The Automatic Earth

Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey Palm Tree near the Church of Saints Theodore, Athens 1842

Trump’s 250-foot triumphal arch just cleared a key hurdle.

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts has approved the design, advancing a massive monument planned for an entrance to Washington, D.C.

The arch will feature a Lady Liberty-style figure holding a torch, gilded eagles, gold… pic.twitter.com/EmactERrL7

— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 21, 2026

Next time the Dishonest left tell you Trump is a Felon send them this. pic.twitter.com/bp3EtDwrNu

— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_The_Dr) May 22, 2026

Greg Gutfeld did not need the DNC autopsy report to pinpoint the exact reason for Kamala Harris’ humiliating loss in 2024.

He said the trans issue became the thread that unraveled her ENTIRE campaign for one very important reason.

GUTFELD: “I’ll tell you why.”

“It diagnosed… pic.twitter.com/d4lBsOYwP7

— Overton (@overton_news) May 21, 2026

Zero Hedge has OK Iran coverage. They tend to update an article as the day passes. I often turn that into multiple articles.

• Reports Of Draft Iran Deals Circulating Deemed Inaccurate (ZH)

In a quick market update, Newsquawk says risk-off as reporters push back on optimistic geopolitical reporting + Rubio says not there on Iran deal.mAnd this bit of serious contradiction of earlier reports, via CBS: Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi said Friday that he was “not aware of any visit right now” when asked about reports by Iranian state media since Thursday that Army chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, a key mediator between Iran and the U.S., was expected in Tehran.”I am sure this will be announced in due course, if it is to be announced. I can neither confirm nor deny it now,” Abdrabi said.

Pakistan, Qatar Delegations En Route to Tehran
“As regards the details of any agreement, our consistent position on this matter is that we do not talk of specifics. As a mediator and as a facilitator, it is the inherent ingredient of our mandate that we remain quiet on the individual positions and the process — also not ascribe any adjective to the process i.e. fast, slow, medium,” said Adrabi, adding that he would “stick to this consistent position.”

Despite the attempts of some regional outlets to spin a narrative of imminent peace (which we saw yesterday), a senior Iranian source told Reuters on Thursday that “no deal had been reached with the US” – though he did also claim that “gaps had narrowed” – somewhat in line with the optimistic narrative. The Islamic Republic is reportedly still reviewing the latest peace blueprint handed down by the Trump administration. However, this is the latest from a Wall Street Journal correspondent:

Trump has meanwhile explicitly warned that further military action remains firmly on the table if Tehran doesn’t bend the knee. Yet there’s more ‘action’ taking place in the interim – as Pakistan’s army chief once again is on his way to Tehran, per Al Arabiya, and this – though already previewed the day prior – caused oil to dump amid the usual daily optimistic headlines emerging just ahead of the US market open. And in an apparent first, Qatar is sending a delegation too:

Iran Threat of ‘Preemptive’ Military Action
Futs hits session high on Reuters report Qatar has sent negotiating team to Tehran with the US team to help secure a deal to end war. Field Marshal Asim Munir is expected to receive and relay Tehran’s answer to Washington on the latest. Meanwhile, speaking to state television, Fadahossein Maleki, an influential member of Iran’s Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, strongly hinted that Iran might not wait around to be hit. When pressed on whether the ceasefire could collapse, Maleki bluntly stated, “Anything is possible.”

He took it a step further, openly floating the idea of an Iranian preemptive strike if Iran believed the Pentagon is moving its forces into position for resumption of military action.“It could even come from Iran’s side, frankly,” Maleki warned, according to a report by Iran International. “If we feel that something is happening from a US base, Iran has the legitimacy to respond and prevent it.” Despite these threats, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has freshly said there has been some “slight progress” in talks with Iran to end the war, but followed by saying he did not wish to exaggerate how much.

And of course US says No Deal if they don’t.

• Iran Says ‘No Deal’ If US Insists On Enriched Uranium Handover (ZH)

Iran FM: Agreement ’Not Close’
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson says cannot necessarily say that have reached a point where an agreement is close, Tasnim reports; focus of negotiations is on ending the war: Delegation from Qatar is currently holding talks with Iran’s foreign minister, but Pakistani side remains the mediator in negotiations. Details related to the Nuclear issue are not being discussed at this stage.At around the same time as the above headline emerged, Sky News Arabia offered more optimism, citing a source who said that ”broad outlines” have been reached in terms of an understanding on the nuclear issue.

Still, Al Jazeera reports that ”no deal” will be reached if the US makes an enriched uranium handover demand. The Foreign Ministry maintains this will be a non-starter: “We will not reach a conclusion if we try to delve into details related to highly enriched uranium in Iran“:, the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. Baghaei also said a Qatari delegation is curding “Pakistan remains the main mediator in the negotiations.

Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir has arrived in Tehran: ‘Last Ditch Effort’
So it looks like the rumors were true, after Pakistan officials first seemed to deny, and also said no comment. Army chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, a key mediator between Iran and the US, has arrived in Tehran as the Iranians are said to be reviewing the latest updated Washington proposal for peace.

Pakistan FM: “Not Aware of Any Visit” to Iran by Army Chief
In a quick market update, Newsquawk says risk-off as reporters push back on optimistic geopolitical reporting + Rubio says not there on Iran deal. And this bit of serious contradiction of earlier reports, via CBS: “Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi said Friday that he was “not aware of any visit right now” when asked about reports by Iranian state media since Thursday that Army chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, a key mediator between Iran and the U.S., was expected in Tehran.

“I am sure this will be announced in due course, if it is to be announced. I can neither confirm nor deny it now,” Abdrabi said. “As regards the details of any agreement, our consistent position on this matter is that we do not talk of specifics. As a mediator and as a facilitator, it is the inherent ingredient of our mandate that we remain quiet on the individual positions and the process — also not ascribe any adjective to the process i.e. fast, slow, medium,” said Adrabi, adding that he would “stick to this consistent position.”

From what I can see, she is/was good at it.

But Reuters says the White House presured her to leave?!

• Tulsi Gabbard Steps Down as DNI (Margolis)

Tulsi Gabbard is resigning as Director of National Intelligence.

Fox News Digital broke the story Friday that Gabbard notified President Trump of her resignation during a face-to-face meeting in the Oval Office. Her last day at ODNI will be June 30. In her formal resignation letter, obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital, Gabbard cited the recent diagnosis of her husband, Abraham, with “an extremely rare form of bone cancer.” She wrote that she is “deeply grateful for the trust you placed in me and for the opportunity to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the last year and a half,” but that circumstances at home leave her no choice. “Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation, effective June 30, 2026,” she wrote. “My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer.”

In her letter, Gabbard described Abraham as “my rock throughout our eleven years of marriage — standing steadfast through my deployment to East Africa on a Joint Special Operations mission, multiple political campaigns, and now my service in this role.” “His strength and love have sustained me through every challenge,” she added. “I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding and time-consuming position.”

Gabbard has never been a typical Washington creature. She served in Congress as a Democrat and even ran for president. However, she became so disenchanted with her party that she backed President Trump and became a Republican. Now, she is walking away from one of the most powerful national security positions in the country to stand beside her husband. “Thank you for your understanding during this deeply personal and difficult time for our family,” Gabbard continued. “I will remain forever grateful to you and to the American people for the profound honor of serving our nation as DNI.”

What she accomplished in roughly 18 months at the helm of the Intelligence Community is nothing short of remarkable. She restructured ODNI, slashing its size and saving taxpayers more than $700 million per year. She dismantled DEI programs embedded throughout the intelligence community — programs that had no business being there in the first place. She stood up the first-ever “Weaponization Working Group,” tasked with exposing how the Biden administration turned the machinery of government against political opponents.

Gabbard has been a true transparency hawk, having declassified more than 500,000 pages tied to the JFK and RFK assassinations and the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” probe into the Trump campaign, which showed Obama-era officials politicized intelligence on Russian interference to undermine Trump’s 2016 victory.

Her National Counterterrorism Center also had a major year in 2025, stopping more than 10,000 individuals tied to narco-terrorism from entering the country and adding over 85,000 others to the terror watchlist. Gabbard acknowledged in her letter that “there is still important work to be done,” while pledging a smooth transition. But for now, her focus is on family. Anyone who has watched a loved one battle serious illness understands why. Whatever comes next, millions of Americans respect the fight she led to make the intelligence community more accountable and focused on real threats.

Was that before or after a million people live on Mars? Ask Bowie.

• The Trillion-Dollar Man (Williams)

If he had any, Bernie would be pulling his hair out at the prospect of Elon Musk becoming a trillionaire. Socialist imbeciles spurn success, preferring downtrodden masses who wallow in government dependence rather than exerting individual independence. As is well known, socialists portray billionaires as a “policy mistake.” Extrapolating from that, they must consider the potential coming of trillionaires as a policy catastrophe.

The first man likely to reach that lofty target — if his companies meet stringent performance objectives — is Elon Musk. At first blush, that seems exorbitant, but let’s run some numbers.Musk heads several remarkable companies, but for this exercise, we’ll focus on Tesla, which was founded in 2003. Tesla’s current headcount is about 125,000 (give or take). Average headcount (hard to calculate due to extreme scaling) over its lifespan is approximately 51,000. Average salary (excluding bonuses and benefits) is also approximate, at about $100,000 per annum.So, 23 (years in existence) * 51000 (average headcount) * 100,000 (estimated avg. salary, per above link) equals $117,300,000,000.

That’s over 117 billion dollars paid to direct Tesla employees over its lifespan — again, that excludes all the other benefits that may accrue.Remember, this is before ramping up production of Tesla’s Optimus robots that will become the predominant contributor to revenue (and productivity gains that will benefit society at large). It is estimated that Tesla alone supports over 600,000 jobs (think supply chain and contractor jobs). So let’s consider their larger impact on growing societal wealth. It’s tricky to determine the average salary of such positions, but let’s go with a conservative $60,000 per annum.

Here’s the calculation: 23 (years in business) * 600,000 (jobs tied to Tesla) * 60,000 (approx. salary) equals $828,000,000,000. That’s over eight hundred billion, by golly (combine that with the above, and you’re teetering on one trillion).Admittedly, these are imprecise estimates (maybe underestimates), but the point is clear: Tesla alone has generated enormous payrolls for direct and indirect employees combined, and the future looks brighter still.

In fact, Tesla is inexorably becoming much more than a car company: there are all-important data repositories, AI, energy, autonomous driving, and robots. Indeed, if Musk hits the pay targets that may catapult him to trillionaire status, the estimated market cap of Tesla will be around 8.5 trillion dollars.That’s Tesla, but there’s also Neuralink, the Boring Company (tunneling, etc.), X, and xAI. Oh yeah… then there is SpaceX, which currently employs thousands of dedicated full-time workers worldwide. Its Initial Public Offering is gearing up, with an anticipated value of well over $1 trillion. The socialist politicians propagating envy will have hysterical fits over that.

Speaking of whom, Obama once mused that at some point a businessman has “earned enough,” and that is well below a billion dollars. Well, given all the societal wealth (not to mention philanthropic aid and services to hapless victims of natural and man-made disasters throughout the world) that Musk has generated, maybe one trillion dollars is about enough.Who would you rather have access to those resources: a creative, market-driven entrepreneur (albeit one who occasionally benefits from industrial policy), or a fuddy-duddy, central-planning socialist sequestered from the dynamism of consumer-oriented markets?

“Dr. Oz didn’t need a medical chart to spot the problem, saying TrumpRx.gov still has no medication for Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), though they’re working on it.”

• Dr. Oz Fires Back After Joy Behar’s TrumpRx Meltdown (David Manney)

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the 17th administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, answered Joy Behar after the longtime co-host of The View warned viewers about President Donald Trump’s prescription drug initiative. Behar said once Trump puts his name on prescriptions, “We’re all going to die.” She also reached for Trump’s past business failures, as if cheaper medicine belongs in the same dusty joke drawer as casino chatter and late-night monologue scraps. Dr. Oz didn’t need a medical chart to spot the problem, saying TrumpRx.gov still has no medication for Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), though they’re working on it.

His joke landed because Behar’s reaction sounded less like analysis and more like a smoke alarm installed over a toaster sitting near a burning pile of pine boughs: loud, frantic, and not especially useful once breakfast remains intact. President Trump announced on May 18 that TrumpRx would expand with over 600 generic medications. The AP reports: The beefed-up website is the Trump administration’s answer to criticism from Democrats who have called TrumpRx performative and noted that many of the brand-name drugs it has featured are cheaper with insurance or have lower-cost generic versions sold elsewhere.

It also marks an effort to respond to a top voter concern for November’s midterm elections: affordability. Health costs are a worry for many Americans, an issue compounded by the Republican-led Congress’ recent cuts to Medicaid and the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies this year that sent some people’s premiums skyrocketing. The expansion is made possible by partnerships with other online pharmacies, including Amazon Pharmacy, GoodRx and billionaire investor Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, Trump said at an event at the White House.

TrumpRx doesn’t directly sell drugs, and it won’t replace insurance for everyone, but it gives uninsured patients, high-deductible families, and cash-paying customers another place to check before surrendering at the pharmacy counter. Mark Cuban, co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs and a regular Trump critic, appeared at the White House event and backed the expansion. Cuban’s presence should’ve slowed the usual reflexive sneering; a Trump critic stood beside Trump because lowering drug prices helps people who don’t care which political tribe gets credit when the receipt shrinks.

Behar could’ve asked fair questions; Americans should want details about pharmacy benefit managers, deductibles, manufacturers, and insurance rules. Drug pricing has enough trapdoors to swallow a family budget whole. Instead, she saw Trump’s name, grabbed the nearest panic button, and started whacking it like a carnival game she had no chance of winning. The token conservative on The View, Alyssa Farah Griffin—I think she’s the sacrifice, honestly; I can’t keep up with the dissected corpses—pushed back during the segment and pointed out that lower drug prices can help real families. Sunny Hostin, unsurprisingly, also raised concerns, but Behar gave viewers doom theater.

Behar’s verbal bullets were blanks, and even the blanks sounded tired. She didn’t test the claim against the numbers, or anything for that matter, simply firing first and hoping the smoke would pass for thought.Dr. Oz held the stronger ground because he kept the focus on access, prices, and practical relief. Prescription bills don’t arrive with political footnotes; seniors on fixed incomes don’t care whether Joy Behar approves of the label. Parents stretching paychecks want to know whether the medicine costs less, whether the pharmacy has it, and whether they can make rent after filling the bottle.

TrumpRx won’t solve every failure in American health care; no website can unwind decades of government bloat, drugmaker games, insurance headaches, and pharmacy middlemen. Yet a price-comparison tool with more than 600 generic medications gives families one more way around a broken system. Behar mocked the name, while Oz pointed back to the medicine cabinet. One side filled airtime, as the other side at least tried to lower the bill.

Unanimously. They insult every single woman. And are completely blind to that fact.

• Dems Vote Down Women’s History Museum Over Limit to Biological Women (Turley)

House Democrats unanimously voted this week against legislation to build a new women’s history museum on the National Mall. The reason was an amendment that limited the exhibits to biological women to the exclusion of transgender figures. The museum failed 204-216 as House Democrats hoped that they could still secure a museum including transgender figures once they retake power after the midterm elections. The amendment drafted by Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., states in part, “The Museum shall be dedicated to preserving, researching, and presenting the history, achievements and lived experiences of biological women in the United States.”

It further mandated that the museum would not depict “any biological male as female.” The vote was notable after the release of the DNC “autopsy” report that flagged how transgender and identity politics contributed to the defeat in the last election. The report specifically noted the success of Trump’s “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you” ad. The report noted that “If the Vice President would not change her position — and she did not — then there was nothing which would have worked as a response.”

The fact that this was a unanimous vote among Democratic members is particularly notable and suggests that transgender issues will remain a rallying point for the Democrats. Democratic members called the exclusion a “poison pill” amendment. In the meantime, transgender issues continue to occupy the courts with a major decision by the Colorado Supreme Court this week that ordered Colorado’s largest provider of gender-affirming care for young people to resume medical treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy.

That puts Children’s Hospital Colorado in direct conflict with the Department of Health and Human Services, which has moved to block federal support for institutions providing such care. Justice William Wood III wrote that “We conclude that the actual immediate and irreparable harm to petitioners outweighs the speculative harm CHC may face if the federal government further acts against it.” In his dissent, Justice Brian Boatright said that this was hardly a speculative matter, but “a decision driven by the direct threat to the viability of the entire hospital.”

“We had a wee trapeze, and a merry-go… carousel and a seesaw. They all moved, motorized of course, but people would say they could see the fleas” The Spanberger Flea Circus:

• Virginia Governor Signs Anti-Ice Executive Order Devoid of Meaning (Turley)

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger rolled out a kind of political flea circus this week with an anti-ICE executive order that would purportedly keep ICE out of polling places and other commonwealth areas. It did not matter that the order has no real impact on ICE. The important thing is the appearance of an impact on ICE. In the movie Jurassic Park, character John Hammond explained how he got a start by creating flea circuses: “You know the first attraction I ever built when I came down south from Scotland? It was a Flea Circus, Petticoat Lane. Really quite wonderful. We had a wee trapeze, and a merry-go… carousel and a seesaw. They all moved, motorized of course, but people would say they could see the fleas.

“Oh, I see the fleas, mummy! Can’t you see the fleas?” Clown fleas and high wire fleas and fleas on parade.” Spanberger unveiled her own flea circus attraction this week with an executive order ordering state employees to get federal agents to produce a valid warrant on “property of the Commonwealth” and instructs them to “not permit” federal agents to use those areas as staging or processing locations. She told the media that this was particularly at polling sites. The illusion was assisted by MSNOW, which portrayed one of their favorite politicians as protecting polling places and, of course, democracy. MS Now host Jonathan Capehart asked, “How concerned are you that he will send either the military or the National Guard or even ICE to polling places, and what can you do, if anything, to stop him?”

Spanberger explained ominously: “The reality is, throughout history, we have seen efforts at intimidating voters. My worry is we will continue to see those heightened… I’ll be issuing guidance across public spaces, including polling places, of how Virginia state employees can react to federal agents who might be appearing at a location where the worry is that they’re principally there to intimidate or scare people.” Neither, of course, mentioned that there are already federal barriers to such intrusion into polling places. For example, 18 U.S.C. 592 states in part:

“Whoever, being an officer of the Army or Navy, or other person in the civil, military, or naval service of the United States, orders, brings, keeps, or has under his authority or control any troops or armed men at any place where a general or special election is held, unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both; and be disqualified from holding any office of honor, profit, or trust under the United States.” That provision includes all federal civil personnel, including ICE.

While there might be instances in which federal officials respond to requests from local or state law enforcement to address a specific criminal act, there is already a general bar on posting or stationing such personnel at polling places. As for the suggestion of other bars on ICE operating on Commonwealth property, good luck with that. Various Democratic governors and legislatures have moved to impose limitations, which are clearly unconstitutional. Indeed, we have seen at least one judge convicted of trying to bar ICE from a courthouse and assisting the escape of an individual sought by agents.

Notably, Spanberger is aware of these limits after she vetoed a separate bill that would have banned ICE from making detentions in hospitals, schools, courthouses, and polling places without a judicial warrant or subpoena. She recognized that such laws “would create unavoidable legal liability for security personnel and local law enforcement officers when assessing federal immigration enforcement activities in certain protected areas.” Instead, she offered an illusory executive order that reaffirmed her image as an anti-ICE governor who is cutting off ICE in the state. It is doubtful that this order will ever be challenged because it is unlikely to be actually used as authority for any action.

For diehard Democrats, they could swear that they see the fleas moving the merry-go-round.

“Leftists can’t name & blame specific individuals for the 2024 loss because they’re an undifferentiated blob who function unconsciously according to enmeshed group think.” —Aimee Therese on X

• The Coup Abides (James Howard Kunstler)

In all the chatter about the Democratic Party’s 2024 election “autopsy” report you might have missed one little important detail: autopsies are generally performed on the dead. Stephen Colbert’s final week on CBS’s Late Night Show was the funeral. It was like the zombies’ ball. Poster-boy old Bruce Springsteen plugged a self-parody song about “King Trump” that might have been a rare case of career suicide on live TV.

Kings, indeed. These showbiz cretins actually have it better than kings — they have all the money, glitz, and adoration, but none of the onerous duties of real royalty. They amount to a weird court of effete elitists endlessly congratulating each other on their moral superiority, and that’s where it begins and ends: a Cluster-B hall of mirrors.

Of the common good, the know absolutely nothing. Nobody believes their tired buzzwords anymore: “Our democracy” . . . “conspiracy theories” . . . “baseless” this and that. . . their foolish vaccine worship. . . their avatars, the guffawing baboon Kamala Harris, the erstwhile phantom “Joe Biden,” and, most of all, their good sportsmanship trophy, Barack Obama, last seen confabbing with Canada’s Mark Carney, Globalism’s paladin of the last resort.

The Lefty-left’s heroes are on-the-run, but tripping over each other badly as they scatter into the thickets to re-group for the midterm elections — which they are suddenly and seemingly likely to lose now that SCOTUS erased about a dozen race-based congressional districts . . . and then Virginia’s Supreme Court tossed Governor Spanberger’s ballot ploy to make the Old Dominion a one-party state (like back in slavery days).

The corpse of the Democratic Party might be dead, but not a few of its agents, cells, and parasitical organisms are ‘out there’ still twitching and plotting. The decade-long coup abides. The lawfare ninjas — Norm Eisen, Mary McCord, Marc Elias, et al. — still plot tirelessly behind the scenes, rigging up evermore legalistic chicanery disguised as legality, and they are rolling in dough from Soros, the Tides Foundation, Neville Roy Singham, and countless NGOs dedicated to overthrowing the republic.

The coup abides for two reasons: 1) its players are desperate to evade prosecution for their vast and various crimes of the past ten years (and prosecution is coming at them down the track like the old Union Pacific US-4 “Daylight” locomotive); and 2) the Democratic Party is desperate to preserve the revenue flows that support all its racketeering operations. Without its rackets, the money funnel to pay off its countless “oppressed” client-constituent-victims, there is no party. That’s all it was in its final stage of life.

Minnesota, of course, is the case-study for that kind of corruption and now the DOJ is going after the place hard, announcing fifteen new prosecutions this week for $90-million in Medicaid fraud, “just the beginning,” the lead US attorney, Colin McDonald, said. California, Illinois, New York, Maine, and many more states await the same treatment under the president’s new National Fraud Enforcement Division. The Democrats will go into the midterms revealed to be nothing more than a looting operation.

It’s happening in real time. Just yesterday, one particular public benefits entrepreneur, Aimee Bock, was sentenced to forty years in prison for running a Minneapolis scam called Feeding Our Future that made off with $243-million in taxpayer money. At sentencing, Aimee Bock was ordered to pay roughly $243 million in restitution. That’s a hoot, isn’t it? Federal inmates (Bureau of Prisons) are paid from 12-cents to $1.15 per hour wages for assigned work, depending on the type of job. Forty years might not be enough to git’er done.

Many more will be going down in the months ahead for similar shenanigans, and the voting public might notice as it rolls out. But fraudsters such as Aimee Bock are mere lumpen foot-soldiers in the regime. The more spectacular action will be the Democratic Party’s field marshals getting nailed, and that’s hardly begun. Coup Central is the Southern District of Florida where a “grand conspiracy” case, or possibly many cases and sub-cases, are already in the grand jury stage — meaning probable cause has been established en route to indictments. Many political celebrities labored hard since 2017 to overthrow the executive branch of the government. Hair is on fire everywhere you look.

One small fish was reeled in this week: one Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, a senior supervisory US attorney, indicted on two felony counts of mishandling evidence from “special prosecutor” Jack Smith’s botched Mar-a-Lago documents case. She labeled the purloined docs in her personal computer as dessert recipes (e.g., “bundt cake”) en route to leaking them. Lineberger has pleaded innocent. Don’t doubt that a negotiated plea deal is in play with her, and that Jack Smith will be sweating the outcome of that as Lineberger flips and talks.

“So they did what they always do: They tried to torch his reputation before he could get to work. The bogus narrative has blown up in their faces.”

• Crime Data Just Vindicated Kash Patel (Matt Margolis)

The FBI released preliminary crime data for 2025, and the numbers are stunning. Violent crime fell at a rate not seen in nearly a century, and the man overseeing the bureau is the same one the left has been trying to torch for months. Murder and non-negligent manslaughter dropped more than 18% nationwide last year. Aggravated assault fell more than 7%. Rape declined nearly 8%. Robbery cratered by about 18.5%. All told, violent crime dropped about 9.3% overall; there were roughly 1.1 million fewer violent crimes than in 2024.

“The 2025 crime data in this report shows the single largest decrease in violent crime and murder since 1937 — as well as huge decreases across the board in terms of aggravated assault, rape, and robbery,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement. Property crime wasn’t far behind. It dropped by about 12.4%, translating to approximately 5.2 million fewer property offenses than the year before. The data comes from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, which pulled information from more than 17,000 law enforcement agencies — covering roughly 96% of policing across the country.This is what happens when you have a tough-on-crime administration running the country.

Patel credited the transformation happening inside the bureau. “Over the last 14 months, we made major transformations at the FBI, and these results show those changes are working.” He also pointed to his “back the blue” commitment — backing law enforcement rather than undermining it — as central to the approach. Now, remember what the media was doing just last month. The Atlantic dropped another bogus hit piece on Patel, painting him as an erratic, paranoid excessive drinker who “panicked” and “freaked out” over a routine computer login glitch, supposedly convinced he’d been fired. It was a false story, but the report did the job it was intended to do: Democrats started calling for investigations almost immediately.

Democracy Forward, a progressive lawfare group that spends its days fighting DEI rollbacks, immigration enforcement, and abortion restrictions, fired off a 16-page FOIA request to the Justice Department. They wanted Patel’s calendars, schedules, text messages, staff communications, and any records related to an alleged request for “breaching equipment” by his security detail. Rumors of Patel’s imminent firing spread online, fed by Democrats eager to paint him as a drunk and an incompetent. It was all just part of their ongoing smear campaign to force him out.

There’s no denying that the FBI under Kash Patel is producing results. The left spent months trying to convince America he was unstable and about to be shown the door. Instead, he’s overseeing the most dramatic crime reduction since Franklin Roosevelt was in the White House. This is what competence looks like. Democrats were always terrified of Patel running the FBI, and not because they thought he was incompetent. They knew he’d dig into things like the Russian collusion hoax and the 2020 election. So they did what they always do: They tried to torch his reputation before he could get to work. The bogus narrative has blown up in their faces.

EU is looking for a reason to exist. As is NATO.

• EU Turning Into NATO Twin, Western Aggression Has No Limits: Lavrov (TASS)

The West’s policy of aggression knows no bounds, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated at a meeting of the United Russia Party General Council Commission on International Cooperation and Support for Compatriots Abroad. According to him, the European Union is now virtually indistinguishable from NATO and has essentially become a replica of that alliance. TASS has compiled the foreign minister’s key statements.

Western aggression
The West’s aggressive policy mixes direct military intervention with sanctions: “The West knows no limits in the application of these aggressive policies. It resorts to illegal, unprecedented sanctions that undermine all the previous tenets of the Western world, which were based on free trade, market forces, the sanctity of property, and much more. But it is not only economic sanctions that are being imposed; we are also seeing instances of direct military intervention.”

“We see this in what is happening around Iran, and we see it in other parts of the Middle East that directly border Eurasia: Palestine, Libya, Syria, Yemen, along with a whole range of other problems that have been created.” All other parts of the continent have, in essence, been declared a zone of responsibility for the North Atlantic Alliance: “NATO is expanding its infrastructure into the Far East under the pretext of containing China.”

Western propaganda
Western propaganda is doing everything it can to distort information about the special military operation and Russia’s internal affairs: “This task is particularly relevant given that Western propaganda is doing everything it can to distort the essence of what is happening and to misrepresent our internal issues as well. They are doing everything they can to exploit distorted perceptions of the special military operation for this purpose.”

It is essential to “explain to the general public what is happening in the world and the steps taken by Russia to protect its legitimate interests and ensure the most favorable external conditions for the country’s development and for improving the well-being of its citizens.” The North Atlantic Alliance has put forward ideas about the “decolonization” of Russia, and such notions still float around in the public sphere.

EU turning into NATO twin
The European Union is now virtually indistinguishable from NATO; it has become a mirror image of that alliance: “The European Union now hardly differs from NATO. From what was once an economic bloc designed to improve the well-being of European citizens, it has turned into a mirror image of the North Atlantic Alliance.” Ideas are already being put forward in the EU that there is no need to rely on NATO: “Given that the Americans are cooling off on their commitments to defend Europe, they seek to create a new military bloc based on the European Union.”

Crises in Eurasia
“All major parts” of the Eurasian continent are currently gripped by crisis. It is necessary to build a dialogue on creating an architecture that will “help eliminate the causes of each of these crises and establish long-term stable relations in every part of the continent,” as well as create “the most favorable conditions for the development of all countries.”

The Eurasian Charter on Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st Century is finished: “The document is now ready.” Consultations are currently underway to establish a task force to formulate “final proposals and organize cooperation with international partners”: “The work will be extensive, and in all of this work, of course, it is not enough to rely solely on the efforts of foreign policy services.”

”The German chancellor has repeatedly called fast-tracked full membership for Kiev “unrealistic..”

• Merz Proposes Limited EU Status For Ukraine (RT)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has proposed granting Ukraine a limited “interim” status within the EU as a way to deal with its accession ambitions, according to media reports on Thursday that cited a letter by Merz to bloc leaders. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has repeatedly demanded full membership by the end of 2027.

Kiev was granted EU candidate status in June 2022, following the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Since then, it has pushed for fast-tracked membership while some bloc leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Merz, have described such demands as unrealistic. According to the German chancellor’s new proposal, Kiev would be allowed to tap into certain EU-funded programs, as well as request aid from EU members under the “mutual assistance clause” in the event of an attack.

Ukrainian representatives would also be allowed to participate in meetings of the European Council, the European Commission, and the European Parliament, but would not receive voting rights, according to the letter, cited by multiple media outlets, including Reuters and Euronews.The status, which Merz reportedly described as “associate membership,” would not replace the standard accession process and could be revoked if Ukraine backslides on the reforms demanded by Brussels.

“It is obvious that we will not be able to complete the accession process shortly, given the countless hurdles, as well as the political complexities of ratification processes in various member states,” the chancellor wrote, as cited by Euronews. Last month, Merz also said Ukraine’s “immediate” accession was “not possible.” Zelensky has repeatedly rejected anything short of full membership. Speaking to journalists at an EU summit in Cyprus in late April, he insisted that Ukraine had already “earned” its place in the bloc and did not need any kind of “symbolic” status.

Moscow has argued that Brussels uses the prospect of EU membership as political leverage rather than a genuine promise. Back in 2023, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the EU promise as “a carrot [on a stick] put in front of a carriage.”

“The Ukrainian leader has perpetuated the ills he promised to eradicate.”

• Zelensky’s Seven-Year Itch: He Promised Peace And Delivered War (RT)

On May 20, 2019, Ukrainians were cheering the inauguration of Vladimir Zelensky, a political outsider who won the presidential election in a landslide on a promise to chart a path different from previous national leaders, who had been elitist, corrupt and divisive. Zelensky promised sweeping changes, which he vowed to bring at the possible cost of his political career. In practice, he is now clinging to power under martial law, as his closest associates are mired in embezzlement and fraud scandals. In his first speech as president, Zlensky promised to end corruption, secure peace, and unify the nation of clashing identities. He delivered none of it.

A new yet familiar face
Zelensky won 73% of the vote against incumbent Pyotr Poroshenko, who ran on a slogan of “Army, Language, Faith” – a platform of narrow militaristic nationalism that demanded constant loyalty affirmations from culturally Russian citizens. Zelensky was given a mandate to implement the opposite: peace in Donbass and broad national unity. Underpinning his successful campaign was Zelensky’s image as an everyman good guy, cultivated for years by playing the role of president in the popular TV series ‘Servant of the People’, after which his political faction is named. The real Zelensky was an occasionally bawdy comedian, whose show – propped up by oligarch Igor Kolomoysky – was not above delivering scathing attacks to further its patron’s interests.

Upon taking office, Zelensky tapped for his team talent from the Kvartal entertainment studio, many of whom are now indicted in corruption scandals, while supporters expected imminent prosecution of Poroshenko, as Zelensky hinted during debates

Breaking the status quo
His election victory belongs to every Ukrainian, including Poroshenko supporters, a cleanly shaven neatly-dressed Zelensky declared at his swearing-in. He announced that it was Ukraine’s chance for change. Officials who cannot deliver should resign and make room for those who will, he stressed, announcing snap parliamentary elections. “Not all of you like what I am saying? Too bad, because it’s the people of Ukraine and not me who are speaking. My election proves: citizens are tired of experienced system insiders, bloated politicians who in 28 years created a nation of opportunities for kickbacks, diversion of cash flows and pillaging of wealth.

All Ukrainians must reject graft, Zelensky urged. He called disgraceful the fact that corruption is broadly accepted as part and parcel of life in Ukraine and that this gives senior officials tacit permission to themselves engage in it. Seven years later, and amid a slew of corruption allegations involving his inner circle, Zelensky’s closest associate, Andrey Yermak, was charged with money laundering to secure a multimillion dollar property outside of Kiev. The leader among the four partners, labeled R1 in the indictment, is reportedly Zelensky.

Ending war at any cost
The Ukrainian president-elect vowed that ending the armed conflict in Donbass – and by extension the tensions with Russia – would be his top priority. According to the International Crisis Group the hostilities claimed an estimated 14,000 lives between 2014 and early 2022, when they blew up into a much-deadlier direct war with Russia. “I would do anything so that our heroes wouldn’t die anymore,” he pledged. “I am certainly not afraid to make hard decisions. I am prepared to lose my popularity, my approval ratings. If necessary, I will lose my office to bring peace.”

Poroshenko loyalists and Ukrainian nationalists branded any form of compromise with Moscow “capitulation,” staging mass protests in October 2019. Zelensky didn’t want to risk being ousted by force, as President Viktor Yanukovych had been in 2014 and tried to placate his heavily armed critics. “I’m the president of this nation. I’m 42. I am no schmuck,” he told a group of military vets during an on-camera parley. Ultimately, Zelensky embraced perpetrating the slow-burning Donbass conflict, as Ukraine was building-up its military with NATO’s help. Some nationalist figures later became vocal supporters of his, allegedly swayed by luxury apartments in Kiev.

A nation divided
In his inauguration speech, Zelensky argued that national unity will be the answer to both corruption and the conflict with Russia. “We are all Ukrainians: no one is big or small among us, no one is true or false,” he said, including people in Donbass and Crimea whom Kiev sought to return under its control by force. Zelensky urged everyone who considers themselves Ukrainian to help him build a better future. Worldwide, there are 65 million Ukrainians, and some could relocate from other nations, bringing with them “experience and mental values.”

The number of people living under Kiev’s sovereignty is less than 29 million, according to 2025 government data, compared to roughly 52 million when the nation declared independence in 1991. Contrary to his promises to accept every Ukrainian, the Zelensky administration ratcheted up the Poroshenko-era measures aimed at eliminating the Russian language from public life. He also launched a crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), the largest religious denomination in the country, whose churches and monasteries are being forcibly transferred to a Kiev-backed rival. Similar to political rivals whom Zelensky sought to silence, the UOC was accused of secretly serving Russian interests.

“The fate of the conflict, part 1: The state that forgot how to live without war ”

“Ukraine currently finds itself somewhere halfway between a state and a militant organization, which will inevitably evolve into a terrorist group.”

• Ukraine and the Road to Ruin (Sergey Poletaev)

2025 can be seen as the year in which the united anti-Russian coalition fell apart. In essence, there are now three distinct players acting against Russia (Ukraine, Europe, the US), and each has its own interests. Analyst Sergey Poletaev has prepared a series of articles in which he analyses the position of each player, their goals and interests in the conflict, and suggests how Russia might respond. The first one concerns Ukraine.

The untamed lands
One of the scenarios long under consideration is the gradual disintegration of the Ukrainian state, turning it into a sort of Gaza on the Dnieper. As time goes on, the likelihood of this scenario is growing, so let’s examine exactly what it entails. A fully-fledged state possesses an instinct for self-preservation. Apart from heart-warming victories over enemies, a state always has a host of concerns: the economy, demographics, infrastructure, the social sphere, and so on. By definition, a state is a superstructure built upon society, and, one way or another, it wages wars for the sake of the common good. Yet while at war, a state is always thinking about how it will survive afterwards and indeed, it’s forced to think of things like this.

If, however, the state becomes detached from society for whatever reason, it transforms into a military organization whose sole raison d’être becomes conflict. In such cases, any ideological goals may be proclaimed: a global caliphate or victory over colonial oppression, the defense of European civilization or driving the Zionists into the sea. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that even when such an organization controls a certain territory and is therefore compelled to perform state and public functions there, when faced with a choice between these functions and its own military needs, it will always choose the latter.

For the state, people are a resource for its own reproduction and development. For a military organization, people are a resource for war: in the form of fighters and human shields. It’s possible to negotiate with a state. Before a war, one can threaten it, stage military maneuvers and drills, while at the same time offering various incentives. This approach works because a state considers the consequences. During a war, a state also weighs up the pros and cons and, as a rule, knows when to stop.

Let’s be clear: we’re not talking about unique wars like the Eastern Front in the Second World War, where the only possible outcome was the annihilation of one side. We’re talking about typical, classic wars, the aim of which is to use force to influence the policies of the opposing power, for it accept the victor’s terms, but not to kill to the last man. Such wars continue until it becomes easier for the losing side to accept the terms than to continue fighting. It’s easier to adjust policy than to lose lives. It’s easier to pay reparations than to cripple the economy. It’s easier to cede territory than to forfeit one’s future prospects.

Up the staircase leading down
A militant organization, especially one supplied from abroad, has nothing to lose. It will continue to operate as long as its ideals remain alive and there are sufficient resources to keep the fight going. It can be driven underground, but it will sprout from there like a weed. Ukraine currently finds itself somewhere halfway between a state and a militant organization, which will inevitably evolve into a terrorist group. State functions are being carried out in the country, but only thanks to external funding. The non-war-related economy has virtually disappeared, and industry has fallen to a minimum due to energy shortages.

More and more people are becoming alienated from the state, and the further things go, the fewer alternatives there are: either you integrate yourself into the military hierarchy in one way or another, or you find a way to flee the country, or you languish in poverty. Consequently, Ukraine is becoming increasingly detached, not yet from the land itself, but from the people who inhabit that land. It is increasingly subordinating itself to the aims of war, and in so doing is losing the hallmarks of statehood.

As long as the front holds more or less, this process isn’t obvious: from the outside, it seems that Ukraine is united and steadfast, just as it was on the first day of the special military operation. But the further we go, the more only a shell remains of pre-war Ukraine: transit military logistics, the bureaucratic and financial superstructures serving it, semi-artisanal basement-level military production (such as assembling drones from Chinese components), rear services and, most importantly, the front line, the collapse of which will bring everything else to an end within a matter of weeks.

Elon Musk's biggest competitor is secretly paying him $1.25 BILLION per month.

SpaceX just revealed its financials for the first time in 23 years of existence.

And buried deep in the S-1 is a detail that changes how you should think about the entire AI race.

Anthropic, the… pic.twitter.com/zU7TYupLD9

— Ricardo (@Ric_RTP) May 21, 2026

SpaceX launching cargo to the ISS, like FedEx, has become so reliable people forget how insane the sentence actually is.

Dragon just delivered another 6,500 pounds of research and supplies to orbit.

Microgravity medicine. Space weather science. Planetary formation studies.

All… https://t.co/ozKkYx1DJO pic.twitter.com/Xnzt0rzXRO

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) May 22, 2026

Starship can reach Mars.

But stainless steel mass makes return impossible.

And now TeraFab’s orbital AI compute is becoming the enabling layer that closes the gap.

The moment you attempt a crewed round-trip, you need:

• 2,400 metric tons of ISRU propellant on the Martian… pic.twitter.com/dwE2qXQcKj

— Lacey (@LaceyPresley) May 22, 2026

Elon Musk just measured your existence by how many times your atoms have been inside a dying star.

Musk: “How many times have your atoms been at the center of a star? I think it’s like on average three or four times.”

Every atom in your body has already survived the core of a… pic.twitter.com/v1akV2cfyM

— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) May 21, 2026

Elon Musk's first wife once described what it's like to watch him fail.

She said he doesn't react the way normal people react. When a rocket explodes, most people in the room go silent. Some cry. Some start calculating the financial damage.

Musk pulls out his phone and starts…

— Imtiaz Mahmood (@ImtiazMadmood) May 22, 2026

Something is deeply wrong https://t.co/jzaseIr3ts

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 21, 2026

This is so unjust https://t.co/UttrCXm0bS

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 20, 2026

German MEP, Christine Anderson:

"For god's sake, stop complying. Start rebelling. They are out to get you if you do not resist."

The so-called "pandemic" was a beta test—conducted by unelected globalists—to see how easy it would be to seize totalitarian control, under the… pic.twitter.com/WsrBp3qG50

— illuminatibot (@iluminatibot) May 21, 2026

Your liver makes about 1,000mg of cholesterol every day.

You eat, on a generous day, about 300mg.

If you eat more, the liver makes less. If you eat less, the liver makes more. The body has a target. It defends the target. It does not negotiate.

The pharmaceutical industry has…

— Sama Hoole (@SamaHoole) May 21, 2026