John La Farge Girls Carrying a Canoe, Vaiala in Samoa 1891
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772696421675774006
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772661091128004874
Macgregor
Colonel Douglas Macgregor: Redacted 3/25/2024
Putin is not an emotional actor.
He's very rational.
He's very thoughtful.
He's very deliberate.
Russians will cross the Dnieper River, to take Odessa and Kharkov.
Zelensky and his regime is the equivalent of a fatally wounded animal… pic.twitter.com/FsOhnKzlGF— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) March 26, 2024
Simonyan
"Why do you always think that the way you live is better than the way we live?"
RT Boss smokes MI6s propaganda bureau (BBC) Correspondent.
Best part- "We're not you, and we don't like you much" pic.twitter.com/8EiFwYfwqc
— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) March 26, 2024
Shellenberger
It's All Much Worse Than I Thought
The corporate media are all-in on government censorship
Over the last three years, we have come to learn of the role that our own government officials have played in demanding censorship by social media platforms. Some of this censorship was… pic.twitter.com/rlP7F7oR2Z
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 26, 2024
“When asked whether the US, Britain and Ukraine could be behind the terrorist attack, the FSB chief responded: “We think that this is so..”
• US, UK and Ukraine Could Be Behind Moscow Terror Attack – FSB Chief (RT)
The US, UK and Ukraine may have been behind last Friday’s terrorist attack on a concert venue in a suburb of Moscow, which claimed lives of 139 people and left around 200 injured, according to the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). Aleksandr Bortnikov told reporters on Tuesday that the authorities are currently trying to establish the identity of everyone involved in the attack, both inside and outside Russia. When asked whether the US, Britain and Ukraine could be behind the terrorist attack, the FSB chief responded: “We think that this is so. In any case, we are now talking about the information that we have. This is general information, but they [investigators] also have concrete results.” Bortnikov’s statement to the media follows a meeting of the expanded board of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia. The FSB director told reporters that the intelligence service will do everything necessary to identify the direct organizers and sponsors of the terrorist attack.
On the evening of March 22, a group of men armed with assault rifles attacked the Crocus City Hall music venue in the Moscow suburb of Krasnogorsk, just before a concert by the rock band Picnic was due to start. The 7,500-capacity venue was almost full at the time of the attack. The terrorists killed guards, shot concert-goers on sight, then started a fire that quickly spread throughout the building. At least 139 people, including three children, were killed in the attack, the chair of the Russian Investigative Committee, Aleksandr Bastrykin, reported on Monday. Around 200 people were injured, according to the latest data. After the attack, Russian security services detained 11 people connected to the incident, including those believed to be the gunmen who carried out the attack. Moscow’s Basmanny Court has since arrested seven other suspects who are accused of helping organize the terrorist attack.
“It took them only a few hours to get to a microphone, turn on the lights, summon the press and draw a conclusion about who is to blame..”
• US Backs Itself Into Corner By Blaming IS For Crocus Hall – Zakharova (TASS)
The US has backed itself into a corner by jumping the gun to lay blame on the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, outlawed in Russia) for the terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall even as the incident was still in progress, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. “The very fact that within the first 24 hours [after the attack], even before the fire was put out, the Americans started screaming that it wasn’t Ukraine, I think, is a piece of incriminating evidence. I can’t classify it otherwise; it is evidence in and of itself,” the diplomat said on air during a Sputnik radio broadcast. “The second fact to note concerns the clamor by the US that this assuredly was the work of ISIS (former name of IS – TASS),” the spokeswoman pointed out.
“Of course, the speed with which they were able to [come to such forthright conclusions] is astonishing. It took them only a few hours to get to a microphone, turn on the lights, summon the press and draw a conclusion about who is to blame for this horribly bloody terrorist attack,” Zakharova said. “I think they’ve boxed themselves into a corner, because as soon as they started screaming that it was ISIS, all those people who work in international relations, who are political scientists and experts, recalled and reminded everyone else what ISIS really is,” the diplomat said. “You are behind all those ISIS-type structures, you – the United States, Great Britain – yourselves brought them into being,” she concluded.
Biden ISIS-K 2021
August 2021, Joe Biden & Mark Milley's Afghanistan disaster caused the death of American Troops. Biden & Milleys lied below Blaming ISISK. Lies on Nordstream, the biggest act of environmental terrorism in history. Boris Johnson Lied re Porton Down's view on Skirpals Novichok https://t.co/JnbjCF4HLL pic.twitter.com/CyKfBinN2z
— Planet Ponzi (@PlanetPonzi) March 26, 2024
“..the men drove due south and on the highway near Khatsun, they were about 100 kms from the Ukraine border..”
• The Evidence On The Crocus Gang Attack In Moscow (Helmer)
For the time being, the only evidence connecting the four shooters to the Ukraine is the direction they were taking when their vehicle was stopped by the security forces. In a shootout the car overturned, and three of the gunmen fled into the forest beside the road, leaving one man injured in the car. The head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Alexander Khinshtein, is the source for press reporting on the site of the interception. That was on Highway E101 about seven kilometres south of the P-120 intersection east of Bryansk city. From Bastrykin’s report, and from an award ceremony in Bryansk on Monday for the forces who made the capture – Federal Security Service (FSB), Interior Ministry, National Guard, and border forces of the Defense Ministry — the getaway was being tracked for some time before it reached the P-120 intersection.
At that point, if the four men planned to head for Belarus, they would have turned right, followed the south circular road around Bryansk, and then turned left on to the A-240 towards the Belarus border, about 100 kms to the southwest. Instead, the men drove due south and on the highway near Khatsun, they were about 100 kms from the Ukraine border. There have been reports they were expecting to make a rendezvous with accomplices they believed would guide them to safety over the Ukraine border, and to payday. Or, as Moscow sources speculate, to their execution by the Ukrainians. Speculation, however, including analysis of the cui bono, who gains type, the sequence of statements from Washington, and the history of association between the US, British and Ukrainian secret services and Tajik mercenaries, creates a balance of probabilities, but not an explanation beyond reasonable doubt.
“Of course, we must also answer the question of why the terrorists, after committing their crime, attempted to flee specifically to Ukraine,” the president said at his meeting with security officials on Monday. “Who was waiting for them there? It is clear that those supporting the Kiev regime do not wish to be implicated in acts of terrorism and be seen as sponsors of terrorism. But there are indeed numerous questions.” Public comments to reporters on Tuesday by the FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov and Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev have answered with emphasis on the Ukrainians, backed by the US and UK. Boris Rozhin (Colonel Cassad) has followed their remarks with a detailed statement of the history of the intelligence service operations before the Crocus attack, and a circumstantial detail of Ukrainian border drone operations in the area and on the night the getaway car was headed through Bryansk region.
“Joe Biden, the Biden family, the Clinton family, John McCain, Lindsey Graham and George Soros (directly or indirectly) apparently have deep, unexplained ties to oligarchs and individuals inside Ukraine..”
• Crocus City Hall Terror Attack Cast Slur Upon West (Sp.)
The Crocus City Hall, a music venue located in the Moscow region, was still burning when White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby asserted to the press that “there is no indication” that Ukraine was involved in the shooting. The US State Department doubled down on Ukraine’s supposed non-involvement on March 23, despite Russia’s investigation being far from over. A social media account allegedly belonging to ISIS* released a statement of responsibility hours after the attack. As if that were not enough, an additional statement by the group popped up later, accompanied by what appeared to be bodycam footage of the attack. The repeated statements have only triggered skepticism among netizens and international observers, especially given that the Russian Security Service (FSB) announced that four suspects with contacts in Ukraine had been arrested while en route to the Eastern European state on Saturday. New evidence suggested the case is far more complicated than Team Biden imagined.
“The Biden Administration has scant credibility left whether in official statements or in off-the-record communications, particularly when it comes to matters outside America’s nominal ‘borders’,” Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel told Sputnik. “The real question is what shadowy actors acquired the resources and training to perpetrate these vile acts and who are the ultimate paymasters, masterminds and ‘beneficiaries’.” According to Washington, the perpetrators belonged to ISIS-Khorasan, the terror group’s affiliate that is active in Afghanistan and the surrounding region. However, there are at least two reasons why international commentators reacted to Team Biden’s assertions with disbelief, according to Ortel.
“Joe Biden, the Biden family, the Clinton family, John McCain, Lindsey Graham and George Soros (directly or indirectly) apparently have deep, unexplained ties to oligarchs and individuals inside Ukraine who have funneled money into and outside Ukraine, for which there has never been an honest and rigorous accounting,” the analyst said, referring to Washington policymakers’ motif to divert any possible suspicions from Ukraine. Team Biden’s finger-pointing at Islamists does not make matters any easier for the West, the analyst continued. The attack spells reputational damage to the West given its intelligence operatives’ decades-long hand-in-glove cooperation with jihadist elements, involving using them as proxies.
They have no army. Can’t build one overnight either.
• EU Leaders Have Decided To Militarize, So What Now? (Drize)
The EU does not intend to die for the Donbass. This was stated by its foreign policy commissioner Josep Borrell last week. The leaders of the countries of the Western European bloc will discuss increasing defense spending and decide on the fate of frozen Russian assets at their next summit. Borrell urged his colleagues not to inflame the situation and frighten ordinary people for nothing. The senior official was referring to recent comments made by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has spoken of possibly sending troops into Ukraine. From the Kremlin’s standpoint, the behavior of Western leaders so far seems indecisive, but serious changes could be afoot. The next EU summit could be described as historic. The main issue is not even the fate of Russia’s frozen assets, but the fact that, perhaps for the first time, the bloc is discussing the transition to a military economy.
As European Council President Charles Michel put it, the time has come to change the paradigm of defense and security relations. The essence of this is that Western Europe was totally unprepared for war. Nobody expected it, and nobody even thought it was possible. What were their priorities? Climate – they wrote guidelines for farmers on how much carbon monoxide their cows should emit so that they don’t spoil the environment. What else? Gender neutrality, multiculturalism, gender equality – against such a happy, rosy background, they forgot about the military threat. Now they have to catch up. They will have to trade in not only their economic but also their political yardsticks so that the electorate really and seriously believes in a Russian threat. That, too, will require considerable investment.
There are no details yet, but the extreme poles have been outlined. The tone has been set by Macron. The French president has not ruled out sending troops to Ukraine. Some of his allies have expressed alarm at this and are denying the possibility in every possible way. However, the reality is that nothing can be ruled out, including this scenario, especially if the Ukrainian front line falls. To avoid all this, they need to find the means to help Kiev more actively. Incidentally, Donald Trump spoke about this when he was in office – they did not listen. But he was right. Now, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has said that the policy of increasing military spending is political suicide for her, but there is no other choice.
Imagine the protests.
• ‘Day May Come’ For EU Troops In Ukraine – Kiev (RT)
The conflict between Moscow and Kiev could reach a stage where EU countries have to deploy combat troops to Ukraine in order to counter Russian advances, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba has warned. In an interview with Politico on Monday, Kuleba complained about the decline in Western military aid for Kiev in recent months. “Give us the damn Patriots,” he said, referring to the US-made air-defense missile systems, which, he insisted, Kiev needs to target Russian jets that launch aerial guided bombs. Moscow’s increased reliance on these upgraded munitions is why “Ukrainian troops are losing positions,” the foreign minister claimed. Kuleba once again expressed regret over the resistance of Republican lawmakers to attempts by the administration of US President Joe Biden to push through another $60 billion in assistance for Ukraine.
He also dismissed a question about Germany’s reluctance to supply long-range Taurus missiles, saying he is “tired of answering this. Sorry.” However, French President Emmanuel Macron, who said last month that he “cannot exclude” the possibility of soldiers from NATO countries being sent to Ukraine, avoided Kuleba’s criticism. “We were pleased to see President Macron evolve in that direction,” the foreign minister said. The French leader’s remarks led to a wave of denials from the leaders of other NATO member states, who insisted there are no such plans to send Western troops to Ukraine. Kiev never asked for “European combat troops’ boots on the ground,” but EU leaders need to get used to the idea that “the day may come,” Kuleba stressed.
“I’m perfectly aware that Europeans are not used to the idea of war. But this is a carelessness Europeans simply cannot afford – neither for themselves nor their children,” because “if Ukraine loses, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will not stop,” he said. Putin said earlier that claims by Kiev and its foreign backers that Russia will target NATO states are “nonsense.” However, in another interview, the president stressed that Moscow will treat Western troops as “interventionists” if they are deployed to Ukraine, and would respond accordingly. The deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma, Pyotr Tolstoy, warned Macron last week against directly engaging Russia on the battlefield. “We will kill all French soldiers who set foot on Ukrainian soil. Every single one that comes,” Tolstoy said in an interview with French broadcaster BFMTV.
“It’s a very bad picture for the world. The world is seeing this…every night, I would watch buildings pour down on people..”
• Trump: Israel Has To Finish the War, It’s Losing a Lot of Support (Antiwar)
Former President Trump said in an interview with Israel Hayom over the weekend that Israel made a “big mistake” by broadcasting images and videos of the destruction in the Gaza Strip, saying it’s losing Israel “a lot of support.” Trump said he would have done the same thing as Israel in response to the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel but said it was time to “finish your war” as global opinion is turning on Israel. “You gotta get it done. And, I am sure you will do that. And we gotta get to peace, we can’t have this going on. And I will say, Israel has to be very careful, because you’re losing a lot of the world, you’re losing a lot of support, you have to finish up, you have to get the job done,” Trump said. When asked by the interviewer about how he would respond to the “wave of anti-Semitism” since October 7, Trump replied, “Well, that’s because you fought back. And I think Israel made a very big mistake. I wanted to call [Israel] and say don’t do it.
These photos and shots. I mean, moving shots of bombs being dropped into buildings in Gaza. And I said, oh, that’s a terrible portrait. It’s a very bad picture for the world. The world is seeing this…every night, I would watch buildings pour down on people,” Trump said. The interviewer then claimed that “terrorists” were hiding in the buildings. Trump replied, “Go and do what you have to do. But you don’t do that. And I think that’s one of the reasons that there has been a lot of kickback. If people didn’t see that, every single night I’ve watched every single one of those. And I think Israel wanted to show that it’s tough, but sometimes you shouldn’t be doing that.” Trump also took shots at Democrats for the growing criticism of Israel from within the party.
“Some 15 years ago, Israel had the strongest lobby. If you were a politician, you couldn’t say anything bad about Israel, that would be like the end of your political career. Today, it’s almost the opposite. I’ve never seen you have AOC plus three, these lunatics, frankly. But you have AOC plus three plus plenty of others. And all they do is talk badly about Israel, and they hate Israel, and they hate the Jewish people,” he said. Trump said the Hamas attack on Israel wouldn’t have happened if he was still president, something he has repeatedly claimed in recent interviews. “It was an attack that I blame on Biden because they [Hamas] have no respect for him. He can’t put two sentences together. He can’t talk. He’s a very dumb person,” he said.
Only SCOTUS can stop this.
• ‘Serious Concerns’ Raised About NY Judge’s Trump Judgment (ET)
After a New York court reduced former President Donald Trump’s bond to appeal his civil fraud case, several legal analysts weighed in on the decision. On Monday, a state appeals court agreed to hold off collection of the former president’s more than $454 million civil fraud judgment if he puts up $175 million within 10 days. If he does, it will stop the clock on collection and prevent the state from seizing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s assets while he appeals. Greg Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University in New York, said that President Trump may have a strong case to challenge Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling in February that he must pay $455 million in his civil fraud case. “I think the $175 million reduction … shows that the appellate division has serious concerns about the validity of Judge Engoron’s decision,” Mr. Germain told Newsweek.
While he believes the judgment was “seriously flawed,” the professor said that President Trump will have a difficult time overturning the judge’s “findings that his financial statement was grossly overstated.” “The standard for the appeals court to review factual findings is ‘clearly erroneous,’ which means that there was no evidence in the record to support the judge’s findings. Engoron was very careful to cite to the record for his factual findings, which were very solid,” Mr. Germain said. But the judge, he added, “made no attempt to determine what portion of the profit was solely due to the financial statement as opposed to other factors” before handing down his ruling. The former president “has some strong legal arguments to make on appeal,” Mr. Germain added. “Unfortunately for him, I think he’s so focused on denying that he did anything wrong that the strong legal arguments may be lost in his unwinnable arguments on the facts.”
The former president has said he did nothing wrong, adding that he actually undervalued his net worth when communicating with banks and insurers at the center of the civil fraud lawsuit. He said that the case is politically motivated, and that both the New York attorney general and Judge Engoron are biased against him. Meanwhile, a constitutional scholar said that the bond for an appeal should be been reduced to basically nothing. “The Court of Appeals may have felt that they can’t prejudge the evidence, and so to reduce the bond further would have been heavy-handed,” George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley told Fox News on Monday. “I actually think they could have reduced this bond to virtually nothing, because the amount set by [Judge Arthur] Engoron was absurd.” In a post on social media, Mr. Turley wrote that the New York appellate court may “restore a degree of objectivity and restraint missing on the trial level,” referring to the Engoron decision. “Both Engoron and [New York Attorney General Letitia] James would have gained greater credibility if they recognized the obvious unreasonableness of the original demand,” he continued.
“Her net worth is thought to be over $100 million, although her current salary as a US congresswoman is just over $220,000..”
• Pelosi, Accused of Insider Trading, Makes Major Stock Move (Sp.)
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) raised eyebrows recently with the revelation the former US House Speaker placed a big bet on a little-known San Francisco tech startup. A disclosure made last week showed the powerful Democratic Party politician purchased $5 million in stock of the privately-held company Databricks, a cloud data company. The stake is one of dozens Pelosi holds in US tech companies, some obscure and some well-known such as Tesla and Microsoft. The lawmaker has reportedly invested more than $120 million in stock purchases since entering federal government in 1987. Her net worth is thought to be over $100 million, although her current salary as a US congresswoman is just over $220,000. Pelosi has never been convicted of criminal wrongdoing in her investment activity, although her portfolio’s impressive return of 65% last year might suggest the legislator is more informed than average traders. US stock indices grew an average of 26% in 2023.
“From an ethical perspective, I believe it is extremely harmful for politicians to trade individual stocks,” said Chris Josephs, the founder of a stock trading service, to US media. “There are numerous jobs out there that don’t allow employees [to conduct] trading, yet our most powerful Americans can.” Pelosi opposed attempts to ban lawmakers from buying and selling stocks in 2021 under the claim such activity could be viewed as insider trading. “We are a free-market economy,” she said at the time. “They [Congress members] should be able to participate in that.” Former director of the US Office of Government Ethics Walter Shaub slammed the argument as “ridiculous.” “She might as well have said ‘let them eat cake,’” said Shaub, referring to famous comments by the French queen Marie Antoinette. “Sure, it’s a free-market economy. But your average schmuck doesn’t get confidential briefings from government experts chock full of nonpublic information directly related to the price of stocks.”
Late last week it was announced that an activist involved in pro-Palestine protests at the California lawmaker’s home had been arrested on felony vandalism charges. Cynthia Papermaster, 77, is reportedly being held on a $50,000 bond. “We want to see a permanent and immediate ceasefire,” said Papermaster in an interview recently. “We can’t control what the Israelis do, but we can control what our own government does, or at least that’s the aspiration.” Pelosi called for the anti-war activists to be investigated by the FBI in an appearance on US television after the incident earlier this year. Pelosi first claimed the demonstrators were being paid by China, then later clarified she believed Russia was behind the act of civil disobedience. The former House speaker joins the ranks of opponents of US civil rights with her comments; detractors frequently claimed racial justice protests in the 1960s and 70s were fomented by Russia to sow discord in the United States.
Tucker Tulsi
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772516274418880932
“That can only work reliably if there is no other choice for citizens tired of the duopoly and the political (and media) establishment..”
• The DNC Moves To Block Third Party Candidates (Turley)
The last time that the Chicago Democratic Convention was held in Chicago in 1968, the resulting riots led to one of the greatest Freudian slips in American politics. Mayor Richard Daley declared “the policeman isn’t there to create disorder; the policeman is there to preserve disorder.” The Democratic National Committee has now added its own gem: the Democratic Party is not here to preserve democracy, it is here to prevent democracy. That’s because the DNC is seeking to block third party candidates from ballots — Robert Kennedy Jr., Cornell West, and Jill Stein. All three are liberal and are considered a threat to Joe Biden. This effort will likely include any ticket put forward by the No Labels group, seeking a moderate alternative to the two parties. Mary Beth Cahill, the former interim DNC CEO, and long-time DNC staffer Ramsey Reid will lead this effort. According to media reports, former Buttigieg campaign aide Lis Smith will lead the effort with another Buttigieg alumni, Matt Corridoni.
This effort includes not just a public campaign against Kennedy and Stein as spoilers, but “legal action” to solve the problem by denying voters a choice. The media does not appear at all alarmed or critical of the effort to limit democratic choice. The Washington Post stated clinically “Democrats are taking third-party threats seriously this time.” Taking it seriously appears to mean using legal means to keep them from the ballots. It is true that the main political parties have challenged qualification signatures and paperwork in the past. However, the reports indicate a systemic effort geared toward reducing the choices for voters. What is striking is that this is coming from democratic groups and the DNC, which are raising money on the “save democracy” narrative. The contradiction is spellbinding. On the same sites promising to oppose the third party candidates, the DNC and other groups push the narrative that only the Democrats are working to protect the right to vote.
The Post reports that Democrats have studied the Hillary Clinton campaign and vowed not to allow third party candidates to drain away millions of voters as they did in 2016. Of course, the comparison is particularly telling because in both 2016 and 2024, the DNC chose the least popular Democratic candidates. Polls showed that Clinton was the worst possible candidate for the party, but the Clintons had control over the DNC and state party organizations. Of particular concern is the fact that Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan by only 67,000 votes. In just those states, Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Stein received more than half a million votes. Rather than actually pick a candidate that most citizens want, the DNC wants to replay the 2016 strategy of forcing the choice between two evils in a Biden-Trump choice. That can only work reliably if there is no other choice for citizens tired of the duopoly and the political (and media) establishment. So Kennedy, Cornell, and Stein just have to go.
Imploding?
• RFK Jr Picks Nicole Shanahan As VP, May Seek Libertarian Nomination (ZH)
The Wall Street Journal reports that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has picked Nicole Shanahan, a California-based attorney who was previously married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, as his running mate for his long-shot presidential bid, according to people familiar with the decision. Shanahan, 38, also runs a foundation focused on reproductive rights, criminal justice and the environment. Before backing Kennedy’s independent bid, Shanahan had previously been a donor to Democratic campaigns, including supporting Joe Biden’s election in 2020. Kennedy was slated to announce his choice Tuesday in Oakland, Calif., where Shanahan grew up. Shanahan, a political novice, was thrust into the spotlight over her public split with Brin amid a brief alleged affair she had with Elon Musk in 2021 that ruptured the billionaires’ long friendship, The Wall Street Journal reported. After the article published, Musk denied the allegations and Shanahan later followed suit.
It isn’t clear yet whether Shanahan plans to assist by tapping into her own wealth. Ahead of the announcement, Kennedy’s campaign manager confirmed on X that Shanahan was under consideration, along with several others including New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs. Meanwhile, lured by the promise of turnkey ballot access across the country, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr is seriously considering a run to win the Libertarian Party presidential nomination. However, his stance on the Israel-Gaza war and other issues could make his candidacy a tough sell with non-interventionist libertarians. Navigating the varied and complex patchwork of state ballot-access qualifying rules is one of the most grueling and expensive impediments to anyone seeking to challenge America’s two-party duopoly — to say nothing of the legal challenges filed by the Republican and Democratic parties along the way. So far, reports Politico, Kennedy’s backers say they’ve cleared the key hurdles in just eight states.
Meanwhile, it’s already pretty much a given that the Libertarian Party will be on the ballot in all 50. The top ticket will be selected by delegates at the party’s national convention in Washington DC over Memorial Day weekend. Selected by state conventions, those delegates are free to vote for whomever they like at the national convention. Kennedy’s flirtation with Libertarian Party members has been simmering since last year, and has included appearances on libertarian podcasts and an interview with Reason magazine. His most direct outreach came with a February appearance at the party’s California state convention, which has been credited for helping set a new California Libertarian convention attendance record. “I’ve always been aligned with libertarians on most issues,” Kennedy told Reason last summer. “I mean, there’s tweaks that I have.”
Some of those tweaks are doozies. For example, Kennedy said if Congress passed a so-called assault weapon ban, “I would sign it.” (On the other hand, he also said, “Anybody who tells you that they’re going to be able to reduce gun violence through gun control at this point, I don’t think is being realistic.”) He’s also called for a $15 national minimum wage, more free childcare, and abolishing interest on all federal student loans. However, it’s Kennedy’s statements on Israel-Palestine that seem to have caused the most damage to his prospects with staunchly non-interventionist libertarians — which is to say, most libertarians — who oppose entangling alliances, foreign aid, and US-enabled warfare. Kennedy has called for the United States to arm the “moral nation” of Israel, has expressed skepticism about a ceasefire in Gaza, and said “the Palestinian people are arguably the most pampered people by international aid organizations in the world.” Some libertarians are also put off by Kennedy’s embrace of controversial Israel advocate Shmuley Boteach.
And why not… ‘Mickey Mouse’, ‘Jesus Christ’, and ‘Batman’..
• ‘Literally Anybody Else’ Announces US Presidential Campaign (RT)
Texas voters could get the chance to cast their ballots for a man named ‘Literally Anybody Else’ this November, if his long-shot scheme to protest the US’ two-party system is successful. Math teacher and military veteran Dustin Ebey formally changed his name to ‘Literally Anybody Else’ earlier this month, and is now scrambling to gather the 113,151 signatures required to appear on Texas ballots as an independent candidate, WFAA News reported on Friday. “I’m not delusional,” Else told the outlet. “This will be very hard to do, but it’s not impossible. My hope is to have Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and then Literally Anybody Else right underneath,” he continued, explaining that “I really want there to be an outlet for folks like me who are just so fed up with this constant power grab between two parties that has no benefit for the common person.”
“This isn’t about me… more so as it is an idea,” Else told WFAA. “We can do better out of 300 million people for president.” Else is far from the only American dismayed at a Trump/Biden rematch. A NewsNation poll conducted in January found that 59% of registered voters were ‘not too enthusiastic’ or ‘not at all enthusiastic’ about seeing the pair compete for the presidency again. However, despite majorities in both parties calling for fresh faces, Trump easily defeated all of his Republican rivals during the last three months’ primaries, while Biden faced no competition from any high-profile Democrats. Else faces an uphill struggle to even enter the race. First, he has until May 13 to collect 113,151 signatures from registered voters who did not vote in either the Republican or Democratic primaries in Texas.
Having achieved this, he must replicate the feat in every other US state and territory, all of which have similar rules for independent candidates. Failing this, he could register as a write-in candidate. However, he would then have to build up a national profile and convince voters to actually write in ‘Literally Anybody Else’ on election day. No write-in candidate has ever come close to being elected president of the US, although two US senators have won office this way since the 1950s. Voters often write in undeclared candidates as a means of prank or protest, with ‘Mickey Mouse’, ‘Jesus Christ’, and ‘Batman’ all picking up a handful of votes in 2020.
“..this again gives him an opportunity to prevent spending the rest of his life in a US prison. So that is always welcome..”
• ‘Triumph’ for Assange But Battle Far From Over (Sp.)
Julian Assange will not be extradited immediately to the US, a London High Court has ruled. Likewise, Washington has been given three weeks to provide “satisfactory assurances” that the WikiLeaks founder will face a fair trial, could rely on the First Amendment, and will not be subject to the death penalty. The Tuesday ruling by the London court grants the WikiLeaks founder an opportunity to continue his fight against extradition to the US where he faces a whopping 18 charges, all bar one under the Espionage Act, Sputnik interlocutors have explained. “The court decision is a great triumph for freedom of speech and journalism conduct,” Andy Vermaut, a Belgian human rights activist and the president of the World Council for Public Diplomacy and Community Dialogue, told Sputnik. “This ruling illuminates the enduring struggle for freedom of the press and the rights of individuals to uncover truths that are in the public’s best interest.”
While the court’s ruling spells a victory for the Assange legal team, the WikiLeaks founder is being granted permission to appeal on only three of the nine grounds, remarked Taylor Hudak, an independent investigative journalist. She noted that people “do feel that this was somewhat of an injustice.” “The court has given the United States government three weeks to issue satisfactory assurances on those three grounds of appeal,” Hudak told Sputnik. “[Assange] is permitted to appeal on the First Amendment issue, that is whether or not he will be given First Amendment protections in the United States, that he is not prejudiced at trial due to his nationality, and that the death penalty not be imposed.”
“Another point to make is that he will not be immediately extradited, obviously, and this again gives him an opportunity to prevent spending the rest of his life in a US prison. So that is always welcome,” the independent journalist continued. The battle is far from over, pointed out Dr. David William Norris, a political commentator and former teaching fellow at a college in Birmingham. “The United States authorities will not relinquish their efforts to get hold of Assange and see him imprisoned for the 175 years they have promised him. It would be, as we all recognize, a death sentence,” Norris warned while speaking to Sputnik.
Stella
"If you expose the interests that are driving war, they will come after you, they will put you in prison, and they will try to kill you."
Stella Assange outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London today. pic.twitter.com/jqGVtrkVJR
— Robin Monotti (@robinmonotti) March 26, 2024
Cheese rennet
Up To 90% Of The Cheese Sold In America Is No Longer Made Naturally
“90% of the cheese sold in the U.S. does not use animal rennet and instead uses a genetically modified organism (GMO) version made by Pfizer”
They use a loophole to get around having to label all our cheese as… pic.twitter.com/EgQHQJ411o
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) March 25, 2024
China one side
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772607719716868526
Facetime
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772633886092054827
Blend in
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772538115564904585
Owl
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772613727306543352
Golf bird
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772631686552879521
Elephant
The brute force of an elephant pic.twitter.com/rBVefChOeY
— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) March 26, 2024
https://twitter.com/i/status/1772644817488531916
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