Debt Rattle April 22 2025
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Edward Hopper The Lee Shore 1941 • Trump Wants Direct Talks With Xi – Politico (RT) • China Is In Economic Dire Straits And They’re No Longer A
[See the full post at: Debt Rattle April 22 2025]Christ! Last week was Holy Week!
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Official economic data from any government is always treated with suspicion by anyone with common sense. The US, for example, witnessed some of the most egregious statistical tinkering imaginable under the Biden Administration, not to mention outright lies and propaganda from the establishment media on the health of the economy. To this day no one has been fired (or tarred and feathered) for hiding the reality of the stagflation crisis. Any government or corporate economist that called the threat “transitory” should be stripped of their financial prestige and banished to a cash register at Arby’s.
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banished to a cash register at Arby’s
Come to Butler you stupid asses and we’ll go to Arby’s or Sheetz for lunch. After meeting those nice ppl y’all can share your musings about America on those same ppl and gauge their reaction. Wait! No!
….and Jesus, I thought the article was about China’s recent economic past but the Dude was also writing about western Pennsylvania, right!?!?
“Arby’s”??
Stagflation dismisses the fact the “economics” were being manipulated by those same Leeeeders to guarantee the financial prestige of the select few…..(((few, The 2.3%ers)))).-
Are 50% of America’s millionaires or billionaires really Jews?
He’s or She’s gonna discredit my neighbors who work at Arby’s or Burger King or Sheetz?
We got roads to nowhere in Pennsylvania too.
We got pockets of economic prosperity like Wexford and Cranberry Township OR as D and his Team of Merry Apologists call them “Targeted GDP for Me” but not for the masses of Thee.
D’s Jesus never would have been so offensive to have thrown The MoneyChangers out of hs Father’s house, right?Trump is utterly deluded by Kellog about Ukraine and Russia.
The Russians are not ‘in stalmate’, they’re winning big time.
The Russian economy is going gangbusters, not at exhaustion. The ‘sanctions’ are actually protective tariffs helping Russian businesses develop into a self sufficient Russian economy that needs very little to none external imports.
The Russian are not only advancing across the entire front-line, they are poised on the eve of a great offensive the likes of which has not happened since the Red Army crushed the Germans in WWII.
Trump had better ditch Kellog and the other neocons and throw the flaming bags of dog shit known as ‘ukraine’ into the EU’s lap.
If not his domestic agenda will self terminate on that hill.
The Woke Black Plague will consume all in it’s diseased path.
More on the Popester from the fawning Catholic at TCTH.
Edited for accuracy:
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The exact cause of death has not been shared, all things considered Francis’s’s’s death within 24 hours of Veep JD Hamel Vance’s private audience with the Pope Feancis remains cause for concern particularly when questions of The Antichrist are not yet muted. Nevertheless “At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father,” said Cardinal Kevin Farrell in an announcement of the death. Francis, who suffered from chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14, 2025, for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there, the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy.
Kevin Farrell cardinale also stated Papal Policy will be revisited in a review of exposing The Bishop of Rome and Pope of da People to an Antichrist less than one month after discharge from an ICU, which also carries extraordinarily high mortality in 80s year olds even without planned exposure to An Antichrist.
The Third leading cause of Death in the US is: Medical Error
Heart disease and cancer are 1 and 2
Actually the ‘Medical Industrial Complex is probably the No. 1 cause of Death because many of the cancer and heart issues were misdiagnosed and handled poorly resulting in a huge number of additional deaths counted as heart and cancer fatalities when in fact they were from gross incompetence.
3,000 Gold.
Whoops! $3,500 gold. I blinked. No news. No nothin’. No one cares. No miners. No silver. What gold?
Oh and oil is way down too, so miners should have doubled on both sides: high sales, low costs. But in a world with Zero Price Discovery, NOPE.
https://www.kitco.com/chart-images/LFgif/AU0365nyb.gif
http://dailybail.com/storage/chart-gold-REAL-dollar-inflation.gif
(Link bots)
Sorry there are a lot of charts, lots of ways to look at it, but when it went vertical (which is nigh impossible to tell) it DOUBLED from there to $880. So even IF we’re at the vertical, it could be $7,000. Obviously it should be $10,000/…oh wait, in 2001. Or higher in 2008. We are now printing a TRILLION every 60 days and it’s not that? O Rlly?
How about $34 to $900, 30x. Our bottom $250 x 30 = $7500 again. But INFLATION ADJUSTED AGAIN.
https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ Radically low-balls it, but 85%. Eighty-Five. So $13,870. Getting close now. That’s a 4x from here, practically flat in Bitcoin terms. Daily gyrations. But.
So what’s silver? Well half the previous high. That would be as if $450 for gold. It’s a 10-bagger to catch up to gold. Checked how? Gold-silver ratio is 100:1 right now. Nosebleed high used to be 75:1 was the ultra-top. 45 was a low.
http://forbestadvice.com/Money/Investing/Metals/Gold-Silver_Price_Ratio_Graph.pngGold $3500 = $87 silver. Gold $7500 = $187 silver. $13,800 gold = $345 silver.
Okay, fine. What do you think if the others, stocks, bonds, housing which are all 9x bubbles, all drop at the same time? Like gold is only $10,000 (timing, taxes) but I dunno, Toyota is 75% down in value (not worrying about numeric value CAPE, PE, Sales) of all-time highs. Maybe housing is better: you SELL the gold at +$10,000 and BUY what? Housing average doubled AGAIN, so houses are near $400k. They fall to $80k. 8 coins vs 40.
Something like that.
(more link bots)
Goes with this chart:
https://www.oftwominds.com/photos2025/bubble2.pngYeah, the LIES are the part everyone LOVES. The FIX is the part everybody hates. That’s the #Opposite of what works. On this chart NEITHER are rational. It should rise slow and steady as actual value rises. The Fed (and many, many friends) make sure it doesn’t by MAKING the market leave intelligent pricing, and front running it.
“What if that’s true and there are four or five demands for each ounce of gold? And the answer is you’re going see chaos like you’ve never seen before. By and large I don’t sell silver or gold, ok? Those my insurance policy against financial chaos.
The relative value of gold and silver shares compared to the price of gold and silver is the lowest it’s been in 45 years ok? I look at gold going up 3% in one day. A 3% move in gold in one day is a big damn move. We had three of them last week.” — MoriartyMany seeing the wind blow:
“Then came the part no one saw coming. Maher opened up about a recent dinner he had with President Trump—and pushed back on the idea that engaging with him was somehow off-limits.
“I voted for Obama, I voted for Clinton,” Maher said. “But the idea that I could talk to them as freely as I felt this conversation was going, is emblematic to me of why the Democrats lose the elections. Because they just don’t feel that this is like a real person.”
He got even more honest: “And I know it’s so weird to say that about Donald Trump, who I’ve said a jillion times is, you know, a whiny little b*tch, I could go through my greatest hits of insults. But this was about getting past that and maybe seeing that if we met in person, we don’t hate each other as much. And we don’t!” — Bill MaherActually that debunks two more of the thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of false things they’ve said.
SO: Bill Maher hates Trump, insults him non stop for decades, tells every current lie about him, says he’s a whiny bitch, so Trump invites him to the White House, is perfectly polite, they have a great time. …According to Maher, not to me.
So 1) Trump is a narcissistic egotist. 2) Has thin skin, 3) takes up every vendetta, attackign everyone but more ESPECIALLY anyone who crosses him or insults him.
…Except Bill Maher, JD Vance, Tulsi Gabbard, and everybody else that was a never Trumper, did all the same, who he how works with daily without comment.
Yup! That’s the truths! The Media would never lie!
Anyway that was in this interview where Conservatives and Liberals are both attacking Woke insanity like a Tag-Team. That is, not the Democrats, who have been around (slaving) for 200 years. The SOCIALISTS. As in “Democratic Socialists of America”, AOC, “Critical Theory”=”Critical Race Theory”, Feminists, who are open Marxists, every professor, all those guys.
GOOD, in one sense. Then not AS good (for them), since Woke is 30% of the Democratic Party and they can’t win until that transition ends. Not saying 70% of their party is anti-Woke, but they would go back to being moderate, slow-lane total kill-150-million-more-people-slowly Socialist party like they have been since 1910. That’s a step in the right direction. Where businesses, speech, and guns exist.
“With Eye On Iran, US Sends More Bunker-Busting Bombs To Israel
In contrast to my triumphalism, even if they’re not used, it’s hard to impossible to get them back. If Israel falls, then…? And can they really not use them somewhere without us?
https://sinfest.xyz/btphp/comics/2025-04-22.jpg
Offensive. But is it offensive ENOUGH for a genocide? A: There’s no such number.
“Chinese Plastics Factories Face Mass Closure As US Ethane DisappearsDidn’t see that coming. Probably overblown, but pointing up that trade wars do indeed have two sides.
“Congressman Visits Ukraine Frontlines, Filmed Firing Heavy WeaponTalking about the war/foreign policy side of this. Should he just be arrested for attempted murder on arrival? I mean, you can’t tourist Thailand on human safari, right? So why can you land somewhere, kill people and go home? One of the hundred details of no Act of War.
“Trump is preparing to unlock a $150 TRILLION natural trust — buried under U.S. soil for 161 years.”
I’d rather he didn’t: we’re using it all to make beanie babies and vinyl siding, paving farmland for malls and constructing self-immolating Teslas. However…
“Death of the 112th Pope will lead to Judgment Day in 2027 — a 12th century prophecy of St. Malachy!”
Yes, this is fascinating. And that This last Pope was an Anti-Pope (too soon?) in every way, just as predicted. From Hogue, a lifelong scholar, that Malachy is a fake, but a strange sort of fake. It may have been written in 1500, not 1200, but is still predictive. And that after that, (it wasn’t well-known for centuries) at some point Popes were playing INTO the prophesy, to make it seem like they should be elected. But that still doesn’t change that it’s impossible to predict, no one believed the Church would fall as recently at 10 years ago it was inconceivable. Now it seems self-evident.
As this happens ALSO the Christians are persecuted, yes, by their own church, yes, and even the elect are fooled, yes. Israel gets so utterly whack they rebuild the temple, yes, try digital ID, yes, and there are worldwide problems, even in Gog and Magog, yes. China has so many people they can march a million men from the east, yes, to control oil wells near the Euphrates, yes.
““These tariffs are not going to be forever … Let this administration get this thing done and let’s move on. Because the last 20 administrations never dealt with it.”Hate to agree with this jerk, but seriously…
“Xi will never do this, save face” Um, don’t tell Xi what to do. They already have an off-ramp, or the Chinese would be the easiest to manipulate on the planet. This can be solved overnight, there are no issues that can’t be dealt with, it’s part of compromise.
“Tucker Carlson tells Alex Jones that a false flag attack disguised as a fight against “racism” will be used to permanently shut down free speech on social media.”
Wait, Tucker tells Jones? And this event hasn’t already happened and been tried? We fought free speech 2014 > 2024. And mostly won now, we’ll see, constant vigilance.
“Trump shuts down all potential communication lines between him and Xi. Except for those he wants. Direct line. Call me.”
Huh. That makes no sense. And it makes no sense to admit/leak it. I can’t even guess: the Media trying to make it even worse than it is, just making this up? How exactly would you stop Xi from sending intermediaries? Suppose Xi calls? And? So what?
“• The Shanghai Spirit – China Will Take No Bullying (Pepe Escobar)
I have lost all concept of what “Bullying” even means. Asking for stuff instead of being a doormat?
1. An act of intimidating a weaker person to do something, especially such repeated coercion.
2. Persistent acts intended to make life unpleasant for another person.Who is “Weaker”? Do we know? Can two equals “bully” one another? Isn’t that a rivalry? China sure made our life intolerable the last 20 years, could they stop bullying us? A “Bully” when faced is often defeated in the playground. Doesn’t that mean the bully was weaker in fact and the victim was stronger? Shades of “Lupins” here.
What I see is this is all PERCEPTION. Feminine. This is not fact-based, bullying is about FEELINGS. Psychology. A weaker person finds out they can make a stronger person FEEL things, feel weak. Nothing to do with actual power parity. So how do we quantify everyone’s FEELINGS? I can’t SEE them. There’s no thermometer. And the readings are objectively false.
This is why the word “Bullying” is in every sentence right now, or every Democratic one.
BTW, so weird, they have gone “Dark Woke” now? Are these guys for reals? I thought they were social engineers. Apparently – and seems to have already failed and fallen flat (NYT article) – that it’s “Mean Woke”. That is, they are allowed to swear a little more, bully others, that sort of thing. What. The. F—k? Like, THIS is what you think voters are mad about and people want? My holy mother of God.
My read is: they think being mean = TRUMP. THAT is why he’s winning voters. So if they can be equally mean, low, and racist, they’ll be popular too!!!!! What. The. F—k? Like I hope you didn’t spend any money on this, because it sure looks like you didn’t ASK ANYONE. Poll America. Heck: poll your own people. How about Medicare For All? Might win? Lay off the trans people beating girls into the hospital, stealing their scholarships, too easy to hand that to Republicans, as Maher says? Just UP the one issue a few points, DOWN the other issue a few points.
But no: we’re going to advise swearing. “Make cussing Great Again” Party. SMH
Vaguely getting a sense of what “Woke Right” is, as apparently it’s all gossip, rumor and innuendo now, and nobody defines anything, there are not even definite events. It’s like a swirling egregore, a drifting cloud of consciousness. It’s Right people who are against Free Speech and …other things, still undefined. Oh! Yeah, we call them “Not Republicans”, RINOs, and traitors. We already had words for that. Or Zionists, the other “woke” faction, meaning pure deranged racists. (Unf the anti-Zionists seem to be pure racists too)
Weird to be trying to talk in a world where now no words have any meaning. Or think in one.
“Now the United States has to confront China and the whole world, and its strength is obviously not enough, so failure is inevitable.”
Huh. IS that what we’re doing? I hope this guy is right and China is so entirely misreading us right now, it’ll work much better if that’s true. We’re Transforming from an Empire – which the people never approved of – BACK to a trading nation that is self-sufficient. To do that we need to dump the pirates off the deck and out of the bridge.
Speaking of, Hegseth again? So worked so well the first time: leak, then firings a week later. More some scandal TO leak – but one that basically is harmless again – and find more moles and traitors in the DoD. Fire them all next week. Repeat until there’s something resembling institutional loyalty again.
“• Trump Wants Piece Of Russia Claimed By Kiev – WSJ (RT)
Same concept as us taking NordStream? That Ukr/UK will refuse to bomb it then?
“• Trump Slams Supreme Court Over Blocking Deportations (JTN)
What people miss is this IS “Due Process”. When you are known to be a non-citizen, the person you meet checks a box on a clipboard, that’s it. That’s your process. This isn’t like jury-trial stuff. So sliding-scale that in your mind.
That’s also the process with Garcia. It was only because of his previous two court cases that said he should be deported, that he could NOT be deported. Huh? Yes, the court said he couldn’t be deported bc he would be killed in El Salvador. That is no longer true (arguably) but they did not hold that 60-second meeting and check the box saying so. So yes, his process was infringed, I do not like it, would prevent it from happening again, send someone a sternly-worded reprimand, and export him a minute later. That he is in prison in El Sal is NOT US. We didn’t order, recommend, or do that. He’s wanted for crimes in El Sal, so when he lands in his home country, where he lives, in his home, they were mad at him and processed him according to their own customs. Unfortunately for him, our paperwork had already proved he was MS-13 and that is a crime in El Sal, but what can you do? Send him to Portugal? That’s not how things work.
“He has no interest in prolonging what he sees as a losing war inherited from Biden, and he’s determined to end it. But he also knows he can’t accept just any deal – he needs a version of peace that won’t look like a defeat. After all, his critics are ready to frame any compromise as his own personal Afghanistan.That’s the framework Trump is working within.”
I believe this is true, and it’s shocking by its rareness. Somebody finally just says the obvious instead of TDS and DonaldTelepathy. He implies but I’ll be more explicit: Trump will get this deal, it will require no Euros in Odessa, who have already invaded there, and Europe will refuse. That’s enough. Trump is off the hook then. That is Kellogg’s and Rubio’s part to play there, that Ukr and UK/France will not allow it. Good: it’s your war, have fun.
As Duran says (I’ve stepped away since nothing is happening) “If you couldn’t win the war WITH the United States, what makes you think you’re going to win one without them???” A: Because they must, or they will collapse. It doesn’t matter. Trump, etc, is only “Where you place the blame.”
“It’s not whether you win or lose,but where you place the blame.”
Reminder: since we use that 99% of the time, that comes from Sportsmanship: “It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.”
“Russian President Vladimir Putin has commended the courage of European leaders who choose to come to Moscow for events commemorating the 80th anniversary of victory in World War II,”
Shows how rabidly pro-war they are. Russia invited all these leaders, who are openly bombing them. Does that seem pro-war? No, it seems like “Let’s sit down and talk.”
““It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon.”
They – everyone – has an incredibly low bar for “Chaos”. If by “Chaos” you mean everyone comes in at 7, parks their car, gets coffee, then works in an office all day same as last year, then yes, total chaos. “Cats and Dogs” n’ stuff.
Please make words have meanings again. Like two people were fired. Much wow.
““The entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change that you are trying to do”If they weren’t, he wouldn’t be doing his job. Actually he needs to cut $1Trillion and half the men…or rather half the administrators, keeping all the dog-faces.
“On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger airliners, crashing two into the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan.”
Did they though?
““The next step is [to halt] the mRNA platform itself… the manufacturer has no idea what dose they’re giving, no idea where it goes in the body, and whether they are producing off-target antigens”
This is probably a better vector for stopping, looking, and fixing this. And also true, which goes to show just how crappy it, and our companies, are.
“Massive rise in chronic diseases – 1 in 6 women now affected with autoimmune diseases – 50% of kids are sick – Pre diabetes affects about 20% of teens – 70% of kids are not qualifying for the military”The autistic online are savagely attacking RFK for this. How dare you remove 50 years of debilitating chronic diseases. Have you no decency, sir?
“Would parents still say yes….?” Yes. They absolutely would, and punch you, climb over the table to do it.
Sagan: He’s really commenting on JOURNALISTS. We’d talk about “Readers have a 6th grade level” so write to a 5th grade level. Yes, but when you do that it goes: College > High school > 8th Grade, > 7th Grade > 6th Grade, and so on each decade. Well you win! Now we’re here. …As any illiterate moron could have figured out.
Why? How about 1890-1920. People actually WERE illiterate. They literally had NOT completed the 5th grade and were hired in the mills. And the reporters wrote to pull them UP as much as they could, instead of down. People like Dorothy Parker and Winchell were up to being Hemingway, etc, and decade by decade literacy and book sales went UP.
“I go to Coney, the beach is divine I go to ballgames, the bleachers are fine I follow Winchell and read every line That’s why the lady is a tramp”
They’re now like We can’t write higher like Hah-vard (which is apparently illiterate, since they’re now providing remedial mth and english classes on entry) because the horrible pe-ople can’t read it. Maybe so. But that was the same in 1890, so they just wrote to the next level UP, not down. They’re like “We can’t step from Liverpool to Plymouth in one foot” so therefore it’s impossible to embark. All or nothing. Perfect or worthless. Cluster creed. BPD, etc.
Sagans’ pale blue dot. But Monty Python did it much better.
Science is when you don’t provide information and don’t discuss and debate, Carl.
Trump ordered the flags to half mast after the death of the 112th pope.
Judgement day approaches and stuff.
Peak oil-plus-condensates was still November 2018.
My corn is all tasseled out and we’re getting lots of green beans and a few early tomatoes.Secrets and lies.
China is going down.
USA is going down.What’s next?
Collecting taxes/tariffs from where it doesn’t exist.
Spending money/taxes/tariffs that doesn’t exist.
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(in the west, they believe that),…• China Is In Economic Dire Straits And They’re No Longer Able To Hide It (ZH)
Official economic data from any government is always treated with suspicion by anyone with common sense.
The US, for example, witnessed some of the most egregious statistical tinkering imaginable under the Biden Administration, not to mention outright lies and propaganda from the establishment media on the health of the economy.
To this day no one has been fired (or tarred and feathered) for hiding the reality of the stagflation crisis.
Any government or corporate economist that called the threat “transitory” should be stripped of their financial prestige and banished to a cash register at Arby’s.
And let’s not forget Biden’s misrepresentation of the labor market, portraying millions of new jobs for illegal migrants and visa holders as if they were jobs benefiting American citizens.
In the US and across the western world, lying about the economy is generally seen by politicians as a temporary solution to secure reelection.China’s attempts to hide the decay from the outside world are becoming less and less effective.
It cannot be stressed enough that the global economy is largely a farce, but China is closest to the edge of the cliff in terms of consequences and crisis.
The interdependency of globalism has left many nations without the ability to weather a trade dispute and China’s survival is almost entirely based on steady exports to the west and the US in particular.
Underneath the facade is a nation on the brink of disaster.
————
In China• The Shanghai Spirit – China Will Take No Bullying (Pepe Escobar)
I have had the privilege to transit from the Bund Financial Center, which hosts among others the Fosun Foundation – a bamboo-inspired architectural masterpiece – to the China Academy at the immaculate campus of Fudan University, where I shared a seminar with star professor Zhang Weiwei and a round table with top PhD students from several disciplines. Professor Zhang Weiwei is the foremost conceptualizer of China as a civilization-state.
The key theme of our seminar was the Russia-China strategic partnership, but inevitably the focus switched back and forth to the rationale behind the Emperor of Tariffs.
The questions from the students were as sharp as they come.
That was compounded with an in-depth interview for China Academy hosted by their CEO, the formidable Pan Xiaoli.
A visit to the HQ of Guancha – the top independent new/analysis site in China, whose several channels in several different platforms reach an astonishing 200 million people – could not have been more timely.
Guo Jiezhen, a research fellow from the China Institute, who was part of our round table at Fudan University, came up with one of the more astute analyses of what he describes as Trump’s “deranged money-making technique”.
————-In Russia
Victory Day is one of the most important national holidays in Russia.
The event is celebrated annually on May 9 to mark the 1945 triumph of the USSR over Nazi Germany and its allies, and to honor the estimated 26.6 million deaths the Soviet Union suffered in World War II.
Around 18 million were civilian deaths.
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The Relentless Push for Peace
• Trump Wants A Deal. Putin Wants Victory. Ukraine Will Get What It Deserves (RT)The Easter ceasefire has come and gone, with Russia and Ukraine trading accusations over thousands of violations as fighting resumes across the front lines – yet another reminder of how difficult it is to bring this war to an end.
Amid the renewed hostilities, Donald Trump’s long-promised peace plan is colliding with geopolitical realities.
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• Is a Coup Against Pete Hegseth Brewing at the Pentagon? (Margolis)
Something tells me that the liberal media is trying to force Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth from the Pentagon.
Politico isn’t reporting the news;
it’s trying to shape it.
Hegseth stands for values that terrify the liberal elite: strength, accountability, and an America-first mindset.
And that’s why the left is working so hard to undermine him, even if it means stretching the truth to the breaking point to create chaos.
———-
• Hegseth Slams Media Over Latest Smear Campaign: ‘Full of Hoaxsters’ (Margolis)It’s a familiar playbook: pose as a concerned insider while amplifying the very narrative the left wants to push.
The timing is no accident.
These attacks are surfacing just as Hegseth is aggressively working to clean house, purge entrenched bureaucrats, and return the Pentagon to the control of actual warfighters.
This isn’t genuine concern; it’s a coordinated attempt to take down an outsider who refuses to play by their rules.
As the secretary stood alongside his father and his children, he reminded reporters what motivates him.
“This is what we’re doing it for.
These kids right here.
This is why we’re fighting the fake news media.
This is why we’re fighting slash-and-burn Democrats.
This is why we’re fighting hoaxsters.
” When one reporter tried to interject with another question, Hegseth cut through the noise.
This group right here,” he said, pointing toward the assembled press, “full of hoaxsters that peddle anonymous sources from leakers with axes to grind.
And then you put it all together as if it’s some news story.”
Despite the media’s coordinated efforts to generate controversy, Hegseth made it clear he isn’t backing down.“I’m really proud of what we’re doing for the president — fighting hard across the board,” he said before heading off to enjoy the Easter event with his family.
“I’ve spoken to the president, and we are gonna continue fighting on the same page all the way.” In typical fashion, the media tried to create a scandal.
But in Pete Hegseth, they’ve found someone unafraid to punch back.
———–• Trump Wants Direct Talks With Xi – Politico (RT)
¢¢ ol’ donny is gonna outsmart them orientals.• China Is In Economic Dire Straits And They’re No Longer Able To Hide It (ZH)
¢¢ putin is dying!• China’s Gray Trade Strategy Blunts Impact of US Tariffs (Gorrie)
¢¢ the u.s. is like, ¿what, 7%? of their deal. they don’t care. it’s like yesterday thinks it can beat up tomorrow.• The Shanghai Spirit – China Will Take No Bullying (Pepe Escobar)
¢¢ nope.• Trump Wants Piece Of Russia Claimed By Kiev – WSJ (RT)
¢¢ haha! told you he was the piece president.• Trump Slams Supreme Court Over Blocking Deportations (JTN)
¢¢ try being illegal in méxico. you’ll be on a bus and out faster than you can say “parangaricutirimícuaro”, or maybe “taco”.• Do You Prefer White Liberal States To Hispanic States? (Paul Craig Roberts)
¢¢ it’s called “new mexico”, not “new robertshire”.• Trump Wants A Deal. Putin Wants Victory. Ukraine Will Get What It Deserves (RT)
¢¢ trump wants trump. putin wants a vacation. ukraine was probably a really nice place.• Putin Reacts To EU Threats On Victory Day (RT)
¢¢ the russians shoulda lost on purpose! so there!!!• Is a Coup Against Pete Hegseth Brewing at the Pentagon? (Marigolds)
¢¢ flush them all to hell.• Hegseth Slams Media Over Latest Smear Campaign: ‘Full of Hoaxsters’ (Margolis)
¢¢ hell has many layers.• US Senator Ron Johnson Says New 9/11 Investigation Could Happen (RT)
¢¢ mr johnson is the definition of “limited hangout”.• Canada’s Conservatives See A Reversal of Fortune (JTN)
¢¢ who cares? cbdc and gringonomic union, here we come!¡!• Trump Administration Halts New York Offshore Wind Project (Wade)
¢¢ we’ll kill the whales with mercury from beautiful coal instead.• The UK Is Doubling Down On Wind Energy (ZH)
¢¢ they kill whales the green way.Good for Pete…
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“I’ve spoken to the president, and we are gonna continue fighting on the same page all the way.” In typical fashion, the media tried to create a scandal.
But in Pete Hegseth, they’ve found someone unafraid to punch back.….and Pete punches up and down when he’s tied one on, probably. ETOH among other desirable things can lead to rather angry disinhibition…….. ?word!?
O’Leary, tariffs, China
And 3 years ago “everybody” was saying that the sanctions against Russia were going to bring it to its knees. Didn’t happen.
Just because O’Leary would cut a deal, does not mean China will. The premise of the golden rule is that another’s desires and motivations are so similar to my own that we respond similarly. Sometimes, that premise is wrong.
I had an argument with a friend about China about 20 years ago.
HE maintained that “China cannot live without us. They DEPEND on us!”
I asked why….
“For our consumption.”
People still think this 20 years later?!?!? They need a horde of locusts across the Pacific ocean to continuously gobble up cheap products?!?!?
I explained the Chinese are interested in tech and industry transfer, not feeding American locusts. When the transfer is complete, there will be little reason not to sell THEIR OWN people consumer products. Why the hell not?
How are the Chinese not delighted? The transfer is DONE. Is this pure force of habit? Did the temporary tactic turn into “just the way things are. What we always do”? Does China exist for, is the Chinese identity now tech and industry transfer without end? Like, “Without that, what will I be???”
You can stop doing what the USSR did – everybody smoking appalling tobacco plant stems for over half a century because the Soviets are shipping all the tobacco overseas.
Chinese youth are miserable. US youth are miserable. Absolutely, this needs to stop. All this shit about oh no the “economy” without any sane thought about the economy, “the service industry” (same bullshit I’ve heard all my life) and so on does not compute to me.
All this weird projection of viciousness, of wanting to cause suffering also does not compute. Who fucking cares. Why can’t Chinese youth have enough hope in life to not lie flat? Why can’t they drive a befinned Cadillac and go to the burger joint or something? The current state of affairs is sick, bad for everyone. DGAF about the Dow.
How is China being “beaten” even a thing? China WILL be beaten! China will NEVER be beaten! It’ll take xyz to beat China! !!1!1!!!!!!
The US unilaterally erecting tariffs, rebuilding its manufacturing base, and giving US working class something productive and life-sustaining to do… this requires China be “defeated” how?? Seriously, how?
Are we waiting for China’s permission? Is China’s’ mere existence the problem, they must willingly lay down and die or something? So long as anyone remembers the name China no one will have a working class job in the US???
What does “defeat” consist of? Just, the US erecting enough tariffs to have the industrial base it wants? Is that it? What countermoves is China undertaking to prevent the US from building factories or mines? I’m having a hard time understanding what the trade war or winning/losing really consists of.
The Shanghai Spirit – China Will Take No Bullying (Pepe Escobar)
¢¢ nope.Pepe could have just said they’re inscrutable, you know, the Chinese.
Wait! Whoah! That’s a reference to the Filipino.
My bad!In 2020, I bought my own bread machine and started baking my own bread instead of buying store bread.
Wonder Bread™: We will take no bullying!
Code words, (by politicians to hide the truth): Deficit spending. Election promises.
Collecting money/taxes/tariffs from where it doesn’t exist.
Spending money/taxes/tariffs that doesn’t exist.
———–
Code words: IMF project slowing down of GDPon Sagan
curiously enough the first step in a scientific enquiry is to entertain the possibility there is something one does not know
the second step is to be prepared to continue the enquiry when the hypothesis is falsified and accept your wave form has collapsed and your true state is ignoranceTHAT WILL NEVER CATCH ON
would you kind readers accept that Mr. O’Leary acquired his wealth under the current regime and is more than just perhaps trading on insider information? something in the neighborhood of seeing exactly what the black budgets are and circling the wagons in an amoral attempt to rob the system before it collapses to secure the gains from the earlier corruption?
dear friends, we HAVE a service economy.
i mean one can take a cruise from the harbor to crab island hang with the in crowd and cruise back to the harbor, a three hour entertainment, for sixty one unit fiat notes
hell pull out the card and do the snuba cruise, a c noteevery economic effort over the last fifity five years has been in pursuit of limiting the possiblity of indvidual self sufficeincy. here is where I really piss everyone off.
every citizen of The United States contributed to building this current culture. even those of us who remained on the periphery participated, there is no off grid if you possess and utilize anything you did not personally assemble. there was only propaganda, plausible deniability donned by the public at large eager to accept National Security Secrets as necessary to the defense of the Republic. The citizens of The United States have built and given their life blood to this economy and this culture. We knew there was a Lie being told and anyone who asked Who is doing the Lying was delegated to the poor side of town.
The hypothesis of a service economy has been falsified.
Nothing else has been planned.
Fifty Five Years of planning and effort will not be undone in a matter of months.
We are being Lied to again and we know it. and we will do an O’Leary in an attempt to save ourselves.
or we could be scientifcTHAT WILL NEVER CATCH ON
So we are all collectively complicit in a system of…
yawwwwwwwwn
even stone age peoples knapping rocks developed specialization. 1000’s-mile trade networks transporting better rock to the people that wanted it. Do you suppose EVERY rock-knapper was being off-grid, personally going to North Dakota to transport their rock down to the Ohio Valley or the Lower Mississippi?
so what is this false proposition, to be “off-grid” that has failed? Go on and do it then, show us.
Aside from AFKTT, who was asking for what is proposed? And even HE failed at it, got a bit angry when it was proposed he failed to live up to his principles, give up electricity or computers or the internet or anything.
“The citizens of The United States have built and given their life blood to this economy and this culture. We knew there was a Lie being told and anyone who asked Who is doing the Lying was delegated to the poor side of town.”
This sounds vaguely like the Current-Year Marxist “black people built the united states we wuz kangs” line.
Capitalism being: do something or make something that someone would willingly pay you for – of course there are services and there is currency to pay for it. Mind blown.
may i humbly nominate the esteemed mitt “doggone” romney as the new head of the w.e.f., replacing the departing klaus “you be happy” schwab!?
Elon Musk is kinda stupid, in the usual humanoid kinda way. I ain’t saying that he’s low IQ or anything like that, he’s plenty smart in the college boy sense of the sord, BUT, I am saying that he is stupid in the sense that he was an easier-than-usual mark for buying into bullshit lies that sounded sweet to his ears. that smarter-than-him Con Men who were easily able to play to his ego and blind side, by selling him what he wanted to hear, and what he wanted to hear was that he RIGHT. Just like dumber people, like thee and me.
We all want to be told that we’re right, and smart and better than the other eight and half billion people who have been working so hard for so long. It’s easy to overlook the patently obvious fact that if these problems that he is so brilliant at solving, were easily solvable by one smart guy then they all would have been solved long ago by people one helluva lot smarter than him.
Elon got to be rich by doing what the deep-state planners overpaid him to do, and what they were paying him to do was bring in the ultra-high-tech control system of digitized money, surveillance, Artificial Intelligence, Brain Chips and centralized-computerized-networked-AI Everything-CONTROL of everything necessary to biological life, including everything from mobility to thinking. Long story short, his great wealth has more to do with him being given YOUR money to do the BLOB’S work. And he’s done a very tidy job, too, I must say.
Thanks, Elon. Good boy!
My take…some “drunk and sloppy” people have inviolable principles, but Pete was probably selected over 14 million other more qualified ppl exactly for his “drunk n sloppy” bonafides.
So, from Xymphora:
As drunk and sloppy as Hegseth is, I’m not forgetting that the attacks on him occurred after he reportedly conveyed the Pentagon view to the White House that it would be very stupid for the US to be involved in any military attack on Iran.…except that would be AntiSemitic not to support a War against Iran, right?
Then there’s China and Gambling are bad
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Time for China to revoke Las Vegas Sands’ gambling license in Macau. Miriam Adelson is one of the biggest financial backers of Trump. Sands derives 80% of its revenue from Macau. No sense allowing her to continue to rake in Chinese money. Cut the head of the snake.
Again, it’s AntiSemitic to suggest there’s anything wrong with Miriam Adelson making money off Chinese folk or being labeled unAmerican.
Let the howling commence
Let the howling commence
Not howling, Doc. The voice of reason telling YOU to stop howling. In your lust for the blood of the Pharisees you call also for the blood of the Disciples, and Jesus Himself, for that matter. Besides, the cold eye and the steady hand shoot straighter.
Indeed…
Elon got to be rich by doing what the deep-state planners overpaid him to do, and what they were paying him to do was bring in the ultra-high-tech control system of digitized money, surveillance, Artificial Intelligence, Brain Chips and centralized-computerized-networked-AI Everything-CONTROL of everything necessary to biological life, including everything from mobility to thinking. Long story short, his great wealth has more to do with him being given YOUR money to do the BLOB’S work. And he’s done a very tidy job, too, I must say.
…..and he’s anti-anti-Semitic. That helps a lot.
Lesson in projection of the inner object state:
DBS:
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“….your lust for the blood of the Pharisees you call also for the blood of the Disciples, and Jesus Himself,…
….notwithstanding a whole lot of deflection and transference.
“Lust for blood” ….the mirror isn’t flattering either.Under CBC estimates, the Liberals have an 83% shot at an outright majority and a 13% shot at winning a plurality, while the Conservatives reportedly have a 2% chance of taking the most seats.
CBC estimates! Jesus H Christ! The CBC gets its funding from .gov. 1.4 billion a year, and they want another billion/yr going forward. The Conservatives are promising cuts to the CBC, personally I like to see them cut it all and make them fund on their own merit. Global and Bell also got major cash infusions from .gov during the shut up and shoot campaign over the last five years. Think they’re going to say anything anti Liberal? Talking with people around my hood it doesn’t seem very Liberal leaning. No campaign signs around on lawns either, none of any stripe. The advance polls are seeing a major influx, unusual. The last time it happened it was a change the .gov movement to make sure Harper didn’t get back in. Careful what you wish for. We went from Harper to Trudeau, makes one worry a little that change may not work out so well.
@DrDRich
Not projection Doc, nor transference, not even all that personal. When someone else, anyone else, throws around that term “anti-Semitic” (from EITHER side of the piss fight) they are going to hear from me about it because it is B U L L S H I T ! It’s dangerous bullshit. It both directly and indirectly encourages a mind set in which an ENTIRE labeled group (Semite, Anti-Semite, Jew Gentile, Whit, Black, etc etc) is praised or condemned solely on the basis of an all-inclusive label that pays no heed to the real sins or real virtues of the individual real people that are being painted with that label.
I’m advising you not to do it, and I will continue to advise you when you don’t. I do not give a DAMN how you try to make it personal, or distract attention from the main point. If you do it, and I catch you doing it, I’m going to criticize it.
Let’s not waste time playing word games. Just stop being mentally lazy by lumping everyone together into a one-size-fits-all gunny sack and then kicking the sack. Lazy, lazy, lazy, and just plain wrong.
Veep Jack Daniels Hamel Vance
Nepotism and Favoritism: why not? It’s good business for JD especially.
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Vance highlights personal warmth alongside diplomatic ties because for him and the Tech Bros, this relationship with India is personal.
Anti-Chinese too! Like a glove…
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The Tech Bros love India, and with JD and Usha Vance representing close ties to the nation, JD Vance fits the pro-India trade position like a glove. Usha Vance’s parents are Telugu-speaking teachers from Andhra Pradesh. They had moved to the US in the early 1970s.
Awe inspiring
Warms the cockles of my shellsTraversing Discontinuity https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/traversing-discontinuity
Over Easter weekend I participated in a memorial bike ride and a sad “celebration of life” for a dear friend from college. Much discussed was the “craziness of Trump”, which was broadly stated as an opening remark, as if things are otherwise ok with political-economies.
I broached the topic of thermoeconomic analysis, and the implications of a global oil + condensates peak in November 2018, for a financial system based upon exponential growth, and got some sustained attention from the post-ride bicyclists on Saturday, but there were a lot of people at the celebration, and attention spans were a bit shorter… I did often say that I did not vote for Trump, was not a Trump fan, and agreed that one could not take his statements at face value because he would quickly change them if they were trending wrong on social media. However, I said, I model him as a rational actor, with better information than I have, and assume that he is probably also more intelligent than I am, hard as that is for a human to think or say…
Debt has grown exponentially since November 2018, while real economy, 90% correlated with oil production, has been in a bumpy stagnation at best. “Help, I’ve fallen and can’t get back up!”
Global financiers have been accustomed to creating bottlenecks in money-supply, which they control, to manipulate the real world of resources, industry, trade and war, but real-world shortages are overtaking the growing money-supply, and they need a “Great Reset” to regain control of the system through financial means. Some of them want WW-3, particularly if they can strip Russia of resources to use as collateral. However, a big war with China and debt default may have to suffice. Resetting the global monetary system to gold, which does not grow exponentially, makes sense in an economy that cannot grow, but Bitcoin may be even more enticing.
This economic decline is not equally true of every country. The Russian economy, with the most resources per capita is still growing, though the EU and China are much constrained by resource shortages. Pre-negotiations are taking place, to establish opening offers, which remain very unrealistic from the fuel-starved yet pompous EU, while China has her honor to uphold, or the governing elites might lose power if they accept humiliation.
The US, devolving the global-reserve-currency status to some mix of gold, oil and Bitcoin would gain advantage by moving first and decisively, and also has the second most natural-resources per capita.
There are powerful national and international interests at play, not just global finance, this time. Cutting-out global finance would be very good for the #1 and #2 resource countries, Russia and the US, but very bad for London, Brussels and even New York “financial-interests”.Yanis Varoufakis presented his read of the Team Trump strategy to devalue the $US, while maintaining value against other fiat currencies, by devaluing against Gold and Bitcoin, perhaps raising gold valuations high enough to even blow a Bitcoin bubble large enough to pay off US Treasury debt outright, with Treasury holdings. Crypto’s role in Trump’s economic masterplan (with special emphasis on stablecoins)
To get a whiff of the answer, take the case of Japanese institutions that hold in excess of $1 trillion of dollars, the result of decades of Japanese net exports to the United States. To drive the dollar down, but avoid strengthening the pretensions to reserve currency status of either the euro or China’s renminbi up, Trump would like to bully Tokyo to dump most of these dollars in the money markets but not convert them into euros or renminbi. What could do the trick? How about convincing, with an element of strongarming, the Japanese to swap their dollars for crypto? That would work, especially if the Federal Reserve dominated the crypto scene. https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2025/03/19/cryptos-role-in-trumps-economic-masterplan-with-special-emphasis-on-stablecoins-unherd/The Honest Sorcerer, Being Certain About Uncertainty
As drilling for (and refining) oil takes up more and more energy per barrel of gasoline, jet and diesel fuel returned year after year, so does the cost imposed on the entire economy continue to mount. Depletion doesn’t mean that we run out of oil or other minerals one day to the next. It manifests in ever increasing energy costs, as the best locations with the highest grade stuff run out one after the other. Replacing these once rich resources with poorer quality, harder-to-reach, faster and faster depleting, increasingly smaller locations is a losing proposition — not just in America, but worldwide. As the energy costs of extracting Earth’s riches continue to rise, and as the returns per barrels and kilowatts invested keep falling, more and more projects will be cancelled. Eventually, natural depletion will become prominent and global oil output will begin to fall.
Added on top of this purely geology-driven phenomena is the increased cost of borrowing as central banks continue fighting windmills by raising interest rates. They do this ostensibly to arrest inflation, but in effect all they achieve is the immiseration of the average worker through higher banking costs and increased mortgage payments. This in effect simultaneously reduces demand for oil (as the consumption of goods made and transported by it fall) and increases the cost of drilling replacement wells...
..The International Energy Agency has already cut its 2025 oil demand growth forecast as a result. Major banks also lowered their forecasts of oil prices for the foreseeable future. Again, with a constantly rising energy, material and monetary cost of replacing depleted wells, we have just got a lot closer to a permanent decline in oil production. World crude oil output has already peaked in November, 2018 and at such low prices it looks increasingly unlikely that we will reach that level again…
..This trade madness has thrown a monkey wrench into the system. Sure enough, no responsible company manager would allow investments to happen in a country which could raise or drop tariffs one day to the next, making assumptions needed to start a two to three year undertaking impossible to make.
These tariffs are not the root cause, however, but a sign of extreme desperation in the face of global decline. We are facing a terminal crisis of the oil based economy, and not just in the US. The 1970’s oil shock, gave us a forewarning what to expect should oil production began to decline again (as it did back then). Rising prices. Stagnating economic output. Shortages. This time, however, there is no gold standard to leave behind, no country with a vast resource base and cheap labor left to outsource production into, and no trade left to liberalize...
..Bloomberg goes one step further still, implying that tariffs are in fact a dress-rehearsal for a war with China. A fight which “nobody” wants — except for the entirety of the US congress, the Department of War (ahem, “Defense”), not to mention think tanks founded by rich oligarchs, hoping to earn a fortune on it (1). From this perspective tariffs look like an attempt to simulate the effect of a major war between the two superpowers in preparation for the real one. Other “benefits” include a leverage over allies and large corporations — motivating them to impose their own sanctions on China in return for tariff relief and exemptions — not to mention the fantastic opportunity they provide for insider trading. https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/being-certain-about-uncertaintyAlex Krainer has specifics on the manipulation of the definition of Canadian tar sands as “proven reserves”, which allowed the vast leveraged housing bubble to be collateralized, which led to the housing bubble and Global Financial Crisis in 2008. He was trading oil options and following all of the official projections then, but what he actually saw was very different. Gods of finance & gods of war
How high-level banking interests determined the most momentous events in our recent history. https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/gods-of-finance-and-gods-of-warA resource poor, export-oriented economy needs resources and markets. China Is In Economic Dire Straits And They’re No Longer Able To Hide It https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-economic-dire-straits-and-theyre-no-longer-able-hide-it
Chinese Plastics Factories Face Mass Closure As US Ethane Supply Evaporates https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/chinese-plastics-factories-face-mass-closure-us-ethane-disappears
Chinese pride: Pepe Escobar, The Shanghai Spirit – China Will Take No Bullying
In all conversations and debates, a constant: no illusions about Trump 2.0’s shifting strategy, and how it should be turned against him, Sun Tzu-style; how China must amass a solid set of bargaining chips; and most of all how, from the beginning, this was always a war of an elite section of the American ruling classes on China. The rest of the world is a sideshow.
So it’s no wonder that in every business dinner, after a matchless gastronomic feast, the conversation soon veered on how China’s strategy will not be about immediate damage control; and how China is already eyeing new links and nodes to deepen its long-term global competitiveness.
It’s an open question whether Trump 2.0 and his team of Sinophobes will manage to prevent the emergence of a Global Majority strategic alliance against the Empire of Chaos.
In Shanghai, and across China, submission is simply not an option. In cultural terms, Trump has managed to antagonize 1.4 billion Chinese, simultaneously, by treating the civilization-state without respect. The one thing that irks Chinese the most is mistreatment (see, for instance, the “century of humiliation”). https://sputnikglobe.com/20250421/pepe-escobar-the-shanghai-spirit-china-will-take-no-bullying–1121902677.htmlIn a hole and digging: “China Will Never Accept It”: Beijing Warns Countries Against Trade Deal With Trump At China’s Expense https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/china-will-never-accept-it-beijing-warns-countries-against-trade-deal-trump-chinas-expense
Xi has to deliver for China or he dare not meet: Trump wants direct talks with Xi – Politico
The US president is reportedly not interested in informal diplomatic contact with China on trade https://swentr.site/news/616077-trump-wants-talks-xi/
Gobbledygook may mean that critical-AI-mass must be reached to control human populations, no matter how much electricity it takes out of the real economy.
AI Power Demand Is Remaking Our Energy Ecosystem, While Painting A Target On Its Own Back
The energy transition and AI revolution are fundamentally reshaping our relationship with electricity from the demand and supply sides simultaneously.
Ambitious and novel energy projects, from Stargate to Southern Company’s new Vogtle nuclear plant to Google’s combined data center and solar energy industrial parks are helping advance this vision.
If we make the right choices now—bringing security considerations into our infrastructure investments and enlisting the right partners in that cause—we can build an energy system that is not just cleaner and more abundant, but fundamentally more defensible than what came before. https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/ai-power-demand-remaking-our-energy-ecosystem-while-painting-target-its-own-backShe and her family were spot-bombed at home by Israel after she made a good documentary. Caitlin Johnstone,
“I Want A Death That The World Will Hear” — Journalist Assassinated By Israel For Telling The Truth
Israel assassinated a photojournalist in Gaza in an airstrike targeting her family’s home on Wednesday, the day after it was announced that a documentary she appears in would premier in Cannes next month.
Her name was Fatima Hassouna. Nine members of her family were also reportedly killed in the bombing. She was going to get married in a few days.
The documentary is titled Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, and it’s about Israel’s crimes in Gaza. https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/i-want-a-death-that-the-world-will With Eye on Iran, US Sends Bunker-Busting Bombs to Israel
Nine shipments of US munitions capable of hitting underground facilities arrived in Israel last week. https://news.antiwar.com/2025/04/20/with-eye-on-iran-us-sends-bunker-busting-bombs-to-israel/Houthis Claim Attacks On Two US Aircraft Carrier Groups Off Yemen https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/houthis-claim-attacks-two-us-aircraft-carrier-groups-yemen
Gilbert Doctorow, President Putin’s 30-hour Easter cease-fire
As of now, the Russians have reported that the Ukrainians violated the cease-fire hundreds of times over the past night, sending drones and artillery shells their way. Of course, for their part, Kiev was already last night denouncing alleged Russian violations. And yet the tally is not exactly equal. The major Western media were obliged to report Vladimir Putin’s speech to the armed forces yesterday ordering the cease fire, and he looked very earnest on screen. By contrast, Volodymir Zelensky’s taped response looked scrappy and ill-prepared.
Finally, I wish to add here a further consideration on the seemingly poor judgment of Team Trump in advancing the Kellogg solution as the end game to the war. Surely, they understood as I do that this solution would be unacceptable to both warring parties. Accordingly, it is entirely possible, if not likely that Trump chose it precisely in order to provide himself with a justification before his opponents in the States and abroad for washing his hands of Ukraine when the parties reject it. https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2025/04/20/president-putins-30-hour-easter-cease-fire/Simplicius has more information. Both sides retrieved bodies from battlefields: Easter Ceasefire Brings Brief Glimmer of Humanity Amidst the Chaos https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/easter-ceasefire-brings-brief-glimmer
Putin and Trump both dislike “Eurofascism” (bankers?): Opposition to ‘Eurofascism’ driving rapprochement with US – Russian spy agency
Western Europe is predisposed to tyranny and “global conflicts,” Moscow’s Foreign Intelligence Service says https://swentr.site/russia/616011-svr-eurofascism-france-britain/Actually? European Union bans commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany
The European Union is warning European leaders not to attend the 80th anniversary of Victory Day in Moscow on May 9.
Ostensibly, the rationale for such a ban is that Russia is allegedly waging a war against Ukraine and threatening the rest of Europe, according to the EU. That’s one way of seeing it.
Another way of seeing the matter is that the conflict in Ukraine is a proxy war sponsored by the EU and NATO to defeat Russia, eight decades after Nazi Germany failed to do it. https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/04/18/european-union-bans-commemorating-defeat-of-nazi-germany/ Putin reacts to EU threats over Victory Day
The Russian leader has praised the bravery of European leaders who defy Brussels to visit Moscow for the May 9 celebration https://swentr.site/russia/616076-putin-reacts-eu-pushback/Trump hopeful for Russia-Ukraine peace deal ‘this week’ Moscow and Kiev have accused each other of violating an Easter truce https://swentr.site/russia/616036-hopefully-russia-ukraine-peace-trump/
They can geolocate such images. where was he? Shooting Russians? Congressman Visits Ukraine Frontlines, Filmed Firing Heavy Weapon https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/congressman-visits-ukraine-frontlines-filmed-firing-heavy-weapon
Republican war-poseur U.S. Congressman Backtracks On Social Media Post Claiming He Fired Weapons At Nuclear-Armed Russia
“It was my profound honor to deliver a very ‘personal’ message to Vladimir Putin today, from the front lines of the war near the Russian border, on behalf of our PA-1 community. The only permissible details to share are that ‘the message was delivered on target,’” the post reads.
The “personal” message was scrawled on one or more pictured artillery shells. It said, “To: Putin From PA-1 [Fitzpatrick’s district near Philadelphia] #PeaceThroughStrength.”
Ostensibly taken near the Russian border, the video shows Fitzpatrick firing two projectiles. “The message was delivered on target,” but the congressman said could not give any more details. https://thefederalist.com/2025/04/21/u-s-congressman-backtracks-on-social-media-post-claiming-he-fired-weapons-at-nuclear-armed-russia/ Gilbert Doctorow, Russian Vessels on the Line: Moscow Threatens Consequences for Baltic Provocations!
Aside from the official protests and warnings from the Russian Ministry of Affairs spokeswoman Zakharova that the video exhibits, the Russian talk shows have been devoting attention to the Estonian provocations. Last night’s Solovyov program gave the subject ample time, with the host suggesting that Russia is ready to send military vessels to accompany its commercial ships through the Baltic waters and is ready not only to sink whatever navy Estonia thinks it has, but to level the country to the ground.
We can assume that the authorities in Tallinn are watching these Russian shows and are unlikely to take actions that would precipitate the Russian response that has been sketched for them.
I close this brief note with one other observation from last night’s Solovyov show, this time from the retired colonel who regularly appears as panelist. He remarked that Merz does not know what he is talking about, since the Taurus, while a good missile, is utterly unsuited for a mission of destroying a bridge. Its main use is for destroying underground bunkers and the like. Moreover, the Ukrainians will require some period of time to put any Taurus missiles to use. It can be carried by the French fighter jets that are on promise, by the Eurofighters which are not yet on delivery schedule to Kiev, but not by the F-16s which they recently received. Surely a solution will be found to enable use of the Taurus, but not at once. Or to put it more broadly: not in time to save the necks of the floundering Ukrainian armed forces now under strong pressure from a Russian offensive. https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2025/04/21/russian-vessels-on-the-line-moscow-threatens-consequences-for-baltic-provocations-tn-world/ Trump plans new envoy trip to Russia – CNN
Steve Witkoff, who has already met with President Putin three times this year, has reportedly been tasked with getting Moscow to agree to a Ukraine peace framework https://swentr.site/news/616006-cnn-witkoff-another-meeting-russians-ukraine-peace/ The non-NATO country could be India. Ukraine would “recognize” that Russia holds the land it holds, but would call it “Ukraine”. Who would sign for Ukraine? New York Post learns details of ceasefire monitoring plan within Trump’s peace initiative Details: Although the details of the peace deal have not yet been determined, a senior administration official told the news outlet that they could include the deployment of European forces to Ukraine if a ceasefire is reached. “The hard part is what does a security force look like – we’re calling that a ‘resiliency force’,” the official said.
“The resiliency force is part of the security guarantees that the Ukrainians want and we hope they get,” he added.
A separate force to monitor the ceasefire is also being discussed. It would be a joint commission of Russians, Ukrainians, and a third non-NATO country. The mission would monitor the front line to ensure that both sides lay down their arms. https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/04/22/7508622/ Putin Offers To Halt Fighting Along Current Front Lines In Ukraine President Vladimir Putin has offered to halt his invasion of Ukraine across the current front line as part of ongoing efforts to work with US President Donald Trump toward reaching a permanent peace deal. This reportedly happened during ongoing dialogue with Trump’s top envoys.
This is according to several sources which spoke to Financial Times, which wrote further in a Tuesday report, “The proposal is the first formal indication Putin has given since the war’s early months three years ago that Russia could step back from its maximalist demands to end the invasion.”
“The Russian president told Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, during a meeting in St Petersburg earlier this month that Moscow could relinquish its claims to areas of four partly occupied Ukrainian regions that remain under Kyiv’s control, three of the people said”. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-offers-freeze-ukraine-invasion-along-current-front-line-report
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