI Act risks creating a fragmented, unpredictable regulatory environment that will undermine innovation, discourage investment, and ultimately leave Europe behind in the global AI race,” read a 2025 letter signed by dozens of European AI founders and investors. Rules are necessary, the letter said, “but don’t regulate us into the ground.” Now, those voices are expected to be taken more seriously. The AI Act now appears almost certain to be “watered down” and Europe’s lack of competitiveness in the sector is now set to become a central priority at the Group of Seven (G-7) leaders’ summit set to get underway in France on Monday.
But experts say the AI sector in Europe will continue to suffer from insufficient investment, high energy cost, a complex regulatory environment, and the absence of national champions. A new fictionalized scenario called Europe 2031 earning headlines in European media points to a future where “over-regulation and a lack of ambition” mean that Europe is “left powerless as AI denominates defense, cybersecurity, and geopolitics.”

“. . . there is no saving the Left. Whatever happens to them, it will have to happen without people like you or me trying to get them to return to any place of sanity.” — Sasha Stone on Substack

• It’s All They’ve Got Now (James Howard Kunstler)

And the Lord made Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Fever

A punishing heat-dome creeps over the eastern half of the country just in time for the gala Fourth of July week. The days are brutal, but anything and everything crawls out of the woodwork when that blazing sun goes down and the moon comes out. Everyone’s on edge, but the edge of what? I will tell you.

First, could there be a richer (or more obvious) target for bloody mischief than this year’s national holiday, the 250th birthday of a nation that millions lucky enough to live here have been trained-up to hate on? Even the sons and daughters (including pretend “daughters”) of millionaires have gone mad-dog on America, the poster-boy being Marxist-jihadi New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the Left’s new avatar-general.
Since no one is more hated than the, ahem, Celebrator-in-Chief, you might want to steer clear of conspicuous public celebrations this week. Antifa and even worse gangs are out there right now, making plans and laying traps. Maybe not so much in places like Texas, where eight Antifas were just sentenced collectively to 450 years in the slammer for shooting up the Prairieland ICE Detention Center in Alvarado. . . but here in the Empire State and other Blue-ish jurisdictions, all bets are off. Be careful ‘out there’ among the smokin’ ribs, the fireworks shows, and big music venues.
You can see how this summer, and the nauseating slide down to the midterm elections, are shaping up. The party of “Our Democracy” is desperate to an extreme now, all disfigured by a communist leprosy eating away at its public face (and a cancer of fraud metastasizing through its innards). It has become such an obvious monster, raging with its hair lit-up, that anyone with half a functioning brain is shying away, stealing off into the gloaming. The party has nothing left but chaos and, in the weeks ahead, anything that might be disrupted probably will be.
The objective is to create so much havoc and distress throughout the country — especially the big cities — that Mr. Trump will have to invoke the Insurrection Act, and by doing so, the Lefty-left hope to create conditions so adverse that an orderly Election Day cannot happen. The Insurrection Act would be the Left’s cue to declare Mr. Trump the very “king” whose coronation they have busily rehearsed all year, and then, voila, you get a new French-style American Revolution 2.0, complete with guillotine and transgender Jacobins turning the country upside-down.
You might consider the theory that the nation actually needs to suffer a genuine nightmare to wake up from. The Revolution 1.0 we celebrate this week was, after all, a nightmarish struggle rife with hardship and loss. Nine signers of the Declaration of Independence died from war-related tribulations. Five were imprisoned and tortured. Twelve had homes ransacked and burned. And then, of course, the military action itself, including travails such as the winter at Valley Forge, the disastrous New York Campaign, and the never-ending logistics crisis, no food, no clothing, no munitions.
In the present summer of travail we face, you can expect at least some major wake-up calls issued by the bloc in the country that has not gone insane — which happens to include many in Mr. Trump’s executive branch. I’m serenely confident that real evidence of 2020 election fraud will finally emerge, coincidental with indictments. Do you think that the Fulton County, GA, election records were seized last winter for no reason? Say goodbye to that old “baseless” talking point.
There are, of course, a whole lot of other seditious and treasonous Beltway villains nervously awaiting administration of the law. You know their names. It appears that the new supervising US Attorney in the Southern District of Florida, Joseph DiGenova, is reorganizing the so-called “grand conspiracy” case against this large cadre of coupsters into a folio of discrete cases — RussiaGate, Fake Impeachment #1, the Mar-a-Lago raid, etc. — to make them more manageable and move them more speedily forward. Don’t be surprised if one or more of these cases happens to drop before the midterms. (Democratic Party true-blue loyalists could be surprised, even shocked to their socks, since these indictments will refute everything that has become essential to their identities as the good and righteous people of this land.)

“The newspaper claimed the outgoing UK prime minister is considering becoming the military bloc’s chief in 2028:”:

Last week the guy was chased out of no. 10 with tar and feathers. Now this. You tell me.

He’s an utter failure.

Who wants a bigger job.

Because of it.

• Starmer Eyeing Top NATO Position – Observer (RT)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is stepping down following a revolt within his own party, is interested in becoming the next secretary general of NATO, The Observer reported on Sunday. Starmer teared up last week when he announced that he would resign as prime minister and Labour Party leader in response to mounting pressure. Several ministers left his cabinet, and more than 80 Labour MPs urged him to step down after the party lost nearly 1,500 local council seats in last month’s elections. Former Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who won the Makerfield by-election on June 18, is widely seen as Starmer’s successor.

According to The Observer, Starmer is interested in becoming NATO secretary general once Mark Rutte’s term expires in 2028, unless it is extended. The newspaper added that Starmer would require “some sustained government backing” for a successful bid. It said Starmer’s supporters point to his close relationship with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, claiming that the two sometimes “pocket dial” each other by accident, as well as his ties with other European leaders.
The NATO secretary general, usually a former head of government or senior diplomat, is selected through consultations among member states, with the final appointment requiring the unanimous backing of all 32 members.
Starmer led Labour to a landslide victory in the 2024 general election, vowing to bring stability after a string of short-lived Conservative prime ministers. However, his premiership quickly became associated with tax increases, welfare cuts, political scandals, and an increasingly controversial foreign policy agenda. He made support for Kiev a central pillar of his premiership while Britain grappled with defense funding shortages, procurement setbacks, and growing concerns over military readiness.
According to The Telegraph, Starmer was also criticized for spending too much time on international affairs and not enough on domestic issues, having traveled “more and further than any other British leader in official history.” The newspaper said he spent around two and a half months abroad during his first 17 months in office. Starmer’s relationship with US President Donald Trump also soured over his refusal to back the US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Trump said Starmer was “no Winston Churchill” and criticized his record on migration and energy policy. By contrast, Trump repeatedly praised Rutte as both a friend and an effective leader, even while criticizing NATO as a whole.

..Will Embarrass Himself for money..

• Biden’s Own Party Heckled Him During a Speech (Margolis)

It’s been two years since Joe Biden’s catastrophic debate against President Donald Trump, which ultimately made his party realize they could no longer pretend he was fit for office and forced him out of the race. Two years later, Biden is still proving how unfit he was, this time stumbling through a combative speech in front of the very people who used to cheer him on.

Biden showed up Saturday night at the Maryland Democrat Party’s Fight Back & Win Summit at Live! Casino & Hotel in Hanover, Md., to deliver a teleprompter-fed attack against Trump. The crowd was full of party activists, the kind of room that should have been the easiest audience of his career. Instead, hecklers interrupted him mid-speech, and by the time it was over, he struggled just to make his way off the stage. If Biden wanted to use the event to prove that he still has some fight in him, what he delivered instead was a reminder of exactly why the Democrat establishment forced him out of the race two years ago.
Of course, Biden put on a show with his usual attack lines. He accused the president of wrecking America’s alliances, enriching himself in office, and tanking the country’s standing both at home and abroad, calling it “corruption on a scale never seen before.” This is from the guy who literally tried to put Trump, his political rival, in prison. Then came the line that should embarrass every Democrat in that room. “Have you noticed that Americans are saying the economy under the Biden administration is a hell of a lot better than under Trump?” Biden asked, and the crowd actually applauded.
It’s not, of course. Rampant inflation under Biden crushed American families and handed Trump the White House back in the first place. Trump has since gotten inflation under control, something Biden apparently can’t bring himself to acknowledge even now. Biden kept swinging anyway. “It’s simply stunning to me,” he said of Trump’s conduct. “He has no shame, and frankly it’s embarrassing for the country. But Trump? Trump could care less.” He also went after what he called Trump’s “vanity projects,” ticking off a list.
“It’s not just his vanity projects — tearing down the East Wing of the White House making room for his ballroom. Putting his name on the Kennedy Center. Building an arch in his own honor. Even hiring his own pool guy to fix the reflecting pool,” Biden said, before adding, “Whoa — what a loser.” And then he got lost trying to exit the stage. Two years after that debate stage exposed him to the entire country that was pretending everything was okay, Biden refuses to go away, embarrassing himself repeatedly for speaking fees because now that he’s out of power (or at least his autopen is), he has no other way to make money

“A Culture of Instant Gratification Raised on Singular Views of Victimhood.”

• Raising Children in the 21st Century (CTH)

Katharine Birbalsingh, argues that the West’s moral crisis began with the values we taught our children. She explores how schools, culture, and social media have shaped a generation to see the world through the lens of oppressor and oppressed—and why restoring duty, responsibility, and moral character is essential to the future of Western civilization. As I watched this remarkable speech, I realized what Birbalsingh describes is what does not exist in Russia. When you talk to a person in Russia about DEI, victim mindset or the various equities of personage emphasized in the modern, cultural ‘west’; a Russian person has absolutely no reference point to engage in the conversation. Chapters: 00:00 A Moral Crisis in the West 02:04 How White Guilt Changed a Generation 03:47 The Values We Took for Granted 06:09 Teaching Children to See Oppressors and Victims 08:22 Why Young People No Longer Love Their Country 10:30 This Is a Civilizational Failure 11:35 Save Our Children, Save the West

ELON MUSK:

“THERE ARE NO LORDS AND PEASANTS AT TESLA. EVERYONE EATS AT THE SAME TABLE.”

“I ACTUALLY KNOW THE PEOPLE ON THE LINE, BECAUSE I WORKED ON THE LINE, I WALKED THE LINE, I SLEPT IN THE FACTORY, AND I WORKED BESIDE THEM. SO, I'M NO STRANGER TO THEM.

THERE ARE MANY… pic.twitter.com/gva31AQtpi
— Vivek Sen (@Vivek4real_) June 29, 2026

Jensen Huang says the next internet is not for humans. It is for agents.

"AI has become agentic, meaning that it can actually do work by itself."

"One agent can communicate with another agent and say, 'I have some work to do. Let's team up together and let's do some work.'"… pic.twitter.com/bcCnZRusdx
— Karl Mehta (@karlmehta) June 28, 2026

This is seriously so powerful.

President Trump is not perfect by any means but he is leading this country back to christ.

You can get mad all you want in the comment section if you dislike and hate Trump. That's just the devil speaking to you.

Video credit: Gregs… pic.twitter.com/jzfL6zZzn2
— Sassafrass84 (@Sassafrass_84) June 28, 2026

Monet's pond is a true oasis in Japan that looks like a painting come to life pic.twitter.com/OwxvOYj012
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 29, 2026

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

Debt Rattle June 24 2026

Jun 242026

June 24, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:50 am Finance Tagged with: AfD, AI, Bill Pulte, drone swarm, George Galloway, nuclear inspections, Shakespeare, Starmer, Supreme Court, Tesla 26 Responses »

Giambologna Colossus of the Apennines 1579-80 (35ft tall)

• Trump Insists Iran Agreed to ‘Highest Level’ of Nuclear Inspections (ZH)

• So a ‘Jellyfish’ Drone Swarm Might Have Shot Down Our F-15 Over Iran (Green)

• Starmer Turned UK Into ‘Authoritarian Hellhole’ – George Galloway (RT)

• Starmer’s Gone, But UK’s Right May Have Little To Cheer About (RMX)

• There’s A Shakespearean Tone To Current Developments (ZH)

< • So, How’s Spain’s Mass Amnesty Working Out? (Aaron Hanscom) /td>

• AfD’s Alice Weidel Demands Ukraine Pay Reparations To Germany (Korybko)

• Smart or Intelligent (CTH)

• AI ‘Months Away’ From Taking Down Governments – 5 Eyes Intel Group (RT)

• Justice Jackson’s Curious Call to Overturn Bruen (Turley)

• Acting DNI Pulte Removes 51 from Agency (CTH)

• The Media Is Still Trying to Smear Tesla (Margolis)

• Deadly Montreal Shooter Hated Capitalism, Women, White Men, and Jews (Salgado)

https://twitter.com/maggiewise111/status/2069164671114875120?s=20 https://twitter.com/warDaniel47/status/2069156702872609230?s=20 https://twitter.com/QuantumGuard17/status/2069155203358531893?s=20 https://twitter.com/ConstitustionX/status/2069152887578722549?s=20

Classic Vance dry humor:

Vince: “How are you doing the job differently than Kamala did it?”

VP JD Vance: “Well, I don’t have four shots of vodka before every meeting.”

pic.twitter.com/hnA8WJNFtp
— TRUMP SUPPORTER (@_Postive_Vibes) June 22, 2026

https://twitter.com/GOP_is_Gutless/status/2069034108278243491?s=20 https://twitter.com/MCarbonaraFL/status/2069403989624398334?s=20

Trump adapts to Iranian tactics by just making statements no matter what they are, just like they do..

NOTE: according to Tehran, the US gives in on every single issue. Why would it?

Tehran just shouts things .. and far too many in the west take their word for it.

• Trump Insists Iran Agreed to ‘Highest Level’ of Nuclear Inspections (ZH)

Despite Washington pressure and warnings, it appears Oman is still on board with cooperating with Iran to extract Hormuz Strait transit fees, or tolls, over and against repeat objections from the White House.Alongside nuclear inspectors, this remains a top disputed issue, despite the MoD framework having been signed. But the two sides are likely to leave the details to be hashed out during the 60-day ‘technical negotiations’.

Iran and Oman said any future arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz must respect the sovereign rights of the two coastal states, adding that they plan to charge fees for ships transiting the waterway.

Following talks in Muscat, the two sides agreed to form a joint working group… pic.twitter.com/3EAkdDFVAH
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 23, 2026

With a number of issues still up in the air, amid claims and counter-claims coming after Switzerland – from nuclear inspectors accessing Iran to how Tehran is able to use its soon to be unfrozen funds – President Trump heightens the drama by issuing a Tuesday morning Truth Social message regarding the negotiations Trump insists that Iran has agreed to the “highest level” of nuclear inspections, calling it a guarantee of “Nuclear Honesty” and stressing that there would have been “no further negotiations” without such a commitment. He also says the US will allow the Strait of Hormuz to remain “OPEN” and is not pursuing a naval blockade, though military assets remain in place if conditions change.
According to Trump, any sanctions relief or released Iranian funds will be held in US-controlled escrow and can only be used to purchase food and medical supplies from the United States, including “Corn, Wheat, and Soybeans from our great American Farmers.”Trump now characterizes the situation in Iran as a “humanitarian crisis” and concluded that “Talks are going well!!”.

Trump says "Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future" and yet adds "If they did not agree to this, there would be no further negotiations"

Iran has repeatedly said it has not agreed to this pic.twitter.com/SI82IXb1hf
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 23, 2026

Iran Touts $12BN in Frozen Assets to Be Released, Will Use How it Pleases
Among the biggest latest developments in the immediate wake of the Switzerland meeting is that Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has announced an agreement has been reached for the United States to release $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets. It also comes after the US Treasury Department announced temporary sanctions relief, namely freeing up Iranian oil and petrochemical sales until August 1st. Concerning the frozen asset partial release, Tehran is now emphasizing that it alone will decide how the funds will be used.
But this may be another area where the headlines and declarations are too far out front, given Washington has sought to impose some caveats which likely remain unacceptable to the Iranians side. For example Vice President JD Vance made clear his stance Monday that Iranian assets had not yet been unfrozen as part of the deal, describing that if there were, they must be limited in use and implementation – to purchase US agricultural goods. He has emphasized – perhaps wishing to address American domestic criticisms – that the funds would not be used to support terrorism.

A swarm of 1,000 small ones, the size of a fingernail? Why not?10,000?!

• So a ‘Jellyfish’ Drone Swarm Might Have Shot Down Our F-15 Over Iran (Green)

“Multiple drones interconnected and moving as one with smaller drones below the bigger drones like legs,” shot down a U.S. Air Force F-15E strike fighter over Iran in April, according to a CNN source familiar with the apparently bizarre shootdown. “Real alien s***,” they called it. As you may recall, both the pilot and the backseat weapons systems officer ejected safely, but the WSO’s rescue 36 hours later in hostile territory was the stuff of Hollywood movies. But it wasn’t until today that we learned the movie looked more like Independence Day than Behind Enemy Lines.

A second source confirmed the almost unbelievable claim, telling CNN that the downed pilot described witnessing a “minefield of drones” in the air. Exactly how the drones either attacked the F-15E Strike Eagle or enabled an attack by ground forces is either not yet understood, or at least not revealed. “US intelligence officials disagreed on how to interpret what the F-15 pilot described, and whether the pilot could recount the incident clearly,” according to CNN, and a concussion he reportedly suffered during the crash could have affected his memory. But things get weirder still.
While the pilot’s name still hasn’t been released, he’s believed to be one of the same Eagle pilots accidentally shot down by Kuwait in a friendly fire incident earlier in Operation Epic Fury. According to the Washington Examiner, the unnamed pilot is “believed to be the first fixed-wing Air Force pilot since the Vietnam War era to survive being shot down twice in the same conflict.”He’s either extraordinarily lucky or extraordinarily unlucky. Or maybe both. Take your pick. Let’s get back to that alleged drone swarm.
“Had he witnessed a mature capability that US intelligence wasn’t aware of?” CNN’s Zachary Cohen and Katie Bo Lillis asked. “A beta test? A mirage in the desert?” At least for the sake of argument, let’s dismiss the suggestion that the pilot’s recollection — at least as reported by CNN’s sources — was any kind of mirage or a concussion-related hallucination. Losing an F-15E Strike Eagle is serious business, and it deserves to be treated seriously. Also, whatever caused that shootdown required one of the biggest and most complicated rescue missions in history.
So we need answers, not dismissals. My initial gut reaction — and it’s nothing more than that, so appraise accordingly — is that China used Operation Epic Fury to test at least one of its new systems. There are reports, also unconfirmed, that Tehran used or attempted to use Chinese-made anti-ship missiles on U.S. Navy targets during the conflict, and I’d almost be surprised if they hadn’t.
If Beijing also possesses some sort of drone-swarm antiaircraft capability, Epic Fury would have been a sweet opportunity to put it to a real-world test. Performing that test well inside Iranian territory also makes sense, given that any survivors — i.e., witnesses — would be less likely to live long enough to get the word out. But we’re unbelievably good at getting our people out, as I detailed back in April. Another option is that Tehran’s homegrown drone technology is already advanced enough to destroy American fighters. If that’s the case, the Pentagon needs to recalibrate how best to handle any future conflict not just with Iran, but with any country Iran might sell to. As of today, we just don’t know.

“The British people are celebrating the prime minister’s resignation, the former MP has told RT..”

• Starmer Turned UK Into ‘Authoritarian Hellhole’ – George Galloway (RT)

Outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has turned the UK into an “authoritarian hellhole,” with more people being jailed and arrested for social media posts than in any other country in the world, former MP George Galloway has told RT. Starmer announced on Monday that he would step down as prime minister and Labour Party leader by September, citing a widespread internal revolt against his leadership. Speaking to RT’s Rick Sanchez, Galloway, who was expelled from the Labour Party in 2003 for his vocal opposition to the Iraq War, welcomed the move.

“I danced on his political grave,” he said. “He has turned the United Kingdom into an authoritarian hellhole.” Galloway argued that Starmer, who assumed office in July 2024, had made the UK subservient to the interests of Israel, Ukraine and the EU. The British people were “rejoicing” at his departure, Galloway said, suggesting that Starmer’s plunging approval ratings had made him a liability for Labour. Only 18% of Britons viewed him favorably in mid-June, according to YouGov.
“He’s a creature of the deep state,” Galloway said, referring to Starmer’s work as Director of Public Prosecutions and head of the Crown Prosecution Service prior to his election to Parliament in 2015. He added that Starmer had “a whole string of deep-state preoccupations,” citing what he described as “the injustice to Julian Assange” and the decision not to prosecute BBC presenter and serial sex offender Jimmy Savile.“That doesn’t mean the next fellow will be better,” Galloway said.
Andy Burnham, the newly sworn-in MP for Makerfield, is widely seen as the frontrunner to become the next prime minister. “It’ll be a coronation… this is a democratic outrage,” Galloway said. In 2024, Starmer became the UK’s first Labour prime minister since 2010 and the sixth person to hold the office in the span of a decade. He decided to leave office after more than 100 Labour MPs urged him to step down and several key ministers resigned from his government.

The Right went before the Left did.

Now, Farage is in the waiting room.

Burnham will first continue on the broken path.

Burn, baby., burn!

• Starmer’s Gone, But UK’s Right May Have Little To Cheer About (RMX)

The deeply unpopular British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, announced his resignation on Monday morning, but despite his upcoming departure, the right may have little to cheer about. During a speech outside Downing Street, Starmer announced he was stepping down after holding office since July 7, 2024. In that election, his Labour Party won 412 seats, securing a comfortable majority and decimating the Tories, who had governed Britain since 2010.

Starmer revealed on the morning of Monday, June 22, that he had already spoken with King Charles III to inform him of his decision. The Labour Party’s National Executive Committee will now develop a timetable for the election of a new leader, who will also become Prime Minister. He stressed that this process should be completed by the end of the summer holidays. Until then, Starmer will remain at the helm of the British government. According to Reuters, the main favorite to replace Starmer is the former Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who won a seat in the House of Commons during the Makerfield constituency by-election in northwest England on June 18, defeating Nigel Farage’s party.
The right now has a challenger
Burnham may pose a grave challenge to Restore Britain and Reform UK, the two main right-wing parties running against the British left. Under Starmer, multiple polls predicted a strong majority for Reform UK, with some even forecasting a blowout election victory. However, the rise of Restore Britain had already siphoned off a number of voters from Reform UK, narrowing Farage’s lead.
Now, with Starmer gone, some polls show Reform UK barely leading Labour in a general election. A new poll from Politico shows Farage winning 27 percent of the vote versus 20 percent for Labour under Starmer’s current numbers – but when tested against Burnham, Labour’s chances receive a significant boost. Some within Labour even describe Burnham as a “Reform Slayer,” as he polls better against Farage than anyone else in the party.
Nevertheless, the Politico article also describes an uphill battle for Burnham, given how far Labour has fallen out of favour with British voters during Starmer’s rule. Notably, Burnham is described as more left-wing than Starmer, who is categorized as a “centrist.” Although the Tories are still seen as a formidable election force, they have long since discarded any semblance of right-wing politics. Nevertheless, they are also siphoning voters away from both Restore Britain and Reform UK, retaining voters who might lean personally to the right but still vote Conservative out of habit.
The combined effect of vote-splitting on the right and Burnham leading Labour could deliver a shock upset in favor of Labour, ending Farage’s dream of winning the office of prime minister. British commentators point out that Starmer’s position has been weakening for months. More than 100 Labour MPs – around a quarter of the parliamentary party in the House of Commons – had publicly stated they wanted the prime minister to resign or set a timetable for his departure. Labour Party members pointed to a total loss of trust in the head of government and his leadership abilities. The government had recently been rocked by a number of high-profile resignations, including Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Defence Secretary John Healey.
Polling also showed that Labour members overwhelmingly wanted Burnham, nicknamed the “King of the North” after winning three consecutive mayoral terms. He is currently Labour’s most popular politician. His recent victory in the Makerfield seat also bodes poorly for Reform UK and Restore Britain; the constituency is predominantly white and working-class, representing the exact demographic that these two right-wing parties are seeking to win over from Labour.

“[..] .. tragically, not one of his comedies..”

“If you can look into the seeds of time; And say which grain will grow and which will not.”

• There’s A Shakespearean Tone To Current Developments (ZH)

There’s a Shakespearean tone to current developments: tragically, not one of his comedies. The US has introduced a temporary waiver (until August 21) for Iranian oil sales that undoes 40 years of sanctions. Iran can sell what it likes to who it likes, including the US, and receive US dollars. Two months isn’t enough time to sell much, but if the White House wants to show Iran it’s serious about offering new opportunities that’s been achieved. Equally, Iran says an agreement has been reached to release $12bn in frozen funds, but disputes Trump’s claim it will buy food exclusively from the US with it.

More importantly, VP Vance said Iran has agreed to nuclear inspections from the IAEA, a huge concession. However, Iran responded that’s not the case and it didn’t negotiate nuclear matters so far in Switzerland. On Hormuz, the Iranian view remains it will manage the strait and charge for passage within months: Trump’s is the polar opposite. That’s as transits seem to be running at around a quarter to a third of normal levels, at best. Indeed, the squeeze in bunker fuel is still evident in rising ocean carrier freight rates.
On Lebanon, a new deconfliction mechanism is floated that excludes Israel, as PM Netanyahu, Defence Minister Katz, and IDF head Zamir reiterated a pledge to “continue to act decisively” and hold their security zone there, including the 1km-long, 25-metre deep underground Hezbollah missile and drone base in Ali Taher ridge, evidence of how much Iran has ploughed into its proxy. Separately, the Israeli and Lebanese governments will meet in Washington to discuss normalization and elusive Hezbollah disarmament; and in the background, Syria has signaled that, after Trump’s suggestion, it will only engage Hezbollah if Lebanon requests it.
The Saudi paper Asharq Al-Awsat reports Hamas held a top-secret meeting with French officials to discuss a possible return to ‘1967 borders’, which they’ve floated before as a temporary truce, that could unlock Trump’s Board of Peace and ‘Gaza-Lago’ redevelopment plans. Yet the Jerusalem Post reports new Mossad boss Gofman is taking the agency “by storm” and is ramping up plans to topple the Islamic regime. So, what’s it to be in the Middle East, beyond the current calm?
“Something wicked this way comes” UK PM Starmer resigned, as former Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham sealed his doom by coming to high Done-inane, swearing in as an MP in Westminster after not being one a week ago. The UK press is abuzz with discussions of who will be in his cabinet, like what’s-his-face and that-one-from-a-few-years-ago. There’s a natural market focus on who’ll be the Thane of Cawdor Chancellor: Burnham needs to reassure Gilts that fiscal rules will be adhered to and his leftwing backbenchers that he’s offering something new enough that his popularity won’t follow the same rapid downwards trajectory as that of Starmer, Sunak, Truss, Johnson, and May.
One immediate impact is that the July EU-UK summit has been postponed: nobody knows what Burnham’s view re: the EU will be, but he has previously backed rejoining. “If you can look into the seeds of time; And say which grain will grow and which will not.” In Asia, India launched three warships as a show of force to China in the Indian Ocean, as the US Department of War renamed its Indo-Pacific Command back to the Pacific Command, signalling a de-prioritisation of the area matching Europe re: NATO and the Middle East re: Iran and Israel. In East Asia, where the US is outsourcing its Taiwan-focused efforts to Japan and the Philippines, China says it warned off multiple Japanese ‘provocations’ during its recent aircraft carrier drills.

This doesn’t concern one country; it’s an entire continent with open borders.

• So, How’s Spain’s Mass Amnesty Working Out? (Aaron Hanscom)

Half a million. That’s the number that made headlines in April when Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist government approved plans to grant legal status to 500,000 illegal migrants. But a leaked police report warned that the true number could be much higher, estimating that between 750,000 and 1 million illegal migrants living in Spain could apply for amnesty, in addition to 250,000 to 350,000 asylum seekers. The report described the amnesty plan’s “very intense media impact, especially in Latin America” and warned of a “highly relevant pull factor,” which we will return to in a moment.

The conservative Popular Party (PP) also disputed the government’s estimates, saying the true number could be double and calling the plan an “outrage.” Sanchez, whom The Economist has called the leader of Europe’s anti-Trump resistance, anticipating such criticism, wrote in a New York Times op-ed in January that “MAGA-style leaders may say that our country can’t handle taking in so many migrants — that this is a suicidal move, the desperate act of a collapsing country.”
Well, the numbers are starting to come in and, just as Joe Biden’s weak border enforcement in the U.S. created a “pull factor” that led to average monthly border crossings of over 100,000, Sanchez’s policies are having a similar magnet effect, far exceeding his government’s estimates.
Even though the asylum application window remains open until June 30, 900,000 applications have already been submitted, a record number for Spain. The European Conservative reports that “approximately 350,000 additional applications have been submitted since the start of June, a surge that has caught authorities off guard.” The publication notes that these numbers are much higher than the last time mass amnesty was tried in Spain, in 2005 under the Socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who these days spends his time in court as the subject of a graft probe. Zapatero’s program granted 576,000 residence permits from 691,000 applications received.
Sanchez, of course, looks at every new immigrant as a potential future voter who won’t care about the mind-boggling corruption within his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). As increasing numbers of Spaniards take to the streets to demand the prime minister’s resignation, Muslim migrants are among his most loyal supporters. In the video below, we meet a Muslim store owner a minute in, with a poster of Sanchez on his shop wall, who says Muslims are “100%” going to vote for the prime minister if they become citizens. Why? Because he “stands with Iran and Palestine.” Indeed he does.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a poster of Santiago Abascal, the leader of the rising populist/conservative Vox party, in any Muslim-owned shops in Spain. Abascal, who has said that it is “inhumane to tell all of Africa and all of America that they can fit into Spain,” warned in April that mass amnesty will increase crime in the streets of Spain and accelerate the country’s housing and public healthcare crises.
And it’s not just Spanish politicians who are criticizing Sanchez’s policies. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told Sanchez in a closed-door meeting in Brussels last week that his amnesty plan negatively affects all EU countries. It was at that EU leaders’ meeting in Brussels that Sanchez opposed, along with French President Emmanuel Macron, plans for offshore migrant deportation hubs. Politico reports:
The disagreement comes days after the EU approved legislation allowing members to establish deportation hubs in third countries as part of a push to ensure failed asylum-seekers leave the bloc. While it’s still unclear how many capitals could take advantage of the rule change, 19 of the EU 27 signed up to a joint Danish-Italian letter, first reported by POLITICO, calling for swift action on deportations. “Countries are now working … to implement the new possibilities, including hubs in third countries. We will personally lead the way to make sure our visions are brought to life,” the letter circulated Friday morning reads.
Spain opposes EU plans for offshore deportation hubs, arguing they raise legal and humanitarian concerns, while other countries including Italy and Denmark view the hubs as a key tool to deter irregular migration and speed up removals. What Sanchez calls a humanitarian immigration policy, an increasing number of European politicians, including Abascal and Meloni, see as an invitation to invasion. Watch the video below and decide for yourself:

She’s got it wrong. On the one thing Ukraine didn’t do.

• AfD’s Alice Weidel Demands Ukraine Pay Reparations To Germany (Korybko)

Europeans and especially Germans have borne enormous costs to perpetuate the Ukrainian Conflict while receiving absolutely nothing of tangible benefit in return. AfD co-leader Alice Weidel responded to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s proposal to grant Ukraine associate membership in the EU, which was analyzed here and here, by declaring that “We need to know how this state-terrorist act against the most important infrastructure we had, namely the Nord Stream pipelines, came about and what role Ukraine played in it. The flow of payments should actually be moving in the opposite direction.”

She then added that, “Ukraine must pay reparations to the Federal Republic of Germany, because we have suffered enormous damage – and so has Europe as a whole – from the loss of cheap Russian fossil fuels.” Weidel made a solid point about the economic damage that the Ukrainian Conflict has caused to Europe, even independently of the Nord Stream terrorist attack, which she implied was committed by Ukraine like Berlin suggested but which the famous Seymer Hersh cited sources to blame on the US.
To elaborate a bit more on the background of Berlin’s innuendo, it sought the extradition from Poland last year of a Ukrainian suspect but was rebuffed by the judge for the reasons explained here, which lent credence in a lot of the public’s mind to the claim of Ukrainian culpability. Nevertheless, that narrative was already counteracted here, here, and here over the years long before the extradition request was made and rejected, but Weidel, many Germans, and a lot of folks across the West in fact still believe it.
In any case, having clarified the context of her implied accusation against Ukraine and circling back to her reparations demand, the EU spent hundreds of billions of dollars on aid for Ukraine and its refugees. When calculating the higher cost of fuel since then, including that which it still purchases from Russia, the total credibly approaches $1 trillion and might even surpass it by some estimates. The most that the EU might receive in exchange is arms and reconstruction contracts for only a handful of companies.
That nowhere near justifies the enormous costs that the EU has paid to perpetuate the NATO-Russian proxy war in Ukraine, which highlights the ideological motives behind this policy. The liberal-globalists that rule the bloc are hellbent on inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia through NATO-backed Ukraine, to which end no cost is too high to pay, especially since it’s average Europeans and not them that are paying it. This cynical policy is already backfiring in Germany by turbocharging the AfD’s rise.
It’s now the most popular party in the country by far and its appeal continues to grow since it’s one of the few forces apart from the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance that’s speaking truth to power about this conflict and its crushing economic consequences for Europeans. Germany in particular has been hit exceptionally hard with growth crawling to a halt and many suspecting that the bloc’s largest economy is actually already in a recession that might soon be confirmed and then spread throughout the EU.
Weidel knows very well that Ukraine will never pay reparations to Germany and that even the hypothetical cession of its key industries to her country wouldn’t come anywhere near compensating the costs that Germans have already paid. Her rhetoric was thus meant to draw attention to these same costs. The more that Germans dwell upon them and realize that their country received nothing of tangible benefit in return, the more likely they are to support the AfD in a bid to bring about real change.

“..once we break our historic reference connecting ‘intelligence’ and the generalized term ‘smart’, we can properly address the question you present.”

• Smart or Intelligent (CTH)

I previously saw an interesting discussion with NVIDEA Jensen Haung where in the context of AI he was asked: who is the smartest person you ever met? Jensen Haung paused for quite a few moments thinking about the question before he answered. Haung then redefined the word “smart.” ‘Smart’ is a word we have historically used in reference to ‘intelligence’. If a person was intelligent, we say that person is smart. However, in this era of AI at your fingertips, we must break this connection.Intelligence, the assembly of knowledge about a particular matter of discussion, is no longer limited to educational or real-life training or study by people who focus intensely on subject material.

All of the knowing about a system, any system, process, history or discussion topic is now available almost instantly to anyone in this era of artificial intelligence. The NVIDEA CEO then continued, therefore, once we break our historic reference connecting ‘intelligence’ and the generalized term ‘smart’, we can properly address the question you present. Who is the smart man? Or, in the context of the originating question, “who is the smartest person?”
With this baseline established, Jensen Haung then outlined the traits of the smartest person. The smartest person is not the person with the greatest knowledge; the smart individual is the person who can tune into the frequency of the universal moment, look at the human reality of what is factually taking place that has not yet become an input into the AI capture record, and then predict the material outcome – the destination of knowledge that has not yet arrived.
Essentially, Haung explains the smart person is alone, tuning themselves into the vibration that is the consequence of human activity, financial interests, geopolitical movement, social transformation, economic shifts and cultural modifications. Then, positioning their interests at the place in the future where they predict all the activity will arrive. The accuracy of prediction, or predictive positioning, then determines the scale of smart. The more accurate a person is under this perspective, the smarter they are. I agree with this perspective. All of human knowledge is now being assembled into AI databases for exploration by anyone with a keen interest or stake in the subject matter.
Knowledge is no longer the valuation of ‘smart.’ The ability to predict the next step, phase or moment is the smart attribute. With this context, we can now look back over the past few decades, not looking for the most intelligent voice, but rather looking at the accuracy of current position, contrast with the outline from the voices who make the predictions. This interview about the ramifications of cultural change in Europe was given in 2010, sixteen years ago, centered on a book written by Mark Steyn and the context within the questioning is looking forward over a period of about 20 years.
Remember, this is 2010, written before the “arab spring, long before Brexit, well before President Donald Trump and the MAGA agenda as policy and before the U.K churned through seven prime ministers’ in a decade. Remarkably, Steyn discusses/predicts what would happen if Islam tried to reform; if the U.S. pulled NATO resources out of Germany; if the U.K doesn’t radically alter direction and much more. Watch the discussion or put the interview on play while listening to it in the background as you go about your tasks. Remind yourself at moments throughout the roughly 30 minutes, that the interview took place fifteen years ago.
Mark Steyn, a writer, political commentator, and friend of the Treehouse outlines his 2010 prediction about the destination of the Western world during a discussion with Peter Robinson.

Next up, some AI model will build a government.

“Five Eyes cyber agencies have warned that frontier models could soon transform offensive hacking capabilities.”

• AI ‘Months Away’ From Taking Down Governments – 5 Eyes Intel Group (RT)

Advanced artificial intelligence models could soon give hackers the ability to cripple governments, businesses, and critical systems, cyber agencies from the Five Eyes intelligence group have warned. In a rare joint statement published on Monday, cyber security leaders from Australia, the US, the UK, Canada, and New Zealand said frontier AI models are developing faster than expected and are “anticipated to exceed current industry expectations, fundamentally transforming both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities.”

“The timeline is not years, it is months,” the agencies said, adding that “cyber risk can no longer be treated as a purely technical issue. This is a core business risk and leadership responsibility.” The statement said AI will help improve cyber defense over time, but is also lowering the barrier for malicious actors, increasing the speed and complexity of attacks, while shrinking the window between vulnerability discovery and exploitation. The agencies urged organizations to strengthen their digital defenses, update outdated software more quickly, limit access to sensitive systems, and prepare for cyberattacks before they happen.
While the Five Eyes statement did not name any single model or company, the recent debate over AI security has centered on US developer Anthropic, which has faced scrutiny over its latest and most advanced systems. Earlier this year, the company said one of its flagship models, Mythos, was too powerful to be released to the general public and limited access to a small group of trusted organizations. The company later introduced Fable 5, a more restricted version of the technology, but both models were subsequently taken offline after the US government ordered that foreign citizens be barred from using them, citing national security concerns.
The developments come amid broader warnings from researchers, technology leaders, and security officials that AI capabilities are advancing faster than governments and institutions can adapt. Experts have increasingly cautioned that systems designed to boost productivity and strengthen cyber defenses could also be used to automate attacks, lower barriers for malicious actors, and amplify the impact of small groups.

Kentaji Brown Jackson is the Biden admin’s one woman wrecking crew in the Supreme Court. You can pack the court, and/or you can wreck it from within.

• Justice Jackson’s Curious Call to Overturn Bruen (Turley)

Since her confirmation in 2022, Justice Kentaji Brown Jackson has established a legacy that is fast becoming one of the most radical in the Court’s history. Her sole dissents have drawn sharp criticism from both her conservative and liberal colleagues. However, for critics of some of these decisions, Justice Jackson continues to publish opinions that are not just, as she describes it, cathartic but chilling. Worse yet, the latest judicial jump scare was shared by her colleague, Justice Sonya Sotomayor, in her concurring opinion in United States v. Hemani.

At issue in the case was an effort to prosecute Ali Hemani for recreational use of marijuana, a prosecution that threatened up to 15 years and to strip him of his gun rights under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch ruled that the provision was not “consistent with the Second Amendment.” Gorsuch noted that Hemani was not alleged to be a drug addict or to have used his guns in a menacing manner. Gorsuch wrote that the “historical laws on which it relies targeted different kinds of people, did so for different reasons, and operated in different ways.”
However, Jackson used the concurrence to argue for overturning NYSRPA v. Bruen, a case critical to laying the foundation for interpreting the Second Amendment based on historical precedent. Jackson lashed out at the”‘history and tradition’ metric” and called for the Court to “revisit” the case. Declaring Bruen “unworkable,” Jackson called for the restoration of the “means-end scrutiny—the approach courts applied before we adopted Bruen’s ‘history and tradition’ metric—offers a more rational way of assessing the constitutionality of firearm regulations.”
The reason for undoing Bruen? According to Jackson, “it imposes on judges the unfamiliar and difficult tasks of sifting through centuries-old evidence in order to answer ‘contested historical questions,’ and ‘applying those answers to resolve contemporary problems.’” Justice Jackson added that “Given those challenges, it is unsurprising that Bruen’s test is vulnerable to inconsistent and arbitrary application, as judges draw different conclusions from the same historical evidence and reach divergent assessments of the same laws.”
The burden of actually seeking to understand the intended meaning of a constitutional provision is certainly greater than the more free-style approach of Jackson who focused on how to “resolve contemporary problems” under a living Constitution. However, to suggest that her outcome-determinative approach is less inconsistent and arbitrary is only true when you control the Court with justices who have like-minded “solutions” for contemporary problems.That is precisely what many Democrats have in mind as they openly pledge to pack the Court with an insistent liberal majority if they can retake power.
Moreover, Jackson is often cited as the model of the left, a justice who is unburdened by the language and history of constitutional provisions. Just last week, liberal Wisconsin State Supreme Court justices heralded Jackson’s approach in arguing for the restoration of race-based gerrymandering. The state jurists lamented not being able to interpret the Constitution to address the “harms this country has caused to those who are marginalized, disempowered, or disenfranchised,” including the “preference for White Americans and to burden Black Americans and those of other disadvantaged races or backgrounds.”
These federal and state Supreme Court opinions are a glimpse into what awaits the country if Democratic leaders carry out their threat to take over the Supreme Court by adding four liberal justices in the image of Justice Jackson. It is not simply the desire to immediately overturn prior cases but to establish a largely untethered jurisprudence driven by judicial fiat and impulse. It is certainly an easier way to write opinions and would clear the way for a stated agenda on the left to maintain power indefinitely. Before voters “unburden” these jurists, they need to seriously consider the costs of eviscerating an institution that has been vital in maintaining this Republic for the last 250 years.

“Six Fired and 45 “sent back to their home agencies” ..

I must say I wonder why Tulsi didn’t do the removing while she was there.

• Acting DNI Pulte Removes 51 from Agency (CTH)

CBS is reporting on events within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. As CTH previously outlined, Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte is following a very predictable path. The part of the CBS report that tells the story is: “Six career and political intelligence staff were terminated and 45 were sent back to their home agencies, according to three sources familiar with the personnel moves.” … “One source characterized the cuts as thoughtful and methodical. No staffers have been removed from the counterterrorism group.”

So, who was removed? Well, I’m certainly not the Nostradamus of USIC, but if I were to hazard an educated guess it looks like the National Intelligence Council – Directorate of Analysis, just lost six political staff, and 45 people from the various liaison desks were ‘sent back to their home agencies.’ As we noted last year, Tulsi Gabbard took the National Intelligence Council (NIC) out of the CIA – fired the heads, then putting the assembly back under the control of the ODNI. However, highly political operatives within the former CIA-controlled Directorate of Analysis (the former home of Eric Ciarmella) were still problematic. It looks like Director Pulte just eliminated the remaining DoA rats.
The 45 returned to their ‘home agencies‘ were certainly from the liaison desks inside the DNI. I’m not sure if that represents 45 from across all the desks, or the complete elimination of some overstaffed liaison desks. That said, given the nature of the leaking was recently to CNN (State Dept leaks to CNN), I am somewhat confident the State Dept liaison office inside the DNI is now empty office space. [Just a hunch.] Please remember, our predictive public discussions at CTH are in the strictest confidence.
“(via CBS) Just over 50 career and political intelligence staff at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have been removed from their roles since Bill Pulte became the agency’s acting director, Friday. Six career and political intelligence staff were terminated and 45 were sent back to their home agencies, according to three sources familiar with the personnel moves. Pulte has been asking deputies and other directors for suggestions about cuts. Some of the ODNI deputies pushed for more cuts, but Pulte said that the 51 was enough for now, one of the sources said.
One source characterized the cuts as thoughtful and methodical. No staffers have been removed from the counterterrorism group. No further firings are planned for now, two of the sources said. The cuts follow hundreds of staff reductions last year by former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who stepped down last week. Last year’s planned downsizing sought to bring the office’s headcount from 2,000 to around 1,300. President Trump has pushed for further cuts, directing Pulte to “execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office” in a Truth Social post earlier this month.
[…] Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence panels, warned Pulte against making large-scale staff cuts, calling it an inappropriate course of action for an acting official without national security experience. (more)
Senator Warner haz sad. Meanwhile in related news: “This sets up a stalemate as several Democrats have said they will not support reauthorizing Section 702 while Pulte remains Trump’s acting DNI pick.”
No FISA (702)? As Winnie the Pooh would say, “Oh, bother!”

Enjoy your last few years of driving, before the car takes over.

• The Media Is Still Trying to Smear Tesla (Margolis)

Earlier this week, a Tesla Model 3 driver in Katy, Texas, a Houston suburb, left the roadway at a “high rate of speed” and slammed into a brick home, killing a 76-year-old woman. The driver, Michael Butler, cooperated with investigators, showed no signs of intoxication, and claimed the car’s automated driving feature was engaged at the time. That claim was all the media needed. The New York Times ran with the headline “Tesla Driver Using Autopilot Crashes Into Home, Killing a Woman, Officials Say.” The Associated Press reported that “the top U.S. auto regulator opened an investigation Monday after a Tesla using an automated driving feature slammed into a Texas home at high speed and killed a 76-year-old woman standing inside.”

Notice the framing. The driver’s word was treated as fact. Tesla’s culpability was treated as settled. Did it occur to a single reporter that a driver facing potential liability for killing someone might have an incentive to point the finger at the car instead of himself? I’ve owned a Tesla for over a year now, and roughly 95% of my driving happens with Full Self-Driving (Supervised) engaged. Whether it’s quick runs to the store or long road trips to Boston, I love using it. It’s a remarkable piece of technology, and it works extremely well. So when this story broke, I was skeptical right away, and so were plenty of other Tesla owners on social media.
Anyone with real experience behind the wheel of a self-driving Tesla could tell almost instantly that this had the fingerprints of driver error, not a software failure.= Sure enough, Tesla and Elon Musk have since confirmed exactly that. Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s head of AI, revealed that the company’s data shows the driver manually overrode the self-driving system by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100%. The car reached 73 miles per hour, and according to Elluswamy, the accelerator was still pressed “even after the crash.”

Yup. In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area. They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the crash.
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 22, 2026

My experience with FSD has shown me that FSD always errs on the side of safety. Just today, it waited much longer to take a left turn on a busy main road than I would have. Is it perfect? No. But is it a safer driver than a human? You bet. A few weeks ago, it broke fast for a child who was running into the road in the opposite lane before I’d even seen him. This is not the first time the media has rushed to hang a crash on Tesla’s self-driving technology, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

the NYT reporter who wrote this obviously false story is refusing to update it or append any correction, in response to multiple emails. https://t.co/aAOtU064tT pic.twitter.com/Pk7TV8aEfh
— Gregg Re (@gregg_re) June 22, 2026

The data tells a story the press doesn’t want to print. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety have both ranked Tesla models among the safest cars on the road. Even left-wing influencer Brian Krassenstein bought a Cybertruck specifically because of its safety record. None of this fits the narrative the media wants. Musk is a political target, and Tesla is the easiest way to come after him without saying his name. So every crash becomes an opportunity, every unverified driver claim becomes a headline, and every correction gets buried below the fold, if it runs at all.
The press had a chance to wait for the facts before running the story. They chose the smear instead.

As a -former- Montrealer, i’m interested of course.

The guy seems to have hated just about everyone.

“According to him, athletic white men get all the advantages, and women overwhelmingly have better mental health than men..”

• Deadly Montreal Shooter Hated Capitalism, Women, White Men, and Jews (Salgado)

The Montreal shooter’s manifesto makes it clear that he was a deranged leftist who was bitter against women, blaming capitalism and “white men” for the problems in his life, and that he was also antisemitic. Hatfield was a philosophy student at the University of Lethbridge, according to Rebel News.

Seth Hatfield from Alberta murdered a police officer, Constable Mohamed Lamine Benredouane, and a local Jewish man, Michael Mizrahi, on Monday in a crazed shooting spree in a Jewish section of Montreal. Police ended up killing Hatfield, too, during the shootout. Hatfield apparently left behind him a long, angry, and rambling manifesto condemning private property and the capitalist system, raging against women, and railing against Zionism. It is a very woke manifesto that glorifies Communism.
For instance, footnotes in the manifesto with Hatfield’s name include the claim, “The influence of Zionist Jews upon the western bourgeoisie is in fact so strong that in my other works I sometimes refer to the western ruling class itself as the Judaeo-bourgeois class… it is very important not to fall into the absurd delusion of thinking that all Jews globally are somehow the participants in the globalist/imperialist scheme that the elite Zionists and their western bourgeois allies are so desperately trying to enact in present times.” He therefore had a particular hatred for Jews who support having a single Jewish nation in the world.
In fact, Hatfield framed the Allies’ defeat of the “National Socialist enemies” — the Nazis — as a turning point in the triumph of what he sees as an evil capitalist system, and the destruction of a supposedly happier world. Hatfield specifically called out President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — the great warriors against the Soviet Union — for criticism. The shooter mourned the collapse of the Soviet Union and how few Communist countries exist at the present day. Ignoring the horrendous massacres by the Soviets and the total and deliberate undermining of marriage in Soviet Russia, Hatfield described their society as “culturally healthy and largely monogamous” under “communist leadership.”
The extremely lengthy manifesto includes rambling about vertebrates, human copulation, and how supposedly monogamy benefits women and weaker men but not stronger men. Capitalism is therefore a sinister plot of strong, handsome men to obtain endless sex partners. Hatfield’s standard was entirely based on how many sex partners an individual can find with whom to reproduce, not on any sense of religious duty in marriage or love.
He also asserted that capitalism undermined monogamy, even though it is actually socialist ideologies that have encouraged sexual licentiousness across the modern world. Soviet Russia, his supposedly ideal state, encouraged the most widespread divorce and sexual immorality. “By middle class I mean both the petty bourgeois class and the labour aristocracy together as one broad group,” Hatfield claimed. “… capitalism as a system was not a creation of the common man… capitalism was the creation of a smaller or more privileged male clique.”
Ironically, just after making this assertion, Hatfield acknowledged the connection between capitalism and classical liberalism and admitted, “liberalism and capitalism operate under the assumption that all men are created equal.” But he insisted, “This assumption is blatantly and demonstrably false.”
Hatfield also condemned the idea that humans ought to be autonomous and allowed to make their own decisions. This obviously comes from his misunderstanding about what liberalism and capitalism actually mean. America’s Founders never believed there could be equality of outcome or opportunities or talent. They argued for the equality of basic human rights given by God. But it seems pretty obvious the shooter did not believe in God — or in the inherent value of human life, of course.
In the manifesto, Hatfield went on to rant against women in the workforce and the importation of cheap migrant labor, not for the reasons that a traditional conservative might criticize them, but simply because he mysteriously attributed these changes to capitalist exploitation leading to women selecting only the most attractive partners. He went on at great length, claiming that women have the power in our society to abuse men and not make themselves attractive to men, without acknowledging that our society, in fact, corrupts both men and women, and that out-of-wedlock births are least beneficial to women. The shooter did not even understand how he himself had fallen prey to the very propaganda that created the modern relationship crisis.
Hatfield also claimed “Caucasian-looking features” give white men an advantage in dating. Even while admitting that modern society leads to sexual abuse of women, he again attributed this to the supposed power that “capitalism” has given tall white men. According to him, athletic white men get all the advantages, and women overwhelmingly have better mental health than men, both of which statements are patently false. Hatfield also griped about “bourgeois courts” and said “dispossessed males” can only find comfort in online forums with other bitter men.
Without realizing it, Hatfield was both a product of modern socialist propaganda and the source of his own problems. Instead of trying to turn to God and become a better man, he blamed all of his problems on rich white men, the Jews, and “capitalism.”

“Government funded non governmental organizations are one of the biggest sources of fraud in the world. This is a gigantic fraud loophole.”

— Elon Musk pic.twitter.com/11veBjJLio
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) June 23, 2026

pic.twitter.com/17dfOAng5F
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 22, 2026

Every single parent, grandparent and even great grandparent must not comply with these unproven “jabs” that can do severe damage to our children.

This is madness!

I trust this man @RobertKennedyJr

I DO NOT TRUST the many “sick care” practitioners who pay homage to the Big… https://t.co/4lqV6Y3SFE
— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) June 22, 2026

https://twitter.com/naomirwolf/status/2069171513056752051?s=20 https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/2069408180518432997?s=20 https://twitter.com/ThierryTout/status/2069092549013467462?s=20 “50 years from now, on this map the West has already nearly disappeared ..”

Every Baby Born Last Year Drawn To Scale

By econcoaching. com pic.twitter.com/dGwqm2pIU2
— Truth Troll Official™️ (@truthtroll_X) June 22, 2026

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Debt Rattle June 23 2026

Jun 232026

June 23, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:52 am Finance Tagged with: commie, Fauci, monarchy, Seinfeld, SpaceX, Starmer, Tulsi Gabbard, unconditional surrender, Vance 29 Responses »

El Greco Dormition of the Mother of God 1565-1566

• War On Iran: Trump: “It Really Probably Is Unconditional Surrender” (MoA)

• Israelis Are Livid Over Trump Ending War, Overwhelmingly Believe Iran Won (ZH)

• Iran Agrees To Invite Nuclear Inspectors Back; Vance Hails Great Progress (ZH)

• Slouching Toward Peace (James Howard Kunstler)

• The ‘Seinfeld’ Theory of Iran Negotiations (Scott Pinsker)

• Trump May Have Given Us a HUGE Hint About His Successor (Margolis)

• Fail, Britannia: Meet the New Commie, Worse Than the Old Commie (Green)

• Support For UK Monarchy Hits Record Low (RT)

• Keir Starmer Reveals How Much Labour Resembles American Democrats (Queen)

• Tucker Carlson No Longer Supports The Republican Party: ‘I’m Out’ (JTN)

• Rand Paul Subpoenas Fauci For Testimony in COVID Origin Probe (JTN)

• Tulsi Gabbard Biolab Releases (CTH)

• Spanish PM’s Wife Faces Trial On Corruption Charges (RT)

• Go East, Young SpaceX Millionaire! (Stephen Green)

Yes https://t.co/IfpZy0PJgH
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 22, 2026

https://twitter.com/MAGAVoice/status/2068824029906256172?s=20

ELON MUSK: "In 5 years, digital intelligence will exceed the sum of all human intelligence."

Within five years, there may be at least 100 million humanoid robots, possibly even 1 billion.

The economy could double in size within 5 to 7 years because AI and robotics may increase… https://t.co/P6vLUAKvAp pic.twitter.com/kw0zudz5db
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) June 21, 2026

There’s quite a few people I don’t agree with anymore on the topic. Makes me curious.

• War On Iran: Trump: “It Really Probably Is Unconditional Surrender” (MoA)

On Wednesday, June 17 2026, Trump signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran in Versailles. That palace has seen a lot of defeats. Asked about the MoU he called it an “unconditional surrender”: Caputo also asked Trump about his original promise that the war would end with an “unconditional surrender” from Tehran, pointing to the memorandum of understanding he signed on Wednesday. “Well, it really probably is unconditional surrender,” Trump told the outlet. But Trump leaves this open: Surrender by whom? His declared war aims and demands for Iran were regime change, no ballistic missiles and no nuclear program.

Now Trump himself is fearing regime change. He defends Iran’s reliance on ballistic missiles and no longer minds it having nuclear stuff. March 6 2026: President Trump declared on Friday that he would settle for nothing short of “unconditional surrender” by Iran, the latest and broadest expansion of his goals for the conflict, Six days into the Israeli and American bombing campaign, Iran has shown no interest, at least publicly, in surrendering. Mr. Trump declared on Saturday, in the opening hours of the U.S. attack, that Iran’s people should rise up and overthrow their government.
But in the following days, both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pivoted away from the emphasis on regime change, saying that the United States was simply focused on assuring that Iran’s nuclear program was permanently destroyed, and that it no longer had the missile capability to attack Israel, its Arab neighbors, and perhaps someday America. Trump Demands ‘Unconditional Surrender’ by Iran (archived) – Mar 6 2026 – NY Times
June 18 2026: President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was motivated to finalize the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran to prevent “economic catastrophe” if the war was not resolved soon. “So rather than possibly going into a depression, rather than having your favorite president be Herbert Hoover, he was always the one I didn’t want to be,” Trump said of the 31st president whose policies are often blamed for starting the Great Depression. Trump also said he was open to allowing Iran to maintain its stockpile of ballistic missiles, claiming it was “unfair” for Iran to not be able to have the weapons if their neighbors do. …
And despite his insistence that the memorandum states that Iran cannot develop or obtain a nuclear weapon — one of his chief concerns during negotiations, Trump also appeared softer during the press conference on Wednesday in his position on whether Iran could develop a nuclear program for civilian purposes in the future. “You know, it’s also, it is a little hard though when you say that somebody wants—other people have it, other adjoining states have it and you’re not letting them have it for purposes of electricity and things like that. It’s always a little tough. You have to use a little common sense,” Trump added.
Trump didn’t want ‘Herbert Hoover’ presidency with Iran; said it has to have ‘some’ missiles – Jun 18, 2026 – ABCnews. Professor Mearsheimer was quite explicit in his latest talk (vid) with Judge Napolitano: Trump must shut the war down, whatever it politically might cost, to save the economy and his presidency.After he had launched the war he had to surrender, unconditionally, to prevent a global depression (which still may well happen). It may still take while, and maybe even another round of fighting, until that really sinks in.

“93.1% said Iran won.”

What did they presumably win?

• Israelis Are Livid Over Trump Ending War, Overwhelmingly Believe Iran Won (ZH)

After roping President Trump into breaking a core campaign promise, watching the United States expend resources and risk American lives to attack Iran, and then watching Trump take steps to end the war via MOU – Israelis are livid because the US didn’t commit to full-on decimation to celebrate America’s 250th, and say Iran came out ahead. According to a survey conducted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in partnership with the Agam Institute, 92.1% of Israelis believe Iran came out ahead in the conflict and the US-brokered deal that followed.

Even among voters loyal to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative bloc, 93.1% said Iran won. 82.9% of respondents said the six-week military campaign against Iran left Israel’s long-term security weaker, not stronger. Another 86% hold a negative view of both the way the fighting ended and the way Washington negotiated the subsequent deal without meaningful Israeli input. Nearly 88% of Israelis believe their country either fell short of its war aims entirely or achieved only partial success, despite the stated objectives being nothing less than dismantling Iran’s nuclear program, neutering its missile arsenal, and toppling the regime in Tehran. Those were the goals. None of them, by the public’s own assessment, were fully met.
Netanyahu has tried to project confidence in the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding anyway. At a press conference Monday, he insisted Iran will never possess nuclear weapons “as long as I am prime minister of Israel.” As we noted on Tuesday, hardline Israeli politicians are livid over the Iran deal, and want Netanyahu out so they can do ‘real regime change.’ “With an agreement or without an agreement, Iran will not have nuclear weapons – not today and not tomorrow,” he said, calling the mission his “life’s mission.” He has also maintained that the nuclear threat from Iran was an “immediate danger” that Israel removed “together with our American friends.”
Either way, Israelis aren’t buying it. 72.5% of respondents reject Netanyahu’s claim that Israel secured major gains and eliminated an existential threat. Only 26.5% rate his handling of the war as “good” or “excellent,” while 56.4% call it “failed” or “poor.” His personal approval as prime minister has collapsed from 40.5% in early March to 29.4% in June, a fifteen-point swing in roughly three months. And of course, there’s Trump… with 69.1% of respondents rated his handling of the war and the resulting deal as “failed” or “poor,” against just 10.8% who called it “good” or “excellent.” Quite the change in sentiment from his 2024 election win…

Despite the widespread belief that the Iran campaign backfired, 48.2% of Israelis say their country should renew major military action against Hezbollah, including strikes in Beirut, even if that means clashing with Trump, who has made clear he wants the fighting in Lebanon to stop. Only 20.9% oppose that course, with the remaining 30.9% undecided. Israelis appear simultaneously convinced the last war was mishandled and eager for the next one. Just 12.2% of respondents believe Israel achieved most of the stated goals against Hamas and Hezbollah following the October 7, 2023 attacks while 61.3% say Israel achieved none of them, and 26.5% say only some were met.
Across the Atlantic, the reception looks entirely different. A Quantus national poll of 1,000 likely US voters found 43% strongly approve and another 13% somewhat approve of the preliminary US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding. Combined disapproval sits at just 13%.The Trump administration has been trying to respond to criticism of the deal, while Israeli cabinet members are talking mad shit about Trump – to the point where VP JD Vance came very close to asking if they’ve even said ‘pwease’ or ‘thank you.’
Vance defended the MOU during Thursday’s White House briefing, pushing back on what he said was misleading media coverage. “The simple fact is that the only way the Iranians get any of those resources – not a single penny, by the way, from the United States of America under any circumstances – but the only way that they would ever get any benefit of the bargain is if they comply fully, and change their behavior,” Vance said of Iran, adding that Tehran’s military and nuclear program “is still destroyed” if Iran refuses to change course. He also said that compliance would bring “a transformative relationship with the Middle East.”
https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/2067642712560689401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2067642712560689401%7Ctwgr%5E3ba43edb00d551c7daaa6ef5f831958df7580c5f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fisraelis-are-livid-over-trump-ending-war-overwhelmingly-believe-iran-won-poll
The Hebrew University-Agam Institute survey was conducted June 17–20, using a weighted sample of 3,644 Israelis aged 17 and over, designed to reflect the broader population, and has a maximum sampling error of just 2.2% at a 99% confidence level. Maybe they’ll just keep attacking Lebanon to scuttle the peace deal?
https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/2067192026118926766?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2067192026118926766%7Ctwgr%5E3ba43edb00d551c7daaa6ef5f831958df7580c5f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fisraelis-are-livid-over-trump-ending-war-overwhelmingly-believe-iran-won-poll

They immediately denied it.

• Iran Agrees To Invite Nuclear Inspectors Back; Vance Hails Great Progress (ZH)

Axios is reporting Monday morning Iran has agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back to the country, according to fresh words of Vice President J.D. Vance, who focused all day prior and much into the overnight on forging a path forward toward permanent peace. The two sides are seeking to hammer out a long-term nuclear agreement, now amid the technical talks process, as delegation heads depart Switzerland – leaving diplomatic teams behind. The 60-day roadmap begins. If indeed the UN nuclear inspectors are eventually let back into Iran, this would be a hugely significant step. This would be to verify compliance to the preliminary agreement, Vance further hails:

“Our hope is that we get to the final deal and a permanent settlement. But right now, I think we’ve made great progress and we should all celebrate that in terms of when the nuclear inspectors are going to start,” the American Vice President told reporters. He described that he phoned UN nuclear inspectors at 2am last night to update them on the developments, however, he said that no one picked up the call. “As you can expect, not many people are answering their phone at two in the morning,” said Vance. “I expect that will happen at the minimum this week, but we think even some of those conversations with the inspectors and with the IAEA could happen as soon as today.”
Both warring sides appear to finally be in the same page in terms of issuing ‘positive’ and ‘encouraging’ assessments earlier. There were reports of last-minute disagreements, threats, and warnings that the process could collapse near the conclusion of yesterday’s formal round one of talks. “So they didn’t walk out, and their technical team is still here in Burgenstock working with our technical team,” Vance explained. “What we told the Iranians yesterday is, ‘When you guys exchange in what us millennials might call trash talk, you can’t expect the president of the United States not to respond and not to correct the record’.”
Vance conceded that in the end there was a “a little bit of threatening” and “whining but at the end of the day, the talks continued and we made great progress.” He further described that a mechanism had been established to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, while noting that significant work remained and that technical negotiations would continue. Also, importantly he said that a “very good foundation” was laid for a successful final agreement with Iran.
JD Vance:

I can't stay here for the next 60 days. I will go back to the U.S.

The technical teams will be working. pic.twitter.com/s9PSTRvMSR
— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 22, 2026

“. . .They are running the Accords logic to its conclusion: every adversary becomes a counterparty, every conflict becomes a deal, every closed economy becomes an investable market.” —Patrick Wood

• Slouching Toward Peace (James Howard Kunstler)

That squawking you hear is Iran getting dragged kicking and screaming out of its jihad delirium into something that might look like reality-based relations with the rest of the world. They have to loudly declare that it’s not happening, even as it’s happening, to gaslight their own home folks, who might be getting a little sick of economic free-fall — and probably sick of the IRGC regime itself. And, of course, they know that the Lefty-left half of the USA is rooting for this whole business to fail so they can get their mitts back on the levers of power to avoid prison.

Things are at a pretty pass, all righty. The sticking point of the moment is Lebanon. Everybody is twanging on Israel to quit fighting Hezbollah. Okay, but does Hezbollah not have some obligation to quit its provocations? And is Iran, which controls Hezbollah, not responsibile to make Hezbollah stop?
Notice, you don’t hear any of the kibitzers calling for that. That’s because getting Hezbollah to poke Israel in the eye with a sharp stick is Iran’s favored device for dragging out negotiations which, they apparently hope, will put POTUS in fear of the looming midterm election. But time is running out on their playing for time. What they’re actually playing is pretend — pretending to be living large and in-charge. They’ve got nothing else, really. They’ve driven their country into a ditch.
The US is in a straight-up good-cop / bad-cop mode. VP Vance, on-the-ground in Switzerland, presents the very picture of a smooth, cool, rational figure where it counts: face-to-face with Iranian leaders, after all these years. He calmly tells the world news media that “encouraging progress” has been made the first day toward a ceasefire in poor, sore-beset Lebanon. As of Monday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi concurred on “X.”
Meanwhile, President Trump was going mad-dog on social media. Of his relations with irksome Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu, POTUS said, “It’s good, but we have to keep him a little bit sane.” He added, “Iran must stop their highly-paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again. . . bomb the shit out of them.” He advised the Iranian negotiators that they “won’t even make if back” to their country if they keep playing games, and declared that the US will take over the Strait of Hormuz, if necessary. A bit harsh, admittedly. Any trouble parsing it out?

“Remember the Episode With Jerry and the Tennis Pro?”

• The ‘Seinfeld’ Theory of Iran Negotiations (Scott Pinsker)

This theory seems especially appropriate today: Between Schrödinger’s Strait being both open and closed, Hezbollah’s rockets bombarding Israel, and Iranian negotiators demanding billions in bribes, the ongoing drama at the Bürgenstock Resort in Switzerland is — very likely — “a show about nothing.” It’ll get great ratings. Lots of people will watch. (It’s Must-See TV!) But after all the hype and all the hoopla, DJT’s MOU is DOA. (There will be no TCB.) When all is said and done, the U.S.-Iran negotiations will be about as successful as Kramer’s lawsuit against Java World: JD Vance will get free coffee (I assume), but that’s pretty much it.

Sorry, but that’s the stone-cold truth. You can’t negotiate a peace deal with apocalyptic psychos whose bloodlust surpasses Newman’s waistline. These Iranian hardliners make Crazy Joe Davola look sane. Which is why our peace talks will sink like the 1956 SS Andrea Doria (but then again, “All vacations have to end eventually”). There is no hope! (Nor any hugging or learning.) Or, perhaps, the exact opposite is true — a Bizarro-version of “conventional wisdom,” if you will — and America has Iran by the short hairs.
On Jan. 30, 1997, episode #147 of Seinfeld aired: “The Comeback.” It is, perhaps, the most prophetic episode in Seinfeld’s entire catalog. There were four major storylines:
First was George’s obsession with settling the score with a snarky coworker who made a mean-spirited comment: “Hey George, the ocean called. They’re running out of shrimp!” George went through hell and high water to get even, making himself look utterly preposterous in the process. This storyline, of course, is an allegory for the Tucker Carlson-Mark Levin feud. (Or maybe it’s the Ben Shapiro-Megyn Kelly feud? Or possibly the Candace Owens-Laura Loomer feud? At this point, it’s getting kinda difficult to keep track of who’s feuding with who.)
The second storyline was Kramer’s desperate attempt to annul his living will: He no longer wanted to have his life support terminated. (Thus, becoming pro-life, I suppose.) Yet his frantic attempts to find his attorney were thwarted at the last minute — a chilling commentary on Canada’s euthanasia policies, where a poor shlub with IBS at a Tim Hortons was just “canceled” by a Canadian doctor.
Third was Elaine’s interest in a mysterious video store employee whose taste in cinema was sublime. Alas, when she went to meet him (bringing fireworks, cigarettes, and vodka), she learned he’s only 15. The kid’s mother shamed her, yet Elaine walked away without any legal consequences. Obviously, this was a clever callback to the shocking “industrial scale” sexual assaults that were (allegedly) committed by gangs of Muslim men against 250,000 UK little girls, yet the police declined to prosecute the evildoers. Fun fact: The name of Elaine’s 15-year-old love interest was Vincent — whose name is derived from the Latin word vincere, which means “to conquer.” (Hey, is Seinfeld good or what?)
But it’s the fourth storyline that’s most relevant today: A snooty, self-important employee at a tennis pro shop pressured Jerry into buying an expensive new racket. Later, Jerry learned the employee’s horrible secret: The guy can’t even play a lick of tennis! The desperate employee begs Jerry not to tell anyone — or his reputation will be ruined! His wife will leave him! Nobody at work will respect him! Eventually, Jerry agreed to let the employee beat him in a tennis match while his wife, friends, and coworkers all watched.
Behind-the-scenes, the employee gave Jerry everything he wanted: He refunded the racket. He apologized. He acknowledged how pathetic he is. He promised Jerry a full year of free club membership. He even offered Jerry a one-night stand with his wife! So Jerry decided to let the poor guy save face by giving him a “win” that didn’t really matter. The parallels here to the U.S.-Iran MOU are uncanny: Our military has inflicted between $1.5 and $2 trillion in damage to Iran. Its air force, navy, air defense, nuclear program, and Supreme Leader were all blown to bits.
Behind-the-scenes, Iranian negotiators are telling the Americans how weak and vulnerable they are — and how badly they want to make a deal. But to save face, they asked to “win” the MOU. From CNN: The officials described the text of the [MOU] agreement as incredibly vague, mainly intended to create a more favorable environment for the highly technical, in-person talks to come. They added that the framework is aimed at providing Iran the ability to sell it politically to their internal audience.
Additionally, the officials said that the text of the memorandum of understanding — which Vice President JD Vance told CNN Monday is one-and-a-half pages long — didn’t reflect critical back-channel commitments Iran has made to the US, which they argued gave them more confidence in signing on to the arrangement. “People shouldn’t read too much into the language of the MOU,” one of the officials said, describing the agreement as a “political document.”
[…]
The official added that the president’s team of negotiators “came up with language that allows (Iran) to say what they need to say for their domestic politics.” [emphasis added] When the Iran War began, plenty of Americans were cheering for regime change, hoping that freedom-loving Iranians would rise up and overthrow the mullahs. We assumed that they were the #1 threat to the Ayatollah’s power. But it’s entirely possible we misread the tea leaves — and Iran’s rulers are far more terrified of being killed by hardline Islamists than freedom-loving reformers.
When the Iranians talk about “saving face,” they mean it literally: Pissing off the hardliners is instant death. If so, it would explain the posture of the Trump administration: Iran has already committed to signing a one-sided peace deal, but only with the face-saving cover of an equally one-sided MOU. Otherwise, all the Iranian negotiators will be executed when they return home, and the White House will have to start the peace process all over again. On the outside looking in, it’s unclear how likely this explanation is, but it deserves careful consideration for two important reasons:
The Trump administration insists that it’s true. (And it knows more details than we do.It would certainly explain the administration’s behavior, patience, and tolerance for Iran’s tomfoolery.But even if it’s true, Iran had better tread very, very carefully. Because, as the Seinfeld prophecy foretells, the pro shop employee couldn’t resist gloating about “beating” Jerry. In the middle of their match, he called Jerry names. He mocked his ability. He invited others to laugh at him. He called Jerry a baby, a chicken, and “not a man.”

He won’t turn his back on either of the two. Let them fight it out.

• Trump May Have Given Us a HUGE Hint About His Successor (Margolis)

For more than a year, the corporate press has treated Donald Trump’s eventual successor like a riddle they alone can solve, parceling out clues from offhand remarks and body language. A new book suggests they’ve been chasing a story that doesn’t yet exist because Trump himself hasn’t made up his mind. Or has he?

The book, titled Regime Change, by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, chronicles the first year of Trump’s second term. One notable anecdote is that once, during a walk-through with reporters, Trump showed off new flagpoles he had installed on the White House North and South Lawns, something he said he had wanted to do during his first term but had avoided for fear of bad press. Not this time. “You guys were after me,” Trump told the reporters. “I was the hunted. And now I’m the hunter.” That confidence extends to how he talks about who comes next.
According to the book, Trump has repeatedly quizzed his own aides on whether Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio would make a better president after him. And Trump may have given a hint about his preference. Trump is also said to be impressed by the background of Rubio, who is the son of Cuban immigrants. The book describes how, after Trump redecorated the Oval Office to fill it with gold flourishes, someone asked the president about the likelihood that the next president would undo all that he had done. Trump retorted: “Cubans love gold.”
But, Haberman and Swan write, Rubio and Vance are also friends. An example they offer is Rubio texting Vance after the 2024 Republican vice presidential nominee’s comments about “ childless cat ladies ” became a scandal. Rubio offered to campaign with Vance to show his support. Speculation about who Trump prefers as his successor has been rampant pretty much since Trump took office again. In February 2025, Fox News anchor Bret Baier asked Trump if he sees Vance as his successor and the 2028 Republican nominee. Trump’s answer wasn’t the easy yes everyone expected. “No, but he’s very capable,” he said, before pivoting to praise. “I think you have a lot of very capable people. So far, I think he’s doing a fantastic job. It’s too early; we’re just starting.”
That answer rattled plenty of people who had assumed that Vance would simply inherit the MAGA movement when Trump’s term ends. A Mediaite report the following month claimed that Trump wants his political dynasty to outlive his own presidency, and three high-level sources claimed that Donald Trump Jr. was seriously weighing a 2028 run of his own.
Donald Trump Jr. wasted no time torching that theory. “I accurately predicted that my buddy JD would be an instant power player in national GOP politics, so your theory is that I worked my a** off to help get him the VP nomination because I want to run for president in 2028?” he said. “Are you f****g retarded? I’m actually glad you’re printing this b******t, though, because at least now the rest of the press corps will see how s****y your ‘sources’ are and how easily you’re played by them. Congrats, moron.”
That’s not the response of a man choosing his words carefully for a future campaign launch. It’s the response of someone who finds the entire premise absurd. So after a year of speculation, here’s what the evidence actually shows: Trump is weighing Vance against Rubio on the merits, and probably seems to be leaning toward Rubio right now.

Don’t sound good.

• Fail, Britannia: Meet the New Commie, Worse Than the Old Commie (Green)

The U.K.’s most destructively feckless prime minister (since the last one) is history, but Keir Starmer’s likely successor could prove Britain’s final undoing — if the radical Liberian-born advisor who serves as Andy Burnham’s “brains” gets her way. Burnham, former Mayor of Greater Manchester, won the Makerfield by-election on June 18 with an impressive 55% of the vote — a full rebuke of Reform U.K., too — sending him to Parliament where he’ll make a run at Number 10 Downing St. At least one potential rival, Wes Streeting, stood aside and endorsed Burnham on Monday, pretty much clearing his path.

In his endorsement, Streeting said he wants Labour to pursue “a progressive capitalism focused on wealth creation as much as wealth distribution,” but nobody seems to have told the “brains” behind Burnham: the Liberian-born daughter of lefty radicals, Miatta Fahnbulleh. CutMyTaxUK reported last year that Fahnbulleh “was born in Liberia as part of a prominent leftist revolutionary family, has served as a junior energy & housing minister in the Starmer government before resigning to support Burnham.” Previously, as the “former head of the far-left New Economics Foundation,” she proved “adept at churning out socialist policy proposals.”
Or as CMT-UK put it, “Keir Starmer has appointed a Housing Minister who hates private housing.” Another U.K. publication, Guido Fawkes, put all of Fahnbulleh’s most radical proposals in one handy list on Sunday:
• A wealth tax and yet another windfall tax on oil and gas.
• Mass nationalization e.g. of land, transport, and energy.
• Extending national [welfare] insurance [tax to include] to investment income.
• A cap on interest rates and charges on every form of consumer credit.
• Hiking capital gains tax to income tax levels.
• Hiking the dividend tax to income tax levels.
• Abolition of the upper earnings limit for national insurance.
• Huge expansion of the benefits system, including a “minimum income guarantee” paid to everyone apart from the rich.
• Nationalization of banks and creation of new “green” banks with taxpayer funds.
• Block on private banks lending to anyone with a “large amount of greenhouse gas emissions” and “penalization of banks that provide too many carbon-intensive loans.“
• Forced sale of existing businesses to employees.
• A tripling of the stamp duty [property tax, basically] surcharge to 9% for multiple homeowners and an increase to 6% for non-residents.

So, apart from urging the destruction of the energy industry, banking, and investment, ending private ownership of industry and housing, and a massive expansion of Britain’s welfare state, she’s practically a right-winger. Cough, cough. Here’s a quick look at Fahnbulleh’s background:
https://twitter.com/kunley_drukpa/status/2068249442067571024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2068249442067571024%7Ctwgr%5Efd6865bfde3ade186354994b7afb9adff6e690c6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpjmedia.com%2Fvodkapundit%2F2026%2F06%2F22%2Fuk-meet-the-new-commie-worse-than-the-old-commie-n4954224
Britain isn’t just importing mass numbers of Third Worlders; it’s importing Third World lefty radicalism that the West once pounded into smithereens under Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan during the last years of the Cold War. The New Statesman’s Nick Plumb describes Fahnbulleh’s governing philosophy as “radical co-operativism,” but all these generations later, Karl Marx couldn’t help but notice the family resemblance. But what’s the big deal about a former Housing Minister with a radical laundry list of ways to destroy what’s left of the British economy?
As CMT-UK also put it, there are “two worrying aspects to this New Statesman article.” The first is that “Burnham apparently doesn’t have many brains,” and the second is that “Fahnbulleh is filling the gap.” Fahnbulleh is one of Burnham’s key allies, campaigned for him in last week’s big by-election win, and previously helped shape policy for a potential Burnham government, according to the BBC. By trading Starmer for Burnham, Britain very well may be going out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Elizabeth was popular. That was it.

• Support For UK Monarchy Hits Record Low (RT)

Public support for the British monarchy has fallen to its lowest level in over three decades, a new poll has suggested. Just under half of Britons still favor removing the monarchy, with support particularly weak among younger people. Support for the monarchy has steadily declined since reaching a peak of 80% in 2012 and fell to 55% in 2026, according to data published by Ipsos on Friday. The figure is the lowest recorded by the market research and polling company since it began tracking the issue in 1993 and is well below the long-term average of 71%.

Support has declined across all age groups but is particularly low among Britons aged 18-34, where only a third of respondents said they favor the monarchy – roughly half the level recorded in 2013. According to Ipsos, 45% of people in that age group would prefer the UK to become a republic instead. Satisfaction with King Charles and his heir, Prince William, remains high, the poll suggested as 60% and 71% of respondents respectively said they liked the way the king and the prince were doing their jobs.
The monarchy’s popularity took a hit over one of the Royal family member’s long-standing association to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The now former Prince Andrew, King Charles’ brother, was initially accused in 2014 of being one of the persons the disgraced financier sex-trafficked woman to. Andrew settled a civil lawsuit with one of the sex-trafficking victims, Virginia Giuffre, in 2022, while still denying all the allegations. In 2026, the British police opened a criminal case against him after a release of additional files in the Epstein case suggested that he allegedly provided confidential government information to the convicted sex offender.
Buckingham Palace commented on the case in February by saying that the Royal family was ready to support the probe “if we are approached by Thames Valley Police” and adding that the king’s “thoughts and sympathies have been, and remain with, the victims of any and all forms of abuse.” According to a poll conducted by YouGov in April, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor remains the most disliked member of the family by a wide margin, with over 90% of Britons having a “negative” or “very negative” view of him.
The influence of the British monarchy abroad has also declined in recent years, with some former British colonies considering severing their remaining ties to the Crown. Barbados became the most recent Caribbean nation to become a republic in 2021 while remaining within Britain’s Commonwealth. A survey conducted by former Conservative Party deputy chairman Michael Ashcroft in 2023 suggested that six of the 14 overseas countries within the Commonwealth realm – including Canada and Australia – would prefer to ditch the monarchy.

7 prime ministers in 10 years.

American Democrats have nowhere to turn to. The US system prohibits a third party.

The UK has Nigel Farage waiting in the wings,

• Keir Starmer Reveals How Much Labour Resembles American Democrats (Queen)

I counted, and during my lifetime, the UK has had 13 prime ministers. The count is likely to jump to 14 soon now that Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation as leader of the Labour Party on Monday. Labour is now set for a leadership challenge, with newly elected MP Andy Burnham, formerly mayor of Manchester, as the main challenger. Starmer’s resignation may give rank-and-file Britons (many of whom are discovering the joys of American life during the World Cup) some whiplash, as Noa Hoffman pointed out on Monday’s Coffee House Shots podcast:

I think a lot of people who are not in tune with the day-to-day ins and outs of Westminster politics are going to think, “What the hell is going on?” I think that’s actually going to reflect quite poorly on the Labour Party, because, as Tim said, there was no one major scandal or one major failure that really led to this resignation.
It was sort of a litany of errors, many of them unforced, but nowhere near to the extent of what sort of preceded the big resignations of a lot of Tory prime ministers, so no one is going to say Keir Starmer was doing a great, perhaps even good job, but was he literally the worst thing on earth, or so bad to the extent that everyone thought, given even given the volatile state that the world is in right now, the best thing to do is for you to stand down and bring in a man who nobody, apart from the people of Makerfield voted for, nobody in the general election voted Labour on the basis of Andy Banham leading the party and being a prime minister, and now he’s promising all these big radical changes, unless he U-turns on them, as he has been doing frequently, without a mandate.
So this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I don’t think Labour MPs really understand that. She later said, “But I think the overall question that history will ask is, was that reason enough for him to go and bring on the next sort of big left-wing agenda that we’re about to see that the public did not vote for, and I’m not sure the answer to that is necessarily yes.”
This isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison since the UK’s parliamentary system doesn’t exactly line up with the American democratic republic, but it feels like an echo of the Democrats replacing Joe Biden with Kamala Harris. It’s not clear yet how Labour’s rank and file will take to Burnham’s leadership and policies, so it may drive the country closer to a general election sooner rather than later. In the podcast, the question of Starmer’s legacy came up. Editor Tim Shipman characterized Starmer as one who was good at campaigning but bad at governing — you know, like Barack Obama. Shipman also identified Starmer’s legacy as being much about himself:
The innate thing is that Keir Starmer fundamentally thinks that if you’re a decent chap and you’re going to work and want to do decent things, then decent outcomes will follow. Well, that’s not how politics or government works.
And the other thing he thought was that winning a landslide was some great, massive endorsement of himself, and it was not. It was one of the great two-fingers-to-you [akin to a middle-finger gesture], anyone but the previous lot voters have ever seen in British politics, and that miscalculation, I think, made his government very difficult, and it meant a lot of what he thought he was going to achieve quite easily, like a reset with the European Union. “Oh, which will be fine, because we’re not these wicked Tories. We’re going to go in, and it’s all going to be great, because we’re nice and we’re Labour.”
The Spectator’s Madeleine Grant had another brutal assessment of Starmer’s legacy. In her view, Starmer represents the great gulf between the elites and the great unwashed. There will be much commentariat-painting of Starmer as exhibiting decency, competence and integrity. It probably doesn’t feel like that if you were one of the people he pushed under the bus to save himself, it probably doesn’t feel like that to the pubs and businesses and farms and schools shutting down, it probably doesn’t feel like that if you’re a Chagossian, or a military veteran, or a rape gang victim. Indeed, aside from vibes and the fact that he is ‘like them’, it is very difficult to see where those who laud Starmer as decent, competent, and having integrity have got the idea from.
That perhaps is Starmer’s real legacy: to be the man who embodied more than anyone else the vast gap between those who govern and the governed. The prime minister we were told the nation needed turned out to be the one it deserved. Most deliciously of all, Starmer has embodied the absolute reversal of Blair by proving, even in his departure, that things can, and will, only get worse.
The analogies between Labour and U.S. Democrats are plenty, but Starmer and the upcoming leadership challenge highlight two big comparisons. At the party level, Labour and the Dems are ready to go as far left as they can, and Labour leadership sees itself as an elite class that knows better than the governed, much like Democrats today. It’ll be revealing to watch how this will play out over the next few weeks and what the next general election, whenever it may happen, will bring about.

I still find this strange.

• Tucker Carlson No Longer Supports The Republican Party: ‘I’m Out’ (JTN)

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said recently that he is leaving the Republican Party and will no longer support it because the party allegedly “betrayed” Americans with its alliance with Israel. Carlson, who was previously an ally of President Donald Trump, has split with the “Make America Great Again” movement and the Republican Party over the latter’s ties to Israel. “I’m out,” Carlson said on an episode of the “Can’t Be Censored” podcast that aired Thursday but gained traction Monday. “If I’m out, then I think a lot of other people are out. I would not support the Republican Party.

“How could I or any American voter support a political party that’s not loyal to the United States,” he continued. “That puts the interests of a foreign country above those of its own citizens. It’s not possible to vote for people like that, and I’m not going to.” Carlson, who has supported Republican causes for 35 years, clarified that he would not be supporting Democrats moving forward and was not sure who he would be voting for in future elections. The president and Carlson have been at odds in the second Trump administration, with Trump claiming Carlson has a “low IQ,” and the former Fox host has accused the president of trying to “play God” with the conflict in the Middle East.

“Paul is expected to question Fauci on whether he lied to Congress during the pandemic about whether his office had funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.”

• Rand Paul Subpoenas Fauci For Testimony in COVID Origin Probe (JTN)

Senate Homeland Security Chairman Rand Paul issued a subpoena Monday to force former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci to testify in front of his panel after the Biden administration official declined to do so voluntarily. The senator claimed Fauci previously agreed to testify in front of the panel, but former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on her last day in office last week declassified a several-hundred-page agency report on Fauci related to when he was NIAID director, the COVID-19 pandemic and the continuing, unresolved issue of the origin of the deadly virus.

Paul said the new hearing will take place in a public forum next month. “Last week, Anthony Fauci notified us he will NOT voluntarily testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, even though he had previously agreed to do so,” Paul said on X. “Therefore, today I have issued a subpoena requiring him to testify before the Committee, in public, next month.” Paul is expected to question Fauci on whether he lied to Congress during the pandemic about whether his office had funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
Despite the evidence of a potential lab leak sickening workers at the Wuhan lab, Fauci has continued to double down on his claim that the COVID-19 virus had emerged naturally from a wet-market in the same areas as the lab, not a leak from the lab itself. No date for the new hearing has been released.

Rand Paul can use Tulsi’s material,

• Tulsi Gabbard Biolab Releases (CTH)

Promethean Action PAC’s Barbara Boyd takes a look at the last two declassification releases from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard prior to her resignation. Boyd argues that outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s recent document releases reveal a global, US-funded biolab network centered on Dr. Anthony Fauci, traced back to January 2014—the same start date cited in Joe Biden’s pardons of Hunter Biden and Fauci. She claims Obama’s 2014 gain-of-function ban pushed the research overseas, with NIH funding routed through EcoHealth Alliance to Wuhan, while Pentagon-backed contractors—especially Metabiota—expanded work in Ukraine after the Maidan coup.

Boyd also highlights a May 2020 Lawrence Livermore assessment describing Wuhan as fitting criteria for an accidental release of an engineered coronavirus and alleges Anthony Fauci steered Biden-era COVID origins reviews toward natural origin while lying to Congress. She links Ukraine lab inventories and broader COVID-era policies to a larger geopolitical and technocratic agenda.

He wants to invite in 500,000 people for starters?! Not everyone’s happy with that.

• Spanish PM’s Wife Faces Trial On Corruption Charges (RT)

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s wife, Begona Gomez, will stand trial before a jury on corruption-related charges, EFE news agency reported on Saturday, citing a ruling issued by the investigating judge following preliminary hearings held earlier this week. Gomez was formally charged in April with embezzlement, influence peddling, corruption in business dealings, and misappropriation of funds. Prosecutors are reportedly seeking a 24-year prison sentence for the 55-year-old university director, who was also ordered to surrender her passport and appear in court twice a month pending the subsequent proceedings.

Her adviser, Cristina Alvarez, who is accused of similar offenses, and businessman Juan Carlos Barrabes will also stand trial. The investigation into Gomez was launched in 2024 following a complaint filed by anti-graft campaign group Manos Limpias, whose leader is reportedly linked to Spain’s far right. The organization alleged that Gomez used her position as the prime minister’s wife to influence government contracts given to a group of tech companies.
The scope of the probe later expanded after additional accusations that Gomez misused public funds in the hiring of a consultant and improperly used software while working at Madrid’s Complutense University, where she co-directed an academic chair.Her legal team denied any wrongdoing and argued that the proceedings are politically motivated.Sanchez, the leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, has not been implicated in the case.
However, after the probe became public, he suspended public engagements “for a few days” and said he was considering stepping down, denouncing what he described as a campaign of political and personal harassment against his family. Sanchez later announced that he would remain in office and continue leading the government. Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero also became the subject of a corruption investigation in May over the alleged misuse of €53 million in state aid granted to Plus Ultra airline in 2021. Earlier this week, a court rejected the request of prosecutors to impose precautionary measures, including the surrender of his passport and a travel ban.

South Florida.

• Go East, Young SpaceX Millionaire! (Stephen Green)

Aside from fueling Elon Musk’s orbital data center ambitions, the recent SpaceX initial public offering minted thousands of new millionaires — and where they put their money will have ripple effects lasting a generation. Can you guess where that money won’t go? In a charmingly outdated New York Post piece from May, Lydia Moynihan predicted that the SpaceX IPO would create “dozens, if not hundreds” of millionaires, including one anonymous early investor who told Moynihan that “she’s already hired someone to run her newly created family office, which manages her investment portfolio.”

“There are going to be a lot of single family offices that come out of this IPO,” founder of the Family Office Division at Compass, Cindy Scholz, told the Post. The paper reported that with dozens or hundreds of SpaceX millionaires, “Family offices have already grown 25% over the last five years, and she expects to see that number skyrocket in the coming month.” The actual number of new millionaires (and even a few billionaires) created was a bit north of 4,400. Of those, Moynihan’s “hundreds” had eight-figure net-worth paydays when SpaceX went public. That’s a lot of new family offices and whatnots.
Scholz, according to the Post, also said last month that the SpaceX windfall will “accelerate the exodus from California.” Well, guess what? Here comes Kristen Altus from Fox Business, who reported Monday that a “fresh wave of Silicon Valley wealth could soon flow into South Florida.” “With OpenAI quietly filing for a confidential IPO alongside market debuts from aerospace giant SpaceX and AI rival Anthropic,” she wrote, “billions of dollars in overnight liquidity are about to be unlocked for executives and middle management alike.”
However, Altus reported, “Instead of reinvesting in the Golden State, this incoming class of newly minted tech multimillionaires is already flooding Florida real estate brokers with calls — triggering what experts say could be a rapid-fire ‘Tech Exodus 2.0’ measured in months, not years.” Nobody tell Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has already spent all those new income tax dollars.
And Another Thing: I was able to buy exactly one (perhaps overpriced) share of SpaceX the day it went public, and then went into waiting mode. When SPCX share dropped from IPO-hysteria highs on Wednesday, I started buying just a little. I’m now the proud owner of 10 (!!!) whole shares, and am a couple hundred dollars poorer as the shares keep falling. But I don’t care, because I own 10 whole shares of the world’s most exciting company.
Even before SpaceX went public, Frank Jacobs went through the numbers for Big Think in May and found that since 2018, “around 103,000 millionaires moved out of California,” and that “133,000 millionaires moved in to Florida,” mostly from the Formerly Golden State and New York. “Wealthy Americans are migrating in large numbers from high-tax states to lower-tax ones and reshaping the nation’s economic geography,” Jacobs wrote, concluding that “steep marginal tax rates may be counterproductive, driving away the very revenue” Albany and Sacramento hoped to get their greedy blue fingers on.
So it’s no stretch to predict that all these SpaceX/Anthropic/OpenAI IPO winners will follow suit. “The California area codes have already started showing up,” Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority CEO and President Jenni Morejon told Altus. “It’s just that the conversations are evolving.” As it turns out, Florida’s appeal isn’t just about friendly tax and regulatory environments — it’s about the culture. “Silicon Valley is absolutely a boring place to live compared to Miami,” Naftali Group CEO Miki Naftali told Fox. “How can you even compare between living in Miami and Silicon Valley?”
But it’s the lost business opportunities that might come to haunt California and New York the most. “I think you see that this isn’t just a lifestyle narrative,” Morejon added, “it’s actually an operating environment for new businesses. And we have the engineering and infrastructure emerging to prove that.” The money is nice, too — especially when it isn’t flushed down another one of Sacramento’s money pits.

Let's celebrate the resignation of Keir Starmer with this wonderful song. Bye-bye, Keir! We will remember you as the biggest wanker of all UK leaders. Donald Trump and his band are performing this song for your pleasure. The Spotify version is coming soon. pic.twitter.com/id88G2yqJA
— Sith Daddy (@sithdaddyx) June 22, 2026

Interesting article from 2022.
Peter Sutherland was a special representative of the UN for Migration.
The replacement of the English people is part of the UN plan for their New World Order. pic.twitter.com/dYUYabS6kW
— Andrew Bridgen (@ABridgen) June 21, 2026

Starting October 2026, @SpaceX will be generating ~$2.32 billion per month in AI compute revenue from its major deals with Anthropic, Google, and now Reflection AI. pic.twitter.com/mM7RLoxmcR
— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) June 22, 2026

https://twitter.com/WikiLeaksQ/status/2068771868018901445?s=20

Sums it up. pic.twitter.com/upAlumkxmg
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) June 22, 2026

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Debt Rattle June 22 2026

Jun 222026

June 22, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:45 am Finance Tagged with: Hormuz, Iran, Kevin Warsh, Mr. Bean, Nazis, Patriot missiles, rape gang, Starmer, Thune, Vance 31 Responses »

Vincent van Gogh Gypsy Camp near Arles 1888

• Trump Threatens US Will Charge Toll Fees In Strait of Hormuz (JTN)

• Trump Reminds Iran of ‘Harder’ Military Options On Table (ZH)

• Keir Starmer Moments Away from Resignation (CTH)

• Trump Says UK Prime Minister Starmer Is Resigning (Salgado)

• Starmer Accused Of Staging Russian Ship Raid To Boost Poll Numbers (Jung)

• Britain’s Greatest Betrayal: The Rape Gang Inquiry Report (AmG)

• Zelenskyy Wants To Develop U.S. Patriot Missiles in Ukraine (CTH)

• Poland’s ‘Pain Threshold’ Broke After Zelensky’s Tribute To Nazi Collaborators (RT)

• Zelensky ‘Acting Like Mr. Bean on Crack’ : Scott Bessent (RT)

• Trump Is Furious With Senate GOP, Puts Thune In His Crosshairs (ZH)

• Warsh’s First Fed Meeting Sends a Message (Martin Armstrong)

• Now We Know Why the Obama Center Is So Ugly (Margolis)

• This Is The Funniest Thing Ever… (MN)

https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/2068704022354067659?s=20

You gotta love AI (sometimes).
pic.twitter.com/AZDXRRqYD9
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) June 21, 2026

Lebanese TV Host Walid Abboud to Hezbollah:

“Leave us. And take your weapons, your drones, your rockets, your mouthpieces, your flags, your Supreme Leader, your Iran and your Resistance with you.” pic.twitter.com/amMtFhEliw
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) June 21, 2026

https://twitter.com/Tironianae/status/2068449809938194835?s=20

Elon Musk says what counts as far right today was standard center-left thinking just 10 years ago. Media’s constant expansion of the label far right is propaganda meant to demonize normal views.

Elon Musk: “Far right is not supposed to mean a sensible immigration policy.” pic.twitter.com/oJXYGuJszn
— Taya Bass (@travelingflying) June 20, 2026

https://twitter.com/MrWhiplash_/status/2068647740922372484?s=20 https://twitter.com/juniorturner84/status/2068639874500960462?s=20

This was the moment Donald Trump became an absolute legend.

Second 2016 presidential debate. St. Louis, Missouri. Hillary Clinton is at the podium speaking, and Trump starts moving across the stage with that calm, fearless presence that instantly changed the energy in the room.… pic.twitter.com/NtlDa06roy
— Charlie’s Voice Rising (@CharlieK_news) June 20, 2026

“..for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East for purposes of both past, present, and future reimbursement of costs,..

• Trump Threatens US Will Charge Toll Fees In Strait of Hormuz (JTN)

President Donald Trump ratcheted up the pressure on Iran on Saturday, threatening that the United States could charge toll fees to ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz if Tehran doesn’t execute a peace deal within 60 days. “There will be NO TOLLS in the Hormuz Strait for 60 days during the Cease Fire Period, and there will be NO TOLLS after the 60 day period has expired, unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America, should the deal not be completed, for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East for purposes of both past, present, and future reimbursement of costs,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Trump’s comments came as Vice President JD Vance departed the United States for direct and high-stakes talks with Iran in Switzerland. The Strait of Hormuz — one of the world’s most important transit points for oil cargo — has become a critical bargaining chip in the ceasefire negotiations as Iran’s tensions with the United States and Israel remain high.
Trump’s statement appeared to warn Tehran it won’t have the ability to charge ship tolls in any final deal with America. Iran and the United States have signed a memorandum of understanding that imposes a 60-day ceasefire to give more time to negotiate a formal peace treaty.

They know he doesn’t want to.

• Trump Reminds Iran of ‘Harder’ Military Options On Table (ZH)

Update(10:00ET): With Vance and Witkoff in Switzerland, President Trump is still issuing some US redlines via Truth Social, and via apparent ‘official leaks’ – and quite quickly – through the press. Trump is warning the Iranians on the sticking points of Hormuz closure and the Lebanon crisis. He has newly threatened on Sunday to hit Iran again if it can’t constrain its proxies, namely Hezbollah, in Lebanon. In parallel, Tehran is demanding that Washington reign in Israel. A fresh Sunday Truth Social… brief but firm. And more on some fresh reported warnings and pressure coming from Trump.

"You close it and you won't have a country." President Trump said he told Iranian officials about the Strait of Hormuz. "You won't even make it back to your fu*king country."

"We may take over the Strait, if we have to," Trump said. "If they don't make a deal, we'll collect… pic.twitter.com/cErvdjCJmK
— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) June 21, 2026

As the American delegation continues the high-stakes negotiations in Switzerland aimed at de-escalating, the White House is projecting cautious optimism while simultaneously reminding Tehran that military options remain firmly on the table.
Speaking as talks entered a critical phase, Vice President JD Vance said Sunday from Switzerland Washington has “made great progress over the last few hours” and expects “additional progress in the coming hours,” describing the negotiations as an opportunity to “turn over a new leaf” in US-Iran relations. Vance emphasized that the administration’s preference is not to return to the cycle of confrontation, adding that the US is willing to fundamentally transform ties with Iran if Tehran permanently abandons its nuclear ambitions.
“The question is how much more we can achieve in the Middle East,” Vance said, while expressing confidence regarding the Lebanon front and signaling satisfaction with ongoing efforts to contain broader regional escalation.
Yet Trump has just delivered a stark reminder of the consequences should negotiations fail. According to Fox News, Trump warned Iranian officials that closing the Strait of Hormuz would be an existential mistake, reportedly telling Tehran that it “won’t have a country” if it attempts to choke off global energy flows, in the segment above. Trump also issued a personal warning to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, saying he “better watch his mouth,” while reports indicated the president used unusually blunt language during discussions with Iranian intermediaries over the strategic waterway
Perhaps most notably, Trump reiterated that he retains a “60-day option” and can “do whatever” he deems necessary after that period expires, a statement widely interpreted as preserving the possibility of renewed military action. The president also reportedly threatened additional strikes against Iran should Tehran’s regional proxies in Lebanon resume attacks or undermine the emerging diplomatic framework.
The result is a familiar carrot-and-stick approach as talks are unfolding under the shadow of explicit US military threats and a rapidly approaching deadline that could determine whether the region moves toward détente or another round of escalation. But Iran has also made known that it is ready of a long war, but will Trump be willing to risk enduring the political and economic fallout?.

Spent his whole life dreaming of the job. and POOF!

• Keir Starmer Moments Away from Resignation (CTH)

Take more than a few thoughts to appreciate the moment. The gift within modern technology is our ability to witness and absorb inflection points as they arise – in real time. Europe has been collapsing. Slowly at first; then, suddenly all at once. Political capital has been depreciating at an unsustainable scale. Across Europe, President Trump has reset relationships, forcefully delivering an exacting pressure – not by forward influence, but more by creating an excruciating void they must fill themselves. The result: weak economic growth, rising defense expenditures, a collective state assembly that can no longer deliver positive individual outcomes.

European leaders are all facing the same pressures. Look around and witness history repeating. The British Empire in chaos, the U.K Prime Minister on the point of resignation. The German industrial economy now feeling the full weight of its own short-sighted energy policy, while being stripped slowly by Chinese parasites. As the body of the system begins to shrink rapidly, they look urgently toward Rome for moral support; they need to believe in their superiority. But Giorgia Meloni cannot get beyond her vanity. President Trump exploits it. It works.
At the exact moment when nationalistic defenses are needed most, the Spanish people find themselves facing the sunlight upon corruption within their socialist body politick. The timing is almost too perfect. A loving God then provides massive ironies for the world to witness. The biggest cultural sporting event in the EU; the distraction beloved by all Europeans as an expression of pride from village to metropolis, takes place in the United States. The EU tech devices are filled with fellow countrymen telling grand tales of this incredible American land. The timing is not something governmental policy could ever control. This is not strategy.
This is much bigger than a roadmap the hand or mind of man could draw or imagine. No, these specific moments are -like all historic reference points- being driven the one universal enterprise who controls all of it. This is amazing to witness. It does not stand invisible to those who watch prayerfully, to see the most Christian of the individual European states stand in the strongest position. The dark and foreboding landscape of corrupt Ukraine has sucked the physical and financial blood out of the European collective, and even now, at this moment of greatest weakness the malevolent destroyer of flesh and spirit demands even more.
It is all connected, yet the self-appointed elites cling to diminishing influence with bread and circuses; it is all they have. Europe is in a state of collapse. Rome is too morally and spiritually weak, fraught with the sin of pride, and into this incredible moment of consequence – where does Canada align? You cannot make this stuff up. The timing is too divinely inspired to ignore. Pretenses are dropping. Absorb it all folks, we are witnessing a righteous and historical reset unfolding in real time.
VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS – […] Business Secretary Peter Kyle said Sunday that Starmer is “making time to reflect on the political realities, challenges and opportunities that he finds himself in.” “I know he is a prime minister who always puts his country first,” Kyle told the BBC, though he said reports that Starmer will resign are “speculation.” Starmer is spending the weekend at Chequers, the country mansion used by British prime ministers, with his family. He gave no public hint about his decision, but sent a Father’s Day message on social media. “Being a dad is my greatest joy. Today, I’m thinking about my dad, and the father I am to my children because of him,” he wrote on X. If Starmer quits, he will be the sixth prime minister to leave office in the past 10 years, an extraordinary rate of churn for the United Kingdom.

Trump knew first?

• Trump Says UK Prime Minister Starmer Is Resigning (Salgado)

President Donald Trump apparently confirmed the rumors that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is resigning, amid wide unpopularity in the UK and controversy within his own leftist Labour Party.mIt is important to note, however, that Downing Street has not confirmed Starmer’s resignation as of Sunday morning, indicating to the BBC that the prime minister might try to hold onto his office after all. Cabinet minister Peter Kyle also told the outlet that Starmer is currently assessing “political realities” and what that means for his future as head of the Labour Party and prime minister. It therefore appears that there is a high possibility that Starmer will resign, but that if he does so, it will be under intense pressure rather than out of his own voluntary choice.

The report about Starmer’s resignation also follows on the release of the rape gangs report detailing how overwhelmingly Muslim migrants sexually abused 250,000 young women and kids. Trump’s message seemed to indicate some inside knowledge on June 21, although he did not, in fact, say whether he received the information about the resignation from Starmer himself or from one of the outlets that posted rumors this week. “Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of The United Kingdom. He failed badly on two very important subjects- IMMIGRATION AND ENERGY (OPEN NORTH SEA OIL!). I wish him well!” the president posted on TruthSocial.
Speculation has been rife for weeks over Starmer‘s possible resignation, but it would seem very irresponsible if Trump posted the speculation without having some confirmation of it from the UK government. Given the fact that Labour still has such clout in the government, Starmer’s resignation does not necessarily mean that a better and more patriotic prime minister opposed to mass migration would be taking over. Unfortunately, it will likely be someone who agrees with Starmer and disagrees with patriotic Brits on major issues. Member of Parliament Nigel Farage, who is also the leader of Reform UK, responded to Donald Trump‘s post about Starmer, and also expressed his own pessimism about the likely replacement for Starmer in the role of prime minister.

The list is longer than that! https://t.co/GtI7PKo8JF
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) June 21, 2026

So long as Labour is in power, the mass migration will not stop:

Will Andy Burnham stop this? Not a chance. pic.twitter.com/AkqLHKNwAu
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) June 19, 2026

Mass migration, particularly from predominantly Muslim countries, is in the UK spotlight once again after MP Rupert Lowe released the rape gangs inquiry results, which I referenced above. Below Lowe reads excerpts of testimonies and evidence from the report. Be warned, the stories are often extremely graphic:
https://twitter.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/2067232174869279151?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2067232174869279151%7Ctwgr%5E63aa14687b738cb65c3da14e2338286a569a6504%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpjmedia.com%2Fcatherinesalgado%2F2026%2F06%2F21%2Ftrump-says-uk-prime-minister-starmer-is-resigning-n4954206
Starmer is complicit in denying and covering up the crime spikes due to Muslim migration.

The sort of tricks British politicians play.

• Starmer Accused Of Staging Russian Ship Raid To Boost Poll Numbers (Jung)

The British government’s recent boarding of the tanker Smyrtos has sparked controversy, with critics accusing embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government of carefully staging a military operation to display strength for political gain, according to the UK’s The Daily Mail and The Spectator. Royal Marines, supported by British security and naval forces, boarded the vessel on June 14 after authorities linked it to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet,” ships accused of helping Moscow evade sanctions and continue exporting oil. The government said officials had planned the raid over several weeks and launched it as part of Britain’s effort to enforce sanctions against Russia.

Critics, however, question the timing and presentation of the operation. The raid occurred shortly before the G7 summit and the arrival of President Donald Trump, when Starmer faced pressure to project a tougher international image. Opponents argue that officials turned the release of dramatic footage showing commandos boarding the vessel into a political spectacle designed to strengthen Starmer’s sinking reputation. Starmer’s government has been reeling from embarrassing political fallout following the resignation of Defense Secretary John Healey and a recent by-election loss.
Meanwhile, as Restore Britain’s leader Rupert Lowe read his final report on the rape gang inquiry in Parliament, the Starmer-aligned BBC ignored public outrage over the revelations and focused on Russia. The police did not even confirm the report. Defense commentators have also questioned how quickly cameras captured key moments of the operation. Tim Ripley, a defense analyst from the Defence Eye website, said the footage raised “a lot of eyebrows” and argued that the placement of camera operators suggested officials carefully planned the visuals.
A defense source quoted by The Daily Mail claimed Downing Street’s communications team “clearly orchestrated” the raid’s presentation, alleging that officials positioned cameras to capture commandos moving through the ship and created imagery intended to boost Starmer’s “strong man” image. British commandos faced no actual opposition when they first boarded the civilian vessel and there were never any Russian forces onboard. Defense sources told The Daily Mail that since March, when British forces were given permission to intercept the Russian shadow fleet passing through British waters, 184 UK sanctioned vessels have made 238 entries, but none were challenged or boarded until last week.
The government rejected claims that officials staged the operation, saying military planners conducted a legitimate enforcement mission based on intelligence and maritime security concerns and that the raid was planned weeks in advance. Officials said they released the footage to show transparency and deter vessels involved in sanctions violations. A government spokesman told The Daily Mail, “The PM set out in March that we would interdict shadow fleet vessels at a time and place of our choosing, and that is exactly what we have done, alongside our allies.” The prime minister’s critics argue the central issue involves not whether the raid happened, but how his government used the event afterward.
They point to the timing, the dramatic imagery, and the political circumstances surrounding the G7 summit as evidence that officials shaped the operation into a carefully managed public-relations campaign.The controversy shows how embattled governments increasingly combine security operations with media strategy. Military actions now often carry political messaging, and critics say that the Smyrtos raid demonstrates how leaders can use force, imagery, and timing to influence public perception. For Starmer’s opponents, the debate goes beyond the tanker itself. They argue the government transformed a real enforcement action into a carefully produced show of strength at a politically convenient moment.

I find this very hard to believe. becuase of the level of absurdity.

[..] .. the first recorded case of a specifically Pakistani rape gang back to 1955 in Bradford

• Britain’s Greatest Betrayal: The Rape Gang Inquiry Report (AmG)

Rupert Lowe’s Rape Gang Inquiry Report opens with two quotations before a single piece of evidence is presented. The first is Albert Einstein’s observation: “The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

Human history has always contained violent and predatory men, every society has had to confront them, punish them, and do its best to protect the innocent from them. That is a perennial feature of the human condition. Yet the significance of Einstein’s quote is that it shifts our attention away from the perpetrators alone and towards those who witnessed wrongdoing and failed to stop it. This report is so horrific because it illustrates how people who were supposed to protect vulnerable children failed to act. The report argues that those crimes became possible on such a scale because too many others looked away.
The second quotation is from Friedrich Nietzsche: “Man is the cruelest animal.” Nietzsche explains the existence of the perpetrators, Einstein explains the existence of the scandal. Throughout the report, readers encounter testimony describing acts so degrading and sadistic that they transcend ordinary criminality. This article will start with one such story.
At 12 years of age, a girl identified in official records only as Chloe was abducted by an adult male who drove her to a secluded, darkened graveyard. Once there, he supplied the child with an entire bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey. He then forced himself upon her, pinning her down in the darkness and raping her. Withdrawing just before ejaculation, the man picked up the emptied glass whiskey bottle and violently forced it up inside the 12-year-old child’s body until it shattered.
When Chloe eventually arrived at a local Accident and Emergency department, bleeding and in a state of unfathomable physical and psychological shock, the medical staff attended to the immediate anatomical emergency. They placed her on a table, removed the shards of shattered glass from deep inside her body, and then, according to the official records, they simply discharged her. No probing questions were asked, no police officers were summoned to the hospital ward to take a statement, no urgent safeguarding referrals were initiated to remove her from harm. A child had presented with injuries unmistakably consistent with extreme, sadistic sexual torture, and the institution specifically tasked with her care patched her up and sent her back out into the night.
Elsewhere in the country, a young victim named Michelle endured a reality of comparable horror. Michelle was subjected to an industrial scale of violence, repeatedly gang-raped in local bin sheds and threatened into terrified submission with a knife and forced into sex with multiple men waiting in cars. She was drugged, beaten, burned with cigarettes, locked in rooms, and passed between men. Of her abusers, she states: “98 percent of them were Pakistani Muslim. If not, they were Iraqi Muslim or Kurdish.” One of the most chilling details of Michelle’s ordeal occurred inside a police station. When the authorities finally became involved, the system failed her with such spectacular absurdity that police officers permitted one of the very men who had been violently abusing her to sit beside her during proceedings, officially accepting her rapist as her designated “appropriate adult,” a legal role exclusively designed to protect the welfare of vulnerable minors.

What Actually Happened
The history of group-based child sexual exploitation in the United Kingdom stretches back generations. While Alexis Jay, the independent chair of the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection, previously identified the 1970s as the era when immigrant rape gangs first began operating in Britain, the Inquiry traces the first recorded case of a specifically Pakistani rape gang back to 1955 in Bradford, shortly after the British Nationality Act of 1948 altered the nation’s demographic makeup. However, the report highlights that the scale of these crimes expanded exponentially from the late 1990s onward, mutating from isolated local incidents into an industrialized, nationwide criminal enterprise.
What emerges from the Inquiry’s findings is the standardization of the abuse. The report confirms that these networks operate, or have operated, in at least 149 local authority districts, representing nearly 40 percent of all such districts across the United Kingdom. Britain quite literally faced a single, cohesive national model of modern-day child sex slavery.
The Victims
Reading the Rape Gang Inquiry Report is to descend into an abyss of human suffering. The abstract statistics of 250,000 victims, 149 districts, decades of cover-ups cannot adequately convey the reality of the crimes. The emotional and moral heart of the report is truly in the testimonies of the survivors, who detailed the complete annihilation of their childhoods and the lifelong shadows cast by their exploitation.

“Zelenskyy Demands President Trump Authorize Licenses for Ukraine to Begin Development of U.S. Patriot Missiles in Ukraine:

• Zelenskyy Wants To Develop U.S. Patriot Missiles in Ukraine (CTH)

This is the third step in what I believe is a transparent operation conducted by Ukraine and the U.K (NATO group).Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is now demanding the U.S. give license approval to military contractors in order to build U.S. Patriot Missile systems in Ukraine and throughout Europe. I am almost certain this was the intent of the previous operation carried out by Ukraine upon their own religious and cultural centers in Kiev. It fits a long-established pattern of operation which we have watched unfold in real time over the past few years. Again, for emphasis, I cannot prove this – but deeply suspect it is accurate.

Breaking down what Zelenskyy outlines below. This is what it looked like in real time as the events described below unfolded. (1) Following the pattern of visible and political diminishment of Christianity within Ukraine, the Nazi side of Ukraine carried out a false flag attack on their own cathedral and cultural sites as the set up to their plan. This was staged and timed to happen just before the G7 assembly in France. (2) Using #1 as the pretense and justification, Ukraine then pulled the trigger on 600 simultaneous drones targeting Moscow in Russia – the drones were pre-staged and set to attack during the G7. This was planned prior to the events in France.
(3) Using #1 and #2 as the central backdrop, internal G7 pressure was then directed toward the U.S. delegation, while holding home turf on the ground of the ‘coalition of the willing.’ Zelenskyy, Starmer and Macron had this set up in advance. That’s the outlook when you drop the pretenses. That’s the nature of this Ukraine. That’s also why we continue to call this operation World War Reddit! Here’s Zelenskyy’s demand:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy – “During the summit, all members of the G7 were aware of our operation in the Moscow region, had already seen the results, and supported Ukraine’s entirely just and appropriate responses. In my view, this was the first time the G7 had unanimously supported Ukraine and said that we needed to return to a stronger sanctions policy against Russia. This came after the massive attack on Kyiv, during which it was not only our Christian holy site that was damaged. I showed them photographs of the Lavra and other sites. Everyone saw the Dormition Cathedral burning. They knew about the casualties.
After the G7 meeting, the U.S. President, Secretary Rubio, and I stayed to discuss all the additional issues. Many things, from reimposing sanctions to licenses for air defense production. This time, it became quite public that the U.S. team had responded positively to the issue of licenses for the first time. Everyone agrees that we now have all the technical capabilities needed to begin producing missiles for Patriot systems. This requires licenses from the United States. What is needed now is President Trump’s personal approval. President Trump plans to ask U.S. defense companies to establish licensed production of air defense missiles in Europe and Ukraine.” (SOURCE Via X)
Keep in mind, all of the NATO ‘coalition of the willing’ met in London approximately 2 weeks before the G7 assembly. Starmer, Merz, Macron and Zelenskyy all met in London.During that trip Zelenskyy met with King Charles (pictured below) who pledged his support toward the renewed efforts to be highlighted from the meeting at #10 Downing Street. Overlay the state of the political situation in Great Britain, France, Germany and Europe overall. Then consider the visible weakness within the NATO alliance exactly at the moment when Trump is openly positioning a U.S. exit from the self-centered North American alliance.
Europe needs a crisis in order to recover from their current economic collapse. Brussels and London need a war against Russia.You cannot convince me the timing of the events described above is coincidental. I do not support the geopolitical end game of Russia; however, I also find it impossible to dispute Putin’s description of the Zelenskyy regime in Ukraine as “Nazis.” These people have some twisted control mechanisms in synapses wired by evil and sin.

“The UPA brutally and savagely massacred at least 100,000 Polish civilians in what is now western Ukraine during World War II.. “

• Poland’s ‘Pain Threshold’ Broke After Zelensky’s Tribute To Nazi Collaborators (RT)

Vladimir Zelensky broke Poland’s “pain threshold” when he named a commando unit after a Ukrainian nationalist group implicated in the World War II killings of tens of thousands of Poles, Polish President Karol Nawrocki said on Saturday. The decision sparked outrage in Poland, where the massacres remain an open wound. Despite pressure from Warsaw to rename the unit, the Ukrainian leader has refused. “We are a proud Polish nation and we have our threshold of pain in matters that concern us and our allies. And that pain threshold has been crossed,” the Polish president said at a rally in northeastern Poland on Saturday. He added that this was why he stripped Zelensky of Poland’s highest state honor, the Order of the White Eagle, on Friday.

The revocation followed escalating tensions between Warsaw and Kiev after Zelensky in late May signed a decree granting a special operations unit the honorary title “Heroes of the UPA.” The name refers to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the armed wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), which have been lionized in Ukraine since the bloody 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev. The UPA brutally and savagely massacred at least 100,000 Polish civilians in what is now western Ukraine during World War II, with the crimes being recognized as genocide by Warsaw, Nawrocki recalled on Friday.
Zelensky has responded by posting a photograph of the award along with a completed mailing form for shipment to Warsaw. Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has renounced his own Order of the White Eagle, which he received in 1997, to protest Warsaw’s decision, his press secretary has announced. Russian presidential investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev reacted to Warsaw’s move with dark irony. “Poland finally discovers Nazi sympathizers in Ukraine,” he wrote on X on Friday. Moscow has long warned that Kiev’s glorification of Nazis and Nazi collaborators is an open secret and has cited denazification of the country as one of its key goals in the conflict.

“I’ve dealt with this little fucker..” “He’s tricky. He’s like the special-needs child for the Europeans. And he’s acting like Mr. Bean on crack.”

• Zelensky ‘Acting Like Mr. Bean on Crack’ : Scott Bessent (RT)

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who had negotiated a much-touted rare earth minerals deal with Kiev, was reportedly worried that “little f**ker” Vladimir Zelensky would mess up the signing ceremony in the Oval Office, according to a new book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. The infamous confrontation last year took place as the Ukrainian leader sat down with President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance to finalize a deal granting the US access to Ukraine’s mineral resources.

The televised press conference took a nasty turn when Zelensky criticized Trump’s efforts to mediate a settlement with Moscow rather than increase military support for Kiev. “I’ve dealt with this little fucker,” Bessent, who was present in the room, told his associates, according to excerpts published by the Guardian. “He’s tricky. He’s like the special-needs child for the Europeans. And he’s acting like Mr. Bean on crack.”The Treasury secretary had spent weeks preparing the deal and had traveled to Kiev, where he allegedly engaged in his own shouting match with Zelensky over the “awful” Ukrainian draft, at one point telling him: “What the f**k do you want to do?”
Several other Trump aides had also been worried about a potential Oval Office scandal, with then-National Security Adviser Mike Waltz desperately urging Zelensky to at least “come wearing a suit.” Zelensky was eventually “asked to leave” the White House, while the deal was signed without much fanfare two months later. Zelensky, who has since held several meetings with Trump to mend ties and even started wearing a custom all-black, military-style suit jacket, remains “somewhat traumatized by his train crash” almost a year later, according to Politico.

“On the Senate math itself, Kennedy was characteristically blunt with the Journal: “I mean, I want a Porsche for my birthday. I’m not going to get it.”

• Trump Is Furious With Senate GOP, Puts Thune In His Crosshairs (ZH)

Donald Trump does not like the word “no.” He likes it even less when it comes from John Thune, the Senate majority leader whose job description apparently does not include telling the president what he wants to hear. That dynamic has now spilled into public view, and the fallout says as much about the state of the Republican Party as it does about any single piece of legislation. The flashpoint is the SAVE America Act. The House passed it back in February, but it remains stalled in the Senate due to the Democrats’ filibuster. The SAVE America Act would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, mandate voter ID at polling places, and sharply curtail mail-in voting.

For Trump and a sizable chunk of the conservative base, this is common-sense election integrity; polls show tremendous bipartisan support for it. Trump has grown tired of waiting. Last week, he tied the SAVE America Act to FISA Section 702 reauthorization, the surveillance authority that lets intelligence agencies monitor foreign nationals without a warrant. Congress let that authority lapse for the first time since 2008, and Trump made clear he intends to use it as leverage. “I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it,” he posted on Truth Social. That is not a man asking nicely.
Thune was unmoved. “The president has his own mind, makes his own decisions,” he said. “So do we.” Read that as you like, but it does not sound like a man rushing to fall in line. According to a person close to Trump who spoke with The Wall Street Journal, the president’s frustration stems from being told “no” rather than “no, let me try.” A Thune ally pushed back on the Journal’s reporting, arguing the majority leader is not the real obstacle here. Trump simply does not have the votes. That is a fair point, and it gets at something deeper than personal chemistry: the SAVE America Act faces a math problem before it faces a Thune problem.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told the Journal that Thune is “telling the president the truth” and that “the problem is the president doesn’t like hearing that when it frustrates what he wants to do.” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) offered a gentler diagnosis, describing the clash as one of temperament rather than substance. Trump’s “skill set is to vocalize everything,” she said, while Thune’s is “more quietly engaging.” She added, “I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive.” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) never one to pass up a colorful comparison, likened Trump to the ruthless sales trainer from Glengarry Glen Ross during a closed-door GOP lunch, according to Punchbowl News. On the Senate math itself, Kennedy was characteristically blunt with the Journal: “I mean, I want a Porsche for my birthday. I’m not going to get it.”
Trump has not limited himself to public jabs, either. He summoned House Speaker Mike Johnson to the White House to discuss personnel disputes and the lapsed FISA law, conspicuously leaving Thune out of the conversation. He has also been quietly polling Republican senators on their views of Thune’s leadership, a clear signal that his patience with the majority leader is running thin.

Less Fed would be nice.

• Warsh’s First Fed Meeting Sends a Message (Martin Armstrong)

Everyone expected Kevin Warsh to come into his first Federal Reserve meeting and immediately begin cutting rates because Trump put him in the chair. That was never going to happen. Markets have once again demonstrated they do not understand how interest rates actually function. The Federal Reserve left rates unchanged at 3.50% to 3.75%, but what mattered was not the decision itself. What mattered was the complete shift in tone.

The Fed removed language suggesting future easing and, for the first time this year, officials openly moved toward discussing potential rate hikes rather than cuts. Inflation is moving higher again, energy prices have surged amid Middle East tensions, and the bond market immediately understood what many economists still refuse to accept. What I found far more interesting was Warsh’s attack on the institution itself. He announced five separate task forces to review how the Federal Reserve operates, how it communicates, how it measures inflation, how it uses economic data, how it manages its balance sheet, and how productivity and employment are evolving in a rapidly changing economy.
Warsh is openly signaling that he believes the Fed has become bloated, overly academic, and detached from reality. For years I have argued that governments and central banks are operating on outdated models that no longer reflect the world economy. Warsh appears to recognize the same problem. The irony is that Warsh was selected largely because many believed he would be more dovish than Powell. Instead, his first meeting produced one of the most hawkish shifts we have seen this year. Officials now see inflation remaining elevated and several policymakers are looking toward possible rate increases before year-end. Bond yields jumped, the dollar strengthened, and equities sold off because traders suddenly realized the era of guaranteed rate cuts may be over.

Ugly? It’s just a 13 in a dozen building.

• Now We Know Why the Obama Center Is So Ugly (Margolis)

The Obama Presidential Center finally opened to the public on Friday (not that you care), and the verdict from the internet was swift and brutal. People are calling it a “monstrous insult to architecture,” a “concrete nightmare,” and simply a “monstrosity.” Social media has spent the week comparing the thing to a trash can and a dystopian movie set, which, having seen the photos, feels generous. It’s hideous.

Naturally, the man who helped design the building’s most mocked feature has a different take. Chris Bird, the Washington structural engineer who designed the upper portion of the center’s towering centerpiece, sat down with Fox News Digital just before the doors opened and insisted the design is not a monstrosity at all. It’s a “grand gesture.” A “bold statement.” Something with “no architectural precedent.”“The architects knew with the client that they wanted to do something bold at the top of the tower, and the vision of the speech came to life,” Bird told Fox News Digital. I’d blame Obama, too.
I was in architecture for years before I started writing for PJ Media. At no point in the design process, based on the publicly available renderings, did this ever look great. I like bold architecture myself. I can be somewhat of a traditionalist, but I’m also a fan of Frank Gehry. You don’t get much bolder than that. The Obama Center doesn’t come across as bold; it comes across as dystopian and authoritarian. Which, actually, is appropriate for anything connected to Obama, but not really what they wanted to project, I’m sure.
The tower features 91 words pulled from Obama’s speeches, wrapped around a corner of the building in 433 individual letters, each about five feet tall. Curiously, “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it” is not on there. Bird described the process of working with the architects and graphic designers to “shape and move a speech, splice it and put it on a building” as “really unprecedented.”
Bird insists the criticism is overblown. He claimed that the building “anchors” its South Side neighborhood, that it blends nicely with the surrounding 19.3-acre campus, and that visitors have had an emotional reaction to the place. “It’s nothing but smiles and some tears sometimes,” he said.
Can you hear my eyes rolling?

“I think everyone finds a bit of themselves that they knew or didn’t know they needed here, which is really special.” Hilariously, Fox News Digital spoke with more than a dozen attendees who used words like “phenomenal,” “breathtaking,” and “futuristic” to describe it. I’m guessing these are the same people who cheered when Obama blew his nose during a campaign rally in 2008. These aren’t serious people with an ability to be objective; they’ll praise anything with Obama’s name on it because that’s what they’re supposed to.
But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s ugly. In fact, last year, locals were blasting the “monstrosity” going up in their neighborhood and complaining that it caused rents and property taxes to skyrocket. Between that and how Obama made health care more expensive, I can’t help but wonder what all the Obama nostalgia is all about. Adding insult to injury, while locals are paying more in rent and taxes because of the project, the Obama Foundation acquired the property through a corrupt land deal that only costs $10 a year to lease from the city. Ten dollars. For 19 acres in one of the most valuable cities in the country.
The left’s devotion to Obama has never been about substance. It’s a cult of personality, and all these years later, it’s still going strong.

Europe turns against globalism. But so much damage has already been done.

• This Is The Funniest Thing Ever… (MN)

Leftists in the EU who spent years blocking real border enforcement are now whining about a victory party after conservatives pushed through a motion to create powerful tools to remove illegal migrants. The chamber could not stop laughing. A ‘Renew Europe’ MEP aligned with French President Emmanuel Macron stood up and demanded punishment for conservative MEPs who gathered on the European Parliament roof, drank heavily, and celebrated the passage of the bloc’s toughest-ever deportation reforms. The presiding officer brushed it off and The room roared with amusement.

Laughter erupts in the European Parliament after Macron’s MEP Fabienne Keller tries to get conservative MEPs punished for serious breeches of the rules

She says they met on the Parliament’s roof & “drank a lot, a lot” to celebrate passing new laws for deporting illegal migrants pic.twitter.com/2gzLCdcKZT
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 20, 2026

This outburst came days after the European Parliament voted 418 to 218, with 30 abstentions, to approve the new Return Regulation. Conservative and sovereignist MEPs from the EPP, ECR, Patriots for Europe, and Europe of Sovereign Nations groups supplied the decisive majority. The measure updates the hopelessly outdated 2008 rules and gives member states real power to enforce removals.
In our earlier video we highlighted the immediate leftist reaction inside the chamber: chants of ‘Shame on you’ from leftists with chants of ‘Send them back’ in response from conservatives.Now they are complaining about a rooftop toast. The contrast could not be clearer. One side delivers results for citizens who have endured years of unchecked arrivals, crime, and welfare strain. The other side throws procedural tantrums and pretends a private celebration violates parliamentary decorum.
https://twitter.com/EuropaAdAstra/status/2068023461809692934?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2068023461809692934%7Ctwgr%5Ea8a72085cf1e37abaf382a95b81936b4aae31798%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmodernity.news%2F2026%2F06%2F20%2Fthis-is-the-funniest-thing-ever%2F
The regulation makes deportation orders issued in one member state valid across the entire EU. It extends maximum detention periods for those who refuse to leave, removes automatic suspensive effect on appeals in many cases, doubles entry bans to ten years (lifetime for security threats), and allows member states to conclude agreements with third countries for ‘return hubs’ where rejected migrants can be processed and removed without remaining inside EU territory. Non-cooperating origin countries face visa restrictions, aid cuts, and trade measures – the same leverage the Trump administration successfully deployed.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni welcomed the outcome as validation of the model she pioneered with Albania. “We promised Italians we would change Europe, and we did it, with courage, patience, and determination,’ she said. Meloni added, ‘This innovative solution has been resisted at every turn by the Italian and European left, but thanks to this government, it has now become a tool available to the whole of Europe.’ MEP Marieke Ehlers of the Patriots for Europe group stated ‘This regulation puts the obligation exactly where it belongs: on the illegal migrant… The days of pampering are over. You have no right to stay, which means you have one simple obligation: pack your bags and leave our territory.’
She added that the text hands real power back to national capitals: ‘We are taking back control… Almost all provisions give Member States the freedom to go further.’French EPP negotiator François-Xavier Bellamy called it the end of decades of failure. ‘After decades of failure and years of deadlock, Europe is ending its powerlessness in the face of illegal immigration. No one can claim any longer that Europe has no tools to act. The rules are now in place. The responsibility lies with governments to use them.’
https://twitter.com/ScaryEurope/status/2068288272166769011?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2068288272166769011%7Ctwgr%5Ea8a72085cf1e37abaf382a95b81936b4aae31798%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmodernity.news%2F2026%2F06%2F20%2Fthis-is-the-funniest-thing-ever%2F
French President Emmanuel Macron quickly distanced himself at the EU summit in Brussels. He declared that France would neither participate in nor fund third-country return hubs, calling the approach ineffective and contrary to French principles.

French President Emmanuel Macron firmly rejected the creation of migrant "return hubs" in third countries, stating that France will not participate in or support the funding of such outsourcing initiatives.
Speaking in Brussels at the conclusion of a two-day EU summit, Macron… pic.twitter.com/6yU5zjFAms
— Don. Tesman Irabor (@TvslEspana) June 20, 2026

The same Macron who lectures others on European values now refuses to use the very instruments his own parliament helped create. The gap between rhetoric and reality on migration has never been wider. Globalist pushback has already been initiated as the United Nations voiced concerns that the new return hubs could violate human rights standards. Critics on the left and in international organisations frame any effective removal policy as inherently cruel, even as European cities continue to absorb the costs of failed integration and repeated criminal acts by rejected or illegal migrants.
For years globalist voices insisted that mass low-skilled migration was inevitable, economically necessary, and morally superior.They dismantled internal borders, expanded asylum loopholes, and attacked any leader who tried to enforce existing law. Return rates stayed dismal. Criminal networks thrived. Public trust collapsed. Conservative MEPs simply used their growing numbers to force an update that reflects what citizens have demanded for a decade. The left’s response – procedural complaints, accusations of misconduct over a private celebration, and renewed warnings from the UN – reveals the same refusal to accept democratic outcomes that has defined the migration debate from the start.
The laughter in the chamber was not just amusement at a thin-skinned complaint. It was recognition that the excuses have run out. Europe now possesses the legal tools to remove those with no right to remain. Whether national governments use them remains to be seen, but the parliamentary majority has shifted decisively toward enforcement. The same forces that once sneered at ‘Send them back’ as fringe bigotry are watching their own colleagues chant it on the floor. The Overton window did not shift incidentally. It moved because voters across the continent grew tired of policies that prioritised arrivals over safety and sovereignty.

‘What happened to multiculturalism preached by European globalists? ‘Send Them Back’: EU Parliament Passes Major Deportation Reforms, Including Third Country Return Hubshttps://t.co/lXulis0ZfS
— Silvio Picardi (@sil37839) June 20, 2026

Europe’s conservative MEPs just proved that when they coordinate, they can deliver. The left can keep filing ethics complaints about rooftop drinks. The rest of the continent is focused on results.

Amazing abundance for all! https://t.co/oxkeZBwkGk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 20, 2026

Elon Musk is building the only AI on the planet that was not designed to replace you.

Every other lab is running the same race. Faster code. Smarter assistants. Bigger margins. The product is efficiency. The cost is you.

Musk left the track entirely.

Musk: “The xAI mission is… pic.twitter.com/lM71FUgOPN
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) June 21, 2026

Elon Musk: "We’re in the final stages of completion of Optimus 3, which is really going to be by far the most advanced robot in the world, nothing's even close.

In fact, I haven’t even sent any demos of robots that are as good as Optimus 3, frankly.

We’ll start production on… pic.twitter.com/iJnRDjBpup
— Mars University (@MarsUniversityX) June 20, 2026

Elon Musk: "I actually can’t emphasize enough, we need more electricity.
However much electricity you think you need is more than that is needed.
I assure you, If you’re thinking 'Should I build this incremental production capacity of electricity?', yes. Definitely. As fast as… pic.twitter.com/d0tmnt2G9s
— Elonogy (@ElonogyX) June 21, 2026

Wild times ahead! https://t.co/kmYjFpaJ3F
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 21, 2026

40,000 Dutch fans have taken over Houston. pic.twitter.com/KBOrYNCsZd
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 21, 2026

https://twitter.com/P0eMPieDinges/status/2068441460903391728?s=20

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Debt Rattle June 21 2026

Jun 212026

June 21, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:14 am Finance Tagged with: Air Force One, birth control, Fauci, Hormuz, iPhone, Meloni, reflecting pool, Starmer, ungovernable 31 Responses »

Vincent van Gogh Self portrait with pipe 1886

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Trump -v- Meloni (CTH)

• Moderate Expectations of Acting DNI Bill Pulte (CTH)

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

• Zelensky Threatens To Attack Belarus (RT)

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

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

• Is the iPhone Birth Control? (AmG)

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

Trump EXPOSES Britain:
The Secret Plot To Block Ukraine Peace pic.twitter.com/7TGwpvu32Q
— MaggieWise ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@maggiewise111) June 19, 2026

https://twitter.com/QuantumGuard17/status/2068083408958599666?s=20

Merry solstice!

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

“Pentagon Declares Safe Passage Remains ‘Intact Today’

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

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

FOX & FRIENDS: The Journal is reporting that the remnants of the Iranian navy are turning ships back in the Strait of Hormuz. Is that a violation of the MOU?

JD VANCE: I'm skeptical of that reporting, or at least of some of the conclusions that could drawn from it. We're not… pic.twitter.com/D4iWxq769p
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 20, 2026

US Central Command is also trying to portray that all is well. It issued this statement after the Iranians announced it closed the vital oil transit waterway: Commercial ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz increased June 20 as U.S. forces continued operating in the general area to support freedom of navigation. Safe passage through the international waterway remained intact today as 55 merchant ships transited, moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets.
The Joint Maritime Information Center issued an advisory this week affirming safe passage for all vessels along a designated route that is free of arbitrary requirement claims or impediments. The Pentagon says it is remaining vigilant with regional forces on high alert. Overall, it seems the White House is keep to at least see its delegation get in the same room with the Iranians in Switzerland. This will certainly be a real start in terms of face-to-face engagement, after the MoU was remotely signed by each side.
Iran says Hormuz Strait Closed Again
As has become the ‘norm’ after well over 100 days of war – which some pundits have been calling the “third Gulf war” – there are deeply conflicting headlines emerging Saturday. On the one hand, diplomacy based in Switzerland is said to be in motion, with a potential top level Trump delegation (led by Witkoff and to be joined later by Kushner reportedly/allegedly) – but fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in south Lebanon still rages, with the death toll climbing, and also with Hezbollah rockets still landing against IDF positions as well as in northern Israel.
Will the US and Iranian sides actually meet in Europe for the ‘technical’ side of further talks toward final peace? Saturday has seen reports of Iran having again ‘closed’ the Strait of Hormuz, citing Israeli aggression in Lebanon, after Tehran has insisted that the tenuous freshly signed MoU included a Lebanon ceasefire and peace. The latest newswires out of Iranian state media:
IRAN SAYS HORMUZ TO CLOSE, CITING CEASEFIRE VIOLATION: TASNIM
IRAN SAYS STRAIT OF HORMUZ HAS BEEN CLOSED: TASNIM
IRAN’S IRGC NAVY SAYS HORMUZ STRAIT CLOSED TO ALL VESSELS: FARS
*VESSELS WARNED TO AVOID STRAIT OF HORMUZ OVER SECURITY: FARS
VP Vance Expected in Switzerland, But He’s Ambiguous in FOX Appearance
https://twitter.com/BarakRavid/status/2068334966660837678?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2068334966660837678%7Ctwgr%5E27d3c3b6010ec53a8064cf4ef0e71d788bf1410d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fdiplomacy-back-motion-witkoff-kushner-en-route-switzerland-despite-overnight-rising
And yet, some of the same state sources have been saying that an Iranian delegation will travel to Switzerland where it will seek to hold Washington to its commitments. “In Switzerland, we intend to press for the fulfilment of the other side’s commitments and clarify how they plan to act on their obligations,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, according to Fars, also as cited in Al Jazeera. Per the same report Saturday mid-morning (US time): “The delegation will leave for Switzerland in a few minutes, Mehr news agency also reported. The spokesperson also said that if the US refuses to implement its commitments, Iran will respond with necessary measures.” Vance non-committal in Saturday FOX interview:

FOX & FRIENDS: Do you have any immediate plans to join Jared and Steve?

JD VANCE: It's always a delicate coordination dance with the diplomatic protocols. I've gotta be honest with you — I don't really understand these things pic.twitter.com/tFr2QZOjQC
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 20, 2026

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

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

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

Burnham, the outgoing Greater Manchester mayor, did not just win Makerfield – he buried it. Official figures show him taking 24,927 votes, 54.8% of the total, beating Reform UK’s Rob Kenyon by a 9,231-vote margin in a seat where Nigel Farage’s party had been threatening to turn Labour’s crisis into a rout. The result gives Burnham the Commons seat he needs, clears his path to a leadership challenge, and leaves Starmer’s position looking terminal.
Also, Starmer’s former Chief of Staff – Morgan McSweeney – was the sacrificial lamb in the Mandelson scandal (recall that Starmer appointed Jeffery Epstein pal Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US). McSweeney also targeted Zerohedge, The Federalist and Breitbart in a clandestine campaign against alternative-media outlets. He resigned in February, two weeks before Mandelson was arrested on suspicion of passing insider info to Jeffrey Epstein in 2009, when he was serving as Business Secretary.
Markets Eye The Monday Open The political risk did not go unnoticed by bond traders. UK 10-year gilt yields climbed to 4.84% on Friday, up roughly 0.09 percentage points on the session, as markets weighed Burnham’s victory, domestic political uncertainty, and the possible fiscal implications of a future leadership bid. With markets shut over the weekend, the next read comes at Monday’s open, and any Starmer statement setting out an exit timetable will land straight into it.

Burnham is due to be sworn in as an MP on Monday and to meet Starmer early in the week, with a cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Senior Labour figures expect a “deliberate slow march in good order” – most likely a September handover timed to the party conference – rather than an immediate vacuum.
According to the report, Burnham’s supporters claim he has secured backing from more than 201 Labour MPs if Starmer refuses to step down voluntarily. The Observer framed that as a critical number because it would represent more than half the Parliamentary Labour party and would make it increasingly difficult for Starmer to argue that he still commands the confidence of his own side. A formal challenge requires far fewer names. Under Labour’s rules, any challenger needs nominations from 20% of Labour MPs – currently 81 – plus the required support from local parties and affiliates. On every count, the door is open.

It turns Boeing into the past tense.

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

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

It’s not just an airplane; for better or worse, it’s a flying argument about how Trump sees the presidency. The Air Force calls the jet a VC-25B Bridge aircraft that’s meant to serve while Boeing finishes the long-delayed replacement planes that were supposed to modernize presidential travel. From Newsmax: The new aircraft eschews the Kennedy-era robin’s egg blue exterior of the old plane for a bolder look, with the underbelly of the plane painted navy blue with a red stripe above it. The plane’s left side, where the president boards, features the presidential seal, while the tail of the aircraft has a massive American flag on it.
“The workmanship of this plane is, when you see it, you won’t believe it,” Trump said from inside the massive Andrews Air Force Base hangar, as a couple hundred assembled Air Force personnel looked on. He spoke after stepping off the new plane in a dramatic flourish, as his signature tune “God Bless the USA” played. The gift from Qatar is serving as a so-called “bridge” aircraft to carry the president until the new planes ordered directly from Boeing arrive. That is currently slated for 2028.
The administration formally accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jet from Qatar last year to be used as the presidential airplane, despite questions about the ethics and legality of accepting such an expensive gift from a foreign nation. Trump has insisted in the past that he would not fly around in the Qatari jet once he leaves office and said it would instead be donated to a future presidential library. The Air Force has said in the past that security modifications to the jet would cost less than $400 million.
Any U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying the president uses the call sign Air Force One, so the name belongs to the mission, not one specific plane. The old blue-and-white 747s remain part of the fleet, but the Qatari jet now gives Trump something Boeing hasn’t delivered on time: a visible upgrade. Also from Newsmax: Other government jets that carry other top administration officials will also use the similar red, white and navy color scheme, the Air Force said earlier this year.
An Air Force spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive plans, told The Associated Press that the two current planes, known as VC-25As, will not be retiring. Instead, they will remain in the fleet until the new Boeing planes, referred to as VC-25Bs, come into service, the spokesperson said. It is unclear how the older jets will be used but the spokesperson said that both the Qatari jet as well as the VC-25As will be available for use and “the Presidential Airlift Group will select the appropriate aircraft for each mission based on operational requirements.”
The controversy was baked in from the start: the jet came from Qatar, and critics raised legal, ethical, and security questions as soon as the deal became public. A foreign government giving a luxury aircraft to the United States for presidential use is bound to draw fire. Trump’s answer has been typically blunt, framing the plane as a smart deal for taxpayers because America needed a bridge aircraft while Boeing dragged its feet. Security concerns deserve a real answer. Air Force One isn’t a campaign bus with wings; it’s a command post, a communications hub, and a symbol that must keep working during a crisis.
The Air Force says the aircraft completed modification and flight testing. The public doesn’t need every classified detail, but it does need confidence that a foreign-owned plane was scrubbed, rebuilt, and tested to the standard required for a president of the United States. Boeing’s failure hangs over the whole rollout. The company won the contract for the next presidential aircraft years ago, and the delivery date kept sliding. The Air Force now expects the first new VC-25B presidential aircraft around mid-2028. In normal Washington fashion, delay became background noise. Trump has a way of pulling that noise into the open and forcing everybody to look at it.
The new plane also breaks with a visual tradition older than many voters. The Kennedy-era blue had grace and carried history, but it also came from another age, when the presidency still tried to look above the fray. Trump has never believed that power should whisper; his Air Force One looks like a flag, a billboard, and a challenge all at once. Some will call it gaudy, others will call it overdue, but nobody will miss it in the sky. That’s the real political story. Trump understands that symbols work because people see them before they study them. A border wall, a Space Force uniform, a restored military parade, and a new presidential aircraft: all of it tells voters that national power should look like national power.
His critics recoil because they believe the performance cheapens the office. Those are the same people who also believed the Obama administration was the most scandal-free government in history, and that President Joe Biden was more energetic and sharper than people much younger working around him. Trump supporters cheer because they believe the old restraint often looked too much like surrender. Both sides have something to argue about here. The Qatar connection should be examined, the security work should be serious, and most importantly, Boeing should answer for years of delay.
But the larger point is simple enough: the presidency is never just paperwork, policy, and process. It’s also presence. Trump’s new Air Force One may be temporary, but the message isn’t. He wants America to look strong again, even when it’s sitting on a runway. After years of scolding, managed decline, and apologetic leadership, that message still lands with millions of people who want their country to stop acting embarrassed by its own power.

Who’s going to go to jail?

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

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

The effort to divert the investigation of Fauci to then-HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra occurred shortly after the government’s top pandemic doctor engaged in a discussion with the CIA about evidence that workers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China had been sickened in fall 2019, potentially explosive evidence that the virus emerged from a lab leak at the very facility where Fauci’s office was funding dangerous research on bat viruses, the memos show.
“On the 3 sick WIV researchers, Dr. Fauci said key gaps that need to be filled are 1) If they were sick, what does their medical records show; 2) Do we have blood culture of these sick researchers; and 3) Did we ask China about/for this information?” one summary of the June 2021 meeting at the CIA stated. Despite the evidence of a potential lab leak sickening workers, Fauci continued to double down on his claim that the COVID-19 virus had emerged naturally from a wet-market in the same areas as the lab. Fauci also continued to insist in congressional testimony that his office had not funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab, a claim that an intelligence official believed was false and potentially prosecutable, the memos show.
Shortly after the June 2021 CIA meeting, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence received a whistleblower complaint formally alleging that Fauci testified falsely to Congress. “The complaint alleges Dr. Fauci provided false testimony to Congress related to the conduct of gain of function research at the National Institutes of Health, thereby ‘misleading the American people and Congressional oversight,’” Acting Intelligenve Community Inspector General Tamara Johnson wrote Aug. 11, 2021, to then-DNI Avril Haines.
Rather than refer the alleged lie to the independent watchdog at HHS, which was responsible for probing misconduct in Fauci’s office, Haines referred the concerns instead to Becerra, a Biden political appointee who is now running to be California governor.] Johnson also made clear she didn’t want to send the complaint to her peer at HHS, the inspector general. “The general dispute about ‘gain-of-function’ research is already in the public domain making it highly probable that the HHS-OIG would already be aware of the allegation that the Dr. Fauci’s testimony was inaccurate (albeit from a different source, not our ICWPA submitter). Consequently, we determined there would be no merit in referring the matter to HHS OIG,” she wrote.
Gabbard said the documents she released late Thursday in her final hours as DNI demonstrate that government officials, including Fauci, engaged in a cover-up to mislead the public about how the COVID-19 pandemic started. “The tactics used to hide the truth are straight from the deep state playbook: politicized self-serving leaders like Dr. Fauci covered up their own wrongdoing and abuses of power, manipulated intelligence, lied to Congress, and undermined a duly elected President by restricting his access to vital facts needed to keep the country safe,” Gabbard said, “It’s time the American people learn the real story.”
Fauci, who retired before President Donald Trump returned to the White House, has repeatedly denied in engaginfg in wrongdoing or lying to Congress. But he did accept a pardon from President Joe Biden in late 2024. Beyond the intelligence community whistleblower’s allegations, Gabbard said she too believed Fauci lied to Congress on another matter in 2024 when he claimed he had not talked to intelligence agencies about virus research.
“The correspondence released today directly contradicts Fauci’s 2024 testimony to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic,” her statement said. “In that hearing, while under oath, Fauci was repeatedly asked whether he spoke to ‘FBI, CIA, DIA or any U.S. intelligence agency concerning viral research’ before, during, or after the pandemic. Fauci repeatedly dodged the questions, before falsely stating, ‘not to my knowledge about COVID.'” Two GOP senators — Rand Paul and Ron Johnson — told Just the News this week they believe the Trump DOJ should challenge the legality of Fauci’s pardon — which was signed by an autopen — and try to prosecutor Fauci.

Is it Reflecting Pool or Reflection Pool?

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

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

President Trump responds to the effort via Truth Social:
“We’ve cleaned, renovated, and beautified over 45 Monuments and Memorials, 28 Statues, and 22 Fountains in Washington, D.C. Things are really looking good in our Nation’s Capital, and add to that the fact that when I became President, Crime was rampant, and now, Washington, D.C., is one of the Safest Cities anywhere in the United States. However, we’ve had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool, which sits between The Washington Monument and The Lincoln Memorial.
Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the Pool, they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed. No different than the chemicals that were used on the National Mall, they used something similar in the Reflecting Pool to try to destroy and demean our beautiful work. Lightweight ABC Reporter, Jonathan Karl, was seen sticking his hand into the Pool, and trying to rip the rubber off of the surface. The algae is 75% gone, and the condition will soon be completely remedied, and the area that was vandalized, fortunately, is just a small area of damage, and will be fixed early next week. It’s a shame that the Radical Left Lunatics, most likely Dumocats, who have spent their lives trying to ruin our Country, are free to do so. Law Enforcement is actively investigating this situation and will hopefully have it resolved soon. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
~ DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Leave it alone!

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

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

We all know the reason: Trump Derangement Syndrome. It’s truly a shame how badly these people want to humiliate our country on the world stage, and they’re not even subtle about it anymore. President Trump confirmed on Friday in a Truth Social post that vandals damaged the newly renovated pool, and he didn’t hold back. Trump pointed out that his administration has cleaned, renovated, and beautified more than 45 monuments and memorials, 28 statues, and 22 fountains in the nation’s capital, and that Washington, D.C., has gone from a crime-ridden disaster to one of the safest cities in the country on his watch.
“We’ve had some real problems with vandalism at the beautiful reflecting pool,” Trump wrote. “Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the pool; they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed.”Days before Trump’s birthday on June 14 and the UFC event held at the White House, someone carved “86 47” into the grass on the National Mall itself. The U.S. Park Police are reportedly investigating that incident too. Trump said the vandals used chemicals similar to those deployed elsewhere on the National Mall in an apparent effort to destroy and demean the freshly completed work.
He also called out ABC’s Jonathan Karl by name, saying the reporter was caught on camera sticking his hand into the pool and trying to tear off the sealant on the surface. Trump said the algae plaguing the pool is now 75% gone and that the damaged section, which he described as small, will be repaired early next week. “It’s a shame that the radical left lunatics, most likely Dumocrats, who have spent their lives trying to ruin our country, are free to do so,” Trump wrote, adding that law enforcement is actively investigating the situation. On Thursday, a video surfaced showing the phrase “86 47” painted on the bottom of the pool. It’s the latest entry in a disturbing pattern.
Think about that for a second. These people are so consumed by hatred for one man that they’re willing to deface national monuments, vandalize sacred public spaces, and scrawl assassination-coded slogans into the grass just to make a point. They don’t care about the country. They don’t care about the symbols that belong to all Americans, regardless of party. They hate Trump so much that they’ll destroy anything out of spite. This is who the left has become. Not protesters with grievances, but vandals with grudges, willing to wreck a national treasure rather than let Trump’s D.C. cleanup succeed. The investigations are ongoing, but the message from radical leftists is already loud and clear: if Trump built it, they want it destroyed.

That photo does it for me.

• Trump -v- Meloni (CTH)

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

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

Understanding, a very specific image sensitivity Prime Minister Meloni carries, President Trump stated, “Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France. She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a Nuclear Weapon (But so did NATO, for that matter!). She wouldn’t even let us use Italy’s landing strips or runways, a great logistical inconvenience, and this despite the fact the U.S. contributes hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year to protect Italy, and other “so-called” NATO Allies. Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her “numbers up.” No thanks!!!
~ President DJT
Meloni then hit back with: “these constant, unprovoked attacks are senseless. As for my popularity, being your friend certainly has not helped it, nor does it depend on my relationship with you. My popularity depends on my ability to defend Italy’s national interest, and that is exactly what I have always done,” Meloni said in a post on Instagram. She added that “in any case, my popularity is none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours.”

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

• Moderate Expectations of Acting DNI Bill Pulte (CTH)

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

Second, contrary to popular opinion, CIA Director John Ratcliffe will not be able to partner with Acting DNI Pulte in the same direct manner he was with fully confirmed DNI Tulsi Gabbard. Despite the ODNI technically sitting atop the CIA within the construct of the overall Intelligence Community, there are rules about information flows to non-confirmed “acting” positions. Deputy DNI Aaron Lukas will have more intelligence capabilities than Pulte.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe will likely not be the source of conversation about this standard, the information to Pulte will likely come from the DNI Legal Counsel Jack Dever, and/or Deputy CIA Director Michael Ellis who also carries the role of General Counsel for the Central Intelligence Agency.
When SSCI Vice-Chair Mark Warner says he is in communication with IC leadership about isolating Acting DNI Bill Pulte from national security information, he is likely outlining contact with the general counsel of the DNI or CIA, or with the Intelligence Community Inspector General’s office. That said, the National Security Advisor, Marco Rubio, could mitigate some of that isolation by requesting IC information Pulte may desire to review.
Regarding ‘declassification’ authority. CTH is not sure what power an Acting position as DNI carries as it relates to independent cross-silo declassification authority. However, information presented to the President can be declassified by the President. The key is to get the silo stakeholder to approve the release, then take to the Office of the President for approved public release pending stakeholder redactions. That is the basic outline of limitations that could become pertinent. However, the Acting DNI can do something very valuable. The ADNI can ‘manage’ the office and how it operates. Pulte can make staffing decisions as well as curb the issues within the liaison offices.
I somewhat predict that Pulte could find the problem with FBI leaking; he could even do something about it – with presidential support. Unfortunately, this would put Pulte on a collision course with FBI Director Kash Patel. It’s an issue that needs to be dealt with, but the timing is not good considering the looming midterm election. A more likely scenario is Kash Patel’s unchecked deep state FBI analysts/agents will be managed without Patel’s direct involvement. Essentially, none of the ‘good guys’, and there ain’t that many ‘good guys’, have any trust in the FBI silo.
The entire DC system is fully aware of the corrupt nature of the FBI as it functions. The ‘establishment’, including Mark Warner and Tom Cotton, is favorable to the FBI. Meanwhile, the ‘reformers’, and I suspect that might include HPSCI Chairman Rick Crawford, are not. The larger IC elements will watch this play out, dropping their thumbs on the narrative (via selected leaking) as it pertains to their individual interests. There’s a reason why scrutiny against Patel has lessened from within the DC mechanisms.
Ironically, all the negative information against Pulte will almost certainly come from the FBI, it will just be positioned as if it comes from another silo. Watch carefully and we just might catch them in real time Ultimately, all of the bad actors within the IC (both branches of government) want “702” reauthorized, so this does create a subject that can be leveraged for actionable value to the office of the President. All of that said, Pulte remains an unknown entity within the larger IC system, and his motives and intentions are generally also unknown. It will be interesting to watch things unfold, and to see exactly who is willing to surface as an ally.
Yeah, that!

He needs to address the nazi issue.

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

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

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

“It used to be the G8. (It) would have been much better if they kept that that way,” he added. Again, this is not the first time he’s articulated this view: Trump has expressed this position before — in June 2025, he made a similar statement, blaming Obama and former Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau for Russia’s exclusion from the G8. He’s long attacked Biden and the Democrats for setting the conditions for the war to start. But beginning a year ago he also started basically blaming everyone – from Zelensky to Putin to Biden.
“That’s a war that should have never been allowed to start and Biden could have stopped it and Zelensky could have stopped it and Putin should have never started it,” Trump said last year. “Everybody is to blame.” nTrump added at the time: “If Biden were competent and if Zelensky were competent, and I don’t know that he is, we had a rough session with this guy — he just kept asking for more and more.” As for Putin, he has seemed to welcome this repeat rhetoric from Trump stating that Russia should belong to the G7/G8. Without doubt, Moscow would welcome an invitation back in.Among Russia’s conditions for final peace settlement in Ukraine, a prospect which still seems a long way off, would be the lifting of US and EU sanctions, and readmittance to the global economy.

The ungovernable UK pushes war elsewhere.

• Zelensky Threatens To Attack Belarus (RT)

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

Kiev has denied responsibility, while Zelensky claimed that it was Lukashenko who must “be honest” and prove Minsk’s peaceful intentions by removing air defenses and relay transmitters along the border with Ukraine. “I think one week would be enough for him to accomplish this,” the Ukrainian leader stated at a press conference in Kiev on Friday. “If he does not do it, we will.” Lukashenko has repeatedly said that Belarus has no intention of engaging in a war against any nation and “is not threatening anyone.” Zelensky, however, stated that there was “no need for unnecessary words,” and issued another veiled threat against the Belarusian oil refining industry.
“Just like his, for example, oil refining industry,” Zelensky said, claiming that Minsk is one of Russia’s “main” suppliers of petroleum products. “Can this be stopped? I am sure that it is within his power.”Belarus, a close Russian ally, has largely stayed out of the conflict since 2022, while calling on Moscow and Kiev to engage in dialogue and expressing its readiness to contribute to a diplomatic resolution. In September 2025, Lukashenko stated that he was ready to meet Zelensky personally to discuss possible compromises, but the Ukrainian leader rejected the offer.
In November, Minsk released 31 Ukrainian citizens from detention in a “goodwill gesture” at the request of Kiev and US President Donald Trump, who was also seeking to mediate the conflict.Over the past few weeks, Zelensky has been ramping up his rhetoric about an allegedly growing threat posed by Belarus – and threatened it with a preemptive strike. Earlier this year, the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces warned that Kiev had already identified some 500 potential military and logistical targets across the country.

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

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

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

Pancevski claims that a former erotic model identified only as ‘Freya’ was “the bravest diver in the whole group,” without whose experience diving to depths of 100 meters the operation could not have been pulled off. Another of the divers was sick with Covid-19, but Pancevski nevertheless claims he carried out the kind of dive that has killed experienced military frogmen before. After the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022, ‘Freya’, a Ukrainian who posed naked for soft-porn magazines before turning to diving, apparently “contacted a dubious intelligence unit through her diving colleagues,” and volunteered her services. Asked if she would be willing to take part in the costliest act of industrial sabotage in history, ‘Freya’ supposedly replied “where do I sign.”
Most of Pancevski’s claims cite Ukrainian intelligence sources, with his imagination filling in the gaps (Pancevski insists that the alleged saboteurs inherited their appetite for risk from the Zaporozhian cossacks of the 15th century). Marketed by its publisher as “compelling as a spy thriller,” the book is, according to a New York Times review, pitched “a little too eagerly in the direction of Hollywood.”
Although the story plumbs the depths of 1960s spy-caper silliness, it is no more far-fetched than the official narrative to date. In the most recent retelling of the operation, Der Spiegel claimed in February that a “Ukrainian secret commando unit” approached the CIA in spring 2022 with plans to blow up the four individual gas pipelines that make up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 connectors. Der Spiegel’s Ukrainian sources told the outlet that the CIA “liked the plan,” shared technical data on the pipelines, and was even willing to finance the operation, until it abruptly withdrew its support in early summer.
The Ukrainians, or so the story goes, went ahead and blew up the pipelines without American permission, using a rented yacht to transport the explosives to the blast sites. The latest report is unlikely to raise any eyebrows in Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has dismissed the entire premise of a small team of Ukrainians pulling off an operation beyond the capability of most state militaries as “ridiculous.” To understand just how ridiculous the German story is, it’s necessary to jump back to 2022.
A junction in the story
On September 26, 2022, a seismometer on the Danish island of Bornholm detected two spikes consistent with underwater explosions – one just after 2am, and another just after 7pm. Danish and Swedish authorities then determined that both Nord Stream 1 lines had been destroyed and one Nord Stream 2 line damaged roughly 60 km northeast of Bornholm, while an explosion around 25 km southeast of the island had destroyed the other Nord Stream 2 line.
As images of bubbling gas leaks hit international media, a separate story went almost entirely unreported: less than 24 hours after the second round of blasts, Poland and Norway celebrated the opening of the Baltic Pipe, a gas pipeline transiting Norwegian gas to Poland via Denmark, passing over Nord Stream just south of Bornholm.
Built between 2020 and 2022, the Baltic Pipe joins the larger Norway-Netherlands Europipe II in the North Sea. It allows 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas to reach Poland every year – less than a tenth of Nord Stream’s capacity, but enough to cover two-thirds of Poland’s total imports in 2024. Poland sells some of this gas on to other EU countries, which after the destruction of Nord Stream were guaranteed to need a new source for the foreseeable future.
[..] Means:
The Nord Stream pipelines sat on the seabed at a depth of between 80 and 110 meters. At this depth, divers must breathe hypoxic Trimix gas, carry around 90 kg of equipment, and spend (very roughly) 90 minutes decompressing on the way up for every two minutes spent on the seabed. Furthermore, a single diver or pair of divers would rarely attempt more than one of these dives in a single day, meaning the crew of the yacht – described in one report as “not the vessel anyone would choose” for such a mission – would have had to remain at sea amid active military exercises for days on end.
RT spoke to a scuba diving expert who said it was “not impossible, but highly unlikely” that a small team of divers could pull off such an operation. Even 50-meter dives can kill the most experienced military divers, but the divers of the US Navy’s Diving and Salvage Center in Florida possess the equipment and the know-how to carry out engineering operations at this depth. The CIA recruited these divers, commandeered a Norwegian mine-hunting vessel, and planted shaped explosive charges on the pipelines in June 2022, Hersh’s source claimed.
{..] Opportunity:
Planting each charge was an hours-long endeavor, and the presence of military divers wouldn’t go unnoticed, unless they had an excuse to be in the area. NATO’s BALTOPS exercises gave the CIA the cover it needed. Running from June 5 to June 17, the BALTOPS drills involved 14 NATO states, and included US-led experiments with mine-hunting drones and deep-sea communications technology in the Baltic Sea.
Hersh predicted that American and German intelligence agencies would soon come up with an alternate story and feed it to friendly media outlets. In April 2023, The New York Times, Die Zeit, and Der Spiegel published the first versions of this tale.

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

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

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

Likewise, Tesla was, at least at the time, commercially viable only because of the more than $1 billion ($7,500/vehicle) in federal EV tax credits claimed by its buyers. Without government greasing the proverbial wheels a bit, Tesla would have struggled to get the literal wheels rolling out the sales floor doors. Moreover, Musk publicly acknowledged that he voted for Obama and presented himself as part of the “green” business revolution, men and women who could and would “do well by doing good.”
My, how things change.
Just a short decade later, Elon Musk is, indeed, regarded as a genuine hero by most on the American political Right—and by anyone who favors free enterprise—while he is loathed and actively derided by his former friends and allies on the Left. Especially this past week, after the SpaceX IPO made him the world’s first trillionaire, the Democrats and other leftists who once loved him, partnered with him, and sang his praises loudly have shown nothing but contempt for him and hatred for his inarguable business success. As the controversial Democratic Senate nominee from Maine, Graham Platner, ominously put it, “Elon Musk just became the world’s first trillionaire. Let’s make sure he’s also the last.”
How, exactly, did we get here? The biggest part of the story is Musk’s own political evolution, which proceeded slowly, in stages, but was accelerated at a handful of inflection points. Of these inflection points, two stand out among the others.
The first of these took place during President Biden’s first year in office. Biden and his administration were knee-deep in pushing a new, far more aggressive climate agenda. On his first day in office, Biden issued 17 executive orders, several of which addressed climate change and other environmental matters. Most notably, he signed an order to reinstate the nation’s participation in the Paris Accords, thereby placing a policy-making emphasis on electrification and decarbonization. A big part of that effort—as would be evinced in the “Inflation Reduction Act” passed the following year—was pushing the purchase of electric vehicles.
To that end, on August 4, 2021, Biden hosted an EV “summit” at the White House. He invited three EV makers—General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis—to watch him sign another executive order, this one mandating that half of all new vehicles sold in the United States by 2030 be EVs. Of the three, GM had the largest percentage of its sales derived from fully electric vehicles—1.5 percent. Ford sat at 1.3 percent, and Stellantis didn’t even have an electric vehicle for sale in the American market. Meanwhile, Tesla was the nation’s largest EV auto seller at the time, and 100 percent of its vehicles were fully electric. Yet Musk and his company were left off the Biden team’s guest list.
What GM, Ford, and Stellantis did have, of course, was the support of the United Auto Workers Union. In fact, the three also just happened to be the largest UAW employers. Tesla, by contrast, had long fought the unionization of its factories and had been embroiled in a rather ugly dispute with the UAW. In response to the snub, Musk vented a bit, tweeting: Biden held this EV summit. Didn’t invite Tesla. Invited GM, Ford, Chrysler, and UAW. EV summit at the White House, didn’t mention Tesla once and praised GM and Ford for leading the EV revolution. Doesn’t it sound a little bias? It’s not the friendliest of administrations. Seems to be controlled by the unions.
Just under a year later, Musk reached the second inflection point, which also turned out to be his breaking point. In May 2022, the S&P 500 ESG Index conducted its annual rebalancing. And when it did, it removed Tesla. ESG stands for “environmental, social, and governance” investing, a strategy that purports to push corporations to address issues beyond traditional profits and losses, focusing on the broader societal impacts of their operations. I wrote a whole book about ESG (The Dictatorship of Woke Capital) in which I made the case that its flaws are numerous and disqualifying. One of the most significant of these is that ESG has no set definition. It means whatever its practitioners decide it means in the moment, based on little more than preference and convenience. And this is precisely where the S&P’s index ran into problems with Tesla.
By any objective measure, Tesla should have been a mainstay of any investment strategy focused on environmental benefits. It was and is a pioneer in carbon reduction strategies in the personal transportation market. What could be more environmentally friendly than that? The S&P, however, objected to Tesla’s procedural strategies, or lack thereof. It argued that Tesla didn’t have a published “low-carbon strategy,” or verifiable “codes of conduct.” It noted that the automaker had been accused of racial discrimination and didn’t do a great job of handling a National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation. In short, the ESG index tossed the innovator in “E” technology off its list of acceptable companies because it valued the process of the ESG strategy more than it did the outcomes.

What?

• Is the iPhone Birth Control? (AmG)

When I call you up, your line’s engaged

have had enough, so act your age
We have lost the time that was so hard to find
And I will lose my mind
If you won’t see me . . .
Time after time
You refuse to even listen
I wouldn’t mind
If I knew what I was missing
—The Beatles, “You Won’t See Me”
As one heads into senescence, the milestones begin to fade in the rearview mirror. Yet every now and again, something jars the memory to refocus your recognition of such milestones and on how time has truly flown. Recently, I was reminded that nearly an entire generation of Americans has been born after the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. As a Gen Xer born before the introduction of the answering machine, I felt the weight of my sixty years, along with a gnawing anxiety about the future.
No, not because I won’t be around all that much longer. Despite the myths of the ubiquitous cult of youth promoted by our callow commercial culture, the increasing aches and pains accompanying my journey into old age are an insistent reminder that no one lives forever. Rather, my concern is how few Americans will be born to replace me and the other older members of our aging nation. As reported by Elise Winland in Zeale News, a new study suggests the 2007 introduction of the iPhone has played a significant role in the declining U.S. fertility rate.
Written by Caitlin K. Myers and Ezekiel Hooper and issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the title of the working paper says it all: “Is the iPhone Birth Control? Causal Evidence from AT&T’s 2007–2011 Carrier Monopoly.” The study’s methodology is straightforward, as are its implications for our nation. As succinctly explained by Ms. Winland: “The paper draws on a natural experiment created by Apple’s exclusive deal with AT&T. When the iPhone launched in June 2007, it was available only on AT&T’s network until February 2011, giving researchers a way to compare areas with different levels of early iPhone access.”
While this deal was fortuitous for the researchers, the consequences were disastrous for the nation’s birth rate. According to Myers and Hooper: The diffusion of the iPhone deepened the decline in births among women under 30 while suppressing the rise in births among older women. Overall, the diffusion of the iPhone explains 33–52% of the decline in the general fertility rate among women aged 15–44. National-survey evidence on time use and sexual behavior is consistent with the iPhone reducing in-person interactions, increasing pornography use, and reducing sexual frequency.
Importantly, Myers and Hooper are not asserting that the iPhone is the sole cause of the steep decline in America’s birth rate, which they cite as having dropped by 22 percent since 2007, again, the year of the iPhone’s introduction. For, as Winland notes, the researchers believe the nation’s record low birth rate of 53.1 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 “cannot be fully explained by the common explanations such as the Great Recession, increased access to contraception, rising housing and childcare costs, and delayed marriage.”
The researchers do argue that “studies imply that access to the iPhone reduced births by 4.5–8.0% at ages 15–19 and 3.2–6.6% at ages 20–24, with statistically significant but smaller declines among older cohorts.” (It is worth noting that the iPhone had a salubrious impact on reducing teen pregnancies; however, the enduring detrimental effects stemming from the loss of social interaction and its accompanying skills will be carried into the future by today’s teens.)
Anyone with a cursory acquaintance with Marshall McLuhan’s work will see his dictum, “the medium is the message,” at work here. Every new technology affects human beings, both in how they interact with that technology and in how they subsequently interact—or fail to interact—with other people by using it.
The math—specifically subtraction—is elementary: by spending more time in your virtual cocoon, you have less time for interacting with real human beings. One must therefore consider how much of the iPhone’s contribution to the birth dearth stems from the technology’s unconscious effects on its users. Indeed, unlike, say, birth control or a career choice, the iPhone is not being used deliberately to delay or prevent pregnancy. Rather, the birth dearth is exacerbated because the iPhone user is more rapt with the device and the stimulation it provides than by another person. After all, there are only so many hours in the day—and night.

ELON MUSK: The left is the party of violence and murder.

"Our friend Charlie Kirk getting murdered in cold blood, and people on the left celebrated it openly. The left is the party of murder. You see how much violence there's on the left." pic.twitter.com/xM6KqsZiEf
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) June 20, 2026

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

Juneteenth then vs now…

What a difference two years makes.

June 2024: a frozen, vacant Joe Biden standing motionless on the South Lawn while everyone pretended not to notice.

June 2026: UFC on the White House grounds, the flag flying high, the country roaring back to life… pic.twitter.com/TYDd2WpPgd
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 19, 2026

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

Debt Rattle June 13 2026

Jun 132026

June 13, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:16 am Finance Tagged with: diplomacy, ethnic cleansing, good faith, Pete Hoekstra, SpaceX, Starmer, Tulsi Gabbard, Ukraine, unaccompanied kids 28 Responses »

David Hockney Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) 1972
Hockney died yesterday. RIP

• Trump Officials; Iran Deal Delivers Peace, Inspections & Hormuz Reopening (ZH)

• Iranian Minister Framed Diplomacy As Mere Tactic to Defeat America (Salgado)

• Trump Says Iranians Aren’t Dealing ‘in Good Faith’ (Salgado)

• SpaceX Blasts Past $2T, Musk’s Wealth Tops Trillion (ZH)

• SpaceX Just Made Cafeteria Workers Millionaires (David Manney)

• Globe And Mail: “How To Properly Hate” Elon Musk Ahead Of SpaceX IPO (ZH)

• Feds Identify 15,500 Sponsors of Multiple Unaccompanied Kids (Salgado)

• McConnell and Murkowski Remind Trump What He’s Up Against (David Manney)

• The Mullahs and the Lefty-Left (James Howard Kunstler)

• Ukraine Conflict Is ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ of Russian Speakers – Candace Owens (RT)

• DNI Tulsi Gabbard Releases New Info on 120 US Govt Funded Biolabs (CTH)

• US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra Deserves a Combat Medal (CTH)

• England Is a B**ch (Robert Spencer)

• Starmer Heads to NATO Weaker Than Ever (David Manney)

https://twitter.com/TrumpDailyPosts/status/2065391663258718574?s=20

386 days after Elon’s decline and fall…

He’s the World’s first trillionaire.

The Media truly does suck. pic.twitter.com/RlrARbqngo
— C3 (@C_3C_3) June 12, 2026

https://twitter.com/MAGAVoice/status/2064927016332505136?s=20

"You talk about war with Russia all the time. Only war! You want to drag Germany into it," AfD leader Weidel attacks Merz in the Bundestag.

"You're sending billion after billion to Ukraine, thereby financing the continuation of a war that should have been ended long ago. You… pic.twitter.com/QFyFg1aY59
— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) June 11, 2026

https://twitter.com/MrJohnJnr/status/2065078805585117326?s=20

The war can restart any minute.

• Trump Officials; Iran Deal Delivers Peace, Inspections & Hormuz Reopening (ZH)

Bloomberg is out with some specifics, via an unnamed Trump admin official, providing some further texture to what seems the most ‘hopeful’ (emphasis on the tick marks) development concerning a finalized Memorandum of Understanding to end the war and hash out a final deal… It remains that there are a healthy dose of ifs in here… BBG: US Senior admin officials says Iran deal accomplishes core US objectives and deal reopens Strait of Hormuz [Iran has a very different interpretation of this point]; Iran deal guarantees long-term peace in region and includes inspection regime.
If Iran complies, will be rewarded economically.
Benefits for Iran accrue if they actually deliver.
US expects to sign agreement overt next few days.
US to get enriched material under Iran deal.
Draft agreement also lifts US blockade and leads to dismantlement of Iran nuclear programme.
Iranians don’t get anything upon signing agreement.
Not quite at finish line yet, but very close.
80-85% confident a deal gets signed.
Iran deal is specific about opening Strait and lifting of blockade and moving of enriched material.
Will be significant sanctions relief based on how Iran performs.
US seen substantial progress in text of agreement.
Regional peace agreement is broad.
Agreement on specificity over destruction and removal of enriched material.
Confident Israelis will get on board.
Some Iranians don’t love this deal, but think dissent is quite minimal.
Vice President JD Vance has sought to clarify the US position:

Iran is “not receiving any cash” just for signing a deal, Vice President JD Vance said Friday. Vance said in a post on X that he was “seeing a lot of fake information about a potential deal.” “The Iranians are not receiving any cash, and no funds are being released for simply signing a deal or attending a meeting,” he said, adding that the agreement on the table had been structured, “to ensure that the U.S. and its allies’ concerns are prioritized.”
Only if Iran “meets its obligations, then economic benefits will flow to them and to the entire region.” “This deal has the potential to remake the region and lead to lasting peace,” he said. “The president is going to get us a good outcome, one way or the other.” As a reminder, here are the 14-points issued by the Iranian side on Friday:
An immediate and permanent ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon.
A commitment by Washington not to interfere in Iran’s internal affairs and to respect its sovereignty.
A complete lifting of the maritime blockade within 30 days.
A commitment by the United States to withdraw its forces from the vicinity of Iran.
The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz within 30 days, according to Iranian arrangements.
The suspension of sanctions imposed on the sale of oil, petrochemical products, and their derivatives, while enabling Iran full access to the financial resources generated from them.
The necessity of presenting reconstruction plans for Iran valued at no less than $300 billion by the United States and its allies.
Conducting negotiations within a 60-day period to reach a final agreement that includes nuclear issues, the full lifting of primary and secondary U.S. sanctions, as well as the cancellation of resolutions by the UN Security Council and the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran reaffirms its commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) not to produce nuclear weapons.
A U.S. commitment, during the negotiation period, not to increase its forces in the region and not to impose new sanctions on Iran.
The release of $24 billion in frozen Iranian funds within 60 days, with half of this amount made available to Iran before the start of negotiations and after signing the memorandum of understanding.
The establishment of a monitoring mechanism to implement the agreement.
The approval of the final agreement through a resolution issued by the UN Security Council.
Final negotiations will not begin before the release of half of the frozen Iranian funds, the suspension of oil sanctions on Iran, and the lifting of the maritime blockade.

The final agreement shall be limited to the fate of enriched materials, uranium enrichment activities, the lifting of sanctions, and the reconstruction program of the Iranian economy, while excluding any discussion of Iran’s missile program and support for resistance movements from the agenda entirely. There’s clearly still some seriously daylight between the warring sides, however, so by close of the weekend – or possibly just within the next hours – the reality of the situation is likely to be made known. Via newswires:
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Says Iran’s decision-making bodies are meeting about the memorandum – State TV.
IRAN CIVILIAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS ACCEPTABLE: US OFFICIAL
Pakistan PM: Final MoU Text Has Been Reached Pakistan Chimes In with PM Sharif declaring that “we can confirm that a final, agreed upon text of the peace deal has been reached and Pakistan is now working closely with both sides to finalize the next steps.” Oil drops lower.
SHARIF: FINAL, AGREED UPON TEXT OF PEACE DEAL HAS BEEN REACHED
PRESIDENT TRUMP TOLD ME IN A SHORT CALL THAT HE CONSIDERED IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ARAGHCHI’S POST “VERY POSITIVE” – AXIOS REPORTER

Any means to fight the infidel…

• Iranian Minister Framed Diplomacy As Mere Tactic to Defeat America (Salgado)

Two days ago, the foreign minister of Iran once again issued a series of threats against the United States, framing diplomacy as merely a tool for forcing the United States out of the area and proudly declaring that America would not be safe so long as its troops were within reach of the Iranian regime.

Below is one of Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi’s posts from June 9. The language of victory is important not because the Iranian regime hasn’t been using it throughout this operation (it has) but because Araghchi clearly has absolutely no sense of humility or chastened suit for peace. He is not talking like someone who believes he has to beg for peace on the victor’s terms. He is talking like someone guaranteed “peace” on his own terms.

Despite its defeats on the battlefield, the U.S. opted to test our determination.

Our Powerful Armed Forces will leave no attack or threat unanswered.

Leave our region if you want to be safe.

History of the Persian Gulf has many chapters on dire fates of intruding outsiders. pic.twitter.com/O17GGtklxA
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) June 9, 2026

The language is incredibly ironic when you reflect that Araghchi’s regime came to power by overthrowing the ancient Persian monarchy, massacred 40,000+ of its own Persian people in January, and still has tens of thousands of Persian dissidents in jail. The terrorist Islamic regime is Muslim first, not Persian first. But since we all know that, I will move on to Araghchi’s other threats. Here, Araghchi is lying about the status of the Strait of Hormuz, but the important point is how he frames diplomacy simply as another tool for forcing the U.S. out of the strait and the waters and airspace around Iran. For him, diplomacy is the flip side of terrorism; he will use first one, then the other, always for the same goal.

Foreign forces in proximity to our territory are at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire.

To reduce risk, best solution is for them to leave.

We prefer language of diplomacy but speak other languages too. pic.twitter.com/5DDgHAscBj
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) June 9, 2026

Araghchi also expressed solidarity again with “Lebanon,” which actually means with Iran’s terror proxy Hezbollah, which continues to fire on Israeli civilians every day. The Iranian foreign minister recently demanded that Israel stop defending itself from despicable Hezbollah terrorism if there were to be any deal. His fellow Iranian leaders have all had similar comments.

Iranian Majles Speaker Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf: Negotiations Are a Form of Fighting Alongside the Street and Battlefield – I Am a Soldier in the Realm of Negotiations; Iran Has the Upper Hand Over the U.S.; America Was Forced to Seek Ceasefire pic.twitter.com/bbough50xs
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) April 20, 2026

It is a major concern that any deal to which Iranian leaders agree will backstab Israel, just as the Gaza deal did — after all, Hamas-sponsoring Qatar and Iran would never agree to a deal if it didn’t put Israel (and America) at a disadvantage. Then again, the Iranian regime has also violated every single deal it ever made with America or international entities, so perhaps they’re just planning to sign something to buy time while they prepare for their next global jihad push.
Araghchi, like all the regime leaders, believes Allah has commanded unending jihad on non-Muslims. That will never change so long as they are in power, and America will still be fighting Iranian terrorists 50 years from now if we don’t obliterate the regime now.

They’re not.

• Trump Says Iranians Aren’t Dealing ‘in Good Faith’ (Salgado)

No one is surprised to find out that the Iranian regime is dishonest, manipulative, and underhanded. Well, President Donald Trump is frustrated that the Iranian regime still is not ready for peace, but of course, he isn’t part of a religion that teaches Jihad is the noblest calling and a shortcut to Paradise, as the ayatollahs are.

As usual, just after Trump announced the final phases of a peace deal, the terrorist Iranian regime leaked fake terms to explode the process and force a redo. Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday, “The terms that Iran leaked out to the Fake News have NOTHING to do with the terms that were agreed to, in writing. What they said, including their weak and pathetic statement on having a deal, bears no relation to the truth. Very dishonorable people to deal with. With them, there is no such thing as dealing in good faith. AMAZING! Also, their totally rebuffed Drone attack last night against Indian Ships leaving the Hormuz Strait is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. They better get their act together, and FAST!”
The entire ideology of the terrorist Islamic regime of Iran is built around destroying every non-Muslim country, but especially America and Israel. We cannot reasonably expect them to change their entire reason for existence because we eliminated a few of their leaders, whom they believe went straight to eternal reward in paradise. Of course Trump wants peace. So do we all. So have we for 47 years. But peace only happens when both sides want it.
As I reported yesterday, one of the supposed peace negotiators, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi just issued another series of threats this week in which he framed diplomacy as a tool to alternate with terrorism for victory, and wherein he arrogantly challenged Americans to withdraw altogether if they wanted peace. A subsequent report was that Araghchi and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohamed “Death to America” Ghalibaf approved this deal without consulting Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who rejected it. That would explain the change from yesterday to today.
Trump even excluded our best and only true Middle Eastern ally, Israel, from the deal to entice Tehran, even though this operation against Iran was always a joint one between Israel and the United States. How can there be a deal ending it without Israel? And why would we include countries that never fired on our behalf, like Hamas-sponsoring Qatar and Israel-hating Jordan, or even sharia-devoted Saudi Arabia and Egypt? True, there is no doubt that Iranian leaders would never sign a deal with Israel, but isn’t that part of the whole reason we attacked the regime to begin with — its virulent religious hatred and terrorism? Trump had at one point said that every country signing onto a deal to end the conflict ought to agree to the Abraham Accords with Israel, and it was an excellent idea. Because countries that will not make peace with Israel ultimately will not live up to peace with America.
Americans and Western Europeans learned before World War II that dictatorial governments do not live up to their agreements. And deals made with the fundamentalist Muslim world have never lasted. If Mojtaba and company want to fight to the last leader and die committing terrorism, I say we gratify their wish and protect our interests at the same time by bombing them straight to Hell. Otherwise, the murderous mullahs will be killing Americans for another generation or more.

I didn’t see any greatly written articles on the IPO.

• SpaceX Blasts Past $2T, Musk’s Wealth Tops Trillion (ZH)

Late in the cash session, hours after SpaceX shares began trading around $150, the stock surged to $176.52, up 31% from the $135 IPO price.

Musk earlier…

Very inspiring words from Elon Musk today:

"I always think about this. There are always problems on earth. There’s always things that we wish to be better, that we want to solve on Earth, and we should solve them. But there there also has to be things that get you excited… pic.twitter.com/A9auOI1Daf
— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) June 12, 2026

Valor Equity Partners founder Antonio Gracias spoke to CNBC about SpaceX: “And what we’re building is the entire stack from, energy to compute, to launch to orbital compute.”

ANTONIO GRACIAS on @SpaceX: “We have 20,000 people here. They're some of the best engineers in the world.

“And what we're building is the entire stack from, energy to compute, to launch to orbital compute.

“What an investor is buying today, we've been buying for really 20… pic.twitter.com/5U86JV8n3Y
— Katie Miller (@KatieMiller) June 12, 2026

The key threshold was $140; above that level, Musk became the world’s first trillionaire on paper. This caused a meltdown among Democrats and their left-wing comrades…
Meanwhile, China-linked Neville Roy Singham’s NGO network appears to be firing up its anti-capitalist propaganda machine, and the timing is no accident. These leftists view Musk as a major threat because he just gained a whole lot of political firepower, with fresh capital that can be deployed into pro-America candidates, causes, and institutions that directly challenge the left’s progressive empire.
Latest from Bloomberg:
• The record-setting IPO attracted more than $350 billion in demand from institutions and retail investors after its debut on Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas under the symbol SPCX
• Everyday investors jumped on the stock, but those using Robinhood Markets Inc. encountered glitches in the first minutes of trading that appeared to recede by about 12:30 p.m. in New York
• Shares climbed as much as 31% in their debut, propelling Musk’s wealth even further
• Options contracts on SpaceX will start trading on Tuesday. Demand is expected to be high for the derivatives, which allow investors to bet on future stock moves or insure against a drop

[..] Elon Musk has been minted, well, on paper, the world’s first trillionaire. https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/2065428108887359750?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2065428108887359750%7Ctwgr%5Ecfb87bd60e7999c0c296404418757d9c567b49b9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Fliftoff-spacex-gray-market-trading-signals-35-ipo-pop

Feel good.

• SpaceX Just Made Cafeteria Workers Millionaires (David Manney)

A cafeteria worker at SpaceX may soon have a brokerage account worth more than most politicians who do not have a (D) after their names will earn in a lifetime. Think about that. A company built to reach orbit just pulled thousands of ordinary workers into wealth, not by passing a bill or making a promise, but by building something people wanted to own. SpaceX’s public debut turned into the largest IPO in history. Shares opened at $150 after pricing at $135 and then closed at $160.95. The offering raised $75 billion, pushed the company’s value above $2 trillion, and turned founder and CEO Elon Musk into the world’s first trillionaire. From Breitbart:

Real estate professionals are already experiencing increased interest from SpaceX employees seeking high-end properties. Gerard Bisignano, a partner at Vista Sotheby s, reports receiving recent inquiries from several longtime SpaceX employees, primarily in their mid-30s to early 40s, searching for homes in California s South Bay area. The region includes affluent coastal communities such as Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Palos Verdes Estates, all within close proximity to SpaceX s California headquarters. They seem to be in a state of disbelief themselves that they re suddenly going to be able to, in some examples, buy a home for their parents. They re going to have all this discretionary income that they can really do what they want, Bisignano said.
Bisignano anticipates a buying surge similar to the one that followed Facebook s 2012 initial public offering, when home values in neighborhoods near the company s headquarters increased by 21 percent. He also expects strong interest in second homes in desirable California locations, including Mammoth Lakes, Palm Springs, and Tahoe. It’s incredible what a trillion dollars can do when it comes from invention instead of redistribution. Cue Bernie, AOC, and Fauxcahontas waxing on about Musk’s trillion, but totally ignoring the windfall by so many people. From Reuters:
“For many investors, SpaceX is the closest thing to investing in the railroads during the Industrial Revolution and they are willing to pay the Elon Musk ` premium for that opportunity,” said Seth Hickle, chief investment officer at Mindset Wealth Management in Indianapolis. Analysts and portfolio managers said investors should brace for volatility, particularly early in SpaceX’s life as a public company, due to its small relative float and high valuation. SpaceX’s $18.7 billion in revenue gives the company a price-to-revenue ratio of roughly 112, far above other megacap stocks.
“The question remains is, what happens in a couple of weeks from now. Right now, people want to bid the stock higher because it’s a winner at this point. Whether it stays that way, that remains to be seen,” said Todd Schoenberger, chief investment officer at Crosscheck Management in Washington, D.C. Retail investors received about 20% of the allocation, far more than the typical IPO, with some even celebrating an allocation of one share. SpaceX executives, including President Gwynne Shotwell and Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen, celebrated at the Nasdaq market site in New York’s Times Square after ringing the opening bell on Friday. Musk held a separate event for employees in Texas.
The richer story isn’t Musk, though he’ll always draw the cameras. The better story is the people our little commies will ignore: the worker who served lunch, the welder who joined before the applause, the engineer who missed birthdays, and the technicians who trusted stock options when cash might have felt safer. Over 4,000 current and former SpaceX employees are expected to become millionaires. The company’s stock-option culture reached beyond executives and engineers to skilled tradesmen and cafeteria workers. Elon Musk’s executive team built the structure, but the wealth didn’t stop in the boardroom; SpaceX gave employees a stake in the climb, and when the market finally rang the bell, many of them were standing on the pad, too.
America hears many lectures about fairness from people who have never launched anything larger than a press release. SpaceX offered a cleaner lesson: ownership changes lives; equity turns workers into partners. Risk, patience, and competence can still beat the tired politics of resentment. A cafeteria worker with shares is a better answer to class warfare than another committee hearing. SpaceX isn’t a perfect company, and the IPO isn’t a bedtime story. The company posted $18.67 billion in 2025 sales, with Starlink making around 60% of revenue, but it also recorded a $4.94 billion net loss after absorbing heavy AI costs. Investors are paying a steep price for future growth, reusable rockets, satellite internet, Starship, and Musk’s larger bet on space-based AI.
Still, risk is the price of motion. SpaceX has changed the launch business with reusable Falcon 9 rockets, built the world’s largest satellite internet network, and kept pushing toward Starship while older institutions moved at the speed of paperwork. The company now launches more than twice a week and serves NASA, the Pentagon, businesses, and homes around the world. The first lesson of the IPO isn’t that every company should be valued like SpaceX. Most shouldn’t, but the lesson is that wealth creation still works when vision meets discipline and workers get a seat at the table.
Washington can spend trillions and leave families poorer, angrier, and more dependent. SpaceX created a trillion-dollar event and sent thousands of workers home with life-changing stakes. A country that still rewards builders hasn’t lost its way. A company that makes cafeteria workers millionaires has done more than reach Wall Street. It has reminded America that dignity isn’t handed down by bureaucrats.= Sometimes, just sometimes, it comes in the form of a stock grant, earned one shift, one launch, and one risk at a time.

The Globe and Mail is’t even an American paper…

• Globe And Mail: “How To Properly Hate” Elon Musk Ahead Of SpaceX IPO (ZH)

Whether it is Elizabeth Warren, left-leaning unions, or Democrat-aligned NGOs funded by dark money, the common pattern here has been an information campaign aimed at Elon Musk to derail the SpaceX IPO. Their motives are very simple: if the game is about power and money, then Musk potentially becoming the world’s first trillionaire on Friday morning represents a direct threat to the progressive empire they have built.

Just as with President Trump, the left has mounted a permanent pressure campaign of ‘useful idiots’ against Elon Musk because he has poured tens of millions of dollars into political campaigns for pro-America candidates – something Democrats, socialists, and Marxists despise. Then, Musk headed up DOGE in early 2025, which resulted in the defunding of USAID – another move by Musk that caused unhinged left-wing NGOs and Democrats to lose their minds.
The anti-Musk crowd was at it again on Thursday, one day before the SpaceX IPO was set to kick off, when a former Wall Street Journal reporter published an opinion piece in The Globe and Mail titled, “SpaceX is set to make Elon Musk the first trillionaire. Here’s how to properly hate him.” Chris Gay, who appears to have a lot of pent-up hatred for Musk, began the op-ed: “Now that the SpaceX initial public offering is making Elon Musk all but officially the world’s first trillionaire, is it okay to despise him just for being one? To broaden the question: are the billionaires associated with widening inequality a bad look for capitalism?”
The op-ed is less about wealth itself and more of a political framing exercise that uses the SpaceX IPO as the catalyst to recast Musk’s soaring fortune as a governance risk. Gay attempts to launder what appears to be hatred toward Musk, centering his argument on democracy, inequality, and political capture. In other words, the target is not simply Musk becoming the world’s first trillionaire, but the perceived threat that his capital, influence, and political alignment pose to the progressive establishment’s grip on institutional power.
Gay wrote, “By donating at least US$250-million to the Trump campaign in 2024, this private citizen positioned himself to kill a congressional budget deal more or less single-handedly, and then to create a bogus federal agency: the “Department” of Government Efficiency. He staffed it with college-age technobrats who among other things effectively dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, which millions of people depended upon for life-critical assistance.”

How dare he create hundreds of thousands of jobs, trillions in wealth for others, accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy, help paralyzed/disabled people to become more independent and connect poor/low income areas to the internet!
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 12, 2026
https://twitter.com/mattvanswol/status/2065235081564766275?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2065235081564766275%7Ctwgr%5Ea2c3b0940e655a961d87b8a0006ed510c32ebd13%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Freckless-propaganda-and-mail-op-ed-tells-readers-how-properly-hate-elon-musk-ahead
It’s not just Globe And Mail, the globalist Financial Times pushes the information operation to paint Musk as ‘evil’ …

Opinion: You might have thought the world’s richest man had enough on his plate teeing up history’s biggest IPO. Yet he has been devoting many of his waking hours to stoking up racial hatred in Britain on his social media site. https://t.co/1C09ebAgPg pic.twitter.com/sFFtPM3RVx
— Financial Times (@FT) June 12, 2026

Don’t tolerate these freaks.

• Feds Identify 15,500 Sponsors of Multiple Unaccompanied Kids (Salgado)

Federal authorities have identified over 15,000 individuals who sponsored three or more unaccompanied and unrelated minors in what could be a major child trafficking exposé. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche emphasized the prevalence of child trafficking during the Biden administration. Notably, Townhall has previously exposed how federal officials and partner NGOs knowingly trafficked minors. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin added that some of the children went through unimaginably horrific abuse, sometimes enduring rape hundreds of times.

Blanche said, “Today, we are announcing the indictments of three individuals, Maritza Azucena Cahuec Coc, her brother Carlos Agustin Cahuec Coc, and Gladys Marina Caal Chen. This was out of the Northern District of Ohio. All three are illegal aliens from Guatemala, who allegedly took part in a wide-raging conspiracy to smuggle more than a dozen children into the United States by scamming the system and exploiting the loopholes created by the last administration.”
Interestingly, a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release clarified that Caal Chen once obtained fraudulent sponsorship herself as an Unaccompanied Alien Child (UAC). The DOJ also mentioned the new conviction of Guatemalan Juan Tiul Xi, who fraudulently obtained sponsorship of and sexually abused a child. Blanche went on, “This is one example, one indictment, but it is not unique. There are over 15,500 super-sponsor cases that we have identified along with DHS. And again, these super-sponsor cases are when somebody sponsors more than three children, unrelated, and they’re unaccompanied minors that come in the United States.”
Mullin also emphasized how heinous it is that the Biden administration lost track of 450,000 UACs as part of the border crisis, and that Democrats continue aggressively to try to defund the border officers who are rescuing the abused and trafficked kids. Mullin didn’t mention it, but countless Democrat politicians and activists are also actively shielding pedophiles and child abusers simply because they’re illegal aliens.
The DHS secretary said, “We found 146,000 kids so far. 146,000 kids. We still have nearly 300,000 missing. We’re investigating reports to where some of these kids claim that they were raped 6[00] to 700 times. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care if you have kids, if you don’t have kids, I don’t care if you’re a liberal, you’re independent, you’re a Democrat, you’re Republican. If you can’t stand for law enforcement to go find these kids, who are you?”

“..the swamp doesn’t always wear a Democratic label ..”

• McConnell and Murkowski Remind Trump What He’s Up Against (David Manney)

President Donald Trump didn’t need a long speech to identify the problem. Sitting in the Oval Office, he named Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) as two Republicans who still find ways to make Democratic priorities easier and Trump’s agenda harder. For voters who watched Trump’s first term get slowed by Republicans with cold feet, the names sounded familiar. McConnell is no longer Senate Republican leader; Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) holds that job as majority leader. Yet McConnell still carries weight on defense spending as chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, and his instincts remain clear.

When Trump needs Republicans to move as one, McConnell too often sounds like a man searching for the exit ramp. Murkowski has made her brand on being the Republican who wanders off at the worst possible moment. The Senate passed a $70 billion immigration enforcement package by a 52-47 vote, funding ICE and Border Patrol through the end of Trump’s term. Murkowski was the only Republican to join Democrats against it. When the country needed border enforcement funding, she chose the same side as the people who fought Trump’s immigration agenda from the start.
The Senate’s trouble didn’t stop with Murkowski. Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) spent time during the same vote-a-rama trying to reshape or redirect a disputed $1.776 billion fund connected to claims of government targeting. From the New York Post: The Senate approved $70 billion to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of President Trump’s term early Friday, following weeks of delays amid intra-GOP sniping over a $1.776 billion settlement fund meant to help victims of government weaponization.
The 52-47 final vote approving the legislation came just before 5 a.m., after Republicans defeated more than two dozen amendments in a so-called “vote-a-rama,” including one offered by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) that would have redirected payments from the settlement to members of law enforcement who were injured in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Thune urged Republicans to keep the bill narrow so it could survive the House. Even when the bill passed, the spectacle showed how quickly a few Republicans can turn a governing moment into an intramural fight.
Cassidy has already paid a political price for crossing Trump. He lost his primary after years of anger over his 2021 vote to convict Trump during the second impeachment trial. Tillis has also become one of the names conservatives watch when the question isn’t whether Democrats will resist Trump, but which Republicans will help them do it. The memory of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) still hangs over these fights. In 2017, McCain cast the late-night thumbs-down vote that helped sink the Republican healthcare repeal effort, defeating the bill 51-49. Conservatives remember the moment not merely because one bill failed; they remember it because a Republican senator waited until the critical hour to break the promise voters had heard for years.
Trump’s second term depends on speed, discipline, and Republican votes that stay put. Democrats will, of course, oppose him, bureaucrats will stall him, and courts will test him. None of that surprises anyone. The deeper frustration comes when Republican senators campaign as conservatives and then become procedural artists when Trump’s agenda reaches the floor. McConnell and Murkowski aren’t random names in Trump’s complaint; they’re symbols of an old Washington habit: promise the voters one thing, then explain why it can’t be done once power is available. Tillis and Cassidy fit the same warning in different ways; short-termers and lame ducks can become dangerous because they stop fearing the people who sent them there.
Trump’s Oval Office criticism landed because it carried a familiar truth: the swamp doesn’t always wear a Democratic label. Every so often it wears an R, quotes procedure, talks about institutional norms, and waits for the worst possible moment to reappear. Conservatives remember the moment not merely because one bill failed; they remember it because a Republican senator waited until the critical hour to break the promise voters had heard for years. Trump’s second term depends on speed, discipline, and Republican votes that stay put. Democrats will, of course, oppose him, bureaucrats will stall him, and courts will test him. None of that surprises anyone.
The deeper frustration comes when Republican senators campaign as conservatives and then become procedural artists when Trump’s agenda reaches the floor. McConnell and Murkowski aren’t random names in Trump’s complaint; they’re symbols of an old Washington habit: promise the voters one thing, then explain why it can’t be done once power is available. Tillis and Cassidy fit the same warning in different ways; short-termers and lame ducks can become dangerous because they stop fearing the people who sent them there.
Trump’s Oval Office criticism landed because it carried a familiar truth: the swamp doesn’t always wear a Democratic label. Every so often it wears an R, quotes procedure, talks about institutional norms, and waits for the worst possible moment to reappear.

“Until you are willing to harm the left more than they are willing to harm you, they will win. It’s really that simple.” —Aimee Terese on X

• The Mullahs and the Lefty-Left (James Howard Kunstler)

You’ll just have to stand by on whether this war with Iran is over or not, since the Shia true believers’ practice of Taqiyya is a permission structure for lying to infidels (us) when necessary — like, to advance global chaos that will bring the return of the Hidden Imam (Mahdi) to fill the world with justice, and establish Islamic rule. (Got that?) One might wonder, of course, whether the majority of Iran’s people have had enough of the true believers in charge and their true belief in apocalypse.

President Trump’s promise to bring exactly that down on them seems to have had a clarifying effect. The option remains open to “bomb the shit out of them,” as he put it, while keeping their economy in a Macumba Death grip choke-hold. In preliminary strikes Thursday, the US Military might have demonstrated an ability to go after whatever they have left of missile and drone launch sites. In any case, skeptics abound. . . but, admit it, an actual peace agreement would be quite a coup.
It would distasteful most of all to the mass formation lunatics of America’s Lefty-left “Resistance.” Anything that advances our country’s actual interests is hateful to them. In fact, when you think of it, the Lefty-left is in thrall to the same sort of world-ending chaos as the mullahs and their IRGC henchmen. The mullahs have their vision of the post-apocalyptic Islamic utopia and the Lefty-left has its dream of a post-revolutionary socialist nirvana where everyone is equal (except those who are more equal — and get to boss around the rest of us.)
Yeah, it’s an old story here in Western Civ, this recurring drive to level the existing social hierarchy so as to abolish the tendency of some people to do better in life than others. It never works out. It always leads to mass slaughter of some kind. It always ends in rueful disappointment and a return to the free-for-all that is the human project. The outstanding question might be: why do so many in the West continue to believe it?
The current uprising comes out of the strange conversion of Liberalism to Lefty-left Democratic-Socialist Progressivism. Remember, liberalism was pure live-and-let-live, with an emphasis on minimal government intrusion in our affairs, especially economic affairs. The Liberals of Boomerdom — the campus nirvanas of the 1960s — were contemptuous of government generally, but especially the FBI and the CIA. And, of course, the hippie vanguard was socially and culturally all about the freedom to do your own thing. Freedom of speech was a leading concern.
The Lefty-left, as it evolved under Barack Obama and “Joe Biden,” was about rigid intolerance for opposing ideas and maximal government involvement in your life, especially economic and sexual — making a pass at a girl became subject to litigation. The FBI was loosed on dissenters from Lefty-left policies. Juridical sadism became systematized as Lawfare. The Lefty-left constructed a huge censorship apparatus; no more freedom of speech. They used law and regulation to attempt social leveling; no more discipline in school for black kids because . . . racism! Discriminate against Whitey for jobs. . . anti-racism! Election fraud = “our democracy.” You see how all that went?
Turns out, they wanted to use the government to overthrow the government! And the social order it rode in on! Hence, the ten-year-long crusade to destroy one Donald Trump, the peculiar “Gray Champion” of our Fourth Turning, who turned out to be a staunch counter-revolutionary, that is, an opponent of this new Democratic-Socialist Progressive (wannabe-communist) corps of chaos agents.
One schematic way of understanding this dynamic is Peter Turchin’s theory of Elite Overproduction. By the early 2000s, with anybody and everybody going to college, there were not enough job positions in the real productive economy for this spewage of college degree-holding entrees to the Professional / Managerial Class. By this time, coincidentally, the colleges they were graduating from were infested by three generations of Marxist professors — i.e., adults enjoying cozy institutional security, with no experience in the real world, free to indulge in Marxian revenge fantasies and make them the basis of their teaching.
It was the perfect setup for the emergence of a matrix of NGOs and political activist orgs that could employ all these college graduates which the real economy had no place for. And the new hires were pre-programmed in the ideology of grievance, tinged with racial and sexual animus in addition to economic complaint.
So, voila! — America (and Western Civ generally) became infested with these pernicious Lefty-left operations, which became symbionts of the government themselves, many of the orgs dependent on government (USAID) to fund their activities and pay the management. They got scads of additional money from wealthy freelance chaos maestros like George Soros, Bill Gates, Klaus Schwab, Reid Hoffman, Neville Roy Singham and others.

That’s exactly what it is. Carried out by nazis.

• Ukraine Conflict Is ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ of Russian Speakers – Candace Owens (RT)

The Ukraine conflict appears to be an “ethnic cleansing” project aimed at removing the Russian-speaking population from the country’s eastern border regions, US conservative commentator Candace Owens has said. Owens made the remarks in an interview with Russian filmmaker and TV host Nikita Mikhalkov during a discussion about the roots of the conflict and the West’s attitude toward Russia. “I think what’s happening in Ukraine is an ethnic cleansing,” Owens said, arguing that it was “obvious” that large numbers of fighting-age men were being killed, and suggested that “the ultimate goal” of those behind the conflict was to move in “other people” to Ukraine’s border regions.

Moscow has long maintained that the conflict stems from the Western-backed 2014 coup in Kiev, which overthrew then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, and the subsequent military campaign launched by the new authorities against Donbass, where much of the population is Russian-speaking and historically close to Russia. Mikhalkov stressed that Russia was not fighting Ukrainians but “Satan,” arguing that Kiev had turned against Russia, the Orthodox faith and the shared history of the two peoples. Since 2014, Ukraine has effectively banned the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and barred the use of the Russian language in virtually all aspects of life.
Owens agreed with the broader religious framing of the conflict, suggesting that “satanic” forces have established a foothold in the West. She pointed to modern France and the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony, which included a parody of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper with drag performers and LGBT imagery, as an example of Satanism and a mockery of Christianity. She also noted that “satanic” forces in the West fear Russia because its emphasis on history gives people a different understanding of the world.
Owens linked that idea to several major revolutions, including the French Revolution of 1789 and the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, which she described as “satanic.” After taking power, the Bolsheviks launched a violent anti-religious campaign against the Russian Orthodox Church, seizing church property, persecuting clergy and promoting state atheism. Owens stated that the West’s continued hostility toward Russia appears to be driven by the descendants of Russian Jewish families associated with the assassination of Tsar Nicholas II and the Bolshevik Revolution.
She argued that in the early 20th century, many of these families emigrated to the West, where they gained influence and power, including in the media, and have continued to promote anti-Russian narratives. Russia has repeatedly argued that the Ukraine conflict was triggered by Kiev’s persecution of Russian speakers in Donbass and by Western efforts to turn Ukraine into an anti-Russian project. Kiev and its Western backers have rejected Moscow’s justification for the military operation, describing it as an unprovoked invasion.

40 labs in Ukraine alone?! The mind boggles…

• DNI Tulsi Gabbard Releases New Info on 120 US Govt Funded Biolabs (CTH)

Moments ago, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released the first batch in a series of declassified documents highlighting 120 U.S. government biolabs that are operating throughout the world. Many of these biolabs are working on weaponized viruses’ and present a significant threat to public safety.

TULSI GABBARD – “Today, I’m releasing never before seen intelligence revealing new evidence of past US government funding for more than 120 biolabs in over 30 countries, including Ukraine. In support of President Trump‘s Executive Order to end federal funding of dangerous gain of function research around the world, and increase transparency and accountability, ODNI will continue working with partners across the Administration to identify where these labs are, what pathogens they contain, and what “research” is being conducted.” WATCH:

DNI Press Release: WASHINGTON D.C. — After months of searching through Intelligence Community holdings and files, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard is revealing new evidence of longstanding United States government funding for more than 120 biolabs in over 30 countries. These biolabs include labs in Ukraine, which may be at risk of compromise due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. For example, the Intelligence Community previously warned that a US-funded biolab in Ukraine likely housed dangerous pathogens and remained vulnerable to longstanding threats of Russian attack, seizure, or damage.
Until now, evidence regarding the full existence and funding of these laboratories had been knowingly withheld from the American people. The information surrounding the existence, history, locations and funding of these US funded biolabs has been intentionally covered up by powerful people falsely, claiming that they do not exist and accusing anyone who says otherwise to be foreign assets and traitors to America. Many of these U.S. government-funded biolabs are currently or have previously engaged in research using hazardous and highly contagious pathogens, in some cases to include dangerous Gain-of-Function research, with very little visibility or oversight.
President Trump understands the serious threat dangerous Gain-of-Function research poses to the American people, which is why he took decisive action on May 25, 2025, signing EO 14292 to end federal funding of Gain-of-Function research around the world.
“Despite the obvious potential for catastrophic global impact research on dangerous pathogens in biolabs can have, politicians, so-called health professionals like Dr. Fauci, and entities within the Biden administration’s national security team lied to the American people about the existence of U.S.-funded and supported biolabs, and threatened those who attempted to expose the truth. ODNI will continue to work closely with partners across the government to identify where these labs are, what pathogens they contain to end dangerous Gain-of-Function research that threatens the health and wellbeing of the American people and people around the world,” said DNI Gabbard.
DNI Gabbard issued new guidance to the Intelligence Community directing increased collection on these laboratories and facilities overseas. This directive is already providing new details on clinical trials that are underway at these facilities, raising significant ethical, financial, and security concerns regarding these supposed public health initiatives and U.S. national security.

Will Canada ever be free again?

• US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra Deserves a Combat Medal (CTH)

Watching U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra discussing current U.S-Canada trade dynamics is to be witnessing one man behind enemy lines trying to explain a situation the audience cannot fathom. It really is remarkable. The longer he is assigned to this almost hopeless task, the more he develops an ‘I don’t give a damn‘ attitude, regardless of the audience size. It’s completely understandable.

The Canadian government controls the information available to the entire country. The Canadian media push that skewed information to the entire country. Then there’s Ambassador Hoekstra; the guy with completely different information, trying against all odds to present a viewpoint that is so fundamentally different the audience cannot grasp it. In this video segment all of the dynamics come into play, but that’s not the real value in this capture. WATCH:

What I would recommend to all those who have followed this genuinely bizarre disassociation topic, is to go to YouTube and read the comments underneath this CTV video. I love and respect our Canadian Treepers who are here with us in the CTH branches of discussion. I cannot fathom what it must be like to live in Canada amid this level of social, cognitive dissonance. You have my utmost respect and sympathy.
Within all of the Canadian free trade agreements (FTAs), regardless of nation, there is something called a baseline memorandum of understanding (MOU). That MOU outlines how the trade agreement for goods sold into Canada are contingent upon Canada retaining access to the U.S. market. When the USMCA is dissolved, almost every single FTA organized by the Canadian government that matters, collapses. Canadians have no concept of what is coming.

“… there’s no mistaking it..”

• England Is a B**ch (Robert Spencer)

The news is as appalling, infuriating, sick-making, inexcusable, and earth-shaking, but one thing it isn’t is surprising. The revelation that one of the chief financiers of the principal forces arrayed against Britain, and the West in general, is the British government, is all too much in keeping with the suicidal leftism we have seen from that government (whether the Tories or Labour are in power) for years now. So of course they’re funding ISIS. What else would they do? And the rot is even deeper than that.

The Daily Mail reported Monday that the British government “gave more than £28 billion in taxpayer cash to its enemies over six years, a leaked government dossier revealed last night.” And not just any enemies, either. If the British government had really given 28 billion pounds to its enemies, it would have forked over the dough to Tommy Robinson. But instead, the learned solons in London gave the money to their friends. You know, like ISIS.
The Mail states that “terrorists such as the Islamic State in Syria group, hostile states including Russia and criminal gangs received the vast sum from foreign aid, Covid relief loans and the benefits system, which an expert said was an ‘ATM for terrorists.’” And as these things always do, it gets worse. The report “revealed that Britain helped companies linked to the Chinese military pursue their own research between 2015 and 2021.” The Islamic State, Russia, China, and criminal gangs: all on the British taxpayer dole.
How could this have happened? Pondering that question called to mind a phrase I have not heard in decades, since the days when I was a young Marxist enjoying the benefits of an expensive university education: “Inglan is a b**ch.” (“Inglan” is, of course, Jamaican patois for “England.”) This pungent phrase is actually the title of a catchy little song, the handiwork of a Jamaican “dub poet” named Linton Kwesi Johnson, who has lived in the land for which he has such contempt since 1963 (he is now 73 years old).
Linton Kwesi Johnson penned this classic tune about the miseries of living in his adopted homeland in 1980, and one of my fellow employees at Revolution Books, the Revolutionary Communist Party’s bookstore, introduced me to it not long after that. It never occurred either to her or to me that it was ironic in the extreme for Johnson to be complaining about Britain from Britain; after all, if he hated it there so much, why didn’t he just move back to Jamaica?
For whatever reason, he didn’t, and his choice to remain in the country he calls a “b**ch” has been rewarding indeed. He said in 2018 that he became a “dub poet” as a “way of expressing the anger, the passion of the youth of my generation in terms of our struggle against racial oppression. Poetry was a cultural weapon in the black liberation struggle, so that’s how it began.” He claimed in the same interview that “it was a myth that immigrants didn’t want to fit into British society. We weren’t allowed.”
Without a trace of irony, that same interview notes that Johnson “became only the second living poet to have his work published by Penguin Modern Classics, and was the 2012 winner of the Golden PEN award for his ‘distinguished service to literature.” Another laudatory profile details some of the numerous honors Johnson has received in the UK: “LKJ was awarded the C Day Lewis Fellowship in 1977. He became the writer-in-residence for the London Borough of Lambeth for that year. He went on to work as the Library Resources and Education Officer at the Keskidee Centre, the first home of Black theatre and art. He has been made an Associate Fellow of Warwick University (1985), an Honorary Fellow of Wolverhampton Polytechnic (1987),” and on and on.
Yeah, wow, “Inglan” is really a “b**ch,” eh? Britain didn’t persecute Linton Kwesi Johnson. It didn’t consign him to menial work, or deny him work altogether. Instead, it made him a celebrity, a wealthy, cosseted giant of literature and music. What a b**ch!Laden with honors, treated with unstinting respect and deference in his dotage from the British intelligentsia, Linton Kwesi Johnson is just one of many cultural heroes in the West who hate and denigrate the very cultures that celebrate them. The UK, the U.S., Canada and continental Europe have made revered figures out of numerous people who heap contempt on the native people and their culture and civilization. The situation has advanced to the point that one can hardly expect to have a voice in the culture at all unless one despises that culture.
In light of that, is it really all that shocking that the British government would be handing over taxpayer money to ISIS? This wasn’t just appeasement on the order of “We’ll pay you not to hurt us.” It was an act of self-abnegation of an inferior toward a superior. The British government is filled top to bottom today with people who have raised on the idea that the native culture is rotten. Why shouldn’t they hand over the money British citizens have earned to people who are not tainted with Britishness? The Jamaican transplant Linton Kwesi Johnson, hater of the land that welcomed him, his head bowed down with the weight of his medals and honors, is the symbol of contemporary Britain. And it looks as if he was right all along: “Inglan,” financier of the Islamic State, really is a b**ch.

Starmer’s roleis to waste away the last bits of respect Englan’ has.

• Starmer Heads to NATO Weaker Than Ever (David Manney)

Keir Starmer lost two defense officials in one day, and both men left over the same basic charge: Britain’s defense plans don’t match the danger in front of it. John Healey, the UK defense secretary, resigned today. Al Carns, the minister for the armed forces, followed him out the door hours later. For a prime minister already limping through 2026, the timing could hardly be worse. Healey told Starmer that the government’s financial settlement for defense fell well short of what’s required, writing that Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves had not committed enough money to keep Britain safe while threats from Russia, Iran, and other hostile powers grew sharper.

The Guardian reviews portions of Healey’s letter and applies their interpretation of the message behind the words. “You have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats.” A mere 250 words in, and we get to the crux. Starmer, Healey notes, recognised both the scale of the threat and the need for more funding, based around the defence investment plan (Dip), which had been due this week but is now delayed. Healey then spells out what many in Westminster assumed – that the delay was owing to wrangling with the Treasury, and that Rachel Reeves’s department was blocking the sorts of sums Healey wanted.
Notably more wounding is the notion that Starmer was “unable” to stop this. Healey, it should be remembered, was among four cabinet ministers who spoke to the prime minister shortly after May’s local elections, asking him to consider his future given the heavy Labour losses. Here, Healey does not sound convinced that Starmer has since got a grip on things. Fox News reports that the resignations reached a “seismic” crisis for Starmer. Healey’s departure stemmed from a dispute over the delayed Defense Investment Plan (DIP) — the government’s long-promised roadmap for military investment and readiness — and as NATO allies face renewed pressure from Trump to boost defense spending.
“John Healey’s resignation is a seismic moment for the government and the Ministry of Defense,” Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Senior Associate Fellow Ed Arnold told Fox News Digital. “For the government, it creates a sequence of political headaches in terms of a replacement, and trying to get the Defense Investment Plan published.” Carns, a decorated former Royal Marines officer who served multiple tours in Afghanistan, said he couldn’t defend the spending level in good conscience from the government’s front bench. Starmer quickly named Dan Jarvis, a former British Army officer and Labour MP, as secretary of state for defense. Jarvis brings military experience, which helps.
Still, a hurried appointment can’t erase the sight of two senior defense figures walking away at the same moment Britain needs a steady voice. Governments survive resignations, but they have a more difficult time surviving resignations that confirm what critics already suspected. Starmer won a landslide in 2024 and looked, for a brief season, like a man who had pulled Labour out of exile and into command. Two years later, the room feels colder. Labour took heavy losses in the May 2026 local elections, including defeats in areas the party once treated like family ground. Starmer accepted responsibility and vowed to keep going, but the result fed open pressure inside Labour and gave Nigel Farage’s Reform UK a national opening. From Reuters:
“The main beneficiary was the populist Reform UK party of Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, which gained more than 1,000 council seats in England, and will likely form the main opposition in Scotland and Wales to the pro-independence Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru.” Early results underscored the fracturing of Britain’s traditional two-party system, with the once-dominant Labour and Conservative parties losing votes not only to Reform, but to the left-wing Green Party at the other end of the political spectrum, and to nationalists in Scotland and Wales.
The defense resignations deepen a problem Starmer had already made for himself. Earlier this year, he restricted the United States from using British bases for offensive strikes against Iran, allowing only limited defensive missions against Iranian missile targets. President Donald Trump was dealing with a dangerous Middle East moment, and Starmer chose a narrow lane. He may have thought he was showing caution, but he also reminded Washington that Britain’s help now comes wrapped in hesitation.
Now comes NATO. The alliance meets in Ankara, Turkey, on July 7 and 8, with Secretary General Mark Rutte chairing the summit. President Trump is expected to press allies hard on defense spending, and Britain will arrive with fresh churn at the top of its defense team.

Video made with Grok Imagine https://t.co/vTT6Amgl0k
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 11, 2026

Grok is maximally truthful https://t.co/He3YElo9Tg
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 11, 2026

COVID SHOTS KILLED MORE AMERICANS THAN WORLD WAR I, WORLD WAR II, THE VIETNAM WAR, AND THE IRAQ WAR COMBINED

We now have internal documents proving the FDA COVERED-UP the LARGEST biomedical catastrophe in history.

Criminal prosecutions are urgently warranted. https://t.co/xhTUyixSpf pic.twitter.com/PB8lrL43R9
— Nicolas Hulscher, MPH (@NicHulscher) June 11, 2026

This is a scandal WAY bigger than Watergate.@CNN, @MSNOWNews, @NBCNews, @ABC, @PBS — it's past time to cover this.

People died from the COVID shot because the government lied to them, yet the legacy media refuses to report on this story. pic.twitter.com/1NQ483OLaB
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) June 11, 2026

The most famous painting of the ancient Greek philosophers is full of hidden portraits of Renaissance artists.

The figure of Plato is Leonardo da Vinci. The brooding man writing alone on the marble block is Michelangelo. And in the corner, looking straight out at you, is the… pic.twitter.com/Ldv49LOMKK
— James Lucas (@JamesLucasIT) June 11, 2026

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Debt Rattle May 22 2026

May 222026

May 22, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:25 am Finance Tagged with: autopsy, ayatollah, DNC, drills, Fetterman, mass migration, patriots, SpaceX, Starmer, Tehran, UK, Ukraine, uranium, Vance 22 Responses »

Evelyn De Morgan Night and Sleep 1878

• Iranian President: Won’t Back Down (ZH)

• Ayatollah Orders Highly-Enriched Uranium To Remain In Iran (ZH)

• Trump Posts Article Laying Out How To Crush Tehran In Three Moves (ZH)

• Elon Musk Wants a Trillion-Dollar Payday, but There’s One Little Catch (Green)

• SpaceX Files For Nasdaq IPO Under Symbol SPCX (ZH)

• Is This the Beginning of the End for John Fetterman? (Matt Margolis)

• The DNC 2024 Autopsy Is Here, and It’s a Disaster (Amy Curtis)

• What Really Happened in Virginia’s Redistricting Case (Von Spakovsky)

• Vance Urges UK Patriots To Defend Their Culture Against Starmer (MN)

• ‘Russians Ready For Conversation’ With Europe — Kremlin (TASS)

• Europe Seeks To Block Any Talks On Ukraine Settlement — Russian Diplomat (TASS)

• Russia Holds Massive Nuclear Drills On Land, Sea And Air (ZH)

• Irrelevant Europe (J.B. Shurk)

https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/2057129253444202498?s=20 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/2057337929589039126?s=20

The SpaceX team is incredible! https://t.co/eqSByVrEW0
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 21, 2026

Obama was a one-man Trojan Horse for radical Islam. He flooded America with Muslims by the millions in the dark of night and funded Iran’s efforts to build nuclear weapons. Let’s face the fact that every conspiracy theory about this traitor was true. https://t.co/3UeHPe0K6k
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) May 21, 2026

Are they imitating themselves, or Trump?

• Iranian President: Won’t Back Down (ZH)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has stated, “We will not bow our heads, our ministers and experts are working day and night, without a single day off.” He added, per state sources: “We are willing to sacrifice as much as possible for the honor and pride of Iran, and we are not afraid of martyrdom.” And just like that… Markets reversed earlier gains as Iran’s President said on state TV that they won’t back down in talks. The momentum then picked up when a “high-level source” told Al-Arabiya that the Pakistani Army Chief will not head to Tehran tonight.

The Pakistani were supposed to head to Iran only when the reach of an agreement was in sight, so this kind of denies the earlier reports of a US and Iran draft agreement. US stock indices erased more than half of earlier gains. We’ve seen the same reaction in oil, FX and bond markets but now they are consolidating. Still, Al Jazeera is reporting that “negotiators are very close to reaching a deal, and are currently working on a draft text. At the same time, another source told Al Jazeera that it is too early to judge whether a serious, final agreement is within reach.”
IRNA has cited a Pakistani official who says the talks are “moving in the right direct” – though it’s anyone’s guess at this point. The prior reported draft did not take up the nuclear issue. Trump continues to press the nuclear issue. US President Donald Trump has again pledged to seize Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium as part of any agreement over Tehran’s nuclear program.
“Look, we’re going to make sure they don’t have a nuclear weapon or we’re going to have to do something very drastic. I believe when it’s put to the people of our country, they will all agree we cannot let Iran get a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters at the White House. Asked whether Iran could retain its enriched uranium, Trump replied: “No, we will get it. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, we’ll probably destroy it after we get it. But we’re not going to let them have it.”

Russia’s the best we can do for him. If Trump agrees.

• Ayatollah Orders Highly-Enriched Uranium To Remain In Iran (ZH)

,The illusion of a grand diplomatic breakthrough in the Middle East is once again colliding with reality. The White House has been busy trying to paint a picture of a total capitulation by Tehran, which hasn’t been demonstrated given its consistent position defying Washington’s demands on the nuclear issue. According to two senior Iranian officials speaking to Reuters, Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has drawn a hard line in the sand, ordering that Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% remain strictly inside Iranian territory.

Reuters underscores that “Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s order could further frustrate U.S. President Donald Trump and complicate talks on ending the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.” “Israeli officials have told Reuters that Trump has assured Israel that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, needed to make an atomic weapon, will be sent out of Iran and that any peace deal must include a clause on this,” the report continues.The officials noted that within Tehran, there is deep suspicion that the ceasefire is in fact “a tactical deception by the US,” designed to lull Iran into a “false sense of security… before the fighting resumes.”
The fresh directive from from the supreme leader flies directly in the face of the narrative being spun by Washington and Tel Aviv, given Israeli officials maintain that President Trump explicitly promised Israel that Iran’s highly enriched stockpile would be completely removed from the country as part of any negotiated settlement. Trump has also recently proclaimed this publicly, for example in a phone interview with CBS News last month, wherein he confidently proclaimed that Iran “agreed to everything” and would cooperate fully to ship its enriched uranium out of the country.
Extraction of nuclear material would of course rely heavily on the assumption of total Iranian compliance, given Trump has also lately appeared to rule out out a hostile invasion force, stating, “No. No troops.” There seems to be widespread agreement among national security officials at this point that some kind of special forces op to covertly go in and take it would be tantamount to a ‘suicide mission’. According to more of what Trump (prematurely) proclaimed in the prior CBS interview: “Our people, together with the Iranians, are going to work together to go get it. And then we’ll take it to the United States.” The reality is all along the two sides’ positions have been very far apart, and largely unbending:
And on a potential deal: “We’ll be getting it together because by that time, we’ll have an agreement and there’s no need for fighting when there’s an agreement. Nice right? That’s better. We would have done it the other way if we had to” – he sought to explain. At the moment, Iranian officials are reportedly reviewing the latest updated US proposals for peace, having reportedly asked Pakistan for time to assess and study the American points for negotiations.”

I don’t quite get it. The date on that is May 1. What gives?

• Trump Posts Article Laying Out How To Crush Tehran In Three Moves (ZH)

President Trump on Thursday posted to Truth Social a New York Post article which was first published over two weeks ago, on May 1st, with the headline “Here’s how to crush Tehran in three moves.” Trump’s new social media post, issued without additional comment, comes just after news of Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei having drawn a hard line in the sand, ordering that Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% remain strictly inside Iranian territory. So now the world awaits what’s next at a moment the White House has renewed threats of massive military strikes if Iran doesn’t quickly come to the table and conform.

The NY Post article had straight-faced and without a hint of intended irony proclaimed: “President Trump has the upper hand.” That statement was issued on day 63 of Trump’s Iran war. Today is day 83. What did the interim look like as the world’s most powerful military force has been unable to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, amid constant threats to take new, bigger military action – but which never actually materializes (at least not yet) no matter how many times the Iranians reject Washington’s terms?
The below timeline and outline, stretching from last week into this one, basically illustrates the weekly Trump pattern that’s been on display going back many weeks at this point:
Wed: Iran wants a deal. They called us
Thu: We are looking at proposals
Fri: We might be close. Very close
Sat: Iran knows what to do
Sun: OBLITERATION. TOTAL. COMPLETE. They have 24 hrs.
Mon: The storm is coming
Tue: I’m giving it more time
This is what ‘winning’ looks like according to the NY Post, apparently. The publication also feels itself in a position to give ‘advice’ and guidance to the White House on executing a war. “His best path forward is to pursue three lines of effort in parallel,” author Richard Goldberg (of Foundation for Defense of Democracies) wrote. It must be remembered that very recently a former senior official from FDD Action, the think tank’s lobbying arm, joined Trump’s Iran negotiating team – his name is Nick Stewart.
Here are the three:
• Sustain the blockade and accompanying economic warfare to destabilize the regime’s hold on the state;
• Remake the world in America’s energy dominance image to mitigate long-term price impacts while undermining China’s global ambition to defeat the United States;
• Order the US military to forge a path through the Strait of Hormuz to restore freedom of navigation on our terms not Tehran’s.
…if only simply ordering a military “path through” was that easy!
“You might call the latter Operation Epic Passage — a combined naval and air mission of self-defense that offers escort to tankers and restores freedom of navigation, all while making clear to Tehran the devastating consequences of breaking cease-fire,” Goldberg, who openly boasts of his close ties to the Israeli government, also wrote. He further offered the mission name of “Blockade Plus”. After the opening days and weeks of Operation Epic Fury, when it became clear that the large-scale US and Israeli bombardment would not produced regime change in Iran, pundits widely questioned whether the Trump White House actually had a plan, or long-term strategic vision for the military mission.
And now, after more than 80 days in, the public gets Trump posting a NY Post article by a hawkish FDD writer, which seems more focused merely on ways to mitigate the blowback and ‘make the best’ of a failed regime change operation, in the wake of the administration’s constantly evolving stated goals.

“..more than one billion Class B shares when and if the company establishes “a permanent human colony on Mars with at least one million inhabitants,”

How long do you think it will take to get one million people living on Mars? Will Musk live to see it?

• Elon Musk Wants a Trillion-Dollar Payday, but There’s One Little Catch (Green)

The world finally got a peek at SpaceX’s closely held financials, after Elon Musk’s closely held space launch company filed for its initial public offering on Wednesday — and the details made a bigger splash than one of the company’s Starships making an uncontrolled water landing. The first shocker is that Musk’s salary last year was just $54,000. That’s about the same as a new human resources assistant or an apprentice electrician. That’s the only small figure you’ll see in the rest of this column because after this, the zeros get added on in a hurry. You know what? Forget the tease, and let’s go straight to the biggest figure.

In SpaceX’s nearly 400-page S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company projects a Total Addressable Market (TAM) of $28.5 trillion. That’s a two and an eight and a five followed by 11 zeros. TAM is business jargon for “What’s the size of our market if everybody who needed our product or service actually bought our product or service?” SpaceX’s TAM includes launch customers, Starlink users, and xAI (that’s the company’s AI division) compute services. It’s the company’s compute ambitions that account for the lion’s share of the TAM.
Of the $28.5 trillion, “only about $2 trillion is directly related to space or the company’s Starlink network,” Ars Technica reported. “The remaining $26.5 trillion is believed to come from AI, largely from enterprise applications.” I had no idea how big xAI had already gotten until the Wall Street Journal revealed Wednesday night that “SpaceX is renting out compute capacity across its two large data centers to Anthropic, for some $1.25 billion a month.” And Anthropic is a rival. It’s no small feat when your competitor pays you nine figures, 12 times a year, for the privilege of using the same data centers you use for your LLM to run theirs. Nice work if you can get it, right?
“We believe we have identified the largest TAM in human history,” the company boasted in its S-1 report. “We believe our next trillion-dollar market is AI compute, which we contemplate will leverage our rockets and satellites for massive orbital deployment.” Putting computer centers in orbit solves the power problem with unlimited solar, and also clears a lot of regulatory hurdles. By hundreds of miles. The problem, of course, is getting all those birds flying. In January, SpaceX applied to the FAA for permission to launch one million satellites into Earth’s orbit to power xAI. One million satellites might be nothing more than a dream, but Starship — aka The Most Powerful Rocket in the World and Getting More Powerful All the Time — is key to realizing just a fraction of it.
The launch window for Starship Flight Test 12 opens at 6:30 p.m. Eastern today. So what’s this about Musk’s trillion-dollar payday? Musk’s salary might not be any bigger than a typical base-level IT support specialist’s, but he also has two yuge equity packages based on stellar performance. In March, SpaceX awarded Musk more than 300 million shares. But those shares only vest when and if the company completes construction of its “non-Earth-based data centers,” including 12 market cap goals that add $6.6 trillion in shareholder value. That’s more than triple the best current estimate of SpaceX’s worth. That’s not the big payout, however.
Musk will also earn more than one billion Class B shares when and if the company establishes “a permanent human colony on Mars with at least one million inhabitants,” and another series of market cap goals that increase the company’s worth by $7.5 trillion. With this IPO, Musk will almost certainly become the world’s first trillionaire. If he completes just one of the company’s two (admittedly ambitious) payouts, he’ll instantly become the first multitrillionaire.But let’s bring all this back down to Earth for a moment. Asa Fitch noted for the WSJ that “SpaceX made $18.7 billion of revenue last year. Getting to trillions will take quite a while, if it happens at all.”
That is an awfully big if. But if investors had to bet on anybody being able to do it — and they’ll finally get their chance with this IPO — it has to be the company’s $54,000 man.

Impressive wherever you look.

• SpaceX Files For Nasdaq IPO Under Symbol SPCX (ZH)

As expected, SpaceX filed its S1. The stock is expected to list on Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas under the ticker “SPCX.” No specific share count, price range, or total offering size is finalized yet (placeholders are used). But, with expectations of a $1.5 trillion market cap, that means SPCX will trade at a 77x LTM Revenue multiple!

Mission and Overview SpaceX’s mission is to make life multiplanetary, advance scientific understanding of the universe, and extend consciousness to the stars. It positions itself as a vertically integrated builder across Space, Connectivity (Starlink), and AI (via xAI acquisition). The company has revolutionized space access with reusable rockets (Falcon family, Starship development), built the world’s largest LEO satellite constellation for broadband, and is scaling AI compute and frontier models (Grok) with real-time data from X.
Key Corporate Details
Dual-class structure: Class A (1 vote/share) and Class B (10 votes/share). Elon Musk (founder, CEO, CTO, Chairman) will retain dominant voting control post-IPO (majority of the board via Class B and overall voting power), making SpaceX a “controlled company” under Nasdaq rules. Basis of presentation: Financials include retrospective recasts for the xAI acquisition (Feb 2026) and X Holdings (via xAI, 2025), plus a 5-for-1 stock split (May 2026). Underwriters: Led by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BofA, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, and others.
Consolidated Financial Highlights (preliminary/selected):
Q1 2026: Revenue $4.69B, operating loss $1.94B, Adjusted EBITDA $1.13B. FY 2025: Revenue $18.67B, operating loss $2.59B, Adjusted EBITDA $6.58B. Heavy capex (especially AI) and Starship R&D; Starlink (Connectivity) is the current profit engine.
Business Segments (as of/through Q1 2026 and FY 2025)
Space (launches, Dragon, Starship development): Dominant global launch provider (>80% of mass-to-orbit in recent years, >99% Falcon success rate). Key vehicles: Falcon 9 (reusable, ~23t to LEO), Falcon Heavy (~64t), Dragon (cargo/crew to ISS), Starship (in testing, targeting full reusability and massive scale).Revenue: $619M (Q1 2026), $4.1B (2025). Still investing heavily in R&D/Starship.
Connectivity (Starlink):
~9,600 broadband/mobile satellites in LEO (~10.3M subscribers across 164 countries/territories as of Mar 31, 2026). High-speed, low-latency broadband (median ~225 Mbps peak for residential); expanding enterprise, government, maritime/aviation, and satellite-to-mobile (direct-to-phone, ~650 dedicated satellites, ~7.4M devices in ~30 countries). Strong growth: Revenue $3.26B (Q1 2026), $11.4B (2025, +~50% YoY); highly profitable at segment level.
AI (xAI/Grok/X integration):
Gigawatt-scale terrestrial AI training clusters (e.g., COLOSSUS); plans for orbital AI compute satellites (using solar power, starting ~2028).
Grok frontier models (truth-seeking, strong scientific reasoning benchmarks); integrated with X (~1.3B supported accounts, 550M MAUs, hundreds of millions of daily posts).
Revenue $818M (Q1 2026), $3.2B (2025), but heavy losses due to compute/infrastructure investments.
Here’s the financials visualized (xAI is represented by the green slabs)…

Free cash flow struggling under the weight of that giant green slabs…

So, xAI is the giant money suck while Starlink keeps the engine running (but despite breaking out in 2025, Starlink user growth seems to be slowing a little):

Finally, one thing that stood out was that Anthropic is paying xAI $1.25BN per month (through May 2029) to utilize ‘Colossus’ for AI compute.

Musk took to X to explain further his vision for this segment:
“As the recently expanded partnership with Anthropic demonstrates, SpaceX is offering AI compute as a service at significant scale.
We are in discussions with other companies to do the same.
Over time, especially with orbital data centers, we expect to serve AI at extremely high scale.

If you build it (in space), they will come?

As a Democrat, perhaps, yes.

• Is This the Beginning of the End for John Fetterman? (Matt Margolis)

John Fetterman’s chief of staff, Cabelle St. John, resigned on Wednesday, according to a source who spoke to Axios. She had been with the Pennsylvania Democrat since he first arrived in Washington roughly three-and-a-half years ago and was elevated to chief of staff in 2025. Her official last day is still weeks away, but the writing was on the wall long before this week. This isn’t a one-off. Fetterman experienced a staff exodus in 2025, and the pattern of turnover is a sign that his rare independent streak is just too much for his party to tolerate. Former aides have cited frustration with his unwavering support for Israel, his noticeably warmer relationship with President Donald Trump, and what they describe as a difficult working environment on a personal level.

“This is a guy who came in talking about being a champion for labor and he’s gone pretty quiet on it,” the former aide said last year. “This is a guy who, since Trump won, is, for lack of a better word, basically a useful idiot for Republicans. He’s supporting stuff, and it gives them cover to say, ‘Look it’s bipartisan, we got Fetterman.'” None of this seems to bother Fetterman. After Axios published the story, he fired off a text to the outlet dismissing the whole thing. “So much for the turnover issue. Clicks!” he wrote, attaching an image claiming other Senate offices have higher turnover rates.It sounds like he’s not exactly losing sleep over it.
In a recent appearance on Jesse Watters’ show, Fetterman cut to the heart of what separates him from the rest of his party. “Why can’t we just, you know, root for our military?” he said. “Why can’t we just say I don’t have to agree with everything the president has done or the kind of things that he says. But, you know, we should be on the side of America, and we should be on the side of civilization and the free world. And I’m on that side. And I don’t know why I’m the only Democrat that says those kinds of things at this point.”
And that’s the whole problem for his party, anyway. He’s asking a question that should have an obvious answer, and it doesn’t, because the modern Democratic Party instinctively opposes Trump on everything, including things that are just plain old stupid to oppose. They’re even whining about repairing the reflecting pool, for crying out loud.
The message from the left to Fetterman is: You’re not staying in your lane, and you have to be punished. Support the war in Iran? Support strong borders? Support Israel? Well, sorry, you’re way out of touch with the Democratic Party today. This isn’t a good sign for him. Sure, congressional staff experience turnover all the time, but how many Democratic staffers are going to want to join his staff to replace those who left? Working for Fetterman is likely to become a career-ender for those who want to work in Washington, and I can totally see Democrats using this as a means to pressure Fetterman into compliance.
The resignation of Fetterman’s chief of staff may be just the latest domino to fall, but the real question looming over Fetterman’s political future is whether this staff exodus marks the beginning of the end for a senator who refuses to play by his party’s rules. Democrats demand ideological conformity, and Fetterman’s rare independent streak will become a liability, making his office radioactive to potential staffers — staffers he needs to function.

We’ll see more about this. Funny it’s just a report, but everyone seems to call it an autopsy.

• The DNC 2024 Autopsy Is Here, and It’s a Disaster (Amy Curtis)

The DNC 2024 Autopsy Is Here, and It’s a Disaster. Last week, Kamala Harris was telling donors she wanted the DNC’s 2024 election report, probably better referred to as an autopsy, released. Now the report is coming out, and it’s bound to be a doozy. DNC Chair Ken Martin released a statement on the report, admitting it’s not up to his standards. And you’ll soon see why.

Read more about what I have to say here: https://t.co/9wochQttN5 pic.twitter.com/2REle6FPY3
— Ken Martin (@kenmartin73) May 21, 2026

Here’s what the statement says: “When I was elected DNC chair, I commissioned an after-action review of the 2024 election that I wanted to be honest and transparent, and with actionable and specific takeaways for the future of the Democratic Party. When I received the report late last year, it wasn’t ready for primetime — not even close — and because no source material was provided, it would have meant starting over. I could not in good faith put the DNC’s stamp of approval on the report that was produced.
After last November’s massive Democratic wins, I didn’t want to create a distraction, but by not putting the report out, I ended up creating an even bigger distraction. For that, I sincerely apologize. For full transparency, I am releasing the report as we received it, in its entirety, unedited and unabridged. It does not meet my standards, and it won’t meet your standards, but I am doing this because people need to be able to trust the Democratic Party and trust our word.
There’s a lot to parse in this statement. The first takeaway is that the DNC is such a mess that they looked at this report and had no way of actually fixing it. This tells us their party is just as big a disaster as this report. Second, the ‘massive Democratic wins’ Martin touts have largely been a disaster. Spanberger got smacked down by both the Virginia state Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, Democrats are losing House seats across the country, and approval of Congressional Democrats is at a new all-time low.

Hey Democrats, put down the champagne. Here are your numbers: 70% of voters DISAPPROVE of the way Democrats are handling their job. Only 21% approve. Only 41% of Democrats approve. PITIFUL. All-time LOW.
— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) June 11, 2025

Ouch.
Parts of the report are being summarized and shared online. The biggest takeaways are not surprises to those who paid attention. It turns out President Trump’s ‘they/them’ messaging was highly effective, Democrats neglected rural voters and local parties, and the Democrats failed to define themselves but relied on ‘not Trump’ messaging instead. We’re all aware that there was significant tension and backroom fighting between Kamala Harris’ campaign staff and the Biden administration. The autopsy shows the Biden team was criticized for not adequately preparing Kamala Harris.

DNC Chair Ken Martin released an incomplete 2024 election autopsy:

• Trump’s “they/them” attacks on Harris were seen as highly effective
• Biden team criticized for failing to prepare Harris
• Democrats accused of neglecting rural voters and local parties
• Report says party… pic.twitter.com/MXkcPA28ao
— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) May 21, 2026

There are also no mentions of Israel, Gaza, or Palestine.

Incredible. The DNC autopsy of 2024 is 192 pages.
*Zero* mentions of the words "Israel," "Palestine," or "Gaza."

(DNC Chair Ken Martin concedes the autopsy does not meet his standards, nor would it meet yours). https://t.co/t1202zQlCs pic.twitter.com/sNjgotf0lm
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) May 21, 2026

This is sure to tick off both sides of the aisle. The Left’s anti-Israel, antisemitic base will say the Democrats’ position on Gaza was problematic, while other voters will see their increasingly antisemitic candidates and office holders as alarming.

What's going on here? In February, Axios reported that top party officials who worked on the autopsy of 2024 concluded that Kamala Harris lost significant support because of the Biden admin's approach to Gaza.

But the newly-released autopsy…doesn't even mention Gaza or Israel? https://t.co/mj0A5Zz237
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) May 21, 2026

Law-bending.

• What Really Happened in Virginia’s Redistricting Case (Von Spakovsky)

“Shocking.” “Deflating.” “Sickening.” “It’s not good news.”

If someone heard the reactions of House Democratic lawmakers to the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision on the Commonwealth’s recent partisan gerrymandering scheme, they might be forgiven for assuming the ruling posed some kind of existential threat to the rule of law in the Commonwealth. In a letter to his party, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries referred to the decision as “egregious” and “dripping with far-right partisanship,” the result of “MAGA extremists desperate to rig the midterm elections.”
Chalk these wildly hyperbolic statements up as yet another reason to disbelieve left-wing partisan hype. In fact, Jeffries must have been looking in the mirror when he made those claims, since it was Virginia Democrats’ “egregious” misbehavior “dripping with far-left partisanship” that was the culmination of “Democratic extremists trying to rig the midterm elections” in the state.The Virginia Supreme Court’s decision in Scott v. McDougle was, in fact, a full-throated defense of the state’s constitution, the rule of law, and the people of Virginia’s right to make informed decisions on possible alterations to the Commonwealth’s constitution.
What was lost in the frenzied hysteria of Democrats and their allies in the media in the immediate aftermath of the decision was that the majority opinion, written by Justice D. Arthur Kelsey, simply upheld the process outlined in the Constitution that was required to adopt the proposed redistricting amendment. The Democrats’ hasty process violated Article XII, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution. There was no partisanship in the opinion at all, with the exception perhaps of the dissent by three justices who refused to enforce the constitutional requirements.
Article XII requires the General Assembly to vote on any proposed amendment to the Constitution twice, with a general election of members to the House of Delegates occurring between the two votes. The court’s ruling centers on that (supposedly) intervening House election, held in 2025, not the recent vote on the amendment itself. The Virginia Supreme Court found that the 2025 House election did not actually occur after the first time and before the second time the General Assembly voted on the amendment.
Early voting (Virginia law allows voting to start 45 days before Election Day) for the House of Delegates elections began on September 19, but the General Assembly didn’t vote on the proposed amendment until October 31 in a “special” session that was itself open to challenge. Accordingly, 1.3 million votes, 40% of the election total, had already been cast when the legislature approved the referendum. That was 1.3 million people who had already voted who had no way of knowing their future representative’s position on an amendment to their Constitution.
The violation of Article XII, Section 1 here is obvious—to everyone but the Virginia government, now entirely controlled by Democrats, which argued that when the state constitution said the Assembly’s vote needed to occur before the election, it meant Election Day. Justice Kelsey’s opinion masterfully dissects this argument as lacking any meaningful support from law or history.

“So we believe in making America great again. You can’t do that unless you protect your borders. I’d encourage our friends in the UK to follow the same path.”

• Vance Urges UK Patriots To Defend Their Culture Against Starmer (MN)

US Vice President JD Vance has sent a direct message of support to Britons standing up for their culture, telling attendees of the Unite the Kingdom rally to push forward despite Keir Starmer’s attempts to silence opposition to mass migration. The rally, held this past weekend in London and organised by Tommy Robinson, saw thousands of patriots turn out waving British flags. Starmer’s government had tried to sabotage the event by blocking visas for 11 foreign speakers it labelled “far-right agitators.”

The Prime Minister openly boasted about the bans on X, writing “I’ll always champion peaceful protest. But the Unite the Kingdom march organisers are peddling hatred and division. We’ve already blocked visas for far-right agitators who want to come here to spew their extremist views. They don’t speak for the decent, fair, respectful Britain I know.” He followed up: “Today the voices of division will be loud. They don’t speak for the country I know, one that belongs to all of us.” A video from the event captured a striking contrast, showing a left-wing woman in tears hugging her masked companion in fright at the sight of the national flag.
https://twitter.com/OliLondonTV/status/2056257812469018990?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2056257812469018990%7Ctwgr%5E5764f5a7abbc04d69e0037cffdd0fe954dcbc4e6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmodernity.news%2F2026%2F05%2F20%2Fwatch-vance-urges-uk-patriots-to-defend-their-culture-against-starmer-mass-migration-betrayal%2F
Vance rejected the establishment narrative that wanting secure borders equals extremism. “To everybody in the UK who rejects 3rd world migration, I’d encourage them to just KEEP ON GOING! It’s OK to want to defend your culture!” Vance stated. He added, “All over the West is this idea that the way to generate prosperity is to bring in MILLIONS and millions of unvetted people and DROP them into your neighborhoods — and we simply reject that idea!” “It’s OK to want to live in a safe neighborhood. It’s okay to want your job to go to yourself and your neighbors and not to a stranger who you don’t even know. It is reasonable for the people in Western societies to want to control who comes into their country and who doesn’t,” Vance stressed.
He added: “A lot of people, frankly, a lot of people in the media have tried to persuade all of those people that it’s somehow racist to want to protect your borders… even though very often the very people who are most affected by low wage immigration are lower income black and Hispanic Americans right here in the United States of America, and I guarantee that’s true in the UK.” Vance concluded by drawing a direct link to America First: “So we believe in making America great again. You can’t do that unless you protect your borders. I’d encourage our friends in the UK to follow the same path.”
This latest intervention builds on Vance’s repeated clashes with Starmer and European leaders. He previously called out the British Prime Minister to his face over the UK’s free speech crackdown. The US later vowed to use its “full arsenal of tools” against Starmer’s policies. Vance has also long warned about the dangers of Europe’s migration experiment, describing it as “civilisational suicide” He has cautioned that Islamist extremists could seize control of European nukes within 15 years. Vance has also triggered globalist outrage with his blunt speeches on replacement-level migration.
While Starmer brands patriotic pushback as “hatred and division,” ordinary Britons at the rally made clear they simply want what Vance described as basic common sense: safe streets, jobs for locals, and control over their borders. Vance’s words arrive as frustration with open borders boils over across the West. Working-class communities on both sides of the Atlantic are paying the price through suppressed wages, overburdened services, and rising insecurity — effects the political class routinely dismisses. By standing with those who reject cultural erasure, Vance is highlighting a fundamental truth: people of free nations have the sovereign right to preserve their identity and security.

“..If this modality in the behavior of Europeans changes in favor of dialogue, we will only welcome it..”

• ‘Russians Ready For Conversation’ With Europe — Kremlin (TASS)

Russia is hearing statements from European capitals that they will have to talk to Moscow, and it confirms its readiness for such a conversation, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked by TASS about Europe’s discussions of candidates for the role of negotiator with Russia. “Indeed, in the last 3-4 weeks we have heard statements from Mr. [Finnish President Alexander] Stubb, and we have also heard statements from Berlin that sooner or later it will be necessary to talk to the Russians directly,” he said.
“Russians are ready to engage,” Peskov noted. “We believe that talking is always better than leading to complete confrontation, which is exactly what the Europeans are doing now. If this modality in the behavior of Europeans changes in favor of dialogue, we will only welcome it,” he said. The very fact that expert discussions are underway in the EU around this topic is a good thing, Peskov said, adding that “just a few months ago, even such discussions weren’t taking place in Europe.”

According to Russian Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador-at-Large for the crimes of the Kiev regime Rodion Miroshnik, the European Union’s actions show a complete lack of willingness to follow a peaceful path

• Europe Seeks To Block Any Talks On Ukraine Settlement — Russian Diplomat (TASS)

European countries seek to sabotage any negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador-at-Large for the crimes of the Kiev regime, told TASS in an interview during a working visit to Bangkok.

“Judging by official statements from EU leaders and the so-called E3 group (the United Kingdom, Germany, and France – TASS), one can see an irreconcilable desire to derail any form of negotiations and reject a political and diplomatic path to resolving the conflict. They declare that they want talks, but at the same time they decide to issue yet another package of sanctions, allocate multi-billion-euro loans to Ukraine, and launch new programs to train Ukrainian troops and supply weapons. There is an old rule: look at what politicians do, not what they say. The European Union’s actions show a complete lack of willingness to follow a peaceful path,” he said.
“I believe it is not enough to simply say it would be good to talk to Russia, this must be backed by actions that would prove that the EU is ready to stop financing the bloodshed in Ukraine. It is no secret that if Western funding stops, the war will end. This is acknowledged both in the West and by all external observers. But for now, Western countries continue to supply weapons and finance Ukraine,” Miroshnik added.
Foreign ministers of EU countries are set to discuss candidates for a possible mediator role in talks with Russia, the Financial Times newspaper previously reported. According to sources cited by the paper, the issue will be raised at an informal meeting on May 27-28 in Cyprus. Potential candidates reportedly include former Italian and German prime ministers Mario Draghi and Angela Merkel, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and his predecessor Sauli Niinisto.
On May 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, answering journalists’ questions, said that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is the preferred candidate for possible negotiations between the EU and Russia. Moscow has never been closed to negotiations, he added.

“Drills Are Intended To Send A Signal”:

• Russia Holds Massive Nuclear Drills On Land, Sea And Air (ZH)

Trucks carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles rumbled over forest roads, atomic-powered submarines set sail from Arctic and Pacific ports, and crews scrambled into warplanes as Russia and neighboring Belarus held the final stage of their joint nuclear drills Thursday. Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the maneuvers in a video call with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. “The use of nuclear weapons is an extreme, exceptional measure for ensuring the national security of our states,” Putin said, according to AP. Lukashenko earlier inspected Russian short-range nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles at a military unit involved in the drills and declared: “I dreamed about this machine a long time ago.”

The three-day drills that began Tuesday come amid a surge in Ukrainian drone strikes. including on Moscow’s suburbs that killed three people and damaged several buildings and industrial facilities. The strikes made it harder for officials in the Kremlin to cast the conflict in Ukraine — now in its fifth year — as something so distant that it doesn’t affect the daily routines of Russian civilians.
Drills involve wide array of nuclear weapons
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the exercise involved 64,000 troops, over 200 missile launchers, more than 140 aircraft, 73 surface warships and 13 submarines, including eight armed with nuclear-tipped ICBMs. The drills focused on the “preparation and use of nuclear forces under the threat of aggression,” it said. The maneuvers also practice cooperation with Belarus, an ally that hosts Russian nuclear weapons. Russian arsenals in Belarus include its latest intermediate range nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile system.
Along with nuclear-tipped ground- and submarine-launched ICBMs, the maneuvers featured a broad assortment of short- and medium-range weapons. Unlike the intercontinental missiles that can destroy entire cities, tactical nuclear weapons intended for use against troops on the battlefield are less powerful. They include aerial bombs and warheads for short- and medium-range missiles and artillery munitions. The Defense Ministry said the Russian armed forces test-fired Yars and Sineva ICBMs, as well as medium-range sea-launched Zircon and air-launched Kinzhal missiles, noting that all missiles hit their designated practice targets. Belarusian troops test-fired a short-range Iskander ballistic missile inside Russia.
Putin has repeatedly reminded the world about Moscow’s nuclear arsenals since the war in Ukraine started in February 2022 to deter the West from ramping up support for Kyiv. In 2024, the Kremlin adopted a revised nuclear doctrine, noting that any nation’s conventional attack on Russia that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country. That threat was clearly aimed at discouraging the West from allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with longer-range weapons and appears to significantly lower the threshold for the possible use of Moscow’s nuclear arsenal.
The revised doctrine also placed Belarus under the Russian nuclear umbrella. Putin has said that Moscow will retain control of its nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus, which borders Ukraine and NATO members Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, but would allow its ally to select the targets in case of conflict. The maneuvers are held amid an increase in drone activity in the Baltic nations. On Tuesday, a NATO jet shot down a Ukrainian drone over southern Estonia. Ukraine apologized for that “unintended incident,” without specifying what had happened.
On Wednesday, an emergency announcement about a drone flying over Belarus prompted residents of the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, including top officials and lawmakers, to take shelter and led to a brief closure of its airport. Ukrainian drones targeting Russia’s Baltic ports and energy facilities have recently crossed or come down in NATO territory on several occasions. Amusingly, instead of blaming the source, Ukraine, Western officials blamed Russian electronic jamming of the drones.
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said Tuesday that Ukraine is preparing drone attacks against Russia from the territory of the Baltic countries and warned of retaliation It alleged Ukrainian military personnel had been deployed to Latvia and warned that the country’s membership in NATO wouldn’t protect it from “just retribution.” Latvian authorities said the allegation was not true. Last month, the Russian Defense Ministry published a list of factories in Europe that it said were involved in producing drones and their components for Ukraine. It warned that attacks on Russia involving drones manufactured in Europe are fraught with “unpredictable consequences.”
Some commentators interpreted the bellicose statements from Moscow and this week’s exercise featuring short- and medium-range nuclear weapons capable of reaching targets in Europe as part of Kremlin efforts to discourage Western allies from bolstering support for Ukraine. Asked what message the nuclear exercise was intended to send, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that “any drills are intended to send a signal,” but wouldn’t elaborate.

“Europe is the ‘jungle’ now. No garden left to speak of.”

• Irrelevant Europe (J.B. Shurk)

Josep Borrell is a Spanish socialist who held several high-ranking positions in the European Union. Until 2024, he was a vice-president of the European Commission and the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy. In that capacity, he ran Europe’s External Action Service, which is the diplomatic body that executes Europe’s foreign policy decisions around the world. He remains a man with a great deal of influence over European perspectives.

In 2022, Borrell created a bit of an international incident when he described Europe as a “garden” and the rest of the world as a “jungle.” “We have built a garden,” he told aspiring European diplomats in Bruges, Belgium. “Most of the rest of the world is a jungle. The jungle could invade the garden. The gardeners should take care of it.” As the head of the European Defense Agency, Borrell’s comments made strategic sense. As he said in that same speech, “The jungle has a strong growth capacity…Walls will never be high enough to protect the garden. The gardeners have to go to the jungle, Europeans have to be much more engaged with the rest of the world. Otherwise, the rest of the world will invade us, by different ways and means.”
Borrell’s speech came seven years after German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open her country’s borders to millions of Islamic immigrants. Originally touted as a humanitarian policy designed to temporarily shelter refugees from war-torn Syria, Germany’s generous welfare programs quickly became a magnet for young men across the Middle East and North Africa. When Merkel declared on August 31, 2015, “We can do this,” she initiated an all-of-society “welcome culture” that quickly produced a full-blown migrant crisis for the whole continent. Over ten years later, the influx of millions of Muslims into Europe has transformed school demographics and local politics, unleashed an explosion in sex crimes and anti-European violence, strained Europe’s hospital services and social safety nets, and exacerbated government debt.
Speaking after the “jungle” had already successfully invaded Europe’s “garden,” Borrell knew there was no way to put the genie back in the bottle. Merkel’s fateful decision to “welcome” Middle Easterners to Europe transformed cities and towns across Europe into the Middle East. Borrell also knew that the European Union’s patchwork defense agency did not have the requisite military and espionage assets to effectively protect the continent. So he tried to fashion his corps of young diplomats into a network of information and persuasion agents who could do Europe’s bidding around the world.
Borrell’s message got lost in the ensuing international kerfuffle over his “garden” / “jungle” division of the world. From Russia to Canada, Africa to Southeast Asia, every self-described “foreign policy expert” took umbrage at Borrell’s bluntness. Perpetually offended virtue-signalers hadn’t gotten so worked-up since President Trump had called Haiti a “shithole country” four years earlier. Just as Conan O’Brien felt compelled to white-knight for Haiti’s dystopian, cannibal gangland by visiting a heavily guarded resort in the Caribbean country and recklessly encouraging vacationers to join him, legions of politically correct snobs from around the planet recorded social media videos from their country estates in which they turned tsk-tsk-ing into a veritable lingua franca for the vicariously aggrieved.
All the “very best people” denounced Borrell for promoting a scarcely disguised restoration of European imperialism, colonialism, fascism, and genocide. Young international students enjoying university scholarships and living in Europe for free made sure to remind Borrell that “diversity is our strength.” Borrell’s socialist comrades beat him over the head with Europe’s prime directive: multiculturalism über alles. Mohammadbagher Forough, a random research fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies, publicly reprimanded Europe’s foreign minister thusly: “This kind of comment puts a serious dent in the enterprise of European strategic autonomy. It upsets, at the most profound level, countries in the rest of the world, because of the history of colonialism.”
In other words, Europe’s “ruling class” and auxiliary straphangers condemned Borrell for daring to defend the beneficiaries of Western civilization. He was encouraged by threat of high-culture social banishment to follow Chancellor Merkel’s example in supplicating before the migrant hordes. The message was clear: Europe’s minister of defense cannot properly “defend” Europe unless he allows non-Europeans to take over the continent. It was further proof that Europe is irreparably lost.
Since his departure from the European Union’s foreign policy perch at the end of 2024, Borrell has spent most of his time in public lambasting President Trump’s global leadership. A staunch supporter of Ukraine who once threatened to “annihilate” the Russian army, Borrell has frequently defended the honor of Volodymyr Zelenskyy by claiming that Ukraine’s holdover president is leading “the resistance” and “deserves respect.” After President Trump described Zelenskyy as a “dictator without elections,” Borrell called the “accusation” the “height of dishonesty.” When President Trump and Vice President Vance took offense to Zelenskyy’s sense of entitlement and disregard for American taxpayers who have paid the salaries and pensions of Ukraine’s government workforce, Borrell screamed on X, “Trump and Vance have put on a disgraceful show. I am ashamed of that behavior.”
In response to Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference last year during which the vice president excoriated Europe’s crackdown on free speech and political dissent, Borrell lectured his erstwhile colleagues: “This is a declaration of political war against the European Union.” Going further, Europe’s former defense minister declared, “Europe must stop pretending that Trump is not an adversary and assert its technological, security, and political sovereignty with clarity and strength.”

The hydraulic pin holding the tower arm in place did not retract.

If that can be fixed tonight, there will be another launch attempt tomorrow at 5:30 CT. https://t.co/DJAdvDYQpH
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 21, 2026

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/2057261488256303134?s=20 https://twitter.com/GuntherEagleman/status/2057605618085548082?s=20

We once considered a Cholesterol Level of 350 perfectly normal & healthy.

Then it was lowered to 300.
Then to 240.
Then to 190.

Now doctors want your levels as low as statins can force them — no matter what.

Every single time the “safe” number drops, millions more… pic.twitter.com/eqMDLuWKaB
— Valerie Anne Smith (@ValerieAnne1970) May 21, 2026

https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/2057327151964131432?s=20

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Debt Rattle May 10 2026

May 102026

May 10, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:32 am Finance Tagged with: AfD, ceasefire, Comey, Farage, Fetterman, Germany, Hormuz, Khameini, Qatar, Red Square, Russia, Starmer, Victory Day 46 Responses »

Douglas Percy Bliss High Noon, Windley 1951

• US Reportedly Struck 4 Iranian Oil Tankers Entering The Strait (ZH)

• Qatari LNG Tanker Transits Hormuz As U.S. Awaits Iran’s Response (ZH)

• Iran Discloses Supreme Leader’s Status For First Time: Marginally Injured (ZH)

• World Must Hear Russia’s Warning To Zelensky, Understand Importance – MFA (TASS)

• Putin Rips NATO Aggression At Scaled-Down Victory Day Parade (ZH)

• Trump: Ceasefire Between Russia, Ukraine Could Be Extended (TASS)

• Starmer’s Labour Party ‘Wiped Out’ In UK Elections (RT)

• Germany’s AfD On Verge Of Absolute Majority In Eastern Saxony-Anhalt (ZH)

• From Market To Military: Germany’s Private Sector Is Imploding (RT)

• Trump Indicates US Could Move Troops From Germany to Poland (JTN)

• Federal Judge Sets Comey Criminal Trial For July 15 In North Carolina (JTN)

• Is Marco Rubio The New Heir Apparent To Trump? (ZH)

• John Fetterman: ‘I’d Be a Terrible Republican’ (Rick Moran)

• Gerrymander Debacle in Virginia Leaves Dems with a Dangerous Agenda (Turley)

https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/2052770921258143867?s=20

If this is true, Sen. John Fetterman has confirmed what we all suspected, Obama is running a Shadow Government which Democrats are lock stepping with, undermining President Trump’s agenda for “we the people”.
It also confirms Obama is GITMO qualified. “Sedition”. pic.twitter.com/vjlqY47x6Y
— John D (@jtd_gameon12) May 9, 2026

The 2020 Election was Stolen

We had a fake president for 4 years.

Our country has yet to recover.

The corporate media was complicit in the crime.

Anyone who uses the phrase “election denier” can GFT!

Enough is Enough!!!

Hold these people accountable NOW! https://t.co/2rldky9I4x
— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) May 9, 2026

https://twitter.com/17QStorm/status/2053255626029961662?s=20

With my favorite photograph.

Key sentence:: “Iran Keeps US Waiting”.

• US Reportedly Struck 4 Iranian Oil Tankers Entering The Strait (ZH)

Multiple accounts across social media are reporting that four tankers were apparently struck or disabled by the U.S. forces near Iran’s Jask area. @EGYOSINT notes that satellite imagery shows one tanker on fire and extensive oil spills, including leaks from two tankers, with another spill detected about 7.4 kilometers from the anchorage site. @Merrux confirmed that US forces hit an Iranian oil tanker near the port city of Bandar Jask last night.

The vessel is currently on fire. It remains unclear if other tankers were also hit, though smoke is rising from them. The tanker is visibly ablaze, there has been no response from Iran. Presumably these are just more “love taps” and do not represent any threat to the so-called ‘ceasefire’.
Iran Keeps US Waiting On Formal Response To Peace Proposal
A state of relative calm prevailed around the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, after days of sporadic flareups, as the Trump administration continues to await a formal response from Tehran on a U.S. proposal aimed at ending the war and reopening the Hormuz chokepoint, following last week’s clashes between Iranian and U.S. naval forces in the world’s most critical waterway. As Times of Israel reports, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that Washington expected a response within hours and President Donald Trump later said it would likely be submitted “tonight.”
But a day later, there was no sign of movement from Iran on the proposal, which would formally end the war before talks on more contentious issues, including the Iranian nuclear program. With US President Donald Trump due to begin a long-awaited visit to China next week, there has been mounting pressure to draw a line under the conflict, which has thrown energy markets into turmoil and posed a growing threat to the world economy. As Tehran kept Washington waiting for its response after saying Friday it was not paying attention to “deadlines,” the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called into question the reliability of the US leadership in a call with his Turkish counterpart.
“The recent escalation of tensions by American forces in the Persian Gulf and their numerous actions in violating the ceasefire have added to suspicions about the motivation and seriousness of the American side in the path of diplomacy,” he said, according to an Iranian account of the call published by the ISNA news agency. While there were no official signs of a breakthrough in negotiations as of early Saturday morning, new ship data from the Hormuz area may suggest that positive developments are ahead.

It’s getting busy.

• Qatari LNG Tanker Transits Hormuz As U.S. Awaits Iran’s Response (ZH)

The Trump administration continues to await a formal response from Tehran on a U.S. proposal aimed at ending the war and reopening the Hormuz chokepoint, following last week’s clashes between Iranian and U.S. naval forces in the world’s most critical waterway. While there were no official signs of a breakthrough in negotiations as of early Saturday morning, new ship data from the Hormuz area may suggest that positive developments are ahead. https://twitter.com/SStapczynski/status/2053100985346925013?s=20

The tanker is fully loaded with LNG and is currently transiting the Hormuz chokepoint. We must point out that the ship did not sail through the Hormuz Island route. There is no word on whether Iran charged the vessel a transit fee, but Tehran allows ships from “friendly” nations, primarily China, India, and the UAE, to pass. On Friday, UBS energy analyst Anna Kishmariya told clients that shipping flows through the Hormuz chokepoint remain very restricted and that the global oil market is getting tighter. There is certainly urgency among the Trump administration and other nations to unfreeze Hormuz, as oil market insiders see a roughly one-month countdown to global energy chaos if the waterway remains blocked through this month.
Latest overnight headlines, courtesy of Bloomberg:
Ceasefire and Diplomatic Efforts

• The US is waiting for Iran’s response to Trump’s latest proposal to end the war, which suggests Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz while the US ends its blockade of Iranian ports over the next month
• Tehran’s response to the US proposal is “under review,” according to Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei
• Trump has changed his approach to prioritize reopening the Strait of Hormuz at all costs while leaving nuclear and ballistic missile negotiations for later
Recent Military Clashes

• The US struck Iranian military targets on Thursday after Iran fired multiple missiles, drones and small boats at three US Navy destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz, with no US assets hit
• US forces targeted missile and drone launch sites and other military assets in Iran that were responsible for attacking the US warships
• The US “disabled” two unladen Iranian-flagged oil tankers, according to US officials
• Iran seized the tanker Ocean Koi in the Gulf of Oman, which appeared to be carrying Iranian oil
Hormuz
• The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed to commercial shipping since Tuesday following the US-Iran clashes
• A Qatari LNG tanker, Al Kharaitiyat, is attempting to transit the strait, which would mark Qatar’s first export from the region since the war began
• Saudi Aramco and UAE’s Adnoc have managed to move some crude cargoes through the strait despite Iran’s effective closure of the waterway
Impacts
• The world has burned through oil inventories at record speed as the Iran war throttles flows from the Persian Gulf, eating into buffers that protect against supply shocks
• Chinese energy imports fell sharply in April, with crude cargoes dropping about 20% year-on-year to 38.47 million tons and gas falling about 13% to 8.42 million tons
• Global food prices climbed to their highest level in more than three years as the Iran war disrupted supply chains, with the UN food-commodity index gaining 1.6% in April
• Iran’s record internet blackout is taking a heavy toll on private businesses, with warnings it could lead to mass layoffs and closures
International Response

• The US imposed sanctions on three Chinese firms for providing satellite imagery to Iran, enabling its military strikes on American forces in the Middle East
• The UK will deploy HMS Dragon warship to the Middle East as part of planning for a European-led mission to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz once there’s a stable ceasefire
• Iran is ramping up trade with China via rail to bypass the US blockade, with cargo trains from Xi’an to Tehran increasing from one per week to one every three or four days

Just refuse to address him until he shows himself. Anyone can claim to be him in a letter.

• Iran Discloses Supreme Leader’s Status For First Time: Marginally Injured (ZH)

The Iranian government has for the first time officially weighed in on the health of new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was injured in the opening strikes of Trump’s Operation Epic Fury, which killed the younger Khamenei’s father and wife. “A government official claimed Khamenei, who hasn’t been seen in public since that attack, is now in good health,” The Wall Street Journal writes Saturday. He hasn’t been seen in public since the war began, and even official statements have been read aloud on state media broadcasts. There have since been conflict reports. However, according to the latest:

Yet the chief of protocol for the supreme leader’s office, Mozaher Hosseini, said on Friday that Khamenei is in “complete health,” stressing that he has only been “marginally injured” on his foot and lower back and hit by “a small piece of shrapnel had hit him behind the ear.” “The enemy is spreading all kinds of rumors and false claims. They want to see him and find him, but people should be patient and not rush. He will speak to you when the time is right,” Hosseini told a crowd in Tehran.
Prior international reports suggested he was being treated for severe burns and that he could undergo surgery, and resorts to communicating commands to lower officials via low-tech means, including written and hand delivered messages, in order to avoid Israeli or US intelligence intercepting signals related to his whereabouts. Regional and Gulf media have also summarized of the latest official Iranian description of the Ayatollah’s health, that “there were no indications of a serious deterioration in his condition.”
And, “According to Iranian media reports, the official stated that medical examinations confirmed Mojtaba Khamenei’s condition was completely stable. He added that the injury did not require complex surgery. Furthermore, he is undergoing only routine medical monitoring to ensure his well-being.” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian revealed on Thursday that he for the first time recently held a meeting with Mojtaba Khamenei, at an undisclosed location, and that the encounter was a long and productive one. State media said it was two-and-a-half hours.

US intelligence assesses that Iran’s new supreme leader is playing a critical role in shaping war strategy alongside senior Iranian officials, according to multiple sources. https://t.co/Ejyo5tGipb pic.twitter.com/c4nfMMR25r
— CNN (@CNN) May 9, 2026

“What stood out more than any other topic in the meeting was the way of dealing, the type of outlook, and the humble and deeply friendly manner of conduct by the leader of the revolution,” Pezeshkian described. He characterized the new Ayatollah’s approach as “a model based on taking responsibility, being close to the people, and truly listening to issues and problems.” Western officials and intelligence have all the while been seeking to assess just who is ultimately in charge of running the country. There have been reports of a growing split between the IRGC military apparatus and the Islamic Republic’s civilian leadership. However, none of these reports are confirmable, but it’s largely only guesswork by those far outside the country.

Zelensky represents nazis. Victory Day commemorates the last time Russia defeated Nazis.

• World Must Hear Russia’s Warning To Zelensky, Understand Importance – MFA (TASS)

The entire world must hear Russia’s warning to Zelensky, who is threatening the Victory Day parade, and recognize the importance of the moment, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with TASS arranged to coincide with the 81st anniversary of Victory Day.

“This (warning – TASS) was done because we understood that the collective West, this collective Western minority, is doing everything possible to once again avoid seeing the misanthropic logic and not hear the absolutely extremist, terrorist threats from Zelensky, to once again provide him with political support, to put him on the front pages in terms of information and, of course, to provide him with weapons, money, and so on. And precisely so that they would wake up and understand the seriousness of the situation, a set of appropriate measures was taken, which then had this kind of information support: clear, understandable, and, I emphasize again, responsive,” she said.
The Russian Defense Ministry declared a ceasefire for May 8-9 in honor of celebrations of the 81st anniversary of the Soviet Union’s Victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War. The ministry stated that Russia expects the Ukrainian side to follow suit. However, if the Kiev regime attempts to attack Moscow on May 9 to disrupt the celebrations, Russian troops will launch a massive retaliatory strike against central Kiev. These are not mere statements, Zakharova noted. “This is a clear warning about retaliatory steps that will be taken if Zelensky’s monstrous threats, which he voiced in Yerevan, are carried out in practice. And all of this is not just relevant,” she said.
The Russian side has warned all states and international organizations through their embassies and missions in Moscow, as well as Russian diplomatic missions in foreign countries and at international organizations, that “this is not just a matter of urgency, but that they must take concrete steps in this direction,” the diplomat stressed. These measures are a response to “the aggression that Zelensky has declared as a threat,” she added.Zakharova said earlier that Russia views Zelensky’s threat to stage a drone attack on Moscow during the upcoming Victory Day celebrations as the Kiev regime’s intent to carry out a terrorist act.

Many if not most Russians understand that their army cannot just go kill Ukrainians.p>

• Putin Rips NATO Aggression At Scaled-Down Victory Day Parade (ZH)

By many accounts Russia’s Saturday Victory Day parade and memorial observances in Moscow’s Red Square were once again muted and somewhat scaled down compared to the immense pageantry which marked the pre-Ukraine war years. President Putin used the occasion while speaking in front of thousands of military personnel and flanked by a handful of world leaders to take swipes at NATO and the West, saying he’s fighting “just” war and called Ukraine an “aggressive force” that is being “armed and supported by the whole bloc of NATO”.

“The great feat of the generation of victors inspires the soldiers carrying out the goals of the special military operation today,” Putin said. “They are confronting an aggressive force armed and supported by the entire NATO bloc. And despite this, our heroes move forward.” He added: “I firmly believe that our cause is just.” The three-day Ukraine ceasefire announced and backed by President Trump appears to be holding, as no drone attacks have been registered on Moscow or other parts of the country. Large-scale drone waves were coming on a daily basis throughout last week. Massive bombardment of Ukraine has also ceased. Ukraine’s Zelensky had reportedly ordered his armed forces to adhere to the short ceasefire:
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a decree on Friday (May 8) ordering the Ukrainian military not to attack the parade. He also confirmed that his government would adhere to the ceasefire and the prisoner swap of 1,000 detainees from each side. n”Red Square is less important to us than the lives of Ukrainian prisoners who can be returned home,” Zelensky said, referring to the historic site in Moscow where the annual event is held.
The Kremlin has over the past days repeatedly warned that Kiev would come under immense bombing if the parade did get attacked, and went so far as to tell foreign diplomats they should evacuate the Ukrainian capital in such a scenario. Among the foreign leaders that attended Saturday V-Day included Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith, Malaysia Supreme Leader Sultan Ibrahim, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The NY Times (and a lot of other Western media outlets) is reading all of this as a ‘loss’ and reputational hit for Putin, again given the scaled-down and lower key nature of everything.

Happy Great Victory Day! pic.twitter.com/trYNYEz1K2
— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) May 9, 2026

“President Vladimir V. Putin has cultivated the annual Victory Day parade commemorating the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany into a cornerstone of Russian patriotic ritual,” NYT wrote. “Tanks and nuclear launchers roll across Red Square in a showcase of military prowess and righteous pride that the Kremlin has used to justify the country’s great-power posture toward the West.”But then the report underscores that “Moscow is under a heavy security presence as Ukraine rattles Russia with long-range drone and missile strikes. The Russian authorities have appeared exposed as they acknowledged that the beefed-up security was intended to protect Mr. Putin.”

Face-to-face on Red Square! – Putin speaks with DPRK commander after V-Day parade pic.twitter.com/7Ica2VaaRM
— Viory Video (@vioryvideo) May 9, 2026

It further highlighted: “The parade on Saturday included none of the usual muscle-flexing missiles and armor. Personnel from Russian military academies and other servicemen made their way through Russia’s most famous square.”

But Zelensky’s Kiev mob needs weapons payments to skim off of.

• Trump: Ceasefire Between Russia, Ukraine Could Be Extended (TASS)

The US leader Donald Trump admitted that the ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine could be extended. “I’d love to see that war end,” he told reporters on the South Lawn in front of the White House.Trump added that he “would like to see a big extension” of ceasefire. As has been decided by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Moscow declared a ceasefire from May 8 to 10 during the celebrations of the 81st anniversary of the Soviet Union’s Victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War.

On Friday, it was announced that telephone contacts between Russia and the United States, as well as Washington’s interactions with Kiev, had resulted in agreements on a ceasefire for May 9-11. The Russian Defense Ministry has reported a complete cessation of hostilities by Russian troops in the area of the special military operation as of midnight on May 8. The Ukrainian army continued to strike Russian military positions and civilian targets.

“Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has hailed the results as “a complete reshaping of British politics”

• Starmer’s Labour Party ‘Wiped Out’ In UK Elections (RT)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has been decimated in parliamentary elections in Scotland and Wales, as well as local elections in England. However, Starmer is refusing calls to resign. Labour was the biggest loser in Thursday’s elections. As results came in on Friday, Starmer’s party had lost more than 1,300 local council seats in England, around five seats in the Scottish Parliament, and 21 seats in the Welsh Senedd, as of 11 PM local time.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2052921709930365100?s=20

While full results are not expected until Saturday, Starmer has already admitted that “when voters send a message like this, we must reflect and we must respond.” However, although the PM has been urged to resign by some within his own party, including Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, he has dismissed the idea, stating that he is not “going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos.”Some 5,066 out of 16,000 local council seats in England and all 129 and 96 seats in the Scottish and Welsh legislatures were up for grabs on Thursday. Labour went into the election holding 5,873 local seats, but looks set to emerge with closer to 4,000.
For the first time this century, Labour will lose control of Wales, with First Minister Eluned Morgan losing her seat and the Plaid Cymru and Reform dominating the Senedd. Labour’s loss has not been the Conservative Party’s win. While power has typically swung back and forth between both parties for more than 100 years, the Tories are on track to lose 550 council seats, plus 16 seats in Scotland and 9 in Wales.
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK was the big winner in England, picking up more than 1,200 local council seats. In some constituencies, Reform’s gains have come almost entirely at the Conservatives’ expense. Reform picked up 37 seats in Suffolk, where the Tories lost 36. Farage has spent years hammering successive Tory governments over their failure to reduce immigration and lower the cost of living, and as such has drawn the votes of dissatisfied right-wingers who once backed the Tories.

“It’s a big, big day, not just for our party, but for a complete reshaping of British politics in every way,” Farage told reporters, adding that Labour had been “wiped out.”Zack Polanski’s Green Party has also drawn votes from former Labour supporters abandoning Starmer’s party over the prime minister’s austerity policies and support for Israel. “I said that the Green Party was going to replace Labour,” Polanski told reporters, “and we’re seeing that right across the country. The new politics is the Green Party vs. Reform.” As of Friday evening, Polanski’s Greens had picked up 363 seats in England, five in Scotland, and two in Wales.

Can they still try to ban AfD? Do they?

• Germany’s AfD On Verge Of Absolute Majority In Eastern Saxony-Anhalt (ZH)

With just one more point on election day, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is closing in on producing a political earthquake. According to a recent poll by Infratest dimap, the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt is pushing its lead even further, now at 41 percent. The poll also shows that for the CDU, establishing a government is becoming more difficult, especially since any realistic option besides the AfD appears to be a minority government. There are just four months until election day, and much could change until then, but the AfD appears to be only gaining momentum, not only in the state, but also nationwide, where it just hit a record of 28 percent in the latest Insa survey.
SACHSEN-ANHALT | Sonntagsfrage Landtagswahl Infratest dimap/MDR, MZ, Volksstimme

AfD: 41% (+2)
CDU: 26% (-1)
LINKE: 12% (-1)
SPD: 7%
GRÜNE: 4% (+1)
BSW: 4% (-2)
Sonstige: 6% (+1)

Änderungen zur letzten Umfrage vom 04. September 2025

Verlauf: https://t.co/x9wTDqkYqA #ltwst… pic.twitter.com/1T1SnGSDuF
— Deutschland Wählt (@Wahlen_DE) May 7, 2026
In the “Sachsen-AnhaltTREND” survey, which was conducted by Infratest dimap on behalf of the Magdeburger Volksstimme, the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, and Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, the AfD hit 41 percent. Meanwhile, its closest rival, the CDU, lost 1 percentage point compared to the previous week and sits at 26 percent. Compared to an Infratest poll from last September, the AfD has increased its support by 2 percentage points. Following the CDU are Die Linke at 12 percent and the SPD at 7 percent. https://twitter.com/RMXnews/status/1988598925142499805?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1988598925142499805%7Ctwgr%5Ec1c41d11f941f7151318f62f1c7c460144d4d515%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fgermanys-afd-verge-absolute-majority-eastern-saxony-anhalt-just-months-election Both the Greens and the BSW are polling at 4 percent. These two parties, along with the FDP, would currently fail to enter the state parliament. The FDP, a current member of the state government with the CDU and SPD, was not listed individually in the results because of its low figures. All other parties combined represent 6 percent of the total. If all the current values of the other parties held, then just one point more for the AfD would allow the party to rule with an absolute majority. However, if other parties, such as the Greens, were to pass the 5 percent threshold on election day, this would complicate the math for the AfD. In addition, a majority of respondents are unhappy with the state government, with 62 percent stating they are only slightly or not at all satisfied. Only 33 percent expressed that they are very satisfied or satisfied with the government’s performance. Furthermore, 82 percent of people have little to no confidence that the state is generally fulfilling its duties, and the same number, 82 percent, assess the current economic situation as “less than good” or “poor.” Only 14 percent rate the economy as “very good” or “good.”

“Public spending is coming to the rescue for an economy that is facing severe structural problems..”

Merkel has destroyed the economy so badly it now looks like the East-German economy she comes from: all is State.

• From Market To Military: Germany’s Private Sector Is Imploding (RT)

After two years of recession, it seemed that Germany’s economy had stabilized in 2025 and was even inching in the direction of a return to growth. Sure, nobody was sounding the trumpets of a full-fledged recovery, but it seemed the worst had passed. That was, admittedly, before the US-Israeli war on Iran muddied those waters. But even apart from this black swan event, what has really been going on in the German economy deserves a closer look. After all, there are different ways of generating GDP growth and not all of them have the same deeper implications.

In Germany’s case, it turns out the nascent recovery was almost entirely fueled by state spending while the private sector is in virtual free-fall. This, incidentally, goes some way toward explaining the ongoing rearmament in Germany in response to the supposed threat from Russia – a threat that very conveniently is breathing new life into unsustainable industry. This is no less than military Keynesianism, a phenomenon few expected to see in Germany. And it is being tasked to address several major structural shifts at once.

2025 marked an inflection point
The German economy broke a two-year recession, growing by 0.2% in 2025, following a 0.5% contraction in 2024. However, the growth was driven in large part by government spending. There was a late-year pickup in industrial and construction output – also government-driven – while exports continued to lag.Public spending, however, rose 5.6% in 2025 and now represents more than 50% of GDP. This number itself isn’t particularly eye-popping in a European context. Several EU countries have higher ratios.
But Germany has historically been more fiscally conservative with an economy much more oriented toward private industry and exports. Helmut Kohl, German chancellor in the 1980s and ‘90s, once called a spending ratio above 50% socialism. This is a threshold beyond which Germany would be seen as having adopted a different economic model. That different economic model is now here. But think about it from this angle: What happens when you boost public spending by over 5% and still can only barely eke out any economic growth? It means the private sector is crumbling.
Digging into the data
A widening split has opened in Germany’s economy since 2022, dividing industries more exposed to market forces from those being backstopped by public spending. Traditional sectors – especially the automotive and chemical industries – have struggled with high energy costs and global competition. This has been reflected in the share prices, which have been very sluggish, with Porsche leading the way among the declines.
The weakness is also visible in underlying demand, with domestic orders broadly declining, although amid volatility, since 2022. Last year saw periodic spikes driven by large contracts – almost certainly state-driven – whereas underlying demand remained weak. Exports were weak, so was private investment. Capital goods orders, a key gauge of private-sector investment, have been falling, pointing to continued contraction in market-driven industrial activity.

At the same time, defense contractors and state-backed industrial firms have surged on the back of government spending. Rheinmetall shares have rocketed more than 1,000% since early 2022, with its market cap rising from about €4 billion to roughly €67 billion. Hensoldt and Renk have also posted strong gains, while even adjacent players such as Infineon have nearly doubled in value. Construction and industrial groups tied to public projects – including Hochtief, Heidelberg Materials, and Bilfinger – have also rallied sharply, in some cases climbing several-fold from 2022 lows.
This has all come while the economy has been in recession and the manufacturing sector has been hemorrhaging jobs. What this points to is that Germany’s headline market gains are masking a lack of real recovery. While the country’s stock market, the DAX, has risen strongly, most of the growth is concentrated in a narrow, state-backed segment.
The contrast reflects very different operating conditions. Automakers and chemical firms compete in open global markets, where rising energy and labor costs erode competitiveness and push production to cheaper regions. Consumers can choose from many options. Defense contractors, by contrast, operate largely outside these pressures, relying on government-funded demand. Arms deals are driven by political and strategic decisions rather than market pricing, meaning input costs such as energy matter far less.
Rising costs have made large parts of Germany’s traditional industrial base less competitive. The response of the German state to that has been to shift toward sectors insulated from the market. Industry is not recovering in a conventional sense, but being redirected to where demand is state-driven rather than market-driven. This shift is already reshaping Germany’s manufacturing base. According to the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), about 17% of industrial firms are now tied to the defense supply chain, with involvement particularly high in vehicle manufacturing at 36%. Some struggling auto plants are being repurposed for military production.

Just bring ’em home. Russia will not attack unless we attack first.

• Trump Indicates US Could Move Troops From Germany to Poland (JTN)

President Donald Trump said Friday night that the United States military could decide to relocate the troops that are currently stationed in Germany and move them to Poland. The president touted his friendship with the country’s leader, President Karol Nawrocki, who assumed office last year. The Pentagon previously indicated that the U.S. would move 5,000 troops from Germany in the next six to 12 months. Well, Poland would like that,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We have a great relationship with Poland. I have a great relationship with the president. I endorsed him, and he won.

He came from way behind, and he won. He’s a great fighter, he’s a great guy. I like him a lot, so that’s possible. Germany is currently home to the largest U.S. military presence in Europe, with more than 35,000 troops currently stationed in the country, and is also viewed as crucial to the U.S.’s presence on the continent. The United Kingdom and Italy also host over 10,000 U.S. troops each. Poland currently hosts 369 permanently assigned active-duty service members and about 10,000 personnel of rotational force, according to Reuters.

If his defence really is that he didn’t know what “86-47” means, he’s toast. But…

• Federal Judge Sets Comey Criminal Trial For July 15 In North Carolina (JTN)

A federal judge Friday scheduled former FBI Director James Comey’s upcoming criminal trial for July 15 at her court in North Carolina, after a grand jury in the state indicted him on two criminal charges. The decision comes a day after the same judge agreed to cancel Comey’s first court appearance in the state, because he had already surrendered himself to authorities and appeared in a Virginia court for the same case. His appearance was scheduled for Monday. Comey was indicted by a grand jury in North Carolina last month for posting a photo of shells on a beach last year with the inscription “86-47” that prosecutors alleged was a threat against the president.

U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan, who will oversee the trial, instructed Comey’s legal team to file all of its pretrial motions by June 5 and said Comey can make his first official appearance in her court to enter his plea on June 30. Comey’s team is expected to frame the case as a retribution campaign and will seek to toss the new indictment as selective and vindictive prosecution, according to The Hill. The former director has been officially charged with making a threat against the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

2 years to go. Is the US ready for a Latino president?

• Is Marco Rubio The New Heir Apparent To Trump? (ZH)

For months, the conventional wisdom inside Republican circles has been settled and simple: JD Vance is next. The vice president has led 2028 Republican presidential nomination polling by a country mile, averaging nearly 45.5 points in the RealClearPolitics aggregate — more than 30 points ahead of Donald Trump Jr. at 14.8% and Marco Rubio at 14%. And yet, something shifted this week. One press briefing, and the betting markets started hedging.

Rubio stepped in as White House press secretary on Tuesday, covering for Karoline Leavitt while she’s on maternity leave, and delivered what even the skeptics had to acknowledge was a polished, commanding performance. He defended the war in Iran before a press corps not exactly known for its generosity toward administration officials — and walked away with his standing improved. The room, by most accounts, was notably less adversarial than it tends to be when Leavitt or Trump takes the podium. Rubio was fluid and measured, giving the journalists little to sharpen their teeth on. Washington noticed, and Kalshi, one of the leading prediction markets, noticed too.
By Tuesday, Rubio had leapfrogged Vance to become the overall favorite to win the 2028 presidential election, coming in at 18% to Vance’s 17%. Gov. Gavin Newsom sits just behind at 16% – a reminder that the Democrats haven’t entirely vacated the field in the markets’ eyes. For Rubio, the jump is particularly striking given that he was sitting in the single digits on Kalshi earlier this year. Polymarket still has Vance in front overall – 19.6% to Newsom’s 16.7% and Rubio’s 15%. On the GOP nomination question specifically, Vance retains a meaningful edge on Polymarket (though Rubio’s odds are rising). Primary voters and general-election bettors, it turns out, are pricing these things very differently.
None of this, of course, happens in a vacuum. Trump himself has been notably careful — or deliberately noncommittal — about who carries the MAGA torch after January 2029. Weeks into his second term, Trump sat down with Fox News’s Bret Baier and declined to designate Vance as his heir apparent, saying simply that it was too early for such an endorsement. For a president who has never been shy about anointing winners and losers, that hesitation was conspicuous to say the least. He left the door ajar, and markets being markets, traders are now watching to see who walks through it.
Vance remains the favorite by most conventional metrics. His polling advantage is enormous, and he’s been the heir apparent since joining the Trump ticket in 2024. But Rubio’s trajectory is definitely worth watching to see if his stock goes higher or merely plateaus. His rise from the low single digits to within striking distance of Vance on Kalshi over just a few months could be a one-off or the opening act of a longer repositioning. For now, Vance’s commanding polling lead offers the most grounded picture of where Republican voters actually stand. But, prediction markets have a knack for capturing things polls don’t. And it will likely take some time to determine if Rubio’s rise will stick.

“I’m sure Fetterman will find a way to anger Republicans, if only to reestablish his bona fides as a blue-collar Democrat.”

• John Fetterman: ‘I’d Be a Terrible Republican’ (Rick Moran)

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman is the quintessential iconoclast. He’s a disruptor of the first order, a thorn in the side of Democrats, and the media’s go-to guy if it wants a juicy quote from a Democrat who’s likely to say something bad about his own party. But Fetterman is no Republican. He made that very clear in an op-ed he wrote for the Washington Post, published Thursday. Talking about his first race for political office in 2008, the mayor of his dying steel town of Braddock, Penn., Fetterman wrote that it “wasn’t about being a Democrat or Republican, but about making sure places such as Braddock received the benefits, focus, and investments they deserved for their contributions to this great country.”

Fetterman has sought to maintain that political identity ever since.I’d say he was an “old-fashioned” politician, looking to work with the other party to achieve mutually beneficial goals, but it wasn’t that long ago that the sort of bipartisanship Fetterman ascribes to was the dominant political identity of members of both parties.Today, the base of both parties sees that sort of bipartisanship as weak and even traitorous. This has made Fetterman a lonely figure, as much of his own party shuns him. Democrats in Pennsylvania give Fetterman a 22% approval rating, while Republicans embrace him, with 73% approving of the job he’s doing.
What Democrats object to most of all is that Fetterman doesn’t hate Donald Trump. He opposes Trump on most issues, but the visceral, hysterical hate that Democrats feel toward Trump is missing from Fetterman’s rhetoric.On some issues, he supports the president, which drives the radical left nuts. He has been a strong supporter of Trump’s policy toward Israel and Iran, and he has backed Trump’s border crackdown.My party cannot simply be the opposite of whatever President Donald Trump says. The president could come out for ice cream and lazy Sundays, and my party would suddenly hate them. Such pointless pile-ons and attacks are unproductive. The American people want us to work together to find solutions on issues they and our country face.
It wasn’t long ago when Democrats wanted a secure border. I voted on an immigration bill in 2024 to make sure an influx the size of Pittsburgh doesn’t come through the border like it did under the previous administration. I have co-sponsored legislation to stop the flow of fentanyl. I was the lead Democrat on the Laken Riley Act, and I strongly believe that someone who comes here illegally and commits a violent crime should be deported. Full stop. This support for some of Trump’s agenda has Republicans eying Fetterman for a party switch. It’s not going to happen.
Fetterman is not the vindictive type, and even if Democrats boot him off committees and support someone more radical in the primary (he’s up for reelection in 2028), he will remain a Democrat. “I remain strongly pro-choice, pro-weed, pro-LGBT, pro-SNAP, pro-labor and even pro-rib-eye over bio slop,” he wrote. None of that except preferring rib-eye sounds very “Republican” to me. Fetterman explains: “Being an independent voice that works with the other side to deliver for Pennsylvanians might put me at odds with the party that I have stayed committed to and have no plans to leave — but I will continue to put the commonwealth and the country first,” he said.
He added, “Plus, I’d be a terrible Republican who still votes overwhelmingly with Democrats.” Heritage Action, the political arm of the Heritage Foundation, gives Fetterman a 0% score for the 119th Congress, indicating that from a staunchly conservative perspective, his voting record is still overwhelmingly aligned with the Democratic caucus. Fetterman says he “has no plans to leave” the Democratic Party. Some commentators, such as Aaron Blake of Politico, point out that plans can change. The first thing to note is that while some have cast this as Fetterman rejecting a party switch, he didn’t fully rule it out.
Yes, it’s significant that he even felt pressured enough to write this op-ed downplaying the prospect, and Democrats should be heartened that he did. But “no plans” is not the same as “no chance,” and politicians often use the former phrasing to keep their options open. If things were to change, Fetterman — who’s not facing reelection until 2028 — could say he truthfully wasn’t planning on switching parties, but that his plans changed because of XYZ. I’m sure Fetterman will find a way to anger Republicans, if only to reestablish his bona fides as a blue-collar Democrat. But he remains one of the more colorful politicians in a city full of black, white, and gray.

We’ll hear a lot about this, rest assured.

• Gerrymander Debacle in Virginia Leaves Dems with a Dangerous Agenda (Turley)

“Eff around and find out”: That taunt from Hakeem Jeffries celebrating Virginia’s gerrymander did not age well. On Friday, the House minority leader found out that Virginia’s Supreme Court was not quite as gleeful as he about Democrats’ attempt to virtually eliminate Republican representation in the purple state. The court just cooked the party’s infamous lobster, a district over 100 miles long that was designed to help devour the GOP’s slender majority in the House of Representatives.mIt also cooked the ambitions of Gov. Abigail Spanberger and the Democratic establishment, which tossed aside any pretense of principle in a raw political gambit.

The resulting faceplant is nothing short of legendary: Spanberger’s Democrats have succeeded in alienating half of the state. For the governor, the court’s decision was particularly embarrassing. Before assuming power, Spanberger denounced gerrymandering as “detrimental to our democracy and weakens the individual voices that form our electorates.”She ran as a moderate, but Spanberger immediately turned sharply left once in office and called for the most extreme gerrymander in the nation. The court found that effort was not only unconstitutional, but “wholly unprecedented in Virginia’s history.” It characterized the state’s position as “a story of the tail wagging the dog that has no tail.”
While some of us had previously expressed skepticism over the rushed effort to circumvent the state constitution, the media almost exclusively relied on liberal experts who predicted the new districts would be upheld. It was a calculated risk for Democrats, who have now burned their bridges with Virginia conservative and Republican voters. As Winston Churchill said, “Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.” Exhilarating and unforgettable: In a purple state where politicians often require crossover votes to prevail, the redistricting push was not just partisan but personal for voters. National Democrats will soon “find out” whether Jeffries was right to prematurely celebrate a victory that seemed to secure his anticipated elevation to Speaker of the House.
The party is facing a potentially catastrophic reversal of fortune. When Democrats declared a gerrymandering war, some of us warned that the party, with its already heavily gerrymandered blue states, had far more to lose than the GOP did. It was particularly comical when Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey pledged to join the redistricting fray, even though her state is so badly gerrymandered that it’s elected zero Republicans to the House since the 1990s. Virginia, a state long opposed to gerrymandering, has been considered the fairest state in the country, with a distribution of congressional seats that closely matches its partisan divide.
Once Spanberger sought to eradicate Republican representation, total war broke out — and now red states like Florida and Tennessee have moved forward with their own redistricting. On top of the fact that GOP states have more room for partisan gerrymandering, the Virginia Supreme Court decision comes on the heels of the US Supreme Court’s ban on racial gerrymandering. That means a dozen or more Democratic districts could now be deemed unconstitutional — and Louisiana and Mississippi are moving to redistrict in line with the Supreme Court’s decision. The result could be a dramatic shift in districts favoring the GOP.
To make matters worse for the Democratic Party, a new census in 2030 will correct the mistakes that erroneously awarded them multiple districts after the 2020 census. Those corrections, and the ongoing exodus from high-tax blue states to booming red ones, could translate into even more congressional gains for the GOP. That prospect of a political apocalypse has Democratic strategists pushing for radical changes in Washington before it’s too late. Top priority: packing the Supreme Court as soon as they retake power. As Virginia has shown, an independent court can unravel the best-laid plans.
Democratic politicians, pundits and professors have been openly pushing for expanding the high court to 13 members with four new liberal additions, in order to rubber-stamp the radical changes needed to keep the party in power. James Carville recently told Democratic politicians that they have no choice but to pack the court, declaring “F–k it . . . Just do it.” He suggested, however, that they might not want to tell the voters.
“Don’t run on it. Don’t talk about it,” he said. “Just do it.” Last week, Jeffries declared the Supreme Court “illegitimate” as he blasted its ban on racial gerrymandering. After the Virginia court’s ruling, the frustrated Democratic establishment is ever more likely to echo him — and to go beyond. Many Democrats are now “all in” with this radical agenda. With the courts declaring their redistricting efforts unconstitutional, it is the constitutional system itself that will now have to go.

This is eye-opening. A fast food job in the US pays significantly more than AI developer jobs in France or Germany, which have higher salaries than most other European countries.

Europeans simply don’t notice how poor they become compared to others. Choices have consequences. pic.twitter.com/AAy39aP5aU
— Michael A. Arouet (@MichaelAArouet) May 9, 2026

The human-perceived RGB is image 1 and the Tesla AI photon count reconstruction is image 2.

This is why Tesla FSD can see so well at night or through extreme glare. pic.twitter.com/ttBMzgpJtd
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2026

https://twitter.com/jackprandelli/status/2053052668529058006?s=20 https://twitter.com/MichaelARothman/status/2053114983098282460?s=20

A BOMBSHELL study just confirmed Fauci & top COVID officials used FRAUDULENT PCR case counts (86% NOT REAL INFECTIONS) to terrorize America into deadly mRNA jabs, lockdowns, and the fictional 6-foot rule.

TERMINATE Fauci’s autopen pardon NOW and CHARGE HIM.

2 days remain… pic.twitter.com/vCKEiUHAMK
— Nicolas Hulscher, MPH (@NicHulscher) May 9, 2026

When this sculpture was unveiled in 1753, people refused to believe it was made of marble.

They were convinced the artist had used alchemy…

The veil draped over the body of Christ was rendered with such impossible precision that the only explanation was that some chemical… pic.twitter.com/3NQivzbdYD
— James Lucas (@JamesLucasIT) May 9, 2026

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Debt Rattle April 28 2026

Apr 282026

April 28, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:48 am Finance Tagged with: 60 minutes, assassination, Fetterman, Hormuz, New York Times, Obama, pharmacies, prescription drugs, siege, Starmer, Trump 31 Responses »

Johannes Vermeer Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window 1657-59

• A Feral and Savage Party (James Howard Kunstler)

• No Conspiracy Required (Stephen Green)

• Obama Said This About the Latest Trump Assassination Attempt (Margolis)

• President Trump 60-Minutes Interview on Events During Attack at WHCA Dinner (CTH)

• Again, Fetterman Breaks Ranks After the Third Attempt on Trump’s Life (Manney)

• Melania Trump Deplores Jimmy Kimmel’s Disturbing Shooting Jokes (Salgado)

• How the GOP Should Respond to the ‘Both Sides Are Guilty’ Nonsense (Pinsker)

• The New York Times Explores the Case for “Microlooting” to Murder (Turley)

• Muslim Voters Are Reshaping U.K. Politics (JTN)

• Trump’s Prescription Drug Policies Make Small-Town Pharmacies Great Again (JTN)

• Charlottesville: The Deceit Underlying the Hoax (Steve Cortes)

• The Siege of Iran, and Other Matters (James Howard Kunstler)

• Iran Offers New Proposal To Reopen Strait – Trump Open To Deal Via Phone (ZH)

• Bessent: IRGC Leaders ‘Trapped’ Like ‘Drowning Rats’ By US Blockade (ZH)

• Senator Chuck Grassley’s Office Requests Answers from DOJ and FBI (CTH)

President Trump just gave one of the most ominous and haunting answers of his entire presidency.

“I understand life.”

When Norah O’Donnell asked what was going through his mind as shots rang out last night, you could see him pause before responding.

O’DONNELL: “How worried… pic.twitter.com/HCObfgWj22
— Overton (@overton_news) April 26, 2026

They hate President Trump because he will not comply with their ‘Rules-based Order’.

He is a threat to the most powerful, UNELECTED Bureaucracies in the World…WEF, UN, WHO…and most importantly, the Regime Media… pic.twitter.com/qP0sQBelqR
— Liz Churchill (@liz_churchill10) April 26, 2026

https://twitter.com/Real_RobN/status/2048492303531364530?s=20

Accurate https://t.co/e3MLHeXZFp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2026

The Dark Money Funding America's Chaos with Soros, Rockefeller, Obama, Clintons, USAID, SPLC, & Other Corrupt NGOs Behind it All

Federal Reserve Financial Accounts say NGOs held a total of over $14.12 TRILLION in assets in 2025.

$3+ billion combined annual revenues of around… pic.twitter.com/Xa1s3ShB1r
— The SCIF (@TheSCIF) April 26, 2026

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2048439348463337953?s=20 https://twitter.com/CRRJA5/status/2048585821163254218?s=20 https://twitter.com/eagameover/status/2048427971476705443?s=20

Elon Musk: The lies against President Trump almost got him killed.

Bret Baier: “You have been called a Nazi, a white supremacist, a fascist. Just to name a few.”

Elon: “I guess they still need to call me Stalin, Mussolini, Genghis Khan, whatever. They've called the President… pic.twitter.com/O1xOKHPthn
— ELON CLIPS (@ElonClipsX) April 26, 2026

Thomas Sowell behind closed
Doors speaks Truth
About OBAMA!!!! pic.twitter.com/zkVX5p4zvc
— IRISH PATRIOT (@irishpatriot91) April 27, 2026

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action.” —Ian Fleming

• A Feral and Savage Party (James Howard Kunstler)

Don’t you love the way the news media pretends it can’t figure out the motive of Cole Tomas Allen, who tried to shoot-up Saturday’s White House correspondents’ gala. He was a creation of the very White House correspondents who ducked under their tables at the sound of his shots. Cole Tomas Allen had digested and internalized the “narrative” spewage of the Democratic Party’s propaganda department. MSNOW occupied his brain like a glistening parasite.

CBS tried to amplify the shooter’s own motive on Sunday night’s 60 Minutes show when Norah O’Donnell read out-loud from his manifesto, “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” and asked President Trump “What is your reaction to that?” Mr. Trump did not fall for the ruse — which was just an opportunity to reinforce a well-worn scurrility. “You’re a disgrace,” the president replied, and Ms. O’Donnell just continued with the interview as if his answer never registered. There it is.
In fact, Cole Tomas Allen traveled all the way from Los Angeles to Washington for the rare chance to find Mr. Trump and most of his cabinet all together in one room where he might be able to kill as many of them as possible. He styled himself: “Cole ‘coldForce’ ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ Allen. “I experience rage thinking about everything this administration has done,” he concluded in his short manifesto, reportedly composed and sent out minutes before he left his room at the Washington Hilton to perform his rash deed.
That rage, you understand, was planted in his head by the likes of Norah O’Donnell of CBS news and the scores of reporters, editors, and news producers who had to abandon the festive menu starters of spring pea and burrata salad and crab terrine with a nice Veuve Clicquot when the shots rang out. The gala is a night when the Blob’s media errand boys and call girls like to treat themselves like royalty. (Meanwhile their hated enemies back in the truck stops of MAGAland get by on lowly chili-lime jerky and Little Debbie Zebra Cakes, washed down with Red Bull — good for five-hundred miles of hauling, at least.)

The former president can’t guess Cole Tomas Allen’s motives. He is a liar, a cad, and a fraud. As for political violence in general, you have not heard Mr. Obama complain about Antifa mayhem, BLM riots, tranny school murders, harassment of ICE officers, or any other violence approved by the Lefty-left. Mr. Obama is himself a bona fide seditionist. When he repeats the shibboleth “our democracy” he means simply the Lefty-left’s malevolent will to power — which is predicated on nothing more than feeding the Democratic Party’s never-ending rackets, doling out money to its captive clients for votes, solely to remain in power: Ouroboros, the snake eating its own tail. His mealy-mouthed sanctimony serves only his personal need to evade prosecution for his own crimes.
The only way Barack Obama can evade prosecution for RussiaGate and then for covertly running the “Joe Biden” White House from his HQ across town is if he is named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the RICO cases to come. That will be enough for historians to understand what happened here in the early 21st century. And what about the other traitors, the long list of Blob apparatchiks who schemed to overthrow the executive from 2016 to 2021, and then labored to throw thousands in prison, ran a fake pandemic op, queered two elections, hijacked the courts, shut down opposing opinion, and poisoned the minds of several assassins?
Justice is coming for them. They know it, and their “resistance” seeks to turn feral and savage in the months leading to the midterm elections. It will start in a few days with “Mayday Strong” rallies and street marches. Their slogan, “It’s workers over billionaires,” is just another lie. The part they leave out is that these actions are funded by billionaires: George Soros, Neville Roy Singham, Hansjörg Wyss, et al. Don’t expect the action to remain “mostly peaceful,” either. The idea, of course is to get violent so as to goad President Trump into invoking emergency powers to put down an insurrection.
I doubt that President Trump will shrink from invoking the Insurrection Act, an amalgamation of laws passed by Congress starting in 1792–1795 with the Militia Acts, then the key 1807 law signed by President Thomas Jefferson, and major amendments during and after the Civil War, including the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act. It is codified in Title 10 of the United States Code, Chapter 13, specifically §§ 251–255. It is a statutory exception to the Posse Comitatus Act (1878), which generally prohibits using federal troops for domestic law enforcement.
The Insurrection Act (with its predecessor statutes) has been invoked approximately 30 times in U.S. history by 16 presidents — Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Grant, Hayes, Arthur, Cleveland, Wilson, Harding, FD Roosevelt, Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan, and Bush — in episodes ranging from the Whiskey Rebellion, the Southern Secession, many violent labor strikes, several race riots, and looting in natural disasters.
President Trump might have to use the Insurrection Act to stop what has been an ongoing coup against his elected administration by an opposition party that has turned criminal and traitorous. He may have to convene extraordinary military tribunals to adjudicate crimes that include those committed by the federal judiciary itself. If he does all this, it must include an executive order mandating common sense election procedure for the midterm: citizenship and photo ID required, paper ballots only, no vote-counting machines, voting only on one day deemed Election Day, and mail-in ballots limited only to military, people required to be out of the country, and the disabled. All this is looking increasingly unavoidable.

“If the Democrats don’t knock this off, there really will be a civil war in this country, and it won’t end well for them, just like the last one they started in 1861.”

• No Conspiracy Required (Stephen Green)

“The Democratic Party has created monsters among them,” Jan. 6 criminal defense attorney Marina Medvin posted to X in the wake of yet another assassination attempt on President Donald Trump Saturday night. “The most interesting part” of attempted assassin Cole Allen’s manifesto and social media posts is that they’re “generally indistinguishable from most liberal social medial accounts belonging to Democrat voters in America.” Dems, you have a problem.

“The same week the New York Times published a cozy interview justifying the murder of people whose politics you don’t like, the same week we learned that the Unite the Right Charlottesville rally was funded by the Left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center, President Trump survived his third assassination attempt,” Batya Ungar-Sargon wrote on Sunday. “A recent YouGov poll says it all: 25% of very liberal Americans consider political violence justified—compared to 3% of very conservative Americans. Another 17% of liberal Americans say it’s justified, compared to just 6% of conservatives.”The left has worked hard at normalizing political violence — and Allen’s murderous intent is the left’s new mainstream. Let’s start with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, widely believed to have 2028 presidential ambitions, speaking last week:

You said America is “essentially” becoming Nazi Germany under President Trump.

Your sick rhetoric has consequences and is inciting violence.

When will enough be enough?https://t.co/e4DGMgRZOo https://t.co/1hBhVPsetc
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 26, 2026

As John Bulkeley warned, “If the Democrats don’t knock this off, there really will be a civil war in this country, and it won’t end well for them, just like the last one they started in 1861.” Speaking of war, here’s Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries doing just that.

On Wednesday @RepJeffries called for “Maximum Warfare Everywhere All The Time,” with a picture of Trump. Again, this attempted assassin didn’t go rogue. Democrats created him with their rhetoric. He believes he’s a hero. They told him to kill Trump & he tried to do it. pic.twitter.com/ra4fuVP3NN
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 26, 2026

Barring some big change before the midterms, Jeffries will be the next House Speaker. Maybe you remember James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by four-term incumbent John Cornyn. Writing for the New York Times last month, pseudo-conservative David French praised him as “one of the most faith-forward politicians in the United States.” Here’s Talarico’s pastor on Sunday:

James Talarico's pastor:

"Last night there was an assassination attempt. I know a lot of people have mixed feelings < congregation laughs >"

continues to say violence is not the answer and its important to not do to this fascist movement what they are doing to rest of world pic.twitter.com/kb8eXXLhZs
— ATX data (@data_atx) April 27, 2026

Please note that the pastor did not go on to chide people for having mixed feelings about an assassination attempt, but instead doubled down on the very rhetoric that Allen echoed on BlueSky and in his manifesto. In church, if you can believe it. Finally, here’s late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday, calling first lady Melania Trump “an expectant widow” right to her face.

Jimmy Kimmel delivered a fake White House Correspondents Dinner speech, saying "Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow." pic.twitter.com/o4a59eYnZl
— Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons) April 26, 2026

One more? OK, one more:

Making light of another assassination attempt on a President by our local Democrat Party is as disgraceful as it is unsurprising.

This is exactly the kind of rhetoric that contributes to a climate where these attacks continue to happen, and frankly, it’s why my staff and I take… pic.twitter.com/ZvpIVW0inx
— Congressman Greg Steube (@RepGregSteube) April 26, 2026

And don’t even get me started on the mainstream media… but if CNN’s Jake Tapper is at all unusual, it’s only because he’s so high-profile.

Find someone who loves you as much as Jake Tapper loves the Charlottesville Fine People Hoax.

SPLC must have been so happy with Tapper's coverage. pic.twitter.com/z9JKVhIZGn
— MAZE (@mazemoore) April 25, 2026

As I’ve written here for two years, there’s no conspiracy required to produce a left-wing assassin like Tyler James Robinson or Ryan Routh. They just amp up the rhetorical pressure, 24/7/365, until somebody pops. Lee Harvey Oswald was a weird teen, easy to pull out of the crowd. He embraced “theoretical Marxism” in high school and soon after earned the name “Oswaldovich” from his fellow Marines. But he seems to have required renouncing his citizenship and a two-year stint in the Soviet Union to turn him into a lefty assassin. If his manifesto is anything to go by, all Cole Thomas Allen had to do was watch CNN and read the New York Times.

“Allen’s manifesto made it clear he has fallen for the lies of the Democrats, radicalized by their rhetoric — including Barack Obama’s.”

• Obama Said This About the Latest Trump Assassination Attempt (Margolis)

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting at the White House Correspondents Association dinner at the Washington Hilton, where 31-year-old Cole Allen of California tried to assassinate President Donald Trump and other administration officials, there was a lot of confusion. Early reports suggested that the shooter had been killed. Those reports turned out to be false. During that time, many people on the left were trying to distract from the obvious, that someone had tried to assassinate Trump again. Left-wing influencers started chiding conservatives, pointing out the obvious. They claimed we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Of course, they also claimed the shooting was staged, but that’s a whole other story.

And then there’s Barack Obama. “Although we don’t yet have the details about the motives behind last night’s shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner, it’s incumbent upon all of us to reject the idea that violence has any place in our democracy,” Obama wrote on X. “It’s also a sobering reminder of the courage and sacrifice that U.S. Secret Service Agents show every day. I’m grateful to them – and thankful that the agent who was shot is going to be okay.”
There’s just one huge problem with Obama’s statement. We already knew the shooter’s motive at this point. Obama posted his statement at 5:15 p.m. EDT on Sunday, and the shooter’s manifesto and its contents were first published late Sunday morning. So by the time Obama decided to weigh in, the manifesto had been in the public domain for several hours, and his anti-Trump motives were already widely reported.] Here’s what Cole Allen’s manifesto said:
“I am a citizen of the United States of America. What my representatives do reflects on me. And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes. (Well, to be completely honest, I was no longer willing a long time ago, but this is the first real opportunity I’ve had to do something about it.) […] Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest
Allen made clear that Secret Service agents were only to be engaged if necessary — and even then, he claimed he preferred to incapacitate rather than kill. Hotel security, Capitol Police, and National Guard personnel were to be avoided unless they intervened, and he explicitly stated that hotel employees and guests were not targets. In short, there is no doubt he came there to kill Trump and other Trump administration officials. And Obama’s response was to tell the public the motive remained unclear.
There’s a pattern here worth naming. When political violence touches conservatives, the motive becomes suddenly complex, nuanced, perhaps unknowable. The calls for unity arrive with a side of fog. Meanwhile, the very writings that explain everything are either broadcast for maximum damage or quietly tucked away to avoid inconvenient conclusions.
No one can honestly believe that Obama was clueless. So why keep pretending that the motive is some unsolvable mystery? The answer is the same reason some on the left rushed to claim the assassination attempt was staged. They understand how damaging this is, so the instinct is to downplay it, muddy the waters, and dodge any real reckoning with the kind of radicalism that keeps surfacing on their side. Allen’s manifesto made it clear he has fallen for the lies of the Democrats, radicalized by their rhetoric — including Barack Obama’s.

He shows himself in total control. This is obviously not the first time he thinks about it. How could it be?

Donald Trump came out of this weekend a lot bigger than he went in. A lot.

• President Trump 60-Minutes Interview on Events During Attack at WHCA Dinner (CTH)

President Trump details his experience at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where a gunman charged toward the ballroom. President Trump says he wasn’t worried and praised the actions of law enforcement.

“Fetterman cut through the noise and picked action over argument. While others kept talking, he picked a solution.”

• Again, Fetterman Breaks Ranks After the Third Attempt on Trump’s Life (Manney)

If the man wasn’t a bloody lefty, I’d create a chorus of people asking him to flip to the Republican side. When compared to other Senate freshmen, he’s ranked the second most leftist. Alas, I believe him to be the maverick that the media’s favorite maverick, John McCain, thought himself to be. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) didn’t hedge after the chaos at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner when a gunman, Cole Allen, rushed a Secret Service checkpoint and opened fire. The shooter has now been identified as 31-year-old schoolteacher Cole Allen of Torrance, Calif., who sprinted past security checkpoints inside the hotel armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and two knives. He never made it into the ballroom.

Gunfire was exchanged during the incident, but Allen was not hit, and police arrested him. A Secret Service agent was struck but was wearing protective gear. No other injuries were confirmed among the attendees. In seconds, a routine political event turned into a live test of how much risk members of the Trump administration accept when they gather away from the White House. Fetterman saw enough, telling fellow Democrats to drop the reflex of opposing anything “Trump” and back a practical fix: build a secure, bulletproof ballroom on the White House grounds. A hardened, on-site venue would let presidents host large events inside a controlled perimeter instead of relying on facilities that weren’t built for modern threat levels.
President Donald Trump drove the point home within hours, saying the shooting proved why a protected ballroom isn’t optional; it’s basic security. Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and senior officials moved off the stage as agents contained the threat. One Secret Service agent took a round to his chest and, thanks to his vest, survived. Cole Allen of Torrance, Calif., never reached the main seating area, but the gap between “contained” and “catastrophic” was very thin. Fetterman’s position isn’t a one-off; he votes with his caucus most of the time, yet he breaks from it on national security when it counts. He backs Israel, supports Trump’s effort to block Iran from getting nuclear weapons, and, last year, defended the ballroom plan as appropriate and in line with the White House’s long history of upgrades.
Private donors would fund the ballroom, which removes the usual fight over money. For years, security professionals have warned about concentrating the president, vice president, cabinet, and lawmakers at off-site venues like the Washington Hilton. A single breach threatens multiple layers of leadership at once. A White House ballroom keeps those events inside a fortified perimeter designed for current threats, not assumptions from the past 30 years. You can’t put it more plainly than Fetterman did on X.
We were there front and center.

That venue wasn’t built to accommodate an event with the line of succession for the U.S. government.

After witnessing last night, drop the TDS and build the White House ballroom for events exactly like these. pic.twitter.com/eeUBnlSe5y
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) April 26, 2026

His point isn’t partisan; it’s operational: protect the office, reduce exposure, and control the environment. Washington typically defaults to posture over progress when leaders dig in, defend their side, and stall anything tied to the other party. Fetterman, however, did the opposite; he looked at what happened and backed a fix already on the table. Allen’s “alleged” attack didn’t create a new problem; he exposed one that’s been tolerated and kicked down the road for years.
How many times will it take for people filled with common sense to look at the critics of the ballroom, smack ‘em in the head, and, in the most sarcastic tone possible, exclaim: It doesn’t bear repeating, but for some dunderheads, it does: a secure, on-site venue won’t solve every risk, but it closes obvious ones. The presidency demands more than ceremony and tradition; it demands infrastructure that matches the reality of modern threats. Fetterman cut through the noise and picked action over argument. While others kept talking, he picked a solution.

‘Political Sickness:’

• Melania Trump Deplores Jimmy Kimmel’s Disturbing Shooting Jokes (Salgado)

After vile “comedian” Jimmy Kimmel referred to First Lady Melania Trump as an “expectant widow” in a series of grossly inappropriate jokes before the Saturday assassination attempt on Trump administration officials, the first lady responded with dignity but without holding back on emphasizing just how dangerous the rhetoric is.

Just days before Cole Allen opened fire at the April 25 White House correspondents’ dinner, the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! chortled, “Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.” That ugly display was part of Kimmel’s Thursday parody of the then-upcoming correspondents’ dinner. And the shooting highlighted vividly how irresponsible or downright bloodthirsty the media is for their constant pro-assassination rhetoric. No wonder the first lady wants ABC to take him off the air.
Melania posted on X Monday, “Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.” That is exactly what we see across the political left in America now, a sickness that has pervaded not only their politics, but their minds and their morals as well.
Then, Melania continued by challenging the networks that platform such incredibly dangerous rhetoric. “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate. A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him,” she said. “Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”
Jimmy Kimmel was also despicable about the Charlie Kirk assassination. He falsely claimed that Kirk’s murderer was MAGA (actually, Tyler Robinson was an LGBTQ leftist) and smirked that the right was trying to score political points off the tragedy. The problem is that he is mainstream for lefties. He might be a little more candid about his unholy glee when Republicans die or are in danger of death, but his mainstream media pals agree with him.
Erika Kirk, Charlie’s widow, was at the correspondents’ dinner on Saturday and understandably was extremely traumatized after the near-deadly incident, considering how recent her husband’s assassination was. But Kimmel thinks it is all a great big joke. While ABC is not a public broadcasting station that essentially receives a form of government subsidy, and therefore the government cannot challenge Kimmel’s employment directly, it is entirely reasonable for Melania to ask why the Walt Disney Company keeps funding this hideous human being’s show.
Why is Kimmel even still on the air? At the very least, Donald Trump needs to stop going on mainstream media like CBS News’ 60 Minutes and legitimizing these poisonous propagandists. The president and his wife are absolutely right that the media is fueling violent hatred, and therefore, Republicans should allow these same media stooges to fall into the complete irrelevancy they have so richly earned.

Don’t get ahead of yourself: Only one man should decide and proclaim how the GOP should respond: the President.

• How the GOP Should Respond to the ‘Both Sides Are Guilty’ Nonsense (Pinsker)

If you’re an absent-minded married shlub, you’ve probably played the “golly gee, both sides were wrong, let’s move on” card, too. It goes like this:
Wife: Scott, why haven’t you taken out the garbage yet? I asked you two days ago. It’s starting to stink.
Me: But that was in the past! We need to look to the future. Let’s not dwell on the blame-game, honey — we’re better than that.
Wife: What are you talking about? Just take the garbage out, please.
Me: Look, we both contributed to the garbage. You threw away plenty of stuff, too. Probably more than me.
Wife: I can hear the garbage truck coming! Take it out to the street before it’s too late!
Me: Really, we’re both at fault: You asked me to do something — and somewhere along the way, there was a communication breakdown. So instead of pointing fingers, let’s be grownups and admit we were both wrong. Mistakes were made, but life goes on. That’s why pencils have erasers. Right?
Wife: [sighs] Never mind, I’ll do it.
Me: Thanks, honey. While you’re up, can you grab me a beer?
Yeah: It doesn’t work when you’re married any better than it’ll work for the Democrats. On the heels of yet another assassination attempt, the American people are beginning to recognize the media’s Political Violence Blame-Game Template. After all, it’s really not that complicated: When there’s no political violence: Blame Donald Trump and the GOP for inciting this awful, terrible epidemic of violence that doesn’t exist (yet).When a Democrat is the victim: Blame Donald Trump and the GOP for “extremist language” and racist/fascist “dog whistles” that are an “existential threat to democracy.” Demand greater civility in political discourse — while threatening to jail Republicans who appear “threatening” to liberals. (The only long-term solution to political violence, of course, is to remove Republicans from power.)
When a Republican is the victim: Blame both sides. (“It’s everyone’s fault! How the heck did things spiral out of control?”) Neither party has a monopoly on unstable nutjobs, but according to opinion polls, one side is a helluva lot more likely to support political violence than the other. Spoiler alert: It’s not the GOP.

25% of very liberal people say political violence can “sometimes be justified.”

Among very conservative people it’s just 3%.

In other words, the far left is 8x more likely to support political violence as the far right.

Stop pretending this is a “both sides” problem. It’s not. pic.twitter.com/ZpmoGDxipz
— Robert Sterling (@RobertMSterling) April 26, 2026

For the Babylon Bee, the parody writes itself:

'This Is A Both Sides Issue,' Says Side That Shot President Trump, Assassinated Charlie Kirk, Tried To Assassinate Kavanaugh, Tried To Shoot Trump Again, Shot Steve Scalise, Firebombed Governor Shapiro, Tried To Shoot Trump A Third Time, (cont'd) https://t.co/xtK8yqxvzK pic.twitter.com/rgFvPjz3iW
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) April 26, 2026

The assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner will likely dominate the headlines for the next several days. Unlike most Black Swan events, this one will have extra-long legs because:
1) All the D.C. journalists who witnessed it are highly incentivized to continue talking about the most exciting moment of their careers. Like I wrote yesterday, if reporters like Brian Williams can’t resist bragging about fake bullets, you better believe they’re gonna be talking nonstop about the real thing.
2) There’s a legitimate mystery to investigate: Who, what, when, and how was Cole Allen, the (alleged) “Friendly Federal Assassin” radicalized? On the surface, he seems like your normal, typical, nondescript leftist. As far as we know, this wasn’t a kid who was in and out of mental hospitals. So, was he radicalized by TikTok and Reddit? By the Epstein conspiracy? A hate-merchant like Hasan Piker? What pushed him over the edge?
Which means, the mainstream media will play the “both sides are equally guilty” card, but its attention will be diverted: Journalists can’t investigate Allen, beat their chests and brag about their (remarkable) bravery, AND be laser-focused on blaming both sides. Not enough oxygen in the room. Too many competing storylines to juggle. And therein lies the GOP’s opportunity. Because the media’s attention will be divided, the GOP will have a free hand to publicize its own message to the masses — and counterprogram the mainstream media. But we’ll have to be picky: With all the competing storylines, only one or two “talking points” will break through.
This means that we can’t say EVERYTHING we think about Cole Allen and left-wing political violence. We must be selective: It’s all about bang-for-the-buck. So how should the GOP counterprogram the Dems? Conservatives tend to favor intellectual, evidence-based arguments over raw emotions. It’s why we rely so heavily on statistics. Already on social media, we’re seeing swaths of posts about polling data — such as the one embedded above — that make a compelling mathematical argument about left-wing America’s sick tolerance of political violence.

“Margaret Cho this week declared that “we need a feral, bloodthirsty, violent Democrat.”

• The New York Times Explores the Case for “Microlooting” to Murder (Turley)

“It is so hard to live ethically in an unethical society.” That lament heard this week from New York Times opinion culture editor Nadja Spiegelman could well be the Democratic Party’s epitaph. Spiegelman was interviewing two left-wing influencers about how everything from shoplifting to murder may be excusable today in light of the unfairness they see in society.

The podcast, a product of the nation’s newspaper of record, reveled in the moral relativism that has taken over the American left. It featured the ravings of the antisemitic Marxist streamer Hasan Piker, who calmly explained how the murder of United Healthcare executive Brian Thompson was perfectly understandable. His rationalization came from Marxist revolutionary Friedrich Engels, who had called capitalism “social murder.” If capitalists are “social murderers,” then why not kill them? The logic is liberating and lethal for some on the left looking for a license for violence.
Mind you, this same newspaper had once condemned and effectively banned a U.S. senator for writing an op-ed advocating the use of the military to quell violent protests during the summer of George Floyd’s death. The Times even forced out its own opinion editor for having the temerity to publish such an opinion. But glorifying murder? The suggestion of open hunting season on corporate executives did not appear to shock or repel Spiegelman. After all, we are living in “an unethical society.” She explained that many felt that the murder of Thompson, the father of two, meant that “finally, someone can actually do something about health care.”
Even liberal comedians are practicing a literal version of slapstick. Margaret Cho this week declared that “we need a feral, bloodthirsty, violent Democrat.” To be far, Spiegelman did concede that it might seem a bit “scary” for some to start murdering our way to social justice. She also explained that shoplifting can be justifiable because people are “stealing from Whole Foods — not just for the thrill of it, but out of a feeling of anger and moral justification.” New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino also contributed to the podcast, titled “The Rich Don’t Play by the Rules. So Why Should I?” She immediately threw in her own experience with “microlooting” and explained why it is arguably moral: “I have, under very specific circumstances. I will say, I think that stealing from a big-box store [isn’t] significant as a moral wrong, nor is it significant in any way as protest.”
She detailed her own past thefts and added, “I didn’t feel bad about it at all, in part because the store was a corporation. And it certainly felt, in a utilitarian sense, I was like, this is not a big deal. Right, guys?” Not in the confines of the New York Times, where apparently you are entitled to all goods that are fit to pilfer. The bizarre exchange highlighted the moral chasm that is opening its maw on today’s political left. In my book “Rage and the Republic,” I write about how rage helps people excuse any offense or attack. It dismisses the humanity of others and provides a license to hate completely and without reservation. It is not really murder or theft if there are no real humans on the other side, is it?

And the country.

• Muslim Voters Are Reshaping U.K. Politics (JTN)

The growing numbers of Muslims in the United Kingdom, along with their organized and issue-driven politics, has made them an increasingly consequential – if not outsizes – part of the country’s electorate – representing new challenges for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s center-left government and efforts to maintain a unified stance on key issues.Recent elections have shown the country’s estimated 4 million people, or roughly 6.5% of the country’s overall population, have been enough to determine electoral outcomes in specific districts and nudge national parties to re-calibrate their platforms.

U.K. foreign policy – particularly when it concerns heavily Muslim parts of the world such as Gaza and Iran – has become especially prickly, according to surveys. Changes among Muslim voters have also fragmented the traditional Labour Party coalition, and according to some reports, have accelerated a shift toward “transactional politics.” “The size of the Muslim population and even more so, the areas where it is concentrated are helping to leverage influence in key areas,” political scientist Rana Dancyger told Just the News. “They do not vote as a bloc, but their influence is large enough that their priorities must be taken into consideration.”
Census data shows that the U.K.’s Muslim population is concentrated in urban constituencies such as Birmingham, Bradford, parts of London, and cities in the north. The Muslim Council of Britain has for years identified dozens of constituencies in which Muslim voters could play a decisive role in tight races. That played out in 2024, the last national vote, where Starmer’s Labour Party lost significant support among constituencies with large Muslim populations, meaning hundreds of thousands of voters shifted away over protests on specific issues including the government’s policies on Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, where roughly 99% of the population Muslim. And likewise with Iran, who’s at war with Israel and the United States, and whose population is 99% Muslim.
It didn’t hurt Labour in the final tally, in which Starmer and his allies swept the Conservatives out of office for the first time in 16 years. But the shift helped to fuel growth for more extreme parties, such as the Liberal Democrats and the right-wing Reform UK party. The shift has forced Starmer’s government into a delicate balancing act, as positions that in the past would have been framed through political alliances – such as support for Israel or backing Israeli and U.S. policies toward Iran — now carry clear domestic consequences.
Even within the Labour Party itself, Muslim members of parliament, other government officials, and activists, have become more vocal in criticizing government policies, making it increasingly difficult for Starmer to maintain a unified message. One survey warned that the historic ties between the Labour Party and Muslim representatives could be “at a breaking point,” adding to Labour’s woes stemming from weak economic growth and indirect ties to scandals involving the Epstein files in the U.S.

Wonderful.

• Trump’s Prescription Drug Policies Make Small-Town Pharmacies Great Again (JTN)

President Donald Trump recently announced a substantial deal with drug manufacturer Regeneron to lower drug prices and onshore nearly $10 billion to $27 billion in U.S. manufacturing, further expanding access to domestic medicine, the absence of which has caused headaches for America’s thousands of community and rural pharmacies. “Seventeen of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, representing 80% of the branded drug market, have now agreed to sell their drugs to American patients at the lowest price anywhere in the world. This will result in the largest drop in prescription drug prices in the history of the United States of America,” Trump told the press Thursday during the announcement in the Oval Office.

Earlier in April, the Trump administration imposed a timed 100% tariff on patented pharmaceutical ingredients and products from most countries, which has accelerated the return of drug manufacturing to the U.S., producing stability and economic wins for independent pharmacies that have long struggled with supply-chain fragility. Key policy drivers include the April 2 Presidential Proclamation imposing 100% ad valorem tariffs on patented pharmaceuticals and ingredients (effective July 31 for major companies and September 29 for smaller companies). Companies with secretary of Commerce-approved onshoring plans qualify for a transitional 20% rate, which escalates to 100% on April 2, 2030, while MFN pricing agreements can yield 0% tariffs (with their own sunset provisions).
Complementary actions streamline FDA approvals and inspections to accelerate domestic manufacturing.The data have shown dramatic early results. In 2025 alone, drugmakers announced more than $370 billion in new U.S. manufacturing commitments – the largest reshoring wave in industry history – creating tens of thousands of jobs and dozens of new or expanded facilities. Major players have pledged over $480 billion total (e.g., Eli Lilly’s $27 billion for four new sites, Johnson & Johnson’s $55 billion including multiple plants, AstraZeneca’s $50 billion with a major Virginia facility, and similar multi-billion-dollar moves by Novartis, Roche, and others.)
The investments are generating roughly 44,000 direct manufacturing and support jobs while reducing reliance on overseas APIs, where 70–80% of U.S. generics and many branded drugs historically originated from China and India. For rural and small-town pharmacies, the re-shoring translates into tangible long-term gains. Independent operators – who often operate on razor-thin margins and serve Medicare/Medicaid-heavy populations – have faced chronic shortages, stock outs, and price volatility from global disruptions. Domestic production ramps are already easing those pressures by shortening supply chains, cutting transit risks and enabling faster replenishment.
Early signs that these policies are improving the industry, all the way down to small pharmacies, include stabilized generic supply in key categories (like antibiotics and diabetes treatments) and renewed local economic activity as new plants (many in heartland or Southern states) boost regional wages, supplier networks, and tax bases that indirectly support pharmacy viability. The administration’s parallel Rural Health Transformation Program further amplifies this by aligning pharmacies with goals like “sustainable access” and “make rural America healthy again,” positioning independents as frontline partners in expanded care delivery.

“The SPLC created hate groups and activities like the Charlottesville rally, and the complicit media then weaponized these concocted offenses by spreading outright lies about Trump’s reaction to the staged events.”

• Charlottesville: The Deceit Underlying the Hoax (Steve Cortes)

For years, Democratic politicians and their allies in the legacy media have spread the damnable Charlottesville Hoax: the propaganda myth that President Trump praised bigots who rioted in 2017 in the Virginia town. Of course, the opposite is true, as Trump actually said: “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and white nationalists because they should be condemned totally.”
Now, we learn that the entire hoax of Trump and Charlottesville is, itself, built upon another grand lie. The media and people like Joe Biden have continually pushed the narrative that some big, organic gathering of hateful Americans descended upon Charlottesville and represented some larger threat to the republic itself. But it now turns out that the “Unite the Right” rally was organized and financed by the highly partisan, left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center.
In a sweeping 11-count indictment, the Department of Justice and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche charge the advocacy group with criminal defrauding of donors and “manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.” The charges contained in this indictment are akin to the fire department becoming an aggressive criminal arson enterprise, setting fires all across a town, and then demanding more budget and authority to fight the very infernos it set ablaze.
So…the end result is that America endured years of propaganda that convinced a large segment of the population – in contravention of the facts – that their president supported violent hate merchants. Even worse, masses of unskeptical Americans, who consume only legacy media content, believed that the entire America First populist movement was based on bigotry, rather than patriotism.
Now, nearly a decade later, the truth is revealed about the deception that lay beneath that grand lie. There was a layer of duplicity here that is almost difficult to fathom. Only true Marxists could excuse this level of propaganda. The SPLC created hate groups and activities like the Charlottesville rally, and the complicit media then weaponized these concocted offenses by spreading outright lies about Trump’s reaction to the staged events.

“What matters now is ending the war as quickly and decisively as possible. . . After that, people can wrestle over the “moral and constitutional” quandary to their heart’s content.” —Brandon Smith

• The Siege of Iran, and Other Matters (James Howard Kunstler)

Other matters first, then Iran. The fall of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in an eleven-count fraud and money-laundering indictment is a watershed moment for exposing the bad faith business model of the Lefty-left: pay for the creation of imaginary monsters so you can pretend to be the defender of your fake victim-clients, the sundry “oppressed minorities” yearning to breathe free.

The money was paid to various manifestations of “white supremacy,” ranging from the good old Ku Klux Klan (more venerable in America’s memory than Frankenstein) to the avant-garde Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club, affiliated with the Aryan Nation. And, turns out, the SPLC also engineered the Fine People Hoax in Charlottesville, 2020, that loomed so large in “Joe Biden’s” supposedly victorious campaign for president. The Left’s moral center-of-gravity is a black hole of grift and subterfuge.
Of course, this SPLC farrago might raise some questions about many other Lefty-left NGOs that infest our political landscape, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Black Lives Matter (BLM), and Al Otro Lado in California, which launders taxpayer money into all manner of freebies for illegal aliens — all of these orgs accused of rank improprieties. CAIR, which is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, was declared a terrorist or transnational criminal organization by Texas and Florida. BLM grifters in Atlanta and Oklahoma City were indicted for wire fraud and money laundering.
Between the zillions of dollars flooding the USA from foreign dark money pass-thrus like the Soros family’s Open Society Foundations, the checkbook of Shanghai American expat Neville Roy Singham, The Tides Foundation, The Hopewell Fund, et cetera, ad infinitum, plus the taxpayers of California, New York, Illinois, and Minnesota, vast fortunes are pumped into civic mischief and chaos creation here, including all the riots of recent years. Is it not time, a least, to revoke the 501(c)(3) tax exemption status of all these nefarious outfits? Should be easy. (Paging Treasury Sec’y and IRS chief Scott Bessent!)
Next up: The Democratic Party’s savage stupidity played out this week in Virginia with a big election win for a shamelessly impudent Congressional redistricting scam that would sculpt away all but one GOP district of eleven on the Virginia map. NGOs poured a ton of money into the op. The ballot proposition was worded artfully “to restore fairness in upcoming elections,” which, as always with the Lefty-left, was the exact opposite of what it was designed to do.
Within hours, Tazewell County Circuit Court Judge Jack C. Hurley, Jr., ruled the proposition void and blocked Virginia from certifying the referendum. The case now speeds to the Virginia Supreme Court where the prop is expected to fail on at least four counts of blatant affront to the state’s constitution. Virginia’s new governor, former CIA analyst Abigail Spanberger, ran in 2025 on the explicit promise that she would not advocate a Congressional redistricting measure. This is exactly what Democratic Party bad faith looks like.
You’ve noticed, no doubt, that bad faith is not solely owned by the Democratic Party. We watch in wonder and nausea the bewildering psychodrama of Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) refusing to allow procedure that would get the Save Act passed (common sense election reform). Nor will Thune allow confirmation votes to proceed for nominated DOJ US attorneys and other jobs submitted by the executive branch. He shows every sign of wanting his party to lose. . .which means, allowing the Democratic Party to continue queering elections, including the crucial midterms. . . which means he wants our country to fail.
Seems like nobody knows what to do about Sen. Thune and his dishonorable cohorts in the chamber. If the president knows, he isn’t saying just now, and that would be consistent with his mode of fighting battles. But remember, Nicolás Maduro has been in US custody for months, and you can be sure he’s been debriefed on the subject of Dominion and Smartmatic voting machine shenanigans that originated in Venezuela years ago in order to ensure his own election. The FBI is also sitting on 2020 election evidence harvested out of Georgia, Michigan, and Arizona (perhaps other states, too). The truth about 2020 will come out, probably sooner than later, and when it does, Senator Thune will be sufficiently humiliated to drive him out of his post. He appears to be too dumb to realize that.
Now, as to Iran: The country’s putative “leadership” marinates in rage, impotence, and factional squabbling as the ceasefire dwindles. They can make some more mischief in the Persian Gulf, perhaps, but in a matter of days Iran’s oil industry will be permanently wrecked, its economy strangled, and its ordinary citizens in a desperate fury to make it all stop. If that doesn’t force a deal — no nukes, hand-over the 1000 pounds of Uranium, let in the neutral inspectors, etc. — then it’s onto the bridges and power plants. There really is no other way now. Show a little more patience. Won’t be long. The world will be a better place when this is over.

Trump demands NO NUKES; not maybe, not halfway.. They can anwser yes or no. New proposals are useless.

• Iran Offers New Proposal To Reopen Strait – Trump Open To Deal Via Phone (ZH)

Running a little ahead of schedule, Sunday evening brought this week’s infusion of pre-Monday-open optimism about prospects of ending the US-Israel war on Iran. Axios’ Barak Ravid, a veteran of Israeli intelligence who routinely posts anonymously-sourced scoops, reported that Iran has presented a new proposal for opening the Strait of Hormuz and ending the shooting — though Iran’s concept includes a potential non-starter via a proposed postponement of nuclear negotiations. No details were reported, beyond the notion of either an extended ceasefire or permanent end of the war that would accompany a full reopening of the strait.

Earlier on Sunday, President Trump said face-to-face discussions with the Iranians weren’t essential to ending the war. “If they want to talk, they can come to us, or they can call us. You know, there is a telephone. We have nice, secure lines,” he told Fox News. “They know what has to be in the ` agreement. It’s very simple: They cannot have a nuclear weapon; otherwise, there’s no reason to meet.” Sunday’s micro-dose of hope capped a weekend in which negotiations were perceived as grinding to a clear stalemate marked by a lack of warfare but also a continued choking of traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz. On Saturday, Trump’s lead negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, were poised to travel to Islamabad for another round of negotiations with the Iranians when Trump nixed their trip at the last minute.
Iranian Foreign Minister Shuttles Between Pakistan, Oman, Russia
Iran’s Fars news agency reported that Araghchi has “conveyed written messages regarding Iran’s red lines to the American side through Pakistani intermediaries.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been on the go. On Saturday, he left Pakistan after meeting with Pakistan’s military chief, Asim Munir, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. On parting, Araghchi said he’d had a “very fruitful visit,” while cautioning it’s unclear “if the US is truly serious about diplomacy.” Then he was off to Oman for talks centered on re-opening the strait — which lies between the two countries — then back to Pakistan. By Monday, Araghchi was in St Petersburg, Russia for discussions with President Putin. Commenting on the relationship via X, Iran’s envoy in Russia said:
“Iran and Russia are present in a united front in the campaign of the world’s totalitarian forces against independent and justice-seeking countries, as well as countries that seek a ` world free from unilateralism and Western domination.”Trump: Iranian Oil Infrastructure In Peril From Limited Capacity Trump told Fox News on Sunday that the US blockade on traffic to and from Iranian ports is putting major pressure on the country’s export infrastructure: “When you have, you know, lines of vast amounts of oil pouring through your system, if for any reason that line is closed because you can’t continue to put it into containers or ships, which has happened to them — they have no ships because of the blockade — what happens is that line explodes from within, both mechanically and in the earth.”
“It’s something that happens where it just explodes. And they say they only have about three days left before that happens. And when it explodes, you can never, regardless, you can never rebuild it the way it was.” That approximate scenario has also been outlined by the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute. “Once the tanks are filled, Iran would have to shut down its oil fields, which risks long-term damage to the fields,” AEI’s Annika Ganzeveld told the New York Post. A worst-case scenario doesn’t only imperil Iran’s economy, but also threatens to put more upward pressure on global energy prices. Analysts differ on how much time Iran has before a forced shutdown of production — with estimates ranging from mere days to seven weeks.

NO nukes and NO control of the Strait.

• Bessent: IRGC Leaders ‘Trapped’ Like ‘Drowning Rats’ By US Blockade (ZH)

In the early evening of Monday, well after markets closed, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued the following on X (below), describing IRGC leaders as now “trapped like drowning rats” amid the enduring US naval blockade of Iranian ports, which will soon result in gasoline shortages and anger – and potential protests leading to uprising (according to US desires and aims). Also here is where things stand on the stalled negotiations, and an early hint of the potential White House reaction, per WSJ:

Iran has presented regional mediators with a new offer to stop its attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for a full end to the war, including the U.S.’s lifting of its naval blockade of Iranian ports and the postponement of nuclear negotiations, according to officials familiar with the matter. nThe proposal, presented by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during his tour of the region and Pakistan over the weekend, is designed to break the deadlock in the conflict and set talks back in motion, the people said. President Trump and his national-security team are skeptical of Iran’s offer, U.S. officials said. Trump previously said negotiations could happen over the phone instead of in person.
And: “Trump held discussions with aides Monday morning about the offer. While he didn’t reject it outright, officials said Trump sounded notes about Iran not dealing in good faith or being willing to meet his key demand: ending nuclear enrichment and vowing never to make a nuclear weapon.”

While the surviving IRGC Leaders are trapped like drowning rats in a sewage pipe, Iran’s creaking oil industry is starting to shut in production thanks to the U.S. BLOCKADE.

Pumping will soon collapse.

GASOLINE SHORTAGES IN IRAN NEXT! https://t.co/Czgy9VsHBO
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) April 27, 2026

Meanwhile..

"The U.S. government has assessed that Iranian negotiators have not been authorized — either by the supreme leader or by senior Revolutionary Guards officials — to make concessions on the nuclear program. Without a resumption of military action, there is little reason to think…
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) April 28, 2026

Rubio: ‘Will Not Tolerate’ Iran Control of Strait
The latest via WSJ on what Iran is proposing, centered on immediately lifting the US naval blockade on Iranian ports: Iran has presented regional mediators with a new offer to stop its attacks in the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for a full end to the war and a lifting of the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, according to officials familiar with the matter. The proposal, presented by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during his tour of the region and Pakistan over the weekend, is designed to break the deadlock in the conflict and set talks back in motion, the people said. It would see discussions about Iran’s nuclear program shelved. Washington hasn’t responded to the proposal, one of the people said. Iran’s mission to the United Nations didn’t respond to a request for comment.
But US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told Fox News on Monday that the US will not tolerate Iran controlling or establishing a toll system in the Strait of Hormuz. Rubio further asserted that the strait would remain open either through international pressure or a coalition-led effort. Just days ago Iran began declaring that the first toll passage funds had been successfully transferred to the Central Bank of Iran, after Trump stated the US won’t allow a toll system. Rubio further said the US will not normalize the Iranians being essentially a gatekeeper, with countries seeking permission from Iran.

https://twitter.com/Martin_Sedi/status/2048783696749355471 Read more …

A theme that will grow in importance as we go along,

“Inside Chuck Grassley’s office there is an investigative team that every GOP senator and congressman will admit consists of the very best researchers and knowledgeable staff..”

• Senator Chuck Grassley’s Office Requests Answers from DOJ and FBI (CTH)

First, it becomes very important for people to understand some of the inside baseball in Washington DC circles in order to hold context for what has been made public today by the office of Senator Chuck Grassley. Inside Chuck Grassley’s office there is an investigative team that every GOP senator and congressman will admit consists of the very best researchers and knowledgeable staff officials on how the Deep State operates. Grassley’s office is the venue, the vehicle or vessel, for those investigators to operate; Chuck Grassley is not organizing this group – he facilitates it.
Just as Robert Mueller served as the figurehead holding the legislatively authorized power of the special counsel—while the actual investigative work was carried out by his team—Chuck Grassley similarly acts as a symbolic leader, with the real action happening within the organization he oversees. Mueller at 75-years old (2019) was to the special counsel as Grassley at 93-years old (2026) is to senatorial inquiry.
That said, today the office of Senator Chuck Grassley sent a dispatch of connected information about Hillary Clinton from DOJ/FBI files retrieved over the past several years as part of a longer-term investigation. Grassley’s office released the FBI Washington Field Office’s 12-page “electronic communication” (EC) that opened a preliminary investigation into the Clinton Foundation. [SEE HERE] They also released a trove of documents showing overwhelming evidence of pay-to-play criminal activity by the Clinton family and emphasize lack of response from the DOJ which highlights both politicalization and weaponization of information by the Department of Justice and FBI.
The FBI and DOJ buried the investigations of Hillary Clinton, yet the evidence of corruption was simply overwhelming. With time running out on their ability to retain the venue, in essence Grassley’s office is urgently asking the DOJ and FBI, how could this not have been prosecuted?

Chuck Grassley, who turns 93 in September, has served in the U.S. Senate for 45 years. Grassley has spent more than 50 years in Congress overall, having served in the U.S. House from 1975 to 1981 before being elected to his first term as senator. In 2022, Grassley was elected to an eighth term, winning against Democratic challenger Michael Franken with 56% of the vote — a smaller margin of victory than in many of his previous elections. He will be 95 by the time his current term ends in 2028.
Currently, Grassley serves as president pro tempore of the Senate, in addition to being the Senate Judiciary Committee chair. I strongly doubt there will be another Grassley term in office and given the stakes of the 2026 midterm election it looks like the people in his office are trying to push out as much information as possible while it can still do some good. I would bet you a donut this is the correct context to view this information flow.

Elon Musk just exposed the one lie every modern nation tells itself.

Musk: “In 1969, we were able to send somebody to the moon.”

Rotary phones. Computers the size of rooms. Slide rules.

We put a human on the moon with less processing power than your watch.

Musk: “Then the… pic.twitter.com/KtPYv4tGOG
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) April 26, 2026

Elon Musk just showed you the machine that will power the rest of human history.

The world is convinced we are running out of energy.

The grid is cracking. AI is consuming power faster than anyone can produce it. Governments are pouring billions into holes in the ground to burn… pic.twitter.com/jW818WZA4O
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) April 26, 2026

Elon Musk saw through Instagram’s illusion and deleted it.

He told Joe Rogan he caught himself taking selfies for likes and thought, “What the hell is wrong with me?”

That moment made him realize the app is engineered to make everyone look hotter, richer, and happier than they… pic.twitter.com/ZEEIuZ4rWa
— Camus (@newstart_2024) April 26, 2026

https://twitter.com/RMXnews/status/2048534614755467353?s=20 https://twitter.com/Gitmo99/status/2048574878026985630?s=20

Esta transformación de la basura es una auténtica locura pic.twitter.com/rvVXC36aGR
— Vive con Propósito. (@PropositoyVida) April 26, 2026

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Debt Rattle March 5 2026

Mar 052026

March 5, 2026 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:23 am Finance Tagged with: BRICS, cowardice, Ellison, Fetterman, insurance, Iran, Israel, Letitia James, Minnesota, Starmer, Trump, Walz 80 Responses »

“Flora” (Roman Goddess of Spring), Villa di Arianna, Pompei 1st Century A.D.

• Keir Starmer Takes Cowardice to New Lows (Tim O’Brien)

• Jeffrey Sachs: ‘Trump Is An Utter Disgrace To Our Nation – He Lied To Us’ (ZH)

• Iran Conflict – Oil Disruption Hits Key BRICS Members Hard (CTH)

• Fetterman Chooses Country Over Party After Iran Operation (David Manney)

• Trump: US Insurance for “All Maritime Trade Flowing Through the Gulf”

• US Sub Sinks Iranian Warship, First Such Hit Since WWII (Catherine Salgado)

• Trump Denies Israel ‘Forced His Hand.’ (Salgado)

• NY AG James Orders Hospital to Resume Gender-Transition for Minors (Turley)

• Trump’s 15% Global Tariff Will Take Effect This Week: Bessent (ET)

• Bessent Outlines U.S. Financial/Economic Stabilization Plan (CTH)

• Walz, Ellison Knew About Minnesota Fraud ‘for Years,’ House Report (DS)

• Minnesota Sues Federal Government Over Medicaid Funding Freeze (Aldgra Fredly)

• SCOTUS Decision Highlights Problems with Parents in Blue States (Turley)

• Ukraine Blocks EU Mission To Inspect Russian Oil Pipeline – FT (RT)

IRAN WAR DISASTER: US HEADED FOR HUMILIATING DEFEAT

In this explosive interview, decorated combat veteran Colonel Douglas McGregor pulls no punches on the escalating US-Iran conflict that's already spiraling into a regional catastrophe. With oil prices surging and key bases… pic.twitter.com/tmaLhu5GIS
— Mark (@Mark4XX) March 3, 2026

BREAKING: QatarEnergy just declared Force Majeure.

Three words that mean: we cannot deliver, and legally, we do not have to.

This is no longer a supply disruption. This is a contract collapse.

Force Majeure is not a precaution. It is a formal legal declaration that an… https://t.co/4DBcRWrv7p pic.twitter.com/iMNUjwUX1G
— Shanaka Anslem Perera ⚡ (@shanaka86) March 4, 2026

BREAKING: Qatar just shut down all LNG production.

The world’s second largest LNG exporter. Gone. Today.

Iranian drones hit Ras Laffan and Mesaieed. QatarEnergy killed the plant. 20% of global LNG supply has disappeared from the market in a single morning.

Now here is the… pic.twitter.com/2ueMjFZBWI
— Shanaka Anslem Perera ⚡ (@shanaka86) March 4, 2026

BREAKING: Iran Agrees to Ceasefire Talks After Top Leader's Groupchats Hacked pic.twitter.com/5rEbjtr3NY
— Danny Polishchuk (@Dannyjokes) March 4, 2026

Senator John Kennedy lays out his three key points on the Iran conflict…and it quickly turns into a stand-up routine.

KENNEDY: “Sean, in the words of Congresswoman Omar — I love you like a brother.”

“And I want you to understand I’m not trying to dodge your question, but I… pic.twitter.com/w8Qrgqkz5o
— Overton (@overton_news) March 4, 2026

New infographic! The U.S. simply can't produce enough air defense munitions to keep up with Iran's domestic production. Within 1-2 weeks, everything changes as U.S. munitions run out… pic.twitter.com/UCI8ESm7LN
— HealthRanger (@HealthRanger) March 3, 2026

https://twitter.com/ivan_8848/status/2029139145168183437?s=20 https://twitter.com/GreereMedeea/status/2028870849718108499?s=20

JOHN MEARSHEIMER: Iran isn’t going away. Even if this regime falls, the next won’t be friendly. With Ayatollah Ali Khamenei assassinated, the main brake on going nuclear is gone. The incentives for Iran to develop nuclear weapons are now much greater. pic.twitter.com/1Q8U1w3yCX
— The Resonance (@Partisan_12) March 3, 2026

They sold Britain. It is no longer a Christian nation. Prepare your kids.

• Keir Starmer Takes Cowardice to New Lows (Tim O’Brien)

To borrow a phrase from Foghorn Leghorn, when describing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, that boy is softer than a pound of wet leather, and he’s about as sharp as a bowling ball. Whether you agree strategically with the preemptive strikes against Iran by the U.S. and Israel, the reactions of the other developed nations have been a study in intelligence and loyalty on the part of their leaders. My colleague Catherine Salgado addressed this in her piece that focused on the reactions of Spain and Portugal reaction to the strikes: While Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was the most explicitly condemnatory, and forbade use of joint bases for the operation, Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Radman, French President Emmanuel Macron, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and the Slovenian government all more or less criticized the United States and Israel.

Times like this, you learn who your friends are and who isn’t bright enough to act in their countries’ best interests. Even if they’re still stinging from President Donald Trump’s tariffs—and in some cases, his public beatdowns—smart leaders know how to rise above all of that in this new context. A quick victory and resolution to the war with Iran can serve the West’s best interests on a number of levels, if handled right. Instead, we have a group of largely beta males who partly fear backlash from the Islamic populations in their countries, along with backlash from the Never Trumpers around the world. Some people will do anything to see Trump fail even if it means defending by default the evil and ruthless regime that has run Iran for the past 46 years.
Keir Starmer stands out as a beta male’s beta male. He exudes cowardice—from that chronic deer-in-the-headlights look of fear, to his voice and its trademark trepidation, to a physical presence best described in one word: gooey. When G. Michael Hopf penned his novel Those Who Remain, it seems that he knew that a day would come when Starmer & Co. would arrive on the world stage when he wrote, “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create hard times.” This week, we’re at the last phase of that sentence. Weak men like Starmer do create hard times.
If the U.S. and Israel are successful, now that hostilities are under way, the world has a chance to benefit by putting an end to the proxy wars and terrorism Iran has funded and orchestrated for decades, killing thousands of Americans. If Trump does what he said he’ll do, he’ll deal a final blow to Iran’s campaign to possess nuclear arms and the weaponry to strike the West with them. In that scenario, the whole world benefits. If that’s all Trump achieves, it’s a win. Smart world leaders can see that and will want to position themselves to be in Trump’s good graces if he succeeds. Leaders who aren’t too bright, or who act out of fear, will lose if he succeeds. This is Starmer’s “courageous” stand on the matter of deciding not to support the U.S. Speaking in Parliament, he called Trump’s efforts to prevent Iran from having nukes an “unlawful action.”
https://twitter.com/g_gosden/status/2028519334612529596

In his first official statement after the strikes against Iran, Starmer practically ran to the nearest podium and microphone to make it clear that he and his government “played no role in these strikes.”
https://twitter.com/naijaamebonews/status/2027836993275576472

A real man in charge of a country like the UK would either openly support the U.S. in a situation like this or, if he disagreed with it, stay quiet while the situation is most volatile and give his ally a chance to take care of business. Instead, what Starmer did was to make sure the people he fears know that he’s not just distancing himself from the fighting, but running away from it. In doing this, he undermined the U.S, his supposed ally.He made it clear that he did not support any UK involvement in the attacks on Iran. He made it clear that his military would focus on defending itself and British installations.
He decided on Sunday, the day after hostilities started, to give the U.S. permission to use its bases for certain operations. This was a change of course after it was reported that, prior to the operation, the UK had denied America’s request to use British bases in its Operation Epic Fury. In reaction to Starmer, Trump told the news media, “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.” He said he was not happy with the Starmer, even though he eventually allowed the U.S. access to the base at Diego Garcia to mount strikes against Iranian missile facilities.
In a 24-hour period, Trump took the opportunity to let the world and Starmer know three times that Starmer’s initial rejection of American requests to use certain facilities had dealt a serious blow to U.S.-UK relations. Trump told the Sun that the “relationship is obviously not what it was,” and then he told the Telegraph that Starmer delayed giving the U.S. permission beyond what would have been reasonable. Trump suspects what everyone does at this point – that Starmer fears the Islamic community and is pandering to it, as he did here.
Donald Trump said earlier it was 'possible' Starmer was pandering to Muslims.

12 hours later, here is he is holding a 'Westminster Hall iftar' telling the Muslim community that Britain was not involved in attacking the Iranian terror regime.

Donald Trump was right. pic.twitter.com/lHkSZVfqWO
— Inevitable West (@Inevitablewest) March 3, 2026

Now, now, Jeff!!

• Jeffrey Sachs: ‘Trump Is An Utter Disgrace To Our Nation – He Lied To Us’ (ZH)

Columbia University economics professor Jeffrey D. Sachs appeared on Judge Napolitano’s ‘Judging Freedom’ podcast Monday, where he railed against the US-Israeli attack on Iran and the ‘CIA-led security state,’ calling President Donald Trump a ‘disgrace to our nation’ because ‘he lied to us.’

Sachs, a longtime critic of U.S. foreign policy, described the recent escalation as the continuation of a decades-old strategy he linked to Israeli and U.S. intelligence objectives dating back to 1996. “This is a long-term plan. This is a Mossad CIA plan for American control of the Middle East and Israeli military hegemony in the Middle East that has been underway since 1996,” Sachs said. “This is madness. This is murderous delusion.” The professor pointed to a series of U.S.-backed or U.S.-involved conflicts across the region, from Libya and Sudan to Somalia and the ongoing crisis in Gaza, as evidence of a consistent pattern aimed ultimately at confronting Iran.
“It has involved wars across the Middle East. It has left rivers of blood from Libya to Sudan, Somalia, the genocide in Gaza,” he said, adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s goal since the mid-1990s has been “the destruction of Iran.”= Sachs reserved some of his strongest language for Trump, whom he said reversed course on key foreign-policy pledges after taking office. “Trump… is an utter disgrace to our nation. Utter disgrace. He lied to us. Every word about America first… And he did exactly the opposite of what he said,” Sachs stated. The economist also criticized Washington’s approach to diplomacy more broadly, arguing that the United States has abandoned genuine negotiation in favor of coercive tactics. “The United States does not negotiate. It cheats… Now they kill you because if you negotiate, it means you’re weak,” he said.
On the domestic front, Sachs connected the country’s infrastructure challenges to the enormous costs of overseas military engagements.“Why do the roads not work and the bridges not work in the United States?… It’s because we spend trillions of dollars in war,” he said. “China just completed its 50,000th kilometer of fast rail because China doesn’t go to war.” Sachs concluded by expressing deep skepticism about the current state of American governance. “We’re in the hands of gangsters. We’re not in the hands of a constitutional system,” he said, noting that only a handful of lawmakers – citing Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) as one example – have pushed back.

OK for now.

• Iran Conflict – Oil Disruption Hits Key BRICS Members Hard (CTH)

• First blow, the Trump tariffs hit Beijing hardest. • Second blow, the Beijing tentacle on the Panama Canal is severed. • Third blow, global tariff threats changed the risk dynamic for southeast Asia countries who acted as transnational shippers for China. • Fourth blow, cheap sanctioned oil from Venezuela was cut-off. • Now, the fifth blow; cheap, sanctioned Iranian oil is disrupted.

As noted by Politico: Following USA military strikes, “ships have begun to avoid the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran — a critical shipping lane for Gulf nations to export oil to Asia. China in 2025 received about half of its imported oil from the six Gulf countries that rely on the strait. Other large crude oil producers in the region — including Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates — transport almost all their crude exports through the geographic bottleneck.”

It’s not just a factor of oil flow, but also the price that China will ultimately end up having to pay. Beijing was buying oil from Venezuela, Iran and Russia at steep discounts because their purchases were skirting western sanctions. With Iranian oil production now no longer a market option, China will seek to replace their needs with more Russian alternative. However, that diversion means the oil India was purchasing from Russia will come at a higher price, and the refined final product that was exported by India will arrive to the European Union carrying an additional cost. Simultaneously, Vladimir Putin was asked about Russia’s lack of military support to Iran in response to the U.S. military action, to wit the Russian president noted the technical terms of their joint military agreements did not include Russia’s immediate involvement. In shorthand, Russia is busy and is not getting involved.
Russia was/is partially dependent on receiving military supplies from Iran in exchange for oil transfers. The military component is reported to include drones from Iran for use in the Ukraine conflict. Now that exchange profile is shuttered. Taking Iran’s malign influence off the geopolitical chessboard is beginning to surface in major challenges to the BRICS assembly (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa). Russia, China and India are impacted directly. The BRICS nations were skirting western oil sanctions by trading the commodity outside the petrodollar structure. However, President Trump now controls the flow of oil from Venezuela, and his administration controls the currency in which it is sold.
With Iranian oil removed from the non-petro supply chain, the only remaining non-petro oil producer is Russia – who is simultaneously hit with a loss in military hardware support. China may end up as a larger oil customer to Russia, but at what price and in what payment structure. With global oil supplies in a state of flux, and with the USA in control of the oil flow from Venezuela, North America is certainly in the best position for minimal energy disruption. Asia is heavily dependent on oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, and the majority of Europe has already shut themselves off from Russian oil production, putting themselves in a position of dependency to the global markets. The short-term ramifications of this oil disruption hit China, Southeast Asia, Japan and Europe particularly hard.
“OPEC+ countries affirmed on Sunday that they would boost oil production starting in April by 206,000 barrels daily — a modest increase intended to dampen the war’s effect on prices down the road. The majority of the increase would come from Saudi Arabia and Russia.” {SOURCE}
All of a sudden, this happens: Zelenskyy not to be trusted? “Ukraine is under pressure to let the EU inspect a damaged pipeline carrying Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia, as the two pro-Kremlin countries accuse Kyiv of overstating the impact of an attack by Moscow — despite what Ukrainian officials say is evidence of extensive destruction,” the report said. According to five diplomats and EU officials who spoke to the FT, even pro- Ukrainian governments within the European Union and the European Commission have also asked Ukraine to permit a delegation to inspect the pipeline. Two sources told the newspaper that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen requested access for EU experts during her visit to Kyiv on Feb. 24, the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The request, according to the sources, was refused.
As tensions escalated, the EU’s ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, reportedly asked through the presidential office for permission to inspect the damaged pipeline herself or to allow visits by other EU diplomats. Those requests were denied for security reasons, the sources said.”

John Fetterman thinks for himself. Works for me.

• Fetterman Chooses Country Over Party After Iran Operation (David Manney)

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) backed the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran without hesitation, calling Operation Epic Fury entirely appropriate, and said eliminating Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the un-alived supreme leader of Iran, removed one of the most dangerous figures in modern history.

President Donald Trump confirmed the mission targeted senior regime leadership gathered in Tehran, with early reports stating roughly 40 to 50 of the top Iranian officials were killed in the attack’s early wave. Fetterman didn’t hedge, asking why anybody would grieve leaders of a regime tied to terror networks and decades of repression. He said that Americans should recognize the strategic impact of removing the head of a government that funds violence across the world.
.@SenFettermanPA on killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei, after closed-door briefing: "The world is safer, and it's more just now…Why can't you just acknowledge that one of the most evil people on the face of the earth was erased? That's a good thing," pic.twitter.com/7s0AQx37EY
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 3, 2026

Fetterman’s stance again puts him at odds with several Democratic colleagues who questioned the legality and timing of the strikes. He described their reactions as bizarre. He pointed to the regime’s record, including the 1988 mass executions of political prisoners that killed an estimated 30,000 dissidents under orders tied to regime leadership, making clear the target wasn’t the Iranian people, just the regime. Vice President JD Vance stated that the administration’s objectives remain preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Fetterman said he’d oppose efforts to restrict the president’s authority under the War Powers Resolution.
Because Fetterman’s policy beliefs keep him planted firmly on the left, Fetterman won’t switch parties. But when national security comes into focus, he regularly breaks from progressive orthodoxy and takes a position rooted in deterrence and strength. In a chamber full of Congresscritters using scripted responses, his statements read as uncommon steadiness. Critics raised legal concerns, questioning whether the threshold for immediate military action had been met, while others argued Congress should’ve been consulted before the strike. Raise of hands: who envisions Schiff, Jeffries, and Swalwell would keep their pie holes shut?
Fetterman countered that Iran’s nuclear development and missile expansion represent a continuing threat, even if not tied to a single launch window, saying that waiting for perfect conditions invites greater danger.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led his country’s role in the coordinated strike, and Fetterman defended both Netanyahu and Trump against critics who labeled the attack as reckless. Fetterman argued that removing senior regime leadership weakens proxy forces such as Hezbollah. His position exposed a visible split inside his party, particularly among lawmakers who reflexively oppose any military action.
The broader debate now turns on escalation and authority. President Trump said the objective remains stopping Iran’s nuclear ambitions and restoring deterrence in the region. Lawmakers continue to argue over oversight and limits, but Fetterman’s remarks show that support for the strikes crosses party lines, even if only in narrow lanes. The result of Operation Epic Fury and how it will reshape the relations between the U.S. and Iran remains to be seen. What’s clear is that one Democrat senator chose to defend a strike he believes strengthens American and Israeli security, even when doing so separates him from much of his caucus. National security debates test whether lawmakers follow party currents or independent judgment. Fetterman, thankfully, chose judgment.

This will solve the economy at home. You just wait.

• Trump: US Insurance for “All Maritime Trade Flowing Through the Gulf”

This is a remarkable position for President Trump to take. Optimal Solutions: (President Trump) – “Effective IMMEDIATELY, I have ordered the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to provide, at a very reasonable price, political risk insurance and guarantees for the Financial Security of ALL Maritime Trade, especially Energy, traveling through the Gulf. This will be available to all Shipping Lines.

If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as possible. No matter what, the United States will ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD. The United States’ ECONOMIC and MILITARY MIGHT is the GREATEST ON EARTH — More actions to come. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP“
President Trump will use the full weight of the U.S. military to change behavior in Iran. Not just to change the regime per se’, but to change the behavior of whoever surfaces to represent the interests of the people. The change in behavior is the goal. While this forced shift is underway, the full weight of the USA will also seek to mitigate any collateral economic damage to well behaved economic partners. Forceful action, optimal stewardship.
This is a ballsy power play by Trump.

Lloyd's of London was the gold standard for maritime insurance policies until just a day or two ago when they started cancelling policies or jacking them up 3-5X. Others insurers followed. That collapsed commercial shipping traffic through… https://t.co/C2Oa6PhC63
— Steve Skojec (@SteveSkojec) March 3, 2026

“.. the first kill by a U.S. submarine since World War II. “

• US Sub Sinks Iranian Warship, First Such Hit Since WWII (Catherine Salgado)

A United States submarine successfully sank an Iranian regime warship, according to a Wednesday morning update from the secretary of war.The American submarine using a torpedo to sink an Iranian ship is particularly historic because, according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, this is the first such sinking of a ship since World War II. And just as the USA demanded unconditional surrender during World War II, Hegseth emphasized, now the U.S. is in it to win it again. The U.S.-Israeli joint Operation Epic Fury continues to claim prizes, including a warship named for the terrorist Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leader (Qasem Soleimani) whom Donald Trump eliminated during his first term and on behalf of whom the likewise assassinated Ayatollah Khamenei repeatedly vowed to assassinate President Donald Trump.

“The Iranian Navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf,” Hegseth confidently announced. “[It’s] combat ineffective, decimated, destroyed, defeated, pick your adjective. In fact, last night, we sunk their prize ship, the ‘Soleimani’.” Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans and the wounding of thousands more. Not only is he dead thanks to the first Trump administration, but the second Trump administration even took out the ship named for him. As Hegseth joked, “Looks like POTUS got him twice.”
Hegseth assured America and the world that the Iranian regime’s “navy is not a factor. Pick your adjective, it is no more.” He continued, “In fact, yesterday, in the Indian Ocean, and we’ll play it on the screen there, an American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo, quiet death.” That is particularly impressive because it represents the U.S. Navy’s “first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II. Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department, we are fighting to win,” Hegseth declared.
Trump insisted on restoring the name of the War Department to the Defense Department, and from Venezuela to Iran to Ecuador, the U.S. military has been pulling off spectacular operations ever since. What’s in a name? The difference between weakness and strength, it seems. The Iranian regime had assassins in the United States attempting to kill President Trump even before he came to office again, as they seemed to understand that his return to power would spell disaster for them, as it did. But Hegseth noted, “Also, yesterday, the leader of the unit who attempted to assassinate President Trump has been hunted down and killed. Iran tried to kill President Trump, and President Trump got the last laugh.”

Yeah yeah. Sure.

• Trump Denies Israel ‘Forced His Hand.’ (Salgado)

President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth summarily demolished the argument from Jew-haters that the Israeli government forced the USA into a joint strike on Iran’s regime. Despite what Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly, and the rest of the Jihad Squad claim, Israel didn’t strong-arm the United States into Operation Epic Fury. The Iranian terrorist regime brought it all upon themselves.The fact is that the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and co. were treating this administration the way they have treated almost every U.S. administration over decades. They defied the U.S., funded the terrorists who attacked our troops and our allies, screamed “death to America” over and over, and demanded we lie down and take it.

But this time, it didn’t turn out the way it usually does. Unlike Barack Obama or Joe Biden, who rewarded Iranian jihad, Donald Trump grew tired of being pushed around. A reporter asked Trump during a press conference if Israel “forced” his hand on the Operation Epic Fury strikes. Trump coolly replied, “No, I might have forced their hand. You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first. They were going to attack. If we didn’t do it, they were going to attack first. I felt strongly about that.”
Trump’s first priority and duty is to the American people. Democrats think we should always prioritize foreign terrorists, tyrants, and dictators, and that’s why they’re furious about this. Think of how much American money went to the Ayatollah’s regime through the hands of Democrats. At a certain point, America has to face reality about Islamic dictatorships and acknowledge that Muslim sacred texts have been commanding jihad against non-Muslims for some 1,400 years, and that the endless violence and conflict is not going to stop because of diplomacy. We have been at war with Iran’s regime for half a century, and eventually one government or the other must concede defeat.
Hence Trump observed, “And we have great negotiators, great people, people that do this very successfully, and have done it all their lives — very successful — and based on the way the negotiation was going, I think they were going to attack first. And I didn’t want that to happen.” Trump therefore preempted them with Operation Epic Fury, as Hegseth confirmed. “So if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand,” Trump added. “But Israel was ready, and we were ready, and we’ve had a — a very, very powerful impact.”

Letitia, where did we go wrong?

• NY AG James Orders Hospital to Resume Gender-Transition for Minors (Turley)

In a rare and controversial move, New York Attorney General Letitia James has ordered a Manhattan hospital to resume offering gender-transition treatment to transgender youth. NYU Langone had discontinued such treatments after funding threats from the Trump administration. It is now caught between the proverbial rock (HHS) and a hard place (NYAG). Last year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order entitled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” seeking to restrict gender-transition treatment for people under 19. HHS then threatened hospitals with a cut off of federal Medicaid and Medicare funding for continuing such treatment for children.

Various European countries have also halted certain procedures after countervailing studies suggesting that the risks are too high. England’s National Health Service 2024 report on the subject, known as the Cass Report, found concerning evidence of harm for minors and inconclusive benefits. James threatened “further action” if NYU Langone does not defy the Trump Administration, declaring that the cessation of its Transgender Youth Health Program violates New York anti-discrimination law by “jeopardizing access to medically necessary healthcare for some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers.” NYU Langone had previously declared that it would no longer provide certain gender-transition treatments for patients under the age of 19.
James’s move could trigger a fascinating challenge. In the Feb. 25 letter signed by the attorney general’s health care bureau chief, Darsana Srinivasan, the state said that the federal regulatory change did not affect a “medical institution’s existing duties and obligations under New York law.” That raises an interesting conflict between state and federal regulations.The letter gives the hospital until March 11 to comply and resume these treatments. Effectively, James is ordering the hospital to defy the federal government. However, the hospital, not James or the state, would bear the financial and regulatory consequences.
While James does not state how she will penalize the hospital, the letter is likely sufficient to challenge the move. The question is whether the political costs for the NYU hospital are prohibitive. There is also the question of whether the HHS has standing or interest in challenging the move as a direct threat to federal authority. The problem with a federal challenge is that nothing in the New York threat prevents the federal government from carrying out its intent to cut off funding. Hospitals would have to choose between penalties in New York or loss of funding in Washington. Nevertheless, New York’s move is a direct attack on the enforcement of federal policy by state hospitals.

The first ever openly gay Treasury Secretary is loyal to a T. He’s also very good at what he does.

• Trump’s 15% Global Tariff Will Take Effect This Week: Bessent (ET)

President Donald Trump’s 15 percent global tariff will take effect sometime this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. Following the Supreme Court’s rebuke of the president’s signature economic policy last month, Trump imposed a 10 percent global tariff, invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. A day later, Trump pledged to raise the rate to 15 percent. In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on March 4, Bessent confirmed that the new rate would be introduced sometime this week and remain in place for 150 days. He also anticipates tariff rates would return to the levels that were in place before the high court’s decision. “It’s my strong belief that the tariff rates will be back to their old rate within five months,” Bessent said.

“They have survived more than 4000 legal challenges. They are more slow moving, but they are more robust.” Bessent’s comments come two days after a U.S. federal appeals court rejected the president’s effort to postpone legal proceedings connected to tariff refunds, sending the battle to a lower court. Estimates suggest the federal government’s tariff refunds could total $175 billion. Fiscal year-to-date, the administration’s tariffs have generated more than $150 billion, according to Treasury data as of March 2. Global energy markets have been highly volatile since the Iran War, with crude oil and natural gas prices rocketing on fears of supply disruptions.
The president calmed down the oil market on March 3. In a Truth Social post, Trump said the White House would offer naval escorts and guarantee political risk insurance for commercial oil and gas tankers traveling through the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz is a vital global chokepoint that handles approximately 20 million barrels of oil and petroleum products per day. It has effectively been shuttered as insurance companies canceled coverage or dramatically raised premiums. But the administration will make additional announcements to help stabilize prices, Bessent said. n“We have a series of announcements that we’re going to be making,” Bessent stated.
“We began yesterday with the announcement that [Development Finance Corporation] will provide the insurance for both the crude carriers and the cargo ships operating in around the Gulf over the weekend.” He shrugged off a possible energy shock as the Middle East conflict intensified, saying that the United States and the global marketplace maintain ample supplies. “This was a well telegraphed geopolitical event. The crude market had already moved substantially over the past two months. The crude markets are very well supplied,” Bessent said. A barrel of West Texas Intermediate—the U.S. benchmark for oil prices—fell by about 0.5 percent in pre-market trading to around $74 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent—the international benchmark—was little changed at slightly above $81 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange. “Oil prices retreated after news the U.S. will ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, easing fears of a major global supply shock,” Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial, said in a note emailed to The Epoch Times. “Softer oil prices are also helping cool inflation concerns and pull interest rates lower.” Market watchers had warned that the risk of oil prices reaching $100 were high if the narrow waterway were closed for an extended period. U.S. stocks also rebounded midweek, with the leading benchmark averages in the green prior to the opening bell.

… the 3:00 minute mark of the video

• Bessent Outlines U.S. Financial/Economic Stabilization Plan (CTH)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears on CNBC to discuss the Trump administration policies that were proactively deployed during Operation Epic Fury. The goal of global financial stabilization is actually part of the strategic planning within the White House, including Treasury, Energy and Interior in alignment with the State Dept., Pentagon and national security agencies. Part of that plan was the announcement for the U.S. to underwrite maritime insurance to ensure a minimal disruption to the global energy markets. Secretary Bessent discusses the insurance facet at the 3:00 minute mark of the video below.

Wasn’t this Walz figure part of the Kamala cloud posse in the 1800s? Losers cling together, right?

• Walz, Ellison Knew About Minnesota Fraud ‘for Years,’ House Report (DS)

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was aware of the widespread welfare fraud in his state “for years” and “repeatedly failed to act,” alleges a congressional report released on Wednesday. Walz and the state’s Attorney General Keith Ellison are set to testify Wednesday about the $9 billion scandal before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The report, which also alleges that Ellison knew of the welfare fraud in Minnesota, draws from interviews with state employees and whistleblowers. “Senior officials in the governor’s office and Attorney General Ellison’s office were aware of credible fraud concerns in Minnesota’s social services programs as early as 2019 within the Department of Human Services (DHS) and by April 2020 within the Department of Education (MDE), despite later public statements by Governor Walz suggesting otherwise,” the report says.

The committee and staff conducted transcribed interviews with nine key current and former Minnesota state officials. The investigation focuses on alleged money laundering and fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs, uncovered by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota. The report, titled “The Cost of Doing Nothing,” further alleges retaliation against whistleblowers, including surveillance, and quotes some officials as not acting against suspected fraud out of fear of being labeled a racist. “As a result, potentially billions of American taxpayer dollars were allowed to flow to fraudulent actors, while vulnerable populations were harmed and whistleblowers were ignored, sidelined, and retaliated against,” the House report says.
This led to about $300 million in federal child nutrition funds and potentially $9 billion in Medicaid-related funds lost or placed at significant risk, according to the report. “Testimony obtained by the committee reveals that Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison were aware of widespread fraud in social service programs, lied about their knowledge of the fraud, and retaliated against employees who dared to raise concerns,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said in a statement. The report also alleges whistleblower retaliation against state employees who raised red flags at the Minnesota Department of Human Services.
“Whistleblowers within the DHS have alleged that Governor Walz not only knew about this fraud, but that he retaliated against whistleblowers, ‘spen[ding] millions on surveilling staff and hiring private investigator (sic) or law firms to silence staff,’” the report says. The agency’s then-temporary commissioner confirmed to investigators that the agency “used outside entities” to investigate its own staff, according to the report. “Instead of protecting vulnerable Americans, they handed over billions in taxpayer dollars to fraudsters and threw their own state employees under the bus,” Comer added. “Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison are appearing before the committee because the American people deserve clear answers about how this rampant fraud was allowed to flourish under their watch.”

“The state accused the government of weaponizing the Medicaid program as ‘political punishment.’”

• Minnesota Sues Federal Government Over Medicaid Funding Freeze (Aldgra Fredly)

Minnesota filed a lawsuit on March 2 to block the federal government from withholding $243 million in Medicaid funds, saying the freeze could lead to potential cuts in medical services for low-income individuals. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) last month temporarily deferred $259 million in Medicaid funds to Minnesota over alleged fraud in the state’s program, according to the court filing. The lawsuit, filed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the state’s Human Services Department, asked the court to block the withholding of $243 million of those funds that were tied to 14 services the government identified as “high-risk” and subject to “noncompliance action.”

“These cuts are the latest in a long series of efforts to go around the law to punish Minnesotans — but just as we fought back and won when they illegally tried to cut funding for childcare, hungry families, and our schools, we are suing them again today to make them follow the law,” Ellison said in a statement. The suit called the funding freeze unlawful, alleging that the government used the program as “political punishment” against the state, citing its previous attempts to withhold other funding from the state, including funds tied to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). According to the lawsuit, the federal government announced in January that it would freeze more than $2 billion in annual Medicaid funding to Minnesota over allegations of noncompliance.
The state appealed but said the federal government has not clarified the alleged conduct it deemed noncompliant or how Minnesota can remedy the issue. n “Impatient that it cannot withhold the $2 billion until Minnesota is provided a hearing and other due process, the administration ‘deferred’ $243 million from the state on February 25, 2026,” it stated.The lawsuit is seeking a temporary restraining order to block the funding freeze, saying the withholding of funds would affect more than 1 million Minnesota residents enrolled in Medicaid.
“Unless the deferral is quickly reversed, the state will be irreparably harmed. The administration has already stated that the deferral will recur every quarter, crippling the state budget,” it stated. The lawsuit names the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as well as Dr. Mehmet Oz, in his official capacity as CMS administrator, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in his official capacity as health secretary.

Problems? You suck!

• SCOTUS Decision Highlights Problems with Parents in Blue States (Turley)

In the law, the concept of In loco parentis refers to those who act in the place of parents. The problem is when that authority is taken rather than granted. It is a growing problem in blue states as parents push back on Democratic measures stripping them of notice or consent over their children in public schools. In the last few months, Democrats have been buoyed by protests over immigration enforcement. Many politicians have fueled a wave of rage sweeping major cities before the midterm elections, denouncing law enforcement as “Gestapo” and “Nazis.”

However, a Supreme Court decision this week may lay bare an even greater threat to Democratic aspirations over parental rights. For many parents, blue states are attacking the most fundamental right of citizens in raising their own children. This week, the Supreme Court granted an emergency appeal filed on behalf of Catholic parents in California. The order in Mirabelli v. Bonta proved a decisive victory for parental rights and an equally notable defeat for California democrats.
The action, filed by the Thomas More Society, challenged a policy under a state law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2024, that prevented teachers from notifying parents of their children’s gender identity changes. The law was heralded as a protection against the “outing” of transgender students. Some of us have been following the litigation since the original filing and heralded the decision of District Court Judge Roger Benitez, who wrote a powerful opinion in support of the rights of all parents. However, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit stayed his injunction.In issuing the order on its “shadow docket,” the Court delivered a key win for parental rights that many of us have been seeking for years.
Blue state legislators and educators have been waging a war on parental rights, particularly in the area of transgender policies. Recently, in Michigan, parents sued to defend their rights after the Rockford Public School District refused to inform them of gender identity changes in their children. Last year, I wrote about a startling decision in Foote v. Feliciano in which the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled against Massachusetts parents Marissa Silvestri and Stephen Foote seeking such notice. As in the California case, they learned that school administrators did not inform them that their 11-year-old child had self-declared as “genderqueer” and that teachers and staff were using a new name and new pronouns for the student.
The First Circuit dismissed the right of parents over their own children in the case, holding that “as per our understanding of Supreme Court precedent, our pluralistic society assigns those curricular and administrative decisions to the expertise of school officials, charged with the responsibility of educating children.” Foote was a chilling decision that reflected the view of state officials that parents give up their rights over their children when enrolling them in public schools. That view was evident in the comment of State Rep. Lee Snodgrass (D-Wis.), who once tweeted: “If parents want to ‘have a say’ in their child’s education, they should home school or pay for private school tuition out of their family budget.” [..]

4 years of nothing.

• Ukraine Blocks EU Mission To Inspect Russian Oil Pipeline – FT (RT)

Ukraine has rejected a proposed EU mission to inspect the Soviet-era pipeline that transports Russian oil through Ukrainian territory to Central Europe, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing diplomats and officials. Hungary and Slovakia have accused Ukraine of deliberately blocking the flow through the Druzhba pipeline, while Ukraine said the infrastructure was damaged by Russian strikes in January. The EU is pressuring Ukraine to restore the operation of the Soviet-era pipeline that transports Russian oil through Ukrainian territory to Central Europe, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing diplomats and officials.

Hungary and Slovakia have accused Ukraine of deliberately blocking the flow through the Druzhba pipeline, while Ukraine claimed the infrastructure was damaged by Russian strikes in January. According to FT, some pro-Ukrainian EU member states and the European Commission are now asking Kiev to allow a visit to demonstrate that it is working to restore oil flows. Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa personally requested access to the pipeline for inspection but were denied, FT said.One of the newspaper’s sources argued that by blocking the inspection, Ukraine scored an “own goal” and gave Hungary an excuse to veto the planned $106 billion emergency loan for Ukraine and the EU’s 20th round of sanctions against Russia.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he had sent a letter to von der Leyen calling for enforcement of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, which “obliges Ukraine to allow oil shipments to Hungary.” “As confirmed by recently published satellite evidence, there is no technical or operational reason preventing the pipeline from reverting to normal operations immediately,” Orban stated. nmOrban said that Hungary and Slovakia had proposed dispatching a “fact-finding mission” to inspect the pipeline, but their “efforts were rejected.”
In August, Hungary imposed sanctions on Ukraine’s top drone commander Robert Brovdi after attacks on sections of the Druzhba pipeline in Russia. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has called on Hungary to stop purchasing energy from Russia. Reuters reported on Tuesday that some EU members, including France and Germany, oppose the idea of granting Ukraine fast-tracked accession to the bloc, citing “rampant corruption.”

https://twitter.com/AndrewBolis/status/2029168756661039225?s=20 https://twitter.com/Juliedonuts/status/2029187803414671858?s=20 https://twitter.com/HungaryBased/status/2028915815525781828?s=20

Saturn's north pole is a perfect hexagonal storm!

Earth is about 12,700 km wide. This hexagon is nearly 30,000 km across. You could drop two whole Earths inside this storm and they still wouldn't touch the sides. A geometric masterpiece raging at the top of the world.
NASA pic.twitter.com/r9e3DfAkds
— Black Hole (@konstructivizm) March 3, 2026

https://twitter.com/AstronomyVibes/status/2029110904508547240?s=20

Scientists have identified strong evidence for a vast quantity of water located roughly 400 miles (about 660 kilometers) beneath Earth’s surface, within the planet’s mantle. This water is not present as underground lakes or flowing reservoirs. Instead, it is chemically bound… pic.twitter.com/O4OWhjEqx4
— Science girl (@sciencegirl) March 3, 2026