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Debt Rattle October 19 2026

Oct 192026
 
 October 19, 2026  Posted by at 8:26 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  1 Response »


Jean-Michel Basquiat Self Portrait 1982


• Zelenskyy is Lying – Marco Rubio Responds to False Claims About Ukraine (CTH)
• Rubio Rebukes Zelensky Over Starlink Claims (RT)
• Zelensky Treating Europe As His ‘Personal ATM’ – MEP (RT)
• Riots, Looting and Arson Erupt in France (CTH)
• France Enters “Point Of No Return” As Riots And Chaos Spread (ZH)
• New York Times Leads Leftist Media Movement to Target Trump (CTH)
• Dems Just Cranked Their Government Weaponization Agenda Up to 11 (Margolis)
• Watching Dumbshit White Ethnicities Erasing Themselves (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Who the Left Attracts, Part 2 (A.J. Christopher)
• Ilhan Omar Has a New Problem, and It Came From Her Sister’s Phone (Margolis)
• California Should Not Get To Set Policy For All Of The US (Curtis Hill)
• Quantum and God (David Solway)
• Tesla’s Flying Roadster is Incredibly American (CTH)

 

 

 

 


“The US secretary of state has denied that Washington ordered restrictions on satellite services used by Ukrainian drones..”

• Rubio Rebukes Zelensky Over Starlink Claims (RT)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has rejected Vladimir Zelensky’s claim that Washington ordered restrictions on satellite services used by Ukraine to carry out drone strikes deep inside Russia. The dispute comes amid a public spat between the Ukrainian leader and US President Donald Trump over sanctions and strikes on Russian energy facilities.


Earlier this week, Ukrainian officials said SpaceX’s Starlink terminals had suddenly stopped working on drones traveling faster than 160 km/h (100 mph). Zelensky told journalists on Saturday that tests on Starlink equipment in EU countries indicated that the restrictions imposed in Ukraine were “a planned operation.”

Asked to comment on Zelensky’s remarks later that day, Rubio offered a different account. “I don’t know what Zelensky said. I’m not sure Zelensky knows what he’s talking about, but it wasn’t deliberate,” he told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

“We had nothing to do with it. Nobody in the United States ordered that Starlink speed be slowed down. It sort of happened, but my understanding is it’s been restored. It’s back to where it was before,” the US diplomat said. Rubio confirmed that Ukraine currently had no access to Starshield, Starlink’s military-grade sister service, but had requested it.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk similarly denied restricting Starlink in Ukraine but clarified that the service must be used for civilian and defensive purposes only, not offensive operations.

The Telegraph, however, reported on Friday that Musk had personally asked Trump to cap Starlink speeds for Ukraine, while Reuters reported that the White House had instructed the Pentagon to slow down Starshield. Trump has denied any involvement and said he did not believe Musk was responsible either.

Zelensky said on Saturday that the Starlink restrictions remained in place. A Ukrainian official told Axios that SpaceX had blamed the cap on “a technical problem.”

Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel exports earlier this month in an effort to curb rising energy prices ahead of the US midterm elections. On Friday, he went further, suspending new sanctions on Russian oil and gas trade on national security grounds. Trump also sought to pressure Ukraine to stop attacking Russian refineries, which he blamed for contributing to high energy prices.

Zelensky said he felt betrayed by Trump, who, in turn, argued that the Ukrainian leader was “not a good guy for us to deal with” and should be replaced.

Read more …

Not much seems to bind them anymore,,

“False Claims About Ukraine, Starlink and Starshield..”

• Zelenskyy is Lying – Marco Rubio Responds to False Claims About Ukraine (CTH)

Again, there are multiple dynamics unfolding inside this story. However, as to the central component of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy complaining about hampered access to Starlink and/or Starshield, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sets the record straight.


Ukraine has never had access to the U.S. military version of Starshield; providing that level of guidance access would be akin to the United States being in direct conflict with Russia using a proprietary U.S. military system. This is not our circus and not our war; there is no need for U.S. military conflict with Russia.

Because Ukraine does not have that access, it is now revealed that Zelenskyy has been using Starlink, a commercially available satellite system – but that system is not permitted by SpaceX to be used for military efforts. This is almost certainly where the relationship between Elon Musk and former Ukraine Defense Minister Michael Fedorov comes into play. Fedorov is no longer in the Ukraine govt. WATCH:


Rubio notes that Zelenskyy’s claims against the White House are nonsense. The White House has not interfered or instructed the military about the use of Starshield because Ukraine has never had Starshield to use. If Ukraine has been violating the terms of service by weaponizing Starlink (they have) then the commercial provider can act independently to block or stop that access. [Full Transcript Below]

In the background of this storyline, we should always remember that about a month ago Russia finalized their own upgraded satellite system that covers Russia and eastern Europe. It is widely suspected the increased accuracy of Russian targeting inside Ukraine is specifically because of their own enhanced capabilities, which now highlights the vulnerability of Ukraine if they do not have weaponize their Starlink access and the new desperation therein.

Bottom line, Secretary of State Marco Rubio continues to highlight his mastery of cutting through the nonsense and staying focused on the priorities of the administration with messaging that cuts through the media chafe. Rubio excels in this role far beyond prior expectations. Very impressive.

On the topic of his travel to the “stans”, watch carefully. This is connected to the overall Russia/Central Asia agenda.

QUESTION: With everything going on in the world and with crisis all over, why are you choosing now, at this time, to go to Uzbekistan?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, it’s the time of year that worked for those leaders. It’s not just Uzbekistan, it’s the other four countries from Central Asia. This is an important relationship. I mean, one of the things that suffers is the strategic business. You’re always visiting someplace where there’s a crisis or there’s a problem or there’s a – you’re going because there’s a conference. But there’s countries you’d like to get to because we want to build our relationships with them. And so that’s what we did a couple weeks ago when we went to Greece and other places like that, and earlier, a few weeks earlier than that, we went to Latin America, and now to Central Asia. So – and the chance to see – it was the date that worked to get all five of the leaders together, all five of the foreign ministers from the five countries.

QUESTION: On Starshield, what’s going on? Because Elon Musk said it’s up to the President.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, Starshield or Starlink?

QUESTION: Well, just both.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, I know, it’s confusing. So Starlink is a commercial product, okay? And so they – it’s regulated and handled as a commercial product. Starshield is a defense product, a military product. And as I said, I mean, that is something that we have a military – the United States military uses. It’s not at this moment available to Ukraine, and that’s under conversation. It’s under discussion right now of how they would want to use it.

QUESTION: No, but did the U.S. – did the U.S. have anything to do with it not working in Ukraine? Zelenskyy said it was deliberate.

SECRETARY RUBIO: No. Well, I don’t know what Zelenskyy said. I’m not sure Zelenskyy knows what he’s talking about, but it wasn’t deliberate. We have nothing to do with that. I don’t – the United States, nobody ordered that Starlink speed to be slowed down. It sort of happened, but my understanding is it’s been restored. It’s back to where it was before. That’s Starlink, though. They were using Starlink for their drones.

Read more …

“The Ukrainian leader has demanded an additional €70 billion from the EU to continue the war with Russia..”

• Zelensky Treating Europe As His ‘Personal ATM’ – MEP (RT)

Italian far-right MEP Roberto Vannacci has accused Vladimir Zelensky of treating Europe like an “ATM” after the Ukrainian leader requested another €70 billion ($79 billion) in aid.


Zelensky demanded more money on Friday, just months after the EU approved a massive €90 billion loan to support Ukraine through 2027. “The war will cost 155 billion euros next year. And we need at least 70 billion euros more from you – for defense, for weapons, and for our resilience. This is a realistic amount,” he said at an EU summit in Brussels. Vannacci said Italian taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for further aid to Kiev.

“Zelensky has found some suckers who give him all the billions he asks for, so he just keeps on asking for more,” the MEP said in a video on social media on Friday. He argued that Zelensky’s demands have continued to mount, citing Kiev’s alleged budget shortfalls of €27 billion in 2026 and €32 billion in 2027, followed by a fresh €70 billion demand on top of the €90 billion loan approved in April. He’s come to view us as Ukraine’s personal ATM.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has also rejected the proposed funding, stressing that Bratislava would not participate in another EU financial mechanism for Ukraine. Hungary has adopted a similar position, Fico said, according to Slovakia’s TASR news agency on Friday.

Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic secured exemptions from the financial obligations of the previous €90 billion loan, which EU leaders agreed late last year and finalized in April 2026. Fico has argued that the loan, which is intended to be repaid using future Russian reparations, is effectively a gift that EU members will never recover.

Moscow has long argued that Western military aid only burdens the European taxpayer and prolongs the conflict – which Russia sees as a NATO-led proxy war fought using Ukrainian manpower.

Read more …

France looks serious.

“Riots, Looting and Arson Erupt in France with Chaos across Urban Regions in Western Europe..”

• Riots, Looting and Arson Erupt in France (CTH)

Things are not getting better in France, Belgium, Italy and beyond as social chaos continues unfolding. The worst of the street violence seems to be centered throughout France as government officials now report around 500,000 people participated in street “protests” nationally that turned into violent confrontations with police. EU News is reporting that dozens of arrests were made as the chaos unfolded {link}. “The French Interior Ministry said around 550,000 people took part in the protests, including roughly 110,000 in Paris.”


Additionally, AFP is reporting, “The town hall in the French city of Limoges was “largely lost” to a fire set by masked protesters on Saturday, the top regional official told AFP. “The roof has collapsed onto lower floors, except the west wing, and two-thirds of the exterior has already disappeared,” the local prefect, Maurice Barate, said.

Another report highlights the looting that quickly took place as opportunists swooped in to agitate for economic reparations in the form of Hermes swag and Apple Store tech components. {link} Looters in several French cities on Saturday broke into stores ranging from a high-end luxury brand to a bakery, on the sidelines of cost-of-living protests, AFP journalists and authorities said.

In Paris, near the Republique square, the front window of a skincare brand came crashing down, with looters tossing beauty products to dozens of people massing outside, an AFP correspondent saw. [

…] In the second-largest city of Marseille, angry protesters vandalised dozens of shops, targeting luxury brand Hermes as well as others stores selling jewellery, clothes, makeup, household appliances and even bread, a third AFP journalist said.

[…] In the northern city of Lille, shops were vandalised, with looters in particular breaking into an Apple Store in the city centre, Socialist mayor Arnaud Deslandes said.

Several stores were looted in the southern city of Nice, including sportswear outlets and a motorbike dealership.

Read more …

Islam conquest.

• France Enters “Point Of No Return” As Riots And Chaos Spread (ZH)

President Trump said, “France is burning!” on Truth Social early this morning, as what appears to be the fall of France quickly unfolds. Consumed by nation-killing Third Worldism through a decade of unfettered mass migration and a cancerous far-left movement, the nation is on a troubling trajectory as its imploding welfare state collides with a fiscal mess.


“The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country. Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!” Trump continued.


Vice President JD Vance responded to the accelerating far-left violence on X, saying, “Western liberals imported the third world into France and other countries in the name of diversity and compassion. They ignored fundamental questions of assimilation and compatibility. They were told it would lead to this and they didn’t listen.”


Euronews described the aftermath of the overnight riots, reporting that “broken glass and litter filled the streets.” Local outlets reported that rioters looted 1,500 retail stores across multiple major cities.


“My thoughts are also with the 1,500 shops belonging to all the other retail chains and with all the shopkeepers who have suffered the same unacceptable violence,” Alexandre Bompard, the chairman and CEO of the Carrefour Group, told the outlet. He said the social unrest would have “considerable human and economic consequences.”

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said earlier today that the weekend riots had injured more than 600 police officers, gendarmes, and firefighters. He said authorities had arrested more than 2,000 rioters.


The endgame for France is quickly approaching as its generous welfare state can no longer support the influx of migrants and services deteriorate. The country has not balanced its budget since the early 1970s, and sovereign credit default swap spreads are widening in a high-rate environment. The current trajectory, as described by right-wing presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, would put the country on a path toward a sovereign debt crisis.

In recent weeks, Le Pen has already offered a glimpse of the shadow budget she would pursue if she wins next year’s presidential election. That would include shrinking the deficit to 3.7% of economic output next year, well below the government’s 5% target, before bringing it down to 2.2% by 2032. Le Pen’s Polymarket odds of winning the April 18 election stand at nearly 48%, surging in recent weeks as the riots unfolded.

Left-wing corporate media are still providing cover for the far-left rioters and migrants who are torching parts of the country. CBS embarrassingly had to delete a tweet that called the riots “scuffles.”


We have described how a high-rate environment has put socialism’s promises of more and more handouts on “borrowed time” because bond markets are refusing to fund massive deficits for unproductive welfare systems that produce more economic malfeasance. Socialist failures are piling up across the West. South America is shifting rightward, and a Bolsonaro win in Brazil’s runoff election later this month would cement that move. This outcome was very predictable…

The West is experiencing what should be considered “lived memories” of the progressive experiment unraveling at the seams, whether in South America or now in Europe, giving rise to what Nomura analysts expect will be a right-wing wave over the next 18-month election cycle.

Read more …

“The annoying little man who dresses like a UPS driver seems to think he’ll get an open invitation to the G20.”

“New York Times Leads Leftist Media Movement to Target Trump for Exempting Russia from New U.S. Sanctions Regime..”

“.. inviting President Putin to spend a few more days in the USA and use either: (a) one of your resorts (Doral after the G20 or other), or use (b) Camp David, and invite Zelenskyy to come specifically for that post G20 summit between yourself, Putin and the insufferable Zelenskyy – without his customary support group from Europe.”

• New York Times Leads Leftist Media Movement to Target Trump (CTH)

The New York Times is leading a charge of multiple U.S. media outlets to rage-bait Americans on the issue of President Trump exempting Russia from a new sanctions regime.


Let me start with a positive. Despite the massive amount of years-long gaslighting, lying and narrative engineering by the overwhelming majority of American media and political punditry, the majority of Americans don’t want U.S. sanctions against Russia [37% vs 54%]. Why? Because most Americans have a keen sense of manipulation.

This is one of the reasons why I believe the current effort to create an impeachment narrative against President Trump, again using the Ukraine conflict as the source material, will fail. Yes, the majority of elected politicians support Ukraine and oppose Russia, but the majority of the American people don’t align with the politicians.

More than a week ago we noted the Trump decision to enter a diesel sales agreement with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin was very predictable. Even when President Trump signed HR5334 the Lindsey Graham Russian Sanctions bill, we noted how it was written to the benefit of President Trump by Lindsey Graham himself.

Indeed, with Europe purchasing Russian energy from Vladimir Putin, one of the great ironies within the latest Russian sanctions bill was the requirement and authorization to tariff Europe at a 500% rate for violating the sanctions bill. Yes, that is correct, inside this bill congress authorized President Trump to massively raise tariffs on Europe or anyone else who was purchasing Russian energy products.

As a consequence, if President Trump doesn’t take an action to pause or exempt Russia from these latest sanctions regime, then he will end up hitting almost all the NATO allies with 500% tariffs. However, the media don’t want to draw attention to that aspect as it doesn’t fit their narrative {NYT ARTICLE HERE}.

It did not come as a surprise to me to see President Trump sign an executive order to “waive the application of any sanctions provision” [Executive order here]. Lindsey Graham knew the bottom-line goal of President Trump was to stop the killing, stop the fighting between Ukraine and Russia, and Graham himself created the ability of waivers in the sanction regime specifically so that Trump would have maximum flexibility in providing economic carrots to Russia.

The waiver option is in HR5334 specifically so that President Trump can use it…. And so, he did, DUH! And Lindsey Graham knew he would. And the media are going bananas.n But it’s not the domestic politics that is really annoying here. After all, these are insufferable American politicians and insufferable American media doing the insufferable narrative engineering they are well known for. This is to be expected, and as noted earlier the majority of the American people can see through the games being played.

The frustrating part is watching Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy engage in his now-famous passive-aggressive, too-cute-by-half routine.


ZELENSKYY – “Sanctions relief will continue. I think the diesel deal and the move regarding the Lindsey Graham Act are not the end of it. Unfortunately.

It’s unfortunate because we all had great respect for Lindsey. He devoted his life to America. We had an excellent relationship with him. And shortly before the tragedy, Lindsey was in Ukraine. He always supported us very strongly and pushed for as much assistance to Ukraine as possible.

It’s difficult without him, I’ll be honest. I want to thank both Democrats and Republicans who supported his bill. That was a major victory: this truly bipartisan support. And now, the decision to undo all of this, to block all of it, seems wrong to me. And it definitely helps only the Russians. It only fuels their satisfaction and their desire to keep killing people. This certainly does not stop the war.

Is there a threat of strikes and an increase in attacks on the western part of our country? Absolutely. Is Russia preparing for this? I think so.

Because we know that they are placing relay stations on Belarusian territory to use this corridor for drones and intensify the attacks. But that’s not enough for them. They need Lukashenko’s support to deploy other types of weapons on Belarusian territory, including ballistic missiles.

And, of course, deploying ballistic missiles in Belarus would pose a threat primarily to the western part of our country. I’m sure Putin has these intentions. But this would mean directly drawing Belarus into this war. Directly. And, in my view, it would be very dangerous. Certainly for Belarus as well. God willing, they won’t get drawn into this.

The American negotiating track will continue. We’re counting on them to put more pressure on Putin, not on us. Otherwise, it’s simply unfair. As for our meetings with the American side – we expect to meet and are ready to meet in Ukraine or in Europe. If they want to meet in America, let them invite us. We’re ready to negotiate anywhere, and we’re ready for any format: three-way, two-way, four-way, five-plus – it doesn’t matter. What matters is peace. The American side has given us a signal that our meeting with them can happen next week.

And, of course, in my view, Europeans need to have their own infrastructure and their own track for negotiations with Russia. We need to pursue every possible avenue to stop the war. We’ll also speak separately with Türkiye. I plan to talk separately with President Erdogan about the sea and food security, and with representatives of Middle Eastern countries.

Regarding a meeting with Putin, the United States is working on this. They have a proposal for a trilateral meeting. This meeting can take place in one of the Middle Eastern countries. The United States has always mentioned the UAE or Saudi Arabia. Another possibility is for the meeting to take place in the United States during the G20 summit. But there has been no confirmation yet from Russia or from the United States. The meeting could also take place in one of the European countries. I know that the Europeans are starting contacts about this. We’ll see how things turn out a little later.” (source)

The annoying little man who dresses like a UPS driver seems to think he’ll get an open invitation to the G20.

Dear President Trump. If there is a consideration to use the timing of the G20 for a trilateral discussion with Zelenskyy and Putin directly, please consider holding such an accord AFTER the G20 in Miami.

I would suggest inviting President Putin to spend a few more days in the USA and use either: (a) one of your resorts (Doral after the G20 or other), or use (b) Camp David, and invite Zelenskyy to come specifically for that post G20 summit between yourself, Putin and the insufferable Zelenskyy – without his customary support group from Europe.

Then force the two of them, Putin and Zelenskyy, to hammer out an agreement between themselves. The Russian negotiators and the Ukraine negotiators can hammer it out if forced, directly and only between Russia and Ukraine.

This approach will obviously send the British and EU-NATO alliance teams into fits of apoplexy if they are not participating consultants. However, who cares about their sensibilities? Frame the peace accord around Ukraine and Russia because those are the principals that matter and shut the door to the noise from the Europeans.

Read more …

“Slotkin laid out how Democrats plan to deal with Trump and the people who serve under him. This should terrify anyone who values a free country.”

• Dems Just Cranked Their Government Weaponization Agenda Up to 11 (Margolis)

If you could measure the Democrat Party’s appetite for weaponizing the government against Donald Trump, it’s always been at ten. They impeached him twice, and tried to put him in prison… multiple times. Well, they’ve they’ve cranked the dial to 11, and they’re no longer satisfied with going after Trump himself. They want everyone who works for him, and may work for him, too. And Trump knows it’s coming.


In an interview with Time earlier this month, the magazine asked Trump whether he’d consider pardoning administration officials if Democrats regain power and come after them. “Yeah, sure I’d do that,” Trump said. He pointed to former President Joe Biden, who handed out preemptive pardons in the final hours of his presidency. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) just made Trump’s case for him.

Speaking October 13 at the University of Chicago during a live taping of Vox’s America, Actually podcast with editorial director Astead Herndon, Slotkin laid out how Democrats plan to deal with Trump and the people who serve under him. This should terrify anyone who values a free country.

“I want to look at these signature cases and not just focus on the president, but on the people who enabled him,” Slotkin said in a 26-second clip of the exchange that began circulating Saturday. “I want young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration? Like that sounds fun. I might get an opportunity.'”

She kept going. “I want them to be like, ‘Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want, and so let me avoid participating in that,'” she continued. “I want that deterrence message sent.”


Slotkin calls it a “deterrence message.” What it actually is is a warning that, as far as Democrats are concerned, working for Trump is a crime that merits punishment. The students she described haven’t done anything. Some of them may never work in politics at all. Slotkin hasn’t accused a single one of them of wrongdoing, yet she wants the threat of prosecution hanging over their career choices before they ever accept a federal job working in the Trump administration.

Think about that for a second. A sitting U.S. senator wants to frighten young Americans away from public service by dangling criminal exposure over their heads. How evil and authoritarian is this? This is what weaponization of government really looks like.

The Chicago remarks built on a blueprint Slotkin unveiled two weeks earlier at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. There, she urged Democrats who return to power to assemble a list of “signature cases,” modeled on Poland’s “Iron Broom” campaign. Make no mistake about it, Democrats have already picked their targets for prosecution, and actual evidence of wrongdoing isn’t even required. The hypocrisy is staggering.

Slotkin once denounced this exact kind of legal pressure as authoritarian intimidation when it was aimed at her for an actual crime. Curiously, she didn’t have a problem when the Biden administration arrested Trump repeatedly in the hopes of putting him in prison and stopping his return to the White House. Now that her party sees a chance to wield that power again, she’s openly bragging about pointing it not just at President Trump and people who work for him, but at recent college graduates who might consider working for the Trump administration, preemptively declaring them guilty.

A party that claims to be saving democracy from authoritarianism has decided that serving in the other side’s government is itself a punishable offense. That is how free countries stop being free. If Democrats treat every election victory as a license to weaponize the government against their political enemies, we won’t have a republic for much longer, just an endless cycle of revenge.

Read more …

“.. 2 million immigrant-invaders live at the expense of the ethnic British who cannot afford to have children “

• Watching Dumbshit White Ethnicities Erasing Themselves (Paul Craig Roberts)

Demographers who told us it would be the years 2080 or 2100 before white ethnicities became minorities in what formerly were their countries were selling us a narrative that pushed the problem so far away that no one would be bothered to take action in the present time. But like everything else we are told by “experts,” it was a lie.


The lie got out because the British Office for National Statistics forgot to adjust the statistics in order to hide the facts. For centuries the most common British surname has been Smith. Next year, three months from now, the most common British surname will be Kahn, a common surname for South Asian countries. Nuni Jorgensen of Oxford University’s Migration Observatory said that the displacement of Smith by Kahn reflects the impact of non-white immigration into Britain. The trend in first names shows the identical trend. For the third year running the most baby boys in Britain are named Muhammad.

The ongoing erasure of white ethnic British, soon to be an endangered species, is attributed both to continuous arrival of immigrant-invaders and to declining birth rates of ethnic British. White ethnic British living standards have been falling, as are American ones and little doubt all of Europe. Children are a drain on declining resources, and so there are fewer children. Immigrant-invaders accustomed to lower living standards continue to produce children beyond the replacement rate.

Moreover, according to the British Centre for Social Justice, 2 million immigrant-invaders live at the expense of the ethnic British who cannot afford to have children. Nearly two million foreign nationals “receiving benefits or state pension” “Leading think tank estimates £23bn was spent on handouts, pensions and child-related support received by foreign nationals last year..”

Give it just a moment’s thought. The British government, which has for years opened Britain’s border to immigrant-invaders has reduced ethnic British peoples’ economic ability to procreate, while forcing ethnic British peoples to subsidize the creation of children by immigrant-invaders.

American Democrats have the same policy. As bad as Trump is and as stupid as Republicans are, at least they do not have an official policy of making ethnic whites an oppressed minority in what was once their own country.

Keep this in mind on November 3.

Read more …

Not sure about this, but I’ll leave it in.

• Who the Left Attracts, Part 2 (A.J. Christopher)

Watching a leftist rally today is frightening. It’s frightening not because of any physical threat (though that threat does exist) but because it so depressingly illustrates an unbridgeable divide between leftists and the rest of society. The screaming and the shrieking. The mob violence. The senseless herd mentality. The rigid Manicheanism. The mental breakdowns. The absolute inability to STFU and listen.


It’s not even about politics anymore. It’s not about which economic system, capitalism or socialism, better serves people. It’s not about equality or liberty, it’s not about negative rights versus positive rights, it’s not about the role of government in our lives.

It’s not about racism or patriarchy, it’s not about saving the planet, it’s not about the marginalized and underprivileged, it’s not about the role of ideology in public education, it’s not about the definition of free speech, and it’s not about the duties of a nation-state toward its own people.

It’s not even about the individualism versus collectivism. The political divide in modern America can now be split into two groups based almost solely on mental stability and the motivations driving their members.

On one side are the vast majority of conservatives, as well as independents, moderate Democrats, and even very liberal Democrats. I would throw Bill Maher and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) into this last category. We probably disagree with them on most political issues, but my exercise in categorization transcends politics to something deeper. Both Maher and Fetterman, I would argue, envision an America where free speech and open discourse are encouraged, not abolished.

The other side seems to consist largely of three distinct but overlapping groups:

The Hedonists
It would also be fair to call them nihilists or militant secularists. To them, the immediate gratification in the Here and Now is paramount. The only purpose they understand is the vulgar pleasures of the senses. The only meaning they derive is that if society is not satisfying their every whim, it must be someone else’s fault.

The Totalitarians
These are the “ringleader” and “organizer” types who mistake a worthless college degree for wisdom. It is arrogance, not crass sensuality, that drives them. Their egos, not their tactility, require massage. They worship their own reason as a god and, much like a god, will not suffer dissent, challenge, or heresy.

The Mentally Ill
As I took pains to point out yesterday, I don’t use the term “mentally ill” as a jest or insult. Mental illness is a serious, underappreciated factor in the lives of millions of innocent Americans. It is also exploited and misused. A child showing signs of gender discomfort from the age of four or five onward might be suffering from gender dysphoria (for which there are treatments that don’t involve enabling). A teenage male who sucks at sports and suddenly “identifies” as a female so he can steal their scholarships and trophies most definitely does not suffer from gender dysphoria. But I argued in my article yesterday that the left exploits other personality traits, indicative of selfish and emotionally immature people, and uses them for its own ends.

My article today focuses on the hedonists. One does not need to be “stupid” to be a hedonist. On the contrary, I’ve no doubt that most members of the Lindsay Clancy Fan Club marching for her “peace” outside the Massachusetts courthouse boast credentials, degrees, and decent salaries. What they do need is both the ability and the willingness to lie to themselves, to engage in the most absurd cognitive dissonance possible, to hold the positions that they do.

Three children were murdered in cold blood at the hands of their own mother? Why, of course the real victims are the legions of marginalized, disenfranchised, underprivileged middle- to upper-class white liberal women living in the safest, richest neighborhoods that civilization has ever built. I doubt even one of the marchers could say the three kids’ names.

Why? Because to the hedonist, children don’t represent happiness, family, or purpose. Children represent an impediment. Children represent an abrupt halt to a 24/7 ME ME ME lifestyle. Children represent burden, unsought sacrifice, and a 1950s caricature of enslaving motherhood.

Make no mistake: the hedonists don’t justify the Clancy murders on the grounds that she was mentally unstable at the time. They’d be fine with the murders regardless of her mental state. To the hedonist, the murder of these children represented a twisted liberation for the murderer to live whatever life she wanted.

This is why the hedonists bristle at the Clintonian assertion that abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare.” Instead, they encourage women to “shout their abortions.” Lest anyone think I’m only picking on the ladies, I’ll remind them that Dan Turner, the father of convicted rapist Brock Turner, penned a letter to the judge requesting leniency for his son for raping an unconscious woman. In the letter, Dan argued that his son shouldn’t be given a lengthy prison sentence all because of “20 minutes of action.”

That’s how Dan Turner described his son raping a woman. Twenty minutes of action. That is hedonism. Brock wanted to feel good, so he destroyed the life of an innocent woman to do so. And his dad defended his actions.

And as for this new controversy at Cornell, in which a woman is alleging that seven men gang-raped her? And the men are countering, saying it was consensual? And one of the men is countering that he was unconscious at the time of the sexual encounter, making him the rape victim?

As far as I’m concerned, even if all eight people involved gave consent to everything, they’re animals. All eight of them stand at the top 1% of the top 1% of privileged upbringing in all of human history. They literally have the power in their hands to change the world for the better. And instead, they spend their time snorting ketamine, drinking to unconsciousness, and having orgies. Caesar Caligula would be ashamed.

This isn’t civilization. This is hedonism.

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“.. a lawmaker who treats official documents as rough drafts.”

• Ilhan Omar Has a New Problem, and It Came From Her Sister’s Phone (Margolis)

Federal investigators building an immigration fraud case against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) just got a major break, and it came from her own family’s text messages.According to a report from the New York Times, messages pulled from a phone seized from Omar’s sister gave investigators what they needed to get inside the congresswoman’s home. The paper laid out the details this week, citing three people familiar with the matter.


Federal investigators have been reviewing family text messages as they aim to build a case implicating Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, of conspiring to commit immigration fraud, three people familiar with the matter said this week.mThe messages were obtained from a phone that officials seized earlier this year from one of Ms. Omar’s sisters, Sahra Noor, a health care executive and author, according to the three people.

The messages contained information that investigators had used to get a federal judge to authorize homeland security agents to search Ms. Omar’s Washington-area residence on Monday, the three people said. Agents spent hours searching the home of the congresswoman and were seen walking away with several boxes of seized items.

Agents seized Omar’s phone, her computer, and her passport during Monday’s search. Federal agents also went through her trash looking for DNA evidence. Investigators don’t comb through a sitting congresswoman’s garbage on a hunch.

The sister at the center of this is Sahra Noor, a health care executive and author whose phone federal officials took earlier this year. Noor recently published a memoir about her upbringing and the family’s journey to America, and she spent this month promoting it at book events around Minneapolis. That same journey is now the subject of a federal grand jury. The Times also detailed where the case stands and what investigators want to know, along with a warning from the top of the Department of Homeland Security.

The people familiar with the seizure of Ms. Noor’s phone spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an open criminal investigation that is before a federal grand jury in Minnesota. Federal officials have issued subpoenas in recent days to Ms. Noor and several other people in Ms. Omar’s orbit.

The investigation seeks to determine whether Ms. Omar and her relatives lied or omitted crucial information in immigration paperwork they filed since moving to the United States in the 1990s. They were admitted as refugees after fleeing Somalia’s civil war. Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, suggested last month that the investigation could ultimately result in Ms. Omar’s deportation.

Investigators have plenty to work with. Omar’s staff appear to have changed her date of birth in 2018 so that the timelines in her naturalization process would line up. Add her record of misfiled campaign finance reports and taxes, and a pattern comes into focus: a lawmaker who treats official documents as rough drafts.

Democrats want us to believe this is a partisan witch hunt, but the record says otherwise. Not only did the investigation begin under President Joe Biden, but on top of that, a Democrat-appointed judge signed off on the warrant.

Omar has spent years insisting that no one is above the law, and now she’s learning the hard way that that includes her, too.

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“California is using the size of its market to impose its preferences on commerce that happens everywhere else.”

• California Should Not Get To Set Policy For All Of The US (Curtis Hill)

California has decided it should dictate how the rest of America packages everything from cereal and soap to industrial spare parts. Seventeen Republican attorneys general have filed suit to stop it. They are right. The rest of the country should say so – and reject California’s attempt to impose its policies on everyone else.


California’s Senate Bill 54 effectively tells companies: If you want to sell in California, redesign your packaging, cut plastic on California’s timetable, and pay fees to a private Washington, D.C., organization called Circular Action Alliance. CAA sets the fees, keeps its methodology confidential, and handles disputes through arbitration rather than a court.

But packaging is not a California issue. It is a national supply-chain issue. Companies do not invent a unique box for Sacramento and another for South Bend. They build one system. When California attaches conditions to its market, those conditions travel. Costs travel with them – onto manufacturers, distributors, and the families who buy toothpaste and canned goods in states that never voted for this scheme.

California is using the size of its market to impose its preferences on commerce that happens everywhere else. The attorneys general call that what it is: one state trying to set national policy.

I have seen this movie before.

As Indiana Attorney General, I led multistate efforts against this same tactic. California cities tried to use “public nuisance” lawsuits to dictate national energy policy from a courtroom in San Francisco. I argued then that California localities cannot regulate economic activity beyond their borders, and that the nation should not sit idle while California tried to turn itself into a regulatory empire.

We also led a coalition to the U.S. Supreme Court challenging Massachusetts’s attempt to tell farmers in other states how to house their hens and hogs as a condition of selling eggs and pork in Boston. Same theory. Same abuse. Market access as a weapon.

California and a handful of like-minded states have a playbook: Pass a rule at home. Make compliance a condition of doing business. Watch national supply chains conform because it is cheaper to surrender than to maintain two systems. Then call the result “progress” and dare anyone to object. That is not federalism. It is the big dog sitting on the porch, growling at every other house on the street.

Multistate action is how the other states push back. One attorney general filing a brief is a protest. Seventeen states joining a federal lawsuit – alongside a business that has already challenged this model in Oregon – send a message a judge must take seriously.

This is not a trade association seeking a special exemption. It is sovereign states defending their authority to set policy for their own people. And it tells Sacramento that when California exports the costs of its policies, the response will be coordinated legal action – not a press release and a shrug.

That is the point of the office I once held. An attorney general is not a commentator; the job is to defend the state’s legal interests when another government tries to impose its policies beyond its borders. California’s packaging scheme does exactly that. Fees collected by a private organization with little meaningful public oversight are one back door. So is a mandate that forces a plant in Iowa or a distributor in Indiana to pay for California’s regulatory experiment.

None of this requires opposition to clean streets, recycling, or reducing waste. States are free to run recycling programs, set their own environmental policies, and punish fraud or deception in labeling. What they may not do is force businesses across the country to follow one state’s rules while handing the collection plate to an unelected private organization. States can pursue their own policies. They cannot conscript the interstate economy into a single regulatory religion.

The seventeen attorneys general are doing the unglamorous work of saying no. They deserve support – from other states, from boards that still remember fiduciary duty, and from anyone who understands that the Constitution divided power for a reason. California is large. It is not the legislature of the United States.

If other states sit this one out, they should not be surprised when the next California rule arrives already attached to their store shelves. Empires are not always built with armies. Sometimes they are built with a market, a mandate, and a fee.

Curtis Hill is Senior Fellow with the Free Enterprise Project and former Indiana Attorney General.

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Always loved the philosophical implications.

For instance: how do you explain entanglement?

• Quantum and God (David Solway)

In the current cosmological milieu, when we think of quantum, the presence of God will often pop up like a virtual particle in a Cimmerian vacuum. Major quantum scientists like Max Planck and Werner Heisenberg were convinced that God existed. Max Planck, the originator of quantum theory, had no doubt that “religion and science require a belief in God. To the former He is the foundation, to the latter, the crown of the edifice of every generalized world view.” Heisenberg is credited with saying that shallow science can lead people away from God, but deep study brings humility: a sip from the glass of natural sciences “will make you an atheist…but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting.”


Freeman Dyson, who worked in quantum electrodynamics, held a broad vision of a spiritual or creative order in the cosmos. The quantum field theory expert, the late John Polkinghorne, was an Anglican priest and theologian. Nobel laureate Charles Townes, who laid the foundation for the laser, believed in a spiritual or divine dimension behind physical laws. Mathematician John Lennox is a firm believer in intelligent design and a passionate Christian apologist. Director of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture Stephen Meyer is a theistic philosopher, a working scientist, and a practicing Christian. All quantum virtuosos. These are not the aberrant views of scientific outcasts but comprise almost a consensus among cosmologists.

Quantum mechanics has been called the great new scientific theory of the universe, transforming our understanding of the physical world to such an extent that it has also led to our inability to believe what we have ostensibly understood. As Richard Feynman said, “I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.” A brief scan of the subject will show its mystifying complexity.

What is a “quantum”? The term was coined by Max Planck and adopted by top physicists Max Born, Werner Heisenberg, and Wolfgang Pauli, among the most brilliant and distinguished scientists of our era. According to the standard definition, quantum refers to the smallest possible, indivisible unit of any physical property, such as energy, light, or matter. Planck described energy as coming in discrete packets rather than in a smooth, continuous stream, which is how Einstein first considered light, as particles later called “photons.” Quantum mechanics studies how basic particles like electrons, protons, quarks and leptons behave. Yet, particles also possess a wave equivalent function. This is part of its mind-bending enigma.

Key principles include such properties as, succinctly:

Wave function, or wave-function duality. Depending on how one measures these entities, they can spread out like ripples in a pond rather than particles stippling a field—which is also the case. These infinitesimals are peanuts in one respect, peanut butter in another.

Collapse. Once observed, the wave will collapse into a single, localized point, i.e., a particle or a mathematical solution.

Superposition. Particles exist in different states simultaneously until they are measured, when they agree to conduct themselves like ordinary motes.

Entanglement. Particles can become so deeply connected that they are mutually linked no matter the distance and at speeds greater than light—what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance.”

Decoherence. There are two discrete and discrepant realities at the sub-microscopic and macroscopic planes that run mysteriously beside one another. The transition between the strange, probabilistic comportment of the quantum world and the stable, predictable, “classical” reality we experience every day remains a perpetual puzzle.

Despite their weirdness, principles of quantum physics make everyday tools possible, including semiconductors, computer chips, lasers, MRI scanners, bar codes, and GPS systems, etc. Quantum can be harnessed but it remains a conundrum.

It is almost impossible to delve into the quantum world without one’s thoughts turning to the Creator, a Supreme Intelligence who can be in several places at once, whose logos springs from a vacuum or sheer Nothing, whose will is entangled with ours at a distance or no distance at all, however spookily, who binds all the paradoxes of existence and coheres decoherence, who may for a moment appear as a burning bush or whispering wind or pillar of cloud or under the oaks of Mamre (as a subatomic particle like an electron can appear anywhere in its field instead of at a specific place), who can act both randomly or deliberately, and who manifests to a person in vision or dream only when the Source of all things is honestly and modestly approached in study and prayer. There is obviously a quantum aspect to the Lord.

Regrettably, every theory, physical or occult, of the origin and purpose of the universe is unprovable and cannot be verified either in analysis or experiment. And indeed, every such theory or hypothesis is inherently absurd, no matter how sophisticated or fiercely held or passionately argued. The spiritual domain is intrinsically no different, a kind of cryptic phenomenon that at least bears a curious anaphoric relation to quantum principles.

One believes in quantum because it works, however incomprehensibly. Its power and efficiency, that is, its effects, are unquestionable. At the same time, the universe also works, however incomprehensibly, even if we cannot probe the mind of its originator, assuming He or It exists. As the commonplace has it, one cannot postulate an effect without accepting an anterior cause. The fact that something works means that it must have an origin, a structure and an intelligence behind it, but it does not mean that we can understand its essence or its ontic interiority.

Of course, the symmetry between the Divine and the Quantum is not perfect. If the observer is responsible for the result of a calculation or a measurement as many cosmologists declare—the orphic but influential Copenhagen “create reality with observation” interpretation—that would by analogy render the Spirit arbitrary, a function of the observer’s point of view. An entity dependent on an observer’s state of mind has no authority and no reason to be credited with objective existence as the thing which it presumably is. Whatever or Whoever God is, that is not Him.

Nevertheless, if one is looking for a metaphoric semblance of the Divine, quantum is it. The Spirit, the Divinity, the Intelligence, the Pantokrator—God—is in some obscure way existentially and infinitely more than a concept. Indeed, the Universal Artificer would be an absolute necessity, or so I find myself believing—on my good days. The Creation is there, which is to say here, as inscrutable as it is real. Even the proposal that matter can be created out of light is now a possibility. If that is so, light can be created out of darkness.

We push at the boundaries of what is considered difficult, improbable, and intrinsically extraordinary, and our recognition that what appears unlikely may also be inevitable. That is the secret of Quantum as it is of the Sacrosanct. This is reality at its deepest level, at scales of mystery we can only partially fathom. The spiritual realm clearly implies many tropes and comparisons, but the quantum framework is one of the most compelling. In any event, without the quality of intellect and faith that stands before the numinous, we will have become derelict and flighty.

I conclude with a few lines from a poem entitled “When It Dies” from the recently published New Wine, Old Bottles by the Israeli poet Dov Ben Zamir.

When the resins in the candle

pack up for parts unknown

and all the videocassettes and diagrams and theories

melt and collapse

When it dies

the light goes out of the world

like the Lord

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“.. the U.S. continues to lead the way on innovation and technology at a scale now visibly represented..”

• Tesla’s Flying Roadster is Incredibly American (CTH)

When I saw the video of the Tesla Roadster, I was speechless. My brain said this had to be AI or SI generated video that was not reality, and this didn’t happen. However, just like Elon Musk’s SpaceX catching the booster rocket after use, this Tesla Roadster reveal was very real and incredibly amazing.


I’ve watched the video more than a few times and I understand the concept of using pressurized air as explained by Elon Musk and several engineers in subsequent explanations. However, it remains stunning to think about.


While the rest of the western world is seemingly stuck in a political battle about artificial intelligence, pitting advanced technology against the socialist and heavily unionized interests who will be impacted by it, the U.S. continues to lead the way on innovation and technology at a scale now visibly represented by this stunning Tesla Roadster’s capabilities.

Sure, it’s extreme, and there’s not likely to be a consumer-friendly version of it despite production scheduled for next year, but beyond the over-the-top incredible technology that makes a vehicle do these seemingly science defying stunts, my brain started thinking about how this technology could make vehicles safer.

When we think about collision warning and avoidance systems that are already present in cars, and we think about these specifically new capabilities on display, it doesn’t take long before you wonder if the commercial application of this technology might end up being incorporated into vehicle safety options.

Unintentionally driving off a cliff in a vehicle that can detect, stabilize, optimize a travel vector and land itself is no longer just an out-there mental exercise. We can easily imagine a future where the technology revealed in the Tesla Roadster will be in some form of safety features. Just a few days ago the thought was never even contemplated.

This is remarkable and the engineering teams at Tesla should be commended for pushing the envelope and creating things that go beyond our imagination. Congratulations to Elon Musk, the folks at Tesla and all of the incredible people who put their time, effort and energy into these accomplishments.

This is what unleashed American innovation can deliver. I think it is awesome.

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