I wonder of Pence knows how much he hated?

Battle Lines Being Drawn – Mike Pence Endorses Karrin Robson in Arizona, President Trump Endorses Kari Lake, Dueling Campaign Events Friday

July 18, 2022

While the ranks of the MAGA rebel alliance continue to grow, it is obvious how the UniParty empire is striking back. On the presidential side of Republican politics, the Wall Street crowd are positioning their candidates:

The open-border GOPe crowd (Koch Inc.) have already put Kristi Noem into play with a book release and well financed marketing team. The foreign policy interventionist GOPe crowd (AIPAC lobby) are funding Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo respectively. The GOPe white wine spritzer crowd (inside donor class) are funding the explorations of Mike Pence. And the GOPe Wall Street hedge funds (political insurance experts and short sellers) are betting other people’s money on Ron DeSantis.

There will likely be other fish, but for now that’s the inside crew being financially fed by those who run the Republican Club. Inside the death star, Decepticon Leader Mitch McConnell and the GOPe beltway control agents have contracted for the 2024 reupholstery of the club’s leather chairs, and the mahogany table is being refinished to remove scratches from the crystal brandy glasses that were slammed and shattered in prior bouts of UniParty frustration.

From the perspective of Republican club control, the MAGA rebellion must be crushed at all costs. Control over the mid-term outcome, which may include the intentional losing of key races in order to ensure full retention of club control, now heads into the championship rounds. Mike Pence will lead the current fight in the battleground of Arizona, where the republican club cannot –and will not– permit the MAGA rebellion to interfere with their larger responsibility for open-borders and cheap labor migration.

There are trillions at stake. [Please note my emphasis below]

Washinton Post – PHOENIX — Former vice president Mike Pence is endorsing Arizona gubernatorial candidate Karrin Taylor Robson, a developer who has long been involved in Republican politics, instead of former president Donald Trump’s chosen candidate, Kari Lake.

[…] The endorsement illustrates the division in the party between Trump supporters who value loyalty to him over all else and those who want to move on from endlessly litigating the 2020 election, including those who are grateful that Pence and other Republicans blocked Trump’s attempts to overturn the results. Trump and Pence, who are each thinking about running for president in 2024, both plan to be in Arizona on Friday to campaign for their chosen candidates ahead of an Aug. 2 primary.

Pence called Taylor Robson “the best choice for Arizona’s future” in a statement provided to The Washington Post.” (more)

Well, obviously, because all the best republicans provide advanced notice of intent to The Washington Post. [[ insert massive eyeroll here ]]

Successful republican club politics always involves the illusion of choice.

Republican party candidates, those funded by the various mechanisms that eventually all lead back to Wall Street and the multinational banking and finance interests of the professional donor class, are more akin to Russian matryoshka nesting dolls. Remove the top of one doll and the doll underneath is an exact duplicate, only smaller. Keep removing them and eventually you get to the least visible doll, the one easiest to control, which is the one that all others are created to hide.

Pence is the biggest and most visible DeceptiCon in the republican club’s matryoshka operation.

I suspect Noem and/or DeSantis will be the doll we will find after all the other club masks fall….

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/07/18/battle-lines-being-drawn-mike-pence-endorses-karrin-robson-in-arizona-president-trump-endorses-kari-lake-dueling-campaign-events-friday/

https://www.rt.com/news/559350-us-debt-un-influence/

20 Jul, 2022 21:21

US admits debt problem hurts UN standing

Washington lagging behind on UN dues creates a “challenge” exploited by China, envoy says

TheUS being billions of dollars behind on its UN commitmentsis hurting Washington’s ability to influence the world organization, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. While the American delegation has resisted attempts at shaming over the issue, it has created an opening for China, she told lawmakers.

Thomas-Greenfield and USAID administrator Samantha Power testified before the committee on Wednesday morning, with “global food security” the principal topic and most of the questions dealing with grain exports from Russia and Ukraine halted by the conflict. About halfway through the hearing, however, Senator Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) brought up the issue of the US debt.

“That is really the crux of the challenge that I face in New York every single day, as we are put in a position of having to compete with our adversaries on being able to influence the UN actions,” Thomas-Greenfield replied.

“We’re reminded publicly – and attempted to shame, but we don’t feel shame – that we have such a large debt, such large arrears, in the UN. So we really do have to address that issue if we’re going to be able to compete…” she added.

When Murphy suggested this left openings for China or Russia, Thomas-Greenfield pointed out that Beijing is able to fund posts for about 400 young professionals at the UN, while the US cannot.

“Every gap that we leave is an opening for the Chinese. They flow into every open space that we leave,” she said.

Thomas-Greenfield and Power spent much of the hearing blaming Russia for the shortages of grain and fertilizer on the global market, insisting it had nothing to do with the embargo by the US and its allies against Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine.

Such accusations are “lies,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told RT and Sputnik in an interview on Wednesday. Lavrov pointed out that the sanctions have targeted ships, port facilities and insurance, with the effect of cutting off Russian grain exports, while the Ukrainian grain is stuck in ports mined on the orders from Kiev.

The US and its allies now “want to drag the UN secretary-general into their games,” Lavrov said.

21 Jul, 2022 00:11

Biden unveils US military thoughts on Taiwan

(China ordered it, Bidan complied)

US president hints that Pentagon is opposed to Speaker Pelosi’s rumored Taipei visit

Briefly addressing rumors about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, US President Joe Biden suggested on Wednesday that the military was opposed to it. His comments follow two days of stringent warnings from Beijing that the visit could irreparably damage Sino-American relations.

“I think that the military thinks it’s not a good idea right now. But I don’t know what the status of it is,” Biden told reporters when asked about Pelosi’s possible Taiwan trip. He spoke with the press on Air Force One, returning to Washington from Massachusetts, where he announced executive actions on climate change.

Multiple media outlets reported on Tuesday that Pelosi was planning to take a congressional delegation to Taipei in August, after canceling the April trip on account of catching Covid-19. The 82-year-old Democrat has not officially confirmed or denied the trip. Neither has the government in Taipei.

If Pelosi goes through with the trip, she would be the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan since the Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich did so in 1997.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday that the US remains committed to the “One China” policy. While in Washington’s eyes this means that Taiwan’s status remains unresolved, Beijing says it means Chinese sovereignty over the island, with reunification only a matter of time. An island formerly controlled by Japan, Taiwan has been run by the Chinese nationalists who left the mainland in 1949, after losing the civil war against the Communist Party.

On Tuesday, Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan would have a “grave impact” on Sino-American ties, violating the ‘One China’ policy and existing agreements between Washington and Beijing.

“If the US insists on going its own way, China will take firm and forceful measures to firmly safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The US must bear all the consequences of the visit,” Zhao said.

https://www.rt.com/news/559354-biden-us-military-taiwan-pelosi/

https://www.rt.com/business/559356-tesla-musk-sells-bitcoins/

21 Jul, 2022 02:42

Tesla dumps bitcoins

Elon Musk’s electric car company sold off 75% of its Bitcoin holdings

Tesla has liquidated roughly three-quarters of its bitcoins, adding $936 million in cash to its balance sheet, according to the company’s latest earnings report released on Wednesday.

“As of the end of Q2, we have converted approximately 75% of our Bitcoin purchases into fiat currency,” the company revealed in its financial report.

The sell-off “should not be taken as some verdict on Bitcoin,” CEO Elon Musk emphasized during a call with Tesla investors on Wednesday. He explained that the move was required to maximize cash position and increase liquidity amid the “uncertainty of the Covid lockdowns in China” at the time.

Tesla invested an aggregate $1.5 billion in Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2021, according to previous filings, becoming the second-biggest holder of cryptocurrency in the corporate world, as per analytics firm CoinGecko. The company even announced that it would be accepting Bitcoin as payment for its cars, but Musk abruptly reversed the decision two month later, citing environmental concerns.

We have not sold any of our Dogecoin,” Musk reassured investors, adding that despite taking an estimated $106 million hit on the liquidation, Tesla remains open to increasing its cryptocurrency holdings in the future.

Overall, the Austin, Texas, company reported a better-than-expected $2.26 billion net profit for the quarter, with its shares rising 1.5% to $753.40 in extended trading Wednesday.

At the same time Bitcoin fell about to nearly $23,000 on the news, but somewhat rebounded after Musk’s explanations. The billionaire's decisions and statements influenced the value of Bitcoin, Dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies on numerous occasions in the past, with some crypto investors accusing him of manipulating the market with his messages on Twitter.

https://www.rt.com/news/559345-brits-sanctions-russia-costs/

20 Jul, 2022 19:31

Support for more sanctions falls as cost of living grows – poll

The UK’s richer households are more likely to support current sanctions than those with lower incomes

Support for imposing further sanctions against Russia is decreasing in the UK amid growing living costs, a YouGov poll published on Tuesday revealed.

The survey, conducted on June 28-29 among 1,664 respondents, shows that 44% of Brits oppose a further increase in sanctions if it entails a rise in the overall cost of living, while 40% would still support intensifying pressure on Moscow. For comparison, in mid-March, three weeks after the launch of Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine, a clear majority of Brits – 54% – supported more sanctions, even if it meant an increase in their cost of living, with only 32% opposing it.

The trend is the same when it comes to three other potential consequences of the sanctions: higher taxes, rising energy prices and potential oil and gas shortages. The most striking change in public opinion can be seen when respondents were asked about “a significant increase in energy prices.” In March, the possibility of such a scenario did not prevent 48% of respondents from supporting more sanctions, with 38% against. In June, 53% said they were opposed to further sanctions if it led to hikes in energy prices, with only 32% still supporting harsher restrictions.

Amid such a shift in public opinion, YouGov conducted an additional survey between July 1 and 4, with similar questions but referring to the current sanctions. In all cases, the majority supported keeping the restrictions in place.

“Britons are most split on fuel bills, with 45% saying they would support the current sanctions against Russia even in the face of ‘an increase in energy prices,’ but with 41% disagreeing,” YouGov notes.

YouGov also emphasized that people’s own financial situation influences their view. Those with the lowest household incomes – less than £20,000 a year – are less likely to support keeping current sanctions, while those in households with the highest incomes – above £60,000 a year – tend to support them.

Following the launch of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine, the US and its allies, including the UK, imposed harsh sanctions on Moscow, including restrictions on its energy exports. As a result, countries with a high dependence on Russian supplies are now facing economic hardship and the prospect of energy rationing. Britain, while not directly dependent on Russia, is suffering too, as energy bills and the cost of living grow amid the surge in wholesale natural gas prices. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously accused EU leaders of committing economic “suicide” by attempting to give up Russian energy.

(They were warned by Trump, they didn’t listen)

20 Jul, 2022 17:34

Putin predicts ‘revolutionary’ changes

Only “truly sovereign” states will succeed after “enormous” geopolitical transformations, the Russian leader claimed

A new epoch of world history is approaching and only “truly sovereign” states will be able to succeed in the changed environment, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a business forum, Putin claimed that “truly revolutionary,” “enormous” changes would lead to the creation of a new, “harmonious, fairer and more community-focused and safe” world order. In this new epoch, “only truly sovereign states can ensure high growth dynamics,” he said.

By the term ‘sovereignty’ the Russian president means “freedom of national development, and thus of each person individually,” as well as “technological, cultural, intellectual, educational viability of the state” and a “responsible, active and nationally minded, nationally oriented civil society.”

Such a state, the president said, will serve as an example for others when it comes to “the standards and quality of people’s life, the protection of traditional values and high humanistic ideals.”

This kind of world is in sharp contrast to the Western-dominated unipolar world order, which, in Putin’s opinion, is “becoming a brake on the development of our civilization.”

He accused the West of being “racist and neo-colonial,” saying that its ideology “is becoming increasingly more like totalitarianism.”

The president argued that despite attemptsby Western elites to preserve the existing world order, the changes are “irreversible.”

Putin has been discussing the end of the “unipolar” world for a long time.. In his famous 2007 Munich Security Conference speech, the Russian president said that “the unipolar world that had been proposed after the Cold War did not take place.” He explained that a world of “one master, one sovereign” is destructive not only for everyone within the system but also for the sovereign itself. He accused the US of neglecting the “basic principles of international law” and stressed that “unilateral and frequently illegitimate actions” had never solved any problems.

In May, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed hope that his country’s military offensive in Ukraine, when completed, would force the Western nations “to stop promoting the so-called unipolar world under the dominance of the United States and its allies.”

The idea of a new “multipolar” world has been discussed in the West, too, most recently by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

However, following Moscow's offensive in Ukraine, the West declared its intention to “isolate” Russia and imposed tough sanctions on it. Russia views these actions as another manifestation of Western attempts to “contain” it and maintain the existing world order.

https://www.rt.com/russia/559338-putin-predicts-revolutionary-changes/

20 Jul, 2022 19:43

WATCH: Russian forces repel neo-Nazi attack in Donbass

The notorious ‘Kraken’ultranationalist battalion has been sent to the frontlines after allegedly killing civilians in Kharkov

Ukrainian forces attempted to assault the town of Belogorovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic, RT correspondent Murad Gazdiev has reported from the scene. The attack, led by the infamous ‘Kraken’ neo-Nazi battalion, was met with a “hail of artillery fire,” he said.

The attack was successfully defeated following close-quarter combat on the outskirts of the town. The Russian troops captured four Kraken fighters after the assault. One of them, identified only as Dmitry, told RT that the morale in the nationalist unit was extremely low and the commanders treated soldiers like “earthworms” by simply “crushing them underfoot” and forcing them to launch attacks.

Dmitry himself was left behind by his fellow fighters during the hasty and chaotic retreat of the ‘Kraken’ battalion from Belogorovka. The man claimed he was part of a Ukrainian Kharkov “territorial defense” unit until it was “merged” with Kraken.

The ultranationalist battalion has been stationed in the north-eastern Ukrainian city for months, Dmitry said. The nationalist might have been sent to Kharkov to keep the city in check, since Kharkov has been traditionally seen as a city with a rather strong pro-Russian sentiment.

According to Dmitry, the nationalists had to frequently change their base locations in the city since the locals have been exposing it and making it public on social media. Eventually, the battalion was sent away to frontlines not far from Belogorovka, some 200 kilometers away from Kharkov.

According to Dmitry, that happened soon after bodies were found in the backyard of one of the battalion’s fighters. The seven bodies discovered in the yard allegedly belonged to civilians killed by a ‘Kraken’ member, Dmitry said. The captive did not elaborate on whether any punitive measures had been taken against the suspected killer. The man called the neo-Nazis “savages” and said he would not “go back” even if Ukrainian forces offered to exchange him for Russian captives.

In late June, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the Russian forces had killed over a hundred of the Kraken battalion fighters in a series of precision artillery strikes against targets near Kharkov. Russia considers the battalion an offshoot of the notorious neo-Nazi Azov regiment, which saw its fighters surrender in the city of Mariupol in the spring.

Kraken calls itself a special reconnaissance and sabotage unit under the Ministry of Defense, operating separately from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Moscow has accused the battalion of committing several war crimes since the beginning of the conflict, including the mistreatment of Russian prisoners of war. A video that circulated on the internet showed the neo-Nazis shooting the POWs in the knees and killing them.

The head of Russia’s National Defense Control Center, Mikhail Mizintsev, has also previously accused Kraken members of harassing Kharkov region residents and of conducting “punitive raids” against people suspected of harboring pro-Russian sentiments.

https://www.rt.com/russia/559311-neo-nazi-attack-donbass-repel/

Couldn’t post video too large

>>16772353

That kid has a perfect last name