M. C. Escher Doric columns 1945
Last summer Kamala Harris broke the record for the LOWEST approval rating of any VP in modern history. It is statistically IMPOSSIBLE for her to have the approval ratings they are claiming she has. This will be the most corrupt and manipulated presidential election in history. pic.twitter.com/7YzEU86Icl
— Lloyd Chapman (@LloydChapman) September 21, 2024
Megyn
I think something has lit a fire under Megyn Kelly recently
She's now unapologetically calling out every single lie she hears about Trump
The way she dismantled all of the lawfare arguments against Trump at the All-In Summit is exquisite. pic.twitter.com/wgmEGg0A0H
— George (@BehizyTweets) September 22, 2024
Undecided
The only video you ever need to see if you are an undecided voter. pic.twitter.com/vwgV2B3EoG
— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) September 22, 2024
Hillary
NEW: Hillary paints the 2024 election as a contest of visions for America:
“Democracy vs Autocracy"
“Freedom vs Oppression"
“Energy and Joy” vs “Dark and Dystopian”
This from the same woman who wants you criminally charged for online speech she doesn’t like. pic.twitter.com/qX4AkeNwUo
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) September 22, 2024
Stossel
The media treat Republicans and Democrats differently.
Probably because for every Republican in a newsroom, there are TEN Democrats. pic.twitter.com/VVDMtLJtAP
— John Stossel (@JohnStossel) September 22, 2024
If you’re going to film Amish, of course you do it … in front of a gas station.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1837532788683092395
Trump health
Trump was just asked how he stays healthy. He says he used to play golf but it's a "Dangerous sport" and that he's outlived people that tried to give him health advice.
There will never be another like him. 😭pic.twitter.com/37oIpSjlVp
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) September 22, 2024
Trump racist
Send this link to friends who think @realDonaldTrump is racist
pic.twitter.com/kVzZipaXlO— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 23, 2024
Elon communism
https://twitter.com/i/status/1837984119092883605
“No, I don’t. I think that that will be it. I don’t see it all..”
• Trump Confirms 2024 Is His Final Presidential Campaign (RT)
US Republican candidate Donald Trump has said that he would not seek another re-election bid if he loses the White House to Vice President Kamala Harris in November, During an interview on the TV show Full Measure on Sunday, Trump was asked whether he would consider launching another campaign in four years if he is unsuccessful this time around. “No, I don’t. I think that that will be it. I don’t see it all,” the former president replied, adding that he remains optimistic about winning the election this year. “I think that hopefully we’re gonna be successful,” he said. Trump earlier ruled out participating in another presidential debate with Harris, after CNN announced that the Democrat had accepted an invitation for a showdown on October 23. Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s candidate due to growing concerns over Biden’s electability given his age and the disastrous televised debate with Trump in June.
“The problem with another debate is that it’s just too late,” Trump told supporters at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, explaining that the “voting has already started.” He previously slammed the ABC debate he had with Harris on September 10 as “dishonest” and “totally rigged,” while many allies claimed that the moderators were biased in favor of the Democrat. Trump argued that Harris only wants a rematch “because she lost” and said that he would only consider another face-to-face debate hosted on a “fair network.” Trump was elected in 2016 by beating Hillary Clinton. He lost the presidency to Biden in 2020 and has since insisted that the election was rigged. While the US Constitution bans a person from serving as president for more than two terms, Trump had floated the idea of somehow “negotiating” a third term if he gets re-elected.
“Vice President Harris has all the leadership qualities needed to be a strong commander in chief. She’s prepared. She’s strategic. She’s understands all sides of an issue..”
• 741 Deep Staters Join Cheneys, Iran, Putin In Endorsing Harris (ZH)
In a surprise to no one, 741 ‘high-ranking national security officials’ have endorsed Kamala Harris’ bid for the White House – with some suggesting that former President Trump has a “scary authoritarian streak.’ Our endorsement of Vice President Harris is an endorsement of freedom and an act of patriotism. It is an endorsement of democratic ideals, of competence, and of relentless optimism in America’s future. “Vice President Harris has all the leadership qualities needed to be a strong commander in chief. She’s prepared. She’s strategic. She’s understands all sides of an issue,” Navy Rear Admiral Michael Smith told The Hill. “We saw as much during the debate.” “As we’ve seen for nearly a decade, however, former President Trump has none of those qualities, and he has a scary authoritarian streak,” Smith continued.
The Deep Staters join the likes of Dick Cheney and, more recently, an IRS-affilliated union in their support of the VP. They’re also in alighment with Iran – which offered ‘stolen, non-public’ Trump material to the (then) Biden-Harris campaign. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently joked that he’s thrown his support behind her as well.
“We do not agree on everything, but we all adhere to two fundamental principles,” reads the letter from the NatSec officials. “First, we believe America’s national security requires a serious and capable Commander-in-Chief. Second, we believe American democracy is invaluable.” “Each generation has a responsibility to defend it,” the letter continues. “That is why we, the undersigned, proudly endorse Kamala Harris to be the next President of the United States.” The signatories praise Harris for her contrast to Trump, who they call “impulsive and ill-informed,” citing his relations with Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un. “Our endorsement of Vice President Harris is an endorsement of freedom and an act of patriotism. It is an endorsement of democratic ideals, of competence, and of relentless optimism in America’s future,” the letter concludes.
It is only ALL the DOJ has been doing for 4+ years..
• AG Garland Says He ‘Won’t Allow DOJ To Be Used As Political Weapon’ (RCW)
The Justice Department continues to allocate resources to the special counsel’s office; recent financial disclosures show Smith and DOJ spent more than $35 million in the first 14 months of the special counsel’s investigation. That figure likely could double by the time his appointment ends, which is at the discretion of the attorney general, or include the amount spent on the dual investigations before Smith was appointed. Smith’s continued pursuit of Trump has drawn renewed scrutiny and skepticism since the Supreme Court challenged his original indictment as a broad attack on presidential immunity. On July 1, the court published its decision in Trump v. United States. Authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the 6-3 opinion for the first time in history established three categories of presidential immunity from criminal prosecution: official acts, outer perimeter acts, and private acts.
Official acts, the court held, are covered by immunity while outer perimeter acts – such as Trump’s communications with Vice President Mike Pence related to the J6 indictment – are what Roberts described as “presumptively immune.” On that score, Roberts continued, “it is ultimately the Government’s burden to rebut the presumption of immunity.” The court further concluded that former presidents are not immune from prosecution for “unofficial” or private acts. In order to hew to the decision, Smith filed a superseding indictment on Aug. 28 that partially gutted his original indictment, which had been handed up a year earlier. Since the Supreme Court determined Trump’s interactions with DOJ officials fell safely within the core constitutional authority of a sitting president, Smith had to cut nine pages of evidence and drop a co-conspirator, former Assistant Associate Attorney General Jeffrey Clark.
Although the watered-down indictment contains the same four counts as the first version, the case remains on uncertain legal ground given the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling and opinion in the Fischer case. But the special counsel, presumably with the consent of Attorney General Garland, is reinvigorating the case to coincide with the final weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign. Long-standing DOJ rules preventing the department from interfering in national elections are once again being ignored as Smith reappears in the headlines as early voting begins this month in several states including Virginia, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. In early October early voting commences in the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, and Nevada.
Smith found a like-minded ally in Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, the Obama appointee presiding over the unprecedented case. It was Chutkan’s 2023 order denying Trump’s claims of immunity from prosecution that the Supreme Court overturned and sent back to her for further proceedings. Chutkan, who has a record of making anti-Trump statements in court and who imposed a gag order on the former president last year, told Trump’s lawyers at a Sept. 5 hearing that the election is not a factor in her calculation as to the next steps. “I understand there is an election impending, and I’ve said before and I say again that the electoral process and the timing of the election and what needs to happen before or shouldn’t happen before the election is not relevant here,” Chutkan informed John Lauro, Trump’s lead attorney in the J6 case. “This court is not concerned with the electoral schedule,” she added.
“Washington’s current “policy is ‘throw money at this problem, hope the Ukrainians are able to achieve a military victory’ that even the Ukrainians are saying ‘we can’t achieve..’”
• Zelensky Launches Attack On J.D. Vance (RT)
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has slammed former President Donald Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, as “too radical” in his views on ending Kiev’s conflict with Moscow. Zelensky’s comments were published as he arrived in the US, where he is expected to attend the UN General Assembly in New York and meet with President Joe Biden at the White House. Speaking to The New Yorker, the Ukrainian leader suggested that “Trump doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how.” When asked about Trump’s vice presidential pick, Zelensky replied: “He is too radical.” “His message seems to be that Ukraine must make a sacrifice,” Zelensky said. “This brings us back to the question of the cost and who shoulders it. The idea that the world should end this war at Ukraine’s expense is unacceptable.”
“This would be an awful idea, if a person were actually going to carry it out, to make Ukraine shoulder the costs of stopping the war by giving up its territories,” Zelensky said. He argued that such a concession would not end the fighting, and dismissed the Trump team’s promise to end the conflict as “just sloganeering.” Vance, a senator from Ohio, opposes the continued US funding of Ukraine and voted against a $61 billion aid bill that Congress passed this year. He argued that the money sent to Kiev was only fueling “the most corrupt leadership and government in Europe,” without achieving the goal of ending the conflict. Washington’s current “policy is ‘throw money at this problem, hope the Ukrainians are able to achieve a military victory’ that even the Ukrainians are saying ‘we can’t achieve,’” Vance told former US Navy SEAL and CIA contractor Shawn Ryan in an interview earlier this month.
In 2022, Vance said that he did not “really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,” stating that he was more focused on domestic issues like illegal immigration and the fentanyl crisis. Vance has backed Trump’s claim that he would end the fighting purely through diplomatic means. He suggested that the settlement could resemble the “current line of demarcation between Russia and Ukraine” and include “a demilitarized zone.” He also argued that Russia should receive a “guarantee of neutrality” from Ukraine, and that Kiev should renounce plans to join NATO.
The Republican senator’s vision is a sharp contrast with the current US administration, which believes that a peace deal with Moscow should be made on Kiev’s terms. Biden’s White House has insisted that the US should support Ukraine with weapons and money for “as long as it takes.” Zelensky, meanwhile, has maintained that a peaceful solution is only possible if Russia recognizes its 1991 borders. Moscow has repeatedly said that such a demand is completely unacceptable.
“A stoppage – the first since 1977 -..”. 36 days before the election.
• Just Days Left Until A Crippling Port Strike Paralyzes The East Coast (ZH)
Late last week, the CEO of Flexport – one of largest US supply-chain logistics operators – warned that “the biggest wild card in the presidential election that nobody’s talking about? The looming port strike that could shut down all East and Gulf Coast ports just 36 days before the election.” With just over a week to go until D-Day, authorities are gearing up as a threatened strike by dockworkers at ports along the East Coast and Gulf Coast draws closer. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is “coordinating with partners across the supply chain to prepare for any impacts” from a possible work stoppage by workers represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association as they negotiate with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), a Port Authority spokesperson told CBS MoneyWatch on Friday.
“We urge both sides to find common ground and keep the cargo flowing for the good of the national economy,” added the spokesperson, noting that $240 billion in goods move through the two ports each year and that such trade supports more than 600,000 local jobs. According to the union, a strike would affect ports from Maine to Texas, and cripple supply-chains worse than the immediate aftermath of the covid shutdown. A stoppage – the first since 1977 – could involve up to 45,000 workers at ports that account for roughly 60% of U.S. shipping traffic, leading to a major disruption of shipments, Oxford Economics said in a report. “Even a two-week strike could disrupt supply chains until 2025,” Grace Zwemmer, associate U.S. economist with Oxford, said in the report. As Rabobank’s Michael Every adds, “US businesses could miss the key Black Friday/Cyber Monday peak sales period.
Port trade is around $2.12trn, and 72% would grind to a halt, a one-day strike reportedly taking six days to recover from, a one-week strike in October creating bottlenecks until mid-November, not factoring in Red Sea disruptions caused by the not-terrorist Houthis.” If goods are then forced to shift to the US West Coast ports, Rabobank speculates that Asia-US freight rates could leap to $20,000, far above the peak seen in the last supply-chain crisis. That would mean firms with low margins might opt not to import at all, creating empty shelves. The ILA has threatened to strike if a new labor agreement with East Coast port terminal and shipping companies represented by the USMX is not reached by the time the current contract expires on October 1. Although the sides continue to negotiate, the odds of a rare strike that threatens to shut down some of the nation’s busiest ports are rising.
“There will be a shutdown, assuming that there’s is no intervention, at midnight on Monday the 30th,” Bethann Rooney, director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the nation’s second-busiest port, told a briefing earlier in the week. Should that occur, all activity loading and unloading cargo containers and automobiles would come to a standstill, while cruise ships would continue to operate, Rooney said. The Port Authority isn’t involved in the bargaining between the ILA and USMX, bur rather leases space at the ports to shipping companies. Terminal operators and ocean carriers are “working to bring in as many ships as possible” ahead of a potential walkout, said Rooney.
Those steps include “working with truckers and the rail carriers to get as much cargo out as humanly possible, as quickly as possible,” the port director said. The two ports are currently unloading about 20 large container ships a week, and they expect 150,000 containers to be unloaded ahead of the strike deadline, Rooney said. “At the same time, ocean carriers are beginning to put essentially embargoes on export cargo “so that it doesn’t come into East and Gulf coast ports and then wind up sitting there,” she said. Container ships carrying imports bound for Newark and Elizabeth in New Jersey and Staten Island in New York City will end up moored at specified spots in New York Harbor or off the coast during the strike, or remain at sea until they can come in. The Coast Guard and U.S. customs and Border Protection would oversee arriving ships at the port facilities once a strike was over.
The European elites have beaten themselves. Holland will “officially ask the European Commission for an opt-out on EU asylum and migration policies”. So will Hungary. Others will follow. Schengen’s open borders are gone. Germany has border patrols now. Others will follow.
• Scramble to Tighten Europe’s Borders (Sp.)
The scramble to tighten border policies in some EU countries is a sign that politicians are desperately “trying to play catch up” with public concern, Dr. George Szamuely, a senior research fellow at the Global Policy Institute, told Sputnik. Europe’s migrant crisis was imposed by the elites on their own population, he stressed. It was part of a “fateful alliance among the big corporations that want cheap labor and the kind of multicultural advocates who think that that’s a good thing for Europe to be more diverse,” Szamuely noted, stressing that this is “what’s causing this intense political feeling because people don’t really want it. This is something that the elites had desired.”After Germany instituted sweeping checks at its borders and stronger deportation laws, the new Dutch government announced it was aiming to set in place “the strictest admission rules in the EU.”
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on Friday that the government would officially ask the European Commission for an opt-out on EU asylum and migration policies. “We cannot continue to bear the large influx of migrants to our country. People are experiencing an asylum crisis,” Schoof said. Echoing the same sentiments, Hungary is also going to request an opt-out from the European Union’s migration policies, Hungarian Minister for EU Affairs Janos Boka said in a post on X. As it is, Hungary has traditionally opted for a tougher migration policy than the rest of the bloc. During the 2015 European migrant crisis, Prime Minister Viktor Orban rejected the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees coming from Syria, Afghanistan and other countries torn apart by NATO warmongering.
Geert Wilders, the right-wing leader of the PVV (PfE) – the party that came out on top in the last national elections in the Netherlands – described the Dutch official request to opt out of EU migration policy as a ‘mini-Nexit’ in a nod to Brexit. “Tens of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers come into Europe and then make their way into the most prosperous parts of Europe, becoming an additional huge burden on countries,” underscored George Szamuely.Europe is witnessing “complete abuse of the asylum seeker scheme,” said the researcher, adding:“It is a combination of these anxieties, and the rise of anti-immigrant populist parties that is leading to the stricter measures or, at least, demands for stricter measures throughout Europe,” noted Szamuely.
Regarding the opt-out of EU rules, the expert noted that such an outcome is very difficult to achieve, as it requires renegotiating the treaty and “that’s not something that’s easily doable, and could take a long time […] because EU rules are supposed to be binding on all member states.” The issue of immigration is besetting one country after another, and results of elections in European countries are starkly reflecting this. The issue of unrestrained immigration helped Wilders and his populist right Freedom Party win a plurality of seats in the Netherlands’ House of Representatives last November. In Germany, the success of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in regional elections piled pressure on the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz to tackle the migrant issue and close its borders, temporarily ending the Schengen-Visiting Zone.
In the Dutch Parliament @geertwilderspvv reads out the crime sheet for migrants. Half of all crime suspects & two-thirds of detainees & drug traffickers are migrants.
Street robberies are 60% migrant, 39% of violent & gun crimes, with 46.5% of prisoners are migrants.
Hat tip… pic.twitter.com/dVdH65vkin
— David Atherton (@DaveAtherton20) September 21, 2024
“Putin has accepted insult after insult, provocation on top of provocation in order to avoid a war that means death for humanity. No one gives Putin credit for this.”
• Everything You Need to Know about the Conflict in Ukraine (Paul Craig Roberts)
For unknown reasons except perhaps surprise–Putin was at the Sochi Olympics– Putin did nothing to prevent Washington’s coup. For eight years Putin relied on the Minsk Agreement, which the West used to deceive him, while Washington built up a Ukrainian army capable of overthrowing the Donbas republics that broke away and resisted Ukraine’s persecution and murder of the Russian population. When Putin and Lavrov’s efforts during December 2021 and February 2022 to achieve a mutual defense agreement with the US and NATO were cold-shouldered by Washington, NATO, and the EU, Putin had no choice but to intervene in order to protect the Donbas, a former Russian province attached to Ukraine by Soviet leaders, from massacre, as the Israelis are doing in Gaza and the West Bank. The West disingenuously called Putin’s “limited military operation” confined to Donbas an “invasion of Ukraine.”
It was no such thing. The fact that it was not an invasion and conquest of Ukraine was Putin’s mistake. It is the limited nature of Putin’s intervention that is the cause of the possible explosion of the conflict into a nuclear war. Putin, being a mid-20th century American liberal, had trusted diplomatic relations and good will between nations and did not understand that the West was at war with Russia. He and his Foreign Minister kept stressing their “American partners” and belief in negotiations, while the West organized its attacks on Russia. These attacks now include attacks deep into Russia far removed from the battle front. Russia has suffered many attacks from low-flying drones that evade air defense systems. As I write, Nato Secretary Stoltenberg and the UK prime minister are urging the Biden regime to give approval to US/NATO firing long range missiles into Russia. Putin has said that this is the final red line that will force him to acknowledge that Russia is at war with the West.
NATO General Secretary Stoltenberg says the West does not need to pay attention to Putin’s threat, because “There have been many red lines declared by Putin before, and he has not escalated.” We have reached the point that I said we would reach. Putin by his failure to act in response to aggression now has his back to the wall. He has three choices: He can surrender. He can end the Ukraine conflict with force, which puts the West on notice that the West is at risk if the conflict continues, or he can continue to ignore reality, thereby leaving the initiative in the West’s hands where it has been throughout the conflict. We are faced with Putin’s mettle. Is he a warrior or an out-of-date American liberal? I agree that this question is unfair. Putin is the only statesman the world has at this crucial time when the world’s continued existence is in question.
Putin has accepted insult after insult, provocation on top of provocation in order to avoid a war that means death for humanity. No one gives Putin credit for this. Stoltenberg, a nonentity, mocks Putin. Biden, a nonentity, insults him. Zelensky, a nonentity, vows to defeat him. We can see Satan’s hold on the West when the only leader determined to preserve human existence is demonized. Despite his honorable characteristics, Putin is failing because he cannot recognize the extreme evil that confronts him and the country he represents. As England’s ambassador Craig Murray has reported, the Western world is criminalizing free speech. Washington’s investigations of Scott Ritter, Dimitri Simes, and others indicate that those who talk with Russians are being criminalized for aiding and abetting Russian disinformation, which is being equated with espionage. How can the dangerous situation be resolved when talk is prevented?
“The Ukrainian crisis has served to consolidate Russian society, with Russians “convinced that the West is only using Ukraine as a spearhead to bring Russia to its knees..”
• Who Seeks Russia’s ‘Defeat’ Should Remember Napoleon, Hitler – Schroeder (Sp.)
Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has taken flak from the political class of his home country over his support for continued dialogue between Russia and Europe amid the Ukraine crisis. The Social Democrat politician was the architect of the German ‘economic miracle’ of the 2000s, facilitated by boosting energy cooperation with Russia. Anyone dreaming about “defeating” Russia militarily needs a history lesson, Gerhard Schroeder has said. “I recommend that everyone who believes this look at the history books. From Napoleon to Hitler, everyone failed because of this,” the veteran statesman told German media. The Ukrainian crisis has served to consolidate Russian society, with Russians “convinced that the West is only using Ukraine as a spearhead to bring Russia to its knees,” Schroeder added.
The 80-year-old politician, who participated in the Istanbul peace talks in the spring of 2022, said that contrary to claims in Western media at the time, “peace was in reach,” and included a rejection of Kiev’s aspirations to join NATO. The Ukrainian government was not able to agree to the deal, with “more powerful circles” behind it blocking peace in the hopes that continuing the conflict would strategically weaken Russia or even trigger regime change, Schroeder said. Schroeder believes the West underestimates the risks of the Ukrainian crisis escalating into a wider conflict. “We Germans in particular should behave cautiously and constructively against the background of the Second World War and the crimes committed in the name of Germany,” he said. He called on the European Union to tie whatever aid it provides to Kiev with demands for serious and realistic scenarios for peace.
“This war will have to be ended through negotiations. In any case, it cannot be decided militarily. It will take compromises,” the former chancellor believes. A well-known critic of Donald Trump over his administration’s efforts to sabotage the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project with Russia in 2019-2020, Schroeder said he has nevertheless found himself linking his hopes for peace in Ukraine with the Republican candidate, saying he trusts him to end the conflict before his inauguration if he wins, as Trump has repeatedly promised. It is in Germany’s and Europe’s interests to see the Ukrainian conflict end, because after Ukraine, the former have been “among the biggest losers” of the current crisis, according to Schroeder. Unfortunately, he says, the solidarity between major European powers Germany and France that existed ahead of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 is lacking today, as is the recognition that there are situations in which European and US interests conflict with one another.
It’s Existential.
• Russia Has No Alternative to Victory in Ukraine Conflict – Kremlin (Sp.)
Russia has no alternative to achieving victory in its military operation in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “For Russia, there have been no other alternatives in history, and there is no alternative to our victory now,” Peskov said in an interview with Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin published on his Telegram channel. Russia should regard the West’s stance seriously, given its intentions to defeat the country both “strategically and tactically,” the spokesman added. “They openly say that their goal is to defeat Russia strategically and tactically. This obliges us to take this position very seriously, to shape our actions in consideration of this threat and to continue the special military operation in order to achieve all our goals, fulfill all set objectives and achieve victory ourselves,” Peskov said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkmen counterpart, Serdar Berdimuhamedow, reaffirmed their commitment to bolstering the strategic partnership between the two countries during a phone conversation, Peskov said. “During the phone conversation, Russian President Vladimir Putin warmly congratulated Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov on his birthday. The mutual commitment to further comprehensive strengthening of the Russian-Turkmen strategic partnership was confirmed,” the Kremlin said in a statement. The two presidents discussed preparations for the upcoming Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit in Moscow and the BRICS summit in Kazan, the statement said.
“If we are talking about long-range missile weapons, it is clear to everyone that the Ukrainians themselves will not be able to use them..”
• Talk of Nuclear Red Button ‘Inappropriate’ – Lavrov (RT)
Russia has no wish to start a nuclear war and considers it “inappropriate” that its warnings of an escalation in the Ukraine conflict are being portrayed as an intention to use atomic weapons, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. Fears of an escalation between Russia and NATO have been intensifying in recent weeks, as Western states have stepped up discussions about allowing Ukraine to conduct missile strikes deep in Russian territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month warned that such permission would be taken as the West’s direct involvement in the conflict and would be met with an appropriate response. His words were taken by some to mean Moscow was ready to deploy nuclear weapons. In an interview with Sky News Arabia, Lavrov was asked whether this was the case.
The minister responded that while Russia indeed has “weapons that would have serious consequences for the handlers of the Ukrainian regime” – meaning the US and its Western allies – it has no wish to use them. “We talk about red lines, counting on the fact that our assessments and statements will be heard by smart, decision-making people. To claim that if tomorrow someone doesn’t do what we ask, we will press the ‘red button,’ is inappropriate,” the minister stated, adding that he believes Western decision makers understand this, because “nobody wants a nuclear war.” Lavrov stressed that Moscow also does not want an escalation of the Ukraine conflict that would drag the West in as a direct participant, but reiterated that this would inevitably be the case if Kiev is allowed to use long-range weapons deep inside Russia.
“It would be a direct war of NATO against Russia… NATO is already waging a war against Russia, but it is a hybrid war through the hands of Ukrainians. If we are talking about long-range missile weapons, it is clear to everyone that the Ukrainians themselves will not be able to use them,” he stated, explaining that tasks such as target guidance, data collection from satellites and forming flight assignments can only be carried out by specialists from countries that produce a particular weapon. Lavrov went on to accuse Western officials who are seriously considering allowing Ukraine to make indiscriminate attacks on Russia of having the “mindset of a child” playing with matches.
While there are still limitations on Ukraine’s use of some Western-made long-range weapons systems, Kiev has already repeatedly used them to target Russian territory, mainly striking civilians in Crimea and Donbass. In the past month, however, the US and UK have suggested they might allow these weapons to be used to strike targets deeper into internationally recognized Russian territory. The European Parliament earlier this week adopted a resolution calling on the EU to allow Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia with Western-supplied weapons.
“..the public has not been provided with “a single piece of evidence” to prove their accusations against RT..”
• US Actions Against RT Are ‘Terrorism’ – Russian Human Rights Chief (RT)
The actions taken by US authorities against RT can be qualified as terrorism and a violation of media freedom, Russia’s top human rights official Tatyana Moskalkova has said. Moskalkova was commenting on a statement by the US-based Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), which has demanded that President Joe Biden’s administration provide the public with evidence to support their claim that the Russian channel was “engaged in information operations, covert influence, and military procurement.” On Thursday, FPF said the information released to justify new sanctions against the news channel, “did not include declassification of the underlying documents, but only their findings.” Writing on Telegram on Saturday, Moskalkova argued the public has not been provided with “a single piece of evidence” to prove their accusations against RT, but “the repressive mechanism has begun to work.”
The United States is cracking down on Russian media, and some journalists have had to leave the country for safety reasons, Moskalkova wrote. She also mentioned an incident in which an RT employee was searched and interrogated by FBI agents. “It is outrageous when 20 FBI agents burst into a woman’s house in the morning, arrange a search and a five-hour interrogation, seize mobile devices, and examine personal correspondence,” the official explained. Such actions “cannot be qualified otherwise than as terrorism and infringement of media freedom by the United States, contradicting the fundamental principles of democracy, which is so often talked about by the US authorities,” she emphasized.
Earlier in September, Washington announced new sanctions against several Russian media outlets, including RT, claiming they are attempting to undermine democracy in the US and elsewhere and eroding global support for Ukraine. Following the new restrictions, US tech giant Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, banned several Russian news networks, including RT, citing their alleged “foreign interference activity.” On Saturday, video-sharing platform TikTok deleted the accounts of RT International and several branches of the Sputnik news outlet.
“State Department spokesman Jamie Rubin blamed RT for the fact that “so much of the world has not been as fully supportive of Ukraine as you would think they would be.”
• US Crackdown On RT To Fall Short of Expectations – NYT (RT)
The latest US crackdown on RT will ultimately not prevent it from bringing alternative viewpoints to audiences in the West and elsewhere, but will somewhat damage its outreach to new followers, the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing experts. Last week, the US announced a new raft of sanctions targeting several Russian outlets, after Washington claimed they had been trying to covertly “undermine democracy.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused RT of “functioning as a de facto arm of [Russian] intelligence.” State Department spokesman Jamie Rubin blamed RT for the fact that “so much of the world has not been as fully supportive of Ukraine as you would think they would be.” Following the move, US tech giant Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, banned several Russian news networks.
Moscow has condemned the restrictions, labeling them a crackdown on free speech and an outright “aggression.” Several media experts told the NYT that while the sanctions “will sharply reduce the network’s audience numbers” in the short term, RT “can move to other outlets for distribution,” adding that “the Kremlin, when thwarted in the past, has quickly devised new ways to get its message out.” The paper recalled the impact of EU and Canadian sanctions on RT following the start of the Ukraine conflict, noting that while viewership fell off a cliff for a time, the outlet soon started operating through new resources. “If you are a really hardcore RT follower, you’ll find a way to access it,” Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund told the NYT, adding that the sanctions, however, “really hurt… their ability to span platforms, to reach new audiences.”
RT relies heavily on messaging that portrays the West as “an imperialist aggressor,” the paper said, helping to explain why it is “extremely popular” in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. “A big part of Russia’s PR strategy is to tap into criticism of America… and right now they have the easiest time in the world in that regard because American policy when it comes to Israel and Gaza is incredibly unpopular worldwide,” said H.A. Hellyer, a nonresident scholar on Middle East politics at the Carnegie Endowment. According to the NYT article, RT also has a variety of means for getting its message out through mirror sites, Reddit, or other platforms like Telegram, X, and WhatsApp.
“Hamas right now, in my opinion, is winning this conflict. They are winning it strategically. They are paying a horrible price for it.”
• Scott Ritter: Israel’s Collapse Is Imminent Amid Escalation In Lebanon (MPN)
Anybody with any shred of common sense will immediately throw away their Western-made electronic device and source one from a country such as China, where Israel is not going to be able to infiltrate and corrupt the integrity of the electronic device to achieve either intelligence collection goals or assassination [goals].” While the Israeli military is vastly better armed and funded than Hamas, Ritter claimed that it was actually the Palestinian force that has come out on top after 12 months of fighting, stating: “Hamas right now, in my opinion, is winning this conflict. They are winning it strategically. They are paying a horrible price for it. But on October 6, nobody was talking about the creation of a Palestinian state. Today, it is on the tip of the tongue of so many people around the world. Why? Because the world has seen the truth about Israel.”
Not only that, but Israel is eating itself from within. Its military is seriously depleted; its economy has been shattered by rocket attacks, and by 12 months of war economy; and its society is beginning to fragment. The United States, too, has been damaged. It is increasingly isolated on the world stage, and its prestige is slipping. Fewer nations look to Washington for leadership and, instead, see organizations such as BRICS as the future. Later this month, a BRICS summit will be held in Kazan, Russia, bringing its core member nations together with its new invitees. Palestine will be a key issue, and no doubt countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will be put under pressure to stop covertly aiding Israel and come to a solution to end the war.
BRICS has already succeeded in helping to lessen tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and it is possible that the new bloc can act to bring about peace in a manner that many hoped the United Nations would be able to do. Whatever happens, it is clear that October 7 fundamentally changed the situation for Israel and Palestine forever.
Secret Service internal report..
Just a few rotten apples..
• Secret Service Agents to Be Disciplined Over July 13 Trump Shooting (ET)
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said Friday that some Secret Service agents who were involved in securing the July 13 rally site where former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt face discipline. In a Friday news conference in Washington, Rowe did not go into details about the staff or possible punishments that could be meted out. He said, however, that he hasn’t “asked for anybody to retire,” adding that reports saying otherwise “are false.” The “disciplinary process” will “be handled in accordance” with the Secret Service’s “table of penalties” and headed by its internal office of integrity, Rowe said, adding that he cannot comment publicly on specific details. Rowe’s statements followed the Secret Service’s release of a report on Friday that details a series of “communications deficiencies” before the shooting by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot by a Secret Service counter-sniper after firing eight rounds in Trump’s direction from the roof of a building less than 150 yards from where Trump was speaking.
A breakdown in security at the rally site was especially problematic for Trump’s protective detail, “who were not apprised of how focused state and local law enforcement were in the minutes leading up to the attack on locating the suspicious subject,” the report said. Had they known, the report says, they could have made the decision to relocate Trump while the search was in process. The report makes clear that the Secret Service knew even before the shooting that the rally site posed a security challenge, Rowe said. “While some members of the advance team were very diligent, there was complacency on the part of others that led to a breach of security protocols,” he said. “[It’s] important that we hold ourselves accountable for the failures of July 13th, and that we use the lessons learned to make sure that we do not have another failure like this again,” Rowe said, calling it a “mission failure.”
In the midst of the July 13 shooting and an alleged assassination attempt targeting Trump earlier this week, the “threat environment” is elevated and “is not going to evaporate anytime soon,” Rowe said. “We’re in the risk mitigation business,“ he said. “We are not in the risk elimination business. And so we have to be able to have the personnel, the assets, and be able to spread those out for an indefinite period of time” in case a similar situation emerges, he said. The Secret Service’s own investigation is one of numerous inquiries, including by Congress and a watchdog probe by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general’s office. Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned in July after she faced criticism over the incident and an hours-long session in front of a congressional panel.
Rowe has said the July shooting and Sunday’s episode, in which 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested after Secret Service agents detected a rifle poking through shrubbery lining the West Palm Beach, Florida, golf course where Trump was playing, underscore the need for a paradigm shift in how the agency protects public officials. The protective agency has started to increase its security around Trump, Rowe said on Friday, noting on multiple occasions that the former president is receiving the highest levels of Secret Service protection. Both Democrat and Republican lawmakers have called for more Secret Service resources.
“..despite Donald Trump calling on Congressional Republicans not to pass a spending plan without “every ounce” of the proposal..”
• Congress Reaches Shutdown Deal Without ‘Proof Of Citizenship’ SAVE Act (ZH)
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Sunday unveiled a 90-day band-aid to avoid yet another government shutdown which fails to include the SAVE Act, which would have required proof of citizenship at the time of voter registration – despite Donald Trump calling on Congressional Republicans not to pass a spending plan without “every ounce” of the proposal. So, instead of playing chicken over the key issue of election integrity, the new continuing resolution (CR) – negotiated by bother parties – would keep the government funded at current levels through Dec. 20, setting the stage for yet another funding fight before Christmas recess. It includes an additional $231 million to help the Secret Service protect candidates during this election season and into next year after Donald Trump was almost assassinated twice.
“There’s no doubt they need additional resources, but additional funding and resources is not going to solve the problem between now and Election Day,” said Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), the top Democrat on a bipartisan task force established to look into the first assassination attempt. “We can’t mass-produce Secret Service agents,” Crow added while speaking with ABC’s “This Week,” noting that some agents are working 80 to 90 hours per week to cover various demands for protection. According to the Treasury Department, the US has spent around $6.3 trillion in FY24, which ends Sept. 30. Defending his missing spine, Johnson wrote in a Sunday letter: “While this is not the solution any of us prefer, it is the most prudent path forward under the present circumstances,” adding “As history has taught and current polling affirms, shutting the government down less than 40 days from a fateful election would be an act of political malpractice.”
“Since we fell a bit short of the goal line, an alternative plan is now required.” On Friday, Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said that talks were going well.”So far, nothing has come up that we can’t deal with,” he said. ““Most people don’t want a government shutdown and they don’t want that to interfere with the election. So nobody is like, ‘I’ve got to have this or we’re walking.’ It’s just not that way.” “While I am pleased bipartisan negotiations quickly led to a government funding agreement free of cuts and poison pills, this same agreement could have been done two weeks ago,” said Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, adding “Instead, Speaker Johnson chose to follow the MAGA way and wasted precious time.” Johnson caved after a bipartisan majority of the House voted last week to reject his plan which included the SAVE Act. In the ensuing days, Johnson went limp over the issue and dropped his demands.
Tesla
https://twitter.com/i/status/1837620320615698815
Dylan
I think about this moment from Bob Dylan's 60 Minutes interview a lot pic.twitter.com/vya3NQks3g
— Dylan O'Sullivan (@DylanoA4) September 22, 2024
Kirsch
https://twitter.com/i/status/1837541598315663396
Gecko
https://twitter.com/i/status/1837910246666211679
Family
Meeting the newest member of the family.. 😊 https://t.co/CnQybAYIbB
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) September 23, 2024
Trap
Simple but brilliant trap conceptpic.twitter.com/AOweojIzdO
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) September 23, 2024
Cats and dogs
This video shows that allowing prisoners to take care of pets (that would otherwise be euthanized) is remarkably beneficial for them.
Since Trump was a champion of criminal justice reform and recently advocated for saving cats and dogs, this is an ideal policy for his campaign. pic.twitter.com/0jDlvlmmqX
— A Midwestern Doctor (@MidwesternDoc) September 22, 2024
Transform
You would not believe what this transforms into
pic.twitter.com/MBfoPhPxj8— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) September 22, 2024
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