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DOJ May Have Only Released 2% of Epstein Cache

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Jeffrey Epstein On His Majesty Putin's Secret Service :

www.thetimes.com - Jeffrey Epstein took a leaf from Vladimir Putin's playbook
Amassing embarrassing photos and damaging information was strikingly similar to Russian kompromat operations - 2026-02-06

|------- Polish, French and British intelligence agencies are scrambling to establish whether this was, indeed, the "world's largest honeytrap operation": how much dirt Epstein amassed on whom, whether he did so for Moscow's benefit, what that material may have been used for and how much profit he extracted from his many Russian connections.

There are grubby Russian fingerprints all over the Epstein files, which contain 1,056 mentions of Putin and more than 9,000 references to Moscow: requests for flights to take escorts and models from Moscow to Paris and New York; a 2012 message to Epstein offering "2 Russian girls for you to meet, one 21, another 24. One skinny, another curvy and super cute"; a dinner companion offered to Prince Andrew with a recommendation that she was "Russian, beautiful and trustworthy". (The former prince denies any wrongdoing, as does everyone else mired in this swamp, including the Kremlin.)

... Epstein visited Russia multiple times and made arrangements to meet Putin (it is unclear if he ever did). He arranged Russian visas for others and left the bulk of his fortune, two days before his suicide, to a mysterious 36-year-old Belarusian dentist. His links to the Russian elite were many, varied and highly dubious.
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www.yahoo.com - Epstein's Russia connections, explained - 2026-02-05

dossier.center - Jeffrey Epstein's Russian Connection: Billionaire's ties with FSB Academy graduate revealed - 2026-02-14

unherd.com - Russia loves the Epstein files Nationalists delight in Western debauchery - 2026-02-04

|------- The honeypot approach is still used because it's blunt but effective. It uses kompromat sometimes in exotic, outrageous forms, but just as often in banal, almost bureaucratic ways that resemble those of the Soviet era. ...

Russia does not primarily seek to attack the West by surgically extracting targeted information, as traditional espionage would. Instead, it seeks to embarrass, humiliate, and degrade Western societies into destroying themselves by widening existing political fissures and disagreements and watching as a story-hungry media and viral social media storms do the hard work.

From Moscow's perspective, it doesn't matter so much whether the latest poisonous claims in the Epstein files are true. Even if the most sensational claims about who is (or who isn't) a Russian agent collapse under scrutiny, the story itself will please Putin immensely. It will fuel suspicion that, regardless of their political orientation, the rich and powerful in the West can commit moral aberrations with impunity, and that institutions will shield them from consequence, instead of investigating them.

...

Dr. Ian Garner is assistant professor of totalitarian studies at the Pilecki Institute in Warsaw. His latest book is Z Generation: Russia's Fascist Youth
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Epstein was collecting compromat for Russian FSB and himself.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2026-02-17 03:29 AM | Reply

Klein: 'The White House is the Crisis'

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Klein: 'The White House is the Crisis'

Ezra Klein: The Trump administration is overwhelmed -- by its own violence, its own cruelty, its own lies, its own chaos. There is nothing unusual about a presidency being overwhelmed by crises. What is unusual about the Trump administration is that it has created those crises itself.

Not that unusual for administrations to inadvertently create crises, usually by saying something stupid off the cuff or trying to cover up minor things - Biden's and Obama's had plenty of own goals...

The 2015 movie Our Brand is Crisis was based on the 1993 book "The War Room" about Bill Clinton's campaign, and self-created crises permeated through his presidency.

What is really unusual now is that the crises are usually attempted to be avoided; with Trump it's the opposite - crises and chaos are organic, they're a feature, not a bug.

Doesn't hurt that "crises" justify the permanent "emergency powers" for tariffs, militarization of law enforcement, etc.

Trump is cosplaying President (again, same way he was cosplaying "successful real estate tycoon" on Apprentice just as his real estate and casinos "empire" was crashing down) and needs to constantly deliberately create crises in order to 1) "solve" them and take credit and brag about "solving" them, and 2) distract from previously self-created and real "unsolved" crises, hoping that people will forget about them and "move on" (en.wikipedia.org).

He's never been sufficiently punished or paid real price for all his scams and misdeeds, avoided accountability and was given benefit of the doubt too many times by too many people, escaping personal bankruptcies and prison, hiding behind frivolous lawsuits and NDAs - so, as his superiority complex and dementia grew, he now believes he is a genius and cranks up crisis level to 11, because he wants to be "consequential" and is trying to outdo whatever he thinks previous Presidents couldn't accomplish... obviously, caring not a wit about actual consequences or anything but himself - apre moi le deluge style.

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

"Genius is knowing when to stop."
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Posted by CutiePie at 2026-02-02 06:46 AM | Reply

Musk's SpaceX in merger talks with xAI, Reuters reports

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Musk's SpaceX in merger talks with xAI

xAI is also in talks with Tesla, and Tesla is also in talks with SpaceX about possible mergers and/or SpaceX IPO before/after merger with xAI - depending on who is doing pre-IPO valuation analysis that would yield maximum capitalization.

This self-dealing is similar to Musk making "sweetheart deal" acquisition of near-bankrupt SolarCity, partly-owned and run by his cousins, by publicly-owned Tesla, and renaming it Tesla Energy.

Remember the much talked about bloated valuation - and Musk's debt - of eX-Twitter that was merged into xAI? When Musk merged eX-Twitter into xAI in March of last year, he valued it at $33B on balance sheet of xAI (when money-losing X was estimated at still high $8B-$9B).

Guess who will "participate in ownership" of this debt after xAI eventually goes public, in whichever merged formed it will be? Yep - the shareholders of new Musk-controlled public entity. And that $45B ($33B of estimated "goodwill" value + $12B in Twitter debt) on xAI balance sheet will provide nice multi-year tax write-offs to acquiring/surviving merger entity.

That's why the Twitter bonds - that were sold to PE institutions by banks which loaned Musk money - went for very solid 97% of nominal value, and not 10% as some "analysts" here were hoping. Whoever bought them understood that Twitter was not going to be kept stand-alone; rather a leveraged stage 1 eventually merged into one of the public entities, with nearly assured payout.

Hiding and amortizing weak spots in bigger, seemingly financially stronger entities is the art of financial engineering.

Just like some subprime and/or substandard mortgages were packaged into AAA-rated MBS and CDOs and sold to public for years before financial meltdown and GFC of 2008.

Similarly, Trump unloaded his personal loans on several casinos when he made them public, one just a year before it went BK - that's how he, once again, avoided what should have been a personal bankruptcy - by making it "not personal - strictly business."
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Posted by CutiePie at 2026-02-01 06:35 AM | Reply

Murphy: Trump Admin 'creating this mayhem' to 'take control' of Midterms

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Murphy: Trump Admin 'creating this mayhem' to 'take control' of Midterms

|------- Pam Bondi came under fire over the weekend for what some have called a "breathtaking" plan to extort the state of Minnesota as a means to "seize" the state's "election infrastructure."

Bondi has purportedly already taken the first step toward taking over elections in Minnesota and other U.S. states, according to Democratic Senator Chris Murphy.

... "Pam Bondi just sent a letter to Minnesota officials saying ICE will leave if the state turns over its voter database to Trump," he wrote. "Guess what? This has never been about safety or immigration. It's a pretext for Trump to take over elections in swing states." ...
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Trump claimed that he "won Minnesota all three times, by a lot."
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Posted by CutiePie at 2026-01-26 11:57 AM | Reply

Trump Claims 'Discombobulator' Used to Capture Maduro

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Trump Claims 'Discombobulator' Used to Capture Maduro
The president may be conflating several capabilities into a single weapon that doesn't exist, a senior US official told CNN.

From the same CNN, two weeks ago:

www.cnn.com - Pentagon bought device through undercover operation some investigators suspect is linked to Havana Syndrome - CNN, 2026-01-13

|------- The Defense Department has spent more than a year testing a device purchased in an undercover operation that some investigators think could be the cause of a series of mysterious ailments impacting US spies, diplomats and troops that are colloquially known as Havana Syndrome, according to four sources briefed on the matter.

A division of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, purchased the device for millions of dollars in the waning days of the Biden administration, using funding provided by the Defense Department, according to two of the sources. Officials paid "eight figures" for the device, these people said, declining to offer a more specific number.

The device is still being studied and there is ongoing debate " and in some quarters of government, skepticism " over its link to the roughly dozens of anomalous health incidents that remain officially unexplained. ...
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If you've seen several 60 Minutes reports on the subject of Havana Syndrome, you may now understand why USGOV was reluctant to confirm the weapon capabilities, as officially the "investigation continued" but was for the most part "dismissed" as psychological in nature.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2026-01-26 09:14 AM | Reply

TikTok Finalizes Deal to Form New American Version of App

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#11 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-01-24 08:23 PM
Pres Trump likely has that view because now it appears that mega-MAGA donor, Oracle, now controls the almighty TikTok algorithm that determines what videos are presented to users.

No, Larry / Oracle doesn't control the TikTok algorithm - TT's "secret sauce" stayed with ByteDance, which now owns 19.9% of TikTok USA, but has been "retraining" for months on US-users data - that's why it took this long to forge a "shaky" semi-legal agreement, which could be subject to Congressional scrutiny.

nypost.com - Trump-backed deal to 'save' TikTok faces lingering security questions for Congress: 'It's a smokescreen' - NYP, 2026-01-23

In any case, the importance of TikTok has never really been its ownership ("China, China, China!") or that the user data could've been exploited by CCP (again, "China, China, China!") because all their servers and pipes have been either in the US or under US datacenter companies control for years.

That panic was artificial, mostly part of Putin/Trump-generated zeitgeist, in their campaign to deflect and misdirect from what Trump unsurprisingly calls the "Russiagate hoax."

The real reason Trump wanted to "save" TikTok in the US is that Trump's 2024 campaign realized its importance and value, as they used the ability to have TT's "influencers" spread Trump campaign ads in "info-news" format and misinformation amid very important category of young, first-time voters who were/are getting their "news" from the platform.

This can be - and was successful for Trump - on mostly unfiltered, unmoderated, algorithmically viral platforms, regardless of the ownership.

This is something Biden/Harris campaign completely missed, as they completely mis-read the economy and people's mood, in their zeal to recruit media and entertainment celebrities (whose followers couldn't care less about politics even if eligible to vote) and run a mostly conventional campaign.

Here's how it was done in 2024 and likely for at least few election cycles - Dems better figure this out and adapt to it fast:

www.wired.com - The Most Powerful Politics Influencers Barely Post About Politics | New research shows that social media creators have enormous influence over their audiences' politics " especially those who don't normally share political content. - 2025-12-17

www.wired.com - A Visual Guide to the Influencers Shaping the 2024 Election | From Hasan Piker to Logan Paul, this interactive display maps how online personalities on the right and the left are using their massive followings to influence the US election - 2024-08-15

www.wired.com - This Was the Year of the Influencer Political Takeover | Politicians fully embraced the creator economy in 2024, blurring the lines between punditry and journalism. By 2028, the lawmakers could become creators themselves. - 2024-12-27

Here is why TT's is so addictive, and why so many "creators" want to be "influencers" on that platform:

www.theverge.com - Stop, Shop, and Scroll - TV, 2025-12-08
Behind every influencer is an army of the influenced, many adrift in debt and mass-produced clutter. The platforms need influencers and influencers need audiences " but what the influenced need is not so simple.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2026-01-26 08:31 AM | Reply

Trump Backs Off Lower Credit Card Rates

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#11 | Posted by DarkVader at 2026-01-24 02:01 PM
It's one of his few good ideas.

It's not "his" idea and, like most "populist" ideas, it's a bad one:

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The interest rate cap has drawn bipartisan support from some lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri. If enacted, the proposal could save consumers $100 billion per year in reduced interest payments...
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Financial institutions and insurance companies set the rates on their products according to risk involved - it's a part of 'risk mitigation' strategies - that's why credit ratings exist to begin with. Better credit rating usually affords better (lower) interest rates charged, and/or other benefits / incentives made available.

That's how financial markets work - "To each according to their credit rating."

Government trying to restrict rates or charges simply distort the market and usually result in less credit available ("debanking"?!), higher fees or private "loan sharking" and lower economic activity.

For example, to accommodate politicians, banks can issue a 10% credit card, but charge an annual fee, and/or limit them to a certain segment of customers (presumably, with higher credits scores) in which case there will be no real "savings" - some banks, have already done that:

www.cbsnews.com - Bank of America may introduce credit card with 10% APR - 2026-01-23

|------- Bank of America is weighing whether to launch a new credit card that would comply with President Trump's push to temporarily cap card interest rates at 10%...

Bank of America already offers credit cards with initial average percentage rates below 10%. For example, its no-frills BankAmericard offers consumers a 0% introductory APR for 18 months. Once that period ends, however, the APR rises to between 14.5% and 24%, depending on the cardholder's credit score. ...

The banking industry has criticized Mr. Trump's proposed cap, saying it could hurt consumers by reducing their access to credit and steering them toward riskier lending products. Reduced consumer spending would cut into economic growth...

Bilt, a financial technology company that offers credit card rewards for customers who pay their rent and mortgage payments on time...
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IOW, mostly you will get a 10% CC if you don't ever pay interest on your CC... pretty much what you have now.

There are always exceptions, but the rule of thumb is: if you have to look at the interest rate on your CC, you can't afford it. CCs are for convenience and streamlining of expenses only.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2026-01-25 10:52 AM | Reply

Chris Hedges: Grand Illusion

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#22 | Posted by Corky at 2026-01-18 12:19 PM
Perhaps Netflix will take on making Ubik:
screenrant.com - Streaming Can Save This Sci-Fi Classic That Hollywood Keeps Failing

Philip K. Dick's novels and short stories are notoriously difficult to adapt to film. Like Ubik, A Scanner Darkly was considered "unfilmable" and went through many hands of "development hell" until Linklater rotoscoped it - now it's known as the adaptation that's best and closest to his book.

Impostor (2001), based on short story, was interesting but a commercial bomb.

Re The Man in High Castle - parallel universe / alternative history may have been an impetus to HBO's adaptation of Phillip Roth's 2004 novel "The plot against America" (2020).

It takes place in 1930s and covers Charles Lindbergh and "America First Committee" - seems strangely current.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2026-01-20 04:52 PM | Reply

Senate Republican: Greenland Invasion Would be 'weapons-grade stupid'

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#17 | Posted by Duckman at 2026-01-09 10:55 AM
Trump knows that Denmark will let the US do any "strategic" thing in Greenland that he wants. But Trump wants to join the above club so he can be a "great President".

Yes, he wants to be "consequential" and "permanent" in history. That's why hunt for Nobel and rebuilding of White House (and DC) as the buildings/structures will have Trump name attached to them. While EOs / "policies" can be rolled back, the last NSS is trying to make them fairly "permanent" and destroy as much of "new" world order (much as he did to Atlantic City) where the US was "top dog" as possible, which is dreams come true for Putin (and Xi). **

#33 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-01-10 03:14 PM
But, isn't Greenland part of NATO, so aren't we already obligated to protect Greenland from a China or Russia attack?

More than that - we have specific defense agreement with Denmark, just as there was 1994 "Budapest Memorandum" about Ukraine's security:

avalon.law.yale.edu - Avalon Project - Defense of Greenland: Agreement Between the United States and the Kingdom of Denmark, April 27, 1951

en.wikipedia.org - Proposals for US acquisition of Greenland

So all the talk about needing to "own" Greenland so "Russia and China won't be our neighbors" is a pretext for MAGA birdbrains. Same as Canada being 51st state and fentanyl coming to US from Venezuela or... "Nazis in Ukraine"

He understands ownership, not alliances... though neither worked out well in his private businesses - hence, "Everything Trump touches turns to s**t and dies."

Here is good analysis:

www.theatlantic.com - The Hole in Trump's Rationale for Acquiring Greenland - 2026-01-09

|------- ... A Cold War era agreement allows Washington broad authority to conduct military operations on Greenland. The agreement, signed by Denmark and the United States in 1951, allows the U.S. to "construct, install, maintain, and operate" bases across the island, station personnel, and set the terms of "landings, takeoffs, anchorages, moorings, movements, and operation of ships, aircraft, and water-borne craft." Pituffik is the only current U.S. base. ...

The 2021 NDA called for the creation of the Arctic and Global Resilience Policy Office at the Pentagon, which was set up in 2022. ...

Around the time of the government shutdown last fall, the office effectively ceased to exist. ...

Trump [named] Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland. Trump justified the appointment by recalling the Louisiana Purchase - the acquisition from the French of territory including land from 15 current states and two Canadian provinces, in 1803 ...

** Trump's repeated insistence on obtaining Greenland has prompted a furious reaction from European governments. In the long run, that may leave Washington less able to counter Russian and Chinese maneuvering in the Arctic - if that was indeed Trump's aim in the first place. The president recently [said] that Greenland is "surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships" (a claim described as unsupported by evidence), but the administration's National Security Strategy, issued at the end of last year, seemed to shy from competition with U.S. adversaries... The document envisioned "strategic stability with Russia" and called for a "genuinely mutually advantageous economic relationship with Beijing." It made no mention of the Arctic. -------|

There is a reason why mercantilism failed 300 years ago.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2026-01-11 02:59 PM | Reply

US Seizes Venezuela-Linked, Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker

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#6 | Posted by fortfisher at 2026-01-08 09:19 AM
... I thought Trump is a Russian stooge.

If you don't think Trump is Putin's stooge, you haven't been paying attention.

Just a few most recent statements and events should disabuse you of the notion that he isn't:

1. So-called 28-points "peace proposal" written by Kremlin and giving Putin everything he demanded that Trump was trying to impose on Ukraine and pressuring Zelensky to accept. One of the "points" specifically provided Putin and Trump with a $100B slush fund, as part of removing all sanctions and "re-integration" of Russia into world's economy and establishing closer ties between Russia and US.

2. Trump is attempting to essentially expand and join BRICS, creating Core-5 / C-5 (where the US would be a "junior partner") after he tried but failed to recreate G-8 by reinstating Russia into "outdated" G-7. That's after he and GOP Congress nixed joining TPP / Trans-Pacific Partnership :

|------- "It's a deal that's designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone," Trump said then, yet China was not invited to join the trade pact, proposed and drafted specifically to reduce China's economic influence in the region and bringing signatories closer to the US. -------|

CPTPP, without US involvement, went into effect in 2018.

3. Trump's 2025 NSS document is "... formally accepting the same worldview that Russia and China have long insisted upon, that the world is carved into spheres...

... Trump administration endorses the very logic Vladimir Putin and other despots have used to justify expansionism."

It didn't work for Soviet Union, not working currently for Russia and China, and led to numerous ruinous wars.

Trump's demented "fever dreams" of LatAm colonies are not going to last 5 years, if that, but it's already doing lasting damage to the US, as countries are starting to turn away and establish their own "globalist" ties.

Read the links in drudge.com to understand why these "policies" are horrible and guarantee "neither long term security nor prosperity" for the US.

How is this possible...

Simple. This particular ship reflagged at sea, without change in ownership, which is a violation of maritime laws, so it was a rogue ship and any nation could seize it, just like Finns did recently with Fitburg, and Ukraine blew up Russian tanker Qendil in Mediterranean.

The US and many of "the West" countries have many sanctions on Russian and Iranian trade, specifically oil and gas, going back to Biden administration, including the "shadow/dark/grey fleet" that transports oil and contraband parts needed for Russian military and economy, as well as components for NorKo missile and nuclear programs.
windward.ai - June 2024 report

www.yahoo.com - Russian shadow fleet ship that sank in 2024 carried nuclear reactor components to North Korea

There was no Venezuelan "Trump's oil" onboard Bella-1/Marinera, but this op was executed by US military as part of the regular operations enforcing official sanctions. Trump couldn't really do anything even if he knew about it, but like many times before, he can pretend to be "tough on Russia" for those in MAGA crowd who bought Trump's "America First" bulls**t, but are not (yet?) sold on Putin and his way of "running" the country.

Enjoy the show.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2026-01-09 04:32 AM | Reply

2 Months Ago: Tulsi Gabbard Said US 'Cycle Of Regime Change' Was Over

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2 Months Ago: Tulsi Gabbard Said US 'Cycle Of Regime Change' Was Over

That was in October 2025, so she was saying what the boss-man was saying then or what the boss-man wanted her to say... which may well be different from what the boss-man wanted her and others to say the next day / week / month... on another episode of President's Apprentice.

As the written words say, "Dementia works in mysterious ways. Dementia's thoughts and Its ways don't always make sense to us, but we can rest in the knowledge... that Its ways are higher than our ways... because Its ways are always part of a bigger plan."

At the same time, also in October 2025, www.tag24.com - "Tulsi Gabbard launches new squad to enact retribution against Trump's enemies" - Oct 23, 2025

And while people are pacified by the "peaceful" statements and keep watching the show, here is what they are missing:

www.theatlantic.com - Tulsi Gabbard's Quest to Bring the 'Deep State' Under Her Control - A memo circulating within the federal government lays out her office's reasoning for wanting to transfer counterintelligence away from the FBI - November 7, 2025

www.thebulwark.com - The FBI Spent a Generation Relearning How to Catch Spies. Then Came Kash Patel. As China's spies grow more aggressive, the FBI is distracted and off-balance. - December 14, 2025

Follow-up: www.thebulwark.com - Kash Patel Is Dismantling FBI Counterintelligence - December 27, 2025

Dismantling national and election cybersecurity: www.securityinfowatch.com - Trump disbands Cyber Safety Review Board first week in power | This surprising move is prompting concerns from security professionals over national cybersecurity. - Jan. 27, 2025

Followed by www.votebeat.org - U.S. agency has stopped supporting states on election security. CISA is moving against employees who helped monitor misinformation - March 11, 2025

Followed further by www.theregister.com - CISA slammed for role in 'censorship industrial complex' as budget faces possible $500M cut - May 6, 2025

You decide if it's mere "incompetence"... or something else, bigger, more dangerous... and why any of these people are in the highest positions of security, intelligence and authority:

olgalautman.substack.com - Russia's Puppet Tulsi Gabbard Strikes Again | How the Director of National Intelligence Is Laundering Kremlin Lies, Undermining NATO, and Endangering U.S. National Security - December 21, 2025

|------- Last week's public defense of Russia and attack against U.S. allies by Tulsi Gabbard made one thing brutally clear: the United States has moved beyond internal intelligence disagreements and into open narrative laundering for the Kremlin, with the DNI dismissing U.S. and allied assessments, attacking credible reporting, and validating Moscow's lies that its bloody ambitions pose no threat to Europe - language so detached from reality that it reads less like intelligence analysis and more like propaganda written for Russian state television. ... -------|
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Posted by CutiePie at 2026-01-07 02:52 PM | Reply

The 'Putinization' of US Foreign Policy

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#238 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-01-06 02:12 PM
Your mom is free and universal.
.

Proof positive of knee-jerk reactions.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2026-01-06 02:38 PM | Reply

The 'Putinization' of US Foreign Policy

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#34 | Posted by BellRinger at 2026-01-04 03:04 PM
Take a bit of time to look to history and look up the word precedent'.

No need to look it up. There have been "precedents" for almost anything, with positive or negative outcomes, which may also depend on someone's time frame and/or perspective and someone's definition and emphasis on what the "success" (of achieving particular / "certain" goals) in any given case means... as politicians and PR professionals know very well.

As they say, "There is a first time for everything", "Past performance is no guarantee of future results", "Your mileage may very" etc., especially if the "results" part can be and keep being redefined and goal posts moved.

I oppose it also because US regime change has rarely gone well.

Except, if you took a bit of time to look closer, there actually has been no "regime" changed!

The players may have changed, but the "regime" stayed the same, and the [presumed] new regime of Machado is not and has never been in the plans - too disruptive and messy with no guarantee of "success" and would require "boots on the ground" and long-term planning, which Trump isn't known for, instead of quick "show of success" and moving on to the next episode of geopolitical "Apprentice" - so if you think that any this was about a regime "change" or for the US benefit you're on a very wrong track.

"Are you not entertained?!"

Cui bono? Trump's ego and a distraction from his domestic political and personal problems as well as host of other reasons - see, for instance, drudge.com for a partial menu of them.

Bullying and lying has always been Trump's stock in trade and "brand," which could be ignored, but now he has unmatched US military and intelligence and Treasury resources at his disposal.

As far as a real "precedent," this one is likely to end like all past Trump's "hit-and-run" / "Apre moi le deluge" scams... er, "enterprises" - financial, legal, reputational failures and damage for people (and lately countries) he uses and deals with, while he enriches and glorifies himself... because of utter incompetence of his opposition.

"A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies."

#200 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-01-06 11:29 AM
My preference is for a smaller and more restricted Federal Government with less interference internally and externally.

If you think that reducing small number of government employees in some departments (while vastly increasing number of ICE and other enforcement depts employees with under/non-qualified people) constitutes "smaller" (as in "reduced power") federal government, particularly executive branch and President, then you don't understand what "smaller federal government" means and you may just find out in about 3 years and couple of weeks.

How confident are you that recent President's actions and SCOTUS "shadow docket" decisions make the role of the government "smaller"?

One thing that we all see is the knee jerk reaction to everything Trump.

Knee-jerk reactions are "free and universal", not limited to "everything Trump", "everything Biden", "everything Republicans" or "everything Democrats."
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Posted by CutiePie at 2026-01-06 01:42 PM | Reply

Dollar on Track for Steepest Annual Drop for Almost a Decade

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#8 | Posted by madbomber at 2026-01-01 05:27 AM
I can't explain it, but the value of the $USD has actually increased in parts of Asia. If you live in the Philippines right now, you're doing good.

Canadian, Australian, New Zealand dollars and Euros jumped, then stabilized in range of about 9%-12% higher than USD since Trump's inauguration.

In Asia, China responded with lowering RMB/CNY-to-USD to well above 7, compared to usually maintained range of 6 (stronger RMB) - 7 (weaker RMB), then stabilized around weaker end of 7 RMB/USD.

Japanese YEN is still dropping (156 YEN/USD), even as the interest rates in Japan are at multi-year high, due to inflation flare-up.

Most of Asian countries, like Philippines, generally keep their currencies loosely pegged to China or Japan, barring special circumstances.
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Posted by CutiePie at 2026-01-03 08:50 AM | Reply

Trump Is Already Discussing Preemptive Pardons

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Trump Is Already Discussing Preemptive Pardons

Of course.

Yet despite the increasingly atrocious and corrupt way the pardons have been dispensed by Trump (and Clinton, Biden et al), I see absolutely no suggestions to rectify the mistake by Founding Fathers of granting unconditional King's power and push for starting the Constitutional Amendment process to remove that power from the single person, which I believe would easily catch (fire emoji).

Pardons could still be granted, where deserved, by an unanimous consent (or very high percentage of votes) by selected committee of multi-party participants, but it would be substantially removed as a corrupt political tool.

I guess both parties are expressing faux outrage while hypocritically waiting for "their" King to grant pardons to "deserving" people or, as more and more likely, to whole groups of people. So neither party has real interest in changing "the system."

"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. ... still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it." - Lord Acton

"BOTH SIDES!"
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Posted by CutiePie at 2025-12-15 02:57 PM | Reply

Is Trump's Embrace of Russia the Greatest Betrayal in American History?

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**

saltypolitics.substack.com - Part 1 analysis of Trump administration NSS: Breaking: Welcome to Trumpistan

saltypolitics.substack.com - Part 2 analysis of Trump administration NSS: The Trump Doctrine: the Terrifying World View Endangering Us All

saltypolitics.substack.com - Part 3 analysis of Trump administration NSS: What Really Makes America Great

And of course, there is this: "Not Russia, Russia, Russia!" and "I am not a puppet!":

saltypolitics.substack.com - Chapter 18 - Active Measures: The Trump Tower Meeting

saltypolitics.substack.com - Chapter 19 - Active Measures: What Russian Election Interference Really Means

saltypolitics.substack.com - Chapter 20 - Active Measures: Epilogue: Russia's Return on Investment for Interfering in the 2016 Election

Chapters 1-8 at drudge.com

Chapters 9-17 at drudge.com
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Posted by CutiePie at 2025-12-15 05:00 AM | Reply

Is Trump's Embrace of Russia the Greatest Betrayal in American History?

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#3 | Posted by Corky at 2025-12-11 08:14 PM
Whispers of a new diplomatic power group containing the US, Russia, China, India, and Japan swirl around Washington.

It's tentatively called Core-5 (C-5), as Trump's "answer" to "outdated" G-7 (after he tried but failed to revert back to G-8 by reinstating Russia) - more of a demented, scatter-brained thinking of Trump - if you look closer, Trump essentially wants US to join BRICS and drag Japan along as trophy.

Not that it could last, if it ever happens, though I am sure Russia and China will be happy to welcome subordinate Trump to humiliating "summit(s)" which he will only be happy to attend, to have a photo op and feel "equal" next to the "world leaders."

Trump was never known for long-term strategy, his "3-D chess" was just moving from scam to scam, from con to con.

He recently complained that "we lost India and Russia to... China" - not in the least understanding how this happened. Hint: "he didn't have the cards" he tried to play and his bluff was called.

Teddy R.'s "Bully pulpit" was never meant for actual bullies. He also said "Speak softly and carry a big stick." Trump's MO is TACO - bark out loud but wobble with limp d**k.

So weak Trump's choice of 'remedy' is "if you can't beat them, join them."

"Russia is praised for its strength. Also back on good terms is Chinese President Xi Jinping...

Worse than that - they know Trump is weak and a coward, who can only threaten and intimidate militarily weak and/or economically semi-dependent allies ("losers") who keep hoping it will be possible to maintain good, non-adversarial relations with the sane, post-Trump US.

|------- "Days after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi outraged China by suggesting a Chinese attack on Taiwan could mobilize a Tokyo military ... Xi called Trump and spent half an hour... [to read him the riot act] ... after which Trump called Japanese PM and told him to 'soften his stance' and dial down the rhetoric'..." -------|

Not understanding the times have drastically changed, mentally he lives in the past worlds / eras of 100 ("America First"), 200 ("Monroe Doctrine") and 300 years ago ("mercantilism"), and tries to fit / position the US somehow in this jumble of "policies," with Putin (and now Xi, after slapping down Don on trade) being "Trump's whisperers."

Obviously, none of these "policies" are workable today for a significant length of time; they not only conflict with each other but will inevitably lead to more and greater conflicts than we've seen since dissolution of Soviet Union. **

In the meantime he is abusing the power, that he himself never earned, downgrading the US leadership position in the world, both economically and militarily, and making its footprint smaller and weaker, due to isolationism because of his fantasy of trilateral "Trump world order" - trying to make himself "consequential" in history, same as inserting himself and putting his imprint - face and name - everywhere he can.

The Art of the Deal (1987):

"The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people's fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That's why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It's ... a very effective form of promotion. ... I do it to do it. ... I like making deals, preferably big deals. That's how I get my kicks."
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Posted by CutiePie at 2025-12-15 04:57 AM | Reply