Johannes Vermeer Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window 1657-59
Barron
BREAKING: During her appearance on Fox and Friends this morning, Melania Trump discusses the viral Barron “I like my suitcase” clip and the recent video featuring his voice for the first time. pic.twitter.com/B846XTtm9T
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 6, 2024
YMCA
BREAKING: YMCA singer Victor Willis just said he may perform the song at President Trump's inauguration if he calls and asks him to.
"Because the President-Elect has done so much for YMCA and brought so much joy to so many people… we'd have to seriously consider it."
The… pic.twitter.com/6bZ0HbLDub
— George (@BehizyTweets) December 5, 2024
Stephen Miller
https://twitter.com/i/status/1864507104285086147
https://twitter.com/i/status/1864849006209192132
Work from home
https://twitter.com/i/status/1864757348398698509
Vance
BREAKING: JD Vance just did a press conference and let the media know that Pete Hegseth WILL be Sec. Def.!
“Pete Hegseth is going to get his hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, not a sham hearing before the American media.”
“We believe Pete Hegseth is the right… pic.twitter.com/uMN5KfvMFC
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) December 6, 2024
Nunes
Devin Nunes explains why current leadership in DC is so terrified of Kash Patel:
“We brought him in (to the Russiagate investigation) because we needed that skill set… He gave that insight into how the DOJ worked, how the FBI should work, and what they should have been doing… pic.twitter.com/7JlpgR2W3y
— TheStormHasArrived (@TheStormRedux) December 5, 2024
Obama
BREAKING: At a “Democracy Forum,” Obama just criticized Republicans, accusing them of rigging elections and weaponizing the justice system.
pic.twitter.com/StO0lsm7H1— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 6, 2024
Chicago
Chicago Residents wants Donald Trump’s Department of Justice to Investigate Democrat Leaders
“Y'all don't care about the U.S. Constitution at all. Y'all don't care about it at all. The city of Chicago is the most corrupt city on the planet, and it's run by a democratic machine”… pic.twitter.com/Sd57tiNM3z
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) December 4, 2024
“Stare into the sun and begin to glimpse the size of what you’re up against.” — Mike Benz
I called the pardon Pandora’s box before. Jim has many names who would like a blanket pardon. And there are many more. Problem is, this erodes society itself.
• Not a Joke (James Howard Kunstler)
The Hunter Biden super-sized blanket pardon went over so well around the country that “Joe Biden” — or the shadowy league of not-quite-geniuses who run the twilight White House operation — floated the idea of issuing preemptive pardons for a few of the most spectacularly dishonest characters in US political life: Dr. Fauci, Senator-elect Adam Schiff, and Liz Cheney. Does “JB” plan on legally adopting them so he can claim he was moved to act out of a father’s love? Like every official act ever associated with the name “Joe Biden,” the preemptive pardon idea has that reality-optional feel. None of the three has been convicted of a crime to be pardoned for, or even been hauled-in for questioning by federal law enforcement agents on a probable cause writ. But a pardon would necessarily paint them as criminals, ipso facto. Would they accept a pardon, with what it implies, or run shrieking from it as from an apple polished with novichok?
The proffer of a pardon itself must amount to a declaration of probable cause, igniting the very legal process it seeks to dispose of. An inquiry would have to be launched to discover what laws these three desperadoes might have broken, followed perhaps by a grand jury to evaluate the evidence, and so on. “Joe Biden” himself might have to answer some basic questions, such as: at what time prior to issuing the pardon did he begin to suspect some laws had been broken? And, since the president’s chief duty is to enforce the law, was “JB” negligent and culpable himself for misprision of felonies? You know, of course, that the Supreme Court decided last summer in Trump v. United States (Docket No: 23-939) that a president is immune from prosecution for official acts. But the misprision of felonies is neither a presidential duty nor anything describable as an official act. Rather it would be grounds for impeachment, being a “high crime.”
Now, luckily for Joe Biden, his term-in-office is so close to its conclusion that impeachment must be considered off-the-table as a practical matter. He might be subject to prosecution, though, after the clock strikes noon on one-six-twenty-five. I doubt he will be present at Mr. Trump’s inauguration, so the US marshals will have to root him out of Delaware (or wherever) and haul him into the federal lockup in DC at exactly the moment Mr. Trump pardons the J-6 prisoners. Will they get to see “Joe Biden” coming into the joint on their way out? There would be a certain poetic symmetry in that, and hard to not admire the workings of Providence after all its foot-dragging. You might well ask: how many days, or months, will “Joe Biden” have to endure in solitary detention before the paperwork is in order for a proper arraignment? Considering how the process was applied to those J-6 culprits, a year would seem sufficient.
Pardon me for saying: I fear that “Joe Biden” might have started something that isn’t going to end well for “Joe Biden” and many others. The little goldfish bowl of the White House is surrounded by the vast, pulsating DC blob and its million-footed ranks of officials deserving of pardons. You know the floated names Fauci, Schiff, and Cheney were only representative samples, denoting a certain managerial class of blobists that runs to the thousands of federal employees at least. What about Garland, Monaco, and Gupta at DOJ, and their paladin prosecutor Jack Smith, and his many deputies? Or Comey, Wray, Abate, Sallet, McCabe, Rosenstein, Strzok, Page, Pientka, Priestap, McCord, Horowitz out of the FBI? Or Mueller, Weissmann, Dreeben, Van Grack, Rhee, and Quarles from that spin-off Special Counsel venture? Or Boasberg, Chutkan, and Sullivan in the DC judiciary? Or, Collins, Wallensky, Cohen and their many deputies in Covid-land?
Surely, they all deserve pardons now, and their crimes can be sorted out later. There would appear to be no precedent for a chief executive pardoning the entire federal government, or we would have heard of it by now. At the conclusion of the Civil War, Abe Lincoln issued a conditional pardon to Southerners — they had to take an oath of allegiance to the Union — but it did not include military officers and high-ranking Confederate officials. The blob of our time is a different breed of porpoise. Actually, it’s more like a systemic fungal infection of the body politic, requiring deep fumigation and exposure to sunlight. The proposed D.O.G.E advisory under Messrs Musk and Ramaswamy might answer as a “good enough” therapeutic approach, wholesale dismissal of entire agencies and departments, actually flushing away the malign parasites en masse, pardons not required.
What I await in the sunsetting “Joe Biden” presidency is whether he will go ahead and pardon the other members of the Biden family beyond just “first son” Hunter: brothers Jim and Frank and the wives and various offspring who received cash “gifts” from officials in foreign lands laundered into their personal bank accounts amounting to millions of dollars. None of them enjoy the much talked-about presidential immunity out of mere familial proximity to their illustrious relation, number “46” in the lengthening line of commanders-in-chief.
“Only 30% of voters favored Biden’s clemency..” There are a lot of Democrats among the remaining 70%.
• Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose Biden’s Pardon Of His Son Hunter (JTN)
Americans overwhelmingly oppose President Joe Biden’s pardon that erased his son Hunter’s federal tax and gun convictions, according to a new poll released Thursday. Pollster Scott Rasmussen’s Napolitan News Service survey found 62% oppose the pardon, including 41% who strongly opposed it. Only 30% of voters favored Biden’s clemency, The poll also found Americans rejected the rationale the 46th president offered in explaining his decision. Biden has said that Hunter Biden was unfairly targeted by prosecutors for political purposes, but 54% disagreed with his rationale, while 37% agreed. Voters were more sympathetic to President-elect Donald Trump, with 46% declaring they believed that the Department of Justice unfairly targeted him under Biden’s leadership, while 42% disagreed.
Biden pardon
https://twitter.com/i/status/1864668354079854993
All they have is smear.
• Trump Confident About Getting Pete Hegseth Confirmed As Defense Secretary (JTN)
President-elect Donald Trump on Friday appeared optimistic that he can get his choice for Secretary of Defense confirmed by the Senate early next year, despite recent criticism. Trump tapped former Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth to lead the defense department last month, touting him as a major supporter of veterans and the military. However, allegations have surfaced recently, accusing him of sexual assault, alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement. The former president said he still has confidence in Hegseth, and that senators have told him that they will support his nomination. Hegseth met with multiple senators this week in an effort to reassure them that the reports are unfounded.
“It looks like Pete is doing well now,” Trump told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in an interview that will air on Sunday. “I mean, people were a little bit concerned. He’s a young guy, with a tremendous track record actually. He went to Princeton and went to Harvard. He was a good student at both. But he loves the military and I think people are starting to see it so we’ll be working on his nomination along with a lot of others.” Trump said he has spoken to friends of Hegseth over at Fox News who have denied the allegation that the veteran has a drinking problem. Trump himself does not drink alcohol. “He’s a very smart guy. I’ve known him through Fox, but I’ve known him for a long time,” the president-elect said. “He’s basically a military guy. Every time I talk to him, all he wants to talk about is the military. He’s a military guy.”
“We are confident that under his stewardship, the FBI will thrive in its vital mission to protect and serve the American people..”
• National Police Association Strongly Endorses Kash Patel For FBI Director (JTN)
The National Police Association on Friday “strongly” endorsed Kash Patel, President-elect Trump’s nominee for FBI director, and urged the Senate to confirm him. “We firmly believe that Kash Patel’s appointment as FBI Director will mark a pivotal moment for law enforcement and public safety across the United States. His leadership will bring a renewed focus on collaboration, ethical standards, and the relentless pursuit of justice,” the organization said in a statement. “We are confident that under his stewardship, the FBI will thrive in its vital mission to protect and serve the American people,” the group added.
“Those who don’t like it, they will cancel me,” he said. “I say: Cancel me. I’m for America.”
• NYC Mayor Eric Adams Hints At Switch To Republican Party (ZH)
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, has left the door open to returning to the Republican Party – a move that would upend the political dynamics in the nation’s largest city. In a pair of Friday morning interviews, Adams – who was a member of the GOP from 1995 to 2002, refused to rule out a switch back to the Republican Party. “I’m a part of the American party,” Adams told NY1 when asked directly about his political future. He reiterated the sentiment in a subsequent interview on PIX11, emphasizing that his allegiance lies with “American values” over partisan lines. “No matter what party I’m on or vote on, I’m going to push for American values,” he declared, urging leaders to work beyond political affiliations to solve voters’ problems. Adams’ comments come amidst heightened tensions within the Democratic Party, sparked by his growing relationship with President-elect Donald Trump.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1865033350072746187
While most Democrats have criticized Trump, Adams has avoided open conflict, even praising Trump confidant Elon Musk for his efforts to streamline government operations, Politico reports.The mayor is scheduled to meet with incoming border czar Tom Homan next week to discuss federal immigration policies. Adams has signaled tentative support for deportation plans targeting undocumented immigrants with serious criminal offenses, a position that aligns more closely with Trump’s immigration platform than his own party’s stance. Adams’ relationship with Trump takes on added significance in light of his ongoing legal battles. The mayor faces a five-count federal indictment, and Trump’s incoming administration is poised to replace the U.S. Attorney prosecuting Adams. Trump, who has repeatedly framed his own legal troubles as politically motivated, has expressed empathy for Adams’ predicament.
Speculation has swirled that the president-elect might extend a pardon to the mayor, further entwining their political fortunes.Despite his openness to a Republican pivot, Adams insists he plans to run for reelection next year as a Democrat. “That is what I’m proposing to do,” he told reporters Friday. However, his lukewarm endorsement of the Democratic Party and his past GOP affiliation leave room for doubt. Adams’ critics see his comments as a calculated effort to hedge his bets as Trump prepares to wield significant influence over New York City’s political and legal landscape. Local Democrats have expressed frustration, with some questioning whether Adams is using his position to align himself with Trump’s administration for political gain. Adams defended his controversial stance with a bold parting message: “Those who don’t like it, they will cancel me,” he said. “I say: Cancel me. I’m for America.”
Bezos, like Zuckerberg, are all too aware of Elon Musk’s presence.
• Jeff Bezos Expresses Optimism About Trump’s Deregulation Agenda, Offers to Help (ET)
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos expressed optimism about President-elect Donald Trump’s second term on Wednesday, voicing enthusiasm for potential regulatory rollbacks in the years ahead, even offering to personally help with the deregulatory effort like his business arch-rival Elon Musk. Speaking at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York on Dec. 4, Bezos said that there are “too many regulations in this country” and praised Trump’s commitment to slashing red tape. “I’m actually very optimistic this time around,” Bezos said. “He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. If I can help do that, I’m going to help him.” Bezos said that, in his view, the United States is “so set up to grow” thanks to factors like abundant energy resources and the world’s best risk-capital system, and that eliminating barriers to growth is key to solving the nation’s most vexing economic problems, such as ballooning public debt.
“You’re going to solve the problem of the national debt by making it a smaller percentage of GDP,” he said. “That means you have to grow the GDP at three, four, five percent a year, and let the national debt grow slower than that. If you can do that, then this is a very manageable problem. The billionaire entrepreneur added that America’s many advantages are being undermined by burdensome regulations. “I’m very optimistic that President Trump is serious about this regulatory agenda, and I think he has a very good chance at succeeding,” he said. Bezos’ comments come weeks after his decision in October to bar The Washington Post, which he owns, from endorsing a presidential candidate. The move sparked backlash, with tens of thousands of readers canceling subscriptions and protests from veteran journalists at the paper.
In an op-ed, Bezos defended the decision, arguing that endorsements contribute to perceptions of bias in an era of widespread mistrust in the media and have little impact on election outcomes. During his interview at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit, Bezos also addressed Trump’s contentious relationship with the press, saying he would work to dissuade the president-elect from seeing the media as an adversary. “I don’t think the press is the enemy,” Bezos said, adding that he believes Trump’s relationship with the media has become less adversarial in recent years as he has grown as a person, and is “calmer … more confident, more settled.”
During his first term, Trump frequently criticized Bezos, Amazon, and The Washington Post. In 2019, Amazon alleged in court that Trump’s animosity cost the company a $10 billion Pentagon contract, which the Biden administration later split between Amazon and Microsoft. Later in the interview, Bezos also commented on Musk’s regulatory role in the upcoming administration, expressing confidence that Musk would not use his influence to harm competitors. Bezos’s space venture, Blue Origin, is a rival to Musk’s SpaceX.
“An important part of my platform for president is to bring back, restore, and rebuild Washington D.C. into the ‘crown jewel’ of the nation..”
• Congress, Trump Plan Law Enforcement Reform In DC To End Politicization (JTN)
Donald Trump and his political allies are promising law enforcement reforms and to fight crime in Washington, D.C., when he takes office again in January. Already, allies on Capitol Hill are preparing to launch investigations, new committees, and detail new priorities as the former president prepares to take the reigns on the executive branch for the second non-consecutive term. Some initiatives are taking aim at the nation’s capital, following promises from Trump on the campaign trail to clean up the city. Congress is looking to block disfavored city laws or using its power to shape the city’s budget, while Trump wants to enforce “tough on crime” policies in the district.
One congressman believes the security of the U.S. Capitol building itself and the politicization in the police force protecting the complex at the heart of the city should be the focus of a new select committee. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, Chairman of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight says reforms are needed to root out undue political influence on the department’s leadership, exposed by a probe into the Capitol Police in the aftermath of the January 6 riot. “I believe we need a select committee that is focused on the security of the United States Capitol. You know, we’ve done a lot with our January 6 investigation, and have done more than anyone ever thought that we would do to get to the truth,” Loudermilk told the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show. He added: “But there’s one thing that we’ve uncovered that no one else can fix, except for the United States Congress, and that’s the issues we have internally.”
“You have the Architect of the Capitol, you have the Capitol Police, you have both Sergeant at Arms that collectively are responsible for securing this Capitol. I believe we need a select committee that is dedicated to looking into all of those to find the how politicized each of those organizations are, and even the Capitol Police Inspector General,” Loudermilk said. Loudermilk’s probe into the Capitol Police followed from a broader investigation spearheaded by his subcommittee into the security failures of January 6 and the conduct of the January 6 Select Committee. That probe has upended several of the narratives espoused by the former select committee and uncovered troubling failures, like the Capitol Police and Democratic leadership’s failure to act on warnings of violence ahead of the riot.
[..] At the same time, President-elect Trump has promised to bring changes to law enforcement in the wider city of Washington, D.C., which is still suffering from elevated violent crimes rates, though it has declined from high levels last year. “An important part of my platform for president is to bring back, restore, and rebuild Washington D.C. into the ‘crown jewel’ of the nation,” Trump said last year during his campaign at the same time that the city was experiencing its greatest spike of homicides since 1997. He has frequently reiterated a promise to “take over our horribly run” capitol city on the campaign trail, according to an Axios analysis of his speeches, press conferences and interviews about policy. As president, Trump will have many options to directly address issues he perceives with the city, For example, he could deploy the National Guard to the city to crack down on crime.
The president used this option during the Summer 2020 riots in the district following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis that sparked violent Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Trump will also have the opportunity to appoint a new federal prosecutor for the district who shares his law enforcement priorities. His congressional allies also have tools that could help Trump shape the city’s government and law enforcement. The Congress can exercise control of the district by imposing an oversight board to run the city’s budget. It did so once before in the 1990s when the city went bankrupt. Congress can also block or overturn laws implemented by the city government, as it already did once before with a bill many critics saw as being too soft on crime.
Biden’s pardon is a carbon copy of the earlier rejected plea deal.
• The Biden Family of Liars (Patrick Lawrence)
With his shocking presidential pardon of his son Hunter, announced Thanksgiving weekend, when the maximum number of Americans would be watching football games and consuming potato chips, Joe Biden goes out just as he was the whole of his tatty career as a politician — a self-serving fiddler, indifferent to democratic process, ever going against his word. Peter Baker, that inimitable (thank goodness) clerk The New York Times posts as its chief White House correspondent, tells us in Wednesday’s editions, “We don’t really know how history will remember Joe Biden. It’s too early to say, obviously.” Actually, we really know at this point. Obviously. Much has been made of Biden as the family man torn between his duties as president and his compassion for an errant son as the victim of perverted justice. The Times unfolded a singular line of argument on Tuesday.
“President Biden was deeply concerned,” Katie Rogers and Glenn Thrush reported, “that legal problems would push his son into a relapse after years of sobriety, and he began to realize there might not be any way out beyond issuing a pardon.” No other way out. Here we have Joe Biden pimping the helpless suffering of his son’s addictions (to alcohol and crack). It is of a piece with Biden’s very regular references, always for similar political advantage, to the death of his other son, Beau, and the earlier deaths of his first wife and daughter. The Rogers and Thrush piece now passes for news reporting Americans are invited to take seriously. It is one among countless others of its kind and quality that are together a measure of how the corruptions of the Bidens, father and son as well as others, have deepened an already severe crisis in American media and turned public discourse into bad afternoon television.
The reporting on the pardon has been defective since the White House released the Executive Grant of Clemency, along with Biden’s official statement, last Sunday. The Times, The Washington Post, the other major dailies and the broadcast networks all reported as if in unison that Joe Biden’s motivating concerns were the guilty verdicts Hunter Biden faces on gun-possession and tax-evasion charges. Hunter was scheduled to be sentenced later this month. Biden père has told the nation his intent was simply to protect Hunter from a judicial system that political antagonists had unduly politicized. From the president’s statement:
“The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room—with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases. No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong.” You read a statement such as this and you have to wonder whether Joe Biden is capable of speaking truthfully in any circumstance bearing upon his personal interests.
The plea deal, negotiated in the summer of 2023, was indeed carefully negotiated — by Hunter’s attorneys and corrupt Justice Department prosecutors acting to keep the president’s son out of prison. The agreement collapsed not due to political pressure — there was none — but because an un-beholden judge with a commitment to the rule of law, Maryellen Noreika, read it and threw it out of court. The feature of the plea bargain that moved Judge Noreika to put an end to the negotiated arrangement was its stipulation that Hunter would be immune from further prosecution not only for the matters then tried — the gun and taxes charges — but for any other crimes he may have committed. Preposterous, Noreika rightly concluded.
Was Hunter Biden singled out as his father asserts? Not as his father asserts, but yes, singled out. He had made a mess of his life, breaching various laws while doing so, and was singled out for special treatment in a judicial system that plainly leaves elites and their families above the law. This context is essential to understanding why Joe Biden decided — and one strongly suspects this was not, as reported, a decision Biden considered and took over the Thanksgiving weekend — to grant his son clemency in the manner he did. The operative language in the official document, the raison d’être of the case, is this:
“Be It Known, That This Day, I, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, Pursuant to My Powers Under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, of the Constitution, Have Granted Unto ROBERT HUNTER BIDEN A Full and Unconditional Pardon For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions)…” As is easily discerned, President Biden has reinstated, not quite verbatim but nearly, the terms of the plea agreement thrown out of court a year and a half ago — the agreement he defended in his official statement as fair and reasonable. He has granted his son precisely what Judge Noreika found objectionable — open-ended immunity for crimes “he has committed or may have committed or taken part in.”
“Brown spilled the beans as part of a warfighting exercise to show light between Gerasimov and Putin,” a NATO military veteran comments. “It was underhanded, but typical.”
• Nothing Short Of Ukraine’s Surrender Is Negotiable With The US (Helmer)
The head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), General Charles Brown (lead image, right), has just revealed by press leak that he and the chief of the Russian General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, had talked by telephone last week, on November 27, and agreed not to disclose the contents of their call. If that was the point of agreement the two generals reached, Gerasimov has honoured it. Brown has just now decided to break his word. “At the request of General Gerasimov, General Brown agreed to not proactively announce the call,” the New York Times has reported Brown’s spokesman saying “after he was approached by a reporter about the call”. The newspaper omitted to say that Brown had leaked information about the call in advance, in order to prepare reporters to publish the exchange.
As an exchange of positions between the two generals, the Russian assessment is that once again the American side proves that nothing it says in private, agrees to in public, or signs on paper can be trusted. Sources say in Moscow that Gerasimov and the General Staff will dictate the terms for the end of the Ukraine war “proactively”; that is, when the battlefield is ready, and there is nothing left for Brown to fight or leak. Officially, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) have not announced their “read-out” of the telephone conversation of November 27. The last of Brown’s calls was identified by the JCS three days earlier. The Russian Defense Ministry has made no disclosure. Boris Rozhin, who reports through the Colonel Cassad military blog, has not mentioned the telephone exchange. Neither has Yevgeny Krutikov, whose Mudraya Ptitsa blog and essays in Vzglyad report GRU-level intelligence.
The Foreign Ministry briefer was not asked about the call at her press briefing in Moscow on December 4, and she appeared to be unaware of it. The only publication in Russian to report the call was Meduza, an anti-Kremlin website in Latvia. In the New York Times version of Brown’s leak, it is claimed that Gerasimov said “the Oreshnik ballistic missile launch had been planned long before the Biden administration agreed to allow Ukraine to use American ATACMS to strike deeper into Russia.” This is spin, Moscow sources claim, to reinforce the Biden Administration’s line that development of the Oreshnik dates back to the violations of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty which the Trump Administration claimed as its justification for withdrawing from the treaty in 2019.
The Moscow sources also believe the General Staff was certain from its intelligence of Ukrainian battlefield preparations that the US had been planning to use ATACMS against Russian territorial targets long before the Biden Administration announced its go-ahead. On November 27, Gerasimov told Brown that because the JSC had ignored the Oreshnik strike on the Yuzhmash plant on November 21 and used ATACMS on November 23 and November 25, there would be fresh Russian retaliation. That followed on the day after the Gerasimov-Brown telephone call. Massed Russian missile and drone strikes across the Ukraine on November 28 also targeted and killed US personnel operating ATACMS launchers in the Sumy region. Since then no new ATACMS launch across the border has been reported by the Defense Ministry in Moscow or by Russian military bloggers.
“Brown spilled the beans as part of a warfighting exercise to show light between Gerasimov and Putin,” a NATO military veteran comments. “It was underhanded, but typical.” A source close to Moscow speculates that Putin and Gerasimov had agreed they would try to sound out Brown, just as they have been sounding out President-elect Donald Trump.
PCR is a broken record.
• US Opens a Third Front Against Russia (Paul Craig Roberts)
The problem with President Putin is that he never finishes anything. He has let Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, which should have ended in three weeks go on for three years and talks about ending it with negotiations, in which he will again be deceived. He does nothing while the US tries to overthrow the Georgian government and establish a hostile anti-Russian one. He never finished clearing Syria of hostile forces. Consequently, he left Syria and Russian interests exposed to the current US/Israeli coordinated mercenary attack on Syria, which has overrun Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, forcing 280,000 Syrians to flee. This is a massive defeat for Syria and Russia. How is it possible that such an obvious thrust was a surprise? Has the inability tp perceive threats become a Russian hallmark? Will Putin ever understand the consequences of his inaction, his tolerance of endless provocations, of US hegemonic intentions against Russia, Iran, and China?
What factual basis exists for Putin and Lavrov to think that Washington’s hegemonic intention will fade away? Is Russia’s foreign policy based on hope or on reality? Putin’s terms for ending the conflict in Ukraine are reasonable. But if Trump agrees to them, he will be blamed for America’s defeat, for selling out the Ukrainians to Putin, for whetting Putin’s appetite for more conquests, for helping Putin rebuild the Soviet Empire. The neoconservatives and military/security complex will use the propaganda to direct political campaign contributions to anti-Trump candidates for the House and Senate in the midterm elections. To prevail in this fight, Trump would have to convince voters that victory is defined in terms of achieving peace and the end of the conflict. Can Trump achieve this with a hostile media and the warmongers he has appointed to his cabinet? Are Putin and Lavrov aware of these constraints? Will Putin and Lavrov ever win and end a conflict before it spins out of control?
There is no sign of a proactive Russia in her dealings with the West. Putin’s inaction has convinced the West that he will not act. This belief deprives the West of a reason to stop its provocations. Putin has again validated the West’s belief by cancelling any Western restraint from lowering the threshold of Russia’s use of nuclear weapons by giving assurances that Russia is threatening no one with nuclear weapons. Possibly Ukraine has used up its military-capable population. Possibly the collapse of the French government will prevent NATO troops being sent to Ukraine. Possibly the Georgian government will withstand the Washington-directed color revolution. Possibly this time Russia will destroy the US and mercenary forces threatening Syria and not again leave the conflict unresolved. On the other hand, possibly events will spin out of control in Ukraine, Georgia, and Syria. The West is not demonstrating restraint, and the Russians are not proactive, which leaves the initiative in the hands of the West.
Erdogan plays his familiar double role. “Reportedly, the Turkish initiative was hurriedly brought forward, to fit with Israel’s ceasefire plan.”
• Erdogan’s Idlib Shock Shadows “Kursk” (Alastair Crooke)
‘Doomsters’ is an occasional Russian expression used to categorise commentators that only see the ‘dark side to events’ (a vice quite prevalent during the Soviet era). Marat Khairullin, a highly respected Russian military analyst, says, “Today, a network of mercenary war bloggers has begun another round of moaning – this time about Syria, where apparently everything is lost for Russia”. “Many see the events in Syria (and some add Georgia to the mix) as attempts to open additional fronts against our country. Perhaps that’s true. But in that case, it’s more appropriate to draw direct parallels with the reckless attack on Kursk, which left the Ukrainian armed forces in an almost hopeless position”. Khairullin views the activation of this jihadist insurgency in Syria as a similarly ‘desperate’ act.
The background is that the Syria-Russia-Iran coalition had – thorough the Astana negotiations – “cornered the remaining Syrian terrorists into a 6,000 sq. km enclave. Without delving into the details, it was a process reminiscent of the [Ukrainian] Minsk Agreements—both sides were utterly exhausted and thus agreed to a ceasefire. Importantly, all sides understood this was only a temporary truce; the contradictions were so profound that no one expected the conflict to end”. Aleppo fell quickly these past days, as “one division of the Syrian National Army outright defected to the Islamists (read: Americans)”. The defection was a set up. Northern Aleppo was occupied by the Syrian National Army, fully controlled, armed and funded by Turkey, which dominates northern Aleppo. The key, Khairullin says, is this crucial point: The land is flat criss-crossed by few roads:
“ … whomsoever controls the airspace controls the country. Last year, Russia formed a new aerial unit called the Special Air Corps, reportedly tailored for overseas operations. It consists of four aviation regiments, including a regiment of Su-35s. Currently, just two Su-35s are overseeing the entirety of Syria’s territory. Imagine the impact when 24 such aircraft are deployed. And Russia is fully capable of such a deployment”. The second crucial point is that “Iran and Russia have drawn closer. At the start of the Syrian war, relations between the two were decidedly ‘neutral-hostile’. By late 2024 however, we now see a very strong alliance. Israel and the U.S., by violating the peace agreements through this Turkish insurrection, have provoked a renewed Iranian presence in Syria: Iran has begun to expand beyond its bases, redeploying additional forces into the country.
This gives Assad and his allies a direct pretext to expel the American and Turkish proxies from Aleppo and Idlib. This isn’t speculation — it’s straightforward arithmetic”. Syria, however, is a key component to the Israeli-American plan to remake the Middle East. Syria is both the supply-line for Hizbullah, as well as a hub of resistance to Israel’s “Greater Israel Project”. Now that the permanent ‘Anglo’ Security State unreservedly is backing Israel’s ambition to assert regional hegemony, the West has okayed Erdogan’s jihadist insurrection against President Assad. The aim is to split Iran from its allies, weaken Assad and to prepare for the putative Iran overthrow. Reportedly, the Turkish initiative was hurriedly brought forward, to fit with Israel’s ceasefire plan.
Khairullin’s point is that this Syria ‘ploy’ is akin to Ukraine’s “reckless attack on Kursk”, which diverted Ukrainian élite forces from the beleaguered Contact Line, and then marooned these forces in an almost hopeless position in Kursk. Instead of weakening Moscow (as intended), ‘Kursk’ inverted NATO’s original objective – by becoming opportunity to eradicate a major portion of Ukraine’s élite forces. In Idlib, the Islamists (HTS), writes Khairullin, “had gained dominance – imposing a strict Wahhabi regime and infiltrating the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army. Both groups are patchwork organizations, with various factions fighting over money, border crossings, drugs, and smuggling. Essentially, it’s a cauldron—not very combat-effective but highly greedy”.
“The utter failure of that gamble has cost European and American taxpayers a combined $200 billion and could frighteningly escalate into a nuclear conflagration..”
• The Elitist Tyranny Of “Western Democracy” Is Exposed And Crumbling (SCF)
The charade of Western democracy is rapidly unraveling as so-called leaders and their dutiful media show themselves to be brazenly unaccountable to citizens while pursuing elitist, criminal interests. Biden using presidential powers to pardon his drug-addict felonious son – after promising he wouldn’t. Western media claims that the upsurge in conflict in Syria is a “civil war” and not due to NATO-backed terrorist proxies. Western support for genocide in Gaza and a fascist Israeli leader who is mass murdering his way to avoid court prosecution for years of corruption. Western support for a money-laundering NeoNazi regime in Kiev whose proxy war against Russia could spiral into nuclear annihilation. Western sponsoring of anti-government violence in Georgia after pro-EU groups lost an election there. The pro-West South Korean leader declaring police state powers to avoid prosecution for corruption.
That’s just a quick sample of something more ample in the West’s decaying image. The visit to China this week by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was another revealing fiasco. The obsessively anti-Russia Baerbock landed in Beijing not to prioritize improving trade relations with the European Union’s biggest global partner but rather to browbeat China with tedious allegations that it was helping Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. What’s more important? Getting along with China to bolster trade and jobs for millions of Germans and Europeans, or gratuitously grandstand over a wanton proxy war in Ukraine? Understandably, the Chinese authorities were not pleased by Baerbock’s insolence and gave her short shrift. She was snubbed by China’s foreign minister Wang Yi not affording a customary joint press conference after more than three hours of discussions.
In a separate statement, China again rejected claims that it was aiding Russia militarily in Ukraine. So here we have Germany’s top diplomat who is soon out of a job because her coalition government has collapsed and is facing new elections – but she flies to Beijing on taxpayer money to aggravate relations with China, whose annual trade with the EU amounts to over $700 billion. At her solo press conference in Beijing, Baerbock doubled down in her arrogance, accusing China of jeopardizing peace and security in Europe because it supports Russia. She claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was dragging Asia into the war with Ukraine. The double-think is astounding. Germany, the European Union, NATO, and the United States have done everything to drag the whole world into a war because of its reckless proxy machinations in Ukraine against Russia.
The utter failure of that gamble has cost European and American taxpayers a combined $200 billion and could frighteningly escalate into a nuclear conflagration. Baerbock turned reality on its head when she accused Russia of pulling Asia into the war in Ukraine. It is the United States, NATO, and European Atlanticist leaders who are expanding the proxy war to other regions, including the Middle East and Asia. Western so-called democracies and NATO are supporting the upsurge in violence in Syria by terrorist militias under the banner of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an internationally proscribed terror organization affiliated with Al Qaeda. Ukrainian military personnel and Turkey (which means NATO personnel) are reliably reported to be assisting the militants in Syria with drone technology.
“Current US President Joe Biden wants to increase the scale of the conflict, Orban claimed, while President-elect Donald Trump is “pro-peace.”
• Orban Blames Biden For Ukraine Conflict (RT)
US interference triggered the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said. His comments come after Moscow accused Washington of lacking “common sense and restraint” in its approach to the conflict. In an interview with public broadcaster Kossuth Radio on Friday, Orban said the United States had played a decisive role in the conflict. ”America is one of the main players in this war. Without America, this war would never have happened. Ukraine would not have been able to resist without America’s support,” the prime minister said, as quoted by the Magyar Nemzet newspaper. According to official figures, as of September 30, Washington had allocated a total of nearly $183 billion in aid for Ukraine, with $130.1 billion committed and $86.7 billion disbursed.
Current US President Joe Biden wants to increase the scale of the conflict, Orban claimed, while President-elect Donald Trump is “pro-peace.” Earlier this week, the US State Department announced $725 million in assistance for Kiev, including air-defense capabilities, munitions for rocket systems and artillery, and anti-tank weapons. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently called on Kiev to lower the conscription age from the current level of 25 years, which Orban described as “terrible, because even more Ukrainians would die.” It’s time for American policies to change because they have become “unsustainable,” Orban argued. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Thursday that Hungary was “pressing hard so that Donald Trump’s goal of ending this war quickly becomes a reality,” and warned that failure to achieve peace in Ukraine would increase the risk of escalation on a daily basis.
Trump, who is set to take over from Biden in six weeks, repeatedly pledged during his election campaign to end conflict within 24 hours of his inauguration on January 20. The proposals reportedly floated by Trump’s advisers include forcing Moscow and Kiev into negotiations by using military aid as leverage. Moscow has said it has yet to receive a detailed plan from Trump or his team regarding a potential resolution of the conflict. In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated that Russia would not agree to any concessions that compromise its national security. The diplomat also claimed that there was a lack of common sense and “restraint in the West, in particular the US, where people seemingly underestimate” Russia’s resolve to defend its core national security interests.
“Hungary will veto the European Union’s next seven-year budget draft unless it receives all blocked funds..”
• Hungary Vows to Block EU Budget Draft Unless Frozen Funds Released (Sp.)
The European Union withheld some 7.5 billion euros worth of payments to Hungary from the shared budget in September 2022 over alleged rule-of-law shortcomings, but Budapest’s blocking of EU funding for Ukraine’s war effort prompted Brussels to release some of the funds to Hungary in December. Hungary will veto the European Union’s next seven-year budget draft unless it receives all blocked funds from the bloc’s budget, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday. “These 12.5 billion euros [held in Hungary’s accounts in Brussels] fulfill the requirements of the Hungarian economy until the end of 2026. We are entitled to more money besides these, this will be a problem after 2026.
‘In my opinion, we will certainly get them too. Because negotiations have started on a seven-year budget after 2027. It requires unanimity to pass. And I can say for sure that the money that we did not get in 2025-2026, we will have to get in 2027-2028, otherwise there will be no budget, we will not approve it,” Orban told Hungary’s media. The European Commission said in mid-December 2023, that it was ready to unfreeze 10.2 billion euros, roughly a third of Hungary’s total withheld funds, as it had received the latest clarification from Budapest about its claims about the rule of law in the country.
“These leaders are mistaken and make us targets of the ricochets of their unconsciousness..”
• Dementia As A Military Strategy (José Goulão)
The approval by the Washington Administration and immediate execution by the Nazi regime in Kiev of the launch of U.S.-produced tactical missiles known as ATACAM against Russian territory is a sign of the desperation that NATO and the Western world are going through in the face of the perceived military defeat, once again, now on Ukrainian territory. The most tragic and dangerous element of this decision by the real head of NATO to directly involve the alliance in the war against Russia is the fact that it was taken by a defeated and transitional U.S. president, senile and admittedly demented – always a sociopath – considered incapable of running for re-election but not of creating an imminent situation of nuclear war.
This is how the West works today: despair in the face of military defeat in a proxy war in which NATO – mainly the European Union – have invested almost everything, especially in budgetary resources and weapons, in addition to the squandering of essential means for their economies, leads to irresponsibility; And this, in turn, leads to decisions calling into question the survival of the eight billion people, as many as there are on the planet, to be taken (or at least announced) by a single sick individual, with cognitive capacities visibly and admittedly reduced to the tiniest species – but still enough for the warmongering and murderous impulses that marked his long life in the dominant imperial structures to come to the fore.
The decision to openly and effectively attack Russia using an individual without presidential legitimacy, but willing to kill his people in a losing war, was pronounced by an unconscious manipulated through the real system of power, the industrial, military and technological complex, currently in the hands of the criminal sect of neoconservatives who do not look at any means. even extermination, genocide and, ultimately, nuclear killing, to achieve their goals of controlling the planet globally. Many will think they are just crazy people raving about dominating the transnational levers of power, but they take themselves seriously. And we must take them seriously. It is almost certain that Joseph Biden did not read, or was unable to read, the new nuclear doctrine of the Russian Federation, fine-tuned after NATO, following the Western coup on Maidan Square, sponsored the war conducted by the then new Nazi-Banderist regime against Russian communities in the East of the country – now Russia’s de facto territory.
Anyone who hears or reads the opinions and statements of important Western leaders realizes that, as part of their irresponsibility and their autism, they do not give importance and do not take seriously the content of this doctrine. They interpret it as a propaganda document, intended to be a deterrent, but which does not correspond to the serious intentions of the Kremlin, sunk in a kind of congenital and deterministic weakness. That is, the West is desperately betting on a war whose ultimate objective is the destruction of the Russian Federation and its territorial transformation into a series of harmless and subservient states that allow the plundering of its goods and wealth, as happened at the end of the Soviet Union under the stylized consulate of Boris Yeltsin.
Western leaders even mock the content of this nuclear doctrine by assuring that Putin will never be able to apply it, which will be another of his manifestations of “weakness”. The worst thing is that if they pay to see it, we will all bear the price of this suicidal bet. These leaders are mistaken and make us targets of the ricochets of their unconsciousness, as has already happened with the effects of the economic sanctions on Russia.
They’re blaming TikTok for the non-compliant candidate’s win..
• Romanian Court Annuls Presidential Vote, Declares Election Do-Over (ZH)
Something unprecedented just happened in the NATO and EU member country of Romania – a top court on Friday annulled the first round of the country’s presidential election. Essentially there will now be a ‘do over’ election. The Constitutional Court made the decision even as voting is still underway in the diaspora. “The electoral process for the election of the President of Romania will be resumed in its entirety, with the Government required to set a new date for the election of the President of Romania as well as a new calendar program for carrying out the necessary actions,” the court said in a statement. The court decided “to annul the entire electoral process for the election of the President of Romania… to ensure the correctness and legality of the electoral process” – in a controversial ruling which has simply never happened.
Calin Georgescu, the widely dubbed ‘far-right’ contender, came out on top in a first round of voting in a ‘shock’ outcome which left political opponents claiming Russian election interference. Apparently the ‘smoking gun’ is related to mere social media posts on platforms like TikTok. “The Constitutional Court’s unprecedented decision — which is final — came after President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence on Wednesday that alleged Russia ran a sprawling campaign comprising thousands of social media accounts to promote Calin Georgescu across platforms like TikTok and Telegram,” The Associated Press details. Georgescu emerged top of the ballot after the Nov.24 first round vote, despite declaring no campaign spending, and was set to enter a run-off originally scheduled for Sunday against reformist Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party.
Contributing to the dossier examined by the court on the alleged Russian election interference included the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Special Telecommunication Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, AP has noted further. Georgescu’s nationalist rhetoric has proven ultra popular as social media videos featuring him have racked up millions of views. But at least much of this would likely be genuine and organic, given that the vast majority of the population leans ultra-conservative. Also Romania has one of the highest church attendance rates in Europe, with the dominant religion being the very traditional Romanian Orthodox Church, which is also in communion with the Russian Orthodox Church. Russia on Friday vehemently denied that it is interfering in Romania’s election. This as Western media is already labelling Georgescu as “pro-Russian”. Similar controversy has lately engulfed politics in Georgia as well, where pro-EU street protests have continued.
“The campaign for the Romanian presidential election… is accompanied by an unprecedented outburst of anti-Russian hysteria,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the press in response to the reports. “More and more absurd accusations are being made by local politicians, officials and media representatives…,” she said. “We firmly reject all hostile attacks, which we consider absolutely groundless.” The European Commission at the same time says it’s closely monitoring the TikTok platform related to Romania’s election. NATO and Washington are also watching closely, given a Georgescu victory could have huge implications for the future of Western military bases and units inside Romania, on NATO’s so-called Eastern flank:” Romania is a serious military power, which is why the risk that NATO-skeptic, pro-Russia candidate Calin Georgescu will become its president next Sunday is confounding the alliance.
The country of 19 million has been a NATO member for two decades, and is the site of an airbase that is expanding to be the bloc’s biggest in Europe. It borders Ukraine; stares across the Black Sea at Russia-occupied Crimea; has sent arms and ammunition to Kyiv; and hosts a U.S. Aegis Ashore missile defense system in Deveselu, in southern Romania, where both Romanian and U.S. forces are based. But those international ties are deplored by Georgescu, who has condemned the Deveselu missiles as a national shame, campaigned for ending Romanian aid to Ukraine, and called for Russian wisdom in shaping foreign policy.” His rhetoric is similar to Hungary’s Viktor Orban or Italy’s Meloni…
This is why they are trying to censor and imprison Călin Georgescu
He is the first presidential candidate in decades whose priority is the well-being of the Romanian people https://t.co/LPUtSBtqti pic.twitter.com/6icQRwQvot
— Daily Romania (@daily_romania) December 5, 2024
“British equities are currently trading at a record discount of over 40% compared to peers globally..”
• London Declining As Financial Center – Bloomberg (RT)
The number of companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) is decreasing at the quickest pace in more than ten years as a result of mergers and acquisitions by larger competitors and investment firms, Bloomberg has reported, citing data compiled by the outlet. In 2024, some 45 firms reportedly delisted from the London stock market, representing an increase of 10% compared to the whole of last year. It’s the highest number of companies to leave the exchange since 2010. At the same time, the volume of deals targeting UK corporations have soared 81% this year to more than $160 billion. Data tracked by the news agency also shows that only 11 companies have completed IPOs in London during the current year to raise a total of $1 billion, down 11% from the amount raised during the same period in 2023.
“Unless the UK gets its act together, it’s going to continue to lose ground and relevance,” Liad Meidar, managing partner at investment firm Gatemore Capital Management, told Bloomberg. “Quite simply, companies can’t get the right cost of capital. They can’t get the valuation they want.” Overseas private equity firms have been particularly active when it comes to mergers and acquisitions, the news agency noted. In November, Florida-based Starwood Capital Group completed the $852 million takeover of London-listed Balanced Commercial Property Trust last month. Sweden’s EQT recently closed the $2.7 billion acquisition of videogame services company Keywords Studios, while Chicago-based Thoma Bravo purchased cybersecurity software provider Darktrace for $5.3 billion. The media outlet noted that more new deals were expected to come in the near future.
Chief executive officer of UK-based insurance giant Aviva, Amanda Blanc, is reportedly trying to convince the board of the rival Direct Line Insurance Group to engage after making a $4.2 billion takeover bid. At the same time, US investment major General Atlantic has announced plans to acquire online training business Learning Technologies Group for $1 billion. The UK stock market remains popular with bargain hunters, Bloomberg said, noting that British equities are currently trading at a record discount of over 40% compared to peers globally. “If London wants to keep its place as the financial center of Europe, major reforms are needed,” said Joachim Klement, a strategist at British advisory firm Panmure Liberum, as quoted by the agency. “It is time for UK investment banks, the London Stock Exchange, and regulators to realize the seriousness of the situation and take action. Unfortunately, there are no easy fixes.”
Covid
SHOCKING: Diagnostic Pathologist Dr. Clare Craig @ClareCraigPath exposes that Moderna/Pfizer COVID vaccines contained 99.8% of the exact same pathological protein that caused COVID illness.
Post-mortem evidence proves a clear biological mechanism for vaccine deaths.
Most… pic.twitter.com/UU8fIDjNyk
— Eddie Hobbs 1215 (@RealEddieHobbs) December 5, 2024
RFK
Anthony Fauci called RFK Jr. a liar for stating that not one of the 72 vaccines mandated for children has ever been safety tested*.
In response, RFK Jr. took legal action, and after a year of delays, Fauci's lawyers conceded that RFK Jr. had been correct.
"There's no… pic.twitter.com/KutjVm7pMR
— Luther ‘Ćyrus’ (@Censored4sure) December 5, 2024
Winter dog
https://twitter.com/i/status/1864847225018523989
Save horse
Horse that was already rescued turns back to save two other horses during the California fires
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) December 6, 2024
Cloud seeding
Reminder – Cloud brightening: First-in-nation tech aims to cool our warming planet
Scientists are testing a controversial idea in the Bay Area for cooling our warming planet. Velena Jones has the story.
Source: NBC Bay Area pic.twitter.com/htZ2o2sOdj— Camus (@newstart_2024) December 6, 2024
Ship engine
The size of this engine
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) December 6, 2024
Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.
